Does running 30min 4x per week makes any difference?

Cynnie20012
Cynnie20012 Posts: 33 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

I'm confused.. I run 4 times per week 5k and it takes 30 min each time exactly. I was under impression I'm doing such a great job when I learned that I might be actually burning muscles instead of fat during these 30 min

Currently I cannot run longer than that. I consider it a max distance\time I can run daily now.
Should I continue and carry on regardless?

Replies

  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    Eat enough protein and do resistance/strength training, and that will help you maintain muscle.
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
    Yes, it makes a difference. You will gain cardiovascular conditioning for a while and then maintain what you have. Eventually you will have to do more to improve.

    Unless you are on an extremely low calorie diet and starving yourself you will not burn your muscles away in 30 minutes. You would not burn your muscles away in 2 hours either.
  • Liz_Mfp
    Liz_Mfp Posts: 172 Member
    Yes, it makes a difference.

    :-)

    Great going, keep it up.
  • ladynocturne
    ladynocturne Posts: 865 Member
    Depends if you're eating those burned calories on top of your calorie goal.

    If MFP has you eating 1200 calories, and you're burning 300 from running, that only leaves you with 900 calories for vital organ functions and I guarantee your BMR is higher than that.

    If you're properly fueled, your muscle loss should be minimal.
  • kotoula01
    kotoula01 Posts: 4 Member
    I agree with the others that you're not doing harm however, can you maintain that regimen for life? Because once you stop...guess what? Yes pound creep.

    Ok well at least in my experience. I joined a running clinic and had my 3-4x a week runs and was able to lose 20lbs. or so, and keep it off as long as I kept up the running.

    In January of this year I started a job where I could no longer get to the classes on time and the running dwindled down to nothing. And now, 8 months later I've got 20 lbs to lose.

    It is super frustrating but I want to lose weight, maintain my goal weight and keep my metabolism happy without having to resort to an activity that I can't maintain for life.

    Now I'm back to tracking and trying to get my 10K steps a day in. I do some fast walking as I find it more practical to do on a daily lifelong basis. So just be aware that you will become adapted to the running, and when you stop, you will gain unless you cut back on the calories...

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