How Many Calories Are You Burning (When You Run)?

You burn more calories running.

Counting calories can be tough, particularly if you’re the obsessive type who likes to pinpoint exactly how many calories you’re taking in and burning. But having more information at your disposal can help you to get a good idea of what a healthy workout for you might be – and how you can exercise without worrying if you’ve done enough that day.

For runners, the intense, non-stop work of putting one foot in front of the other is often worth it because it is a higher-intensity exercise that helps shed pounds. But how many calories are you really burning? Let’s take a look at the facts.

First, does running a mile burn the same calories as walking a mile? Let’s take a look.

A study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise showed that the different types of exercise do burn at different rates, even when using “distance” as a rate. In other words, men burned an average of 124 calories while running 1600 meters on a treadmill while they burned 88 walking the same distance. For women, the numbers were 105 and 74, respectively.

So when you run, you are burning more calories than by walking the same distance. The reason for this is that running requires a greater energy expenditure to not only propel yourself forward, but upwards in a slight “jumping” motion. Walking, with its more stable balance, doesn’t require this jump to propel yourself forward.

Other theories suggest that the “gross calories burned” and the “net calories burned” are two different ways of looking at how many calories you’ll burn in running vs. walking. When “net calories burned” are taken into consideration, running can burn twice the calories of walking.

Now that you know that running will burn more calories than walking the same distance, let’s take a look at how many calories you can expect to burn during a run.

It differs for every person – typically, women burn less calories because they have less weight to move. Here is a formula featured in Runner’s World (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html) that helps explain how many calories you are burning:

Total calorie burn while running: .75 x your bodyweight = calories burned per mile.

Net calorie burn while running: .63 x your bodyweight = net calories burned per mile.

Remember that net calorie burn refers to the total calories burned, subtracting the amount of calories your body would have burned anyway simply by lying on the couch.

Also, remember that walking fast can actually be as great, or an even greater, calorie-burner than running: don’t use these studies to necessarily turn you off of any particular activity if you enjoy it.

Photo Credits: scott92116

Originally posted 2009-03-13 05:30:22.

This post involves: