How Many Calories Do You Burn Running a Mile?

It's important to set your weight losing goals first before entering into any fitness or weight loss regime, and an integral part of the journey to your target should be exercise.

You may have read elsewhere about the benefits of walking both for fitness and for weight loss, but the more active section of the population may consider that walking is a little too laid back, and want to put some more effort into the task by running.

If running is new to you or it is some time since you last ran, it's a good idea to check with your doctor first before entering into any extended form of fitness program.

Many people maintain that running is not necessary for weight loss because walking burns up just the same amount of calories. Well, forget that, it doesn't.

Over the same distance, running burns up 50% more calories than walking as an average and because running is generally twice as fast as walking, the same amount of time spent running as walking could burn up to four times as many calories.

At face value that doesn't make sense, but the fact is that running is not the same exercise as walking. When you walk your center of gravity is roughly over your legs and there is not much exertion, it is more of a flow. When you run, your center of gravity careers all over the place and you have to push off each step quite vigorously in order to maintain momentum.

Another point often overlooked is the calories that you would have burned anyway if you hadn't gone for a run, and stayed at home on the couch watching daytime TV instead. You would still be burning calories.

So to take account of this , we will look at a simple formula to help you work out your net calorie burn when walking and running.

Running

Multiply your bodyweight in pounds by 0.63 to find your calorie burn per mile. So for example if you weigh 160 pounds, multiply 160 by 0.63 to give the answer 100.8, which means that you will burn 100.8 extra calories per mile.

Walking

Multiply your bodyweight in pounds by 0.30 to find your calorie burn per mile. So for example if you weigh 160 pounds, multiply 160 by 0.30 to give the answer 48, which means that you will burn 48 extra calories per mile.

These calculations are just a guideline, everybody is different, but they give you a general idea. So if you want to ramp up your calorie burn, think about running!

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