When we consider taking care of ourselves and trying to lose some weight, it is very common that we seek to start doing some exercise. It is very common that we recommend or consider starting with sports or physical activities such as going to the gym, going for a walk or starting to run.

However, it is possible that we start doing these physical exercises and, even so, we do not lose weight. Therefore, it is important to know in what conditions these activities help us lose weight. In the case of running, we tell you how much you would have to run to start losing weight.

Much more than just running

When we consider starting any type of physical exercise, with the goal in mind that it helps us lose weight, we must take into account many more things than just the sport we are going to do.

While jogging a few miles can be a very effective exercise for some people, for others it won’t make any difference in weight. Also, if we go out for an hour, but the other 23 hours of the day are spent sitting or without doing any kind of activity, the fact that we went out for a run won’t make much of a difference.

To begin with, we must remember that any weight loss is based on achieving a calorie deficit. This means that we would have to burn more calories than we consume. Therefore, even if we go running, if we consume a very high amount of calories we will need to run a lot more to get a high calorie expenditure.

On the other hand, those who are very sedentary probably need to run less to start noticing the impact on their weight than those who maintain a more active lifestyle. In short, it’s complicated to set a standard figure that everyone can run to lose weight. We’ll have to take our personal conditions very seriously.

Running to lose weight

Therefore, taking into account all the above, if we make a change of habits in our lives, improve our eating habits, reduce our calorie intake and stay more active in our day to day, we can start running about 20 minutes a day.

Some studies, such as the one published in 2016 in the Journal of Sports Medicine recommend running about five kilometers a day, three or four days a week and combine it with a low-calorie diet to lose weight.

In any case, starting with 20-30 minutes a day is appropriate for those of us who are beginners in running and, along with the other changes, can already make a difference and impact on our weight. We must bear in mind that in beginners running more can be a risk and cause injuries.

Subsequently, to be able to continue observing results, and as we get used to and create a good physical condition, we can increase the time about two-three minutes a day, little by little, to reach a minimum of 45 minutes daily three or four times a week. Another option is to run certain kilometers in the morning, stop, and run again in the afternoon.

In any case, at the same time that our body begins to do physical exercise we will need more time running to achieve the same effect that in the beginning we achieved with 20 minutes. In any case, once the habit has begun and if we continue to maintain a good diet and healthy habits, it will be easy for us to increase the time that we go out to run and continue obtaining results.

Alternating periods of intensity

More effective than just jogging for a few minutes will be to make intensity changes in our race. The idea would be to combine periods of high intensity with periods of lower intensity within the same race or training.

In this way, we would carry out an HIIT type training with which we would be able to increase our caloric expenditure, as it requires a longer recovery time and will therefore be more effective in achieving weight loss if it is what we are looking for.

In any case, we must remember again that we need to take into account our physical condition before starting any training. If we are very sedentary or if we are overweight, we will first need to adapt to the training before we can begin to include periods of high intensity in our training. If we are already prepared, here is a training plan with intensity changes that you can apply.