The number of calories burned by walking for an hour or two depends on your current body weight and your speed. If you speed walk for two hours, however, you'll likely expend a significant number of calories, and if you do so on a regular basis, you may start to lose weight.
Tip
Depending on your weight and how fast you walk, you can burn approximately 480 to 888 calories speed walking for two hours.
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Speed Walking: Calories Burned
The more you weigh, the more calories you'll burn speed walking for two hours at the same pace as a smaller person. Harvard Health Publishing reports that 185-pound individuals expend approximately 712 calories walking for two hours at a pace of 3.5 miles per hour, 800 calories walking at a pace of four miles per hour and 888 calories at a pace of 4.5 miles per hour.
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Adults who weigh 155 pounds expend fewer calories speed walking than someone who weighs 185 pounds. A 155-pound adult burns 596 calories walking at a pace of 3.5 miles per hour for two hours, 668 calories walking 4 miles per hour and 744 calories walking 4.5 miles per hour.
Although 125-pound adults expend fewer calories than those of heavier weights, they still burn a significant number of calories speed walking for a two-hour time period. If you weigh 125 pounds, you'll burn 480 calories walking at a pace of 3.5 miles per hour, 540 calories walking 4 miles per hour and 600 calories walking 4.5 miles per hour.
Tip
If you spend two hours walking, a calories calculator, such as the one found on ExRx.net can help you calculate how many calories you burned. Some apps and fitness devices utilize a step counter. To calculate calories burned when walking, first determine how far you walked using the Steps to Distance Converter and calculate your walking speed; then input that information into the calories calculator.
Speed Walking for Weight Loss
Burning 500 to 1,000 more calories than you consume daily will help you drop about 1 to 2 pounds per week — which is a safe rate of weight loss, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you don't have two hours each day to devote to speed walking, try participating in 45 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise daily and consuming 500 fewer calories a day.
Avoid pushing your body beyond its limits in an attempt to walk faster for greater calorie burn. Speed walking should be a challenging workout, but if you push too hard, you may be too sore to workout or even injure yourself, which may prevent you from getting any type of exercise. Always check with your doctor before beginning speed walking or any other exercise program.
If you are just starting a walking program, the University of California, Berkeley recommends starting with a 10-minute walk each day at a pace of 3 to 3.5 miles per hour and build up to walking 30 minutes per day, six days per week.
Once you achieve this, increase your speed to 3.5 to 4.5 miles per hour and aim for 45-minute sessions three to five times per week. From there, you can increase the intensity even more by racewalking at a pace of 5 to 9 miles per hour, carrying weights or walking up and down hills.
- Harvard Health Publications: "Calories Burned in 30 Minutes for People of Three Different Weights"
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "Losing Weight"
- ExRx.net: "Exercise Calories Burned Calculator"
- University of California, Berkeley: "Exercise: Starting a Walking Program"
- ExRx.net: "Steps to Distance Converter"