Many people start running as a means to losing weight…at least that’s what I think, because there’s no way pounding the pavement for an hour, in the rain, at 6 in the morning, can be fun!
Lets go buddy just 5 more K!
The question I’m asking, is weight loss something you want? There needs to be a distinction between weight loss and fat loss, as they are two very different things.
Weight loss can be loss of fat, muscle, bone, water. It just means your overall body weight has gone down regardless of what that weight consisted of. This is why we can’t completely rely on the scale.
From this point on I want you to think of your scale weight as two things; 1- Fat mass (FM); obviously the weight of fat on your body. And 2- lean body mass (LBM), anything that is not fat (muscle, bone, water, organs, tendons, etc.)
LBM you always want to at the very least maintain and even increase! The only time I could think of wanting to lose any LBM would be if you were retaining water, (from medications or not drinking enough water.) So now when you think of ’losing weight’ think of losing FAT weight.
Losing FM and preserving LBM is the key to looking better on the beach.
So how does this relate to running?
If you’re going to make your body go jogging on a regular basis it will do what it can to make the task easier. It does so by losing weight, notice I didn’t say fat! The majority of the weight lose comes from muscle and water.
And the problem can get worse the better runner you are and more running you do!
Think about it this way. Lets pretend you are a total beginner. You decide to start running on the treadmill for 30 minutes three times a week. At first it’s very hard you struggle, you sweat, and you burn a lot of calories. Then within a matter of weeks you’ll find that same 30 minutes isn’t very challenging, you’re body is now much more efficient at running. And even though the calories burnt display reads the same, you are now burning less calories!
Stand at the finish line of a recreational triathlon and you see plenty of competitors with love handles.
This was just a teaser stay tuned for my up coming series- “the truth about cardio! (the good the bad and the ugly)”
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