Can Run Help You Lose Weight? Here Are The Facts

Everyone knows that running is good for you. It makes you feel better, it pumps blood through your body and it keeps you healthy. So the question is, does running help you lose weight? The answer is yes and no. Here's why.

To answer the question does running help you lose weight, it depends on what you do with the extra calories you get. Researchers say you need to keep a low-calorie deficit so you can lose a pound a week. That means your running program for weight loss has to clock in at around zero pounds per day. If you're an athlete, your mileage may be more than five miles per day or you might be training very hard. In these cases, it would be unrealistic to expect that your natural pace will allow you to add weight in the amount of time it takes to run five miles.

So if you're not an athlete, does running shoes really matter? You might think that if you only have a couple of miles per day, it wouldn't make much difference, but if you add up all of your miles per week when you're not running, it adds up to quite a bit. So you see, there's more to it than you might think.

But what about interval training? If you do lots of short interval training sessions with intervals between them, it can speed up your fat loss. Some people say that interval running is better for fat loss than steady state running, but I'm not sure I fully agree. Interval training has been shown to be effective in increasing your metabolism and it does help you burn calories.

But I would say that most people should stick to long continuous distance runs for the majority of their training. Intervals do to help your heart rate, but they do nothing to stimulate weight loss. Most beginners weight loss programs take the approach of three to five twenty minute sessions at a moderate pace, and this does burn calories.

Longer sessions have more health benefits. Running can be very beneficial for your circulation. If you get more oxygen into your body and your heart rate raises, then you burn more calories. It can also increase your endurance and improve your gait. So these are all good things that you will want to consider when you're deciding if running is a good choice for you.

Of course, all of these health benefits are overshadowed by the one big advantage that running has on your body-fat percentage. When you run, your heart rate becomes higher. This increase in your heart rate causes your metabolism to speed up, which can actually cause your body to use up more calories than it normally would. This extra fat loss can be quite significant if you combine it with your weight loss program.

I have a personal trainer now and we'll be using interval sprinting as part of our training. We do thirty minutes of steady pace alternating with two intervals of faster paces. We run three to five miles each day with a two-minute interval between the two. My goal since the beginning of our training is to burn 500 more calories than I consume during our workout. We have been quite successful in achieving this goal so far.

I still get questions from people wondering if interval running is a good choice for weight loss or not. It's not something I recommend for starting a weight loss or fitness program. For one thing, you need to be in great shape to make it work. You also need to be able to exercise for a long period of time and be motivated enough to keep going. Interval sprinting is just one component of an effective weight loss and fitness program. I would recommend looking into a full workout plan such as the ones I recommend below.

There are a few other things that running does to help you lose belly fat. It strengthens your legs and makes them more resistant to impact. It also increases your endurance and decreases your chance of injury during your workout. As you can see, all these benefits make interval running a fantastic choice for both weight loss and fitness. You may also find that you enjoy it as a recreational activity, as well. It's a low impact, high calorie and low stress activity that do wonders for your health.

For maximum results, you should run for at least thirty minutes each day for at least three weeks. You will burn lots of calories and improve your stamina, as well. You can also increase your endurance and workout more often with short afternoon and evening runs. For maximum results, try to incorporate as many of the tips above into your routine as possible.