How long did it take to see change in your body from running? (Overweight) (Read 539 times)

My experience: I lost *some* weight when I started running. I lost *more* weight when I ramped up my mileage and speed. I lost *lots more* weight when I stopped eating crap.

I am a 6'0" 30-something overweight guy who was really fast in high school, but even when I was fast I was always the heaviest, biggest fast guy ("big boned" we called it, and really big, strong quads).

But then I went to college, drank beer, ate crap, and gained weight.

Nearly 20 years after my glory days I got up to 240. So, I started running, and lost some weight. Did that for a year or two. Ran a marathon, got down to the 215-range. Pulled back on the miles, got injured, stopped running, and gained it all back.

But, when I started doing Weight Watchers, the changes were more dramatic. Weight Watchers is more complicated than "calories in, calories out," since some calories (fruits, veggies, lean meats) are better than others (Cheez-Its, Doritos, cheesesteaks, 14" pizza with "the works"). With Weight Watchers I brought down my consumption, particularly of crap, but also earned "Activity Points" for running at a certain pace, and for other activities (cycling, mowing the lawn, etc.). I rarely "cash in" all of my Activity Points for more food, and I am back in the sub-220 range after only 5 weeks by watching my food intake and ramping up my time running. I have a goal of getting below 200 lbs. On top of this, I will be building some upper body muscle (I am joining the National Guard, need to be able to do 38 sit-ups, 34 push-ups, minimum, in two minutes). I still have a ways to go on all of these goals.

So, there you go. Running is fine to help you lose weight. But when you eat less (particularly crap), you'll lose a lot more. I heartily recommend Weight Watchers, and it is the only weight loss plan any of the doctors I've had over the years have recommended.

From running?

Well, 14  years from 2000-3500 miles a year... I'll let you know when it does.

(Though I have been running all my adult life, and I've gotten fatter since being injured in part because it's an appetite suppressing thing for me and other exercise increases my appetite.. so I can't say it's done nothing,  and when I got the oxygen uptake test I was told I burn far less than average for my size running, even considering I burn less than average sitting still by the test)