Walk Miles A Day To Lose Weight

Every year, Christie Pham and her family take a photo together during their beach vacation. This year, she decided she wanted to look better in that photo. So, on April 1, she challenged herself to walk a mile every day for 100 days in her Pittsburgh neighborhood.

It wasn’t just her appearance that motivated her to make a change. She chose her mile-long route so she would be visible to her neighbors. “Last April, I had a little scare — I was in the hospital for some stress tests. So, I started walking around my community, because I knew that if I had some kind of cardiac issue, one of my neighbors would see me. I was that afraid at that point. I had a lot of health anxiety, ” she said.

Walking also gave her a way to manage trauma. She had a surprise pregnancy followed by a miscarriage three years ago that sent her into a deep depression. As part of her therapy, her counselor suggested to go outside and walk. “Walking helps you release the trauma, ” Pham said. “People underestimate how much your mood is going to change from that little bit of exercise.”

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Along with walking, she also rates her mental health on a 1 to 10 scale every day so she can see improvements, and she posts a daily #TinyJoy2022 on Instagram. “Starting or ending my day scanning for a tiny joy helped improve my outlook, ” she said. “With these changes, I feel like I’m back to the Christie I remember before the miscarriage trauma.”

Pham has lost 16 pounds, but she’s more excited about the non-scale victories. “Everything is just going in the right direction, ” she said.

“It’s amazing that only one mile a day can make a difference. You don’t have to go out there and work out three hours a day, ” she said. “I feel like a brand-new person. My anxiety is so much lower. I have decreased my therapy sessions, and I have more energy. I get up, and I spring right into my tennis shoes to go out for my walk. That’s the first thing I do.” 

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Her husband has noticed the changes in her, too. “He saw within a couple of weeks how much my mood was better. He made the comment, ‘I have my old wife back, ’ and that was wonderful to hear, ” she said. “He’s seeing the self-esteem, drive and energy of who I was when he married me 15 years ago.”

He’s been supporting her throughout her journey. “He starts the day with the kids so I can have that time to walk in the morning, ” she said. “Everything works better when I get in that exercise, so we adapted our day for it.”

Christie Pham always avoided the booths at her favorite coffee shop because she couldn't fit comfortably. She recently posted this photo of how much extra space she had!Courtesy Christie Pham

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Pham takes a photo of herself after each walk, and she no longer looks red and exhausted when she finishes. “You see your face transforming, ” she said. She used to have to stop or slow down on the first hill. “My heart rate would be astronomical when I got to the top. Now I’m just up and over, and it’s not even a pause, ” she said. She has walked a mile and a half to a park with her kids, played in the playground and walked back. “I would never have imagined that we would have done that, ” she said.

She hasn’t changed her diet much except for giving up her morning cup of coffee. “But because I’m taking care of myself better, I’m eating a lot better, and my portions are smaller, ” she said. She’s no longer reaching for snacks as comfort food at the end of the day. “That was my trouble spot, ” she said. And she realized she wasn’t eating enough protein, so now she makes sure to have protein with every meal.

Pham joined the Start Facebook group on May 31 — the day after her 45th birthday — after seeing it on . “I’m big on support groups on Facebook — I even admin several — and I have never seen a community as 100 percent positive as the Start munity, ” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re super athletic or just at the beginning. If people get a little bit frustrated or discouraged with their own progress, everybody chimes in and says, ‘You got this, don’t worry. You’re doing the right thing. Just give it time.’”

Walking For Weight Loss: How Much To Walk To Lose Weight

Groups like these help her stay positive. “I’ve surround myself with people also ‘doing their work, ’ staying healthy, exercising and working to create a better world. These people inspire me and keep me reaching for a better me, ” she said.

Pham is working her way through her next 100 days of daily walks, and her daughter made her a chart so she could track her progress. Her family took that beach vacation, and while she likes how she looks in the photo, she’s happier that she could keep up with her 11- and 8-year-old kids. “I was so much healthier running around on the beach this year, ” she said.

Pham told her doctor she intends to get her A1c to a normal level within a year. By then, she would also like to be closer to a healthy body mass index. “For now, I’m going to keep walking my mile a day, add more as time goes on, return to yoga and Pilates, and focus on conquering my smaller goals one at a time, ” she said.

Benefits Of Running A Mile Every Day. Nike.com

Her 15th wedding anniversary is coming up this fall. “Before we got married, my husband and I discussed renewing our vows on our 15th anniversary, ” she said. “I wasn’t happy being a plus-size bride, and I have always dreamt of having my original wedding gown taken in or remade for a renewal ceremony. I have never gotten close to being able to do that — until now! I tried on my wedding gown and it’s huge! I am more confident than ever I will get that non-plus-size dress for a vow renewal.”

Stephanie Thurrott is a writer who covers mental health, personal growth, wellness, family, food and personal finance, and dabbles in just about any other topic that grabs her attention. When she's not writing, look for her out walking her dog or riding her bike in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. Walking is a great form of exercise for a couple or reasons. One, you don’t need any equipment. Two, you can do it just about anywhere. These two reasons make it a great type of exercise to do on your lunch or when traveling – you don’t have to carry around a bunch of equipment or have a shower afterwards.

If the weather is nice, walking outside is the best for you. Getting your vitamin D from the sun, breathing in fresh air, listening to the birds singing and seeing the greenery of trees are all reasons why walking outside is good. If the weather is cold or miserable, walking indoors is a good alternative. For example, my Mom and Nana would walk laps inside a mall before the stores opened; I’ve done laps around the floor of an office building (plus flights of stairs so it was a giant loop) during my lunch.

How Many Miles A Day Should I Walk To Lose Weight?

I often asked is “How many steps do I need to walk every day to stay healthy? How many more to lose weight?” Walking for weight loss has been researched world wide.

In Canada, Health Canada recommends that adults accumulate at least 2 1/2 hours (or 150 minutes) of moderate to vigorous physical activity, each week. In America, the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition recommends the same. That’s about half-an-hour a day.

Most of us do not walk nearly enough due to our sedentary lifestyle. We sit at home – at the table to eat and on the couch. We also sit for work – at a desk and in the car (or public transit) to commute. According to the UK’s National Health Service, most Brits walk on average between 3, 000 and 4, 000 steps per day. The America On the Move study conducted in 2003 reported adults taking an average of 5117 steps per day (fewer steps per day than those living in Switzerland, Australia, and Japan). Stats Canada also did a study (2007-2009) and reported that men averaged 9, 500 steps per day, and women, 8, 400.

Is Walking 10 Miles A Day Too Much To Lose Weight?

Walking for one hour at 5 mph (5 miles or 9 kilometers) equates to approximately 10, 000 steps. Do this for five days and you’ll burn off enough calories to have lost a pound during that week – provided you ate healthy and watched your calorie intake[1].

You can’t “out run” a bad calorie-laden diet. Increase the intensity by walking faster, swinging your arms, etc. and you’ll burn even more calories.

But unless you measure out a 5-mile route and time your walk, how do you

How Far Do I Need To Walk Every Day To Lose Weight?