7miles
PatsyFitzpatrick
Posts: 335 Member
I am a jogger/walker. I average 3 to 4 mi 3x a week. The scale is not going in the direction I want it to fast enough. So my question is do I need to average 7mi a day to be sure I burn a minimum of 1 pound of fat a week. My reasoning is 3500 calories is a pound of fat so divide by 5 (days). I am averaging a mile is 100 calories burn. This should kick my weight loss into the direction I need. Agree?
Yes I know more time on the road is more time burning the calories but I guess I want to know the math. What is the number.
Thanks
Patsy
Yes I know more time on the road is more time burning the calories but I guess I want to know the math. What is the number.
Thanks
Patsy
0
Replies
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Losing weight is all about the food. I can gain weight running 50 miles a week. Yes, exercise does burn calories but it also tends to make you hungrier. If you're not seeing the results you want on the scale you need to dial in your nutrition.0
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As Zen said it is more about food than exercise. Yes you burn calories when you exercise but it also makes you hungry. Most people GAIN weight when marathon training (you don't have to, but it happens with most). In my humble opinion if you exercise, minimize "bad carbs" (whites flours and such) and minimize ADDED sugar (in all it's forms) you have 80% of the battle0
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As others have stated, yes on paper the numbers look good, but running does tend to spike your hunger something fierce. Making healthier choices with your foods, increasing fiber and protein (these tend to keep you full longer), drinking lots of water and managing your sweets can really help. A lot of people tend to think if they run they can eat anything and do. I actually lost weight marathon training, which I guess bucks the trend, but I WAS hungry all the time and I think some of that loss was muscle mass (not good, in my book).
Focus on good nutrition and running is a great cardio exercise, but in the end, it's all about what goes in the ol' pie hole
Good luck. 0 -
The answer is theoretically "yes". In the end, what matters is creating a calorie deficit and how to get that deficit is up to you. Some do it simply through diet, some do it strictly through exercise, and some do it through a combination of both. I think you need to do a little trial and error to figure out what works best for you.
Personally, I do find it easier to do it purely through exercise. It doesn't make me hungrier. And since I burn 4,500-5,000 cal/week, I don't eat any less than I did when I was simply maintaining my weight without exercise. And I've been losing 1.5 lbs/week on average for the last 5 months.
A lot of people exercise so they can eat more and "eat back" their exercise calories. They take whatever their diet calories would be and then eat back whatever they burn in their workouts. For example, if your maintenance calories are 2,000/day, you'd have to eat 1,500 a day on average to lose a pound a week. You go run and burn 700 calories. Add those to 1,500 and you can 2,200 calories and still have a net deficit of 500 calories. Some people would rather exercise and eat 2,200 than not exercise and eat 1,500. Myself included.
That said, you do need to track your calories to make sure you really are operating at an overall deficit. And while you're at it, it might be a good idea to get a heart rate monitor to more accurately estimate how many calories you're actually burning. It seems men may burn more per mile than women, but still, I was burning 3,500 on 25 miles/week.
Also, considering that you're running 9-12 miles a week now, you know you can't just jump to 35 miles/week, right?. Do some research on how to safely add to your weekly mileage. Until then, you'd need to do a combination of diet and exercise to get to 3,500 cal/week.0 -
The more I run, the more hungry I am.....it's called rungry......LOL
I'll just say ditto to what others have said. I'd be careful adding miles too quickly, you can get hurt.0 -
As others have said, losing weight is probably 70% food / 30% exercise.
The shorthand that I've used as a mantra (with different levels of success over time) is this:
"You can't outrun your diet."
(i.e. running won't make you lose weight unless you take care to watch your caloric intake closely)0 -
"You can't outrun your diet."
DARN!!! So much for "I run for donuts" :grumble:
I gained 10 pounds training for my first half last year and am still trying to work it off. I went into the training much like I did with my first pregnancy, I ate what ever I darn well wanted. I'm back in training for a 10K at the end of July, then on to a half in Nov. This time I'm going to use MFP to track.
Rungry.... gotta love it!0 -
Thank you all for the advice. I will heed the nutrition and not get rungry. Darn hot and sometimes I just get stuck. This is not complicated it is dedication. Thanks.0
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The more I run the hungover I am too lol. As others have said, it's a lot to do with nutrition. However, I do find that the more I run, the smaller I am even if netting the same calories0
