How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking Per Mile?

If you are like most people, you may be wondering how many calories you burn walking one mile and if your walking speed plays a role—especially if you are someone who walks on a consistent basis.

When it comes to burning calories while walking, your weight and the distance you walk are the biggest factors in determining how many calories you burn. A good rules of thumb is that 180-pound person will burn about 100 calories when walking one mile and a 120-pound person will burn 65 calories walking one mile.

Below you can learn how many calories you are burning on your walk, depending on your weight and pace for various distances from one mile to the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. Read on to learn more about how many calories you burn walking a mile or more.

Calories at a Typical Walking Pace

Most people walk at a typical walking pace. This pace is generally how fast you would walk while walking your dog or walking with a friend or partner. This pace is the natural walking speed you fall into when going for a walk without attempting to walk fast.

To determine how many calories you are burning using the chart below, find your average weight at the top and the number of miles you walked on the left. This will show you the number of calories you burn when walking one mile or more. [The last two figures in the table are the 13.1-mile half-marathon distance and the 26.2-mile marathon distance.]

Calories Burned on a Brisk Walk

To see the effects of taking your walking speed up to brisk walking pace, check out the chart below. Keep in mind, you will burn more calories per mile as you increase your speed, but the biggest factor will still be how much you weigh.

One additional benefit of walking faster is that you can walk farther in the same amount of time. If you walk for a set amount of time, that will mean burning more calories during an exercise session.

Calories Burned at Faster Speeds

If you typically walk at a faster speed, here are some additional charts to help you determine how many calories you are burning. One provides information on a 4.5 mph walking pace (13.3 minutes per mile); and the other provides information on a 5.0 mph walking pace (12 minutes per mile). Once you get to higher rates of exertion, you will be close to jogging or even running.

Other Ways to Track Calories Burned

If you walk for a specific time, such 15 minutes or 30 minutes, rather than for a specific distance, you may want to check a chart of walking calories burned by minutes walked. You also can use a fitness tracker, to calculate the calories burned by step counts, keeping in mind that a mile is an average of 2,000 to 2,400 steps, depending on your height and stride length. Or, you can use the calculator below to determine the number of calories you are burning based on your activity.

How to Burn More Calories

If you want to burn more calories while walking, the metabolic equivalents (MET) research that produced these calorie numbers show some ways to do it.

One way to burn more calories is by walking more miles. Keep in mind that going faster has little effect on the calories burned per mile, but it can make a difference in other ways. For instance, you will cover more distance in the same amount of time. If you only have 15 minutes or 30 minutes for walking, then going faster is a good strategy.

You also can try other forms of movement. Running and racewalking burn more calories per mile. Running burns more calories per mile than walking, likely due to the effort of the lift phase, which raises both feet off the ground at the same time during running. You can burn more calories by adding running intervals to your walking workouts.

With the racewalking technique, you use more muscles during a stride compared with regular walking or running. This results in burning more calories per mile. Adding hills, stairs, or treadmill incline to your walking workout will burn also will more calories and add intensity to your workout. You can also burn more calories walking by using fitness walking poles, which add an upper-body muscular effort to your walking workout.

You might be tempted to carry weights or put on a weighted backpack to help you burn more calories. But you should remember that this might put more strain on your joints and feet. It is better to walk a couple of extra minutes to make up the difference instead.

If weight management is one of your goals, one way to address that is to increase your activity to burn more calories each day. But you also will need to consider your nutritional needs as well You can use a weight loss calculator to see what your calorie goal should be depending on how physically active you are.

A Word From Verywell

The key to burning more calories with physical activity is finding something you enjoy and doing it consistently. While the numbers look small, they will add up. If you enjoy walking with your dog or it is convenient to walk on your work breaks, you are more likely to do it and keep doing it.

That said, if you are new to exercise or walking, you may benefit from speaking with a healthcare provider first. They can review your fitness level and your medical history and let you know how much walking you should do when starting out.