Running is a popular way to improve or maintain weight because it is effective. According to the American Council on Exercise, running is more effective than weight training, swimming, cycling, or downhill skiing when it comes to burning calories.
You might think you’re burning a lot of calories when you go for a run, but it’s easy to overestimate how many you’re actually burning. There are a number of factors that affect the number of calories you burn during a workout, including your body weight, the surface you run on, the incline, and several other factors. There are several factors to consider when calculating the number of calories burned during a run.
Calories Burned Running and Walking
If you’re trying to lose weight, knowing how many calories you burn during exercise can be helpful. And even if you’re not trying to lose weight, it’s still good to know how many calories you’re burning, for overall health purposes. If you’re trying to lose weight, then it may help to burn more calories. If you’re on a diet where you’re controlling your calorie intake, then it’s important to understand how many calories you’re burning. How many calories you burn during exercise can give you an indication of how hard you are working. The number of calories you burn while running is the same per mile no matter how fast you run. The faster you go, the more calories you burn.
If you walk faster, you will burn more calories per mile. The number of calories you burn while running or walking is directly related to how much you weigh. So, if you weigh more, you’ll burn more calories. Obviously, you burn more calories going uphill than you do on level ground. For modest slopes, you burn fewer calories going downhill. This page provides an estimate of how many calories you may burn at different paces and slopes. The default values on this page are based on a 150-pound person, but you can enter your own information in the form below to get more specific results.
The Difference Between Running and Walking
Running and walking are two different forms of movement. While running, you will have one foot on the ground and the other in the air. Both feet will never be on the ground at the same time. When you walk, one or both feet are always on the ground. You never have both feet in the air. Sometimes people think that because basic physics says it should take the same energy to move a human over a given distance, running and walking should use the same amount of energy.
Most of the energy used while running or walking doesn’t go into actually moving forward. A runner is not as fast as a cyclist. The amount of energy wasted in running and walking is mostly responsible for the energy cost of these activities.
Do You Burn More Calories Running or Walking?
Running burns more calories per mile than walking, but it depends on the person.
- If you’re running at a moderate pace, you burn more calories per mile and per hour than walking at a moderate pace.
- If you’re racewalking, then you can burn more calories per mile than running. (Race walking here is faster than about 14:00 min/mile.)
- The relative Calories per hour for race walking and running will depend on the exact paces.
Determining Calories Burned Running
The number of calories you burn while running can be determined in different ways. Many runners use the 100 calories/mile rule. This is the quickest and simplest way to estimate your caloric expenditure, but it is not the most accurate because it does not take important variables into account.
An average-sized runner will approximately burn 100 calories per mile. If you want to burn 500 calories, you’ll need to run about five miles.
Calorie Calculator
You can use a physical activity calculator to get a better estimate of how many calories you burn while running. In order to calculate how many calories you burn while running, you will need to know your current weight, your running pace, as well as how long you ran for. The numbers help to create a more accurate estimate by making it more personal.
Tech Tools
There are also different tech tools that can give you an estimate of how many calories you burn running.
Apps
Some smartphone apps let you track your calories. There are apps that can provide you with data on the number of calories you burn during a workout. There are a few popular running apps, such as MapMyRun, Nike Run Club, PUMATRAC, and Runtastic.
However, the numbers provided are only estimates. To get the most accurate data, you need to make sure the app is in use for the duration of your workout, which means carrying your phone with you on your runs.
Trackers
Fitness trackers by brands such as Fitbit, Polar, or Garmin have features that let you monitor calories. You’ll find devices by Withings, Apex, and other brands. If you own an Apple watch, you can also use that device to track the number of calories you burn while running.
You can change the settings on most devices so that they show you how many calories you’re burning as you run.
Having real-time updates on a smartwatch or app of how many calories you have burned while running might help motivate you to keep going if you have a calorie goal in mind.
Treadmills
The calorie number provided by a treadmill calorie calculator is generally at the end of (or during) your workout. The estimates provided are not likely to be accurate unless you input your weight and other data that is relevant to your workout. Treadmills tend to overestimate the number of calories burned during a run.
Some treadmills have heart rate sensors that can help you get a more accurate estimate of your heart rate. If the device uses heart rate to calculate caloric expenditure, this may be a more accurate estimate. You may find some treadmills with sensors on the handrails that you can hold. There are some fitness trackers that you can wear on your finger and others that will show your heart rate from a chest strap.
Factors That Affect Caloric Expenditure
Several factors determine how many calories you burn while running.
Body Weight
If you weigh more, you burn more calories. A person weighing 140 pounds who is running at a speed of approximately six miles per hour will burn 318 calories in 30 minutes. A person who weighs 180 pounds will burn about 408 calories by running at a constant pace for a set amount of time.
Your body needs to burn more fuel when it carries more weight because it has to work harder.
Gender
This is a tricky factor to account for. There has been much research conducted on how gender affects the amount of calories burned, with varying results and opinions. While it is commonly believed that men burn more calories than women when engaging in the same activities,
It’s unclear if sex differences or body composition, such as men typically having more muscle mass than women, causes the disparity. When both men and women participated in a workout that involved walking with a backpack, the study found that women burned fewer calories than men.
Speed
A person weighing 160 pounds who runs at a pace of 12 minutes per mile (five miles per hour) for 30 minutes would burn about 290 calories. Which equals to about At a 10-minute-per-mile pace, someone would burn 363 calories in 30 minutes.
When you move faster, you burn more calories. This is because speed is usually the result of more effort, which means your body needs to use more energy.
When comparing the number of calories burned by runners, it is misleading to use speed as a factor, as it can vary between individuals. A person who is highly trained in running will burn fewer calories running an 8-minute mile than a person who has never ran before.
Incline
If you want to burn more calories when running, try adding some hills to your route. The main reason for this is that you will generally increase your effort when running uphill. Although it can be difficult to determine how many calories you are burning while walking on an incline, it can still be beneficial.
If you use a treadmill that calculates energy expenditure, the calorie count will be more accurate if it takes incline into account. The angle of incline has a big impact on how hard it is to run. If you are running at a zero percent grade, it is much easier than running at a steep incline (10% to 12% incline). This guide can be used to estimate the percent increase in calories that may occur when running outdoors.
Remember that you will burn more calories when you run uphill because you have to work harder, but you will burn fewer calories when you run downhill because it is not as difficult.
The Effect of Incline
It’s easy to see that running or walking uphill is more difficult than level ground. It is easier to walk downhill than on level ground, but it becomes more difficult as the slope becomes steeper. The most efficient way to walk or run is at a 10% decline. There is some evidence that the minimum amount of energy required is the same regardless of how fast you go. This slope seems to be the most efficient in terms of energy required, as it doesn’t require any extra energy to move forwards or backwards, and doesn’t dissipate any energy when braking. There are a number of factors that could change these assumptions:
- A study looked at the energy cost of uphill, level, and downhill running before and after a 65Km mountainous ultramarathon[4]. After the race, the energy cost of uphill running was unchanged, but both level and downhill running were significantly harder by 8% (level) and 13% (downhill). These differences were greatest for the slowest runners and at least for the fastest runners.
- A similar study of a rather more extreme 303 Km mountain ultramarathon found that the energy cost of uphill running and walking was lower after the race[5]. This result is a little surprising, and it’s unclear why runners would do better fatigued than fresh. (The study did not look at level or downhill running.)
- There is no research on the effect of training on the energy cost of running uphill or downhill. We would expect that downhill training would reduce the energy cost of downhill running.
Running Surface
The type of surface you are running on will affect how many calories you burn. You burn fewer calories running on a treadmill because there is no wind resistance or obstacles.
Running in sand or on a trail with mud or rocks requires a bit more energy. In general, you will have to use more muscles to stay balanced while running on an uneven surface.
Weather Conditions
If you run in windy conditions, you will probably run faster, which will help you burn more calories. There is debate within the running community about whether or not exercising in extreme cold or extreme heat burns more calories.
Hot or Cold?
Research suggests that working out in frigid temperatures might help boost calorie burn, potentially because it causes shivering or activates brown fat.
However, there is also evidence that exercising in extreme heat burns more calories because your body has to work harder to regulate its internal temperature.
The bottom line? Making sure to exercise in moderate temperatures is key if you want to burn more calories, experts say. Whether it is hot or cold outside might affect how many calories you burn, but not by a lot.
The Transition between Running and Walking
No matter how fast or slow you run, the amount of energy required to cover a certain distance is approximately the same. The energy needed to walk a certain distance usually increases as you walk faster. At slow speeds, walking is more efficient than running in terms of energy expenditure. However, as speed increases, running becomes relatively more efficient. If you put people on a treadmill and gradually increase the speed, they will eventually start running. Most people transition between stages at a similar speed, which is called the Preferred Transition Speed.
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