Walking different paces

timsconwayjr
timsconwayjr Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
When I walk at a faster pace say 18:45 minutes a mile I burn 550 calories, but when I walked 19:45 minutes a mile I burned 830. Does anyone know why?

Replies

  • timsconwayjr
    timsconwayjr Posts: 3 Member
    Both the same distances which was 3.5 miles
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    When my times are that different, it usually means I am walking flat versus hills. Is that the case?

    What told you these different numbers?
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    timsconwayjr wrote: »
    Both the same distances which was 3.5 miles

    On relatively flat ground, calories burned walking ~= 1/3 your body weight in pounds, per mile.

    So to make the numbers easy, if you weighted 300 pounds, walking 3.5 miles would burn 350 calories.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    How are you estimating?
    They are dreadfully high estimates by way the which suggests you aren't using a suitable method or tool.

    For walking the energy expended is predominantly mass X distance and pace only makes a significant difference at extremes of pace which you clearly aren't doing.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,745 Member
    If your HR is higher, your fitbit may be telling you you burned more calories. Since heat or stress can cause your HR to rise, it isn't necessarily accurate.
  • fit19gramma
    fit19gramma Posts: 23 Member
    But then what’s the point in striving for target heart rate?
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
    fit19gramma wrote: »
    But then what’s the point in striving for target heart rate?

    Striving for a certain heart rate is a cardio workout to exercise you heart for greater endurance/effectiveness. Walking without concern to heart will burn calories to help with your deficit. Covering a distance will burn a number of calories regardless of your speed. The difference between running and walking is that in running you get air borne, in walking one foot, or the other, is always on the ground. A walker doing 15 minute miles will burn less calories than a runner doing 15 minute miles. A walk of 1 mile will burn 1/3 you weight (in pounds) in calories regardless of your speed.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    fit19gramma wrote: »
    But then what’s the point in striving for target heart rate?

    Greater aerobic fitness and endurance. Burning additional calories with exercise is a nice bonus, but exercise has many benefits outside of that. Your heart rate can be used as a proxy for effort by a HRM to give you some kind of estimate...but that's all it really is. And the further outside of average your HR is (either direction) the less accurate that estimate is.

    For example, if someone is very unfit, their HR is most likely going to be higher than someone who exercises regularly for the same activity...but that isn't really a reliable indicator of effort...it's an indicator that the individual is untrained and thus a HRM would overestimate energy expenditure. When I first started out years ago, I would go on a walk and my HR would get to between 120-130 BPM...I can walk the same route and distance now and my HR won't go above 90 or so...but I'm burning the same number of calories give or take. I cycle a lot now and my HR hovers around 135 BPM on a ride with an average speed of around 18 MPH...seven years ago I would have felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,261 Member
    fit19gramma wrote: »
    But then what’s the point in striving for target heart rate?

    They're right about the training effects (and the lack of calorie insight involved in heart rate: only endurance athletes need to care about the "fat burning zone"**, pretty much.)

    But the right answer to "why strive for a target heart rate" IMO is still "for fun".

    ** Because if you're in a calorie deficit, the deficit will be made up, mostly from fat, sooner or later. It doesn't matter much what fuel mix (carbs, fats) you're burning during the exercise, from a weight management perspective. It only matters (materially) how many calories you consume, and how many you burn, overall. Heck, we burn fat when we're asleep, doing nothing at all. ;)
  • timsconwayjr
    timsconwayjr Posts: 3 Member
    edited August 2019
    Thank you for all the comments! I've been walking in sweats and it's hot out. & I've been getting the calories burned counted by an under armour app to answer a few questions. Was kinda thinking the app might be on the fritz. I'm also way out of shape
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    A lot of apps "vanity size" calories.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,745 Member
    All that walking in sweats will do is make you sweat more. Then when you go home and drink water you will regain the water you sweat out. You don't lose more fat. It's a very very temporary weight loss.

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