Walking plan to lose weight: a free 12-week plan
Walking is one of the easiest ways to move more, and moving more helps with weight, slowly. This plan is built on what the American College of Sports Medicine found about how much activity it takes: it starts at a level most people can manage and builds over 12 weeks to more than 250 minutes a week, the amount the ACSM linked to clinically significant weight loss.
The short answer
Walk briskly 5 days a week at first, then 6, adding about five minutes per walk every two weeks: from 20 minutes in weeks 1 and 2 to 50 minutes in weeks 11 and 12. That builds from 100 to 300 minutes a week. Walking alone usually gives modest weight loss; combined with eating a little less, it works much better.
What the research says walking does for weight
The ACSM’s review of the evidence (Donnelly and colleagues, 2009) found:
- 150 to 250 minutes a week of moderate activity, such as brisk walking, helps prevent weight gain, but on its own gives only modest weight loss.
- More than 250 minutes a week has been associated with clinically significant weight loss.
- 150 to 250 minutes a week improves weight loss when combined with moderately eating less.
A meta-analysis of pedometer walking programmes that changed nothing about food (Richardson and colleagues, 2008) found an average loss of about 1.3 kg (2.8 lb) over programmes lasting a median of 16 weeks, with longer programmes losing more. That is the honest baseline: walking helps, gradually, and it helps most alongside changes to what you eat.
The 12-week plan
| Weeks | Each walk | Walks a week | Minutes a week | About this far at 3 mph (4.8 km/h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | 20 minutes | 5 | 100 | 8 km (5 miles) a week |
| 3 to 4 | 30 minutes | 5 | 150 | 12 km (7.5 miles) a week |
| 5 to 6 | 35 minutes | 6 | 210 | 17 km (10.4 miles) a week |
| 7 to 8 | 40 minutes | 6 | 240 | 19 km (11.9 miles) a week |
| 9 to 10 | 45 minutes | 6 | 270 | 22 km (13.4 miles) a week |
| 11 to 12 | 50 minutes | 6 | 300 | 24 km (14.9 miles) a week |
Over the 12 weeks that is about 42 hours of walking and around 200 km (125 miles).
- Walk briskly: the CDC puts moderate-intensity walking at about 3 mph (4.8 km/h) or faster. You should be able to talk but not sing.
- Split walks if you need to. Two 25-minute walks count the same as one 50-minute walk.
- If a step feels too big, repeat the previous two weeks before moving on.
- Keep one day off each week, or make it an easy stroll.
Make the food side easier
The ACSM found walking works best for weight loss together with moderately eating less. Small, steady changes are easier to keep than strict diets: smaller portions, fewer sugary drinks and snacks, more vegetables. Our guide to how many steps a day to lose weight explains why calorie maths for walking alone overpromises.
Track what you can control
The number on the scales moves around from day to day. Track the walking as well: minutes or steps each week. The walks are the part you control, and they are what the plan is built on.
After 12 weeks
Keep going at the level you reached. The ACSM found that after weight loss, people who did more than 250 minutes of activity a week kept the weight off better, though that evidence comes from observational studies, not controlled trials. For a shorter starter version, try the 28-day walking challenge.
Walking with a finish line
Walking is easy to skip when it leads nowhere in particular. reTrek gives your walks a finish line: pick a famous route, like the Camino de Santiago or the Inca Trail, and every walk moves you further along it, with a short film about the place waiting at each milestone. You stop looking for a spare moment to walk and start walking to reach the next milestone.
Everest Base Camp is free. Get reTrek.