Treadmill Calorie Calculator

Wondering how many calories you burn while walking or running on a treadmill? Then our Treadmill Calorie Calculator is the right tool for you. This tool can give you accurate estimates based on real-world factors that affect most people, such as your body weight, time, speed, and incline.

In this article, we walkthrough a step by step guide about treadmill calories.

What Are Treadmill Calories?

Treadmill calories mean the amount of energy your body burns while walking or running on a treadmill machine.

The energy burn rate depends on factors such as:

• Your body weight
• How fast you run or walk
• Duration of your walk or run
• Incline level

In simple words, running burns more calories than walking. Keep reading, you will learn more about it.

What Is a Treadmill Calorie Calculator?

A treadmill calorie calculator is a handy tool, used to determine your calories burned after walking or running on a treadmill. It uses science-based equations (ACSM formulas) to estimate calories burned based on inputs:

• Weight (kg or lb)
• Time (seconds, minutes, or hours)
• Speed (mph or km/h)
• Incline (%)

This calculator is smarter and more accurate than your treadmill's calorie estimate. It accounts for factors such as your body weight, walking or running speed, and also allows flexibility for unit adjustments.

How Treadmill Calories Are Calculated — Example

You might be curious to know which formula is used and how it is calculated. Don't worry, we will walk through an example that will explain everything you need to know about it.

Step 1: Determine your walking or running speed on the treadmill e.g. 3 mph, total time e.g. 30 minutes, incline e.g. 0% and lastly your body weight e.g. 70 kg.

Step 2: Next, ACSM equation uses m/min, so we have to convert speed into metere per minute:

• 1 mph = 0.44704 m/s

Convert mph → m/s:

• Meter per second = 3.0 × 0.44704 = 1.34112 m/s

Now convert m/s → m/min:

• Meter per minute = 1.34112 × 60 = 80.4672 m/min

We will use 80.4672 m/min in the ACSM equation.

Step 3: Now calculate oxygen cost (VO₂) using the ACSM walking equation. If you are confused why we are using the walking equation, it's because any speed less than 5 mph is considered walking, so 3 mph falls in the walking range.

If your speed is more than 5 mph, use the running equation. If your speed is less than 3 mph, use the walking equation.

Running Equation:

VO₂ = 0.2 × speed + 0.9 × speed × grade + 3.5

Walk Equation:

VO₂ = 0.1 × speed + 1.8 × speed × grade + 3.5

Values we have:

Speed = 80.4672 m/min

Grade (refers to incline %) = 0% = 0

Let's compute using the walk equation:

VO₂ = 0.1 × 80.4672 + 1.8 × 80.4672 × 0 + 3.5

VO₂ = 11.54672 mL/kg/min

We now have the oxygen cost (VO₂), which we can convert to calories per minute.

Step 4: In this step, we have to convert the value of VO₂ into calories per minute by using a calorie expenditure formula that uses Metabolic Equivalents (METs).

Calories/min = (VO₂ × body weight) / 200

Values we have:

• VO₂ = 11.54672
• Weight = 70 kg

Let's compute:

Calories/min = (11.54672 × 70) / 200

= 808.2704 / 200

Calories/min = 4.041352 kcal/min

Step 5: Lastly, calculate the total calories burned based on the total time by multiplying calories burned per minute by 30 minutes.

= 4.041352 kcal/min × 30 minutes

Total Calories Burned = 121.24056 kcal

Hence, we estimated that a 70 kg person walking at 3 mph speed with 0% incline will burn about 121 calories.

Why our calculator is more accurate than treadmill's estimated calories

There are many factors that we take into consideration that makes our calculator accurate more than treadmill's estimate. Here's why our calculator is more accurate:

• Our calculator uses your actual entered weight, whereas most treadmills assume a default weight of 70 to 75 kg.
• The calculator uses real ACSM equations.
• It allows users to adjust the incline (%).
• Flexibility for unit switching without losing precision.
• The calculator allows bidirectional calculations, meaning it can estimate time based on calories or calories based on time.

If your main purpose is to burn calories at running or walking on a treadmill, keep reading to learn about some tips to burn high calories on a treadmill machine.

Simple Tips to Burn High Calories in a Treadmill Session

During a treadmill session, increasing your calorie burn rate is not a big thing, you just need to change small things that will make big results. Here are some proven tips to increase calorie burn:

• Speed — Generally speaking, if you run on treadmill it will burn more calories than a walk, so focus on your running speed that boost your heart rate and burn high calories.
• Incline — When you run on an incline, there are more muscles activated, such as glutes and legs, which burn more calories.
• Use intervals — Intervals are one of the most efficient methods that burn more calories in a shorter time, so alternate between fast and slow speeds.
• Extend Your session — Increase your session time and add short sprints with 20 to 30 seconds running burst followed by 30 seconds of walking for recovery. These sprint sessions tend to increase your calorie burn.
• Don’t hold the handrails — Don't use handrails support, let your body hold you and stabilize your core to allow it to use more energy.

There are many factors, but these are some of the most effective ways to dramatically increase your calorie burn.