When it comes to weight loss, there are so many different avenues that one can take to get on their journey to shedding unwanted extra pounds. However, some tricks are tried and true. How many miles do you need to walk to lose weight on a treadmill?
Generally, when walking on a treadmill, completing 3 miles at a moderate walking pace will result in about 300 calories lost. This will take around 60 minutes to complete and should be done daily to lead to a weight loss of one pound per week.
Weight loss is something that so many individuals are pursuing, but many times, they are lost at where to start. Especially for beginners, trying to find a weightloss method that will fit with their current physical state, as well as work with how they are comfortable exercising, can be difficult. Read on to figure out exactly how many calories you burn while walking and the other components that affect how much weight you are able to lose when walking on a treadmill.
How Many Calories Can You Burn While Walking?
Some may look at a treadmill and think that such a piece of equipment belongs in a history museum. This piece of equipment has been used for decades, but there is a reason that it has hung around for so long: it can be incredibly effective when it comes to burning calories. Even more, when you are burning calories, you are toning up and burning fat, which for many people is the exact goal when they start their workout on a treadmill.
Everyone knows that you can walk, or even keep an intensely paced run maintained, on this piece of equipment, but when it comes down to numbers, exactly how many calories are you capable of burning? Even more, if you are just walking on a treadmill, can you burn enough calories for them to make an actual difference in your weight loss journey? Good for those of you asking, when walking on a treadmill, the sky is the limit when it comes to burned calories.
For those of you that plan to maintain a walking pace, you may be thinking there is no way that such a pace could lead to calories burned, but you would be wrong. If you are walking at a moderate pace for 60 minutes, you will be able to burn 300 calories in that single session. The key here is the pace at which you walk. This number goes only for those that are walking just fast enough to increase their heart rate and keep it at an elevated level for 60 minutes.
If you were to walk slower than this, at a regular walking pace that is not elevated past how you would walk from your car to the front door, the calories burned will be decreased. On the flip side, if you were to increase your walking pace to that of a speed walk (a level of walking that falls right below a light jog) you are capable of burning anywhere from 350 calories to 500 calories within those 60 minutes.
What Effects How Much Weight You Are Able to Lose While Walking on a Treamilll?
Previously discussed was the number of calories individuals are able to burn while walking on a treadmill. Being able to burn 300 calories within 60 minutes is great, but it is also important to note that this number is not one that is across the board for every single person. There are other variants that play major roles in how few or how many calories you are able to burn. Take a look below to see what affect the calories you are able to burn walking on a treadmill.
Your Current Weight
Weight is a huge contributor to how many calories you are able to burn when walking on a treadmill. For instance, if you are a heavier individual and you are just starting out on your workout journey, you are going to be able to see a calorie loss much easier than if you were someone who weighed less and had more muscle mass. For example, if you are 250 pounds and walk at a moderate pace for 60 minutes, you can burn 398 calories
At the same time, if you are 140 pounds and are walking at the exact same pace for the exact same amount of time (60 minutes) you will only burn an average of 223 calories during your treadmill walk. Walking is a wonderful form of exercise, but it is most effective for those who are able to drastically increase their hear trate through a walking pace. If you are someone who is unaffected by moderate walking, your calorie loss will be less.
The Regularity of Your Workouts
Many are inclined to believe that any type of physical activity, no matter how brief of how sparse is beneficial. This is true to some degree, but when it comes to working towards losing weight, one of the most important factors is being sure to maintain regular workouts. Now, this does mean regularly working out every Monday, this means being sure to walk at least 3 to 5 times a week.
This may be discouraging to some, as who has time to work out so often? However, if losing weight is your goal, you have to put working out and walking on the treadmill at the very top of your priority list. If you want to know what is important to people and the goals they have set for themselves, look at what they spend the most time doing and you will see a reflection of where their devotion lies. This same sentiment is shared when it comes to working out.
The Amount of Time You Spend on the Treadmill
You may look at being on a treadmill for 60 minutes as completely unattainable. This amount of time may in fact be impossible for those who are pulled in a million different directions. However, when it comes to walking on a treadmill, the more time you commit to the walk, the greater amount of calories you are able to burn, and thus, the greater amount of weight you are able to lose.
If you plan to walk at a moderate speed for 25 minutes rather than 60 minutes without increasing your pace whatsoever, that same person who is 250 pounds will only burn 100 calories rather than the 338 that would have been burned with 60 minutes. In the same breath, the person who is 140 pounds will only burn 56 calories in those 15 minutes as opposed to 223 with a 60 minute walking duration.
The Incline at Which You Walk
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For many newer (and even a few completely outdated ones!) there is a feature on them that will allow those who are walking or running to increase the incline on the actual machine. What this will do is lift the front of the treadmill to mimic an incline that is either that of a gentle slope or it can increase in a way that makes it more like walking up a steep hill. This allows users to increase the difficulty of their walk, rather than walk on a flat surface.
Why would someone add this to their walk you ask? If you were to maintain the exact same pace that you are walking on a flat treadmill and then increase the incline while maintaining that pace, you are going to burn more calories due to having to push your body harder to walk on an incline. This will increase your heart rate, which will then allow for more calories burned through the simple challenge of walking up a mimicked hill.
The Speed at Which You Walk
Previously, it was briefly touched on that when you walk at a faster pace, you are going to burn more calories as opposed to when you walk at a more natural speed. There are a few different ways that you can go about walking before getting into the realm of a job, but let’s take a quick look at a few of the numbers for the same weights that we have previously compared. Those being the weight of 140 pounds and 250 pounds.
If a 140-pound person were to walk at 3.5 mph for 60 minutes, they would burn 275 calories and the 250-pound person would burn 490 calories. If you increase that pace to 4 mph, the 140-pound person would burn 320 calories and the 250-pound person would burn 570 calories. Increase that pace once more to 4.5 mph and the 140-pound person would burn 403 calories while the 250-pound person would burn 718.
The point to note here is that if you increase the pace at which you walk on a treadmill and extend the time you walk as well, you will end up burning quite a bit more calories than if you were to remain at a more moderate pace. This may not be possible for some initially, but increasing the pace of your walk can certainly be a goal to work towards as you condition your body and it gets acclimated to your new daily routine.