Walking for weight loss and improved fitness on a treadmill is a great place to start, especially if you’re getting back into regular exercise or carrying additional unwanted pounds making other forms of exercise too difficult or unachievable at your current weight. But can you actually lose weight by walking on a treadmill?
On average, walking on a treadmill can help you lose around 0.5 – 1 pound of body fat each week, which makes a great start to losing significant weight over time. Walking has become a popular way to get fit and burn calories because it’s low impact and more manageable for beginners and overweight people.
In the following article, we look at how much weight you can expect to lose from walking on a treadmill. What speed, distance and effort level you must produce to achieve significant weight loss and what are the longer-term plans once you lose weight? Is walking the only option you have, or can you increase the intensity level to burn more calories and fat in a shorter time?
Table of Contents
How Much Weight Can You Lose From Walking on a Treadmill?
On average, you can expect to burn approximately 300 calories if you walk on a treadmill at a moderate pace (3mph) for 1 hour. Therefore, if you walk on the treadmill every day for 1 hour, you can expect to burn 2100 each week, resulting in 0.5 pounds of body fat being burned weekly.
Meaning if you want to lose 10 pounds of body fat from walking alone, you would need to complete 116 one hour treadmill sessions which would take you around 16 weeks, walking every day.
Walking on a treadmill can result in weight loss, especially when used as part of a proper routine. This may not seem like much, but the important thing to consider is that it adds up over time, and you could see significant weight loss from maintaining an effective treadmill schedule.
As with any exercise, the exact amount of weight loss you will see depends on a number of factors. The first thing to consider is your starting weight; someone who weighs more to begin with is likely to see more weight loss and may burn more calories in one walking session. It may take some adjustments to figure out the right schedule for your goals.
The second factor that can affect how much weight loss you see is how you use the treadmill; there are some things you can implement into your routine to see greater weight loss. Things like walking for a longer period, at a faster pace, and at a greater intensity are all likely to result in more weight loss over time.
How Long Should You Walk on a Treadmill to Lose Weight?
A recommended target for walking is around 300 minutes a week; this is thought to be the ideal amount of time to begin seeing weight loss results and make a difference in terms of fitness. A daily recommendation is around 45 minutes a day; you can do more or less than this, depending on your goals and ability.
However, if you want to burn more calories and lose 1 pound of body fat per week, you would need to either increase your time on the treadmill to 1 hour 30 minutes each day or increase the intensity to a brisk walk around (4mph). Your target is to burn 500 calories each session, giving you a weekly total of 3,500 calories burned. To lose 1 pound of body fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories each week.
If you are just starting out, it might be a good idea to begin at half the recommended time. Walking for twenty minutes a day is a great way to build up your routine on the treadmill and help you get used to it. You can then increase this over time as your abilities and fitness levels rise.
If you are used to walking on the treadmill or are seeing an increase in ability, you can raise the amount of time you are spending on it. However, in this case, it is essential that you do not overdo the amount of time you walk and remain aware of your limitations and fitness levels.
Is Walking on The Treadmill Good for Losing Belly Fat?
Walking on a treadmill can help you lose belly fat over time and assist with general weight loss. It also has the added benefit of ridding you of belly fat for good. Ideally, a routine will be built and kept up over time to make sure belly fat is gone completely and maintain your new results.
A great way to burn fat on the treadmill is to add an incline, which will push up the intensity and make you work a little bit harder. Greater intensity is likely to burn more calories, resulting in more fat loss. This is something you can build up over time, adjusting the incline to meet your goals. (For more benefits of incline treadmill walking and for exact calories burned, read this post)
An important thing to remember is that it isn’t possible to spot specific areas for weight loss; fat loss will occur all over the body rather than in one targeted area, no matter how much you aim for it. So if at first you notice fat loss in other areas than the stomach, don’t be disheartened.
Where you see fat loss depends on a number of things, and the first place you see weight loss differs from person to person. Some people experience fat loss in the midsection straight away; for others, it can take longer, and fat loss may occur first in other areas such as the face or legs.
Generally, men hold 60% of their fat in their belly, yet women only hold around 50%. Therefore, men might see weight loss from their bellies faster than women. Women typically hold the 40% in their bums and thighs, so fats loss in the legs, belly and bum will happen simultaneously.
Is 30 Minutes a Day on the Treadmill Enough for Weight Loss?
On average, 30 minutes of brisk walking (4mph) on a treadmill will burn between 200-300 calories. Therefore, you could burn 0.5 pounds of fat each week if you walked 30 minutes every day, resulting in weight loss.
Thirty minutes on the treadmill is enough to see weight loss results, as each little workout will add up to create greater weight loss results over a period of time. The best way you can use the treadmill is as part of a routine of other healthy habits, like eating healthy, drinking water and sleeping better.
However, to begin with, walking for 30 minutes a day is a great way to start burning calories and seeing weight loss results over time. Treadmill walking is a popular choice of workout for weight loss, and for a good reason; it is easy, it can be done indoors, and results can be seen relatively quickly.(Want to know how many calories running, jogging and walking burns in 30 minutes? Read this)
Can I Lose Weight by Just Walking on the Treadmill?
Walking on the treadmill is a great way to begin to lose weight; however, it is unlikely to be enough to see significant results on its own. Other healthy habits and choices will likely be needed to see weight loss results and meet your own targets and goals.
Diet is a key consideration for any weight loss routine and particularly important if you implement a new exercise. If you aren’t watching what you are eating or are eating particularly unhealthy foods, walking on a treadmill will not result in weight loss, so it must be used as part of a healthy exercise and diet routine.
Ideally, you need to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate, giving you how many calories you need to eat each day to maintain your current weight. From there, you can use walking to create a calorie deficit that wants to be 250-500 calories. If you maintain the correct eating habits and walk every day, you will see weight loss.
However, it will be slower than most methods because walking isn’t a high-intensity form of exercise. Therefore, you need to begin adding running, spinning or elliptical to your routine to increase your weight loss potential.
If you ready read:
- The benefits of running on a treadmill.
- Spinning or indoor cycling for weight loss
- Or buying a Peloton which is the world’s largest at-home exercise company.