What is he doing?
Walking
Burning calories?
Weight is determined mostly by the balance of calories - how many you burn vs. how many you eat each day. To lose weight, you need to increase your activity to burn more and/or eat fewer calories each day.
Your weight x distance = energy used walking. Time does not matter as much as distance. If you speed up to walking a mile in 13 minutes or less, you will be burning more calories per mile.
Absolute Beginner walkers: you build leg muscles as you increase your walking time and distance. Concentrate on building the amount of time you spend walking.
For those who have been walking for months or years, you will need to alter your walking style to build more muscles just from walking. Learning to racewalk, you would be building new muscle and burning more calories per mile.
For those who are not interested in racewalking to build muscle, you should add some strength training to your weekly exercise schedule in addition to walking in order to build muscles.
| lbs | 100 | 120 | 140 | 160 | 180 | 200 | 220 |
| 2.0 mph | 65 | 80 | 93 | 105 | 120 | 133 | 145 |
| 2.5 mph | 62 | 74 | 88 | 100 | 112 | 124 | 138 |
| 3.0 mph | 60 | 72 | 83 | 95 | 108 | 120 | 132 |
| 3.5 mph | 59 | 71 | 83 | 93 | 107 | 119 | 130 |
| 4.0 mph | 59 | 70 | 81 | 94 | 105 | 118 | 129 |
| 4.5 mph | 69 | 82 | 97 | 110 | 122 | 138 | 151 |
| 5.0 mph | 77 | 92 | 108 | 123 | 138 | 154 | 169 |
| 6.0 mph | 86 | 99 | 114 | 130 | 147 | 167 | 190 |
| 7.0 mph | 96 | 111 | 128 | 146 | 165 | 187 | 212 |
How fast to walk
To Warm-Up~ First, you want to wake up your muscles and let them know you plan to be active for awhile. Walking at an easy warm-up pace for 5-10 minutes tells your muscles they can't just sit back and burn up the available sugars, they need to call on the fat reserves.
To Work-out~ The speed to walk for optimal fat-burning is a "determined" pace.
At this
rate, you should be breathing noticeably but able to carry on a conversation
in full sentences. Heart rate 60-70% of your maximum
heart rate. Marilyn L. Bach in Shapewalking
describes this as if you are on your way to an appointment, or up to 10
minutes late for an appointment. Walk at this speed for 30 minutes
at a time, once you have built up to that duration. See the Absolute Beginner
tutorial to build up to that duration.
Walking with racewalk style at paces under 13-minute miles will burn more calories per mile. We recommend this if you are already walking 20 miles a week as described above. In your case, to achieve more results purely from waking you may want to build speed as well as duration.
How long to walk
How long is enough?
30-60
minutes at 50-70% of your maximum heart rate is recommended. Start with walking at an easy
pace for 5-10 minutes. Stop and do some stretches and
flexibility exercises. Walk at your target heart rate
for 30-60 minutes Cool down at a slower pace for
5 minutes. Finish with some gentle stretches.
For longer walks, walk 30-60
minutes at your target heart rate and slow a bit to complete 90 or 120 minutes
at a comfortable pace.
What if I Can't Walk for 30 Minutes?
Start
with the Absolute Beginners Tutorial below to build up your time and endurance.
If your schedule doesn't permit
it, break it up into walking twice or three times a day for shorter periods.
Always warm up for 5 minutes at an easy pace no matter what duration you
will be walking.
How often to walk
For
weight loss, walk most days of the week. Time spent walking per week should
be 5-10 hours On your non-walking days, try
some strength training exercises. If you find yourself worn out,
take a day off. But be sure to get back walking the following day. 
