Is Running Good For Weight Loss?

A very common question that many people ask, is running good for weight loss? Die hard fans of running will defend it to the hilt, and shake their fist in the air when someone disagrees. While others will say that you do not need to run to lose weight.

So, lets take an unbiased look at running and see if it is good for weight loss.

To start of, take a step back and ask yourself what running actually is; it is basically putting one foot in front of the other, as a form of exercise. That is it, nothing more nothing less.

With that simple analogy out of the way, it is important to know what the purpose of running is for. In this case it is to lose weight, therefore you would go running to burn extra calories and lose weight, right?

Now the next part is something that many people ignore, but it is crucial to running being good for weight loss.

To lose weight you must be burning more calories than you are eating and drinking.

That last line is the most important sentence of this article, and the most important aspect of any weight loss plan. You cannot ignore the natural law of weight loss and it all comes down to calories in versus calories out.

So why am I telling you this? You just want to know if running is good for weight loss, right?

Well, the calories rule is paramount when it comes to running being effective to lose weight: Is running good for weight loss? Yes, but only if you are burning more calories through running, than you are eating and drinking.

This has been a long winded answer about running for weight loss, but it is crucial to understand and is one factor that many people ignore.

How Many Calories Does Running Burn?

Okay, so hopefully you understand the theory of running for weight loss now. The next question you may ask, is how effective is it? Therefore I will put some figures below, to give you an idea of how many calories running burns.

The figures are based on 30 minutes of running; at a running pace of 10 minutes per mile; the bodyweight figures are shown on the left:

Weight - Calories burnt (30 minutes running)

110 lb - 249 150 lb - 339 200 lb - 600

If those calories numbers do not mean much to you, you may be interested to know that the recommended calorie levels for women, is 2000 per day, and 2500 per day for men.

Bear in mind that it is very easy to go over those amounts, especially with some junk foods. Start looking at the calorie content on your food packaging and you will appreciate this.

Hopefully now you can understand that it is not all just about one particular action, when trying to lose weight.

Is running good for weight loss? It can be, but only if you are eating right to make it effective.

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