As knowledge of the heightened chance for developing asthma, cataracts, sleep issues, infertility, arthritis, gallstones, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and more raises, maintaining a healthy body weight is at the forefront many people’s minds.
One of the most effective means for burning calories is running. As such it is an incredibly popular method for maintaining a healthy body weight.
Always consult with your doctor before embarking on any fitness program to make sure that it is aligned with your current health circumstances.
Key points
- Losing 20 pounds will improve your health and ability to resist illness.
- There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat and 70,000 calories in 20 pounds of fat.
- You will have to achieve a calorie deficit of 70,000 calories to lose 20 pounds of fat.
- It’s recommended to lose no more than 1 to 2 pounds of fat per week, so it’ll take 10 to 20 weeks to lose the fat if you follow this recommendation.
Calories Expended Running
A single pound of body fat contains approximately 3500 calories. As such an order to burn a pound of fat you must put your body into a 3500 calorie deficit.
Someone that weighs 150 lb will expend about 920 calories per hour if they are running at 8 miles per hour. That number jumps up to 1200 calories if you weigh 200 lb and move at the same pace.
Fat Loss Rate
While it’s enticing to try to lose weight at a really fast pace, some believe that this could lead to poor health.
The Centers for Disease Control and prevention have provided a recommendation to only lose 1 to 2 pounds every week.
If you follow this advice then it will take you 10 to 20 weeks to lose 20 lb.
High Intensity Interval Training
Research has shown that you can burn just as much fat in a shorter amount of time by completing high intensity interval training sessions.
Instead of running at a steady state for an extended period of time, you’ll complete 30-second bouts of sprinting. In between each sprint you will walk at a slow pace to recover. Then repeat the process.
Running for Novices
It is important that those new to running don’t try to jump into to intensive of a program immediately. Doing so could quickly lead to injuries such as shin splints and other common overuse issues.