Can Walking a Mile a Day Help With Weight Loss?
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Setting healthy goals, like walking a mile a day, can help to increase your fitness level and keep you moving. And that can also serve as a foundation for bigger fitness gains in the future!
Walking a mile a day can be a smart benchmark for movement. But, this is most powerful for your health when you can do it consistently, says Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Core Collective located in Brookline, MA. “One day where you walk a mile doesn’t seem like much, but over the course of a week, month, year...that all adds up,” he says. “There’s a lot of empowerment and motivation that can be drawn from that.”
Meet the experts: Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Core Collective located in Brookline, MA; NSCA-certified trainer Alfonso Moretti; Marcel Dinkins, Peloton tread instructor and motivational speaker; Beth Warren, R.D.N., founder of Beth Warren Nutrition and author of Living a Real Life With Real Food.
Interested in adding walking a mile a day to your to-do list? Here’s what experts recommend you keep in mind, plus how to achieve your goal.
How long does it take to walk a mile a day?
Everyone is different, and the time it takes for you to walk a mile a day can vary wildly from what it will take someone else. “Walking a mile a day can vary in duration depending on individual pace, terrain, and level of fitness,” says Marcel Dinkins, Peloton tread instructor and motivational speaker.
Still, she says that it usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes to walk a mile at a moderate pace.
NSCA-certified trainer Alfonso Moretti recommends aiming for a 20-minute mile when you walk. “That equates to walking 3 miles per hour,” he says.
Potential benefits of walking a mile a day
There are a lot of perks of walking a mile a day. If you need added motivation, experts recommend keeping these in mind:
It can improve your cardiovascular health. Movement, especially when you can do it at a brisk pace, causes your heart to beat faster and supports good cardiovascular health, Dinkins says.
It’s been linked to a longer life. “Walking has been shown to decrease all-cause mortality,” Moretti says. “In fact, the more you walk, the less likely you’ll be to get cancer, arthritis, heart disease, and much more.”
It can support good mental health. Walking, along with other forms of exercise, can help clear your mind, Dinkins points out.
Does walking a mile a day burn calories?
Yes, walking a mile a day burns calories. “Any movement burns calories, and done consistently adds up to a significant positive impact on your weight,” says Beth Warren, R.D.N., founder of Beth Warren Nutrition and author of Living a Real Life With Real Food.
The exact number of calories you’ll burn when you walk a mile depends on a lot of factors, including your personal metabolism, weight, and speed. However, most people will burn around 100 calories, give or take, when they walk a mile.
Does walking a mile a day boost weight loss?
The impact of walking a mile a day on your weight largely depends on what you were doing before. “It stands to reason that if someone goes from doing nothing to walking a mile a day, they may see a trend of weight loss over the course of several weeks to months,” Gentilcore says.
What else you’re doing matters, too, Moretti says. “Walking a mile every day will help boost weight loss if you’re consuming a nutritious diet and are in a calorie deficit,” he says. “You’ll lose weight if you’re consistently burning more calories than you’re consuming.”
How to incorporate walking a mile a day into your daily routine
It’s one thing to say you want to walk a mile a day, and another to actually do it. But Dinkin says it can be “quite simple” if you plan for it. “You could walk to work if it’s feasible, take a brisk stroll during your lunch break, make it a post-dinner ritual, or do it the first thing in the morning,” she says.
Gentilcore suggests making an activity calendar to put on your fridge. “There’s a lot of power that comes with checking off that you did something on any given day,” he says. “I find that once someone can see that they’re being consistent, that’s a behavior that will generally stick around for a while.”
Moretti also recommends walking five minutes away from where you are and back five to six days a week from your home or during a break at work. “Every two weeks, add another two minutes to your schedule. After a few months you’ll be walking 20 to 30 minutes per day,” he says.
If walking a mile a day at once seems too intimidating, Dinkins recommends breaking it into smaller segments throughout your day, like parking farther away from your destination and taking the stairs instead of the elevator. “The key is finding what works best for your schedule and lifestyle, and making it a consistent habit,” she says.
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