Walking and calorie counting

Guest Author - Hellie T.

If you are trying to lose weight and get fit then it can be important to know the number of calories you are eating and the number that you are actually using up each day.

This is the important bit! You need to take approx 20 steps to walk off one calorie.
Now it is easy to work out just how much that chocolate biscuit or ham sandwich you ate accidentally - will take to walk off !

For instance if you had two slices of wholemeal bread at 70 calories a slice - that is 140 calories .
You then multiply this by 20 and get 2,800 steps .

If you stroll it would take you approx 33 minutes
If you walk at an average of 100 steps a minute it would take you approx 28 minutes to walk off.
If you were a power walker then it would take you 18 minutes

Here are just a few of the foods readily available

a bottle of coke (16oz) is just 165 calories but takes 33 minutes to walk off when walking at 100 steps a minute

One After Eight mint is just 35 calories - only 7 minutes walking but eat five and that’s 35 minutes walking

A quarter pounder with a large portion of chips/french-fries and a large sized milk shake adds up to a whopping 1210 calories
walking at 100 steps a minute that would take you 2 hours 42 minutes to walk off!

A small packet of Maltesers (37g) is 183 calories - which equals 36 minutes walking

A small bag of salted peanuts (50g) is 303 calories which equals walking for one hour.

So remember to work walking into your lifestyle and help you on your way to fitness and health – use this sum before you reach for a little snack
One calorie = 20 steps.
One peach = 36 calories means 36 x 20 = 720
720 steps divided by 100 = 7.2 minutes of walking

If you are not sure how fast you walk and haven’t got a step meter then here is an easy way to find out.
Get your watch out or get someone to time you
Walk for exactly 20 seconds counting your steps as you go ( or get a friend to count them for you)
Then times the number of steps that you walked by 3 you then have the number of steps you walk in a minute! For example 30 steps in 20 seconds = 30 x 3 = 90 steps a minute.

Enjoy your walking