Digital Pedometer for energy expended in exercise

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on understanding the relationship between distance in kilometers and calories burned, emphasizing that this relationship is directly proportional and influenced by pace. A chart can be created to track calories burned over various distances, allowing for the calculation of a slope that indicates the rate of calorie expenditure. For uphill walking, the conversation highlights the need to consider the energy expended against gravity, suggesting that a standard pedometer may not accurately account for this increased calorie burn. It is noted that walking on a 10% incline can burn approximately 50% more calories than walking on flat ground, and adjustments to calculations may be necessary to reflect this change in terrain. Overall, the discussion underscores the importance of pace and incline in accurately determining calorie expenditure during physical activity.
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I use a digital pedometer which has pace counting gigure.
Four items are displayed:
Pace number , pace number by mile, kilometer as well as consumed calories.
I need help in finding out :
1. What is the relationship between distance in kilometers and calories burnt?
2.While the pedometer calculates for walking type of pace, how do I convert it to calories in case I am climbing uphill? Where should the energy expended in moving against gravity has to be considered and what is the equation one should use?
 
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1. What is the relationship between distance in kilometers and calories burnt?
This is a directly proportional relationship that also depends on the exact pace. That is, if you are walking at a faster rate (or faster pace) you will expend more energy and calories. One way to correctly figure out the precise relationship between calories and distance is to record a chart as such.
(use the | to separate columns)
  • distance (km) | calories
  • 0 | 0
  • 0.5 | x cal
  • 1 | x cal
  • 1.5 | x cal
  • 2 | x cal

Where x is the amount of calories burned. This should be a linear relationship as long as pace remains constant. You can then find the slope of the line which would represent the rate at which calories are burned. For example, if your slope comes out to 60, then for every half kilometer traveled, you burn 60 calories.

2.While the pedometer calculates for walking type of pace, how do I convert it to calories in case I am climbing uphill? Where should the energy expended in moving against gravity has to be considered and what is the equation one should use?

To figure out the equation for this situation, you cannot repeat the above trials unless you have a very hi-tech pedometer. I'm not sure how you can adjust to this change, but you might want to try finding the incline traveled and add that to the distance traveled.

Hope it helps.
 
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Typically, walking up a 10% slope burns about 50% more calories than walking on level ground.
 
I would say that the pedometer merely uses approximations, using the values of the average number of paces per mile/kilometer, and the average number of calories burned per mile/kilometer.
 
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