According to a walking calorie calculator I used-
Weight 172lbs Distance walked 1 mile
Pace Duration Calories
Slow (2.5mph) 24 minutes 98
Normal (3mph) 20 minutes 96
Fast (3.5mph) 17 minutes 100
Very Fast (4mph) 15 minutes 102
Even though you burn more calories per minute the quicker you walk, walking slower takes a longer amount of time to travel the same distance so it equals roughly the same amount of calories burned?
Edit: thanks for your responses! I was aware running burns more calories per mile than walking the same distance due placing greater demands on the body/being far less efficient, I was specifically interested in walking speeds alone over the same distances?
Personal anecdote; I’ve managed to lose a significant amount of weight over the past 6 months walking 5 miles daily at a very brisk pace (4-4.5 mph average), today due to fatigue I took it easy, walked a lot slower at 3-3.5mph, felt less fatiguing but obviously took longer amount of time, a good trade off if it means I can walk at a more leisurely pace some days and burn roughly the same amount of calories over the same distance. 🙂
In: Physics
From the physics side, it takes more energy for you to move faster, yes. Your muscles have to work harder so you’re burning more calories. BUT… things get interesting when you look at “Calories per hour” vs “Calories per *mile*”.
Your calories burned per mile mostly changes as you transition from walking to jogging. Walking is super energy efficient (about the only way to beat it is on a bike, which uses something like half as many calories and is much faster to boot).
[Harvard has this great table of energy usage by activity](https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/calories-burned-in-30-minutes-for-people-of-three-different-weights) (Calorie values shown are for 30 minutes of activity).
If you compare the 5 mph jogging speed (12 min/mile) to the 10 mph jogging speed (6 min/mile), it shows a 185 lb person using 336 Cal vs 671 Cal. Speed almost doubles, so Cal/30min also doubles. Makes sense, right? But if you convert those values to Cal/mile (multiply by 2 then divide by mph), *they’re exactly the same – 134 Cal/mile*. (For comparison, walking speeds burn closer to 90 Cal/mile). Similarly, walking at 3.5 vs 4 mph burns 91 vs 94 Cal/mile – not a notable difference.
Of course this is just an estimate and running form and efficiency play a role, but at the end of the day 1 mile is 1 mile. If your workout goal is a time then yeah a harder effort will burn more calories, but if your goal is a distance then speed really doesn’t matter. My 6 mile runs will all burn about the same calories regardless of whether it’s a speed workout or a recovery run. The same is (more or less) true for walking.
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