How effective is walking?

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saladtuesdays
saladtuesdays Posts: 5
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi. I go to the gym on a regular basis, but I was wondering if I could count some of the calories burnt on the walking that I do. I put on my heart rate monitor as I was walking to work yesterday (about a 15 minute walk) and when I got there, it said that I had burnt 135 calories! I walk at a moderate pace, but I certainly wasn't "speed walking" there. Does it seem like my heart rate monitor is inflating calories? In addition, can I count this as a part of my cardio workout? My average heart rate for the walk was around 130.
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  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    Bear in mind that your HRM reading will also include your BMR so you will need to subtract your BMR cals from it to get a truer reading

    As a rough guide, walking burns around 100 cal per mile so this would make it pretty close to that.
  • kzooprincess
    kzooprincess Posts: 232 Member
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    bump
  • lisagregory01
    lisagregory01 Posts: 35 Member
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    I would definitely count it! You could drive and not get your heart rate up. But instead you walk. I work out in the gym too but also try to go for an afternoon walk with my dogs just so I can burn a few more calories for the day. It's good for all of us!
  • MarioLozano16
    MarioLozano16 Posts: 319 Member
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    Exercise is exercise. So it counts :O
  • JamesDanek
    JamesDanek Posts: 95 Member
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    Lost my first 2 stone simply walking to and from work. took 10 months but i changed very little else about my day to day life
  • WaimanaloMan
    WaimanaloMan Posts: 165 Member
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    I walk a heck of a lot, and it burns serious calories especially if you have a good pace. My HRM gives me a decent idea of how much I burn. Walking has been a great calorie burner for me personally, my legs are showing some decent tone, and I'm dropping weight from doing it too. I also combine kettle bell workouts with this too.
  • dsjohndrow
    dsjohndrow Posts: 1,820 Member
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    Walking is the same as running in terms of calories. Of course it takes longer to walk. The difference is in how your body and heart respond. Getting in the "heart rate zones" over 120 or 130 have a different effect on your vascular health. Otherwise marathon runners would just walk for training.

    It counts unless it is part of your daily activity (like waitressing) in which case you can set your MFP settings to something other than sedentary.
  • Ascolti_la_musica
    Ascolti_la_musica Posts: 676 Member
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    For people deep in the "morbidly obese" category, walking may be the only exercise they CAN do. Walking is all the exercise some people WANT to get. That is my "fitness plan" when I reach my goal weight- 30 minutes a day. My father in law lost a lot of weight by walking 30 minutes a day, and has been maintaining it with the same.

    Absolutely count your walks! Set your activity level to "sedentary" and count everything!

    A lot of people think they are more active than they really are, because we all spend a lot of time sitting at desks or in cars. If you have a job that requires you to be on your feet all day (hospital staff, retail, etc.) you are probably lightly active. If you have a job that requires you to do more than that (walking tour guide, lumberjack, etc.) then you are probably moderately active. Your job is only 8 hours or so per day, and there's a pretty good chance you aren't doing a whole lot (physically) outside those 8 hours.

    How effective is it? Well, it strengthens your heart, increases blood flow to your limbs, gets your lungs working, and increases your energy level for the rest of the day. Those are all pluses in my book. You won't burn as many calories as you would by running, but you also stress your joints less. Sounds pretty effective to me!
  • justmeg86
    justmeg86 Posts: 40 Member
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    What do you mean by subtract your BMR from your HRM reading?! I'm confused! When I plug my numbers off my HRM into the website for it (not MFP) it actually ups the cals based on my max and average heart rate.....so is the HRM giving me the true reading and the numbers plugged in on the website giving me the number without subtracting BMR?

    Also as far as walking, my mom walks about 2 miles a day or so and htat is her only form or true "cardio" exercise and has maintatined her weight loss for 3 years! So by all means, WALK!!!
  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
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    What do you mean by subtract your BMR from your HRM reading?! I'm confused! When I plug my numbers off my HRM into the website for it (not MFP) it actually ups the cals based on my max and average heart rate.....so is the HRM giving me the true reading and the numbers plugged in on the website giving me the number without subtracting BMR?

    Also as far as walking, my mom walks about 2 miles a day or so and htat is her only form or true "cardio" exercise and has maintatined her weight loss for 3 years! So by all means, WALK!!!

    Your BMR is your Basal Metabolic Rate, which means is that it is the calories your body would burn for life functions if you were in a coma. So the idea behind subtracting these numbers is that since your body would have burned them anyway, you subtract them from your work out total. So based on my BMR, I would burn about a calorie a minute in a vegetative state. If I followed this method and got a reading of 135 calories in fifteen minutes, I would only enter 120 calories in my excercise. The point of it is to get more accurate records of burns since you are supposed to be eating your exercise calories back.
  • justmeg86
    justmeg86 Posts: 40 Member
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    So basically you subtract one calorie for each minute you are exercising? Sorry for the lame questions, I just have a hard time understanding it all because people have such conflicting thoughts/ideas/answers.
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    I used to walk and bike like crazy. I was eating 1,000-2,000 calories more than what I eat in a day now and I was maintaining not too much heavier than I am now. I would walk 10-25 miles a day and bike 25-40 miles a day. However, I was skinny fat.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    So basically you subtract one calorie for each minute you are exercising? Sorry for the lame questions, I just have a hard time understanding it all because people have such conflicting thoughts/ideas/answers.

    Yes, as an approximation 1 cal per minute exercised is about right.
  • Howl2013
    Howl2013 Posts: 32 Member
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    Bear in mind that your HRM reading will also include your BMR so you will need to subtract your BMR cals from it to get a truer reading

    I didn't think this was true with HRMs; especially if you are inputting VO2 max, etc. It's supposed to be taking all that into consideration when it gives you your calories burned number.
  • justmeg86
    justmeg86 Posts: 40 Member
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    I'm wondering the same thing, what's the point of it if you have to subtract numbers anyways? I will just keep going with what the HRM tells me!
  • saladtuesdays
    saladtuesdays Posts: 5
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    I work with kids (6 year olds) in an afternoon program and I thought to put my heart rate monitor on. Over the three hours I was there, it said I burnt 976 calories!? After subtracting BMR calories (about 180), it still is like 800 calories! I always considered my job as "lightly active," but wow. I guess it's easy to get surprising exercise during certain activities.

    But thanks for all the insightful responses!
  • phjorg
    phjorg Posts: 252 Member
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    I'm wondering the same thing, what's the point of it if you have to subtract numbers anyways? I will just keep going with what the HRM tells me!
    it's a heart rate monitor. Not a calorie burn monitor. Thats why it's called a heart rate monitor. the calorie burn thing is only a feature... And the number is shows you is correct in regards to total calorie burn. But total calorie burn is not the same thing as exercise calorie burn.

    and the coma thing is wrong anyway. It's far closer to 2cal/min from BMR. you drop to about .8 while sleeping and raise up to 2-3 when awake and not being active. 2cal sitting, 3 cal standing. so any hour of exercise should have about 120-180 subtracted from the HRM calorie total.
  • phjorg
    phjorg Posts: 252 Member
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    I work with kids (6 year olds) in an afternoon program and I thought to put my heart rate monitor on. Over the three hours I was there, it said I burnt 976 calories!? After subtracting BMR calories (about 180), it still is like 800 calories! I always considered my job as "lightly active," but wow. I guess it's easy to get surprising exercise during certain activities.

    But thanks for all the insightful responses!
    thats because HRM's are ONLY accurate while doing steady state cardio. Wearing them outside of these parameters will HEAVILY overinflate calorie burn display numbers..
  • saladtuesdays
    saladtuesdays Posts: 5
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    I understand that.

    I should've only turned it on when we were doing the racing games or the other sports we played. Love the warm weather!
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    Bear in mind that your HRM reading will also include your BMR so you will need to subtract your BMR cals from it to get a truer reading

    As a rough guide, walking burns around 100 cal per mile so this would make it pretty close to that.

    That is splitting hairs. It doesn't have to be that difficult.

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