Exercise can help you lose weight, providing you perform it vigorously and on a regular basis. Jogging on a treadmill can be a vigorously intense exercise, and when combined with other exercise and dietary components, may help you shed pounds. But simply adding jogging to your routine does not guarantee weight loss.
Basics
You must create a calorie deficit to lose weight, meaning you have to work off more calories than you consume. You burn calories by breathing and pumping blood, digesting food and moving daily. All movement burns calories, even showering and washing the dishes. Adding extra movement, such as jogging on a treadmill, raises your calorie burn rate. You need to burn 3,500 calories more than you consume to lose 1 pound.
Recommendations
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends the average person exercise at least 30 minutes at a moderate intensity five times a week. For weight management or loss, you may need to exercise up to 90 minutes five days per week. Jogging at 5 mph burns 292 calories in 30 minutes if you weigh 160 pounds. Increase your exercise time to 90 minutes and you burn up to 876 calories. A faster jogging pace also burns more calories.
Impact
If you burn the extra 292 calories per day and do not eat more calories than you need to sustain your weight, you can lose about 0.6 pounds per week. This means you have to jog on a treadmill 30 minutes a day. If, however, you treat yourself to a 300-calorie post-workout smoothie in addition to your normal meal intake, you will actually gain 0.02 pounds per week. You must watch your calorie intake even when exercising if you want to lose weight. Jogging the 90-minute session five times per week can result in a 1.25-pound weight loss per week, if you keep your calorie intake to what your body needs to function and perform daily activity.
Considerations
Jogging for 90 minutes requires significant stamina and training. Although treadmills are often easier on your joints and ligaments, long runs can still be stressful to your body. If you are carrying extra weight, the stress is even greater. Start walking and work your way up to jogging gradually.
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