Making a choice between walking and jogging as your form of exercise depends a lot on your health status, goals and time constraints. Both are considered good forms of exercise, but there is a difference in the number of calories burned as well as the impact on the body. If you are just beginning to exercise, it's best to start by walking and build your way up to jogging.
Calories
Calories are the energy the body needs to function. If we take in more calories than we consume, we gain weight and vice-versa. Both walking and jogging burn calories, but jogging burns more overall. According to MayoClinic.com, a 160 lb. person jogging at 5 mph for 60 minutes will burn 584 calories, whereas the same person walking at 2 mph will burn 183 calories. If you jog a mile at 5 mph, it will take about 12 minutes and you will burn around 137 calories. If you walk at 2 mph, it will take you 30 minutes to reach a mile and you will burn around 91 calories.
Bodily Impact
Jogging and running both have an impact on the body, but jogging affects the joints more significantly. Walking is easier on the body's joints and causes far fewer injuries to heels, shins, knees and hips than can occur with jogging. Walking is considered a low-impact exercise, whereas jogging is considered high impact.
Health
Although jogging offers slightly more benefits for your bones, muscles, heart and lungs, walking will also strengthen your bones, tone your muscles and benefit your cardiovascular system. Jogging for a mile will benefit your resting metabolism more so than walking, because it conditions the heart and lungs more intensely. An advantage to walking for a mile is that, according to the Human Performance Laboratory at Northeast Missouri State University, higher intensity exercises done in a short time mainly burn carbohydrates, whereas fats are fuel for exercise done at a steady pace for a longer duration. The longer you walk, the more stored fat you will use. If weight loss is a goal, this is an important factor.
Other Factors
Jogging and walking can both be done in different environments, and doing so will alter the effects of the exercise. Jogging on a treadmill has less impact on the joints than if done outdoors, but it won't burn as many calories as jogging outdoors. Walking on a treadmill won't change the impact much but will burn fewer calories . Walking or jogging on an incline or using weights will increase the effect on the muscles and the cardiovascular system, and will increase the calories burned.
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