One thing I've always heard is that running = weight loss. So many people who've lost weight have credited their jogging regimen -- they run 4 miles a day or whatever and the weight just falls off.
Honestly, I wonder if I'm doing it wrong.
I have never seen a correlation between having a regular running program and losing weight. In fact, I've started joking with friends that I'd better not do a marathon, because the longer a run I do, the more weight I gain. (Yesterday I ran 17 miles and ate very little all day, simply because I wasn't very hungry. This morning: up a pound. And I drank water like a fish all day, so I don't think it's water retention!)
There's lots of reasons for me to run -- my endurance is better, my breathing is better, I feel stronger, and I just plain like getting out there and seeing my neighborhood and the park and other people out enjoying themselves. But I don't lose weight!
I always noticed I was up a lb or two after super long runs. It is water retention--your leg muscles are retaining water as the micro tears created by the long run are being repaired. It'll go away over a few days.
Running seems to be good for weightloss, but only to a point. I gained 5lbs while training for a marathon because I was constantly hungry, like starving hungry. I'm now finding that I can lose weight running 5-6 days per week, but no more than 10 miles at a time and most runs are in the 3-5 mile ranges. That amount doesn't seem to trigger the insane hunger that marathon training did, with 2 10+ mile runs per weeks and most others in the 5-6 mile range.
A friend of mine did gain 30 pounds while training for a marathon, and it wasn't muscle either.
I've pretty much stayed steady since early March, when I started the serious marathon training regimen I'm on! I don't think I'm eating tons more, but maybe I am...
No matter your method of exercise--running or otherwise--weightloss comes down to the same thing. Calories in vs. calories out.
I am a runner. I am also a calorie counter. I run 5 miles at a time and if I bothered to work out the details that amounts to less than 500 calories spent if I am running @ a pretty good clip. That is the same as one slice of choc. cake--a very moderate portion at that.
What is your calorie intake? What percentage of your diet is carbs? How long have you been running?
Last edited by Thighs Be Gone; 05-25-2009 at 05:13 PM.
This is an interesting question to me.i have been to many marathons with my significant other.I am always shocked at how many heavy people run those races.
I am one of those who the weight seems to melt off as long as I am doing short distance running every day. I actually sprint half a lap and walk the rest until I have done about four miles.
So is running not the best exercise for weight loss? I was losing fine when I was jogging about 2.5 miles a day two times a day. It took about 20 minutes each time. In the past couple of weeks I have been able to get 3 miles in during each of those 20 minutes. It was about the time that I starting jogging 3 miles at each time for a total of 6 miles a day that my weight loss has GREATLY slowed if not stopped and gone the other way. My calories have stayed the same.
I am trying to find the answer. So is it better that I exercise 20 minutes at 2.5 miles than 3 miles?
I lost the majority of my weight running. Sometimes we underestimate how much we eat, its hard if not impossible to gain weight while creating a calorie deficit. I would look at diet, running a lot makes a some people hungry for me it has the opposite effect, I'm just too tired to eat afterwards.
Running helped me drop weight when I started from my high weight, but when I am training for an event now that I am a normal weight, my body is not inclined to lose fat (I have seen a lean mass drop with previous training). My guess (and I am not an expert) is that shorter distances with fartleks and speed work will help more than longer steady state (rather steadier state---certainly running on streets or paths is not completely steady state). I would also say that nutrition is absolutely vital, especially running 17 miles. One of my personal signs that I am overtraining is that I lose my appetite, so you might consider that possibility. It takes a lot of fuel to run 17 miles. Are you getting your rest days?
Most marathon runners don't lose weight training for a marathon (meaning, going from 20 or 30 miles a week to marathon distances). Most new runners, though, do lose weight and it's a great tool for losing or maintaining.
I'm averaging 1500-1800 calories a day and am working out 6-7 days a week (because of the marathon training, I have to do 4 days of running a week; otherwise it would be 3 days of running, 3 days of weight training).
I kept expecting to be outrageously hungry yesterday, after doing 17 miles, but it never happened.
When I was just doing 3-4 miles a couple of times a week with friends, I also never noticed my weight changing, but I wasn't paying as much attention to my food intake then either.
Maybe doing more intense exercise (like the fartlek or HIIT) would help with the weight loss again... but doing lengthy runs doesn't do it for me, which I find really interesting. (I wear a Polar for my runs, and it's estimating that I'm burning plenty of calories.)
trying to figure out the effect of the LONG run on weight loss is useless. My first marathon I would gain EIGHT pounds on long run days. All water.
I have both lost and gained weight while running. It's still calories in/calories out, but in part because of this "image" we have of runners being skinny many people think they have burned many more calories than they have. I remember celebrating my first 5K with a breakfast out. heh.
If you ARENT fueling properly after a long run you can depress your metabolism just like if you ate too little.
When I was in my weight loss phase, running was an efficient way for me to get maximum calorie burn during my work out time. Yes, it helped me lose weight.
In maintenance, I found that I gained 4-5 pounds during marathon training season. I figured that I actually ran fewer miles during all of those months of training (due to tapers and recovery cycles), but I ate more, especially when hitting the refueling stations after the races! And there was vacations, and business travel, and Christmas holidays. It still all comes down to calories in vs. calories out! I was able to drop the weight after the season was over by maintaining my mileage and being much more strict in my eating plan.
Running definitely helps me lose and maintain weight as long as I continue to be very mindful of calories. For me, it is more the athletic identity that keeps me on the straight and narrow than the importance of the actual calories burned while running (as Thighs be Gone pointed out, it is easy to ruin a five miler with a single dessert).
Running helps you lose weight? Srsly?
