The food we consume has calories that are critical for survival. The body converts these calories into energy to help it perform its normal physiological functions like respiration, heart pumping, and blood circulation. The energy is also used to perform normal daily activities like walking and office duties. In simple terms, like oxygen, calories are also necessary. The amount of calories one needs depends on one’s weight, height, lifestyle, and age. An adult, for instance, needs an average of 2000 calories in a day.
However, How to use treadmill to lose belly fat? When it comes to that specific question. It works by burning excess calories. When excess calories are taken and not converted into energy, they become reserved energy and settle in the belly. I have used the treadmill several times to lose belly fat and can see the changes.
However, although it is possible to have a treadmill at home, I always recommend that you join a group that is focused on achieving the same goal as you. These people will motivate you to attend to your daily exercises and keep moving.
Most people struggle to lose belly fat which has been confirmed to be a challenge because of the many fatty tissues accumulated in the stomach. So the only method to lose belly fat is by decreasing the amount of calories you take or by ensuring that those calories are burnt. The treadmill is one of the best calorie-burning workouts because it is aerobic. Hit the gym and find a lot of treadmills for this purpose or get one for yourself and use it at home.
With a treadmill, you can burn hundreds of calories in an hour and lose that belly fat fast. A treadmill allows you to engage in jogging, walking, and running. If you program your treadmill to a walking distance of 2 mph/hr, you can burn 214 calories in that hour. The more you improve the speed, the more calories you burn.
Related: Best Cardio Exercise for Bad Knees at Home
How to Use Treadmill to Lose Belly Fat: Basic Tips
Walking on a treadmill is more effective in helping to lose belly fat. When you use a treadmill, the first goal you need to have is to burn an extra 300 calories each day. This means you will be engaged in moderate but intense exercise for one hour. Below are some of the routines to help you lose belly fat fast.
If you have less than an hour to exercise, go with high-intensity training, which will only take 20 minutes tops of your time. Alternatively, you can increase the time spent in exercise and use moderate-intensity workouts throughout the day.
Workout Plan
Use this model as your workout plan but make sure to revise it according to your schedule.
1. First Week:
- Moderate-intensity workout: Start your week with a 60-minute moderate-intensity workout. With this workout, you are guaranteed to burn about 300 to 400 calories depending on the speed you programmed and your weight. Instead of working out the entire hour, you can break the exercise into two sessions of 30 minutes. Start with a moderate pace for about 10 minutes, then increase it to a brisk walk that raises your heart to 70% heart rate. You can use a heart rate calculator to ensure you reach the targeted numbers.
- An easy health walk: On the first day, you put in a reasonable effort, so on the next day, you will only have a 30-minute walk at a leisurely pace. The heart rate aimed here is 60%.
- Treadmill hill exercise: You can also use the preprogrammed hill workouts incorporated into the treadmill to burn calories every minute. You can work with a steady climb or hill intervals. This requires more work and effort, so aim for a 45-minute workout and a maximum heart rate of 85%.
- Moderate health walk: At a moderate pace, walk for about 30 minutes, which means you must choose between 12-14 on your RPE scale. You must maintain a moderate range to preserve energy for the next day’s workout. After this exercise, challenge yourself to do three of your favorite ab exercises. For instance, plank, ab curls, and standing abdominal workouts.
- Speed intervals: Intervals are short sessions where you can walk or run at a challenging pace. Luckily for you, most treadmills come with a preprogrammed speed interval from which you have to choose the one that suits you. You can alternate jogging for walking or walking for running. If you use a treadmill that doesn’t have speed intervals, do it manually by increasing and decreasing speed. Aim for 45 minutes for the entire workout with 30-minute intervals. The speed segment should show a 90% heart rate and 15-18 on the RPE scale.
- Distance workout: Walk comfortably for an hour, tracking down your distance and steps with a tracker in your phone. This is more joy when you have a treadmill with a built-in screen to watch a show as you work out.
2. Second Week:
Repeat the treadmill workouts you did in week one while exploring the various workouts programmed in your treadmill. If walking is becoming a problem, try using shorter sessions and build up on time as you continue each day. Ensure you reach your calorie target by adding 15 minutes to your initial set time. If you burn an extra 300 calories each and reduce the amount you take by 200 calories, you will achieve a 500-calorie deficit each day. This is most usable for someone who wants to lose belly fat quickly.
3. Third Week:
Work on the walking posture and forms, Especially, try walking faster so that you burn extra calories in a single workout session. Increase your speed and heart rate to achieve the desired goal as you progress.
Step-by-step Guide
To lose belly fat, you must follow some steps for all the exercises on a treadmill or make a daily activity table. This will set the limits for weight loss so you get the proper exercise and timetable.
i. High-Intensity Exercise
Do this workout exercise at least three times a week, especially when you are spending less time on the exercise. Run at a pace that seems very hard to achieve your goal. At the end of the routine, you must burn at least 400 calories every session.
ii. Intervals
This involves 4 minutes of intense exercise alternated by a two-minute easy workout. This has to be repeated ten times three times a week for two weeks. If this is too much, you can start low with one-minute intervals. This allows one to burn about 300 calories in every session.
iii. Steady-state Exercise
The exercise lasts for about 30 minutes, but it should be frequent. It is a moderate-intensity exercise. The aim is to bring your heart rate to a maximum of 70% so the body can use a lot of fat for energy. The goal is to burn an extra 300 calories in every session.
iv. Food Habits
Food habit of losing belly fat that helps more with treadmill Incorporate these foods into your treadmill workouts to fight belly fat.
- Bananas
- Oats
- Citrus fruits
- Eggs
- Pulses
- Nuts
v. Precaution During Exercise
Regarding lifestyle changes, if your goal is to lose belly fat, you need to exercise regularly. Most importantly, engage in aerobic exercises such as walking and running. Fortunately for you, the treadmill allows you to do these activities. Also, you need to avoid some types of foods during treadmill exercise to achieve desired results. These include:
- Sugar
- Aerated drinks
- Dairy products
- Meat
- Fried foods
- Carbohydrates
- Salty foods
vi. Track Your Progress
When you exercise on the treadmill, it’s essential to keep track of how you’re doing. You can write down how long you exercise, how difficult you work, and how far you go each time. This way, you can Revise your notes and see how much you’ve improved. It helps you stay excited and make changes if needed.
Bottom line
In conclusion, losing belly fat is a safe but not easy process, especially when you choose to do it in the nicety of your home. Purchasing a treadmill and bringing it home does not guarantee you will use it. I recommend that you join a fitness group that involves people who share your problems, interests, and goals. Use whatever works for you during the sessions to achieve your goal.
