walking vs running - please help

Ok.  so I am a little weary to post in here so please be gentle with your comments.

So I used to run a lot and have always hated it.  So I have just recently switched to walking on a big incline for 45 minutes to an hour.   Per the treadmill I am burning the same amount of cals if not more with the walking.  My heart rate definitely gets up and I am sweating. 

So my question is...Is this a good form of cardio to be doing and will I get the same affects as running (minus the trauma to the knees)?  Can I drop body fat with this type of walking?

absolutely.

cardio is cardio, it doesn't matter if it involves running. your muscles will be a lot stronger and you'll burn off calories faster if you run.. but walking will be just as effective, only you'll be doing it at a slower pace. there's lots of people who got in shape that can say they "walked all the weight off".

good luck!! you might want to mix in some other exercises too, if you aren't doing anything else.. such as lifting, squats & crunches.

I miss walking and running forget about it-- ain't  gonna happen for me due to shinsplints.  I can't walk on inclines much anymore either and never get near a treadmill so if you feel you are getting a good workout doing the incline go for it!! 

I went hiking this weekend and my hrm said I burned over 1600 cals in the 2 hours and my avg heart rate was 146 85% and I even got over 102% of my max at some points.  I was amazed my shins didn't hurt the next day and the only problem I had was a sore thigh and my plantar fascitis acted up a bit later in the week.

 Walking on an incline? Absolutely, pretty good cardio.

 I'm not sure I'd trust the readout on the treadmill as far as calories burned goes, but that holds true for both running and walking - machines that don't hook up to your heart rate monitor tend to over-estimate the calories you burn by about 22%-35%. But while the absolute number is unreliable, it should give you the same error no matter if you walk or run on it, so you can probably trust it to compare modes of training for you.

 A rough rule of thumb is that it takes about 100cals to cover one mile whether you walk or run, but you can get in more miles in the same timeframe running. Inclines distort that picture - you expend a lot more calories going uphill, so yes, if you drastically increased the incline you probably burn about the same number of calories even if you do move slower.

 Bonus for walking: the force production curve from walking is less steep/explosive than the one from running, which means it relies less on glycogen and more on lipids for energy - and therefore theoretically should burn more fat even if the energy expenditure is roughly the same.

 I have no idea if that's actually true - I've not seen any studies on that one way or the other, so it might be one of those "it looked good on paper" ideas that don't pan out when someone finally gets the funding to check in the lab.

 I think training with a variety of heart rates is probably beneficial, but running isn't all it's cracked up to be in that respect - there's lots of ways to get your heart rate up. If you get bored with the treadmill, see what the elliptical or arc trainer will do for you ;)

Great.  I love the walking so it seems like its just as beneficial.  I had heard about the 100 cals/mile and I normally do use that as gauge.

thanks for the insight.  I am going to walk for an hour tonight on a 15% incline.  Supposedly that burns like 500-600 cals, which is great!!!

Walking is great for fat burning, I am told by my gym trainer that it is actually better for weight loss than running as with walking you tend to use your stomach muscles more.