Lose fat with just running? (Read 264 times)

lots of good stuff here already but just adding to it by my own experience.   few years back I became very unhappy with how I felt & looked after being very active most of my life so decided to change that.  Original motivation came after my youngest daughter after seeing a picture of me from our first Hawaii trip, made a comment  about how "fat" I looked.  very blunt & honest comment.  You know how kids are without knowing  when they are very young.   I started very slowly without really having any real specific goals to get back to what I have always loved.  running & strength training. I had a good background/history in both so pretty much knew what to do, just had to make the time & do it!  As I progressed & became more consistent, after a few months, started to work on more specific goals regarding weight/workouts.

at beginning I started to look for small diet changes & not major overhaul:  cut out late night sugary foods/snacks,  mustard vs mayo on sandwiches,  drink more water vs sodas/shakes (especially when eating out. saves money too!) ,  Starbucks less frequently  eliminating whipped cream & switched to nonfat. small changes.

running (first love): started run /walk 1/2 mile 2-3x/week.  eventually 5-6x/week & eventually started to run 5ks,  10ks, hm's, full marathons.

strength training: 2x/week easy full body w/o's  to 3-4x/week split wo's.  small changes with slow progressive overloading.

at some point started to keep  log tracking calories & more importantly fats, carbs, protein.  Must be honest, don't cheat yourself! after about 2 1/2-3 years I was 45-50 lbs lighter,  strength training 3-4x/wk, & running up to 40-50 miles weekly (depending on if I was training for any specific race/distance).  10 years later gained a few lbs back but still only about 5lbs over high school weight, 25 or so miles/week  100+ miles/month.  not making it to gym as often as I want/should but rock climbing has been a good fun alternative.

tips for you:   1  most important is to change your mindset to looking at your fitness/weight as a new lifestyle.  being consistent & making small changes/progressions will allow you to do this.

2.  have fun with it!  do active things that you enjoy, try new things.   hiking, kayaking, cycling, indoor/outdoor rock climbing/bouldering, Zumba, yoga.etc.  if you have kids involve them.

3. ok to be competitive if you are that type of person but  don't compare yourself to others.

4. look into couch to 5k running plans. you don't have to run a 5k (although you will probably have fun with it).  But you can use it as a guide to get yourself started & accountable,  remember that time on feet is more important than distance/pace.  at least at the beginning.

5 keep a food log.  don't be married to it or be so obsessive that it adds stress.  do be honest

6.dont weigh yourself more than 1x/week & do it at same time under same conditions. ex. Monday am after waking up & using bathroom & before eating or drinking anything.  don't stress, remember you are looking at this as a lifetime lifestyle change & not a quick fix.

7.make sure you incorporate weight training!  very important for number of reasons.  you can find enormous amount of information (misinformation too!)  on the internet & there are hundreds of ways to go about it.  you don't necessarily need a personal trainer but consider one. they can help you navigative all the information out there & help you with proper technique. doing it correctly is more important than how much weight you use !

8. stay away from "exaggerated diets"  sometimes a nutritionist is helpful but not always needed.   a good personal trainer can help you with this as well.

9. 2nd most important thing.  make it fun!!

I know this is a long winded post but I called in sick to work today & had lots of extra time. sorry    ha ha

-

I started my journey about 15 years ago when I weighed 240 pounds. I had a desk job with little physical activity and there just came a point where I knew I had to change how I lived my life or else I would not have a life as long as I wanted.

Like others have noted, I first went to the gym and started in on a fitness program that included both cardio and strength training.  You need to do both as, in general terms, cardio burns the fat and strength training helps replace the fat with muscle.

Then I changed my diet, though it was not drastic changes. On my way to the office each morning, I'd stop and get a doughnut or other bakery item. I stopped buying that. Then I looked at my lunch that I'd bring to work almost every day and saw that I almost always had store-bought cookies. I replaced the cookies with fresh fruit. These two changes alone probably reduced my weekly calorie intake by 800 calories per day X 4 or 5 days a week = 3,200-2,400 calories per week. Little changes can make a big difference.

It took nearly a year but I stayed with these changes and saw my weight drop from 240 to about 180. As I continued with this way of life, the amount of weight loss slowed up so that now I'm in the 160-165 range.

Since then I've been running on a regular basis and still go to the same gym, usually 2 times (or more) per week. I've completed 7 marathons, about 24 half marathons, and I don't know how many 10Ks and 5Ks. My blood pressure is slightly elevated and I take a medication for that, but other than the BP issue, I take no other medications. I'm now 69 years old now. How many 69-yar-olds do you know who run marathons and take only one medication per day?

If there is one word of advice I could give you is that when you change your life, the first 2 or 3 weeks is the hardest part. By that I mean when the New Year begins, you will see the gym flooded with new members. They will all be very enthusiastic about being a member and will work out the prescribed days per week. By the second week, many of them will be working one less day a week. By the third week, many will be working out one day a week. By the fourth week, many will be gone, never to be return.

The moral of this is stay with the plan. The first few weeks will be hard. If you keep working out and staying with the changes to your diet, there's a very good chance you will change how you live your life. And these changes will pay huge benefits down the road. Don't give up or give yourself "a day off" in the first couple of weeks. Change will be slow, but it will come.

Trust me. Been there. Done that. And it worked out.

oops did not mean to quote that whole response.  tried to delete but did not delete.

anyway, daily fluctuations are the exact reason I recommended NOT to weigh yourself everyday.  Too many people get too obsessed & stressed over it.  also I said to weigh yourself under as close to the same time, same conditions as possible each time.   weigh everyday ? 1x/week ?   biweekly?  Either way you will see patterns & hopefully progress towards your goal over the next few weeks & months. Over time how you fit into your clothes will be a good clue as well.  Being consistent most days of the week/months/ years & realizing that you are making long term lifestyle choices is whats important.

oops did not mean to quote that whole response.  tried to delete but did not delete.

 

anyway, daily fluctuations are the exact reason I recommended NOT to weigh yourself everyday.  Too many people get too obsessed & stressed over it.  also I said to weigh yourself under as close to the same time, same conditions as possible each time.   weigh everyday ? 1x/week ?   biweekly?  Either way you will see patterns & hopefully progress towards your goal over the next few weeks & months. Over time how you fit into your clothes will be a good clue as well.  Being consistent most days of the week/months/ years & realizing that you are making long term lifestyle choices is whats important.

Check out this story. It has a link to a spreadsheet that calculates your 10 day weight trend.

I've already lost 4 lbs. My method assumes very fast results so I'm happy! When I manage to dump more and confirm its efficacy I will describe it here for you.

greetings

Call me a Grinch or Scrooge, but I feel like the OP is setting us up for some Christmas Ham...

Call me a Grinch or Scrooge, but I feel like the OP is setting us up for some Christmas Spam...

S/he just edited the first post to add a link to an e-book describing the successful method.     Anybody want to click on it for us?

Although I'm sure the OP is a spammer, I thought the follow-up posts from everyone else were great.  It's a good topic for discussion.

Fork put-downs are the most effective weight loss system known to mankind. Everything else is a sales job.