Lose Weight By Running

Can your really lose weight by running? Good question, because North Americans in particular live in a calorie dense world.

We're living the life of Charlie 'IN' the Chocolate Factory...

Over the past 40 years it's been my experience that exercise and particularly running helped protect against caloric excesses, so I was shocked and a little skeptical when I read an article in Time Magazine this summer which concluded "exercise won't make you thin."

Based on research from the tall foreheads at Louisiana State University the article reported overweight subjects who exercised didn't lose any more weight than a sedentary control group. Hmmm...

Well, academic research projects are one thing - but what about reality?

Some exercises work better than others for weight loss?

I did some digging, and discovered a Science Daily report published in September that reached a seemingly opposite conclusion: Yes we can, so to speak, lose weight by running! Research conducted in 2009 concludes that exercise is effective in reducing appetite and burning off fats.

The study, conducted by The University of Colorado Denver, also discovered that exercise can actually prevent an increase in the number of fat cells (weird but cool) - challenging the conventional diet and exercise myth that fat cells are "fixed at birth" and cannot be changed by lifestyle choices.

For some reason I'd always believed that you could "empty out" your little fat cells but you couldn't ever get rid of your alloted quotient of plump little fat cells.

What about "Set-Point" Weight?

When we lose weight by running can we influence our so-called "defended" weight, or set point weight?

It sure seems to me that when I lose weight the first few pounds are the easiest to lose. Then it gets harder because the body get busy "defending" it's current weight.

When your body is in defense mode you get hungry faster and have more difficulty staying away from calorie dense foods.

In a study from the University of Colorado, published in the American Journal of Physiology, researchers did find that exercise can help lower the body's defended or set point weight.

Exercise Benefits

We put on the pounds when we eat more calories than we need. That seems simple, but there's complexity beneath the surface.

We feel the urge to eat because of a complex interaction between physiology and psychological lifestyle factors. Here's what happens: When we "diet" we're more aware of the psychological and lifestyle part of the equation.

After we lose weight physiological signals to eat are more noticeable and harder to ignore. We can feel persistently hungry after losing weight - especially weight lose with restricted diets. Most people just can't resist this physiological urge to eat, and then they regain the weight they worked so hard to lose.

Well, what about the people successful at keeping their weight off? These success stories share common characteristics, including - you guessed it -

Learn from the rats, dear reader!

Our lab rat friends (maybe you know one!) demonstrate that treadmill rats have a much nicer life than couch potato rats:

• regained less weight when off their diet
• developed a lower set point or ‘defended’ body weight
• burned more fat early in the day, and then carbohydrates
• developed fewer fat cells less abdominal fat
• did not overeat as much as their couch potato buddies
• had better ability to balance energy intake with energy used

The bottom line? I'm with the runner rats! Regular exercise, particularly weight bearing exercises like running help us control our diet, balance calories in with calories out, and shed fat in favor of muscle.

Not to mention that you'll just feel better all around when you exercise and lose weight by running!

That's how to lose weight by running! And don't forget...

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