5 Tips for Losing Weight Through Running

The majority of us have extra fat because we eat too much and our bodies can't burn all the "fuel" off. Food is our body's source of fuel and is what keeps us moving. Holding onto extra fat is a survival mechanism. In order to prevent and burn stored fat we need to cut down our eating to trick our bodies into using up this extra fat.

Aside from diet, exercise is important to burn extra calories. Running is one of the best activities to achieve this. Let's take a look at the top 5 tips for losing weight through running.

1. How much do you really need to eat?
Before you start running it is important to prepare our bodies for optimum weight loss. The first step in determining how much you need to eat is to determine your basal metabolic rate. Your BMR will tell you how many calories you need to burn while resting. This number is the key in only giving your body enough fuel to be healthy. Add in daily exercise from moving around and breathing to running and you will create a caloric deficit.

A caloric deficit is what happens when your body is burning more calories than you are feeding it. This causes your body to begin burning your stored fat reserves. To find your BMR and figure out how to create your caloric deficit, find an online calculator

2. Why choose running?
One of the best ways to lose weight is to begin participating in a fat-shedding activity. Running is an excellent exercise that works the entire body and many different muscles. It feeds your muscles oxygen and nutrients. Did you know that running 1 mile burns about 150 calories?
It has been found that 1 pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. If you run 3 miles 4 days a week you will burn 1,800 calories or half a pound of fat. This combined with eating the proper diet and number of calories will really burn off the extra fat.

3. Avoiding Common Mistakes
When you first begin running you will only be burning a smaller number of calories. You will probably be tired since your body isn't used to exercise as well. While you are acclimating to running it's important you equip yourself with knowledge to prevent making mistakes.

One of the biggest mistakes made involves food and drink items. Sticking with water and a healthy diet is key in losing weight. Treating yourself to candy or sugary drinks can easily undermine your results. For example, a candy bar or Gatorade might seem like a nice treat. However, each of these have right about 300 calories. This is the equivalent to two miles of running!

4. Don't Take Shortcuts
You may be tempted to take shortcuts in your diet and regimen. Keep in mind that the only thing you are doing is causing harm to your weight loss efforts. Don't fool yourself into thinking that pushing your body while running is a shortcut. You will injure yourself and be in pain. Pain means no running and thus, no weight loss. Also, don't be tempted to try and speed up your efforts by cutting down your food intake.

Always eat based on your BMR and don't skip on food. Your body is working hard from running and needs the nutrition and energy. Not eating enough isn't going to speed up your weight loss, but rather cause illness, exhaustion, and affect your brain.

5. Tortoise and the Hare
Exercise is hard work but is very rewarding. You may lose patience at first if you don't see results, but have no fear. Working slow and steady is what will get you the results you want to see. You may be tempted to exert yourself through running and overdo it. This will be detrimental to your exercise regimen. It is easy to injure yourself and this will only hamper your efforts. Try out a running program for beginners or workout with a buddy. Stop running when you hit your goal.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dean_Armstrong

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