Does exercise burn more calories if it feels HARD?

[FauxFox]

I did the same run yesterday and today, but today it felt so much harder, omg I have never pushed myself so hard to keep going! I think I must have started out a bit too fast or something, but anyway my question is does the fact I nearly killed myself doing it mean todays run burnt more calories than yesterdays?

[cinnamongreyhound]

If you put in more effort and your heart rate was higher for the majority of the run then I would say yes it has.

[FauxFox]

Oh good at least it was worth it then!

[Sleepwhenidie]

Err, sorry but no, not if the run was the same distance. You would burn the same number of calories had you walked or sprinted. You would have been working your heart and lungs harder by running though, if that is any consolation ?

[cinnamongreyhound]

Calories burned is based on how much effort you put in and how fast your heart beats, hence why people use heart rate monitors to calculate calorie burn. If you walk a mile it will burn less calories than if you run that same mile.

[Snowkey]

Agree with cinnamon - running burns more calories mile for mile. Simplistically when you walk you keep one foot on the ground at all times, when you run you take mini jumps, so you move vertically upwards as well as forwards. The heat your body creates is another factor - that heat just isn't the same for walking.
But also if you run 5k it takes 30 mins, walking 45mins - how much energy are you burning 15 mins after you stop running....you're not sleeping so again you will add to total calorie burn.
If you found the exercise hard but you were running the same distance in a similar time, more perceived effort...calorie difference won't noticeable but if you actually ran faster, there will be a bigger calorie burn - but not as much as you'd think. A slow run for me will burn about 330kcal, a fast run about 350-360.....it's running time that makes the biggest difference.

Do not over exert yourself, it potentially causes injury, it doesn't make much difference to calories and it can make workouts feel unnecessarily hard. Remember for majority of runs, you should be able to speak a couple of sentences while you are running, if you can't you are running too hard and need to slow down or do the walk/run thing, fitness will come and then running fast is a bit of a buzz!

[Sleepwhenidie]

Apologies, Snowkey is right, running does burn more calories than walking (read a bit more around this last night!), running faster doesn't make a bhig difference though. Tbh i think some days exercise just feels harder than others, for whatever reason

[Snowkey]

To be fair sleep I do remember the NHS, a few years ago, were trying to encourage people to exercise more by walking and they told everyone that walking used as many calories as running as long as you if you moved the same distance. The rubbish we have been fed by "experts" astonishes me at times. I wish I knew why exercise feels tough some days, I never know when a run is going to be easy or hard till I am 10mins into it.