How to Burn 800 Calories a Day on a Treadmill

Woman running on a treadmill to burn 800 calories

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By Simon Gould

Burning 800 calories in a day on a treadmill will involve a lot of exercise. You’ll be walking or running for nearly an hour and this is not something you should attempt without some practice first. It sounds great to burn that many calories in one day but I wouldn’t recommend doing that more than once a week. It will certainly cause weight loss but I would question how healthy it is if you do it too often.

Factors that affect how many calories you burn

Some people can burn more calories than others for doing the same amount of exercise. This is a fact and there are various ways to make your time more efficient by using these to your advantage. There are physical characteristics as well as things you can do to the treadmill which can help you burn more calories. But the quicker you burn calories, the harder the exercise is.

Weight – The more you weigh, the more calories you burn doing the exactly the same routine as someone lighter. It takes more energy to propel a heavier weight and that means you burn more calories. The problem is, if you’re quite overweight, it’s more difficult to accomplish a workout someone lighter could do. This is weight loss and I’ll go through the exact calories burned below.

Speed – This goes for walking as well as running. Any increase in speed will help you get to 800 calories quicker. But you shouldn’t go at your quickest. You should take it easy and not overtrain or burn yourself out. It’s tempting to crank the speed up but if you’re absolutely exhausted at the end of your workout, you’re unlikely to stick at it.

Time – This goes without saying but the longer you do a workout routine on a treadmill, the more calories you burn. When the amount you’re burning is 800, you’ll be doing your exercise for quite a while. However, it’s better to exercise for longer rather than increase the speed. Time is precious but where a treadmill is concerned, take it easy.

Incline – The fact that you can use the incline on a treadmill sets it apart from exercising outside. It takes a lot more energy to go up a hill, even a slight one, and a treadmill can recreate that for you. Just a few percent can make all the difference to reach a calorie burn goal on a walk. It’s not advisable to use the incline for long periods on a run, it’s not natural and is bad for your joints.

Treadmill workout routines that burn 800 calories

I’m taking the average weight for a woman which is 171 lbs and for a man is 198 lbs. These are a little high for someone who’s keen on losing weight but they are the official averages, so I’ll use those in my calculations. For walking I’ll take the average again which is 3.1 mph and 3% incline. For running I’ll take an easy 5.2 mph jog which is what most people can do after some practice.

Women

  • Activity: Walking 3.1 mph
  • Weight: 171 lbs
  • Incline: 3%
  • Time: 1 hour and 32 minutes
  • Calories burned: 800
  • Activity: Jogging 5.2 mph
  • Weight: 171 lbs
  • Incline: 0%
  • Time: 1 hour and 6 minutes
  • Calories burned: 800

Men

  • Activity: Walking 3.1 mph
  • Weight: 198 lbs
  • Incline: 3%
  • Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes
  • Calories burned: 800
  • Activity: Jogging 5.2 mph
  • Weight: 198 lbs
  • Incline: 0%
  • Time: 57 minutes
  • Calories burned: 800

What you really need to focus on here is the time. You can see that to burn 800 calories in one day on a treadmill you will need to exercise for at least an hour. This is whether you are a man, woman, what speed you go and how much you weigh. This is close to what professional sports people do and even they don’t so this kind of routine very often.

Rather than burn 800 calories, why not burn 500 calories and use your diet to cut the remaining 300. Whatever you choose to do I strongly advise you not to make this a daily routine. Weight loss is best done gradually and not in one go. The Mayo Clinic even advise that a sensible and healthy weight loss amount is 1 to 2 pounds per week.

Creating your own routine to burn 800 calories

In the calculations above, I’ve made a lot of assumptions like your speed, weight, incline and more. You may be able to manage a routine where you burn 800 calories in less amount of time. Perhaps you would like to get some numbers using your actual weight. The site I’ve used is here and you can input your own details, it’s a great site: Treadmill calorie burn calculator.

This way as you lose weight you can recalculate the time needed to exercise to reach your calorie burn goal. I lost 30 pounds and I used that site to monitor my progress and make sure I was losing the weight. Remember, you may have days where you don’t achieve what you set out to do. But that doesn’t mean all is lost, just carry on with your weight loss plan the next day.

Listen to your body and don’t starve yourself

If you’re going to start burning 800 calories in a day, I wouldn’t suggest you combine it with a strict weight loss diet. You will still need enough energy to function during the day. I would advise you eat normally and allow the exercise to burn all the calories. Eating, say, a 1,000 calorie a day meal plan would be very unhealthy if you’re running for an hour as well.

Also if you’re exercising for long periods, be conscious of any aches and pains. It is easy to over do it and injure yourself which could set you back several weeks while you recover. My suggestion would be to do some 30 minute walk or runs during the week and your maximum calorie burn workout on a Sunday. Then take a rest day on Monday to allow your body to heal.

Summary

So 800 calories a day on a treadmill can be done but I wouldn’t recommend it be a daily routine. I also recommend building up to that amount. If you do a long walk or run once per week then every week extend this by 5 minutes until you reach your calorie burn goal. I have exercised for over an hour and I must admit, I did feel amazing afterwards.

Walking to lose a large calorie amount is easier but then you could be doing it over an hour and a half depending on the incline. That’s a long time to be on a treadmill but if you’re determined to lose weight then it’s something you may want to try. Whatever you choose to do, 800 calories will make a real difference to a weight loss program.

Thinking of buying a treadmill? Here’s my favorite, I always recommend it when asked.

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