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How To Lose
Weight With Running
Running is an excellent way to lose weight.
Whether you have to lose a significant amount of
weight or are simply try to
lose a few vanity founds, you are likely to find
running is an excellent
exercise option to help you achieve your ideal
weight. For those who are looking
to start running in an effort to help them shed
excess weight, this article will
provide a great deal of useful information to help
these individuals realize the
benefits of running to improve health. They will not
only find themselves on the
path to reaching their ideal weight but they will
also find they obtain other
health benefits such as improved cardiovascular
health in addition to the weight
loss.
Individuals who wish to utilize a running program to
help them lose weight
should begin their program by consulting with their
doctor. This is important
before starting any exercise program because the
doctor can examine you
carefully to determine whether or not you are
healthy enough to start running on
a regular basis. Once you obtain a doctor’s approval
to begin an exercise and
weight loss program, you may have to start your
program gradually. In some cases
this may even mean starting out by walking for a
short period of time. This will
help the individual to improve his cardiovascular
health and once he becomes
stronger and his health improves, it may be time to
start jogging and then
progress to running.
Runners of all athletic abilities should start out
their running program
gradually in an effort to lose weight. This will
help to ensure the runner is
not overtaxing his body. Some people might be
disappointed to hear this because
they may want to start sprinting immediately
believing this is the best way to
lose weight. However, by starting out gradually the
individual is actually
making the program safer, healthier and even more
effective. By starting out a
program of losing weight by running gradually, the
individual leaves a great
deal of room for him to modify his running program
and intensify the workouts as
necessary when the weight loss begins to stagnate.
The process of changing a workout routine regularly
is a very important one to
the weight loss process; however, it is also a
process which many weight loss
enthusiasts fail to fully understand. This is
important because those who do not
understand the need to modify a running program
regularly are often likely to
find themselves in a position where they are unable
to achieve their weight loss
goals because their running is no longer producing
the desired results for them.
The simple explanation to this problem is the body
readily adapts to new
situations and may quickly become accustomed to a
running program. When this
happens the body becomes more efficient and requires
fewer calories to do the
same amount of work. The unfortunate side effect of
this increased efficiency is
the person stops losing weight at the same pace.
For example consider a person who needs to lose 50
pounds and starts running
three miles per day at a pace of five miles per
hour. This person may quickly
lose ten pounds with this type of exercise regimen
but may find after a few
weeks the weight loss slows down and they may even
reach a point where the
weight loss plateaus. One way to avoid this problem
is to vary the distance,
length or intensity of the running. This may be
accomplished by increasing the
running from three miles to four miles, running for
a longer amount of time each
day or running at a faster pace. Making one of these
changes, or ideally
incorporating all three changes into the routine,
can help to keep the muscles
challenged. As a result the body will not become
more efficient and begin
burning fewer calories to complete the daily
running.
In addition to continually challenging themselves,
those who wish to lose weight
by running should also consider making changes to
their diet in addition to
running regularly. This is important because a
weight loss regimen which
incorporates both dietary changes as well as
increased activity levels is much
more likely to be successful than attempting to lose
weight by only cutting
calories or only exercising more. A runner should
consider consuming a diet
which is approximately 40% carbohydrates, 30%
protein and 30% fat. In addition
to following this combination, the runner should
also ensure the carbohydrates
are coming primarily from whole grains, the proteins
are consumed from lean
protein sources and the fats include mostly
unsaturated fats. This type of diet
might seem harmful to the waistline to those who
have come to believe low
carbohydrate diets are the most effective for weight
loss. However, runners do
not do well with these types of diets because
running is such an intensive
activity which requires a great deal of energy. If
the individual does not feed
the body a carbohydrate rich diet, sticking to a
running program can be very
difficult because the person will lack the energy
necessary to run on a regular
basis.
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