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Calories buned - running

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
Ok....so I've been runn....jogg....ok....hobbling on my treadmill for the last couple of weeks.

How do those things calculate calories burned? Because it seems a little low to me.

If I run at a rate fluctuating between 5 and 8 mph for 20 mins, am I REALLY only burning about 120 calories?

(I realize there's more to fitness, than calories....I'm just perplexed by the math)
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,016
Sleazattle
Is it the treadmill that is calculating this? Does it understand how fat and pathetic you are?

It is hard for me to get a good workout in with running as my legs just can't move as fast as what my cardio system can normally handle. If you have an incline option on the treadmill crank it up, should make things harder on you without increasing impact or foot speed.
 

Rapplez

Chimp
Apr 27, 2010
23
0
Marysville Wa
Its different for everyone. If i was to go out and run 24 x 400m @ 66 seconds per 400m, i would most likely burn nearly 2200 calories. But if i was to run 24 x 400m @ 96 seconds per 400m i would burn probably only about 600 calories. The faster the heart rate the quicker you burn calories.

A perfect example is a car sucking gas, you drive the freeway at a constant speed, your not going to use nearly as much gas as if you were to just stomp on the gas pedal and hold it.

But in order to burn a high amount of calories, you have to be consist. (run nearly everyday) also do it in a safe manner. If you have never ran before or rarely run, dont go out and sprint really fast and expect to burn a million calories. Work up to getting faster, and running longer, be patient.

Hope this helps,

Rapplez
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
What are your goals? If you are trying to build up cardio strength and stamina, you should take it slow and work up to running or doing cardio for longer periods of time. For me, to lose weight, interval training seems to work better. Sprinting/intense workouts for shorter amounts of time.
 

blue

boob hater
Jan 24, 2004
10,160
2
california
Its different for everyone. If i was to go out and run 24 x 400m @ 66 seconds per 400m, i would most likely burn nearly 2200 calories. But if i was to run 24 x 400m @ 96 seconds per 400m i would burn probably only about 600 calories. The faster the heart rate the quicker you burn calories.

A perfect example is a car sucking gas, you drive the freeway at a constant speed, your not going to use nearly as much gas as if you were to just stomp on the gas pedal and hold it.

But in order to burn a high amount of calories, you have to be consist. (run nearly everyday) also do it in a safe manner. If you have never ran before or rarely run, dont go out and sprint really fast and expect to burn a million calories. Work up to getting faster, and running longer, be patient.

Hope this helps,

Rapplez
Except that you're mostly burning glycogen stores in your muscles when you're stomping it like that, not fat. Sure, you can bonk out and then your body will be forced to run on fat...but you'll be miserable.
 

laura

DH_Laura
Jul 16, 2002
6,259
15
Glitter Gulch
Ok....so I've been runn....jogg....ok....hobbling on my treadmill for the last couple of weeks.

How do those things calculate calories burned? Because it seems a little low to me.

If I run at a rate fluctuating between 5 and 8 mph for 20 mins, am I REALLY only burning about 120 calories?

(I realize there's more to fitness, than calories....I'm just perplexed by the math)
Most treadmills have a heart rate monitor on the "handlebars". Are you using that? If you aren't then your tredmill may have some kind of average calculation it does. If this is the case, you could be burning more. However, 20 minutes at 5-8 mph is not really that much of a workout and the calorie number sounds about right to me. At 5 mph, you may find that you can double your time spent on the treadmill by walking and burn more calories than you could with running for half the time.