Does walking make you lose weight? Andrea Biasci of Project Invictus would answer “yes, if you go on foot to train” ( source ), but the point is that the practice of walking for the purpose of weight loss has proved useful in some cases, and useless in others, as I have already expressed in this article.
Walking burns fewer calories than other cardio activities such as running: it can undoubtedly be transformed into an all-round sport, and this is what happens for example with Nordic walking or fitwalking, but in general we are talking about a modest calorie consumption. . Furthermore, like any cardio activity, it is worth little or nothing in terms of body recomposition: it is only partially training for the legs ( source) and does not in itself increase lean mass, that is, it does not stimulate muscle growth, if not combined with other forms of training.
However, there are two considerations to make:
– walking allows us to reduce our hours of inactivity, so it is a good way to stay active for example on days when we do not train in the gym, since walking hardly risks overtraining.
– walking has positive effects on the metabolism , on the immune defenses, and does not produce a stress response compared to other cardio activities, such as running; it also promotes cellular oxygenation. At the metabolic level, walking is indicated to keep blood sugar under control, for those suffering from metabolic syndrome or even a diabetic or prediabietic condition, all conditions that have insulin resistance at the base, provided that it is done with a greater intensity ( source ).