Weight Loss from running

shels4ever

Hi All,
Been in training for about 5 months now, to start i would have though i would have needed to lose close to 3 stone to get back to a good level .

So far i'm about 1 stone lighter, But i've noticed that most of the weight loss has been from my legs and arms. I've lost a good bit from my calfs .

I was hoping to lose more from my core without going on a diet , IU've been eating well for the last 3 months to help my training, but seems i may have to do something to get rid of my belly... So I also diet or will that come in time or just up the circut training and situp etc?

xebec

Unfortunately there's no way to spot-reduce fat, you'll lose it all over and very often the stomach seems to be the last area to go. There's been loads of threads on this topic over on the fitness forum, take a look for some of them.

As for diet, if your aim is to lose 3 stone then what you eat is more important than the amount of training you do. With training for running, you are going to have to eat plenty of food, but it's all about eating the right stuff. If you want some more detail, start a thread over in fitness outlining your diet and your training and you'll get some very good feedback and ideas of what the best moves would be to reduce the weight without affecting your training.

Woddle

I agree with xebec, I am in a similar position to you, but the good news is when the fat falls off from your legs, arm and face, all thats left is the belly, hopefully:D, I've introduced weights that work the core a little, to hopefully speed up the program and I'm going to replace my dinner with a protein shake for a couple of weeks, see if it makes a difference, best of luck.

shels4ever

Thanks for the info , i'll have a look into it , will keep a diary of what i eat and see how it goes, its not quick loss that i'm after more of a long term thing, i'd rather not lose lots of weight and end up with a belly .. But feeling good at the momemnt and down form 10 min mile to 7.30 min miles so something is going right .

copacetic

just a note that I found after running on and off for years that getting back into running doesn't help me shift much weight. However adding a bit of cycling and swimming or something else your body isn't used to or expecting can kick start quicker changes.

sobriquet

Like woddle I'm in the same boat, still got a spare tire to shift despite everything else tightening up. It's irritating but I'm hoping getting the miles in and watching the diet will get most the rest of the way. I'm also thinking of starting a weights routine to complement it.

shels4ever wrote: »

down form 10 min mile to 7.30 min miles

That's fantastic, fair play to you.

shels4ever

Thanks , the hard part is doing 5 of them in a row, at the moment i'm getting to about 3 miles. But just need more miles in the legs and a bit more speed work... feeling good about a sub 35 , 5 mile this year or early next year

dna_leri

I started back running last Sept after a long layoff (decades) and found I lost no weight for 3 months. Maybe I replaced some fat with muscle but no net loss.
However in the first 3 months of 2008, I increased average mileage to 20+ and lost about 7 kilos and about 2 inches off my waist. Since then its been slower but steady.
Obviously everyone's different, but in the long term, running does work.

High&Low

OP - the reason that you appear to have lost weight from your legs and arms is the running has tonned them up - you will need to do some tonning work on your belly to notice the difference there. As others have said, there is loads of advice on the fitness forum.

shels4ever

cheers i've gone through a few threads and have come up with some sort of program now.

Krusty_Clown

Have you considered slowing down and running for longer/further?
Losing weight is all about your calorie intake versus the calorie output (exercise). Perhaps if you slow down, you may be able to exercise for longer, thereby increasing your calorific output. Do you use a heart-rate monitor? My long run every weekend seems to be the one that has the highest calorie burn, despite slowing down.

shels4ever

Yes i've slowed down my long run , so at the moment i'm doing 1 long slw run ever week, this is upto about 8 miles , but i'd hope to have this upto 10 miles by the end of the month.

I've been doing a good mix of training but the weekly mileage is at about 25 now, I aim to have that in the mid 30's next month.

Max i'll do this year will be a half marathon as i'd rather focus on faster short runs but the stamina of a 13 mile would help.. I have amonitor but don't usually wear it, usually just going on the auld saying on a run, if you can talk your not running hard enough..