How Long Does It Take to Burn 1000 Calories on a Treadmill?

If you’re trying to lose weight or stay in shape, using a treadmill is a great way to achieve those goals. Running is a great cardio exercise that helps get the heart pumping. Let’s say you wanted to burn 1000 calories while working out. There are many different ways to do it, but using a treadmill may be one of the easiest ways to burn 1000 calories.

At an average walking speed of five miles per hour, a person will have to walk between six to nine miles to burn 1000 calories. However, the time it takes to burn 1000 calories on a treadmill is dependent on several different factors. These factors include how much you weigh, what speed your walking, the distance you walk, and the slope of the treadmill.

It’s important to know exactly how fast and how long you should be walking or running, depending on your weight and treadmill slope. Generally, lighter people will have to walk or run faster and longer than heavier people to burn 1000 calories. In this article, we’ll be breaking down exactly how these factors can affect your workout.

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Burning 1000 Calories on a Treadmill

To put it in perspective, according to health.gov, an average person’s daily diet consists of between 2000-3000 calories. So, you’re essentially burning one-third to half of the energy you’ve taken in for the day.

While burning that many calories aren’t necessarily dangerous, it won’t be easy. If you’re trying to burn that much on a treadmill, odds are you won’t achieve 1000 calories burned on your first try unless you are an experienced runner, of course.

The average distance that needs to be traveled for 1000 calories to be burned ranges from 5 to 9 miles. While this might not sound intimidating for a cross country athlete, 5 to 9 miles is a long way to walk or run.

The Distance It Takes to Burn 1000 Calories While Walking

Weight	Distance
150lbs	Eight miles
160lbs	Seven and a half miles
170lbs	Seven miles
180lbs	Seven miles
190lbs	Six and a half miles
200lbs	Six miles
210lbs	Six miles
220lbs	Five and a half miles

You will most likely have to build up to walking that many miles in a day. There is no use running until you feel too sick or too tired to move. Instead, you should try to run or walk as far as you can. Then, the next time you go for a run a walk, you should try to walk a half-mile faster than yesterday.

While it’s important to stick to a routine and practice every day, you might want to take it easy the first couple of days you try this workout. According to 5krunning.com, when training to burn 1000 calories on a treadmill, you should take rest days in between sessions. This is so you don’t burn yourself out or injure yourself.

While it may seem counterintuitive to take breaks in training, the time spent resting is necessary. If you injure yourself while running, you won’t be burning 1000 calories on the treadmill any time soon. Your training schedule may look like this:

Initial distance
Rest day

Initial distance + half a mile
Rest day
Initial distance + one mile

And so on until you reach your goal

Calorie Burning Factors

As discussed above, there are several factors that contribute to burning calories on a treadmill. Most of these factors are based on your physical stature and ability. This means that these three factors can be managed on any treadmill. The last factor, slope, can only be manipulated on special treadmills.

Weight

Weight plays a big role in burning 1000 calories on a treadmill. It may be the reason you want to burn calories. We’ve already been over the fact that using a treadmill is a great way to lose weight. But there’s something else you should know about weight.

The heavier you are, the faster you will burn calories. According to this article on Livehealthy.com, this is since the more you weigh, the more energy it takes you to move. Now, this has a few nuances to it. In comparing a 150-pound person and a 250-pound person, the 250-pound person will burn far more calories exercising.

But, if we compared an out-of-shape 250-pound person to a 250-pound bodybuilder, the bodybuilder would burn more calories exercising. As mentioned in the above article, moving muscle burns more calories than moving fat.

It’s also worth noting that while a heavier out of shape person will burn calories faster, they will also tire out faster. This means that even though a bigger person may only need to run 5 miles instead of 9 to burn 1000 calories, they will have to work just as hard, if not harder, to do it.

Speed

Another factor in burning calories is the speed at which you are walking or running. The faster you walk or run, the faster you burn calories. This is for two reasons:

For the first reason, I’ll set up an example. Let’s say you need to run nine miles to burn 1000 calories. If you walk nine miles at a walking pace of five miles per hour, it will take you about one hour and 50 minutes to achieve your goal.

But, let’s say you were to run that distance instead of walking it. If you were to run nine miles at an average pace of ten miles per hour, then it would only take you a little under an hour to achieve your goal. Distance-wise, the faster you run, the faster you achieve your goal. But, there’s another factor to speed that makes running better.

How Fast a 200lb Person can Burn 1000 Calories

Miles Per Hour	Time it Takes to Burn 1000 Calories
4 miles per hour	90 minutes
6 miles per hour	60 minutes
10 miles per hour	36 minutes

According to RunnersWorld.com, running burns more calories than walking. What this means is that if a 170-pound person were to run nine miles, and then that same 170-pound person was to walk nine miles, the person would have burned a larger number of calories while walking. Even though the person traveled the same distance, they burned more calories while running.

There are some downsides to running, though. It is harder to run if you are out of shape. According to this article on Insider.com, running comes with certain risks. You’re more likely to get injured while running, especially if you overdo it. It’s important to start out slow when starting to exercise so you can properly know your limits.

Distance

Distance goes hand and hand with speed. When you want to burn 1000 calories on a treadmill, you may have to prioritize one of the two; distance or speed. If you walk slower, you will have to walk further.

The distance you will have to walk also largely depends on how much you weigh. Slimmer people will have to walk much further to burn 1000 calories. A heavier, out-of-shape person will have to walk a shorter distance to burn the same number of calories.

The Distance it Takes to Burn 1000 Calories

Weight	Speed	Distance
150 pounds	5 miles per hour	8 miles
180 pounds	5 miles per hour	7 miles
210 pounds	5 miles per hour	6 miles

Like speed, it’s important to know your limits and to build up to your goal, rather than just trying to achieve it on your first try.

Slope

Slope is something to consider if you have a special treadmill. Some treadmills can make themselves steeper. This can be beneficial because the steeper the incline, the faster you will burn calories.

It’s essentially running on a flat service versus running up a hill. It is far harder and more tiring to run up a hill. A steeper slope will help you get to your 1000 calorie goal faster. Just be careful not to fall off!

Conclusion

A treadmill is a great way to burn 1000 calories. While 1000 calories are a lot to burn in one session, it is doable to properly train yourself. Instead of trying to burn 1000 calories on your first outing, try working up to it. Gradually burn more and more calories per session until you reach 1000 calories.

Decide how fast you want to burn those calories away. Running up a slopped treadmill will burn the most calories the fastest, but it is also the most tiring way to burn 1000 calories. Walking on a flat treadmill will be easier, but it will take longer.