Does Running Burn More Calories than Walking?

Is it a myth that runners burn more calories than walkers? It just makes sense - all that sweating and huffing and puffing must mean more calories are being burnt, right? Actually, the difference in calories burned per mile or kilometer is very small, and there is no difference at higher walking speeds.

Measuring Calories Burned

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.

Walking at various speeds burns between 2 and 8 MET. Running at various speeds burns 8 to 18 MET. That sounds like quite a difference, but you have to take into account the length of the workout. Do they run for a set number of miles, or do they run for a set period of time? It makes all of the difference.

Calories per Mile

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.

Read full article at http://walking.about.com/od/calorie1/a/calorieswalkrun.htm