A common question every person asks is, “Does running on a treadmill reduce belly fat?”. Belly fat is the fat that is accumulated in the belly region and that is stubborn that cannot be reduced easily. Walking, running, jogging are the most efficient ways for removing visceral fat that surrounds the organs in the belly region. Running on a treadmill helps in obliterating overall fats by burning calories and it also helps burn visceral fat.
Optimal fat loss requires multi-tiered aerobic exercises and workouts. Only diet might not help in reducing belly, rather running on a treadmill on a regular basis can help in the decrease of belly fat. Thus running on a treadmill is effective to reduce belly fat.
Table of Content
Does Running on a Treadmill Reduce Belly Fat?
Walking, running, jogging are the most effective ways to reduce belly fat. Running on a treadmill can be a good alternative for outdoor running and exercise. It is rather easier on joints and also useful for people having overweight problems, arthritis, etc. A treadmill can help burn overall fat, also it helps to eliminate visceral fat that is harmful to our health. If running on a treadmill is done regularly, the visceral fat will go, and even if in the future some weight gain occurs, the visceral fat won’t return.
Heart rate is an important component of weight loss. The heart needs to pump blood efficiently, to burn fat. The ideal heart rate for effective fat burning is (60-80)% of the maximum heart rate.
Running on a treadmill regularly will have a long-term effect on belly fat. It can keep visceral fat away permanently, thus the waistline will shrink. But then again there should be a limit to the time of exercise. If running on a treadmill is done for a long time, it might affect the heart rate, and also the efficiency of running. Running on a treadmill is effective if it is maintained regularly and also proper diet needs to be followed. Besides running, some aerobics exercises are important too to keep the body active.
How Long Should You Run On a Treadmill to Lose Belly Fat?
Running on a treadmill is effective if it is done in the recommended amount. If it is done for too much time, it might affect the pumping capacity of the heart, muscle movement capacity, cause fatigue, etc. Running on a treadmill can be done in a routine. If routinely followed, belly fat will be reduced to zero. The minimum time for exercise is 30 minutes per day, and the maximum is 45 minutes. This is the basic routine, can be followed.
The toughest part of reducing belly fat is to keep on doing the exercises and maintaining the diet. Regular exercise and movement keep the body and muscle function, and the heart rate to a normal rate that helps in burning fat too.
For beginners, one can follow a daily routine of 30 minutes of treadmill workout. The exercises can be done on a regular basis. If you continue to work out dedicatedly, it will enhance your sleep, improve your heart’s function, lifts up your mood, and also boost brain function.
| Time (minute) | Speed (miles/hr) | Inclination (%) | RPE (1-10) | Feeling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | Warm-up Walk |
| 5 – 10 | 2.8 | 3 – 4 | 7 | Challenging Hill |
| 10 – 12 | 4.5 – 5 | 0 | 7 | Moderate Jogging |
| 12 – 15 | 3 | 1 | 5 | Easy Walk |
| 15 – 20 | 2.8 | 3 – 4 | 7 | Challenging Hill |
| 20 – 22 | 4.5 – 5 | 0 | 7 | Moderate Jogging |
| 22 – 25 | 3 | 1 | 5 | Easy Walk |
| 25 – 27 | 2.8 | 4 – 5 | 8 | Last Challenge |
| 27 – 30 | 3 | 0 | 4 | Cool Down Walk |
How Long Does It Take To Lose Belly Fat by Running?
Running helps incredibly in reducing belly fat. A person of 81 kg can lose up to 170 calories by running for 10 minutes at a steady pace. The same person can shed 500 calories by a 30-minute run. Besides running, cardio can be performed and food habits should be adjusted too. As only running won’t help reduce fat if you eat rich foods with high carbs.
If you can burn 500 calories per day for a week, overall you will burn 3,500 calories. 3,500 calories are equal to 1 pound. So you might lose 1 pound per week. In this way, if you run regularly, you will be able to shed 30 pounds in 1 month.
The time that is taken to reduce belly fat depends on many things. It may vary from person to person. The time to reduce abdominal fat depends on – types of exercise, amount of exercise, diet, frequency of running, and so on. Diet charts can be followed to maintain proper nutrition. And chart for regular aerobic exercises, running weight training, and other physical activities.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-Intensity Run (35 minutes) | Low-Intensity Run (30 minutes) | High-Intensity Run (20 minutes) | Low-Intensity Run (30 minutes) | Low-Intensity Run (35 minutes) | High-Intensity Run (25 minutes) | Low-Intensity Run (30 minutes) |
| High-Intensity Run (25 minutes) | Recovery | Low-Intensity Run (35 minutes) | High-Intensity Run (30 minutes) | Recovery | Recovery | High-Intensity Run (20 minutes) |
| Recovery | High-Intensity Run (20 minutes) | Recovery | Low-Intensity Run (40 minutes) | High-Intensity Run (25 minutes) | Low-Intensity Run (40 minutes) | Recovery |
| High-Intensity Run (20 minutes) | Low-Intensity Run (45 minutes) | High-Intensity Run (20 minutes) | Recovery | Low-Intensity Run (30 minutes) | High-Intensity Run (30 minutes) | High-Intensity Run (30 minutes) |
All these exercises and routines depend on the target of the person. If the target is to lose less amount of weight, it may take a few weeks to one or two months. But in the case of a considerable amount of weight, it may take quite a few months. Then there is a 7-days workout routine too.
You have to start with a 5-minutes jogging pace to warm up.
For high-intensity run: Run at maximum speed for 1 minute. Then rest for 30 seconds.
For low-intensity run: Rut at your jogging to moderate run pace. Take rest for a while in between.
Does Running on a Treadmill Burn Thigh Fat?
Running on a treadmill helps strengthen and tone legs. A treadmill workout not only strengthens core muscles but also helps tighten your quadriceps and gluteus. A treadmill workout helps in reducing the excess fat in the thigh and hips.
By regularly performing physical activities and treadmill workouts, calories can be burnt, which is the main concern for fat burning. Since the treadmill workout requires leg movement, regular exercise, it helps to get rid of thigh fat.
Besides treadmill workouts, performing squats and/or lunges also does an amazing job in shedding extra fat from thighs, toning them, and sculpting your thighs to perfect shape. The things you should do to have toned thighs are –
- Increasing speed
- Walking in inclined position
- Doing both
Running in a treadmill involves the movement of all the muscles of the leg namely – quadriceps in the front of the thigh, hamstring, gluteus, hip flexors, and core at the backside of the thigh. So it helps strengthen and strain those muscles and gives the thigh a good shape.
However, too much exercise may result in fatigue, muscle pull, muscle soreness, or even injury. Before starting any kind of running or exercise you should do a warm-up. A warm-up helps the body to get ready for the heavy physical exercises further.
How to Lose Belly Fat?
Belly fat is stubborn fat that does not go as fast or easily as other body fats. The most common searched content on today’s internet is “how to get rid of belly fat?” or “how to get rid of belly fat in 7 days/30 days?”. Belly fat reduction needs a lot of work.
Losing belly fat is the hardest part of removing body fat. And for this, you can follow a routine which includes both a diet plan and also ample exercise. Running is an effective and efficient way of removing belly fat. The following steps can be implemented –
- Reduce intake of carbohydrates
- Increase protein and fiber intake
- Be more physically active
- Regular exercise
- Running
- Aerobic/Cardio exercises
- Walking workout
- Avoid alcohol consumptions
- Weight lifting
All these steps should be followed properly and consistently to get results. Idle people who do not move much and sit in a place for a long time, like office going people tend to develop belly fat, as they have an insufficient amount of movement of the body muscles. Maintaining a proper diet and exercise keeps the body and mind healthy too. Physical fitness is so important to keep diseases away.
A proper diet keeps the gastrointestinal tract healthy, it helps the liver, kidneys, lungs, heart-healthy. All the physiological activities are decently maintained. Metabolism rate is a prime factor in breaking down body fat. If the physiological balance is maintained, the metabolism rate increases. Thus the food you intake will be digested properly and too many fats won’t be stored.
How Long Does It Take To Lose Belly Fat by Walking?
Walking can reduce belly fat, but it takes more time than reducing weight by running and doing other exercises. Walking isn’t a strenuous type of exercise, but it can be effective to reduce belly fat if it is regularly exercised. It takes more patience and endurance.
Walking is suitable for people with heart or lung conditions, who cannot take too much stress or are overweight. For them walking is a feasible and a better option to cut calories.
Heart rate is very important to burn calories. The heart rate zone is the range of heart rate that burns the calories of our body. The amount of calories burnt per minute due to 60-70% of our maximum heart rate is 7-12 calories. An interesting way to calculate the correct rate zone is – subtract your age from 220, and then multiply it by 0.6. For example – a 23-year old person will have a heart rate of a maximum of 197 beats per minute (bpm), which is multiplied by 0.6 will get 118 bpm which is an intensity analogous to 60% of the heart rate.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | ||||||
| Endurance Walk (30 minutes) | Rest/Stretch | Interval Training Walk (20 minutes) | Rest/Stretch | Strength Circuit Walk (30 minutes) | Stress-Relieving Walk (30 minutes) | Rest/Stretch |
| Week 2 | ||||||
| Interval Training Walk (30 minutes) | Strength Circuit Walk (40 minutes) | Rest/Stretch | Endurance Walk (45 minutes) | Rest/Stretch | Stress Relieving Walk (30 Minutes) | Rest/Stretch |
By maintaining this routine you can burn your belly fat, and also you won’t get too much stressed as walking is a light exercise.
How to Lose Weight on a Treadmill in a Month?
A treadmill workout can help you lose weight in a month. It needs endurance and effort to keep up with the exercise. There are some tips you can follow –
- High-Intensity Interval Training(HIT) is a set of alternating exercises and rest that is done in different intervals of time. It helps in burning calories. Running on treadmill in different speeds at different intervals is what helps shedding calories.
- Heart-rate zone is an important part of losing weight. Keeping the heart-rate zone in mind and maintaining the speed helps burn calorie.
- Improving routine will help in more physical movement and help reducing muscle injuries, prevent boredom.
30-Day Workout Planner
Here is the 30 -day treadmill workout planner for reducing belly fat.
| Day 1 4 minutes walk, 1-minute run repeat 3 times | Day 2 4 minutes walk, 1-minute run repeat 4 times | Day 3 2 minutes walk, 2 minutes run repeat 2 times | Day 4 15 minutes walk | Day 5 1-minute walk,10-sec sprint repeat 5 times |
| Day 6 2 minutes walk, 2 minutes run repeat 3 times | Day 7 3 minutes walk, 2 minutes run repeat 3 times | Day 8 15 minutes walk | Day 9 2 minutes walk, 2 minutes run repeat 4 times | Day 10 2 minutes walk, 10-sec sprint repeat 5 times |
| Day 11 5 minutes walk, 2 minutes run repeat 4 times | Day 12 15 minutes walk | Day 13 2 minutes walk, 3 minutes run repeat 3 times | Day 14 2 minutes walk, 2 minutes run repeat 4 times | Day 15 2 minutes walk, 20-sec sprints repeat 5 times |
| Day 16 15 minutes walk | Day 17 3 minutes walk, 3 minutes run repeat 4 times | Day 18 2 minutes walk, 3 minutes run repeat 4 times | Day 19 3 minutes walk, 3 minutes run repeat 5 times | Day 20 15 minutes walk |
| Day 21 1-minute walk, 1-minute run repeat 5 times | Day 22 1-minute walk, 2 minutes run repeat 3 times | Day 23 1-minute walk, 3 minutes run repeat 3 times | Day 24 15 min walk | Day 25 2 minutes walk, 25-sec sprint repeat 5 times |
| Day 26 1-minute walk, 4 minutes run repeat 3 times | Day 27 2 minutes walk, 4 minutes run repeat 4 times | Day 28 15 minutes walk | Day 29 2 minutes walk, 5 minutes run repeat 5 times | Day 30 1-minute walk, 5-sec sprint repeat 8 times |
Following this routine can be helpful for reducing belly fat in 30 days.
How to Lose Weight on a Treadmill in 2 Weeks?
To lose weight in 2 weeks by treadmill workout you can follow some workout plans. For the two weeks, there can be different plans which can be maintained for the later weeks. For starters, in the first week, you can start with –
- Moderate-intensity walking workout, which can be done for 60 minutes. It can help burn up to 400 calories depending on your speed and weight. It can be done with a break in between.
- Easy health walk is the second step to follow. Its aim is for 30 minutes workout consisting of cardio exercise, and keeping the heart rate of 50%-60% with an RPE rating from 11-12.
- Treadmill hill workout which requires inclined features while running. It needs 45 minutes workout with a moderate to vigorous intensity zone of heart rate ranging from 70%-80% of maximum heart rate.
- A moderate healthy walk requires a 30-minute workout with an RPE of 12-14. Might do plank, abdominal exercises.
- Active fun stretching is required for warm-ups.
For week-2, the following ways can be taken into account –
- The above exercises with different time intervals according to need. Try to do the exercises within less time and increase speed.
- A proper diet should be followed by this week. You have to control the amount of food and amount of carbs intake daily. You need to choose the type of foods you eat based on your weight.
- You should try to burn at least 300 extra calories per day and reduce 200 calories per day intake.
How Much Weight Can You Lose on a Treadmill in a Week?
The amount of weight a person can shed in a week depends on the person’s weight, amount of exercise, diet, and everything related to health. Running on a treadmill is effective in losing weight. A workout chart is given in table-1,2 which can be followed.
There are ways you can calculate how many calories you can take down in a week. It is calculated by measuring the heart rate zone. If you run on a treadmill for 30 minutes per day, you can shed 500 calories. In a week you can reduce 3500 calories which are equal to 1 pound. So you can shed 1 pound in 1 week by running at a moderate speed on the treadmill for 30 minutes taking breaks.
Does Treadmill Help Lose Arm Fat?
A treadmill workout doesn’t effectively help in losing arm fat. The treadmill mostly emphasizes lower body parts. It helps tone thigh and core muscles, but it does not help in toning arm muscles. For arm muscles, some exercises can be done namely- pushups, pullups, biceps curls, triceps extensions, etc.
These exercises if performed regularly and at different time intervals, arm muscles will strengthen and be toned. Overall running on a treadmill can reduce body fat, but it cannot remove arm fat specifically.
Epilogue
Running on a treadmill can be effective and very useful to reduce belly fat. As we have seen some of the charts for doing these exercises, and in what amount, speed, etc. are mentioned. This helps us maintain a routine and live a healthy life.
Belly fat as we have known is the most stubborn fat of the body, which is tough to remove. Running on a treadmill has shown a tremendous effect on reducing belly fat and can help to keep the body fit. Running on a treadmill is effective only if it is done regularly and also proper diet is followed. It helps you to have a healthy life.
FAQs
Does running on a treadmill burn belly fat?
Yes, running on a treadmill burns belly fat. It is the most effective way to burn the stubborn fat of the body. By regular exercise on the treadmill and proper diet belly fat can be burnt.
Does holding onto the treadmill reduce calories burned?
Yes. Holding on to the treadmill reduces workload from the legs and so the actually burned calories are less in amount. Holding on reduces almost 20-25% of the actual calories to lose.
What are the factors you should consider when exercising on treadmills?
You should always warm up before starting a workout, amount of calories intake, amount of calories burnt, don’t do too much workout beyond capacity.
Why do bodybuilders hold onto a treadmill when walking?
Bodybuilders don’t walk on a treadmill to lose calories, rather they work out in an inclined position to get a proper physique or to prepare for a competition.
Does running at your target heart rate make you lose weight faster?
Yes, it helps in maintaining a proper routine workout. It prevents any kind of fatigue or over-exercise which might result in muscle soreness or pain. And it also accelerates the workout and due to heart rate being normal for burning calories, more calories are burnt.
How much weight can a person lose by running half a mile each day?
The amount of weight loss depends on an individual’s weight, exercise, diet. By running half a mile each day for 44 days, a person can lose up to 1 pound only. So the rate is low. They have to increase the amount of running.
Wondering how to lose tummy fat with elliptical trainers?
Using moving handlebars increases the intensity of the workout when you push and pull them as you pedal. keeping an upright posture with your chest out and your shoulders pulled back and down. The faster you pedal, the more calories you’ll burn to burn your belly fat.
