Running for weight loss.

[MrsJoshHomme]

Hello. I recently completed the c25k in early March, and have continued to run 5k every week. I am of course feeling fitter and very proud of myself, but slightly disappointed I haven't lost any weight, or inches. My question is what do I need to do now to continue improving my fitness, but also to loose weight? Can I loose weight by just increasing my distance/ amount of days? Or do I need to continue what I am doing and be patient? Or do I need to follow an eating plan? I eat an ok diet, no junk food or packets but probably just too much.
I would really like to hear other people's experiences, particularly if you have lost weight. I need some inspiration! ??

You probably do need to look at what you're eating. Running is good for your fitness, but it's one of the sorts of exercise where people are quite likely to want to eat more (and feel they 'deserve' it).

If you want to lose inches, then you need to do strength and abs exercises - build muscle to replace fat. I've had good results with Jillian Michaels dvds for instance.

Thanks Errol, do you think it's necessary to follow something like SW or WW etc, or just stick to a eating clean / sensible ?

Yes, I was wondering about the shred. I bought it a couple of years ago but not used it. Do you do this every day?

Yes it's now well established that losing weight is about diet. Exercise is important for health and toning up - but a 30 minute run will burn about 400 calories. To lose one pound of fat you need to lose 3500 calories more than you take in.

Keep running though! There does come a point when it stops making you feel hungry!

At the most basic level to lose weight you need a calorie deficit. Running increases the amount you burn, but (in my case anyway!) it can often make you more hungry. Try tracking calories with myfitnesspal.com or similar. Don't use their presets though, Google TDEE calendar and work out how many calories you use per day then eat at least 80% of that figure.

Strength/resistance training is great when losing weight as it leads to you maintaining your muscle and losing predominantly fat.

I started by doing the shred each weekday (weekends off), then other of her workouts. Nowadays I sometimes do free weights or tabata intervals (using exercises I've learned from the dvds) - today being so nice, I went for a run with some tabata intervals (I'm a crap runner though!).

As to eating - it's a matter of finding something that suits you that is sustainable. For me, 5:2 is suiting me well. Some people do well using MFP to count calories to match their TDEE (but if you do that be careful not to overestimate exercise, people quite often do).

Running is great exercise but unless you run a lot, it won't do much for weight loss. I find I need to run 50k per week before I can just literally scoff down whatever I want and not gain - and that actually takes about 5 hours. Also because I run on the trails my calorie burn would be higher so on roads or treadmill it might be nearer 60k per week to give you a complete carte Blanche.

Thanks everyone, I guess I am going to have to tackle the food issue then. I definitely can't imagine ever being able to run anywhere near 50-60k
I have done well with 5:2 before, so I think I will give that a go again and try to fit in some shred too.

There's nice support threads for 5:2 and shred if you want some company.

Realistically on a 5k run you are probably burning max 300 cals, so I'd not use it to run off a lot of food as weight loss really is so so so so so so so much more about food than excersie.
I read something recently on running, that said run for sanity, or enjoyment but not if you want a different body.

Running shifted the last of my baby weight, but that was with 5k about 4 days a week. Cycling worked with DS1 but was doing about 70 miles a week.

I actually gained 1stone in my first year of running. I didn't get any bigger (my clothes still fit) and I looked and felt way better, but definitely gained weight.

Running is fantastic, it has given me a completely new way of life, new friends and shown me I can achieve anything I put my mind to but it makes you hungry and to lose weight you have to eat less.....

Use my fitness pal or mynetdiary to track the calories you eat (and excercise off), weigh your food to ensure you count the calories correctly and carry on running.

For the past 7 weeks I have done 5:2, C25K and 30 day Shred and I lost 1lb...which I have now re-gained along with a couple of others having had a week or feeling ill and lying on the sofa eating rubbish. The positive (which is all that well get me back in my trainers and out of the door tomorrow) is that my bottom and saddle bags have disappeared well, shrunk.

'it makes you hungry' - if you want to do exercise which doesn't make you hungry (in fact can somewhat suppress it) then try shorter duration, more intense exercises - HIT type things for instance. If I exercise in the morning (shred, tabatas or weights) then I very rarely want breakfast afterwards - so there's calories saved right there and I've exercised.