help! I have a question for anyone.....

llpaq

I am new to working hard at the gym, I've had a membership for almost 22 years and only went and did half *kitten* work outs- well I haven't kept my shape up and need to tone up so I'm in it to win it now :bigsmile: BUT for the past 8 days, I've been walking at 3.5-4.0 (different intervals but never UNDER 3.5) on a slight incline for 35/40 minutes. I try to do intervals of about 4 minutes at 4.0 or go as long as I can - So today I thought I can start jogging a bit- so I started at walking at 3.5 and had the very slight incline - I jogged at 4.4 for 4 minutes 3 times but again never went under 3.5 and I didn't burn nearly as many calories as I have been the past 8 days- I normally burn about 230 and today it was like 170!! Please just say my machine was broke and I can actually start jogging and not burn less than walking at an incline..... Please let me know your opinions (or facts :noway: ) THANK YOU!!!

stfuriada

I don't trust those calorie counters on machines. They are never accurate and grossly exaggerate calories burned. It doesn't take into account if you're holding onto the bars and other cheat type things like that.

People will suggest you use a heart rate monitor and calculate calories burned from that.

Melissakay1222

I do my treadmill workouts with a 10.0 incline walking around 3-3.50 mph. I burn way more calories that way and I also can really feel the impact in the back of my calves, thighs and butt. I used to run but frankly wasn't feeling as good as walking with a steeper incline and also wasn't burning the calories I am now. When I get exhausted walking at the steep incline, I lower down the incline and do kind of a cool-down for .25 miles. Hope this helps . . . good luck to you!

drgndancer

Calories from walking/jogging are more based on miles than time or speed. There is a bump up in calories per mile when you go from a walking gait to a running gait, but speed per se doesn't affect calories burned per mile very much. So for example: let's say you burn 100 calories per mile walking 3 mph. Walking 4 mph probably only nets you an extra calorie or two per mile. Similarly, you might burn 125 calories per mile running at 5 mph, and 128 calories per mile running 6 mph. The main benefit to extra speed is that you can go more miles in the same amount of time. Which mean you can either take less time to do the same mileage, or take the same amount of time and go farther (thus burning more calories). Incline also matters to some extend as you burn more cals on steeper inclines.

So what's all this got to do with you? First, you're running pretty slow for a "running gait", so the treadmill may have treated your calorie burn as a "walk" the whole time. Most of them are set to change gait calculations somewhere around 4.5-5 mph becasue that where most people transition. You going slow isn't a problem, we always encourage newbies to go slow at first, it's the best way to improve, but in the short term it could be affecting your calorie calculations. Second, even ignoring that, you're not running very much in comparison with your walking. This is also not a problem, it's a good thing to ease into running. You don't want to injure yourself by doing to much to fast. Again though it could be hurting your burn in the short term.

Both of these "problems" are more artifacts of how the treadmill calculates calories burned than anything you are doing "wrong". You're probably burning pretty close to same number of calories in either workout. So in the short term, you likely aren't seeing much calorie benefit from running, but aren't losing anything either. I urge you consider two things before giving up. The first is cardiovascular health. Calories burned aren't the only, or even necessarily the main point of cardio. Improving your heart, lungs, and blood flow is. Distance running will make you healthier overall than walking will even if the calorie burn is the same. The second is long term calorie burn. With a little time (a couple of months more or less) you won't be running 4.4 mph for 12 minutes of your workout, you'll be doing 5 mph for the whole thing. Now you're talking significantly more calories burned in a single workout than you get from walking. probably in neighborhood of 100-150 more cals from the same 40 minutes. A year from now maybe you're doing 6 or 7 mph for an hour, maybe longer on a weekend long run. Now you're looking at 1000 or 1500 calorie workouts.

I burn roughly 1200 calories on an hour run. Granted I'm almost certainly taller and heavier than you are or will be by that point, but depending on your weight you could easily get 800-1000 calories from an hour run at a strong pace. I have burned as many as 2300 calories in one race at max pace/distance.

llpaq

Calories from walking/jogging are more based on miles than time or speed. There is a bump up in calories per mile when you go from a walking gait to a running gait, but speed per se doesn't affect calories burned per mile very much. So for example: let's say you burn 100 calories per mile walking 3 mph. Walking 4 mph probably only nets you an extra calorie or two per mile. Similarly, you might burn 125 calories per mile running at 5 mph, and 128 calories per mile running 6 mph. The main benefit to extra speed is that you can go more miles in the same amount of time. Which mean you can either take less time to do the same mileage, or take the same amount of time and go farther (thus burning more calories). Incline also matters to some extend as you burn more cals on steeper inclines.

So what's all this got to do with you? First, you're running pretty slow for a "running gait", so the treadmill may have treated your calorie burn as a "walk" the whole time. Most of them are set to change gait calculations somewhere around 4.5-5 mph becasue that where most people transition. You going slow isn't a problem, we always encourage newbies to go slow at first, it's the best way to improve, but in the short term it could be affecting your calorie calculations. Second, even ignoring that, you're not running very much in comparison with your walking. This is also not a problem, it's a good thing to ease into running. You don't want to injure yourself by doing to much to fast. Again though it could be hurting your burn in the short term.

Both of these "problems" are more artifacts of how the treadmill calculates calories burned than anything you are doing "wrong". You're probably burning pretty close to same number of calories in either workout. So in the short term, you likely aren't seeing much calorie benefit from running, but aren't losing anything either. I urge you consider two things before giving up. The first is cardiovascular health. Calories burned aren't the only, or even necessarily the main point of cardio. Improving your heart, lungs, and blood flow is. Distance running will make you healthier overall than walking will even if the calorie burn is the same. The second is long term calorie burn. With a little time (a couple of months more or less) you won't be running 4.4 mph for 12 minutes of your workout, you'll be doing 5 mph for the whole thing. Now you're talking significantly more calories burned in a single workout than you get from walking. probably in neighborhood of 100-150 more cals from the same 40 minutes. A year from now maybe you're doing 6 or 7 mph for an hour, maybe longer on a weekend long run. Now you're looking at 1000 or 1500 calorie workouts.

I burn roughly 1200 calories on an hour run. Granted I'm almost certainly taller and heavier than you are or will be by that point, but depending on your weight you could easily get 800-1000 calories from an hour run at a strong pace. I have burned as many as 2300 calories in one race at max pace/distance.

So awesome!! thank you I will keep that in mind! And in the long run, that's my main goal for this whole improved lifestyle is HEALTH first, I figure if I focus on that I can't go wrong so I thank you thank you for the post and when you wrote I will be running 5mph for the whole hour I did a little dance :happy: ... I totally admire runners and want to be one before my next bday - but while I'm trying to reach that goal I have a few pounds to lose and then it's just focusing on toning and running! Thanks for the education and the encouragement! I NEEDED IT!

llpaq

I do my treadmill workouts with a 10.0 incline walking around 3-3.50 mph. I burn way more calories that way and I also can really feel the impact in the back of my calves, thighs and butt. I used to run but frankly wasn't feeling as good as walking with a steeper incline and also wasn't burning the calories I am now. When I get exhausted walking at the steep incline, I lower down the incline and do kind of a cool-down for .25 miles. Hope this helps . . . good luck to you!

Melissa at a 10.0 OMG! :noway: That seems impossible for ME! But thats another goal I want to accomplish- there is a lady at my gym who is there every morning and she has a huge incline and looks GREAT!! I think I will try that tomorrow, not at 10.0 but at 3/4 maybe- I tried the no hands thing today but I'm so scared I'm going to fall off so I couldn't so I decided to jog a bit instead! But my butt and thighs are most of my weight so I need to feel it there. I'm for sure a pear shape so this may really be the best for me. Thanks for the advice I'm on it tomorrow! - once I lose all my unwanted LB's I'm going to try it at running/jogging. We'll see ....either way I'm getting healthier