Will Running Or Walking Help You Lose Weight More Quickly?

When starting a new exercise program, you need to consider many factors. These include the time you have available for exercise, your current health status, your available resources and your exercise preferences. Pick a plan that works best for you --- and consult your doctor before beginning any new exercise regimen.

Required Resources for a Running or Walking Program

The benefit of choosing running or walking as a form of exercise is that you don't need expensive equipment to participate --- all you really need is a decent pair of shoes and access to the outdoors. However, if you prefer the latest equipment, you can also invest in all sorts of toys --- high-tech shoes, pedometers, treadmills and exercise clothing, not to mention the fitness and running clubs you might choose to join. Another benefit is that walking and running are very portable exercises, so you can keep to your exercise schedule regardless of where your busy lifestyle might take you.

Distance

You likely only have a limited amount of time to exercise each day, so making the most of your exercise time is important. For a given distance, running burns slightly more calories than walking, the journal "Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise" reports. Thus, if you have to choose between running or walking from point A to point B, running will help you lose weight a little bit faster.

Time

Relatively few people set out to run or walk for only a certain distance; for most of us, exercise is dictated more by the time available. During a given amount of time, you will be able to cover a greater distance while running than walking; the difference in energy expenditure between running and walking thus becomes much more important. A 150-pound person burns 286 to 643 calories for each 30 minutes of running to 71 to 286 calories for 30 minutes of walking.

Other Considerations

A major difference between running and walking is the stress you put on your ankles, knees and hips. Because one foot always remains in contact with the ground while walking, it is much lower-impact than running. "Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise" puts the impact force from walking at only 1 to 1.5 times your body weight, where the impact force of running increases to 2 to 3.5 times your weight. So though you may burn more calories while running compared to walking, if you have existing joint problems, or are significantly overweight, walking might be a better option for you to avoid injury --- which could require you to stop exercise altogether.

Walking and Running With Wrist or Ankle Weights

Many people believe walking or running with weights attached to the wrist or ankle to be an effective method for increasing the calories burned in a workout. A study published in "Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise" concluded that, in reality, adding weights has little effect on energy expenditure. Furthermore, researchers suggested, the small increases in energy expenditure combined with the increased impact forces and the discomfort of carrying weights make this a poor way to alter the exercise.