When someone asks how many calories does walking burn (the calculations for walking as well as running are below) it is usually because either their weight loss progress is coming too slow or because they want to speed things up. In this post I explain how to calculate your calories burned walking, how to calculate your calories burned running, and an easy approach that few people use showing you how to burn belly fat simply by walking your dog.
[Do you really want to know how many calories does walking burn or do you want to know how to burn belly fat? This post explains both and in this image of Britney she shows us that when she sets her mind to it she can be very successful.]
First up – How many calories does walking burn
Calorie Burn Calculator (weight X .30 for each mile)
To calculate your total calorie burn per mile from walking, multiply your weight in pounds by .53. For example, a 200 lb man would burn 106 calories per mile (200 X .53). But, based on the article in “Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running” (Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, Cameron et al, Dec. 2004), a more accurate formula is your net calorie burn per mile which considers your basal metabolism in the equation. So to be more conservative, use your weight in pounds multiplied by .30. The same man would have a net calorie burn of 60 calories per mile (200 X .30).
How Many Calories Does Walking 2 Miles Burn
To use this example, the 200 pound man would burn 120 calories walking two miles. 2 miles X 200 lbs X .30.
Walking Burns How Many Calories per hour?
If the man walked 3 miles in an hour he would burn 180 calories. However, if you start speed walking you can get to around a fifteen minute mile so he would cover four miles per hour and burn 240 calories in an hour.
Next point – How many calories does running burn
How Many Calories Does Jogging or Running Burn
Running burns more calories per mile for an interesting reason. In the study referenced above , the Syracuse researchers found that running burns more calories per mile (they measured the actual calorie burn of 12 men and 12 women while running and walking a mile) because running requires more force to propel yourself from leg to leg and then bend to absorb the shock of each leap. So it makes sense to try to mix in a little running.
The running calculation for your total calorie burn per mile is your weight in pounds by .75. For example, a 200 lb man would burn 150 calories per mile (200 X .75). But, for the net calorie burn (see above for explanation) use your weight in pounds multiplied by .63. So the same man would have a net calorie burn of 126 calories per mile (200 X .63).
Last point – how to create fat burning advantage (how to burn belly fat)
The challenge with fat burning is that it’s more complicated than the simple calories in calories out formula. Sure, you have to create a calorie deficit to lose weight but it’s more complex than that. The hormone insulin can make or break you. Not a big deal, it’s very easy to manipulate.
Here’s the issue – When your insulin is raised your body is in storage mode and it is impossible to burn fat.
A simple explanation: Your body can either build up or breakdown but not both at the same time; you are either fed (e.g. after a meal) and storing nutrients and fat or fasted (e.g.while you sleep) and burning stored fat for energy. Insulin regulates that process. When you eat, insulin is elevated and you store the nutrition (but cannot burn fat) after a few hours the insulin in you blood is reduced and you can go into fat burning mode.
Next I explain a simple way to manipulate your insulin to maximize your fat burning…
[Insulin plays that angel/devil relationship with you. It is a hormone that acts as an angel when you want to absorb nutrients and grow lean defined muscle tone. But when you want fat burning, it’s the devil.]
Many people who understand the role of insulin and how it blocks fat burning will walk first thing in the morning when they are in a fasted state. This is a great option. As long as you don’t eat anything with carbs (black coffee with sweetener is ok) your body remains in fat burning mode and you have direct access to your fat stores. Walk and burn away!
But, evening walking will have an even greater impact. Your goal is to get your body into the fat burning zone before you go to sleep so that all night it is torching fat. If you exercise after your last meal of the day, you burn down your blood sugar and help reduce your insulin level. The result is that you get your blood sugar and insulin level down to the fat burning level and set the conditions for fat burning. By the time you go to bed you are in the fat burning zone and remain their all night.
The opposite is also true, people who eat before bed struggle because that big serving of ice cream elevated their insulin level and then while they sleep they are burning blood sugar not fat. Instead of burning fat when they sleep, they are storing fat.
Britney loves high calorie beverages so she can really pack on the weight. But, she also understands the science of fat burning and used this technique to reduce her belly fat for her latest tour.
[For her Femme Fatal tour Britney moved beyond how many calories does walking burn to how to burn belly fat by walking before bed. ]
It worked for Britney…
[If you want these results, you can take it up another notch with the advanced technique below and learn how to burn belly fat even more efficiently.]
If you want to take it up a level, use a heart rate monitor and leverage intensity for more advantage.
Here’s how – walk for an hour but make the last 15 minutes really count. Towards the end of your walk go hard for four minutes (get your heart rate up to 90% of max) and then cool down for the last ten minutes.
Four minutes of hard walking is manageable and it makes a big difference. Over the long walk you have reduced your insulin (so you will be in fat burning zone while you sleep) and the intense ending released additional free fatty acids into your blood stream (more stored fat has been released and is prepared to be oxidized) that will be burned while you sleep. This is when you see your fat burning results really increase.
One more thought – How Many Calories Should I Eat a Day
You can read this post if you want to understand how many calories to eat each day or this post for how many you need to burn with exercise.
Another interesting post is show how 50 cent used a combination of treadmill walking with a liquid diet to lose 54 pounds in nine weeks.
Fat loss can be a long, rugged journey or a fast-paced aggressive sprint to success – you get to decide. Understanding how many calories does walking burn is a great start.
