Walk farther, walk faster or walk harder. Those are basically your options, but let’s take the scenic route on this answer because walking is fast becoming a hot research topic among health scientists. It’s arguably the most accessible form of exercise available to us and mounting research shows it’s good for heart health, blood pressure, mental health and more. Walking three times a week nearly halves the recurrence of back pain according to research published in 2024, while another study from that year found that hitting 10,000 steps a day lowers your risk of heart disease.
You can also walk off excess body weight – to an extent. In terms of burning calories and weight loss more generally, the research unsurprisingly shows that walking is less effective than more intense forms of exercise, like running or weightlifting. The amount of calories you can burn depends on a number of factors, but the average person gets through a modest 250 calories walking for an hour at a moderate, unstrained pace.
If walking is the only thing you’re doing, it’s unlikely to move the needle very far on the weighing scales. Research shows that it can improve the effects of a calorie-restricted diet, however. A 2017 study in the Journal of Nutrition found obese and overweight people who walked 2.5 hours a week, along with following a diet, lost more weight and fat mass than people who just followed the diet.