How to Lose Weight Running: Essential Guide to Running for Weight Loss (2024)

FAQs

How to Lose Weight Running: Essential Guide to Running for Weight Loss? ›

There are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat. Running one mile burns (on average) 100 calories. If you want to lose one pound of fat – then, you should run 35 miles. If you were to run 7 days a week, you would need to run 5 miles each day in order to lose one pound of fat in a week.

“Running at a high intensity will create an afterburn, which is when your body continues to burn calories when you're no longer moving,” Rubin says. She suggests starting with three 30-minute runs a week, adding in sprints of 30 seconds then recovering for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Running can also make you seriously sweat, and even if you stick to a slow pace, you'll still torch calories. How many calories you burn will depend on a few different factors, including your height and weight, but you can burn roughly anything from 220 to 400 calories running for just 30 minutes.

You should run at the average pace of your 10k personal best. Note: Make sure to give your body plenty of recovery time. Wait at least 48 hours before doing your next intense training session. Don't forget to warm up well before your running workouts by running at a moderate pace for 10-15 minutes.

Running every day for 30 minutes will help you lose weight, but the intensity at which you run is more important.In fact, doing only four 30-second sprints can burn more fat than running the full 30 minutes at a jogging pace.

Many studies show a connection between belly fat and an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many other diseases ( 10 , 11 ). Studies have found that moderate-to-high aerobic exercise like running can reduce belly fat, even without changing your diet ( 12 , 13 , 14 ).

You should run at a submaximal sprint (about 85-90% of your maximum sprint). Fast, but not full gas. This is followed by a recovery phase consisting of 40 seconds of slow walking. Repeat this cycle for 20 minutes, or in other words, a total of 20 intervals.

If you can fit it in, “early morning aerobic exercise — such as biking, running or even brisk walking to start with — is a promising tool for weight loss,” Ma said. “Most people actually are more likely to stick to a morning workout routine than that in midday or evening.”

Faster runners burn more fat and carbs, use muscle more fibers, and burn calories more efficiently. On the flip side, fast running requires more recovery time and is not suitable for every day. Benefits for distance runners include improved endurance and a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Summary. About 30 minutes of running will burn about 255 calories. However, making smart choices with your food will go a long way with losing weight while running. The safest weight loss is about 1lb per week if you weigh under 150 lbs, and 1 to 2 lbs per week if you weigh over 150 lbs.

Where do you lose weight first when running? ›

Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat.

“If you want to burn 400 calories in one hour, you can run four miles at a leisurely 15-minute-per-mile pace. If you want to burn those same 400 calories in 30 minutes, you would need to run four miles at a brisk 7-minute-30-second pace.”

Conclusion. Running, in general, is extremely advantageous for your health no matter when you do it. But a morning run has a slight edge over the evening run because of its higher fat burning capacity. Therefore if you want to lose weight, opt for a morning run.

That said, many healthy weight-loss guidelines say you should aim to lose one or two pounds per week (whether you have five or 50 pounds to lose), that means it could take anywhere from 10 to 20 weeks to lose 20 pounds. That may seem like a while, but it's better to go slow.

When you think of a runner's body, you probably think of a certain body type: long, lean, and leggy. However, runners come in as many sizes and shapes as everyone else, and each body will respond in its own way to training.

The speed you will lose weight while running depends on a number of different factors, including your current weight, how much you eat, and how often you run. In many ways, though, it's a numbers game. As a general rule, you'll lose about a pound per week if you eat 500 calories less than usual per day.

Some people recommend 1 minute intervals. Others recommend repeated intervals of 20 seconds with only 10 seconds of rest between each. Some endurance-based coaches go as high as 2 minutes on and 2 minutes off. Others say you should focus on distance, such as running 400m intervals, rather than the time of the interval.

A study by Harvard Medical School found that a 70kg person could burn 372 calories in 30 minutes by running at a moderate pace of just 6 miles per hour. That's more calories than you can burn during a 30-minute game of basketball or even a vigorous swimming session.

A new study offers clues that could help maximize your efforts. Exercising between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. has been associated with having a lower waist circumference and body mass index than people who work out during midday or evening, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Obesity.