Running and Losing Weight

00trayn

I've noticed a trend with the scale and my running habits.

I started running right around February, at the beginning of a 6 month maintenance/plateau and the scale didn't budge when I was running 4-5 days a week. I don't go very far or very fast, but I can run a 5K distance and I've done 3 races. But I was completely neglecting strength training except for one personal training session a week.

In the last 2 weeks I've only run once or twice a week, and I've been doing strength videos, circuit training videos, and circuit training with my personal trainer. And I've gone from stuck right around 150 to 147.4 lbs this morning. I'm curious if cutting back on all the running has something to do it with?

So, runners out there, is this a common trend? Is it harder to lose weight when you're running on a regular schedule? I'm not burning as many calories now and I'm eating around the same as before, but the scale is dropping at a pretty decent rate. I logged a 1.7 lb loss this week, the first time since December!

Jessies_journey

Bump to see what other's say. I love to run because I can see how many calories I burn. Strength training just doesn't get my heart rate up there so I neglect that.

Amanda421

i will be curious to see what response you get. i have kind of experienced the same issue. seems like the scale moves better when i focus on strength training....

wendyw8

I am also curious about that, I run almost 5 days a week and I have not had any weight loss, my calves are like rocks though, but I have been wondering if I should cut back on that and do alot more strength training.

Septembergirl23

I tried running this week and while it was euphoric- even with my Asthma struggle to breathe, I am wondering if adding it to my routine will help take more weight off.

BECav0602

I am also interested to see what others say. I havent been losing and I do a lot of kickboxing and strength training. I have just started to do more cardio (running, elliptical, etc.) and scaling back on the strength training to see if that makes a difference for me.

Amanda993

Great question. I'm pretty sure the popular advice is that strength training is essential to weight loss. Your results have encouraged me to do more strength with my running.

bluiz13

building muscle burns fat...burning fat results in weight loss.....tooo much cardio (running) neglects your body of the important process of building muscle...yes it is great for your heart (cardio) but it really doesnt do anything for your muscles....i'm no expert by any means but this is what i have learned over the years....you need a mixture of both in order to lose weight to keep it off....getting stronger is just as important as going faster or further....build your muscles and the weight will come off....

for the month of june i switched it up and put 3 days of strength training workouts into my schedule with 20-30mins of cardio before and/or after each session instead of the 1 maybe 1.5 workouts i was halfheartedly doing forever before.....i dropped my cardio down to 2 days a week and added 2 days of rest....i am not weighing in right now cause the scale was causing me angst ( i actually gave it to my neighbor friend for safe keeping) but i know i'm going down cause my clothes are getting loser and i feel good...i feel strong and i like this feeling....i'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised when i jump on the scale in the coming weeks...i might actually make my goal of 173 by 7/4 even though april and may were pretty much just stalled months with minimal loss.....

Jennloella

don't forget muscles burn calories just by being there!! by strength training and building muscles, you're burning more calories ALL DAY even when at rest. When I get into bouts of intense cardio (I get hooked on something, like spinning or kickboxing) I will notice a stall on weight loss too.

mmeganmarie

I don't think it's the reduction in running, I think it's the addition of strength training. Just having more muscle you're burning more calories than before in everything you do. You could probably keep strength training and take up your running schedule again and continue to lose weight.

singin_sunrise

More strength training is absolutely the reason you've broken your plateau! Running is awesome; I love 5Ks. But strength training, the kind where you do circuits and really get your heart rate up, will keep burning more calories long after your session is over. That's where the new loss is coming from.

P.S. Any info I post is based off of A LOT of reading and a few nutrition classes. My favorite fitness book lately has been the Women's Health Diet. It's a great source for explaining what exactly is going on in your body and how it affects weight loss.

ashley0616

Any time you change things up you will see a loss. With running, I have noticed that I actually gain before I lose, so it's usually about 2 lbs up and then 4 down or so. Running does help build muscle, especially at the beginning when your body is compensating for the new activity, which helps slim you down because like jennloella said muscle burns calories all day long. Strength training like you described, especially if you are doing circuit type, will slim you down really fast too for the same reasons. Even if you are in maintenance mode, switching things up, adding exercises, changing duration or intensity will show on the scale.

Moral of the story: If you love to run, keep doing it as often as you want. Just make sure that you have variety in your regimen. Keep up with the circuit training, but I would ADD it to your running, not replace it. Unless you don't like to run, of course. I highly recommend Kara Goucher's Running for Women. It's an amazing book with tons of information about training, running, how to lose weight while running, eating, etc.

jackiekjames

I can say that I am the same way. I started out my weight loss running. I was running 5-6 days a week and doing no strength training. After a 6 weeks plateau at 207/209 I began incorporating strength. I have lost 3 lbs already. I"m going to continue on this path and see where it leads me... still some running but lots more strength training in the mix. Best of luck!

Tobi1013

I don't think it's the reduction in running, I think it's the addition of strength training. Just having more muscle you're burning more calories than before in everything you do. You could probably keep strength training and take up your running schedule again and continue to lose weight.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I would have to agree with this. I joined a gym last month and have started adding in strength training while at the same time increasing my running time (I had been sidelined with an injury) and the weight has been coming off better than it had been previously.

LorinaLynn

I know that strenuous exercise causes your muscles to retain fluid, so maybe you dropped fluid weight giving your legs more of a chance to rest.

Beebs33

Combination of strength training and cardio is what melts the fat off! Keep it up!

sweetheart03622

It's all about the balance. I run 3-4 days a week, lift 3 days a week, and cross train 1-2 days a week. Above all, its about your diet. Do you run with an HRM? Are you super accurate about what you eat? A lot of people over-compensate. They assume that since they did a 45 minute run, they can eat anything. In reality, on someone your size, that run will probably burn about 400-500 calories, or the equivalent of a small plate of pasta. It's not a free-for-all just because you run. That being said, strength training will help in all areas of your fitness. I'd also like to throw out there that running does wonders for toning your muscles, to whoever said it doesn't do anything for muscles.

brbetha01

I did straight cardio for about 9 weeks straight and the scale never budged. Once I added in weights, in 9 weeks, I've dropped 6 lbs. I still put in cardio by doing 10 min warm-ups on weight days, and do two days of straight cardio. I've also switched up the cardio instead of doing the same thing.

I'm seeing great results so far. So I definitely believe the weights is what helps with weight loss and overall appearance of the body. Good luck!

keith0373

3 miles three times a week just is not enough cardio to promote much weight loss unless you are running a strict diet, which includes tracking the weekend splurges. You know how much I run and I have to eat like a horse just to maintain (6-8 mile runs 3-4 times a week. and other cardio and lifting to fill the other days.) All of this nonsense about cardio having little after burn is exactly that. Keep your hrm on and watch how long it takes for your HR to go down to resting. It is nearly the same for me as lifting.

donbet69

building muscle burns fat...burning fat results in weight loss.....tooo much cardio (running) neglects your body of the important process of building muscle...yes it is great for your heart (cardio) but it really doesnt do anything for your muscles....i'm no expert by any means but this is what i have learned over the years....you need a mixture of both in order to lose weight to keep it off....getting stronger is just as important as going faster or further....build your muscles and the weight will come off....

From what I have read this is most likely where you are. From my experience, I am still way over weight so just by running I can still burn lots of calories and experience weight loss. However, the closer you get to your ideal weight, the more you need to build muscle to improve your metabolism and increase weight loss.

ShaeDetermined

I don't think it's the reduction in running, I think it's the addition of strength training. Just having more muscle you're burning more calories than before in everything you do. You could probably keep strength training and take up your running schedule again and continue to lose weight.

^^^^^ absolutely this. ^^^^^
keep on running, but dont forget the strength training.

also, as you become more "fit" it takes more to get your heart rate up, essentially causing you to burn less calories.
increasing muscle mass allows you to burn more calories, making your workout more effective.

mrsclc

From WebMD~ Muscle burns more calories/fat.

-Do Strength Training to Build Muscle

When you exercise, you use muscle. This helps build muscle mass, and muscle tissue burns more calories -- even when you're at rest -- than body fat. According to Wharton, 10 pounds of muscle would burn 50 calories in a day spent at rest, while 10 pounds of fat would burn 20 calories.

"The most effective way to increase metabolism and burn more calories is by aerobic exercise and strength training. Both are important," School of Nutrition and Exercise Science at Bastyr University, says in an email interview.-

tam120

I read an article about this very thing a few weeks ago. It was written by a distance runner and personal trainer. I'll see if I can find it again but basically she said when she was training for marathons and running long distances she had a lot of fat. Once that training was over she switched to HIIT and strength training and her body changed, she lost the fat and gained definition. She says your body gets very efficient during endurance exercises so you have to shake it up, basically surprise it by adding high intensity intervals.

DancinSMartiPants

I am also curious about what others say, but offer this anecdotal evidence to the pool:

I started running this January and by February was running 4-5 times a week with 3-4 miles in each run. That lasted until it started getting hot here in April. (I get heat induced migraines.) During that time I went from 286 pounds to 250/255 pounds for a loss of about 1.5 pounds/week. Then there was a 6 week hiatus in there before I got the gumption to join a gym and run on the treadmill. During that time I was doing Slim in 6 and 30DS as well as watching calories. I lost 28 pounds during that 6 weeks which is about 4.5 pounds/week.

00trayn

I definitely have noticed a change in my body and I have built up my leg muscles running, but I definitely did it at the expense of not strength training much at all otherwise.

And as for food and exercise calories, I have an HRM for when I work out. And I am quite accurate about my food. I measure and weight and usually eat my own food that I prepare myself so I know what I'm eating. I've been even more strict in the last 2 weeks about not eating out for lunch and that's made an impact as well.

I also might not have been eating enough for all the cardio I was doing (and thus all the calories I was burning). I eat about 1500 calories a day right now.

Everyone on here has good input, and I am near a healthy weight so building up muscle that in turn burns more calories at rest is definitely going to be really important.

mrsclc

So basically if you're building more muscle, your body has started burning more off

rainbowbuggy

Bumping because I would like to see the responses. Big debate going on in my little brain

cammons

Running a regular schedule has never been my problem when it comes to the scale not moving, but you are right, there is a need for some balance between the cardio and strength training. Running makes me feel like Superman, weight training does not so I have a hard time sticking with it but I'm working hard on that.

I think what might be happening is that your body is reacting to you mixing things up. You would be shocked at how easily our bodies get used to doing a specific activity day after day, over time you might notice that you burn fewer and fewer calories doing the same workout. Partly this is due to a lower weight, but partly it is simply that your muscles are doing tat one thing you've asked of them more efficiently so they don't need to work as hard. I have also noticed that there is a tendency to eat more than you've really earned on a run....just because you feel shredded after a run (and might feel like Superman) doesn't mean that you really deserve that Klondike bar, or extra helping at dinner. (Do you use a HRM or let MFP calculate calorie burns for you? )

You could also play with the types of runs you do during the week; I often have one long, slow run each week, one really easy run and one with faster and slower intervals...I'm trying to convince myself to start working on hills but I'm still hunting for the right hill in our area.

I've found over the years that I get the best results when I keep my body guessing by changing up at least part of my fitness routine every month or so.

keith0373

From WebMD~ Muscle burns more calories/fat.

-Do Strength Training to Build Muscle

When you exercise, you use muscle. This helps build muscle mass, and muscle tissue burns more calories -- even when you're at rest -- than body fat. According to Wharton, 10 pounds of muscle would burn 50 calories in a day spent at rest, while 10 pounds of fat would burn 20 calories.

"The most effective way to increase metabolism and burn more calories is by aerobic exercise and strength training. Both are important," School of Nutrition and Exercise Science at Bastyr University, says in an email interview.-

This is not reliable for a technically over weight female. It takes months of work for a guy to add a few pounds of muscle. Much more than that for a girl. You are transferring information that is designed for fit people to those that are less fit.

scottb81

It depends on how much you run and how close you watch the diet.

I am having no trouble losing fat by just running but I am now running for 8 to 10 hours a week and burning 6000 to 7000 calories while maintaining a daily calorie deficit,

Bodyfat is down to around 10 or 11% according to the calipers and weight is lowest it has been since 1986. That is with eating around 2800 to 3000 calories a day.

So running a lot without lifting weights does not prevent weight loss, nor does it cause skinny fat, unless you simply continue to eat more than you burn.

Melis25Fit

Bump