Running For Weight Loss??.Slow Down
You may be out running your fat burning hormones
So you've loved running since your track days of high school. It's simple, you can do it anywhere and all you need is some good running shoes and pair of comfy cotton footies. But now it's taken on a sub-purpose. Age has allowed those extra pounds you use to leave choking on your dust to catch up with you and hit you right in the gut, literally. There are a billion reasons (or excuses) that justify your 10 or even 20 pounds that keep you company.
You are busier now, so you don't run as often, or as fast, or as long as you use to. You're getting older and your body can't take the as much. Or maybe it was the curse of the evil eye of all those non-runners over the years. (you know they were really jealous they can't run and sweat and look as good doing it :)
Whatever your justification, the bottom line is it's time to lace up the old running shoes a little more often. For the last few weeks you've hit the ground running. Enjoying the days of old. Marveling at your new found dedication to your workout schedule. But as you get on the scale once again the numbers barely budge. The problem may be your love for running. The pure exhilaration for the sport. If you consider your self a runner then your gut instinct will tell you to run faster. Try to shave another 2 minutes off your course time.
This time however DO NOT follow your gut feeling or you will be left with your gut to feel. As runner you are use to trying to run faster, cut your course time, beat your personal best or at least don't get any slower than you already have. But if you want to drop those pounds you have to slow down and work at a lower intensity. Using a heart rate monitor is the best way to determine if you are exercising at the proper intensity to reach your weight loss goal. Heart rate monitors due exactly as the name implies. They monitor the rate in which your heart is beating. (By the way, Heart Rate monitors are an invaluable tool for any serious or even semi-serious runner, no matter what your goal is. )
Knowing your personal heart rate percentage numbers can mean the difference in reaching your goal and trying to reach your goal. For weight loss you want to work at 60% to 70% of your heart rate max (HRM). Your hear rate max is the maximum amount of times your heart can beat in a minutes. To determine that number use the standard formula of subtracting your age from 220. Then take that number and multiply it by .60 and you have 60% of your heart rate max. Follow the same steps except replace .60 with .70 and you will come us with 70% of your heart rate max. Stay between these two numbers on your heart rate monitor and you are on the straight and narrow path to weight loss. (For example someone who is 30 years old. 220-30=190 190 x .60= 114 190 x .70 = 133. A 30 year old must stay between 114 and 133 HRM for a weight loss workout)
Over these percentages of your HRM your body tells your fat burning hormones (epinephrine, nor epinephrine and growth hormones) to shut down so it can use their energy, along with all other available energy, to your respiratory system to maintain your pace.
Working above 70% of your heart rate max over an extended period of time, like your whole 45 minute run, may allow you to burn more calories but less of those calories will be from fat. In the end you don't just want to burn calories, you want to burn fat calories for lasting weight loss. When your body can't use your fat stores to burn the next place it turns is to lean muscle stores, which is the last thing you want. Lean muscle is what keeps your metabolism up and running allowing you to keep off the extra pounds. For efficient and effective weight loss we want our calories to come from our fat stores not our lean muscle store. Working over 70% HRM may be beneficial speed training but it's just not an efficient way to loose weight. Despite popular opinion of "more is better" and "faster is the best", slowing down is a faster route to loosing weight. Don't misquote me you will burn calories no matter how fast or slow you run but for weight loss you want to burn as many calories from fat as you can.
Lastly and probably most importantly when trying to loose weight weather it's 5 pounds or 50 pounds. Now isn't the time to multi-task. Pick one goal and stick to it. Don't practice for a 5K to loose weight. You'd do yourself and your recorded time a favor if you loose the weight first then start a race prep running schedule. ( To be detailed in the next article) At 60% to 70% of your HRM you may not be running at your fastest pace or pushing your personal best time. In fact you may even have to slow down to a speed walking pace. And that's okay because you will arrive at your weight loss goal a lot faster if you slowed down.
Mubarakah Ibrahim is an AFAA certified personal trainer and owner of BALANCE fitness, a personal training service for women in CT that offers in-home personal training, on-line personal training, outdoor boot camps, and hiking clubs for women. She also lectures, promotes and conducts workshops on health and fitness through out the northeast. She can be contacted by visiting her website http://www.balancect.com or e-mailed at http://www.balancect.com
? BALANCE fitness.
Article may be reprinted without permission only in it's entirety including author bio and contact information.
housekeepers near Park Ridge ..One-size-fits-all diets don't work....but then you probably know that already.... Read More
If you are looking for a way to lose fifty... Read More
Who really wants to lose weight? None of us, right?... Read More
Obesity acceptance, also known as fat acceptance, has a simple,... Read More
When on a diet, snack attacks can hit hard and... Read More
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor; nor do I play... Read More
I don't know about you, but I absolutely love bread... Read More
Nothing is more disappointing than hearing a gastric bypass patient... Read More
Have you seen the ditty below that's roaming the Internet... Read More
Some of you will not like what I have to... Read More
Are you someone who has, in the past, been on... Read More
One thing's for sure, in this day & age, if... Read More
It has been 15 years since I was diagnosed with... Read More
In general, fast weight loss is not healthy. The faster... Read More
Building a Perfect Body for Body Perfect Fitness and Health... Read More
There are many factors responsible for abdominal fat like processed... Read More
Why was the FDA trying to hide the facts about... Read More
There are currently over 100 billion dollars sold in weight-loss... Read More
Food manufacturers can easily manipulate a whole population by the... Read More
If you have been dieting, there is a good chance... Read More
For the past 20 years, the American public has been... Read More
All Diets Are Based on the Same Premise: Eat Less... Read More
Have You Given Up on Weight Loss? by Greg Landry,... Read More
Every weight loss surgery patient I've met said they at... Read More
Fat Loss Tip #3) Proper Meal FrequencyMeal Frequency (i.e., the... Read More
scheduled cleaning services Mundelein ..Weight Loss tipsAll throughout my childhood and teenage years I... Read More
What is the best form of physical activity?The best form... Read More
Each month I receive hundreds of e-mails from consumers who... Read More
Have you ever worried about something so much it paralyzed... Read More
If you are committed to the low carb way of... Read More
For some of us, food is warmth and love. We... Read More
If you were going to travel to the other side... Read More
Are you feeling down and out? Do you feel even... Read More
The human body is designed to run best on a... Read More
Looking to avoid the dieting mistakes many of our weight... Read More
Your Can Turn Fat into Muscle......Fact or Fiction???Completely False!!!!First of... Read More
Diet drop out, a significant problem for all types of... Read More
On the market at any given time, there are hundreds... Read More
Any dietary plan on the market has some portion of... Read More
What's a Low Carb Diet Really Mean?When I hear low... Read More
What to Do with the Leftovers?Okay, tell me if you've... Read More
CancerCoronary heart diseaseStrokeOsteoporosisMajor Depression from Brain StarvationHeadlines.WASHINGTON, Jun 22, 2004... Read More
Obesity and fast foods - there's little doubt about the... Read More
Obesity still remains one of the commonest avoidable causes of... Read More
For many years, the experts, including our government have been... Read More
Good health is all too easily taken for granted until... Read More
The perfect diet should be combined with a healthy weight... Read More
People always ask me " how it is that your... Read More
R...real foodE...exerciseS...spiritual stuff first and the other stuff secondU...ultimately, you... Read More
Experts say obesity will overtake smoking as the biggest health... Read More
Weight Loss |