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Old 08-31-2013, 02:37 PM   #4 (permalink)
mort
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xist View Post
Anyway, this is basic physics, right? Is there a formula that would give me an idea how much I should speed up as I lose weight?
Hi Xist,
This is probably not what you want to know. Anyway, for healthy people the amount of energy it takes to walk, jog or run a given distance is just about proportional to their weight.
So if you lose 10% of your weight and speedup 10% you are doing the same amount of work.
One way to look at it is:
Let's say you are 10% over your weight goal. And you can run 2 miles in 19:15. As you lose weight and increase your pace you will get to your goal weight and 2 miles in 17:30, but will be doing the same amount of work - burning the same number of calories and requiring about the same effort.

For a 200 lb person it takes about 115 Kcal per mile to walk or run (at a comfortable pace). The Army PFT expects a 25 year old male to run 2 miles in 17:30, about 6.86 mph. That's a solid running pace, so probably takes 125 Kcal per mile. So 2 miles is about 250 Kcal. For comparison, a large order of McDonald's fries is about 500 Kcal.

-mort
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