Walking to lose weight?

[Anonymous]

I am taking zumba and step aerobics classes 3x a week but the other two days I would like to walk since it's low impact and something I can do on my own time. I was wondering how long or how far should I walk? I was thinking of walking 2-3 miles at first, then increasing it to 5 miles but then I thought about the daily/weekly recommendation for exercise from the cdc and decided maybe I should aim for 45 minutes to 60 min. what do you think?

Updates

+1 y

i will be walking at my neighborhood trail by the way in case anyone is wondering. do I focus on distance or time?

[Longshot]

I am walking just about 4 miles a day, 5-6 days a week. I walk 15 minute miles. So it's tasking me 60-70 minutes which is about right.

I am also working with a nutritionist on my diet. I have lost a fair amount of weight -- about 20 pounds in 6-7 weeks and all I am doing is walking So you can lose weight.

[WoIIie]

Walking to lose weight is like emptying a bath tub using a thimble.

If you have 45-60 minutes to walk around, then you have 5-10 minutes to do a real cardio routine that will burn fat and challenge your body.

If you want low impact cardio to rest up, do that once a week, like on a rest day.

[YourLifeCoach]

Actually, most of the time it is the amount of steps you take (which can only be measured by a pedometer which you clip on you). As well, it is more about the pace than the length. If you're walking faster then you can walk less of a distance. If you are walker slower then go further.

[TheRealAttila]

Stitches hit it on the head. If you're fit enough to do zumba, walking will do nothing for you. If you want a repetitive low impact activity, at least do swimming, itll melt the fat off your body.

[Anonymous]

Do it time based. Get an iPod and play some music, it'll make you walk for longer periods of time. Walking is a great exercise. It's what humans did when were still on the savannah in Africa.