Running...help or hinder weight loss??

It has certainly helped me. I do think your rest days are important. Do you do other exercises on days you're not running, or do you actually rest? I've found that I have my biggest losses if I take 2 days in a row off. Healing muscles retain water that masks weight loss.

First off.. You are not gaining muscle.. not even a teeny tiny bit. Unless you doing heavy strength training, eating in a calorie surplus and taking steroids, there is no way muscle is being gained.

Second, what you are prob. seeing is water retention from the muscles healing... which means you are going to see the scale go up temporarily, but it won't last long.

Third, how are you measuring calorie burns from the runs? It could be possible that you are overestimating calories burned and eating too much.. and that will also hinder weight loss.

Fourth, please start strength training.. running is great and all, but strength training will help you preserve muscle and lose mainly fat instead of fat and muscle.

First off.. You are not gaining muscle.. not even a teeny tiny bit. Unless you doing heavy strength training, eating in a calorie surplus and taking steroids, there is no way muscle is being gained.

Wow, there's some BS. Steroids??? You can't gain muscle without steroids? Runners DO get muscle gain in their legs (though not likely with a calorie deficit). They don't need steroids to do it. I'm not even convinced you can't gain a little muscle WITH a calorie deficit because my thigh muscles have certainly seemed to get larger. But the steroids comment is just ridiculous.

First off.. You are not gaining muscle.. not even a teeny tiny bit. Unless you doing heavy strength training, eating in a calorie surplus and taking steroids, there is no way muscle is being gained.

Second, what you are prob. seeing is water retention from the muscles healing... which means you are going to see the scale go up temporarily, but it won't last long.

Third, how are you measuring calorie burns from the runs? It could be possible that you are overestimating calories burned and eating too much.. and that will also hinder weight loss.

Fourth, please start strength training.. running is great and all, but strength training will help you preserve muscle and lose mainly fat instead of fat and muscle.

Wrong, I notice the best leanest muscles in my calves from running and my butt muscles is really developing!

First off.. You are not gaining muscle.. not even a teeny tiny bit. Unless you doing heavy strength training, eating in a calorie surplus and taking steroids, there is no way muscle is being gained.

Wow, there's some BS. Steroids??? You can't gain muscle without steroids? Runners DO get muscle gain in their legs (though not likely with a calorie deficit). They don't need steroids to do it. I'm not even convinced you can't gain a little muscle WITH a calorie deficit because my thigh muscles have certainly seemed to get larger. But the steroids comment is just ridiculous.

Glad to see I wasn't the only one that had difficulty with this post.

Let's throw out the controversial whether you can build muscle in a calorie deficit or not for a minute. I don't know the answer to that either way.

Let's talk about muscle building from running while in maintenance mode, or a calorie surplus. You seriously think running doesn't build muscle? You seriously think that propelling my weight off the ground isn't a strength exercise? Really? So I guess pushups aren't a strength building exercise either. Good to know. I'll stop doing those since they're pointless.

Let's throw out the controversial whether you can build muscle in a calorie deficit or not for a minute. I don't know the answer to that either way.

Let's talk about muscle building from running while in maintenance mode, or a calorie surplus. You seriously think running doesn't build muscle? You seriously think that propelling my weight off the ground isn't a strength exercise? Really? So I guess pushups aren't a strength building exercise either. Good to know. I'll stop doing those since they're pointless.

Building strength and building muscle are two separate things honey.

You can gain strength without getting bigger muscles.. a lot of people on this site are proof of that.

I lift weights and I run.. I'm getting stronger all the time, but my muscles aren't getting bigger.. why? Because I'm not eating enough calories to support that.. nor do I have the hormones to support muscle building.

Like I stated earlier, you are either seeing swelling from the muscles repairing themselves or the fat is being lost, thus showing what muscle you have.

First off.. You are not gaining muscle.. not even a teeny tiny bit. Unless you doing heavy strength training, eating in a calorie surplus and taking steroids, there is no way muscle is being gained.

Wow, there's some BS. Steroids??? You can't gain muscle without steroids? Runners DO get muscle gain in their legs (though not likely with a calorie deficit). They don't need steroids to do it. I'm not even convinced you can't gain a little muscle WITH a calorie deficit because my thigh muscles have certainly seemed to get larger. But the steroids comment is just ridiculous.

Glad to see I wasn't the only one that had difficulty with this post.

Glad to see that you two are clearly special snowflakes.

Women have a hard time gaining muscle anyway due to lack of testoerone.. hence where the steroid comment comes into play.

I run for about 2.5 miles, 2 to 3 times a week plus I lift and I am not gaining muscle.. and I highly doubt OP is either.

What you two are most likely seeing is the muscle becoming more pronounced due to fat loss.. but it is highly unlikely that you are building muscle doing long distance running.

Since I started running my hamstrings are bigger and well defined, as are my quads and calf muscles. I haven't lost much weight, but I know for sure those muscles were not noticeable before. I never had calf muscles before, I had stick legs. There is definitely muscle there where there wasn't before.

And I don't life heavy weights at the gym but I do body weight exercises like pushups, lunges and squats without weights, and I have clearly defined arm muscles and glutes. So I think what you are referring to is body-building type muscle - large muscle growth, not ANY muscle growth.

Let's throw out the controversial whether you can build muscle in a calorie deficit or not for a minute. I don't know the answer to that either way.

Let's talk about muscle building from running while in maintenance mode, or a calorie surplus. You seriously think running doesn't build muscle? You seriously think that propelling my weight off the ground isn't a strength exercise? Really? So I guess pushups aren't a strength building exercise either. Good to know. I'll stop doing those since they're pointless.

No, not a strength exercise. I can do 100 pushups easily, but that's about 1/50th of the strides taken in a run. That's endurance, not strength. Are we really debating if people get big and strong enough to gain weight by normal running?

To the OP, running burns calories, so I can only aid in your weight loss. If you aren't losing, it's most likely you aren't in a calorie deficit. You may be eating back too many of your exercise calories.

Running is my main activity. I can tell you that when I'm really dedicated to running weight loss is hindered unless I'm meticulous with it and don't try to set up too big a caloric deficit. 3-400 cal/day max deficit to lose while training in my opinion.

And the lift weights or you'll lose muscle mass is BS. Absolutely not a universal truth. I have the same 120 lbs fat-free mass as I did 10 years ago. I run; I do body-weight exercises; I've done martial arts (about 7 of the last 10 years) and I've done yoga. That's about it.

Actually, it's a 100% truth. If you're not eating enough and you start a high intensity cardiovascular program, muscle mass will be lost. Running is a cardiovascualr aerobic exercise. You body will push to a point where it will eat muscle instead of fat for energy because it's easier for your body to do so. You most likey have found your happy medium. Kudos.