Walking vs Running for reducing thighs

farahsaleem
farahsaleem Posts: 47 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I walk for more then an hour everyday and very brisk, cover atleast 7 km in 60-70 min.. and at the end of it i am all soaked in sweat.. but its not working on my legs and butts.. i am wondering should i start running for fat loss on legs.. has anyone of you switched from walking to running and lost thigh and butt fat? how soon can you start seeing results??

Replies

  • mike1508
    mike1508 Posts: 2
    if it helps any, targeting fat in certain areas is impossible. Fat will be burnt where ever your body decides to pull it from. Id try sprinting, then walking, sprinting and then walking. High intensity cardio is great and should burn fat the fastest, depending on what your current diet is. You can always do squats to increase muscle and reduce fat. Well hope this helps
  • theblackbirdtree
    theblackbirdtree Posts: 168
    I am a biological example of thunder thighs:
    21 inch thighs but a Women's 0-2 pants.

    Sometimes, you just won't get as small as you'd like.. but as long as you're moving your legs, you're burning fat. HIIT really made the difference for me:
    Instead of crossing the street, sprint/run it.
    During your walks, and your breathing begins to normalize, jog/run until you feel winded. Then, break and walk again.
    If you spin/cycle, take 15-20 second intervals of mega-fast spinning. (THIS one did the best on shrinking my thighs from a 21.5 to a 20).
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    neither.. you cant spot reduce.

    burning more calories than you use will cause you to lose fat from all over based on your genes. for instance i run/walk and i look the majority of my fat from my belly
  • farahsaleem
    farahsaleem Posts: 47 Member
    i have walking for a long long time.. i was thinking maybe my body is used to walking now thts y its not making any difference and that i should increase the intensity of my exercise by jogging or running to see results..
  • dzstephy
    dzstephy Posts: 357 Member
    I agree that you cannot spot train but walking and running can help you firm up and look leaner. I have had great success walking and running on an incline. I will be starting the Bar Method next week which is supposed to really trim your lower body. Good luck!
  • brandiuntz
    brandiuntz Posts: 2,717 Member
    As said, you can't spot reduce.

    As you lose fat (weight), your legs will get smaller. My thighs also hold onto fat "last". I dropped 10 inches off them by staying steady with a healthy diet and exercise. It's not what exercise you do, it's staying consistent on eating well and exercising most days of the week.

    Be patient, you'll get there. :smile:
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
    if it helps any, targeting fat in certain areas is impossible. Fat will be burnt where ever your body decides to pull it from. Id try sprinting, then walking, sprinting and then walking. High intensity cardio is great and should burn fat the fastest, depending on what your current diet is. You can always do squats to increase muscle and reduce fat. Well hope this helps

    ^^^ First to come is usually last to go ^^^ Most often hips/thighs for the ladies and stomach for the men... Of the latter, I can wholeheartedly attest.
  • selig0730
    selig0730 Posts: 509 Member
    while doing your walk try running or jogging in the middle of it, you burn more calories faster and that could help
  • gazz777au
    gazz777au Posts: 157 Member
    it looks like you are so close to goal that 'spot reducing' should not be given any more thought.

    Lose the rest of the 9kg with cardio whether it is walking or running.

    There are other benefits to running such as strengthening bones.

    You can spot INCREASE by building muscle and counting calories - your legs will benefit by remaining diligent and sticking to your goals.

    Running the same distance will obviously take less time so if you are up to it, some of the time freed up can be spent on weights / pilates, etc. - things that will help you get the better 'shape' you are probably looking for.

    All the best !
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    i have walking for a long long time.. i was thinking maybe my body is used to walking now thts y its not making any difference and that i should increase the intensity of my exercise by jogging or running to see results..

    It's a great low stress fat burning workout, if you have the time for at least 60 min daily.

    If it is getting more efficient because it is less effort, therefore burning less calories, didn't your MFP goal already have a deficit in it despite any workouts?
    So if you are correctly eating back your workout calories to keep that hopefully reasonable deficit, just eat back less of them.

    Though, it takes so much energy to move so much mass so fast up so much incline. Very mathmatical.
    The difference in effort on your part will determine if that energy source is fat or carbs mainly, but the amount of energy is pretty set at same weight.

    Use this calculator to determine your NET calories burned for walk and only eat those back.

    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs.html
  • farahsaleem
    farahsaleem Posts: 47 Member
    Whats "Grade" in this calculator?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Whats "Grade" in this calculator?

    If doing a treadmill, the incline you selected. Easy.

    If outside, not so easy. Usually 1% is figured to equal the wind resistance you might encounter.

    Or if you figured out a route that is somehow mostly uphill, without a return downhill, you can use that estimate.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Incredible, I hadn't used that calc in a while for a spot check since I have HRM.

    But I just had VO2max test done. I reached 4.7 mph at 22% incline max.
    Inputting those values with weight, gave almost exactly what the VO2max value was during the test. 0.4 higher is the calc compared to actual test.

    I'm surprised that dead on, since my VO2max measurement was 135% of predicted/norm.

    I'd say trust it, even more than I knew before.
  • farahsaleem
    farahsaleem Posts: 47 Member
    Whats "Grade" in this calculator?

    If doing a treadmill, the incline you selected. Easy.

    If outside, not so easy. Usually 1% is figured to equal the wind resistance you might encounter.

    Or if you figured out a route that is somehow mostly uphill, without a return downhill, you can use that estimate.


    OMG according to this calculator i m burning only 290 Net calories with walking.. even though my treadmill says 520 in this time.. which one to trust??
  • Jynus
    Jynus Posts: 519 Member
    Whats "Grade" in this calculator?

    If doing a treadmill, the incline you selected. Easy.

    If outside, not so easy. Usually 1% is figured to equal the wind resistance you might encounter.

    Or if you figured out a route that is somehow mostly uphill, without a return downhill, you can use that estimate.


    OMG according to this calculator i m burning only 290 Net calories with walking.. even though my treadmill says 520 in this time.. which one to trust??
    the lower one. and also consider that most calculators include your BMR. which is usually 120 calories an hour. So the exercise would only be 170 calories burned.

    edit: just saw it calculates net, so includes BMR. so the 290 would have factored in BMR. But i've also noticed it seemed rather high regardless. 5mph was said to burn aprox 500cal over 45min for me, and that should be in the area of high 300's based upon metabolic chamber data i've seen.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    the lower one. and also consider that most calculators include your BMR. which is usually 120 calories an hour. So the exercise would only be 170 calories burned.

    edit: just saw it calculates net, so includes BMR. so the 290 would have factored in BMR. But i've also noticed it seemed rather high regardless. 5mph was said to burn aprox 500cal over 45min for me, and that should be in the area of high 300's based upon metabolic chamber data i've seen.

    120 calories for BMR/hr? That would be a BMR of 2880! That would be one obese person to hit a BMR that high, and I don't think they would be moving much.

    Actually, the calculator lets you select gross or net so you can leave inflated BMR values out of mental math.

    NET does NOT include BMR actually. You can see that the value of MET's changes to drop 1 MET when set to NET. Since 1 MET is energy use at rest, you aren't including it.

    So as she found, 290 cal's in her case.

    The amount of energy needed to walk is pretty well known. The difference in HR just determines was this easy enough for you and very aerobic and mainly fat burn, or was this intense for you and not as aerobic and mainly carb burn.

    In your case, I'd be curious to see an actual measured burn that low for 5mph for 45 min. That's pretty decent pace/time and I'd see 500 being possible depending on weight. 100lbs no, 160 lbs yes.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Whats "Grade" in this calculator?

    If doing a treadmill, the incline you selected. Easy.

    If outside, not so easy. Usually 1% is figured to equal the wind resistance you might encounter.

    Or if you figured out a route that is somehow mostly uphill, without a return downhill, you can use that estimate.


    OMG according to this calculator i m burning only 290 Net calories with walking.. even though my treadmill says 520 in this time.. which one to trust??

    Calculator.

    Treadmill could indeed use exact same formula's, and some do that.

    But most are trying to impress you with high burn estimates. They are inflated.

    There is no way you had 520 burn an hr walking, unless very heavy, or really great incline.

    Notice it does take more energy to run though, on calculator switch it to run instead of walk.

    That may be what the treadmill assumes - running, not walking.

    Running starts to lose accuracy on calculator though, because then you may propel yourself farther into the air and take big strides and run inefficiently and have high HR, or may take efficient frequent steps barely raising feet and having low HR.

    That's where treadmill again may be inaccurate, but at least closer than the difference between walking and running it seems to have.
  • SelkieDiver
    SelkieDiver Posts: 260 Member
    I found a significant difference in the shape of my thighs, hips and butt when I took up running and Spinning (as compared to walking). I think both running and spinning do more to tone your legs all over whereas walking seems to mostly work your calves, shins and hip flexors. The last time I was down at this weight and was walking 1 hr + 6 days a week, my thighs were 25". This time at this weight (I'm currently running, biking and swimming with some bodyweight exercises mixed in) they are 23.5". That is huge for me, they've never been this small.
  • farahsaleem
    farahsaleem Posts: 47 Member
    Whats "Grade" in this calculator?

    If doing a treadmill, the incline you selected. Easy.

    If outside, not so easy. Usually 1% is figured to equal the wind resistance you might encounter.

    Or if you figured out a route that is somehow mostly uphill, without a return downhill, you can use that estimate.


    OMG according to this calculator i m burning only 290 Net calories with walking.. even though my treadmill says 520 in this time.. which one to trust??

    Calculator.

    Treadmill could indeed use exact same formula's, and some do that.

    But most are trying to impress you with high burn estimates. They are inflated.

    There is no way you had 520 burn an hr walking, unless very heavy, or really great incline.

    Notice it does take more energy to run though, on calculator switch it to run instead of walk.

    That may be what the treadmill assumes - running, not walking.

    Running starts to lose accuracy on calculator though, because then you may propel yourself farther into the air and take big strides and run inefficiently and have high HR, or may take efficient frequent steps barely raising feet and having low HR.

    That's where treadmill again may be inaccurate, but at least closer than the difference between walking and running it seems to have.


    I am so confused Lol
  • farahsaleem
    farahsaleem Posts: 47 Member
    I found a significant difference in the shape of my thighs, hips and butt when I took up running and Spinning (as compared to walking). I think both running and spinning do more to tone your legs all over whereas walking seems to mostly work your calves, shins and hip flexors. The last time I was down at this weight and was walking 1 hr + 6 days a week, my thighs were 25". This time at this weight (I'm currently running, biking and swimming with some bodyweight exercises mixed in) they are 23.5". That is huge for me, they've never been this small.

    M definitely going to fit in more of running and less of walking from now onwards.. but slow and steady :)
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Calculator.

    Treadmill could indeed use exact same formula's, and some do that.

    But most are trying to impress you with high burn estimates. They are inflated.

    There is no way you had 520 burn an hr walking, unless very heavy, or really great incline.

    Notice it does take more energy to run though, on calculator switch it to run instead of walk.

    That may be what the treadmill assumes - running, not walking.

    Running starts to lose accuracy on calculator though, because then you may propel yourself farther into the air and take big strides and run inefficiently and have high HR, or may take efficient frequent steps barely raising feet and having low HR.

    That's where treadmill again may be inaccurate, but at least closer than the difference between walking and running it seems to have.


    I am so confused Lol

    If you want to feed that workout so your originally intended deficit remains, just log the walk as exercise with the calories the calc says based on info entered, for NET.

    If you start jogging, change the calc to run.
  • theblackbirdtree
    theblackbirdtree Posts: 168
    QUICK NOTE ABOUT MFP'S CALORIES BURNED CALCULATORS:

    They are almost consistently high for everyone. I've learned that even when I walk around Seattle (hill central, tons of incline), I only account for 3.5MPH walks for whatever length of time I spent walking -5 minutes. I don't always eat back exercise cals and I've maintained my weight.. so, keep in mind that MFP tends to overestimate the amount of calories you've burned. This is why HIIT (high intervals of activity during exercise) can really boost your numbers of calories burned.
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