Q. I'm planning to use a treadmill for weight loss. How should I approach it from a Traditional Korean Medicine perspective?

Before starting treadmill exercise, first check whether your body is 'ready to accept exercise.' In TKM, if you have a Spleen Deficiency (biheo) with weak Spleen and Stomach (biwi) function, exercise may not generate energy; instead, it can deplete your qi. I personally experienced dizziness and nausea when I just ran blindly in the beginning. Therefore, I recommend a time-based approach: Weeks 1–2 are the 'adaptation period' — focus on walking for 20–30 minutes, keeping your heart rate at a level where you are breathless but can still talk. The goal here is not intense exercise but to circulate internal Phlegm-Fluid (dameum), i.e., accumulated metabolic waste. Weeks 3–4 are the 'acceleration period' — extend to 40–50 minutes and add intervals (3 minutes brisk walking + 1 minute light jogging). Many people start feeling lighter from this stage. After week 5, enter the 'stabilization period,' maintaining 4–5 sessions per week while combining supportive treatments such as herbal medicine or moxibustion (ttum) to speed up recovery from exercise fatigue. Especially for those with Spleen Deficiency (biheo) or Blood Stasis (eohyeol), weight loss through exercise alone is often slow; when Spleen-strengthening treatments are added, results become more stable. In a Korean medicine clinic, pulse diagnosis (maekjin) and tongue diagnosis (seoljin) are used to assess your current constitutional state, and the exercise intensity and concurrent treatment plan are individually adjusted.