| Just because you're using the excellent calorie burning | | | | much better progress than you first thought. |
| activity of running to lose weight doesn't guarantee | | | | 2. Eating more |
| that you'll be successful. | | | | When using running to lose weight it's easy to |
| Yes it provides you with a great chance of success | | | | consume more food without even realising in order to |
| when following the right running methods, but there are | | | | provide your body with more energy. |
| also various reasons why you may be struggling and | | | | By doing this you can end up cancelling out all your |
| finding it harder to lose weight than you should be. | | | | running efforts by consuming just as many calories as |
| Take a look at the three reasons below and you're | | | | you burn. This obviously becomes very frustrating |
| likely to see why you're using running for weight loss | | | | when you lose little or no weight and have no idea |
| yet still finding it difficult to lose weight. | | | | why. |
| 1. Losing fat but gaining muscle | | | | Keeping a food diary can help to monitor what you |
| When first using running to lose weight you may gain a | | | | consume and by comparing the diary from week to |
| small amount of muscle mass because your muscles | | | | week you can ensure that your calorie intake isn't |
| are not accustomed to running and therefore grow | | | | increasing and that your weight loss is staying on track. |
| due to being challenged. | | | | Another problem that some people have is consciously |
| The weight of this increased muscle is usually | | | | consuming more food. So you may complete a run |
| cancelled out by losing weight from fat which means | | | | and then feel that it won't do any harm to reward |
| that overall your weight doesn't change and it can be | | | | yourself with extra food or a treat. |
| difficult to understand why. | | | | Again by doing this you're cancelling out some or all of |
| When this happens your body fat percentage will | | | | your running efforts and making it harder to lose |
| have reduced which shows that you're still making | | | | weight. |
| excellent progress even though your weight hasn't | | | | 3. Running stopped improving |
| changed yet. | | | | Very often people start running to lose weight and |
| This is why it can be very useful to measure your | | | | their fitness improves very quickly. They become |
| body fat percentage and determine the exact | | | | better and better at running and because of this their |
| changes that are happening to your body. | | | | calorie burning ability keeps increasing and they keep |
| Don't worry about building too much muscle because | | | | losing weight. |
| running is an activity that makes you look fit and toned | | | | Then they reach a point where their running progress |
| rather than bulky. Your muscles will not keep growing. | | | | plateaus. Suddenly they are no longer improving and |
| They may grow slightly when you first start running | | | | therefore their ability to burn calories stays the same. |
| but from then on your body will be burning fat while | | | | As they keep losing weight their metabolism |
| trying to maintain its muscle. | | | | decreases which means they burn fewer calories |
| To measure your progress it's also important to | | | | each day until eventually their weight loss plateaus. |
| understand that muscle is more dense than fat which | | | | This is why an important part of running for weight loss |
| means that it takes up less space on your body for | | | | is to keep improving your running ability which keeps |
| the same weight. | | | | improving your ability to burn calories. |
| So if you're not losing any weight you could also | | | | Eventually you can reach the stage where weight loss |
| consider taking some body measurements such as | | | | becomes fairly easy because you're able to complete |
| your waist and hip sizes, or see if your clothes are | | | | more advanced running methods and burn loads of |
| becoming looser. You may find that you're making | | | | calories in the process. |