Woohoo! Scientists uncovered a super-easy way to burn even more calories during walking– simply vary your walking speed. For this study, researchers had study subjects walk at varying speeds on a treadmill set at a constant rate.

The researchers then measured the “metabolic cost” of alternating walking speeds as the study subjects purposely changed their walking pace. The results revealed that simply altering walking speed can translate to burning 6-20 percent additional calories.

According to the lead researcher, changing walking pace requires kinetic energy, which demands that our legs muscles have to work a bit harder. And more muscle work means more calories burned.

So for trimmer waistline, speed up and slow down off and on as you walk, or even start and stop every once in a while. (Biology Letters, September 2015)

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