A treadmill can be a convenient method of burning calories that isn't dependent upon the weather. You can accurately predict the calories you will burn in a 30-minute treadmill session. This calculation requires your average heart rate, weight, age and gender. The calculation of your calorie expenditure will be more accurate if you also know your VO2 max.
Measurements
Obtain your average heart rate in beats per minute, or bpm, during your treadmill session from a heart monitor. Use the stopwatch function on the heart monitor to ensure that your treadmill session lasts for 30 minutes. You'll also need to provide your weight in pounds, your age in years and your gender.
Conditions
The most important condition for an accurate calculation of your calorie expenditure is maintaining your heart rate within the proper range. Your heart rate should be at least 90 bpm and no more than 150 bpm throughout the entire treadmill session for the greatest accuracy.
VO2 Max
Your VO2 max is basically the greatest rate at which you are able to use oxygen. You can estimate your VO2 max from the maximum distance you can run in 12 minutes. This will allow you to use the formula [VO2 max = (D - 505)/49.2], where D is your maximum 12-minute running distance in yards.
Calorie Expenditure with VO2 Max
The Journal of Sports Sciences provides calorie expenditure formulas that use your VO2 max. This formula is for women and assumes 30 minutes of exercise: Calories = [(0.0468 x Weight) + (0.274 x Age) + (0.380 x VO2 max) + (0.450 x Heart Rate) - 59.3954] x 30/4.184.
The equivalent formula for men is: Calories = [(0.179 x Weight) + (0.271 x Age) + (0.404 x VO2 max) + (0.634 x Heart Rate) - 95.7735] x 30/4.184.
Calorie Expenditure Without VO2 Max
The Journal of Sports Science also provides calorie expenditure formulas that don't require your VO2 max. The following formula for women assumes 30 minutes of exercise: Calories = [(Age x 0.074) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) -- (Weight x 0.05741) -- 20.4022] x 30/4.184.
The equivalent formula for men is: Calories = [(Age x 0.2017) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) -- (Weight x 0.09036) -- 55.0969] x 30/4.184.
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