Is it a Myth That Runners Burn More Calories Than Walkers?

1) One would presume with all that sweating and huffing and puffing, one should be burning more calories. Actually, the difference in calories burned per mile or kilometre is very small, and there is no difference at higher walking speeds!

2) Research on the metabolic equivalents (MET) of various activities ranks each activity by calories per kilogram per hour.

-Just sitting quietly burns 1 MET. If you weigh 150 pounds, that is 68 calories per hour!

-A runner and a fast walker, both at a speed of 12 minutes per mile or 5 miles per hour, achieve the exact same 8 MET. Their calories per mile and calories per hour are identical.

-Also one has to take into account the length of the workout that is one’s set number of miles, or for one’s set period of time- it all makes all a difference.

3) So to conclude:

-Between the speeds of 5 and 9 miles per hour, runners expend almost the same calories per mile. The METs are higher for faster speeds just to reflect that they will go more miles in that same hour. This assumes they will run for an entire hour, rather than doing a set number of miles.

-Walkers also see very little difference in calories per mile at walking speeds between 2.5 and 4 miles per hour. While they burn the same calories per mile as runners if they can go 5 mph, they burn fewer calories per mile at slower speeds. They can easily make up that difference in a workout by going further in distance.