Losing weight comes down to caloric balance, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By creating a caloric deficit through eating healthy and exercising, you can lose weight. Treadmills can help you achieve a caloric deficit by burning calories and boosting your metabolism. Two of the greatest advantages of treadmills are that you can use them year-round and can easily track your progress.
Types of Treadmills
Treadmills come in a wide variety of sizes and have varying features depending on how much you spend. Entry-level powered treadmills designed for home use start at about $300, as of 2011. Commercial-grade treadmills, like the kind at your local gym, often run $1,000 or more. Commercial treadmills will offer the highest durability and most features, such as built-in programs, Internet connectivity and cushioned decks, but all treadmill types provide an effective workout.
Calories Burned
The advantage that treadmills offer over exercising outdoors is that you can better track the number of calories you burn during each workout. While treadmills might not be 100 percent accurate when tracking the number of calories burned, they will at least give you a good estimate of your progress. MayoClinic.com estimates that a 160-lb. person walking at 3.5 mph will burn 277 calories per hour. The same person can burn 986 calories per hour by increasing the intensity of the workout to 8 mph.
Treadmill Workouts
Many powered treadmills offer built-in weight-loss programs designed to help you maximize the fat-burning process by exercising at various intensities over a long period; this forces your body to burn fat rather than carbohydrates for energy. Treadmills make it easy by having different programs available to keep your workouts fresh, such as interval training, speed workouts and incline training, all of which can help you lose weight.
Considerations
While a treadmill can help you achieve weight loss by helping you burn calories and increase your metabolism, it might not be the right fitness machine for you. If you suffer from arthritis or experience pain when jogging or even walking outdoors, a treadmill might aggravate these conditions. Treadmill exercise is a higher-impact workout than elliptical machines or stationary bikes, both of which provide similar weight-loss potential, so try a variety of machines to find one that suits you.
Member Comments