Is 25 mins in treadmill enough excercise for weightloss?
I have been doing calorie counting (around 1300 calories/day) & 25 mins in treadmill(110 cals burnt) atleast 5 days a week.
Is the excercise that I am doing sufficient for weightloss or should I bump it up to 40 mins. I can make some time from my action packed day... but wanted to check if 20 mins is sufficient?
I lost 60 pounds in the past by eating about 1700 calories a day, sometimes more, and doing 30 minutes on the treadmill, alternating between walking and jogging. I went from 250 to 190 by doing that. I don't know what I would have had to do to keep losing, but thought I'd share my past personal experience in case it helps at all.
25 minutes can be enough--it depends on your weight right now and how often you're doing it. 5 days a week is wonderful. If you can increase it by an extra 5 minutes, though, even better. 5 minutes warm up, 20 minutes at your target heart range for exercising your heart and 5 minutes of cool down. Perfectly good work out. (I can't remember what your target heart range should be right at the moment. I'm just doing my best to establish the habit right now.)
1300 calories is much too low. You're body will think there's a famine going on and won't let any of your fat go.
add 795. This is your resting energy expenditure. (REE)
You musn't eat below this calorie level, ever.
Now, we need to account for your physical activity level. (PAL)
If you are under 35 and less that 30 pounds over your ideal weight, use 1.5
If you are under 35 and more than 30 lbs over your ideal weight, use 1.4.
If you are over 35 and less that 30 lbs overweight, use 1.4.
If you are over 35 and more than 30 pounds overweight, use 1.2
Take your REE number and multiply it by your PAL number. This is the number of calories you need to eat to maintiain your current weight.
The book I got this from is Women's Health, "Perfect Body Diet."
They recommend subtracting 300 calories from the maintaining number on the days you exercise and 500 on the days you don't--but that's too complicated for me, lol!
I just figured that if I want to lose wreight, I have to subtract 3500 calories per week for each pound. So, that's 500 calories/day. Subtract that and you're good to go. (The other pound a week, for me, will come from a deficit created by excercise.) Don't forget excercise calorie counts are almost meaningless. You may burn significantly more. (Though as most of us are overweight, we won't be burning less!)
Then, multiply that 1345 by the multiplier for your condition, lets say you use a PAL of 1.5 as under 35 and less than 30 pounds from ideal.
1345*1.5 = 2018 to maintain, so 1500 to give a 500 calorie deficit.
Complicated formula, but gives a similar result to the online calculators I've used in the past.
Eating less than 1200 calories per day puts you nutritionally at risk, so be careful with a calculator that you think is telling you to go lower than that.
ETA - Regarding your question asking if 1300 calories was too lowI have seen people at your height who eat 1300 as their maintenance level, so while it is low I don't know that I would immediately say it is too low. Everyone is different.
Last edited by Shannon in ATL; 06-04-2009 at 04:16 PM.
When I was actively losing weight, I stayed between 1200-1250, then moved up in the 1300 range for a while myself. I got pretty good at making nutritious choices with the more limited calories, too. Good luck.
Last edited by Shannon in ATL; 06-04-2009 at 04:26 PM.
If you haven't done exercise for a very long time and you get tired easily, let us say that this 25 min on the treadmill are very good to get your body accustomed to exercise. As time passes you will need to exercise more because your body gets adjusted to routine. I, for example, could not exersice more than 25 minutes a few months ago, now I exercise for 2 hours every 4 days.
Also a very important questions. When you exercise do you sweat and heave? I have watched many people, in my gym, walking on the treadmill as if they are taking a stroll on the park. They walk for 2 hours lets say but they get off and they have not sweat and they have not, certainly, "strained" themselves. When I get off the treadmill I feel my whole body boiling, I am heaving and sweating and my heart is pounding. I hate these things but I know that they are the things that make my body working out. Do you have this when you get off the treadmill? If you do then you are making your body work out. If you don't, then you need to adjust your programme.
I hope I did not sound like I am a know-it-all, beacause I am still learning myself and I am surely not a gym trainer.
Last edited by preetyladyserenity; 06-05-2009 at 05:57 AM.
Is 25 mins in treadmill enough excercise for weightloss?
