How Many Calories Does Walking Burn per Mile?

Do you want to know how many calories you burn walking one mile, two miles, or more? How much does your walking speed matter?

Your weight and the distance you walk are the biggest factors in how many calories you burn while walking. A rule of thumb is that about 100 calories per mile are burned for an 180-pound person and 65 calories per mile are burned for a 120-pound person. Your walking speed matters less. Use these charts to 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.

First, take a look at the calories you would burn per mile at a typical walking pace you'd enjoy while taking a healthy walk or walking your dog. This pace is the natural one you'd assume when just going for a walk without attempting to walk fast.

Those last two figures are the 13.1-mile half-marathon distance and the 26.2-mile marathon distance.

Now see the effects of taking your walking speed up to brisk walking paces of 4 mph or more. You will burn more calories per mile as you increase your speed, but the biggest factor will still be how much you weigh. One 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.

If you walk for a specific time, such a 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 and walking pace or use a calories burned exercising calculator.

If you use a pedometer, you can check a chart of the calories burned by pedometer step counts. A mile is an average of 2,000 to 2,400 steps, depending on your height and stride length.

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. You will burn more calories by walking more miles. Going faster at a walking pace has little effect on the calories burned per mile, but it can make a difference because you'll 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.

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 and that results in burning more calories per mile.

Adding hills, stairs, or treadmill incline to your walking workout will burn 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.

As the charts show, you burn more calories per mile by weighing more. You might be tempted to carry weights or put on a weighted backpack. But you should consider that this would put more strain on your joints and feet. It is better to just walk a couple of extra minutes to make up the difference instead.

To lose weight, you need to increase your activity to burn more calories each day and/or eat fewer calories each day. You can use a weight loss calculator to see what your calorie goal should be depending on how physically active you are.

A pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. To lose one pound a week, you will need to burn about 500 more calories per day than you eat. You can do this by increasing your calorie-burning activity or by eating fewer calories—or both. It is easier to achieve it with combining increased activity and eating less. Exercising enough each day to burn 300 to 400 calories is a good goal for the exercise portion of your weight loss plan.

The key to burning more calories with physical activity is finding one you will enjoy and do consistently. While you may think 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.

Don't put off going for a pleasant walk thinking you'll be hitting the gym later, only to find that "later" never comes. Find ways to add walking throughout your day.

Brisk walking is moderate-intensity exercise. To reduce your health risks and maintain fitness, health authorities recommend 10 minutes of brisk walking at a time, three times per day, or a single 30-minute walk per day. By walking a total of 2 to 3 miles per day, you will not only be burning calories, you will be boosting your health.