If you want to lose weight as part of your running plan, don't just dramatically reduce your calorie intake and start running relentlessly! If you do, you'll burn out fast and won't manage to lose weight successfully over time and keep the weight off. Here are four important tips to make sure your running for weight loss plan is a success.
Running to lose weight? Join our Running for Weight Loss Challenge.
NOT EATING BREAKFAST
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for dieters. Not eating breakfast can increase your body’s insulin response, which increases fat storage. And going without is also known to lead to cravings for high-calorie snacks. In 2009 researchers at Imperial College London used an MRI brain scan to see how a group of non-breakfast eating subjects responded to images of high calorie foods. The scan showed that when they didn’t eat breakfast their brain responses changed and their eyes lit up at the sight of pizzas and fatty foods.
Try this great Breakfast for Runners: Oatmeal Pancake Recipe.
EATING BREAKFAST!
A University of Birmingham study of 14 cyclists in April 2010 found that when half the group fasted before a high intensity session they burned a higher proportion of fat to carbohydrates (but their performance wasn’t quite as good as the seven who did eat). Many elite runners follow the pattern of get up early, run, eat so that they will become more efficient at burning fat. However, if you suffer from dizziness and other symptoms of low blood sugar, a pre run energy drink will help, rather than hinder.
Why not try one of these Three Scrumptious Smoothies for Runners.
EATING TOO LITTLE AND LOSING TOO MUCH
Don’t eat enough and your body will go into survival mode and store the extra fat, as well as eating into your lean muscle mass. You should aim to lose between 1 and 2lb a week. One pound of fat contains 3,500 calories. So to lose a pound a week, you need to burn 500 more calories than you eat each day. As a 155lb person running at a fairly steady nine-minute mile pace you’ll burn 774 calories in an hour. And, according to a Yale University School of Medicine study, people who run for at least four hours a week melt more calories than non-runners, even when they’re not running. So you do need to eat to make up for this with a good healthy diet with the government recommended basic calorie rate of around 2,000 for women and 2,500 for women (but note to be very precise, last year there was a change for the first time in 20 years: 1,940 to 2,079 for a woman; 2,550 to 2,605 for a man).
For more information on calories, have a look at our Calculate Your Calorie Needs article.
NOT TIMING IT RIGHT
Similarly, don’t use exercise as an excuse to over eat, or eat junk food. Sports nutritionist for the London Irish rugby team, Laurent Bannock (www.GuruPerformance.com) says that the key thing to get right when you diet and exercise is to know when to eat. “Consider the first hour to two hours before and after exercise is the time to consume your energy-rich food. At other times of the day eat protein, fruit and veg. If you are consuming a fuel that isn’t going to be used so it will be stored. It’s like a fire. If you walk into the living room in the middle of the day, when the fire is out, and add a log, it will just stack up. If the fires burning – logs will burn properly and for longer. If you consume most of your calories (especially carbs) after exercise the fat loss effect is better.”