Running and Losing Weight

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.

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.

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.

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.....

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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.-

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.

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

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.

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.