Cardio vs Weights
Running is great for all sorts of reasons - cardiovascular health, maintaining your sanity (if that's your thing) and for maintaining weight you've lost. It's NOT good as a method for losing weight, however.
It makes sense in theory - weight loss is caused by an energy (calorie) deficit, and running can burn a lot of calories!! But in application, it's actually not an effective strategy for most people. Here's why:
The calorie burn you get from, say, 30 minutes of cardio/ roughly a 3-mile jog averages around 300 calories (depending on your weight, fitness level & efficiency) - seems like a lot in the moment. But there's only so much running you can do in a week, and in the grand scheme of things, you're not burning that many calories overall.
Jogging 3 miles 3 times per week might net you a 900 calorie deficit⦠which only results in a 0.26 lb weight loss (there's 3500 calories in a lb of body fat). Even if you ramped it up to burn more calories, in the grand scheme of things, it's just not a great way to achieve weight loss!
Additionally, your body also acclimates to running as you get more fit, so you need to keep pushing harder and running longer to achieve the same calorie burn. And for some runners (myself included), we have a genetic response that revs up our appetites as the mileage increases⦠making it all too easy to undo that calorie burn with a post-run smoothie, for example.
Don't get me wrong - I think running is great! And it can absolutely play a role as part of a healthy and successful weight loss strategy - just not as the sole method of creating that weight loss.
If you're serious about losing weight for good and want to look FIT in the process, your top strategies should be:
- Lifting weights on the regular
- Eating plenty of protein, and
- Creating a calorie deficit through your diet
Add running to that list if you'd like, just don't skip the other stuff. Keep pushing hard and fighting for your health - it's all worth it!
If your goal is to get leaner and build sexy curves, I can help with that structured plan. Oh, and you won't have to give up cake either or carbs or any food you don't want to give up. Learn more about my 12 Weeks to Fitness group coaching program here.