Running simply to lose weight

I did something similar a few years back. Lost 25 lbs in about 3 months. My general approach was to run for time not distance. Get on trails and/or grass for most of the runs. Took 2 days off a week at first then down to 1 day off a week after I dropped the first 10 lbs. At some point I started doubling 3 times a week with short 3-4 mile runs.

Went from 180 to 155. Have pretty much stayed there since (8 years ago).

Looks fine, but remember...

losing weight has way more to do with what you eat and how much you eat it.

You are primarily burning glycogen in the first half hour or so of jogging, and then it switches over to primarily fat burning. So, I would try to emphasize long runs at a somewhat slower pace (so you can manage them and make them longer than your current MP emphasis).

Still, your plan doesn't look that bad. Just slow down a little and add a bit more time/length to the shorter runs to enhance the time when you are burning the most fat.

easy weeks wrote:

You are primarily burning glycogen in the first half hour or so of jogging, and then it switches over to primarily fat burning.

depends on intensity and previous training

next!

Horrible plan. Running will not help you lose weight. Do this instead:

- diet (80%): reduce carbs, avoid grains, sugar, processed food. Eat plenty of meat, fish and vegetables. Careful with fruits and nuts. Avoid vegetable oils, splurge on cocunut oil, olive oil and animal fat.

- lifting (10%) lift hard 3x per week

- move frequently at a slow pace (5%): for a runner this could be a slow run about 40min twice per week, for everyone else, walking is the better idea (long walks)

- sprint every once in a while (at the beach for example) (5%)

Good luck!

Xfit_guy_the_real_one_1 wrote:

Horrible plan. Running will not help you lose weight. Do this instead:

- diet (80%): reduce carbs, avoid grains, sugar, processed food. Eat plenty of meat, fish and vegetables. Careful with fruits and nuts. Avoid vegetable oils, splurge on cocunut oil, olive oil and animal fat.

- lifting (10%) lift hard 3x per week

- move frequently at a slow pace (5%): for a runner this could be a slow run about 40min twice per week, for everyone else, walking is the better idea (long walks)

- sprint every once in a while (at the beach for example) (5%)

Good luck!

What are your best times again?

Thanks guys - so time running is the key ? I ran 13 miles this morning in just over 2 hours. All was serenely easy at MP + 30 seconds for 12 miles but the last mile hurt like crazy and it was a 10 min crawl. So I probably ran for too long or too fast. Too fast ?

Regarding food, yeah, I'm eating pretty heathily, not much alcohol, decaf coffee and watching portion size (much easier in Europe than for you guys over there!!).

I find an hr at MP (ie 9mm for me) pretty easy tbh, but if that's the case, you'd recommend perhaps 80 mins instead of 60, rather than speeding it up a little and getting a huge sweat on ? Which would drop more weight and/or be better for me overall ?

Thanks again guys.

Mr XFit Guy - I know running helps - it's already helped in the last month where I've probably lost 6 lbs already. But I agree with you, processed food is cr_ap, and so I avoid it.

I did say in my initial post I wasn't interested in gym stuff. But wow - 80% of losing weight is diet based and has nothing to do with how much or how little exercise you do? Are there studies backing this number up anywhere? Would like to look into it a bit further.

Frightened Inmate # 5 wrote:

Thanks guys - so time running is the key ? I ran 13 miles this morning in just over 2 hours. All was serenely easy at MP + 30 seconds for 12 miles but the last mile hurt like crazy and it was a 10 min crawl. So I probably ran for too long or too fast. Too fast ?

Yep, time running is the key. Someone responded to my suggestions, about how this depends on intensity and previous training which is true to a degree - the longer you have been running, the more your body tends to conserve glycogen a bit more in the first half hour, and burn a slightly greater percentage of fat. Also, intensity is obviously important. Of course this is all true, but the information you provided, along with your history, gave me all I needed to know. Obviously you aren't out there hammering tempo runs, and you don't have a strong running history. He might have missed that info from your original post.

The bottom line is that, given your running history, my original suggestion stands. Your plan is certainly pretty decent (with most runs being on the longer side), and all I would do is lengthen some of them, and slow down a little. It should feel pretty easy. If you have to take a few short walk breaks near the end of the longer ones, do it. Don't worry about pace. Keep it easy, and aim to be out there for a while.

diet is 100% responsible for weight loss. this does not mean you need to "eat clean," you can eat whatever u want. the whole thing is you need to eat less calories than you are using daily. a website like myfitnesspal.com is a great help with this. running will help you use more calories daily but you need to make sure you do not overeat. a lot of people overestimate the number of calories they burn during exercise and, thus, eat more than they should resulting in no weight loss.

another bit of advice is losing 20-30 lbs is a long term project. do not expect this to happen in a month. as a general rule of thumb you can drop 1-1.5lbs per week to have "healthy" weight loss.

all that being said, running can be a great way to assist with any weight loss program. that plan looks good, but really focus on the diet. congrats on your goal and good luck. just remember this is a serious weight loss is a lifestyle change, not a quick fix.

trossi wrote:

diet is 100% responsible for weight loss.

Misleading at best. Of course diet is a factor, but it is 100% related to calories burned. You can't really look at one without looking at the other.

The more accurate thing to say is that caloric intake in comparison to calories burned is responsible for what the end result will be regarding your weight.

I can eat total garbage fatty food all day long and lose weight if I'm burning enough of it off. It's not healthy, and I'm not suggesting it is - the point I am making is that diet can have nothing to do with weight loss, or everything, depending on activity level.

Thanks Trossi and Easy Weeks. I understand that running and diet feed into lifestyle for long term health. When my wife and I divorced after 20 years together, I lost 45 lbs in 3 months - clearly a clinician would call that traumatic weight loss, and I really wouldn't recommend it.

Trossi, your numbers feel about right - I've lost 6 lbs in 4 weeks which is the upper end of your "healthy weight loss" spectrum, but you'd expect quicker gains in the first couple months, I would think.

I'll bump up the Tues and Thurs runs to 80 mins and drop the pace to MP+30 secs. My Sunday lsr I'll drop down to MP+1 min - which I know will feel like a crawl. I'll leave the Wed and Sat runs as they are, and maybe when I feel it's all very easy, add a Friday run rather than be tempted to run quicker.

Though Easy Weeks, it begs the question. What criteria should I be looking out for to determine when I should start to up the pace a little ? Give it another 4 weeks at this pace or just adjust by feel ?

And Easy Weeks, are you trying to say my 8mm 4 mile run isn't hammering out a tempo run !!!?? How dare you - that's eyeballs out for me at the moment .......;-)

trossi wrote:

diet is 100% responsible for weight loss.

True. But if you don't work out, it will be harder. You basically have to starve yourself, while if you lift heavy, you will burn fat and build muscle, leading to a healthier, better physique.

Running just leads to hunger and you will eat more and especially you will eat more junk food: bread, sugar, bananas, think anything sweet. That's why you see so many overweight triathletes. Training for 10+ h per week and still chubby.

Bananas? Yeah, stay away from those. They'll kill you like a Big Mac

@easy week i suggest reading my entire post instead of calling me out based on the first sentence. and yes, diet is 100% because ur diet determines your caloric intake. you could sit around all day and if u ate less calories than u burnt sitting there (because you still burn calories sitting around, i know mind blown...) then you would lose weight

and to the original poster 6 lbs in 4 weeks is perfect! just also be prepared to stall at some points and see faster results at others. dont get demotivated if you hit a point where the weight doesnt seem to be coming off as that happens. also know that your weight will fluctuate slightly day to day and also on time of day so I would suggest doing a weigh in once a week at a consistent time of day. good luck

Xfit_guy_the_real_one_1 wrote:

Horrible plan. Running will not help you lose weight. Do this instead:

- diet (80%): reduce carbs, avoid grains, sugar, processed food. Eat plenty of meat, fish and vegetables. Careful with fruits and nuts. Avoid vegetable oils, splurge on cocunut oil, olive oil and animal fat.

- lifting (10%) lift hard 3x per week

- move frequently at a slow pace (5%): for a runner this could be a slow run about 40min twice per week, for everyone else, walking is the better idea (long walks)

- sprint every once in a while (at the beach for example) (5%)

Good luck!

+10/10 Bravo! Who is the bigger Troll here? the OP or Xfit_guy? Does Xfit_guy know he's trolling a troll?

The Buggler wrote:

+10/10 Bravo! Who is the bigger Troll here? the OP or Xfit_guy? Does Xfit_guy know he's trolling a troll?

Not trolling. This is a common misconception among runners that running helps losing weight, which is not true. The more who know that FACT, the better.

I didn't know the OP was trolling, my bad. Oh well. I just want to help.

Losing weight is all about what you eat. You should really think about Weight Watchers; years ago I wasn't even overweight but I wanted to get skinny enough to run faster and qualify for Boston; worked like a charm. You might *think* you're eating healthy, but you probably aren't. When people pick up their mileage, they are more hungry and let themselves eat too much.