Measure the effect of walking while commuting with a smartwatch

Replace part of your commute with walking

Exercising because of the purpose of dieting is something that doesn't last long. Creating a state of physical activity as part of your life-this is the key to staying healthy for the long term.

For example, if you commute by train, it is effective to replace part of it with walking. At first, I think it's easier to work by "walking" only between one station of the train commuter. It's not busy in the morning, so it's easy to get off at the station just before the nearest station and walk to your house on your way home.

If it's difficult to walk, you can get off at an easy-to-walk place and walk for one station, or you can get off at a station near the supermarket and walk for one station while shopping. If you get tired of it, it's fun to change the station you get off at random.

In any case, I want to make it a daily routine to walk one station as part of my life. The author recommends a method that combines the need for daily life, such as stopping at a supermarket, with the exercise of walking for one station. This is because if there is a need in daily life, it will last for a long time and it will be easy to become a habit.

Let's measure how different

Therefore, the important thing is visualization. It is good to measure and know how much effect you can expect by walking for one station. If you can see the effect as a numerical value, it will be an easy and powerful motivation.

Here, let's first record the "train movement" of the section where you will walk with a smartwatch. Any type of training can be used, but since you will walk a little on the premises or in the car, you should record it by "walking". The following screenshot is the result of measuring one station (Keio Yomiuri Land Station → Inagi Station) (using Polar Vantage V2).

Travel time is about 1 minute and 40 seconds. The calorie consumption is 4 kcal. It's almost not moving and only 1 minute and 40 seconds have passed, so it's probably like this.

Let's walk the same section this time. The following screenshot is the result of walking the same section.

This section is only about 2.29km even if you walk along the river. It took about 30 minutes because I walked leisurely. The calories burned during this walk are 149 kcal. The breakdown of burning is 25% carbohydrates and 75% fats. You might think that it's about 150kcal after walking for 30 minutes, but as the word says, if dust accumulates, it will become a mountain, and when it comes to everyday things, it will gradually work like a body blow.

Let's calculate how effective it is

From here it's a simple calculation. Let's calculate how much difference will be made in one year from the above two measurement results. First, set the conditions.

Traveling by train takes 1 minute and 40 seconds, but walking takes 30 minutes. Therefore, add 28 minutes and 20 seconds of calories burned to the train movement. In the case of the author, the daily calorie consumption on a resting day is about 2300 kcal, so the calorie consumption at 28 minutes and 20 seconds at rest is about 49 kcal. Since the calories while traveling by train are 4 kcal, the total is 53 kcal. When commuting by train, it is assumed that 53 kcal is consumed by assuming that the relevant section + 28 minutes and 20 seconds of vacancy are at rest. If the walking time is adjusted to 30 minutes, the calories burned will be as follows.

In other words, by changing one station to walking, the difference between 145kcal and 53kcal increased the calorie consumption by "92kcal". I think that the number of commuting days will decrease in the future due to the spread of telework, but here, assuming the type of industry that goes to work every day, if the year-end and New Year holidays, Bon holidays and paid leave are used up on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, 220 days a year I think I will commute to work.

If one station of returning to work is changed to walking, the calorie consumption will increase by 20240 kcal per year. According to the Polar Vantage V2 measurement, 75% of the burning rate is fat in this walking, so a simple calculation will burn 15180 kcal of fat per year. It is said that 1g of fat is 9kcal, so this is also a simple calculation, and 1686g of fat is burned annually.

Many people are aware that they will gradually gain weight at a pace of about 1 kg to 2 kg in a year. Let's say you are getting fat at a pace of 1kg a year. If one station of returning to work is changed to walking, in this case 1.686 kg should burn fat, and the difference of 686 g will lose weight.

Of course, it's not such a simple story because you have to take into account the various changes that occur when you walk, but it's easy to understand as a motivation. If you walk for one station, you may be able to stop getting fat and take it in the direction of losing weight.

If you walk 2 stations, you can expect more effect, and if you walk when you go to work, you can expect that much. Do you know that you can "design" your future by actually measuring it like this? Actually measure, calculate, and guess what will happen in a year. This is quite a motivation.

Design walking based on the amount of fat you want to gain and lose

As described above, by measuring walking, it becomes possible to estimate how much fat burning can be expected by walking. If your weight or body fat percentage is higher than the average, first consider "lean body mass" to reduce body fat.

Visualize the amount of fat that can be burned by walking, and design the length of walking to incorporate into your life based on that value. This is quite effective. Unlike walking in the dark clouds, having a clear goal is a strong motivation.

However, if you find this method unsuitable, you don't need to use it. The most important thing is whether you can continue as a part of your life. There is more than one way to incorporate exercise as part of your life. You don't have to get results right away, so find out which method is right for you.