To think I’ll lose weight running 5km 5 days a week?

[Dontknowwhattodo123456]

Even if I’m not dieting?

would I still see results?

thanks!

You don't gain much muscle running. In fact cardio can cause atrophy. Lifting weight will preserve and help gain muscle

Climbing whilst pregnant? Not sure that’d be good after the first trimester.

@DownWhichOfLate i climbed up to 38 weeks pregnant.

All movement is good but as the saying goes, you can’t outrun a bad diet. Focus on changing your diet first and then exercise.

edited to add: there’s some very supportive weight loss threads on here that I have found useful!

I also gained weight marathon training!

@SameToo - oh wow! That’s very impressive!

Braver than me, I lost my nerve at 4.5mo 😆

Just to second what a PP said, you do not gain muscle running. If you run 25km a week you have to seriously do some muscle building.

I mean, I dispute that you can’t outrun a bad diet but I doubt 25km a week would be enough. I lose weight over about 50k a week. Running doesn’t massively spike my appetite though so it’s a case of same in/ more out. The problem is that most people don’t have the time or inclination to run more than 50k a week.

You’re pregnant?

You need qualified medical advice, not MN!

Congratulations.

Of course you can build core and lower body muscle running. You have to build in resistance to your route though, doing lots of stairs, sprints and technique work. You won't end up looking like a body builder though

In pregnancy do not increase exercise load. If you feel well, work with your body up to maintaining your previous load. Your body is stressed from nourishing another human and you are more susceptible to injury.

Even if you were hypothetically not pregnant, 5k typically burns around 300 calories which is pretty easy to eat back without noticing. Running is great exercise for bone and heart health, but it's a balanced diet that does the main role of weight maintainence. Relying on excercise is susceptible to disruption from injury or rest days. It takes time to safely build up to high volumes of exercise and needs consistency and balance of different types e.g. running, strength and flexibility.

It's normal to gain weight in pregnancy and it protects your body. Nourish it. Work with what your body needs. Cravings often have a purpose. Pregnancy is not a time to add extra pressure. If you need to manage your weight after when you're recovered, manage it then.

Depends. If you’re eating 3000 calories a day, running 5km won’t change your weight because it only burns around 360 calories. If you’re eating an average amount of calories so 2000 and burning the 360 then yeah, you probably will lose weight.

I’m a runner and I don’t track calories, I eat chocolate or cake every day tbh. I stay a healthy weight and don’t gain but I don’t just do a 5k run. I do a longer run once a week, lift weights a couple of times a week and also walk quite a lot in general so most days I’m on 15-25k steps a day.

I most definitely lose weight through walking 10,000 steps a day. People will say I don't because I only burn a few hundred calories a day but it all adds up. It's slow weight loss but it's still weight loss.
Fort example, according to my fitbit I've burnt around 9500 calories this year so far. That equals a couple of pounds weight loss. Obviously it depends how much I've eaten too but I think I generally eat exactly the amount of calories I need. I don't lose or gain weight through my normal diet. I do slowly lose weight through my normal diet plus walking.

The only way to lose weight is to be in a calorie deficit. You will need to change your eating habits it’s the only way to make it work. With running your shape will change but my uncle ran marathons and still was huge due to his diet (mars bar addiction). Once he changed his diet the weight dropped off fast.

As everyone's said.
If the 5km makes you hungry and you replace the burned calories one-for-one, then no.
If the 5km puts you in a good mindset and spurs you to make healthier diet choices because you don't want to negate the good work, it will help - you'll eat more filling food. Personally I nearly always have a healthier food day after exercise.
If you run 5km and make no changes to either what you eat or how much of it you eat, in theory you'll lose weight but this is unlikely IME, because exercise increases your appetite.

I do wish people would RTFT.

Losing weight is 90% diet & 10% exercise -great that you want to run 5 times a week but it probably won’t bring you the results you are after unless you are in calorie deficit.

You sound like you have an unhealthy relationship with food, exercise and body image if this is your priority when pregnant.

Please seek medical advice.

Start a thread saying you can't be arsed doing extra steps but you want to start slimming world or similar. Then everyone will say you need to up your activity 😂

Probably not, and if you're not a runner now, that's way too much. Diet is so much more important.

Exercising when pregnant is ok but you need to stick to what you already do and not start increasing it. Also be careful in the first trimester and try not to get too hot. I would just carry on doing what you're doing.

Pregnancy aside, weight loss is 80% diet and only 20% exercise so if you exercised every day but still ate loads of crap it wouldn't help you lose weight.

I once lost weight purely by exercising. I did boxing, gym, HIIT, swimming and jogging. I didn't diet but didn't overeat either. So it can be done. But it was very slow. Probably 2 stone over 2 years. But I looked amazing, I was so fit. Worse thing I ever did was stop exercising.

Short term yes it will work. Mid term your body will simply adjust to the "new normal" and will become used to this level of exercise and you will stop losing weight.
This has been proven comparing hunter gatherer types and sedentary Americans I'm afraid.