How to Lose Weight on Treadmill

You might think that simply having a treadmill standing in a corner of your home is enough to drop those unsightly pounds. Well, you actually have to use the treadmill, and moreover, you have to use it right. Have you been using your treadmill, but have not been able to lose weight, or have even put on more pounds?

It is something that happens, and it happens to more people than would care to admit it. Losing weight with a treadmill is not as easy as just getting on the thing and turning it on. The way you use a treadmill, as well as your overall diet and lifestyle will make a difference. Today we are going to cover the best tips on how to lose weight on a treadmill.

Your Diet

No, this has nothing to do with the treadmill, but it is important to talk about nonetheless. There is no feasible way to talk about weight loss without also talking about your diet. The average male needs 2000 to 2500 calories per day, and females between 1500 and 2000 calories.

If you burn 500 calories on the treadmill, but then go and eat a 3000 calorie meal, why you’re not losing weight is a no brainer. As a person who wants to lose weight, a rule of thumb is to eat less than your required daily caloric intake.

As a man this means eating less than 2000 calories per day. This alone will help you lose weight regardless of exercise. Burning off a ton of calories on the treadmill is just the proverbial icing on the cake for even more weight loss.

The Fat Burning Zone

The so called “fat-burning zone” is a cardiovascular exercise concept which you need to be familiar with. It theorizes that a person needs to maintain a heart rate at 70% to 80% of the maximum heart rate to truly burn calories and lose weight.

For example, (on average), a 35-year-old woman’s maximum heart rate would be 220 minus her age, which equals 185 beats per minute. To get into that fat-burning zone, a heart rate of at least 70% of that 185 BPM is required, so about 130 beats per minute.

Therefore, to ensure that you are really burning calories on the treadmill, you first need to figure out how many beats per minute you need to achieve to enter the fat burning zone (dependent on age, size, and sex), and then use the pulse monitor on the treadmill to monitor this and stay in that zone.

More, More, More – Further and Faster

Something to note as well is that the human body gets used to whatever it does. This means that if you constantly run 3 miles for weeks on end, eventually your body will grow so accustomed to it that it won’t help you burn calories anymore, at least not as many as you would like. Running is all about constantly challenging yourself, how fast and how far you go.

If you feel comfortable running 3 km and you barely feel it, then up the ante and add a couple clicks onto your run. The further you go, the more calories will be burned and the more weight you will lose, and more important than the distance itself, is the distance at which you start to get tired. When you get tired, this is when you really need to push it and keep going.

On this same note, speed is also going to make a difference. For one, the fat-burning zone we talked about above is going to require you to go fairly fast (depending on your physical condition). The healthier you are and the better your endurance, the faster you’ll need to go to get into that fat-burning zone.

In the end, it’s all about pushing yourself to go faster, to go further, and preferably both. The heavier the workout, the greater the results. It’s simple math really. If you don’t feel as tired as you’d like from running at a moderate pace for 30 minutes, then turn up the speed on the treadmill by a level or two and try to go for 35 or 40 minutes.

The Incline

The reason why many treadmills come with inclines, or the ability to be adjusted in terms of the incline, is because running up a hill is harder than running on a flat surface. It takes more energy and effort to run up a slope than it does to run on flat ground.

If you find that your workout is too easy, you are not tired enough at the end, and that you aren’t losing enough weight, jack up the incline and you will notice a difference. The calories burned from running on an incline are monumentally greater than when running on flat ground.

Mix it Up

We already mentioned how bodies get accustomed to doing certain workouts. For instance, if you run all the time, eventually it is going to do less and less for your weight loss goals. It is recommended to switch up your workouts. If you only run, sure, your legs will get jacked, but that’s it.

The stronger your legs get, the harder and harder you have to push to burn the same amount of calories. However, if you constantly switch things up, do different types of workouts, and switch up the muscles you work, you’ll always have to push. Never give your body a chance to get accustomed to any routine because this is when you will start to plateau.

It is also recommended to switch up your running routine as well. Switch between endurance and speed running for the best results.

Conclusion

If you have a treadmill, then you’re on the right track. If you are still having trouble losing weight, follow the above tips and you should start achieving your goals in no time.