Walking speeds off? (3.0, 3.5 mph?) Help!

Ramberta

Hi there MFP,

My primary source of exercise is walking, which is difficult to track exactly because there's no machine involved, except my pedometer on my phone. Last night, I walked 6/10ths of a mile in a little over half an hour. This was from stepping off my front stoop to coming back again, and though I'd like to say I kept up a fairly quick pace, obviously it varied in parts.

But when I was putting my exercise in, I went by the phrases involved rather than the speeds (brisk pace, very brisk pace, walking dog, leisurely stroll) and now I'm wondering who actually does walk three miles in an hour. Isn't that called jogging? >_>

Am I doing this wrong? But if I put in my speed at 1 mph, it's going to say I burned only about 100 calories, which I think is a tad ridiculous. I worked up a sweat and had to stretch out my legs after because they were a little sore, so I'm pretty sure I burned more than that!

shimila1101

Maybe invest in a HRM? That way no matter what your speed, you'll know for sure how many calories you burned. Good Luck!

cckeimig

Well, I used walking for the first few months on the site and went more by the descriptions than anything else because I don't have any sort of pedometer or HRM or anything, either. And I know sometimes I walk practically as fast as I would jog, but I also know that walking a mile in 20 minutes isn't that unheard of (a.k.a. 3.0 miles/hour), and if you walk fast, then you won't take that long at all, either. When I walk 4.5 or 5.0 miles an hour (according to my judgement, again), I am going super fast, and I think it's pretty close to accurate, just based on the length of time to go the same distance.

I'm not sure if that helps or not.

ninaflores

I guess it depends on how hard you're used to exercise... I'm used to running, so when I decide to walk (usually on weekends) my speed is usually around 6.5 km/h (4 miles/hour). But you should increase your speed slowly. When you feel like your exercise is becoming too easy, increase your pace a bit.

bluegirl10

Well I would think about getting in HRM because that is the best way to get accurate calorie burn. However, yes, you can walk 3 miles per hour... You can actually get up to 5 miles per hour, but that would be power walking/jogging. A good fitness pace to walk a mile is 15 minutes, but you might want to start off slower so perhaps 15 to 20 minutes per mile... Then just gradually increase your pace overtime.

LorinaLynn

I use sites like MapMyRun.com or RunKeeper.com to map out my course to judge the distance, then time myself. My normal walking speed is between 3-3.5, with my "walking with a purpose" walk is closer to 4 mph. I'm a really fast walker, though. And I didn't walk nearly that fast prior to exercising regularly. It used to be that my dog would drag me the whole way when we went for walks. Now I end up dragging him. :laugh:

Aileen46

I checked how long from my door to where I was walking to by doing a maquest direction search, if that makes sense. As an example, I walked from my place to the local grocery store at a good pace and timed it. I basically worked out that I walk at the 2.5 mph when I'm on my own. But I mostly walk my dog for the exercise and have found that he and can usually walk at the 2.5 mph, which they consider leisurely! . I work up a good sweat as well, because we are walking through a forest that has trails, which can be quite hilly at times. I know for a fact that him and I would never be walking at the 3 mph, which they consider the dog walking speed, so that always made me laugh.

The other thing that I've had to do is figure out what calories I am burning when I'm walking home at a slower pace but carrying approx. 10 pounds of groceries in each arm. The best example that I could come up with was "moving furniture, carrying boxes" because the calorie burn seemed close enough.

I never eat back all of my calories, unless I'm on a cheat day, so I don't mind being off by a few calories here and there.

flausa

Average walking speed is about 3 miles an hour, but if you are carrying a lot of excess weight, you might find your pace a lot slower. When I first started training for power walking (46lbs ago), I averaged around 3 miles an hour, but have slowly worked up to an average of 4 miles per hour. When I hit the zone on my treadmill or on a really long walk, I can get up to 4.5 miles an hour, but really experienced power walkers will maintain a speed of 5 miles per hour for hours on end!

schobert101

100 calories is probably correct. A rough estimate is 100 calories per mile with heavier people burning more and lighter people burning less. If you did 0.6 mile and are overweight 100 is likely accurate.

TheGoktor

I've always been a fast walker, so my 'cruising' speed is around 3.3mph, which is think is about right for the 'average' adult. However, I do tend to get a bit of a wriggle on when walking by myself, so I probably get up to about four. I certainly walk faster than I run on average! :laugh:

ETA: That last bit was a complete lie! I just checked my stats, and I am running between 4.61mph (on a good day) and 3.75mph (on a not-good day). Wow, I find that really quite surprising - I thought I was much slower!

elliecolorado

I would also suggest getting a HRM. I finally invested in one and it was the best investment I have made (besides good running shoes). There are also apps for some phones (I have a blackberry) that will give you your speed/distance/ and an estimate of calories burned based on that and your height.weight. I do run/walk intervals and I walk at 3mph and jog at about 5-6mph. Truthfully I burn about the same amount in the same distance whether I walk or run, I just burn the calories faster the faster I go. It takes 20 minutes to burn x amount of calories when I walk a mile and would take 10 minutes to burn the same amount of calories running a mile (if I could run a full mile without stopping to walk).

LorinaLynn

If it's hilly and trails, you might want to consider the dog walking as "hiking, cross country" rather than walking.

Luthorcrow

A heart rate monitor is a great suggestion. Timex has some nice models with the chest strap on Amazon around the $70 range. Otherwise you pick a set route that is a known distance and then record your time to figure out the pace is pretty easy.

It is actually pretty easy to hit the 3-4 MPH range when walking fast. For me jogging would starts at around 5 MPH. When my wife and I go for a good walk on the weekend it is not uncommon for us to log 7 miles in two hours and that with a few hills (it's difficult to walk that far in San Francisco without hitting a few).

Although if you are not self conscious there is always speed walking. Although I can't think of that without thinking about Hal in that one episode of Malcolm in The Middle.

rainnebirdsong

I think it depends how long your legs are too. For a short person 3.5 is going to feel a lot faster (even if it doesn't burn more calories) than for a very tall person. I walk very fast and figured this was 3.5 mph. I then used runkeeper.com to map my exact route. RunKeeper asks for time it took me to complete that route. Then it shows how many calories you burned. I burned 93 according to MFP (in 25 minutes) and I burned 90 according to RunKeeper, so I was correct in estimating that I was walking 3.5 mph. This is pretty fast for me, but I have pretty short legs too. Hope that helps.

Timshel_

The HRM is cool, and I eventually bought one, but one method to figuring out you distance is to download Google Earth and use the path tool to trace your walk. That will give you pretty close to exact distance. Then just do the math with the time it took and average it out to miles per hour.

Now, I walk a VERY brisk pace and cover a mile in about 15 minutes, which is about 4.0 miles per hour (easy math) and I burn about 100 calories per mile. I know MFP has walking rates from 2.5 up to 4.0, so when you click 'Add Exercise' just look for Walking at X.X MPH.

BrianSharpe

The energy expended walking is dependent on the distance traveled and the mass being moved (weight), to get a reasonable estimate of net energy expended Runners World suggests the following formula:

.30 x weight (in lbs) x distance (in miles)

eg 150lb person walking 3 miles .30 x 150 x 3 = 135 cal

Net calories are those expended as a direct result of the activity and do not include BMR.

McKenzieLeigh

I am a short person so walking fast is harder for me, but my son and and walked to my office this weekend which is 1.3 miles from my house and we did it in 20 minutes (he was on his bike). Now, it took us 30 minutes to get home because it is more uphill and he just can't pedal that fast, but that was probably closer to 3 or 3.5 miles per hour...I don't have any way to track it though.

Skarlet13

100 calories is probably correct. A rough estimate is 100 calories per mile with heavier people burning more and lighter people burning less. If you did 0.6 mile and are overweight 100 is likely accurate.

You're probably talking about gross burn, as opposed to net burn. Net burn is closer to 40 cals per mile, unfortunately. Sad, but true. When I first read the article below I was shocked.

http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning?page=single

Skarlet13

The energy expended walking is dependent on the distance traveled and the mass being moved (weight), to get a reasonable estimate of net energy expended Runners World suggests the following formula:

.30 x weight (in lbs) x distance (in miles)

eg 150lb person walking 3 miles .30 x 150 x 3 = 135 cal

Net calories are those expended as a direct result of the activity and do not include BMR.

Yes this makes sense if you\re calculating net burn, as opposed to gross burn.

Anyone know if heart rate monitors calculate gross or net burn?

cwolfman13

and now I'm wondering who actually does walk three miles in an hour. Isn't that called jogging? >_>

No, 3 MPH walking is a relatively leisurely pace. 4 MPH is a brisk paced walk. 5 MPH would be a nice jog...6 plus MPH is running.

There are tons of apps out there for running/walking that will give you your average MPH.

qtgonewild

i use the runkeeper app it automatically syncs to mfp (i've set it up that way) but it tells you the speed.