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Running, by a clear margin. Over the same mile, running burns roughly 25 to 45 percent more calories than walking. And over the same hour, the gap is much wider, because you cover about twice the distance.
So the popular idea that a mile is a mile no matter how you cover it does not hold up.
How many calories a mile costs
Here is a simple way to estimate your own number.
Walking a mile burns about 0.5 calories per pound of body weight, and running about 0.7.
For a 160-pound (73 kg) person, then, that works out to roughly 80 calories walked and 112 calories run.
Both numbers rise with body weight, and so does the gap between them.
Why running costs more
The main reason is that running has a flight phase when both feet leave the ground on every stride, so your muscles have to lift your whole body upward and then slow it down on landing. Each of those actions takes energy.
Walking, on the other hand, keeps one foot on the ground at all times. Your body swings forward over that leg like a pendulum, and part of the energy from one step carries into the next. That returned energy is what makes a walked mile cheaper.
Beyond that, running keeps your oxygen use elevated after you stop. Counted with that recovery included, the gap between a mile walked and a mile run grows larger, though both return to resting levels within about 15 minutes.
Keep in mind, though, that the pendulum effect works less well as you speed up. The faster you walk, the more each mile takes out of you, and past a certain speed a walked mile costs more than a run one. Indeed, that speed is close to the one where you would naturally break into a run.
Over an hour, the gap gets much bigger
At the same time, comparing one mile to one mile gives a different answer than comparing one hour to one hour.
Run 10-minute miles for an hour and you cover 6 miles. Walk briskly at 15-minute miles and you cover 4.
For that same 160-pound (73 kg) person, that is about 672 calories running against 320 walking. More than double, in the same amount of time.
This is why running suits people with limited time to exercise.
What changes your number
Even so, the numbers above are averages, and several things move them in either direction:
- Body weight. Moving more mass takes more energy on every step, walking or running.
- Hills. Climbing lifts your body against gravity, and that lift adds to the total. The steeper the grade, the bigger the difference.
- Soft ground. Sand, snow, loose trail, and deep grass all make your muscles work harder to stabilize and push off. Estimates of how much vary widely, but every study points the same way.
- Carried weight. A backpack or a stroller adds to the mass you have to move.
- Walking speed. A mile walked fast draws noticeably more from you than a mile walked slowly.
Which is better for weight loss?
Whichever one you will keep doing.
Running gives you more in less time. Walking, however, is gentler on the joints and practical enough to repeat every day.
Volume is what decides it over a month. Someone walking five miles a day covers 35 miles a week, whereas someone running a mile twice a week covers two. As a result, the walker comes out several times ahead, despite using less energy per mile.
The choice between them matters less than the calorie deficit you hold across weeks and months.
The bottom line
Per mile, running burns roughly 25 to 45 percent more than walking.
Per hour, running burns more than double, because you cover twice the ground.
Walking can match that total in one way, which is by covering more miles.
