Can You Lose Weight By Running?

Weight loss is the common reason people run, but scientifically, is it true that running works? If so, how often should you run to most efficiently lose weight by running?

I received tips over the years, but information has been spread out and non-conclusive. I decided to research this topic, consolidate my findings, and give my best shot at answering this question.

Yes. Losing weight by running is possible, even without changes to other aspects of life. Running is an effective way of increasing calorie expenditure to create a calorie deficit.

I’ll explain the latest science on weight loss, analyse the effects of running to achieve weight loss, discuss the types of running you should do for a healthy weight loss, and tips for you to start running if you are overweight.

I’ll even include how a weekly program for weight loss by running should look like.

I hope you find this information useful and will inspire you to start your weight loss journey.

This is intended for informational purposes only. I have researched extensively and fact-checked the best I could. However, I am not a doctor and this is not professional medical advice.

First, Are You Overweight?

Body Mass Index (BMI) is the common approach to determine whether you are overweight. While this is for reference only, many studies do base their research off the BMI categories to determine whether a certain group has a higher risk of a certain disease.

You can find out your Body Mass Index here.

This is your BMI category:

Below 18.5          Underweight
18.5 – 24.9           Normal
25.0-29.9             Overweight
30.0 and Above Obese

Basic Science on Weight Loss

Think of our body as a machine and calorie as its energy unit of energy. When we give energy to the machine, the machine transforms the energy to create its output. If there is excess energy, the energy is stored in the machine.

The basic idea of how our weight changes is the difference between our body’s calorie intake and calorie expenditure. The difference causes our weight to go up or down.

We have calorie intake from eating and drinking.

We have calorie expenditure when our body carries out our daily activities, such as breathing during sleep and moving our legs during a marathon.

If our calorie intake is higher than our calorie expenditure, we gain weight. (Caloric Surplus)

If our calorie intake is lower than our calorie expenditure, we lose weight. (Caloric Deficit)

We do not have easy access to devices that can track each calorie that goes in and out of our body, but here are some numbers from studies for reference. There are many variables that may affect the numbers so don’t treat this as perfectly precise.

Calorie Intake

You can use Google or WebMD to track the calorie intake of each item you consume.

My favorite pint of beer is 208 calories. A McDonald’s Big Mac meal with medium fries and coke add up to be around 1100 calories.

As a general rule, people need a minimum of 1,200 calories daily to stay healthy.

There’s a limit to how low you can cut back on your calorie intake. Low-calorie diets are hard to sustain since you will feel hungry and deprived, and all the effect goes away once you start eating again.

Calorie Expenditure

Generally, your Calorie Expenditure is a combination of Basal Metabolic Rate (60-75%), Physical Activity (15-30%), and Food Digestion (10%)

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Scientists have come up with the BMR to estimate our calorie expenditure for performing our body’s most basic functions. Factors including age, height, weight, gender, and active level are considered.

For example, a 30-year-old-185-pound male burns around 2200 calories a day when sedentary, and burns around 3100 calories a day when very active (Higher Metabolic Rate throughout the day, mainly a result of higher muscle mass).

Sedentary means a lifestyle that includes only the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life with minimal exercise.

Very active means hard exercise six to seven days a week. (results in a 45% increase in daily calorie expenditure compared with sedentary)

You can use the following calculator for an idea of how much you consume daily from BMR.

From this BMR, use the following multiplier to find your daily BMR based on activity level.

Sedentary = BMR x 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)

Lightly active = BMR x 1.375 (light exercise/ sports 1-3 days/week)

Moderately active = BMR x 1.55 (moderate exercise/ sports 6-7 days/week)

Very active = BMR x 1.725 (hard exercise every day, or exercising 2 xs/day)

Extra active = BMR x 1.9 (hard exercise 2 or more times per day, or training for marathon, or triathlon, etc.

Physical Activity

You will consume calories beyond the BMR by working your body harder in different physical activities. Harvard Medical School has a report on calorie consumption by weight by activity for reference.

For example, a 30-year-old Male at 185lbs burns 444 calories by running 3 miles in 30 minutes.

Food Digestion

We also expend calories from eating and digesting food. This fluctuates by the composition of the food consumed.

From a research in 2014, 0.3% calories for Fat, 5-10% of calories for Carbohydrates, and 15-30% of calories for Protein is expended for food intake. Raw celery and grapefruit are often even claimed to have negative caloric balance (requiring more energy to digest than recovered from the food)

Caloric Deficit

To lose weight, we need to run a caloric deficit. Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kg) of fat, it’s estimated that you need to burn about 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound.

If you run a Caloric Deficit of 500 calories a day, you will lose 1 pound after a week.

Have a review of your body state in the last 3 months. (Your weight fluctuates daily so an average is a better baseline)

Now, you should have an idea of how much Caloric Deficit you need to achieve compared with your current regular routine. You will have to reduce your Calorie Intake and/or increase your Calorie Expenditure.

If you have maintained a steady weight and want to lose 10 pounds in the next 3 months, you will need to create a Caloric Deficit of around 400 calories a day.

If you have slowly gained 5 pounds in the last 3 months and want to lose 10 pounds in the next 3 months, you will need to create a bigger Caloric Deficit of around 600 calories a day.

Now let’s bring running in the picture.

How Running Burns Calories

Running is a physical activity that increases your calorie expenditure in your Thermic Effect of Physical Activity (TEPA) and Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This helps in your calorific deficit for losing weight.

When a 155-pound male chooses to change his lifestyle from sedentary to running 30-minutes a day for 4 times a week at a speed of 10 minutes a mile, he will burn around 1800 extra calories from TEPA and around 630 extra calories from BMR per week.

With other aspects of his life unchanged, he can lose 7 pounds over 10 weeks just by incorporating 2 hours of running per week.

Running Compared with Other Sports

Why choose running over other activities? Any activity, even a 5 minute walk break per hour, that takes you away from sedentary behavior can help with weight loss. This is true, and if running isn’t for you, just do whatever activity that fits you for your weight loss goals.

The difference of running over other sports is that the rate of weight loss is greater from running over most other activities, such as walking.

When reviewing the Harvard Medical School report, only activities such as rock-climbing, swimming, high-speed cycling, and handball have higher calorie/minute expenditure than running at aerobic speeds. Out of these activities, aerobic running can be performed most sustainably with the least preparation work.

Running burns calories at 6 times the rate of reading and sitting in meetings, triple the rate of dancing and cooking, double the rate of walking and playing with kids, and 50% faster than tennis and soccer.

Running Intensity and Effect on Calorie Expenditure

A different speed will result in a different calorie expenditure rate. This makes sense as our heart and body must work harder to achieve a higher running speed. This explains why my watch’s calorie stat varies even when I run the same duration.

The Harvard Medical School numbers show calorie burn for different running speeds.

Calories Burned in 30-minute Activities

Activity	125-Pound	155-Pound	185-Pound
Running: 5 mph	240	298	355
Orienteering	270	335	400
Running: 5.2 mph	270	335	400
Running: Cross-country	270	335	400
Running: 6 mph	300	372	444
Running: 6.7 mph	330	409	488
Running: 7.5 mph	375	465	555
Running: 8.6 mph	435	539	644
Running: 10 mph	495	614	733

The faster you run, the faster you burn your calories.

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) became popular in the last decade because of its high rate of calorie burn from its high intensity, which is especially attractive for busy people.

You can use the following calculator to have a rough idea of your calorie expenditure for your run. The numbers do not match the Harvard Medical School Report but are close enough for reference.

 

Now let’s add some complexity by introducing your body – it adapts to exercising.

Studies have shown that while your body’s total calorie expenditure increases with physical activity at low activity levels, the total calorie expenditure plateaus at higher activity levels as your body adapts.

This can be explained in two forms.

1. In the same workout, by maintaining the same running speed, you will burn more calories in your first 30 minutes than your next 30 minutes. Your body adapts to the run intensity and adjusts other forms of body activities to support your work out.

   A 2012 study shows that 60 minutes of exercise only induces a small increase in calorie expenditure compared with 30 minutes of exercise. For a longer work out, you might need to continually increase your intensity to maintain the same calorie expenditure rate for weight loss.

2. Over months, your body gets fitter. The same running speed will require less effort than a few months ago. To maintain the same caloric balance, your running speed or intensity will have to increase accordingly.

Your running intensity is a consideration when considering your weight loss effectiveness. I will discuss more below as we focus on fat loss.

The Afterburn Bonus

Afterburn, or Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), is a mechanism your body performs after your run to replenish energy and oxygen stores, remove lactic acid, and repair muscles. This costs energy, which means a bonus calorie expenditure even when you’re no longer moving.

The afterburn effect can last up to 24 hours but the effect is only significant with an appropriate exercise stimulus (Above 70% VO2max / Tempo / Lactate Threshold) according to studies. The effect is about 6-15% extra expenditure from the physical run.

This makes high intensity runs quite attractive for weight loss. Not only does the calorie expenditure rate increase, there’s also a further 6-15% afterburn bonus after the run.

Let’s use a 185-pound male for example. Running a 30-minute tempo at 8.6 mph (7min/mile) will result in a Total Physical Activity burn of up to 644 + 97 = 741 calories, equivalent to 5 cans of beer.

Achieve a Healthy Weight Loss

I have focused on weight loss in general. Let’s talk about a healthy weight loss.

When you lose weight, you are losing a combination of water, muscle, and fat.

Water is essential in every system and function of the body. Muscles require more calories to maintain and are critical for exercising. Fat is stored excess calories. Your goal for a healthy weight loss should focus on stimulating fat loss.

To do this, we will have to find out how your body chooses to use fat.

When you run, your body uses a combination of glucose and fat as its energy source. In certain conditions, muscles are also converted for energy.

Glucose

Glucose is preferred by our body as it is easy to convert to energy. Its availability is limited but it is backed up by glycogen that is stored in our muscles and liver.

When glucose quantities are low, glycogen is released to quickly replenish the glucose for energy. This quick source of glycogen is crucial for our exercise performance, and we suffer immediately when our glycogen becomes critically low.

Our bodies can typically store around 2,000 calories of glycogen in our muscles and may take a day to restore once empty.

You may have heard of runners talk about carbo-loading.  Its purpose is to max out our glycogen store for an endurance event such as a marathon.

Muscle

When your body is low in glycogen, your body starts looking for amino acids for fuel, which comes from the breaking down of muscles. This happens when you are deeply calorific deficit, or your body is in starvation mode.

Muscle is metabolically active, so when you lose it, you also lose the extra calorie-burn muscles can provide.

You want to try to avoid muscle loss by replenishing sufficient protein. You also want to remind your body that you want to keep those muscles, which can be achieved by incorporating strength training in your routine.

Fat

Fat is your body’s favorite store of energy. The storage can be unlimited, and its energy content is high. It’s also harder and slower for your body to convert fat into energy. That’s why your body tends to keep on to your fat. A higher percentage of fat can be burned when your activity does not require high intensity immediate energy.

Running To Burn Fat

When we run, we use a combination of glycogen and fat. The following are a few common methods of running for fat burn.

Cardio/Aerobic Running

This is a low to moderate intensity of running you can maintain for an extended period (a “conversational pace”). This is the most common type of running when people mention weight loss.

The logic is that this level of running, compared with a higher intensity, allows the body to burn a higher percentage of fat for energy as opposed to glycogen (about 50/50). This is also the level of running which can be performed for extended periods.

e.g. The 185- pound male burns 444 x 50% = 222 calories/30 minutes

 

High Intensity/Anaerobic Running

This high intensity of running can only be maintained for a short period, in which lactic acid builds up in your muscles.

The logic is that this level of running, compared with a lower intensity, burns energy at a much higher rate even if a lower percentage of fat is used for energy (33%). The afterburn bonus is also available at this intensity.

e.g. The 185-pound male burns 733 x 33% x 115% = 280 calories/30minutes

Some studies tend to favor high intensity running for weight loss. HIIT programs also promote this benefit.

A study on obese individuals also found that high intensity work outs possibly suppresses Ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite. Your reduced appetite can help the caloric deficiency for fat loss.

However, there is a limit to how much high intensity exercise your body can handle before it breaks down. Most beginners need to take time to build up to a high intensity to avoid injury.

Long Runs

This is a run over 90 minutes designed to deplete your glycogen and improve your fat conversion efficiency.

The logic from studies is that when glycogen runs low, your body is forced to use fat. Since your body can only choose fat, your body must learn to convert fat into energy more efficiently. In the long term, your body will choose to burn a higher percentage of fat for energy at all levels.

Can I Only Target My Belly Fat?

Targeted fat loss lacks scientific evidence. Where the body chooses to lose fat first is down to genetics. If the goal is to lose belly fat, then do it by losing fat in general and hoping that some of the belly fat gets lost in the process.

Unfortunately, as much as I wish, I couldn’t find an alternative answer.

How Much Should I Run for a Healthy Weight Loss?

As a beginner, start with cardio runs incorporated with some strength training. Slowly ease into high intensity runs after a few weeks to minimize the risks of injury.

Runs longer than 30 minutes will continue to burn calories but become less efficient beyond 30 minutes. It’s better to have 4 30-minute sessions than 2 1-hour sessions.

As your weight loss slows down, add intensity and add long runs to train you body to become a better fat burner.

Also, incorporate strength training before your run for lowering your glycogen level before your run.

If you want to incorporate other goals of running, you can read my post on How Much Should I Run to Reap the 8 Common Benefits of Running.

Healthy Weight Loss Running Plan

From my perspective and the research above, the right amount of running for a healthy weight loss consists the following factors:

Induce a sufficient caloric deficit to lose 1 pound every 2 weeks.

• Achieve as much fat loss as possible.
• As little time commitment as possible.
• Most sustainable with a low risk of injury.

A typical week in a running program for healthy weight loss should be:

3 days of 10-15-minute strength train followed by a 30-minute cardio run.
2 days of 30-minute high intensity running.

Under this plan using the Harvard Medical School report, a sedentary 185-pound male will have an extra calorie expenditure of around 6000 calories per week, which allows him an extra 600 calories per day for calorie intake to cover the extra demands from the running. (Equivalent to 1 Big Mac!). He will lose 1 pound every 2 weeks.

A beginner may not be able to achieve high intensity running yet. You will focus on the 3 days of 30-minute cardio run instead.

For plans to help you go from zero to running 30-minute cardio runs, I have selected some training plans to achieve this.

A 2017 study found that aerobic exercise in the morning could be considered a more effective program than evening exercise on appetite control, calorie intake, and weight loss.

So try to have your sessions in the morning, but don’t sacrifice your sleep. A lack of sleep may be associated with higher BMI and defeat your weight loss effort.

Running Tips If You Are Overweight Now

Before you run, see your doctor in case you have pre-existing medical conditions on your heart, kidney, lungs, joints, and any other pertinent issues.

Make sure you get the proper footwear for your body. As overpronation and weaker muscles are associated with overweight, consider the need for stability maximum cushioning shoes in the beginning.

When running, you may have a higher risk in experiencing trouble breathing, foot and joint pain, shin splints, runner’s knee, and chafing. Start Slow.

Why You Shouldn’t Stop Running After You Lost Weight

After months of effort, you achieved your weight goal. Congratulations!

However, you shouldn’t stop running. It may appear that you burned away the fat, but in fact, your number of fat cells haven’t changed, they just shrunk.

Your body inherently prepares for fat storage as a survival skill. If you stop running and start developing a caloric surplus, the fat cells will grow back to the original form very rapidly.

You can gradually reduce your running volume and still maintain a caloric balance. Just avoid stopping running too rapidly.

But by this point, you might already enjoy running and can’t stop anyways!

Modifying Your Diet

Losing weight by running is very real, but it does not guarantee success. Your diet also plays a big role in regulating your calorie intake.

It’s impossible to precisely measure our calorie intake and expenditure. By relying on feel, we also tend to overestimate our exercise expenditure by at least 2 to 3 folds.

You should still eat and drink to replenish your body for performance and prevent muscle loss but beware of overeating which can defeat your exercise goals. The US Department of Agriculture has a calculator that can give you a reference on your calorie and nutrient needs.

One common suggestion is to replace some of your carb intake with protein. Protein takes more energy to consume, fills you up quicker, and builds your muscles (which increases your daily calorie expenditure).

 

Conclusion

With the knowledge and discipline, you can achieve a healthy weight loss by running as little as 2 hours a week.  

For best effects, include strength training, vary intensities in your run, avoid injury, eat and drink healthy, and sleep well. Of course, every body is different and you may need to adjust according to your own needs.

You might not see results immediately, but a few months from now, you will thank yourself from starting.

If you are tempted to achieve your weight loss goal by starting to run, read my post on How to Become a Runner: A Comprehensive Guide for Your First Two Months.

Has this been helpful?
Do you have personal experience or other tips?
Let me know in the comments below!