Beginning Runner and muscle mass and weight loss

Nekrachael

I have been a "fit" obese person for years. Not really "fit", of course, but I could walk a couple of hours, push a mower around for an afternoon, swim a mile, whatever I wanted to do, I could do.

Since February, I've been trying to become an actual fit person. I've lost some weight, started with walking, moved to jogging, added in the seven minute workout routine, started to c210k, etc. I've gotten far enough into this that I'm ready to figure out what exactly "fit" means to me. SO, I've been reading here, and I'm really confused.

I LIKE running; it's relatively easy for me to run, admittedly slowly, but I'm gaining speed. I've been doing the seven minute workout 1-3 times a day because I had some notion about the weight loss/muscle mass thing, and I thought calisthenics would be good. I live in a VERY small house with many people and pets, and more equipment just isn't all that feasible. Add to that being a homeschooler, gardener, and general person in charge of everything that involves children or homestead, and my schedule is a little tight.

That's the intro into the questions that are finally coming.

If I only want to NOT lose muscle mass, is the seven minute workout enough? How does one choose to gain only a little muscle? Like- the beginner lifting programs are aimed at lifting more and more, but what if I only want to lift some? This is no sleight against building muscle- it's more a problem with time and equipment. Is running really not building muscle? It FEELS like it is. My weight loss has slowed WAY down since I really got going with the running, but I figured this had to do with building muscle. Am I lying to myself? I am still losing inches, but I am actually really concerned about this muscle mass thing. I just want to age with what grace and ease I can manage, and I want to keep moving. But, my runs take an hour that I have to wring out three days a week, and the idea of needing to wring out another three hours is daunting. That doesn't even include travel time to a gym. Can I do "enough" weight training/strength training with only calisthenics or VERY little equipment safely at home?

Thanks!

MeanderingMammal

If running is your focus then you can do enough resistance training to support retention of lean mass using bodyweight training.

Personally I quite like You Are Your Own Gym as a programme, but there are other options around; Convict Conditioning gets a good reputation, I wasn't so convinced by it.

You don't need equipment to do resistance training.