How Long Does It Take To Lose 40 Pounds On A Treadmill?

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Exercise is great for losing weight and so is the treadmill. All you have to do is exercise regularly and as long as you keep your diet in check, you will lose weight. How much you can lose and when is determined by how much you weigh, to begin with and how much exercise you do. Wondering how long to lose 40 pounds on a treadmill? The treadmill is ideal for weight loss and I’ll go through how to lose 40 pounds in a month here.

Healthy weight loss

There is a guide to a healthy amount of weight to lose per week and weight loss in this range you are more likely to keep off. The CDC says it is 1 to 2 pounds per week. If we go by this amount, then a 40 pound weight loss is 20 weeks, which is 4 to 5 months. That is quite a long time and weight loss can take a while.

However, if you weigh more to begin with, then you will find your weight is lost far easier at the beginning. I am proof of this. If you have a look at my progress you will see that I lost 8 pounds in 3 weeks, which is nearly 3 pounds a week with very little exercise. I was just watching what I ate, accompanied by the little exercise I did.

You need to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of weight, so you see on my progress the exercise I did amounted to around 100 calories burned per day. This is nowhere near the 3,500 calories needed to lose weight through exercise. But the fact that I weighed more to begin with, my body was used to a lot of calories so there was a bigger calorie deficit, therefore more weight lost.

Weight loss on a treadmill

As I’ve said you lose more weight the heavier you are and this goes with running or walking on a treadmill. You burn more calories going at the same speed for the same amount of time because it takes more energy to propel yourself when you weigh more. Below I’ll take people with 2 different weights going at the same speed and time and I’ll compare the number of calories burned.

Weight: 180 lbs
Speed: 3 mph (walking)
Time: 30 minutes
Calories burned: 240

Weight: 120 lbs
Speed: 3 mph (walking)
Time: 30 minutes
Calories burned: 160

As you can see, the weights are different and this has amounted to 80 calories difference and this is walking for 30 minutes. If you run, then the calorie difference would be even more. Plus, watching what you eat leaves an even bigger calorie deficit which is contributed to by exercise. Therefore, weight loss will be and you can see that you lose more if you weigh more.

Now I’ll go through the workouts exactly as above, but we’ll add a 5% incline. This makes it harder and therefore, you burn more calories. You’ll be walking at the very same speed and for the same length of time. If you don’t have a treadmill then any hilly terrain is good. Remember to look forward and swing your arms as you go. If 5% is too much then reduce it to suit you.

Weight: 180 lbs
Speed: 3 mph (walking)
Incline: 5%
Time: 30 minutes
Calories burned: 285

Weight: 120 lbs
Speed: 3 mph (walking)
Incline: 5%
Time: 30 minutes
Calories burned: 190

Using the treadmill for losing weight is a great choice. This is because overweight people can walk if they’re not able to run long distances and they will still lose weight, as I’ve demonstrated above. I have some walking schedules which I’ll link to below. With these, try and walk at a brisk pace but make sure it’s a pace you can stick with:

If you’re able to run and want to lose weight we have some running plans as well. These are designed for the treadmill too. As with the walking ones above don’t go too fast that you can’t stick with the routines. Beginners often run too quickly on a treadmill. the fact that you’re running is great for weight loss, not so much the speed, here they are:

Include the diet too

Losing 40 pounds on a treadmill will take a few months, but this can be done quicker if you include some portion control in your diet. For a man, you need to consume 2,500 calories and 2,000 for a woman. If you can cut down on snacks and cut down to 3 meals per day if you’re eating more. Then you will lose 40 pounds more quickly.

For this, I looked at the weight loss meal plans available online. The first ones kept mentioning 1200 calories. This is far too little, especially if you exercise. You can watch what you eat but not starve your body just as it needs it for the treadmill exercise you’re doing. I found some weight loss menus which cover a 5-day meal plan that you can stick to.

Summary

So they say healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week at 20 weeks for 40 pounds. This is healthy weight loss, but you can do it a lot quicker and even without much effort if you weigh a lot, to begin with. When learning how long to lose 40 pounds on a treadmill, I recommend not going by a deadline when thinking about losing weight even if you have a vacation you want to lose it by.

Rather than a time scale, just begin taking steps to lose weight and you’ll be surprised at the results. Go with the flow when losing weight rather than worrying about how quickly or slowly it happens. Take the necessary steps I’ve outlined above and weigh yourself each week at the same time of day on the same day. You will lose weight and be well on your way to reaching your goals.

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