How To Start Jogging To Lose Weight

So you've decided running for weight loss is the way you'd like to feel fitter, healthier and stronger. Good on you. After walking for weight loss, running is one of the most common and accessible (and free!) ways to start a fitness journey.

And, while you may think it's as easy as throwing on some running shoes and heading for the park, running specifically to lose weight well (or lose body fat) is a more technical affair. Fortunately, we're here to help set you straight on a) what you need to do and b) how to do it safely and sustainably.

While we can't lace up your trainers and go striding out for you, we can get you up to speed on the basics of running for weight loss. Ready? Course you are.

Best Time To Run For Weight Loss: Here What You Need To Know

Help you lose weight. Plus, there are many other health benefits to pounding the pavement regularly. Besides being a free way to exercise, you can adapt a run is so many ways. You can make it long, short, hard, easy, fast, slow, hilly, flat, interval-based or one continuous effort. Each type of run will help you improve your cardiovascular fitness, general stamina and cook up some sweet endorphins.

To lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. This means you're expending (burning) more calories than you're taking in. This comes down to tinkering with your nutrition or through exercise. Most experts suggest creating a calorie deficit through your daily diet, rather than exercising yourself into one. Why is this? Some fitness trackers can over (or underestimate) your calorie burn and most importantly, it can suck the joy out of working out, if you're solely chasing numbers.

So, to answer the question of whether you can lose weight just by running – remember that your fuelling choices are just as (if not more) important

How To Lose Weight Running: Essential Guide To Running For Weight Loss

Losing fat is a different kettle of fish to losing weight; learn how to lose body fat safely. Spoilers, you'll need to get familiar with resistance training!

How much you need to run to lose weight is a bit of a tricky question. Healthy weight loss comes mostly from smart nutrition and a little bit from how you exercise. Saying that, to lose weight well (around 1lb per week) you'll need to create a daily calorie deficit of, around, 500 calories per day.

'To do that with running alone [no change in diet] would likely mean taking on a 45-minute run every day of the week for a woman who's 11st 4lb, for instance' says Janet Hamilton, an exercise physiologist and running coach. But, for most, that's just not realistic or injury-safe. Plus, exercising every day is categorically not the one.

Weight Loss Transformations

Something a bit more doable, a 30-minute run, for example, done four days a week, would burn about 350 calories per run for the same woman. According to Hamilton, this would result in weight loss of about 0.2lb per week.

Remember, though, these numbers are calculated with no change to her food. Get your daily diet in check and you can combine four 30-minute runs per week with a conservative nutritional calorie deficit and lose weight steadily.

Sarah Lindsay, former Olympian and founder of London gym, Roar Fitness, warns against a running-only routine. Doubling down on cardio will improve your fitness but it doesn't help you build muscle in the same way resistance training and strength training does.

How To Run For Weight Loss

Muscle tissue is important as it burns more calories per day than fat tissue; crucial if you want to maintain a healthy weight for good.

‘When you’re burning calories, that energy comes from fat stores, glycogen stores, and then protein – which is essentially muscle. The higher your muscle mass, the higher your basal metabolic rate, ' explains Lindsay. Basal metabolic rate is a technical way to refer to your metabolism – how quickly you use food for energy and what gets stored as fat.

If you love to run, Lindsay says it’s a great way to increase overall calorie burn, as long as you also focus on preserving muscle through resistance training, too. ‘Three strength-training sessions per week, along with one or two runs, is ideal, ’ says Lindsay. ‘Stick to 45-minute workouts to ensure it’s manageable.’

Can You Lose Weight By Running Everyday?

The best exercise for weight loss is the one you can stick to for a sustained period of time and that goes for cardio workouts too.

There are plenty of ways to move your body that have nothing to do with running; skipping workouts, dance workouts HIIT classes and cycling for weight loss are all viable options.

The best part? They all come with a host of other benefits – think a stronger heart, better bones, decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, better mental health. Things that have very little to do with numbers on the scale and will help keep you on track when motivation wanes.

Does Running Build Muscle? All You Need To Know

Research shows that HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workouts are the most effective for weight loss. Think sprints and running up (and down) hills. Anything that mixes high effort and intensity with low effort and recovery.

In fact, one of the reasons HIIT's so good for fat loss is because of something called the EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) effect – also known as the afterburn effect. This is when your body keeps burning calories at an elevated rate, post-exercise. Basically, you get more bang for your buck.

Namely, because you're burning more calories. A 2019 study in the journal Physiology & Behavior found that, after doing moderate-intensity cardio five days a week (to burn 500 calories a day) for 12 weeks, women who were overweight lost body weight and fat, but, in the process, their hunger levels went up and they ended up consuming more calories.

Run Your Fat Off

A great way to assess if your hunger is physical or emotional (perhaps a response to knowing you've exercised) is to employ a mindful eating approach. This is when, before eating, you take a minute to assess your hunger levels before swinging open the fridge. It can help you to tune in to what you're

If you're struggling with staying in a calorie deficit, perhaps take your foot off the gas for a bit. Then, when you feel more balanced, start again but this time create a more conservative calorie deficit. You might lose weight at a slower pace but you're less likely to swing between extremes so much.

Having a plan is the key to progressing towards your goals – something true for running for weight loss, as well. If you're getting out there, completing the same 5k loop at the same pace every time, you might not be making the fitness gains you think you are. As we exercise, our bodies become used to what we're asking of them and they become more efficient at helping us do it.

Lose Weight By Running: How To Burn Belly Fat In Just 3 Weeks By Running?

In fact, according to David Siik, head of running for über luxe gym chain Equinox, it's also a quick way to injure yourself.

Instead, get yourself a plan that varies the distance and cadence of your runs to keep you trucking on for the long term and in good nick too. Whether that's a beginner 5k running plan or something more advanced, try to stick to the challenging sessions – you'll be a better runner for it.

This 4-week running plan by run coach Tashi Skervin-Clarke will take you from a newbie to a 30-minute runner in just 28 days.

Ways To Lose Weight Running, Plus A Month Long Training Plan

Strava is the new Instagram, according to runners. A fitness app, Strava is the place where joggers, runners and cyclists unite. Use the app to track your mileage, progress and find new (virtual) running buddies.

To track your nutrition, MyFitness Pal is a great, beginner-friendly, calorie counting app. It'll help to keep your food aligned with your goals.

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Your half marathon training guide Why Denise Lewis wants us to put our phones down Tilly Ramsay is training for the London Marathon 'I've run the Marathon twice, here are my tips'Running is a great way to lose weight. Countless folks have shed excess pounds and kept them off with the aid of this simple form of exercise. Success is not guaranteed, however. A sensible diet plan is an essential complement to running for weight loss.

Slow Jogging: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, And Have Fun With Science Based, Natural Running: Tanaka, Hiroaki, Jackowska, Magdalena: 9781510708310: Amazon.com: Books

Understanding the most effective ways to run for weight loss before you start helps you avoid common mistakes — and get you the results you want.

There is a widely held belief that exercise — including running — is not an effective tool for weight loss. This belief comes from studies showing overweight people fail to lose much weight when given a structured exercise program to follow. In a recent review, scientists involved in this line