Does Walking Get Rid of Back Fat & Stomach Fat?

Back fat and stomach fat can accumulate on your body for a variety of reasons -- it may result from a bad diet, inactivity or even genetics. While you can't exercise to get rid of fat from one area, it can help you lose weight all over. Walking provides a beneficial way to burn calories and fat from your entire body, including your stomach and back.

Walking is a form of aerobic exercise. This means it gets your heart rate up and helps you burn calories and fat. When you combine walking with a healthy, low-calorie diet, you can lose weight from your body, including your back and stomach. Walk at a brisk pace for at least 30 minutes a day to burn calories, improve your heart health and lose weight. Walk with friends, making your workout a social activity.

Walking may not be the most aerobically intense form of exercise around, but it still burns calories at a steady pace. Strolling at only 2 mph, you can still burn 181, 227 and 272 calories an hour if you currently weigh 160, 200 or 240 pounds, respectively. With a healthy diet, this should help you lose about 1 pound a week.

Use interval training to get more out of your walking workout -- and burn off that back and stomach fat faster. Interval training is when you work out at a moderate pace, then increase the intensity of your workout for a few seconds before going back to a moderate pace. So, you might walk for a minute, then power walk for 30 seconds. Include jogging instead of power walking for a more challenging workout. Varying your pace will burn more calories in a shorter period of time.

Though you may be tempted to do a series of situps, pushups and back lifts to burn your back and stomach fat, it won't work. Spot reduction just doesn't work; you can't burn fat from one particular part of your body by performing exercises that tone your problem area. You can do toning exercises to firm your back and stomach muscles, which will give you a defined look once the fat comes off, but they won't burn the fat. Aerobic exercise -- such as walking -- is the only way to accomplish your weight loss goals.