Am I Running Miles or Kilometres - Want to Lose Weight as Well

by Mel
(Wigan)

Hi, I have been running on my treadmill now for a couple of years to stay in shape. It's a Carl Lewis Mot566. Recently I have struggled with my weight and seem to be gaining although I have increased my exercise.

It has occured to me that I may not be running miles but kilometers however my instruction manual does not state it and I can't find the answer online.

I set the distance to 4 (I have presumed miles) each morning which takes me 24 minutes at 9.9 speed.
However my calories burned according to the treadmill is 120? Which leads me to believe I may be running kilometers? Can you shed any light on this for me please? I also do a further 2 / 3 miles (I think) on the treadmill after work.

Answer by Dominique:
Hi there,
Thank you for your question about your treadmill running and your quest to lose weight.

Let's address:

1. What is more likely? Are you running miles or kilometres?
2. Calories burned while running
3. The challenge - running for weight loss

What is more likely? Are You Running Miles or Kilometres?

I am almost 100% certain that you are doing kilometres, not miles.

You have to be a pretty advanced runner in order to be able to run 10 miles / hour for 24 minutes at a time.

It is much more likely that you are running at 10k / hr speed.

That's really good, you know. Running 24 minutes every morning, with additional running / walking during the day. It's a great, healthy habit, so well done.

Calories Burned While Running

The calorie indications on your treadmill do not look accurate at all. The rough guideline is that you burn 1 calorie per 1 kg of bodyweight per 1 km.

I.e. if you run 4 km and weigh 60 kg (132 lbs) you burn 60 calories per km, so roughly 4 x 60 = 240 calories.

So unless you weigh 30kg (66 lbs), the weight of a child, you'd be covering approx 30 x 4 = 120 calories... So, your treadmill calculation does not really make sense. At 30kg I would imagine that having to gain weight rather than having to lose it would be the issue.... :)

Check out my Calories Burned While Running calculator to enter distance and weight and obtain an approximation of calories burned while running.

The Challenge - Running for Weight Loss

You are doing a good amount of running. I would expect this to be helpful when you are trying to lose weight.

Generally, you will only lose weight if you burn more calories than you consume. If you have trouble losing weight there are different things you can do:

Do more exercise

Eat less

Combine the two, i.e. do more exercise AND eat less.

I am not a dietician. And there are many issues with crash dieting or other unsustainable forms of dieting. The trick is to find a sustainable lifestyle. A sustainable way to combine eating and exercise in which you do not starve yourself to death and you do not overeat.

I found in the past that using an online calorie counter like MyFitnessPal.com, helped me identify I was simply overeating. It can be a useful tool and it will not take too long before you understand a lot more about which foods to avoid and which food to eat and in which quantities.

But, do not make it a race to the bottom. Do not drive your calorie intake to an absolute minimum. When you lead a busy life and you do a lot of exercise, you do need to feed your body well.

Always think about sustainable lifestyle. A diet is no good if it means you cannot sustain it. When you are really struggling with your weight, I would recommend a visit to your doctor. They can provide you with a referral to a dietician and/or help you diagnose any underlying conditions that may be impacting on your ability to lose weight.

Some further suggested reading:

Running for Weight Loss

Runner's Diet

Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Dominique