Running for weight loss

kath1804
kath1804 Posts: 47
edited September 19 in Fitness and Exercise
I have recently started running/jogging about 4 weeks ago, and completed my first 5K at the weekend. I was hoping that adding this extra exercise would give me rapid results with weight loss but so far.. not a lot.

Any ideas or advise please????:huh:

Replies

  • kath1804
    kath1804 Posts: 47
    I have recently started running/jogging about 4 weeks ago, and completed my first 5K at the weekend. I was hoping that adding this extra exercise would give me rapid results with weight loss but so far.. not a lot.

    Any ideas or advise please????:huh:
  • mamaof2girls
    mamaof2girls Posts: 332 Member
    running burns alot of calories....are you eating your exercise calories? I bet you probably aren't eating enough, and your body is holding onto the extra for energy.
  • kassi_ferrigan
    kassi_ferrigan Posts: 5 Member
    You are probably just gaining a bunch of muscle too. I just started running as well. I feel great but nothing in the way of major weight loss since i started.
    Have you been recording your inches? That is where i see results when i am not seeing the scale move.
    good luck!
    dont give up.
    kassi
  • osmium
    osmium Posts: 107 Member
    Running burns calories, but if you look at the numbers the most important thing is to eat less :) A 30 min run burns about 300 calories. That's a couple of biscuits. So to get the extra rapid weight loss from running you are looking for you would have to be running a LOT.
  • kath1804
    kath1804 Posts: 47
    Thanks for all the advice, but I can't get my head round the exercise calories thing - I am mostly sticking to the 1200 calories and don't feel the need or desire to eat my exercise calories.

    I have always gone by the common thing of eat less ,exercise more, but I am not getting the results.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    Well, look.

    If you do something for a month, and you don't see results, its not working right? So you need to adjust. If you're eating 1200 calories, that's probably too low (I can't be sure, since I know none of your numbers), but you need to do research, get your numbers, and figure out what you should be eating.

    if you only have 30 lbs to lose to get into a bmi range of about 24, then your NET deficit should be around 400 to 500 calories, that means AFTER you add in your exercise calories burned. if your deficit is already around 500, and you exercise for say... 300 more, that's a deficit of 800 calories, usually too much for someone with only 30 lbs to lose (not always, but usually). Especially if your Body Fat % is around 30% or lower. Check those two things out, then either post here or do research on what you should be doing for that range.

    if your deficit is too high, then you're probably slowing your own resting metabolism down. This will slow down weight loss to a crawl in many cases, and frustrate you. Your health level will still increase, which is good, but you won't see the scale related results you are looking for.

    FYI, most cardio (running especially) doesn't really build muscle. It might a little at the beginning purely because almost any exercise is anaerobic if you've never done it before. It will train your muscles to have more endurance, and increase your lung capacity, but it won't really build muscle. So don't count on muscle building to be the reason why you are maintaining. Cardio will burn fat, and to a very very small degree increase muscle density, but generally you won't build any significant muscle with it. To truly build muscle you need anaerobic activity (weight training, HIIT training, resistance training...etc) and even then, the type of anaerobic training you do will dictated what type, size muscle you will build.
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
    Thanks for all the advice, but I can't get my head round the exercise calories thing - I am mostly sticking to the 1200 calories and don't feel the need or desire to eat my exercise calories.

    I have always gone by the common thing of eat less ,exercise more, but I am not getting the results.

    Me too until I found it didnt always work that way. A trainer said it to me this way. Prior to change in lifestyle,my body needed less fuel because I wasnt DOING anything. It takes much more fuel to work a muscle than it does fat.

    Then I changed my entire thought process and began eating well, logging food and added exercise.

    Ok so now my body has less fat, more muscle and needs more fuel to run the engine.

    She likened me to an old VW beetle vs a new turbo engine beetle ( I dont look like a beetle that much any more!!!:laugh: )

    Anyway I hope this helps a bit.
  • amelia_atlantic
    amelia_atlantic Posts: 926 Member


    if you only have 30 lbs to lose to get into a bmi range of about 24, then your NET deficit should be around 400 to 500 calories, that means AFTER you add in your exercise calories burned. if your deficit is already around 500, and you exercise for say... 300 more, that's a deficit of 800 calories, usually too much for someone with only 30 lbs to lose (not always, but usually). Especially if your Body Fat % is around 30% or lower. Check those two things out, then either post here or do research on what you should be doing for that range.

    if your deficit is too high, then you're probably slowing your own resting metabolism down. This will slow down weight loss to a crawl in many cases, and frustrate you. Your health level will still increase, which is good, but you won't see the scale related results you are looking for.

    That's great advice and knowledge to have! So, you're saying one should probably stay within the 500 calorie deficit range?

    Thanks
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