You run regularly but barely lose any weight?
Running is a great choice of exercise as it requires little more than a pair of running shoes and some open space. Both young and old can pick up running easily, and when you start building up your running distances slowly there is limited risk of injury. Running is also a great choice for people who want to lose weight, even though it might be less suited for people with serious overweight due to the stress running will have on your knees and joints.
But many people who pick up running will soon notice that they do not lose much weight even though they make many kilometers week in week out. Running burns a lot of calories, so how is it possible they do not lose more weight? There are several reasons for that:
1. You increase their calorie intake accordingly
The age old rule that you only lose weight when you eat less calories than you burn also applies to runners. You can run an hour in the park and burn 600 calories, but once you return home and take a few snacks with 600 calories of energy you just threw away your fat burning efforts.
If you want to lose weight you will need to limit your calorie intake to below what you burn. Running will increase the amount of calories you burn, but you will also need extra calories to recover from the exercising. The trick is to increase your calorie intake by a little less than what you burn extra with the exercising. That way you can move from a stable weight to losing weight and burning fat.
2. You run too slow
Running at a slow pace is a good way to build stamina and gives your body the opportunity to use fats as a source of energy during the run instead of just burning carbohydrates and proteins (muscles). But running at a slow pace also burns few calories per hour.
For people who are looking to lose weight with running it is recommended to increase the intensity of their trainings. Instead of going at a slow pace for a long period of time it is better to go at a higher speed for a shorter period of time. This way you will burn a similar amount of calories during the exercise, but with a more intense workout your after-burn effect, where your body keeps burning calories after the run to recover, will be much larger. The total amount of calories used will therefore be much higher. You can increase the effects further by increasing the intensity even more where you sprint short distances and take short periods of rest between the sprints. Training this way will also save you a lot of time.
3. You train the same every time
To improve you need to challenge yourself. If you do the same training every time your body will get accustomed to it and adapt to it. That means that going at the same speed for the same length of time will get easier over time. And the easier it goes, the fewer calories you will burn.
To be able to keep improving and burn off extra calories you should change your training regularly. Do this by including small sprints in your run, by going up-hill and down-hill, or by increasing your pace for longer intervals. Even changing the route you run can already have a positive effect. The bottom line is that you need to keep challenging yourself to be able to improve.
4. You only run and avoid strength training
To become a better runner, and to be able to lose weight with running, you should not limit yourself to running only. By including strength training in your exercise routine you will improve your overall strength, build more muscle mass, and you will be much more likely to burn of excess fat. This does not mean you need to join a gym and start lifting heavy weights, you can also do running specific strength training outdoor at the end of a shorter run when you still have energy left.
Try including some exercises for your legs, hips, and lower back in your weekly running routine. You can easily find exercises specific for runners that do not require dumbbells and can be performed with your body weight. By strengthening your legs and hips you will build muscle that will help you to run quicker and will help you to be able to continue running for longer.
5. You train too much
You would assume that if want to burn more calories to lose weight that training more would always be better. Some people train daily, or even twice a day, and start losing weight fast. But as so often, more is not always better. If you increase your training amount too quickly there is a good chance of getting injured. And even if you build up slowly, there is always the risk that you don’t give your body enough time to recover from the trainings and slowly start breaking down muscles.
Having enough rest between your runs is important to avoid injuries. You want to give your body ample time to recover from last training and build up the muscles again before you start your next run. If you train too often, and your body does not have enough time to recover, you run the risk of overtraining which will result in feeling tired, depressed, and losing motivation to train. Or worse, you will injure yourself and you won’t be able to train at all anymore for a few weeks or even months. And that will be the time you start building up the weight you just lost in the past months…
Originally published at thailandfit.com.
