Running to lose weight?

(Ben) #1

I’m 58 and in my forties I took up running as I was getting heavier than I wanted to be. I knew no different - if you want to lose weight you have to exercise, right? (that’s what I thought then)

What a waste of time - i now resent the hours and hours I spent on country roads pounding away, which I could have spent with my family. And of course the inevitability of weight gain followed after a small initial loss. And then injuries, and over time interest waned and eventually I gave up.

Two years ago I got to my heaviest (229), and felt I really needed to do something about it, so I entered a 10k with a view to training for it - which would help me lose weight, right? It was not a pleasant experience, knees and hips hurt, and I knew I didn’t look elegant. But I did the 10k - and hated it. It was a painful, hard experience. I had to stop and walk several times but eventually crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 14 and a half minutes. Did I lose weight? No.

In March last year I discovered Keto. I’m now 181 - the lightest I’ve been since my 20s. And on Friday I entered another 10k, just to put the last one behind me. I didn’t train for this one at all, yet I did it in an hour - 14 minutes faster than before. And I didn’t need to stop and walk at any point, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, chatting to a couple of ladies who were going the same pace as me all the way round.

The moral of the story is don’t run to lose weight, lose weight to run.

(Doug) #2

Right on, Ben. :slight_smile: 58 here too, and former runner - though that was quite a few years (and a lot of built-up insulin resistance) ago. I miss those days of being able to eat “anything” and stay the same weight, but that ship has long sailed. Here’s to changing for the better!

(Cece Blackstock) #3

I love this post!!! Thank you so much for sharing this!! :tada:

(Alan Williamson) #4

Many years ago I followed the conventional wisdom that eating low fat, high carb was the way to go. It was very odd because following this diet, I had a spare tire around my waist. WTF!! What was even odder was that I was exercising a lot. People said that was what you need to do to lose weight…burn body fat. It was not working. Again, WTF!! One year I trained and ran 2 marathons (one in June, and the other in October). I didn’t lose any weight that year even though I was exercising almost every day; lifting weights, biking, and doing very long runs. A couple years ago I changed my diet to low carb, high fat diet. In 3 months, I lost 50 pounds and I was just sitting on the couch watching TV. Go figure. Later, I did keto and fasting then lost 40 more pounds. The key to losing weight is lowering insulin.

#5

Yes! I’ve been zero carb for several months, and lost a good amount of weight. I have lots of energy now and I have started jogging because my body wants to.

(KB Keto) #6

Diet > Exercise. That being said - exercise still offers a plethora of benefits but too many people think it can save them from shitty eating.

I’m in the military and running is a necessity (although I keep mine at a manageable distance … .well because I’ve already got the bad knees from years of being hard on my body) but I wouldnt recommend to anyone to start running without getting control of their diet and weight first. Then start by walking. Then running (if thats a goal). Ultimately, I’d recommend walking, biking, and weights over running any day, every day.

(Allan Misner) #7

Fat loss comes from what and how much you eat.

Any exercise you do should be geared toward other life goals you may have (aka being an active and vibrant grandfather, getting back on the tennis court, stress management, etc.). That’s why I prefer to call it training.

We eat to maintain weight and health. We train to be awesome at everything we do.

(Barbara Greenwood) #8

Don’t run to lose weight, run to enjoy it and be healthier. If you lose weight, running will be easier and you’ll run faster.

If you don’t enjoy running (you freak!), do something else.

#9

Great post and so true. I find I sometimes use my running as a reason to not hold up the diet end of the bargain and it never works out well for my goals - running or weight loss goals. Happy running!