If you want to lose weight, burn fat, or be in better condition with your body, running is the best exercise. Compared to every other exercise that you can do, you can burn the most amount of calories running.
You can do this because:
- Running forces your entire body to continue moving for an extended duration.
- You can vary the intensity of the exercise easily.
- You can do multiple runs during the week or even during the day.
- You can recover fairly quickly from running.
You can increase the amount of time that you run for.
How many calories can you burn while running?
You can run at a moderate pace of 6-8 minutes per kilometre and you should be able to burn approximately 100 calories for every 10 minutes that you run.
Your heart rate should raise to 120-140bpm when running. You can then aim to burn at least 500 calories for every session that you run. So if you ran for 30-40 minutes, you should be able to burn 500 calories.
If you run at a faster pace for the timeframe (increase the intensity), you will be able to burn more calories.
How can I track my average running pace to the amount of calories burned?
You can use the table below as an estimate for the amount of calories burned based on the average running pace.
| Pace per kilometre | Estimated calories burned |
| 7 minutes | 103 |
| 6 minutes | 113 |
| 5 minutes | 190 |
| 4 minutes | 200 |
Please use this table to give yourself a framework to work with.
Your goal should be to average one of the paces for as long as possible.
If you run for 60 minutes at 6 minutes per kilometre, you should be able to burn 1130 calories.
Intensity and the amount of time that you sustain the run for will yield results.
Will HIIT running help to burn calories?
Yes. HIIT or Interval training is very effective as well. However, you need to maintain 80% or more of your top speed over a distance and have a short recovery time.
You will need to conduct the intervals over a period of 15-30 minutes.
For example, you could do 10 x 200m sprints with 45 seconds recovery, which will allow you to run 2 kilometres. The benefit is you can complete the session fairly quickly, but it will be much more difficult to execute.
You will also burn anywhere from 150-400 calories during the session. And you will be able to benefit from the after-burn effect.
Which approach should you consider for burning calories?
It depends on the stage you are at with your body and your training intensity. As you become more advanced, you will benefit from more intense sprinting sessions. However, intense distance running over a longer period of time will burn more calories in the long-run.
