Is a brisk walk better for losing weight than going to the gym?

Is a brisk walk better for losing weight than going to the gym? "A brisk 30-minute walk five days a week is more effective than any other form of exercise for keeping weight down," The Times reports. That is the reported conclusion of two researchers who looked at data from the annual English Health Surveys from 1999 to 2012.

As expected, they found people who regularly walk briskly for half an hour five days a week were likely to have a lower body mass index (BMI) than people who are less active.

The study found women and those over the age of 50 were most likely to have a lower weight if they walked regularly. By walking, the researchers mean brisk walking that raises your heart rate and makes you sweat slightly, not a gentle stroll.

Walking was also linked to having a smaller waist size – although, for men, sport and other forms of exercise were more strongly linked to waist size than walking. Sport and exercise were also linked to a lower BMI, although the link was not as strong as it was for walking.

However, this study does not seem to have compared the effects of the two types of activity directly, so we cannot say for sure – as many in the UK media have done – that walking is more effective than other types of exercise. NHS Choices