Treadmills are effective exercise tools. Consistent moderate aerobic activity like walking can help you lose weight and improve your cardiovascular health. Since speed walking burns calories it can help you lose weight -- assuming you are eating a healthy, low-calorie diet.
Weight Loss
Before hitting the treadmill to lose weight, it's important to first know a little about how weight loss actually works. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines weight loss as taking in fewer calories than your burn -- a concept known as a calorie deficit. Speed walking contributes to a calorie deficit by helping you burn calories. The CDC recommends losing weight at a pace not exceeding 2 lbs. per week, which means you would have to create a calorie deficit of 1,000 calories each day through cutting calories and burning them on the treadmill.
Treadmill Workouts
Working out on a treadmill can get rather monotonous, so it's a good idea to change up your workouts. Instead of simply increasing your speed each week, try implementing interval training of high-intensity speeds followed by slower speeds. Also, use the power of your treadmill to walk at an incline -- this will increase the intensity of the workout and burn more calories overall.
Calories Burned
The number of calories burned during a speed walking session depends on several factors -- including your speed, body weight and treadmill incline. According to TheWalkingSite.com, professional race walkers can reach speeds in excess of 10 mph. However, beginners will need to work at their own pace, which will most likely fall between 4 and 6 mph. According to international fitness company Nutristrategy, a 155 lb. person walking at 4 mph can burn 352 calories per hour. The same person can burn 500 or more calories per hour as they approach race walking speeds over 5 mph.
Potential
You can burn a significant number of calories by speed walking on a treadmill, and so weight loss potential is high. Using the previous examples, burning 500 or more calories during a 60 minute workout leads to a 1 lb. loss of weight over the course of a week. If you don't have time to exercise every day, you can work out five days per week and burn 2,500 or more calories. Add this to calories you cut from your diet, and you can realistically achieve a goal of 2 lbs. of weight loss per week.
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