The couch to 5 km! Want to join me?

[paradise lost]

Hello! I can't really join in here, as i already run, but i might start a general exercisey thread for some company, maybe you'll come over and talk there?

Roughly 100 calories a mile are burned when walking/running - it's the distance that makes the difference, not the speed. So if you walk for an hour that's about 4 miles, 400 calories, if you jog for an hour that's about 6 miles, 600 calories. The numbers depend also on how hard you're working, if it's very hard for you to run you'll burn more initially, but will also be moving slower. A heart rate monitor can give a more accurate estimate but 100kcal/mile is a useful guideline in general.

It also depends on how much you weigh as a heavier body takes more effort to move. There's a calculator here which takes your weight and the distance and tells you how much you burned. Contrary to popular belief the heavier you are the faster your metabolism is as the bigger your body the harder your systems have to work to maintain it. Metabolic rate is defined by how many calories your body needs to maintain its current state. The average woman needs about 2000 calories a day and the average man around 2500 (those averages are for people who exercise regularly, so if you never exercise in a way that raises your heartrate you'll need a lot less). I need 2300ish because i'm a pretty active 181cm woman. Your metabolism is always as slow as it can be because that's the best use of energy, so a 100kg more muscular body has a faster metabolism (needs more calories) than a 100kg more fat body, but a 100kg more fat body still has a faster metabolism (needs more calories) than a 60kg body. Lots of people who are overweight think it may be because of a slower metabolic rate, but that is very rare. Most metabolic problems (like hypothyroidism which i myself have) are only associated with moderate weight gain (3-9kg) and it is usually diet and exercise choices which exacerbates those problems. Which for me is great news as it meant i could lose the weight my condition made me put on quite easily once i was medicated and once i'd realised i was going to have to exercise LOL. I really admire all you ladies doing this. I only began running after DD was born and i too did a walk/run 0-5k programme devised by a friend who's a personal trainer. I began in May 2006, in May 2007 i did my first road race, a 10k (67 minutes) and in September 2007 i ran a half marathon (13.1 miles, over 21k! 2 hours 37 minutes) so once you get going you'll be FLYING along!

Bx