Burning 1,000 calories a day on a treadmill. How is this possible?
Treadmills have come a long way since. They now have an adjustable speed, incline, and excellent tracking capabilities. As such, it becomes possible to try out several workout styles.
This translates to an increase in the number of calories you can potentially burn.
You can indeed burn 1000 calories in a day on a treadmill.
There are four ways to do this:
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Walk Slowly for Long
When you run at low speeds, say 3-4mph, your body burns calories. Not so fast though.
On average, a person burns 100 calories when walking for a mile. In this case, you may need hours to achieve the 1000-calorie goal. Several factors, discussed later, also affect the number of calories you burn per unit time.
However, heavier people tend to burn more calories overall. For instance, according to the American Council on exercise, a 185-pound individual running at such speed burns 318 calories an hour.
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Run Faster for a Short Period
When the pace is upped to 6mph, the same person now burns 800 calories an hour. You will need about 1.25-2 hours of running at this pace to burn 1000 calories. The range is meant to cater to varying body weight and other factors.
This means that significantly more calories are burned at higher speeds.
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Run On An Incline
James McCormick, a master’s student at the University of New Mexico, conducted research on the effects of treadmill incline on the number of calories burned. Here’s what he found.
- A 5% incline led to a 35% increase in the number of calories burned from level training.
- 10% incline led to an 88% increase in the number of calories burned from level training.
- 15% incline led to a 141% increase in the number of calories burned from level training.
By exercising at a certain incline level, higher than normal, your body experiences more stress. To raise your body weight up the “hill” requires more energy. This leads to higher caloric expenditure.
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Use a Weighted Vest
A bonus tip would be to add a weighted vest to your workout gear. This increases the number of calories you can potentially burn by 3%.
When you exercise with a weighted vest on an incline, you burn 5.5-9.2% more calories.
At this point, it’s clear that the number of calories burned on a treadmill cannot be standard for everybody. To find approximations adjusted as closely as possible to your context, we recommend that you use this calories burned on a treadmill calculator.
It takes into account your weight, speed, distance, time, and incline. Thus, the figures are almost accurate.
Factors Affecting the Number of Calories Burned on a Treadmill
1. Speed
Speed boils down to your ability to make repeated muscle movements, fast! This means that the faster you walk/run, the more your muscles get stimulated. Each cycle requires energy. Thus, more calories are burned at high speeds.
2. Distance
To put it simply, whether fast or slow, the further you run/walk, the more calories you burn. This is not to say that this relationship is linear. Shorter, intense workouts burn more calories than longer, slow workouts.
3. Body Weight
This is the strongest factor in determining how many calories you can burn on a treadmill. Just like any other machine, the body requires more energy to carry around higher weights.
This is where the concept of weighted vests is lifted.
Pro athletes apply this principle in a myriad of exercises including weighted squats and seat-ups. Body composition also plays a major role in determining your caloric expenditure.
People with a higher muscular composition burn more calories.
This is because of two reasons: more muscles=more energy requirement and the fact that such individuals can resist longer cardio periods. Therefore, to increase your odds of burning 1,000 calories on a treadmill, you may consider building some more lean muscle mass.
You can do this by incorporating a few days of weight training in your weekly fitness routine.
4. Incline
As previously discussed, the gradient on the treadmill dictates your energy requirement. On the flat level, walking or running on a treadmill is easiest. To effectively spend less time at the gym, you may incorporate sessions of incline training. Your body will be forced to burn more calories to lift its weight up the belt.
5. Fitness level
Getting fit only comes with consistent training. When you have been exercising for a while, your body runs more efficiently. As such, it requires less energy to complete movements.
This means that experienced trainers burn fewer calories per unit exercise duration than newbies.
Regardless of the factors surrounding your training on the treadmill, there are things you can do to get better results.
How to improve the number of calories burned in a day on a treadmill
The following are two adjustments you can make during your next treadmill training to maximize the number of calories you burn:
1. Interval training
By interchanging periods of high activity with those of low activity, you train your cardiorespiratory system even more. There is an associated after-burn effect that comes with this.
This means that your metabolism will remain high well after your training. As such, you cumulatively burn more calories.
2. Incorporate strength training
Treadmills do a great job of working your lower body. By throwing in some alternate weight training sets, you will burn more calories. First, because more effort requires more energy. Second, by building more muscles, the amount of energy needed to operate them increases.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
#Is it possible to burn 1000 calories in a workout?
Yes. However, it requires an extra level of time and effort.
#Can I lose a pound a day?
1 pound equals 3,500 calories. This means that you need to burn an extra 3,500 calories minus what you consume in a day. In general, the average adult burns 100 calories walking a mile.
You will, therefore, need to walk 35 miles to burn 3,500 calories. Assuming you are on an empty stomach. You can see that losing a pound a day is nearly impossible and dangerous.
#How can I burn calories all day?
There are several things you can do to burn more calories in a day. You need to focus on being in your best physical condition. This includes incorporating a proper diet, sleep, hydration, and building leaner muscle mass.
#What is the fastest way to burn calories?
Jumping rope has been found to burn the most calories per unit time. On average, you should expect to burn at least 1,000 calories jumping rope in an hour at moderate to high intensity.
#What burns fast, fat, or muscle?
The body results in burning fat once all other sources of energy like glucose and carbohydrates are exhausted.
When the undernutrition is prolonged, fat reserves begin to diminish. This is when the body is forced to lose muscles. It does this to increase the energy supply to the body.
Muscles require energy to run. The body also cuts down the number of muscles to reduce the energy requirement.