10 Steps to Success When Walking for Weight Loss

Use an Activity Tracker

Use an activity tracker, fitness band, or app to know how much you actually are moving throughout the day. For weight loss, it's important to first see how many steps you walk on a typical day.

Check your steps during the day to stay on target and look for opportunities to get in more steps. As you are able to achieve more steps consistently, continue to increase your target goal by another 2,000 steps per day.

Keep in mind that the 10,000 steps per day target is just a guideline. Some people (such as those on their feet all day for work) may notice that their starting step count is near, at, or even above 10,000. Those people could increase by 2,000 steps as needed to see a result.

Overcome Excuses

There are a lot of reasons for skipping your walk or workout on any given day. Keep an exercise log or use an app so you can be honest with yourself about how much exercise you are actually getting, and then review it at the end of each week.

Excuses like being "too tired" or "too busy" may seem like no big deal—and it's very normal to feel this way—but shifting your mindset to overcome these smaller reasons could benefit you mentally and physically. While illness or physical limitations are definitely reasons for taking a rest day, smaller excuses can be quickly overcome with changed thinking.

Try to focus on your strengths—what you managed to accomplish—and cut yourself some slack if you didn't reach your goal. Re-evaluate and try again the next week.

Estimate Calories Burned

Brisk walking is an excellent calorie-burning and health-promoting activity. But you can't necessarily rely on your activity monitor or treadmill display for reliable calorie-burn figures. This calculator gives another estimate that factors in your weight.

Remember that all of these tools can provide information, but they are estimates. If you are walking consistently but not meeting your weight management goals, you may need to boost intensity to burn more calories and consider your nutrition.

Work Hard and Breathe Hard

If you do a brisk walking workout, you will breathe harder than usual. That is a good sign that you are getting into the fat-burning heart rate zone.

To make sure that you get there, warm up at a leisurely pace. Then walk briskly for 30 to 60 minutes at a pace that is not easy to carry on a conversation. You'll experience a higher calorie burn when you participate in moderate to vigorous activity.

Vary Your Workouts

If your walks are always on the same route, at the same pace, or follow the same treadmill workout, switch it up. Fast days, easy days, interval days, long slow days—each has its own benefits. Change up your walking workouts to prevent boredom and keep you feeling challenged.

Be Mindful of Eating Habits

If weight loss is your goal, walking is an excellent exercise that can help you to lose weight, however, you will also need to consider your eating habits. If you feel that you're eating a healthy, balanced diet, but not seeing the results you want, you may want to use a food journal or meet with a registered dietitian.

Food journaling, or recording everything you eat for several days, can help you to identify patterns that may stand in the way of your goals. Some fitness monitors include or link to a food-logging app that also will help analyze your nutrition and show your progress toward your goals.

You can use this recipe analysis tool to find the calories and nutrients in your favorite recipes. Consider your caloric intake against the estimated number of calories you are taking in. In general, to see weight loss, you will need a caloric deficit.

Motivate Yourself With Non-Food Rewards

Use non-food rewards, such as a new pair of walking shorts, a pedicure, or a new audiobook, as motivation to complete your weekly (or monthly) walking goals. You might fall into social walking habits that encourage pre or post-walk coffee or baked goods—especially if you walk with a partner or group. But hitting a coffee shop or bar as a post-walk reward can make it harder to reach your weight-loss goals.

If weight loss is your goal, consider the portion size and frequency of food rewards. Perhaps you will be just as satisfied sharing a cookie or swapping your cappuccino for a drip coffee with milk.

Swap High-Calorie Beverages for Water

High-calorie beverages such as sodas, fruit juices, coffee drinks, and sports drinks provide little nutritional benefits and may pose as a barrier to your weight management goals. Swapping these drinks for water is a simple solution.

You need water during walking workouts and may need electrolyte replacement if you are sweating and walking for more than 60 minutes. But you don't need to drink extra calories.

Drinking your calories, especially in beverages that don't supply fiber or protein, may lead to consuming more calories than you would otherwise because these types of drinks are not filling.

Incorporate Hills and Stairs Into Your Walks

Adding bursts of intensity to your walking workout can help build your fitness and get your heart rate up, along with several other benefits. Hills and stairs are the easiest way to add the intensity to your workout.

You might even want to add a detour that specifically includes a hill climb or climbing stairs. On the treadmill, switch it up with hill intervals.

Add Daily Activity

If you get in your walking workouts most days of the week, but you sit for most of the day at work or school, you may still have a harder time getting enough activity to lose weight and improve your health.

Find ways to break up sitting time with bouts of standing, pacing, or walking. This is one way to get to 10,000 steps per day, and every bit of movement and standing burns more calories than sitting still. This can add up to burning hundreds more calories per day.