How Often Should I Run to Lose Weight?

How much running is needed to lose weight?

Doing one minute run or a couple minute runs a week won't burn enough calories to lose weight. In order to lose a pound a week , that's 3, calories, so you'll need to cut calories each day through a combination of diet and exercise.


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  • Running for Weight Loss.

You just got back from a run, you're covered in sweat, and you're convinced you burned over calories. But did you really? On average, a pound woman will burn calories running for 45 minutes at a minute-per-mile pace. If you didn't run for that long or that fast, then you're not burning as many calories as you thought. It's best to track your workout just to be sure, using a heart rate monitor or one of these cheap running apps on your phone. If you found a great three-mile loop in your neighborhood, running it for a few weeks can help running become a habit.

The problem lies with continually doing the same running workout. Your muscles will quickly adapt to the demands you're placing on them, which is a surefire way to hit a weight-loss plateau. Avoid this issue by mixing up your running workouts: include speed intervals, hills, long runs, and short runs, and run on different surfaces and in new places to keep your muscles guessing and continuously strengthening. Check out these four training techniques that will challenge your run. As mentioned earlier, it's also important not to make running your sole source of exercise. Include other forms of cardio as well as strength training since gaining muscle mass will help you burn more calories at rest and boost your metabolism.

Running is one of the best ways to tone your lower body fat because it helps diminish fat while building muscle.

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Now you may be thinking, "The more I run, the more calories I burn," which would be true if our bodies weren't so great at adapting. The more often you run, the more efficient your body becomes—meaning you'll burn fewer calories doing the same amount of work the more time you do that work.

Not to mention, overtraining increases your chances of injury. For new runners, even running for 30 minutes continuously might seem impossible—and this is where the walk-run method of training comes in and will actually help you to burn calories at a higher rate. By alternating running and walking, not only are you able to extend the duration of your workout, but research has found that intervals allow you to run harder and faster on the running parts, which increases your caloric burn during and after activity.

Yes, that's right.


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After high-intensity intervals, your metabolism will be so revved up, it will continue to torch those calories for up to 14 hours after you stop. Runners of all levels and abilities use interval workouts with walk breaks to get the most out of their workouts. As an elite runner myself, I can attest to this. Intervals a few times a week not only help me to be race-ready but also help with toning. One thing to keep in mind, though: As running revs up your metabolism, your hunger increases, making it very easy to eat even more calories than you just burned.

Watch the other traps that keep you from losing weight with running

So make sure your post-run meal is a proper portion and full of protein —this will ensure that you're satiated, your blood sugar is balanced, and your muscles have what they need to start recovering. Now that we've determined that running is an effective method of weight loss that can help you lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, let's talk about how to start running if you're a beginner.

One of the greatest things about the interval running method is that you can decide what your walk-to-run ratios are and how many times you repeat it.

Let’s Talk About the Myth of Running for Weight Loss | SELF

This will depend on your fitness level, running experience, and speed. Over time, you should be able to increase the time spent running or the number of intervals. Mix it up to keep your workouts interesting, and allow at least one day of rest between these workouts to recover. You should be able to build your endurance to include combinations of continuous runs with no walking breaks but run slow and easy! My best advice is to have some fun with it and enjoy the endorphin rush that follows a job well done.

Even after 14 years of competitive running, I can tell you that feeling never goes away! The bottom line is if you want to shed unwanted pounds, running is a step in the right direction. Having a regular exercise routine and eating a healthy diet are two powerful weight loss tools at your disposal. It may take some time to reach the weight you're striving for, but hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing! Research has found that people who lose weight quickly tend to gain it back quickly as well, whereas those who lose weight slowly will make the lifestyle changes to keep the weight off for good.

The safe way may be slower, but it'll keep your weight and your sanity from wildly fluctuating. Want your passion for wellness to change the world? How many calories you'll burn depends on several variables, the most important of which are:.

Things That Happen To Your Body When you Run Everyday

Other factors that can influence calorie burn, according to the University of Texas , include:. Although fat loss is a complex topic that can't be put into a neat little equation, the basic idea is that the greater the gap between calorie intake and expenditure, the bigger the calorie deficit and the more weight you'll lose. Therefore, you can plan a rough sketch of how fast, how far and how often you need to run to reach your specific goal. One benchmark you can use as a guide is to cut or burn calories per day to lose roughly a pound or two a week.

If you weigh around pounds, you would need to jog at a pace of 5 mph for a little less than an hour seven days a week. Or, you could run at a faster pace of about 8 mph for 30 minutes each day. Unlike swimming , biking , rowing or even jumping rope, running requires very little equipment and no gym membership. And you can do it just about anywhere and at any time. Before you can run, you need to jog. Jumping straight into running for weight loss as a beginner can place a lot of stress on your body. It can leave you feeling sore and, if you're not careful, it could even lead to injury. That's why it's important to build a foundation with jogging.

It's not as high-impact as running, and it still burns a fair amount of calories, which is key when you want to want to make weight-loss progress pronto. For the most accurate estimate of how many calories you'll burn jogging, you'll need to wear a heart rate monitor while you exercise. Otherwise, you can use these ballpark estimates from Harvard Health Publishing. Keep in mind that a jogging pace is somewhat subjective. You can walk or jog at a pace of 4 miles per hour. A seasoned runner might feel that running at a pace of 6. Typically, a jog is somewhere between 4 and 6 mph.

Those calorie burn counts are impressive, but eventually, you'll be ready to kick things up a notch for even better weight-loss results.

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The same variables apply when determining your calorie burn from running as they did for jogging; however, there's a broader range of paces that qualify as running. Depending on your fitness level, 5. Hey, anything's possible — if not right now, then in the future. Running for an hour or even 30 minutes! And if you don't want an overuse injury trust us, you don't , you're going to need to do more than just run to lose a significant amount of weight.

Adding variety to your running routine will challenge your body in new ways that can increase your calorie burn, improve cardiovascular fitness and make you stronger.

One of the ways you can do this is by seeking out new terrain. If you've been running to lose weight along the same flat path each day, find some hills and get your legs pumping. Running uphill can dramatically increase your calorie burn. Try doing hill repeats by running to the top of a hill, walking back down and running up the hill again.

Essential Guide to Running For Weight Loss

This will build strength in your legs and further challenge your cardio fitness. High-intensity interval training , or HIIT, is another way to increase the intensity and variety of your running routine. Interval training involves alternating between periods of intense effort and periods of recovery.