There are many ways to increase fitness and maintain a healthy body and running every day is one of them. How much weight can be lost running a mile a day or more really depends on several factors.
Running is a great way to burn calories and build physical strength and stamina. However, simply running every day is not necessarily a good exercise for everyone who wishes to lose weight.
Let's look at some of the reasons for this and talk about how best to incorporate certain exercise strategies in a weight loss program tailored specifically for you.
Running: The Downside
This activity can be somewhat rough on your knees (as well as ankles and other joints used when you run). So if you have knee problems or are significantly overweight, it's a good idea to use caution before engaging in a running program.
Also, it's important to be aware that this form of exercise increases your heart rate significantly.
This is good for the average dieter in good health who wishes to burn calories. But for people in poor health, the heart rate increase could be dangerous and in rare cases even fatal.
Burning Calories
The speed of your running as well as your current body weight determines how many calories you will burn. You must burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound of body fat.
A medically accepted rate of weight loss is 1 to 2 pounds a week after the first couple of weeks of dieting; you can usually safely lose much more rapidly during the first couple of weeks of your lifestyle changes.
If you weigh 205 pounds and run a mile in 12 minutes, you will burn about 745 calories. So, if you run every day for 30 days you should lose about seven pounds without making any other lifestyle changes.
If you can run a mile in 9 minutes and weigh 155 pounds you will burn about 774 calories and still lose about seven pounds a month without changing your diet or engaging in other types of exercise.
Growing Accustomed
The good news is that eventually, your body will get used to running when you do it each day. You will need to either speed up or increase the time of your run.
For instance, if you weigh 180 pounds and start running a mile a day in ten minutes you will probably lose eight pounds in a month. Kick up the speed of your run to eight and a half minutes and your body will not plateau and you should lose about nine pounds a month.
Once you build more stamina, try increasing the distance to 2 miles a day. At this point, you will probably need to eat a little more food to make up for all the calories burned but should still lose between seven and 10 pounds a month depending upon your metabolism and current body weight.
When eating additional food to compensate for an increase in exercise duration or speed, do not always turn to candy bars and junk food. This is counterproductive to your efforts.
Enjoy a treat once in a while, but lean toward eating low-fat proteins, fruits, and vegetables much more often than sugared sodas and potato chips. When you get the nutrient intake balance of your diet right, your body will reward you by improving its metabolic rate that will, in turn, increase its ability to burn more calories for a given rate of exercise.
Ultimately, the goal is not merely to weigh less when you get on the scales, but to hone your physical body into a great looking shape that feels amazing whatever you're wearing and whatever you're doing. That's a nice goal to aim at!