i am trying to get back into good running form after taking a few years and doing next to no running and lifting alot of weights. i currently have about 20 pounds of extra weight on my and probably 15 of those 20 are muscle and the other 5'ish is fat. to anybody that may know, how hard is it to lose muscle in comparison to losing fat? is this going to be a tougher task than if it was all fat or should it come off pretty quick once i get my mileage up? thanks
Run a lot of mileage and the weight will shed itself (even the muscle).
There is a reason why runners look like they do (skeleton like) and that's because running makes you lose a lot of weight. Some people I know like to lift a bit to keep atleast some muscle mass on.
edit: when I say run I don't mean 20 miles a week, I mean more near 70-80 miles and you'll be light as air in no time.
how long at 70+ miles before the lbs start dropping off big time?
i still am carrying some extra muscle and unwanted mass and have been at 75+ mpw for the last 8 weeks solid. my clothes are noticeably getting loose on me, and my face looks like I have lost a bunch of weight, but legs are still much thicker than I’d like and a bit of chunk still hanging on my waist, but just on the side.
assuming you knock it off with, or reduce, the weight training, the muscle weight should come off faster than fat. i was on crutches for 8 weeks after surgery and non-weight bearing. by the end of those eight weeks, i weighed less overall, but only b/c my muscles had atrophied down to nothing. the fat was still there. just dont use the muscles where you want the muscle weight to come off!
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I've put in 100-120 mile weeks, average about 80-90 over the course of a year, for a number of years, and still am 5'6' 140lbs, though relatively low body fat % (say 7-10). I think some people are just destined to maintain muscle mass. Call it mesomorphism if you want. Look at someone like Pre who was 5'9' 150, when the "rule of thumb" says he should be 138 (2 x ht in inches). Go figure.
Alan
You too, huh, Alan?
Bummer!
In my case, the muscle comes off more quickly than the fat. When I ran in college I competed at just under 150lbs @ 5'10" (800/1500m) and 4% bf. Years and a lot of time in weight room I was up to around 200lbs, benching 345lbs, at 16% bf with almost no cardio. I started running about 3 months ago and have dropped down to 173lbs @ 12%bf. I still lift, mainly do reps now, and would be lucky to get up 250lbs twice. The good news is I can string together 6:45/mi training runs now with relative ease where I struggled doing 1 mile in 7:30 @ 200lbs before hitting the floor wishing I was dead. I'm hoping to drop another 10lbs and get down between 8 and 9% bf in the next few months. Currently I'm only running 30-35 mi/week although I obviously didn't start that high. Most people I know, a lot of bodybuilder types, will tell you it's easier to lose muscle than fat to a certain point.