How many minutes is 7 miles walking

When many people think of walking for exercise, they envision themselves walking 2-3 miles a day. As a leisurely pace, walking 3 miles takes about one hour, so a 3-mile walk is a good daily workout, especially if you’re walking 3 miles a day most days of the week.

More ambitious walkers often build up to walking 5-6 miles a day, which nearly doubles the time commitment, but is still quite feasible for many.

Once you get up into the range of walking 7 miles a day or more, you’re looking at a significant chunk of time for your walks. However, there’s nothing to say you can’t split your mileage into multiple walks when walking 7 miles a day.

For example, you can walk 3 miles in the morning and 4 miles in the evening, or you can try walking 5 miles in the morning and then doing a brisk 2 mile walk on your lunch break.

In this article, we will cover what to expect from walking 7 miles a day, including the benefits, how long it takes to walk 7 miles, and how many calories you burn walking 7 miles a day.

We will cover: 

• How Far Is 7 Miles?

• How Long Does It Take to Walk 7 Miles a Day?

• How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking 7 Mile a Day?

• Benefits of Walking 7 Miles a Day

Let’s get started!

How Far Is 7 Miles?

A mile is the equivalent of 5,280 feet or 1,609 meters, so 7 miles is about 11.25 kilometers.

If you decide to walk on a standard 400-meter running track, you will need to walk just over 28 full laps to walk 7 miles. 

How Long Does It Take to Walk 7 Miles a Day?

The speed at which you walk, or the pace you can maintain, dictates how long it takes to walk 7 miles. 

Factors that affect your walking speed include your age, effort level, fitness level, sex, and body size, along with other factors such as the terrain, incline, and weather conditions you are walking in. 

The following table shows how long it will take to walk 7 miles at different paces:

How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking 7 Miles a Day?

Depending on how much you weigh and how fast you walk, you can burn a lot of calories walking 7 miles a day.

Your energy expenditure will be even higher if you are hiking on rough terrain or walking up an incline.

You can wear a heart rate monitor and fitness watch to record your walking speed and heart rate, which then can be used to calculate the number of calories you burn.

It’s also possible to estimate the calories burned walking 7 miles using metabolic equivalents (METs) for walking at different speeds.

Below, we’ve created a chart that uses these METs values from Compendium of Physical Activities for various walking speeds and conditions to calculate the approximate number of calories burned walking 7 miles a day for different body weights.  

Benefits of Walking 7 Miles a Day

There are quite a few benefits of walking 7 miles a day. 

Walking is a great low-impact aerobic exercise, meaning that it strengthens your heart and lungs without stressing your bones and joints as much as running. 

Walking has been associated with reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and the risk of premature all-cause mortality.

Additionally, walking 7 miles a day far exceeds the physical activity guidelines for health set forth by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which state that adults should aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week to reduce the risk of lifestyle diseases. 

Thus, walking 7 miles a day even twice per week can improve your health and reduce your disease risk.

Walking also strengthens the muscles in your legs and core (and arms, if you power walk) and if you walk 7 miles a day in one chunk, your long walks will help prepare you for other endurance events like marathon running and trail running by giving you “time on your feet.”

Walking is also associated with mental health and cognitive health benefits, such as decreasing stress and anxiety, elevating your mood, improving working memory, and boosting confidence and self-esteem.

7 Tips for Walking 7 Miles a Day

#1: Accrue Your Steps Throughout the Day

There’s nothing to say you have to walk 7 miles all in one single walk without stopping.

Nearly all research suggests that it’s more about accruing steps throughout the day or your accumulated total in terms of how much walking you need to do to reduce your risk of disease and improve your health.

For this reason, if you don’t have a single block of time for walking 7 miles a day, you can wear a pedometer or activity tracker and aim for walking 7 miles over the course of the day.

Steps add up! Walking 2-3 miles several times a day is a great way to get to your goal of walking 7 miles a day.

#2: Schedule Your Walks

Making a schedule for your walks will help you maintain the consistency you need with your walks to effectively increase your endurance and build up to walking 7 miles a day.

When are you going to walk? In the morning before work? At lunch with a coworker? After dinner with your partner?

Plan a time and stick with it. Better yet, physically write it down in your planner or digital calendar to ensure you carve out the time.

#3: Multitask

Walking 7 miles a day takes a lot of time, so if you can multitask and use the time to get other things done, you’ll be that much more productive and efficient as you work out.

For example, you can take a work call, schedule your child’s dental appointment, listen to an audiobook or self-help podcast, or even practice a new language.

#4: Make It Social

Walking with a friend, partner, or family member will make your walks more enjoyable and will pass the time.

#5: Build Up Slowly

You don’t have to go from not exercising to walking 7 miles a day every day. Not only will this feel completely overwhelming, but it can also lead to overuse injuries and burnout.

Build up your walking mileage slowly. Start with walking 2 miles a day or so, and then gradually increase the distance of your walks.

#6: Throw In Intervals

Intervals of brisk walking break up the monotony of a long walk while also boosting your heart rate, which improves your aerobic fitness.

An example of an interval workout if you’re walking 7 miles a day would be to warm up by walking 2 miles and then walk 1/4 mile as fast as possible followed by 1/4 mile at your comfortable walking pace. 

You can continue alternating between hard and easy intervals for 3 miles (12 rounds), and then cool down with 2 miles of easy walking.

#7: Fuel Your Body

Walking 7 miles a day requires a tremendous output of energy, so it’s vital that you not only fuel your body well before, during, and right after your walk, but also that you are consuming a balanced, nutrient-dense, diet that provides an adequate number of calories and nutrients to support your exercise.

Walking 7 miles a day is certainly not impossible, nor is it excessive as long as you are properly fueling your body, taking rest days, and heeding any signs and symptoms of injury or overtraining.

Enjoy your walks, and set goals that keep you engaged and inspired. Most of all, feel proud of your dedication to being healthy and fit.

If you are interested in taking on other challenges, take a look at our variety of 30-Day Fitness Challenges!

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