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E X C E L S E R I E S O W N E R ’ S G U I D E
APPENDIX C - CALORIE EXPENDITURE & CALCULATIONS
True treadmills use the calorie expenditure formula as described
in Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription from the
American College of Sports Medicine. This is the most
widely accepted formula for running and walking.
The ACSM guide says that running burns calories
twice as fast as walking, e.g., a 150-pound person
jogging at 5 mph requires 548 calories per hour, while
walking at 5 mph requires 274 per hour. See Appendix
C for more details.
(Other respected researchers such as David Costill think the ACSM
overstates the energy difference between running and walking.
Costill believes running requires 60% more energy than walking,
not 100% as calculated by the ACSM. Using the same example,
Costill's calculations result in 496 cal/hour for running 5 mph, with
313 cal/hour for walking 5 mph.)
One potential source of calorie estimate error is that the treadmill
doesn't know if you are running or walking, so it has to make some
assumptions. It assumes you are walking at 3 mph and slower,
and running at 5 mph and faster. Between those two speeds, the
treadmill combines the walking and running formulas to make its
best guess.
Variations in human exercise efficiency are another potential
source of error, with differences of plus or minus 10% common in
the population
A Note About
Calorie
Expenditure
Calculations
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