The Ultimate Guide to Running for Weight Loss

If you want to know the secrets of running to lose weight, you want to read this article.

Imagine, for a second, that you could be in the best shape of your life by eating all the right foods.

You know…

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Lean meats
• Nuts
• Whole grains

What a groundbreaking discovery! Eat all you want (as long as it’s the right foods) and be thin!

Unfortunately, this is only possible in your dreams.

The truth is that no foods or supplements can guarantee fat loss.

Sure, don’t get me wrong – there are definitely some foods that are more conducive to fat loss than others, but that’s not the same as “eating your way thin.”

The reality is that weight loss comes down to one simple equation: calories in vs. calories out.

Everyone and their mother might be talking about the latest fad diets, but this doesn’t change the truth of the matter. Diet can only take you so far. You have to exercise to lose weight and get the body you want.

And that brings us to the topic of this article: running for weight loss.

As you can probably tell, I’m going to do my best to sell you on the idea that running is the best exercise for weight loss. It’s tempting to go straight into routines. However, the problem with jumping to routines is that it doesn’t provide any knowledge about running and fat loss.

The more you know about running, the better you can maximize calorie burn and turn your body into a fat burning machine.

Here’s what I’m going to show you:

• Why running is the best exercise to burn calories and fat.
• Calories burned during exercise are what matter most.
• Why dieting isn’t enough to burn stubborn belly fat.
• The three most effective workouts to burn fat directly.
• How to maximize fat loss when running.
• How to get started and burn fat running today.

What You Need to Know About Running for Weight Loss

If you want to lose weight, then you need to find a way to burn more calories than you take in! Running is a great way, if not the best way, to burn calories. There’s a reason running is one of the first things that pops to mind when you think of weight loss.

There are a lot of theories floating out there about how to best run to burn fat.

Some people think you should to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to burn fat off like crazy.

There are others who think that steady state cardio is the way to go.

Others still say you don’t have to do cardio at all and should focus on weightlifting at the gym instead.

Well, I’ve personally tried just about every piece of fitness advice out there, and my experience is that a combination of the above seems to work best.

The best way to lose weight running is through a combination of steady-state cardio, HIIT workouts (intervals and sprints) and strategic cross training.

Here’s what you need to know.

3,500 calories are in a pound.

That’s the magic number you need to memorize. If you can get your body to burn 3,500 calories through diet and exercise, you will be 1 pound lighter. Rinse and repeat to lose even more weight.

Let’s say you cut back 500 calories per day. In one week (7 days x 500 calories), you will lose a pound of fat without any exercise!

But here’s the catch.

There are only so many calories you can eliminate from your diet without starving yourself. After all, your body needs energy to operate. The minimum net recommended caloric intake per day for women is 1,200 calories and 1,800 calories for men. If you eat any less than this, your body will go into starvation mode.

It might sound doable to diet at these levels, but wait until you try. Eating at these caloric baselines feels like you’re eating to survive. There isn’t much room for splurging or cheat days.

This is why exercise is so important. Losing weight through diet alone is difficult and it’s not fun. At all.

Running allows you to eat a little more than these baselines and still lose weight because you’re still creating a calorie deficit. Just make sure you’re keeping an eye on your diet.

For example, instead of cutting back 500 calories a day, you could cut back only 200 calories a day, then go for a 30 minute run. This would burn about 300 calories. Combined, you would still be down 500 calories without having to be so strict on your diet.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather go for a daily run so I could eat a little more food and still end up burning fat!

Running vs. Weight Lifting for Fat Loss

Nearly every day, it seems like there’s a new sensational headline that “proves” one way of training is better for fat loss than another. The war between weight lifting and cardio is nothing new.

The reality is that you need both to achieve the body you want.

Running is going to help you burn the most fat the fastest. There’s a reason running is a staple for fat loss – because it works! Depending on your pace, you can burn anywhere between 8.5 to 13 calories per minute of running.

However, weight training is going to give you the tone and lean muscle definition that you want.

Lifting weights in the gym will help you build more muscle, which of course will help you burn more calories. Plus, weight training strengthens your body overall. This is excellent for injury prevention and making sure you get the most out of running for weight loss.

In short, while you want to focus on running to blast through fat, don’t overlook the importance of weight lifting. The two types of exercise work hand in hand, not against each other, to give you the body you want.

The Big Secret: How to Lose Weight Running

The key to burning belly fat is to combine your calorie deficit with a running program that keeps your metabolic fire burning. The best way to do this is to combine the three different kinds of workouts I mentioned above…

1. Build a base with steady state cardio.
2. Blast stubborn belly fat with HIIT (sprints and intervals).
3. Super-charge your metabolism (and fine tune your body) with weightlifting.

That might sound like a lot, but don’t worry. This isn’t The Biggest Loser. I’m not going to bombard you with a 2-hour workout. You can lose weight in as little as 30 minutes a day. So let’s get started…

1. Build a base with steady state cardio.

When you start running to lose weight, it’s important to take things slowly. If you’ve never exercised before, it’s important to give your body a chance to adapt. This helps prevent burnout and injury.

Plus, setting realistic goals from the get-go will give you workouts that you actually look forward to.

“Building a base” refers to establishing a base level of fitness for your body. You wouldn’t build a house without a strong foundation, right? A “base” is the foundation for your running so you can run stronger and burn more calories.

If you’ve never used a running program before or have been sedentary for a long period of time, begin with 30-minutes of walking, 4 days a week. Be sure to push yourself while walking.

For someone who has never done any running before, walking let’s your body get used to the impact of your joints as your body adjusts to brisk leg turnover.

After your second or third week of walking, begin running in intervals. See if you can alternate between 1 minute of running and 2 minutes of walking.

Again, stick to the routine of 30-minute workouts, 4 days a week.

The following week, see if you can close the gap by 30 seconds in either direction. In other words, see if you can alternate between 1.5 minutes of running and 1.5 minutes of walking.

TIP: Don’t rush. Pushing too hard leads to injuries and discouragement. It’s perfectly ok to take things slow. You’re not trying to break a time record – you’re trying to build a solid fitness base.

The goal is to gradually increase the running interval until you can keep running at an easy or moderate pace for 20-30 minutes.

Intervals you might want to try include:

• Run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute
• Run 3 minutes, walk 1 minute
• Run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute
• Run 6 minutes, walk 1 minute
• Etc.

When you get to the point where you can run 20-30 minutes without stopping, congratulations! If you’ve been watching your diet, you’ll have lost quite a few pounds by this point.

Now, it’s time to begin turbo-charging your fat loss.

2. Blast stubborn belly fat with HIIT (sprints and intervals).

After you’ve built a steady running base, it’s time to get into high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Without getting too technical, HIIT increases speed, blasts through suborn belly fat and encourages your body to burn calories the rest of the day, even hours after the workout has ended.

In other words, HIIT training is the key to speed, power, endurance and increased metabolic rate. Who doesn’t want to increase their metabolism?

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not skip to this phase without establishing a base through steady state cardio. HIIT is riskier than running steadily. Building a base will condition your body to handle workouts of this intensity. Also be sure to warm-up and cool-down for each HIIT session.

One of my favorite HIIT workouts is hill training. This increases leg power while torching through stubborn belly fat.

Find a hill that has a gradient of four to eight percent. A hill that is too steep is taxing on the calves and Achilles tendons, so it’s better to use a hill with a “slight” or “medium” incline.

To do this workout, sprint up the hill for 20-30 seconds at 90 percent capacity. You never want to run at 100 percent, as this increases likelihood of injury and exhausts you from being able to complete the workout.

In-between sprints, walk back down to the bottom of the hill so you can prepare for your next sprint. In general, you want to rest for 1 to 1.5 minutes for every 10-25 seconds of sprinting.

The rest period between sprints is what makes HIIT effective, so don’t feel bad about resting between intervals.

Here’s why sprinting intervals are so great:

• During rest periods, your heartbeat slows down faster than your blood is flowing. Your heart adapts by pumping more blood per beat. This improves your cardiovascular health by improving the stroke volume of your heart.
• Sprinting releases your natural human growth hormone (HGH). HGH is the best way to fight cortisol, which is a hormone that causes fat gain and muscle breakdown as you age. HIIT increases HGH, which keeps your body younger and healthier.
• Because HIIT is so intense compared to regular cardio training, your body must tap into fat stores for energy. Furthermore, even hours after your workout, your body will be spending more energy (calories) to recover and strengthen from the intense sprinting workout.

You don’t have to always do HIIT workouts on a hill. That’s just my personal favorite.

HIIT workouts can be done on a flat surface, on a track and even on a treadmill.

Limit yourself to one HIIT workout per week. This will give your body enough time to recover and prepare for the next intense workout. Don’t push it if your body is telling you its fatigued or needs a little extra time to recover.

3. Super-charge your metabolism (and fine tune your body) with weightlifting.

You’ve probably heard that lifting weights makes you bulky, especially women. Maybe you’ve heard that if you stop lifting, all the muscle you gained will turn to fat.

Or maybe you’re like me – five years ago I was terrified to step into a gym. Nothing was more intimidating than all those meatheads and bros. Does that sound familiar?

But … if you’re not seeing the results you want, it may be time to put that fear and uncertainty aside. While running should be the cornerstone of your fat loss routine, lifting weights will give you a stronger and healthier body.

The benefits of lifting weights include:

• More effective fat loss
• More muscle, which means more calories burnt throughout the day
• Body definition and toning
• Increased energy and stamina
• Improved heart health
• Stronger bones
• Injury prevention for running

If you’ve never worked out before, I would recommend focusing on the running component of this weight loss plan first. Give your body time to adapt to the physical stress of exercise before hitting the gym.

This also prevents burnout from doing too much, too soon.

However, when you feel confident that you can stick to a consistent workout routine, begin incorporating weightlifting into your regimen. You’ll be amazed at the fine-tuning (and toning) lifting weights will do to your body.

What’s your take on running for weight loss? Have anything else to share? Let me know in the comments below!