Running to Lose Weight: Everything You Need to Know

One question that always comes up with regards to weight loss is this: How do you lose weight through Running?

In this article, we’re going to give you the keys to improving your body composition through a Running training programme.

Have you ever gone for a 45 minute run, weighed yourself before and after… and found that you’ve lost weight? Well, okay, but this is only what the scale’s telling us. Actually, it’s a loss of fluids…

How do you lose weight through running?

Running is an aerobic endurance sport, and depending on the intensity of the session, the body will use one energy substrate or another: it can work through the oxidation of fats, the combustion of glycogen, and/or both.

Therefore, good planning of different sessions can help us in our weight loss program.

That said… When we want to improve our body composition and decrease the percentage of fat mass, nutrition plays an important role in achieving that goal.

We could talk about maintaining a calorie deficit for a certain period of time. In other words, having a daily calorie intake lower than the total daily expenditure (which includes NEAT + sports activity expenditure).

Yes, it will decrease the number of the scale but as a result of loss of muscle mass.

It’s important to keep in mind that muscle mass is still likely to be lost if we only do cardiovascular training while maintain a caloric deficit, and this is of no interest.

Weight loss running routine

With 2-3 days of running training, along with proper nutrition, staying away from sugars, precooked and processed products… and you’re well on your way yo achieving your goal of losing weight with running.

Day 1: Continuous Running.

A continuous training session of between 30-45 minutes (depending on the previous experience of the subject) at a low intensity that favours the metabolism of fat oxidation. That is, an intensity whose perception of effort is very low and you can maintain your breathing and have a conversation without any issues.

Day 2: Interval Training.

Here we’re looking for higher intensities but in very short periods of time. For example:

Day 3: Long Walk.

In order to develop the aerobic basis and the metabolic pathway of fat oxidation, especially in those untrained subjects, the first weeks could incorporate longer duration training at a low intensity, combining walking and running at low intensities.

How many days do you have to go for a run to lose weight?

As we’ve explained, between 2 and 3 non-consecutive days, combining longer workouts and even long walks, would be a good training programme to start with.

It’s best to go for a run in the morning or in the afternoon

When we train depends largely on the time each person has free and our daily schedule.

A general recommendation is that you establish the days and hours that you’re going to go out to train in advance, adjusting the times to all your other tasks.

The importance of strength training

If you’ve never run before, the first thing you need to do is incorporate at least 2 General Fitness/General Strength sessions into your training plan.

You have to be fit to run, and, for this, strength trainingis necessary for the following reasons:

If we want to lose weight while running, maintaining optimal levels of muscle mass will not only make your muscles more prepared to withstand loads and impacts, but maintaining a good level of muscle mass will also improve your basal metabolism.

Error: only doing aerobic exercise

In fact, one of the biggest mistakes you can commit when you want to “lose weight through running” is just doing aerobic exercise.

Moreover, it’s important to make sure it’s carried out in a planned manner and done at the appropriate intensities.

Aerobic training is necessary to improve our cardio-respiratory capacity, as well as our aerobic power, but it must be complemented by strength training.

The importance of rest for weight loss

Finally, we can’t forget that rest and stressor management processes also play a key role when we want to lose weight.

Many people start an exercise and/or nutrition programme, but the high levels of stress and the hormonal dysregulation that this causes impede and slow down the processes of weight loss and muscle mass gain.

Rest is necessary to recover after the training sessions and let the adaptations occur at the metabolic, muscular and cardiovascular levels.

But also to keep the hormonal system in balance.

Recommendations

If you’re aiming to decrease your fat percentage, Running can help as long as you take the following into account:

Related Entries

• Hillwalking to lose weight… continue reading.
• As we’ve seen in the post, the important thing is to lose fat, not weight… Learn more here.
• What are the best weight loss foods? We’ve prepared a list for you at this link.