Running to Lose Twenty Pounds

Losing 20 pounds running requires a consistent workout program over several weeks. No matter how experienced a runner you are, to lose weight while running involves maintaining a healthy lifestyle and remaining injury free. If you are a novice runner, your body may not tolerate running every day, so alternate running with low or non-impact exercises such as bicycling, elliptical trainer workouts or swimming. If you're an experienced runner, try to get in a run daily. Add a two-day a week strengthening program to increase your muscle mass and therefore metabolic rate to prevent injuries.

One pound equals 3,500 calories. Thus to lose one pound you must expend 3,500 calories more than you consume. There are three ways to do this: increase your activity level, maintain or decrease your food intake or combine the two. Keep a diary detailing your workouts and food consumption to make sure you are staying on track for your 20-pound weight loss goal. If you "reward" yourself for running with ice cream, you might actually end up gaining weight rather than losing it.

The number of calories you expend per hour running cannot be measured accurately outside a laboratory. An average runner of 130 to 150 pounds will burn between approximately 450 and 700 calories an hour, or 100 calories per mile, at a moderate pace of five to six miles per hour. On the average, in 140 days, or between three and four months, of running one hour a day you could burn off 20 pounds from running alone. Heavier runners will expend more energy than lighter runners. Increasing your pace or running uphill will increase calories burned. Running on a treadmill uses slightly fewer calories than running on a track or outside at the same pace.

As you lose approximately 100 calories per mile, you must add 35 extra miles to lose each pound or 700 miles to lose 20 pounds. Increase your mileage by either adding a long run or extending your regular runs to increase weight loss. Limit mileage increases to 10 percent per week to avoid injury.

Burn more calories by increasing the intensity of your runs either by adding hills or speed intervals, in which you go uphill or speed up for a minute, then return to your regular pace and terrain, and then repeat. Adding intervals, you will increase calories burned by approximately 10 percent. Do not increase both intensity and mileage within the same week.

Losing weight through a combination of diet and running is faster than weight loss through running alone. Because you need energy to run, don't try a starvation diet. In addition to running, ea at least t three meals a day including lean proteins, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes and nuts, for a total of approximately 12 to 14 calories per pound of body weight and make sure to drink adequate water for a safe weight loss of no more than two to three pounds per week.