Please finally answer for me: Running vs. Walking

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Dahllywood
Dahllywood Posts: 642 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I've heard so many different things, can someone please clarify for me once and for all:

Does running 1 mile = walking 1 mile when it comes to calories burned? Obviously running makes it go by faster, but I've heard that walking a mile is equal to running...

Thanks

Replies

  • _Lori_Lynn_
    _Lori_Lynn_ Posts: 460
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    So I've heard so many different things, can someone please clarify for me once and for all:

    Does running 1 mile = walking 1 mile when it comes to calories burned? Obviously running makes it go by faster, but I've heard that walking a mile is equal to running...

    Thanks

    They are the same, but with one you'll get there faster I think. But curious to read what others say.
  • jonchew
    jonchew Posts: 239 Member
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    According to my heart rate monitor & intuition, lorynn is correct
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
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    According to various "calories burned" calculators, running burns significantly more calories than walking, about 99/mile vs. 70/mile, for me. In practice, running aggravates a foot injury that I have, which leads to horrible pain, which leads to not exercising, which leads to fewer calories burned. So I use an elliptical trainer so I can go fast, and push hard, without pounding my delicate feet.
  • badmojo108
    badmojo108 Posts: 72
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    That is what I always believed.

    http://walking.about.com/od/calorie1/a/calorieswalkrun.htm

    That it's roughly the same as far as calorie burn. Running is better cardio, but everyone can walk further than they can run so if you can make up the difference by walking further.

    Recently found a few other articles that suggest otherwise:

    http://www.runningplanet.com/training/running-versus-walking.html
    http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning-0?page=single

    I tend to walk at that weird transitional pace right in between running/walking so that might be the best of both worlds, get the calorie burn of running, keeps my heart rate in my target zone and I can do more much longer distances than running alone.
  • YoungDoc2B
    YoungDoc2B Posts: 1,593 Member
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    No, you'll burn those calories in half the time if you run.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    Someone already linked the article I was going to post.
    http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning-0?page=single

    "I was still gathering my resources for a retort when a new article crossed my desk, and changed my cosmos. In "Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running," published last December in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, a group of Syracuse University researchers measured the actual calorie burn of 12 men and 12 women while running and walking 1,600 meters (roughly a mile) on a treadmill. Result: The men burned an average of 124 calories while running, and just 88 while walking; the women burned 105 and 74. (The men burned more than the women because they weighed more.)"

    Thats total calories burned. Net calories works out to about half.
  • _Lori_Lynn_
    _Lori_Lynn_ Posts: 460
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    No, you'll burn those calories in half the time if you run.

    . What concerns *me* is knee injury. The heavier you are the more pressure going on your knee when you run. It seems nearly everyone I know my age and older has a knew injury or has had one.

    I do wonder though if heart rate matters or not to get it into fat burning mode.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    reading fail
  • nuttyfamily
    nuttyfamily Posts: 3,394 Member
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    I burn around 20 calories per mile more running versus walking according to my hrm.

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