Is walking actually beneficial for weight loss?

Yes. I lost 2st just by walking for 1-2 hours a day.

I did a pilates class and the instructor was trying to loose weight (not a lot just a few pounds). She tried doing more/different exercises and there was no significant difference until she cut her calorie intake!

As other posters have said - the key to losing weight is being in calorie deficit. How that deficit is achieved will vary from person to person. Smart watches are a good way of monitoring calorie burn but they’re obviously not 100% accurate. Think of them as a guide, not gospel. There’s some really good literature on the NHS about healthy calorie deficit which is a good starting point. As for walking as a way to lose weight, I have found it very effective but not in isolation. It must be combined with calorie deficit. If you’re walking more but don’t change your diet your overall fitness may improve but weight will stay the same.

I'm adamant I only started putting weight on when I got a car. And living in a poorly serviced area for public transport! Pregnancy just compounded it all
When I say I used to walk, I mean 60 minutes each day to and from work, power walking.
Plus 60mins 3times a week of body pump. I would walk the 30minutes to and from class as well, on top of the work commute.
That was easy enough pre-children, but it changes a bit after they come along!
It was noticeable that I had to start watch what I ate as soon as I started driving

Walking and other exercise is obviously good for you, but you lose weight by cutting down on calories. You might find that exercise means that you have bigger muscles, and they weigh more than fat, so although you should have lost weight from cutting down on calories, you might actually weigh the same. You just need to keep going! But do make sure that you're eating a good diet, no snacks and try to wean yourself off all sugar.

So that's broadly true but also a bit too simplistic in terms of the calorie amounts.

You have your basal metabolic rate, which is the amount you'd burn in a coma basically, and that will vary very much depending on height, weight and muscle mass. Then you have your TDEE, which is how much you burn in total, and that number will vary depending on how physically active you are.

So to lose say 1/2kg a week, you need to eat 500 calories below your TDEE daily, or 1/2lb a week you'd be eating about 200 calories below.

yes. I would go further and say it has little or nothing to do with exercise. I can’t exercise any more due to chronic illness and yet I have lost 6 stone over the last 2 years by switching to a Mediterranean diet and ensuring I am in calorie deficit.

Physical activity burns calories. High-intensity exercise (eg running, rowing) burns more calories than low-intensity exercise, eg walking. But walking does burn some calories and the further & faster you walk, the more calories you burn. Basic physics.

Therefore walking can contribute to losing weight if it is part of maintaining a calorie deficit over time, along with eating less & eating healthier. I lost 35kg and walking briskly for 6-7 km per day was the main form of exercise which contributed to this. But if I hadn’t reduced my calorie intake, I wouldn’t have lost so much.

Yes!

I walked about 20k steps for 2 years alongside a calorie reduction (no cutting out foods or calorie counting, just eating less) and lost 5 stone.

I've been incredibly sedentary for the last 4 months, walking less than 10k and I've gained a stone back! Need to move more again.

I spoke to a consultant recently and he said that if you consume less than your daily calorific limit every day, so less than 2000 calories, 2500 for men, you will lose weight no matter what you do, your body burns calories all the time, so walking, indeed any activity will help..

walking, or any exercise for that matter, will only help you lose weight if you eat in a calorie deficit. You could sit on your bum all day and still lose weight if you ate in a calorie deficit. You can’t cheat with the nutrition. Unless of course you walk enough to burn 1000 calories a day?

I know it's great exercise for fitness but doing tons of it over years and years in my youth left me with huge calves and thick ankles that I don't think I can ever slim down.

I used to walk a lot more than I do now. Whilst it didn’t make me lose weight it definitely kept my weight stable.

Lost 2.5lbs walking and calorie deficit and keeping it off on maintenance calories and… you guessed it, walking.

I don’t really exercise , but I have a dog so I’m out most days walking him as well as doing lots of housework in a large house .
My weight is fairly stable .
However when I upped my walking ( away in a city in a different country ) I lost 2 kilos over a month .

@Bluestar1971 , I think that's an overestimate. I'd say about 500, if that. I'm about 50 kg and it's not very hilly around here so I probably wouldn't burn that.

Walking is a great help in losing weight. My walking pad is the best thing iv ever bought

Walking is good exercise but it's all about being in a calorie deficit.

I hate to say it but losing weight is much more about what you eat than exercise. A five mile run only burns about 650 calories.

Keep to three meals a day, no more than 500 cals a meal and no snacks at sll. You will lose weight

If you are out walking that is a couple of hours less in the day to eat.

Eating less is the only way to weight loss, I am afraid.

I walk a lot and notice it helps if I’m doing some hills. The incline is very important. Walking on flat will only go so far. But anything is better than nothing at all.

Nope it’s crap. You need high intensity exercise and walking (unless speed walking up lots of hills) doesn’t provide this. Your heart rate shouldn’t be too high when walking. My mum spend years convinced she should be losing weight because she had an active job and did over 10k steps a day. Didn’t shift a pound. It’s just no good. You need to run or do HIIT or strength training- something to get the heart pumping. Also 10k steps is nothing, I walk at least twice that most days.

It really is. I’ve lost 10lbs in 3 months (so slow but steady) just from walking and hiking as well as watching what I eat and cutting down on drinking!

It depends on your starting point. Someone who is significantly overweight and unfit will burn quite a lot of calories just walking, because moving a heavy body uses more energy than moving a lighter body. But once the person is losing weight and getting fitter, the calorie burn will reduce.

Most people need more than just walking to have any effect on their weight. You need to feel a bit out of breath with an elevated heart rate for a decent chunk of time. Someone very overweight or unfit will likely achieve this simply by going for a walk. But for most people, you’d need to set quite a brisk walking pace and/or go up some steep hills (great for glutes).

Walking is good for mental health and general mobility though, so always worth doing. It’s something we should all be doing a fair bit of on a weekly basis; daily if possible. Our grandparents and great grandparents would have likely done loads more walking than we do today.