Treadmill Miles vs Weight: 6 Years of Real Monthly Data
I am 62 years old. For the last six years I have weighed myself before exercise and logged every treadmill run. Recently I put both series on one chart, month by month, to see whether the two actually track each other.
They do, but not as neatly as fitness marketing would have you believe. Here is the whole picture, including the parts that do not fit the story.
The Short Version
Over six years my weight went from a peak of about 197 lb down to a low of about 173 lb. That is roughly 24 pounds. In the same window my treadmill mileage went from around 15-25 miles a month to a peak of about 75 miles in a single month.
The big weight drop did not start when I began running. It started when I raised the volume and kept it there.
Phase 1: 2021 to Mid-2022 – Low Miles, Rising Weight
I was running, but not much. Most months landed between 12 and 30 treadmill miles. That is roughly one short run a week, sometimes two.
My weight climbed anyway. It started around 189 lb in mid-2021 and peaked near 197 lb around the middle of 2022. That was the heaviest I have been on this chart.
This is the part people skip. I was exercising. I still gained eight pounds. Low, inconsistent mileage was not enough to offset how I was eating.
Phase 2: Late 2022 Through 2024 – The Slow Grind
From the 2022 peak, weight came down slowly and unevenly. Roughly 193 lb through early 2023, into the high 180s by mid-2024, around 185 lb by late 2024. That is about 12 pounds over two years, which works out to half a pound a month.
Mileage in this stretch was still modest and choppy, mostly 15 to 35 miles a month, with some months near 10.
A half pound a month is real progress, and it is also slow enough that you cannot feel it. Without the log I would have sworn nothing was happening.
Phase 3: Late 2024 Through 2025 – Volume Up, Weight Down
This is the clearest signal on the entire chart.
Starting around late 2024, my monthly mileage stepped up sharply. Months that used to be 20-30 miles became 45 to 55 miles. It stayed there. It was not one big month followed by a collapse.
My weight followed. From about 185 lb in late 2024, it dropped to roughly 173 lb by late 2025. Twelve pounds in about a year, which is double the rate of the previous two years.
Same body, same rough diet, roughly double the mileage. That is the closest thing to a controlled experiment I have. I wrote about how this started in running to lose weight at 60.
Phase 4: 2026 – Where the Story Gets Honest
Two things happened in 2026 that do not fit a tidy narrative.
My biggest month was not my lightest month. I hit about 75 treadmill miles in early 2026, the highest bar on the chart. My weight over that same stretch drifted up from the 173 low into the high 170s, touching about 180 lb. High mileage builds appetite. It also builds leg muscle. The scale does not distinguish between the two.
Then I had to stop. Over the last two months a foot problem meant I could not put in real treadmill miles. You can see it plainly: the blue line falls to near zero and stays there. I left it in the chart on purpose, because deleting the inconvenient months is how data stops being useful.
What the treadmill line does not show is that I did not stop training. I shifted to activities that did not aggravate the foot. My weekly totals stayed well above the 150-minute target throughout, which you can check yourself on my intensity minutes page, updated after every session, with the full history in the intensity minute log.
And my weight held steady around 177 lb through it. Twenty pounds below the 2022 peak, with almost no running at all. Cross-training held the line while the foot recovered.
Six Years, Six Things I Actually Learned
1. Volume mattered more than intensity
Nothing changed much while I was running 20 miles a month, no matter how hard those runs felt. The weight moved when the monthly total roughly doubled and stayed there.
2. Consistency beats big months
My single best month, 75 miles, did not produce my lowest weight. A year of steady 45-55 mile months did.
3. Exercise alone did not stop me gaining weight
2021 into 2022 proves it. I ran the whole time and still put on eight pounds. Running gives you room to work with. It does not make you immune.
4. The scale lags, badly
Mileage stepped up in late 2024. The clear weight drop shows up over the following months, not immediately. If I had judged the change after three weeks I would have quit.
5. Muscle and appetite muddy the picture
The highest-mileage stretch came with a small weight gain. Weight alone is a crude measure of what training is doing to your body.
6. When running stops, something else has to start
Two months off the treadmill cost me nothing on the scale, because the training did not actually stop. It changed shape.
How I Track This
Nothing complicated. I weigh myself before exercise, on the same scale, and log every run. Monthly averages smooth out the day-to-day noise from hydration, salt, and timing, which is why this chart uses monthly points instead of daily ones.
If you want to see where a single run puts you, my running benchmark calculator breaks down pace, heart rate zones, calories, and training effect for any run you enter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does treadmill running actually help you lose weight?
In my data, yes, but only once the volume was high enough. Six years of logs show almost no weight change during periods of 15-30 miles per month, and a clear 12-pound drop over the year I sustained 45-55 miles per month. The treadmill worked. Low, inconsistent use of it did not.
How many treadmill miles per month do you need to lose weight?
I cannot give you a universal number, only mine. Below roughly 30 miles a month my weight was flat or rising. Sustained above 45 miles a month it fell steadily, at about a pound a month. Your number depends on your size, pace, and diet, but the useful lesson is that there was a threshold, and being under it felt exactly like being over it.
Why did my weight go up when I increased my mileage?
This happened to me in early 2026. My highest month, about 75 miles, came with a small weight gain rather than a loss. Higher volume drives up appetite, and sustained running adds leg muscle. Both push the scale the wrong way while your fitness is improving. It is a reason to watch the long trend rather than react to a month.
What happens to your weight if you stop running?
For the last two months a foot problem kept me off the treadmill almost entirely, and my weight held steady near 177 lb. The reason is that I replaced the running with other activity rather than stopping. My intensity minutes stayed above target the whole time. Stopping one exercise is very different from stopping exercise.
Is this typical results?
No. This is one 62-year-old man’s logbook, not a study. It is one of the reasons I publish the raw chart instead of a summary. Use it as an example of what tracking over years looks like, not as a prediction of what will happen to you.
Personal training data, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before making significant changes to your exercise routine, especially if you are managing an injury.