Calories burning when walking?

chetrog
chetrog Posts: 18
edited November 11 in Fitness and Exercise
I had a stroke years back and sometimes I have a hard time explaining things , but I am going to try as explain everything. I am very obese. I have been going to the gym every other day and I really am starting to enjoy it. I need to lose a ton of weight so I have started to walk. I am walking 40 minutes and everything is good. I have seen calculators online that will tell you how many calories etc you will burn. I don't know why but, I don't think they are accurate or maybe I am just not using them correct. Can anyone help me on finding a correct way that I will know how many calories I'm burning.

I weight 345 pounds now. For my weight I walk pretty good "speed" I don't know how fast, but most calculators that i have seen online start at 2mph up to 4 etc.. I think I go 3mph. But im not sure. I'm 5'10. I'm 37 years old. Right now I'm using http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc to see what the results are. I get 455 calories burned. Is this correct? To me that seems high.
I have one more question also. I am enjoying 40 min walks. I think in a few weeks i might go for an hour. Is walking for 20 min's more going to be better if I do it all in one walk. Or would walking for 40 min's and taking another 20 min walk "Later" be just as good. i assume walking for one hour would be better because my heart would be already be elevated? I appreciate your time.

Replies

  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
    I think you explained yourself clearly. MFP actually has walking in the database (intervals between 2-5 miles) and by their math, a 40-minute 3 MPH walk at 345 pounds burns 344 calories.

    I think what you're planning to do is fine. Especially if walking for an hour is currently a chore and you need to work up to that. Good luck!
  • paulandrachelk
    paulandrachelk Posts: 280 Member
    edited January 2015
    Measure a mile (I use my car odometer-its close) then walk it and see how long it takes you to figure speed. If you walk your mile in 20 minutes then you are doing 3 MPH, if you do it in 15 you are doing 4 MPH. Then you can get closer to calories burned.
  • honkytonks85
    honkytonks85 Posts: 669 Member
    edited January 2015
    I'd probably mostly focus on your diet rather than worrying about accurately measuring your walking calories. But if you're really keen maybe get a HRM and strap it on as this will be the closest you get to an accurate measurement of calories burned.

    Regarding question 2 - if you do a 40 minute and a 20 minute walk or 60 minutes straight is not going to be too much different calorie burn wise.
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
    At your weight I don't think I would worry about eating back exercise calories from walking right now. I would say keep doing what you're doing (walking), and that if you need to break it into two halves, that's okay, just get it done.

    Remember, diet is the most important factor in weight loss. My tips:

    1. weigh food with a food scale
    2. log diligently. (I eat what I want as long as I make it fit.)
    3. no free days where you go crazy. If extra hungry, eat closer to or at maintenance that day.
    4. work out to lose a bit faster
  • chetrog
    chetrog Posts: 18
    Thanks everyone. I appreciate it.
  • pastabelly
    pastabelly Posts: 50 Member
    I use endomondo to measure my walks. Its a free app on my phone that uses GPS to let you know how far, how fast, and how many calories burned and it syncs with mfp. I also have a polar ft7 hrm and have checked it with endomondo and its pretty close
  • markiend
    markiend Posts: 461 Member
    i use map my walk website ( they have app also ) ..find it helpful
  • candylarocque
    candylarocque Posts: 21 Member
    I'm a mailchick. When I use my iPod to track my steps...it says 22,000 and 20km...my route takes roughly 3.5 hours and I power walk it. Any suggestions? I'm on a month vacay and since quitting smoking I've gained 12 lbs and 4 inches.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    edited January 2015
    I use the H7 HRM strap with Polar Beat app on an iPhone for a lot of my walks. It will give a little summary of the training benefit of the walk and a calorie burn. The app asks for your age, sex, and height to better estimate your calorie burn. It also shows a map and tells you the distance walked.
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