Walking Burns More Fat Than Running, If You Walk This Way

Aerosmith Biggest Hit was Walk This Way and apparently that's also the key to losing weight. The 12-3-30 treadmill workout went viral recently for being a fat-burning, low-impact fitness fix, where you walk at a 12% incline, at a pace of three miles per hour, for 30 minutes.

Researchers looked at how many calories each method were burned, when adults did two workouts. One round of 12-3-30 and one session of running at a pace they could keep up for 25 minutes.

The workouts were adjusted to burn the same number of calories and running burned calories faster, about 13 calories per minute compared to 10 calories per minute for the 12-3-30.

What’s interesting is that the 12-3-30 workout used more fat as a fuel source - 41% of energy came from fat, while 33% did during running. And because you're walking for 5 more minutes than the 25 minute running you end up only burning 25 fewer calories.

So if you’re trying to lose weight, total calories burned matters more than whether you’re using fat or carbs for fuel. But if your goal is to burn more fat, the 12-3-30 may be the way to go. I suppose you could also walk for 3 more minutes to burn 30 more calories.