Can you lose weight with 30 minutes a day on the treadmill?

To lose weight by using a treadmill, you must exercise intensely enough and often enough to create a caloric deficit. The treadmill can be a calorie-burning, fat-scorching device that can help you achieve this goal. Always speak to your physician before beginning an exercise program to ensure that you do not have any health conditions that could keep you from safely using a treadmill.

Exercise Intensity

Each person’s metabolic rate -- the level at which you burn calories -- is different. This means you could exercise for 30 minutes on a treadmill at the same pace as another person and burn more or fewer calories. However, one way to ensure that you burn enough calories is to exercise at an appropriate intensity. MayoClinic.com recommends exercising at least 150 minutes per week at a moderate pace. This is considered a pace that causes your breathing to speed up and for you to break out into a sweat after 10 minutes of activity. You also can reap weight-loss benefits from vigorous exercise intensity. Rapid breathing and breaking into a sweat after only a few minutes of activity characterize a high-intensity level.

Frequency

You can lose weight by using a treadmill, providing you exercise several times throughout the week. This translates to five 30-minute exercise sessions each week if your are aiming for a total of 150 weekly minutes. However, Edward R. Laskowski, M.D., a physician writing on MayoClinic.com, says that you may need to exercise for a longer duration to lose weight or achieve specific fitness goals.

Challenge Yourself

Increase your calorie burn on the treadmill by boosting your pace and/or increasing the incline on your treadmill, which increases the muscular effort you must put forth to burn calories. For example, a 160-pound person will burn 157 calories walking at a 3.5-mph pace for 30 minutes on a treadmill, while running at a 5-mph pace burns 303 calories for a person of the same weight exercising for the same duration, according to MayoClinic.com.

The Road to Weight Loss

One pound of weight is equal to about 3,500 calories, according the Go Ask Alice! health-resource website from Columbia University. If you can create a 500-calorie deficit each day, you can expect to lose about 1 pound per week. To burn calories solely on your treadmill, you would have to run at an 8-mph pace seven days per week. However, if you combine treadmill exercise with efforts to cut calories on a daily basis, you can experience weight-loss results.

References

Writer Bio

Rachel Nall began writing in 2003. She is a former managing editor for custom health publications, including physician journals. She has written for The Associated Press and "Jezebel," "Charleston," "Chatter" and "Reach" magazines. Nall is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Tennessee.

Treadmill walking is a great way to burn extra calories each day to help you lose weight. Aim to burn 300 extra calories per day with cardio exercise such as brisk walking. This is about 60 minutes per day of moderately-intense exercise, in addition to controlling the number of calories you are eating.

Tips for Treadmill Weight Loss

Throughout this program you will challenge your body by changing the workout throughout the week with harder days alternating with easier days. You can modify this schedule to fit your own lifestyle. You also can add in rest days as needed, but it is best not to have more than one rest day in a row.

If you can't schedule enough time on the treadmill, you have a few options to reach your calorie-burn goal. These include high-intensity training, longer-duration workouts at moderate-intensity, and short-duration, vigorous-intensity workouts.

Studies have shown that both longer-duration, moderate-intensity workouts and shorter-duration, vigorous-intensity workouts are effective for fat loss. But research also suggests that high-intensity training is more time efficient.

So, if you don't have a 60-minute block of time to work out, you can choose a high-intensity workout for about 15 to 20 minutes or add time to your moderate-intensity workouts by supplementing with one or two extra 15-minute walks (on or off the treadmill) throughout the day.

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Watch Now: How to Get The Best Treadmill Workout

Week 1

Use this schedule as a basic model for your workout plan. But, feel free to modify it as needed so that it meets your schedule.

Moderate Intensity Walking Workout

Start the week right with 60 minutes of a moderate-intensity workout. You can burn up to 300 or 400 calories depending on your speed and weight. You can break this workout into two sessions of 30 minutes if you can't set aside a continuous hour.

After warming up for 10 minutes at an easy to moderate pace, increase your pace to a brisk walk that brings your heart rate up to 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. Use a heart rate calculator to get your target numbers if you don't know them.

Many treadmills have a grip pulse detector or heart rate monitor that can help you track your heart rate and exertion. An RPE scale—or rating of perceived exertion—can also be an effective method of monitoring workout intensity and it requires no equipment.

To use the scale, simply choose a number between 6 and 20 that correlates to your workload with 6 indicating that your body is at complete rest and 20 indicating that you are working a maximum intensity (i.e., not sustainable for longer than a few seconds).

Walking Workout for Beginners

Easy Health Walk

Today, you will take a 30-minute walk at an easier pace for your cardio exercise. Aim for a heart rate of 50% to 60% of maximum or an RPE rating of 11–12. Use this workout to concentrate on your walking posture and technique.

This will help you speed up in your more vigorous workouts. Follow up your treadmill session by doing an upper body workout with dumbbells or exercise bands.

Treadmill Hill Workout

You can burn more calories per minute when using the incline feature of your treadmill. If your treadmill has pre-programmed hill workouts, choose one to use today. You can choose a steady climb or hill intervals.

Because you will be working harder, aim for 45 minutes and get in at least 30 minutes of hill work, with your heart rate in the moderate- to vigorous-intensity zone of 70% to 85% of your maximum heart rate. If you are using the RPE scale, it should feel like you are working at a 14 to 16 range, or a moderate to hard workout.

Moderate Health Walk

Walk for 30 minutes at a moderate pace. You should feel like you are working, but not working very hard. On the RPE scale, you might choose a 12 to 14. The workout intensity should feel sustainable. You want to be sure to keep this workout in the moderate range to preserve energy for Friday's more intense workout.

After today's workout challenge yourself with some core work at the end. No equipment is required. Simply choose 2 to 3 of your favorite ab exercises, such as ab curls, plank, and standing abdominal exercises.

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Speed Intervals Workout

Most treadmills come with pre-programmed speed interval workouts. Intervals are short segments where you walk or run at a challenging pace, then slow down for a longer segment to catch your breath before speeding up. For example, you might speed up for 30 to 60 seconds, then recover for up to 2 minutes.

Choose one of the pre-programmed workouts or make up your own. If you are comfortable jogging, you can alternate jogging for your speed interval and walking for the recovery interval. If your treadmill doesn't have a speed interval program, vary the pace yourself by manually increasing and decreasing speed.

Aim for a duration of 30 to 45 minutes for the total workout, with about 20 to 30 minutes of intervals. On the speed segments, you should feel like you are working hard to very hard (15 to 18 on the RPE scale) or about 80% to 90% of your maximum heart rate. Keep the recovery segments active but relatively easy (10 to 12 on the RPE scale).

How to Measure Treadmill Calories Burned

Distance Workout

Aim for 1 hour or more of walking at a comfortable pace. This is a great opportunity to take your walk outdoors for the day and walk in a park, along a greenway, shopping, or exploring. Track your steps and distance with your smartphone or activity tracker so you can balance how many activity calories you are burning.

If you choose to walk indoors on the treadmill, consider listening to a podcast or stream your favorite show to pass the time. Some treadmills have a screen built in so that you can watch your favorite show. You may also be able to use a tablet or smartphone to watch your program.

Active Fun and Stretching

Put your walking legs to work just enjoying an active day with friends and family. Use a warm-up stretching routine to loosen up. Research other physical activities, such as bicycling or swimming, which will exercise different muscle groups from walking. The goal today is finding joy in moving and being alive.

Week 2

Repeat the treadmill workout week pattern. Explore the different pre-programmed workouts on your treadmill for variety on the hill workout day and the speed interval day.

If you haven't been walking regularly for fitness, you may need to start off with shorter treadmill sessions and build up your time each day. Reach your time or calorie goal by adding 15-minute walks throughout the day as needed.

To lose weight with exercise, you also need to control the amount that you eat. Start a sensible diet and use a food diary so you can be honest with yourself about your calories eaten.

If you burn 300 extra calories per day with exercise and you reduce your calorie intake by 200 calories per day, you should achieve a 500-calorie-per-day deficit. By many estimates, this should result in a weight loss of about one pound per week, as long as you don't change your activity level or food intake in other ways.

Week 3

Modify the weekly schedule to fit into your lifestyle. Work on your walking posture and form, especially using tips on how to walk faster so you can burn more calories within the same workout session.

As you progress, you may improve your fitness and lose weight so that you'll need to use more speed and incline to raise your heart rate into the desired exertion zone.

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