The question of whether or not running will make you lose weight seems straightforward. Running burns calories, and when you burn calories, you’ll lose weight.
Right..?
As it turns out, the relationship between running and cardio in general isn’t as black and white as you might expect.
In this article, you’re going to learn whether or not running can make you lose weight, and what the best approach is for losing weight.
So kick off your running shoes, take off your headband, and find a comfortable place to read.
Let’s get into it.
Weight loss vs. fat loss
Before we can answer whether or not running can make you lose weight, we need to make an important distinction.
Weight loss is not the same as fat loss!
If you cut off your leg, you would lose weight on the scale instantly. But I’m sure that you don’t care about that kind of weight loss. The weight loss you’re looking for is really fat loss. And it might sound like I’m being nitpicky, but it’s an important distinction.
The scale measures more than just the amount of fat you have on your body. It measures everything in your body at one time, including your muscle, bones, water, and all the contents in your gut.
From here on out, just know that we’re going to be focusing on whether or not running and cardio can help you lose fat.
How fat loss works
If you’ve read any of my other fat loss articles, you know that the only way to lose fat is to burn more calories than you consume. This is called a calorie deficit.
The calories you consume from your diet make up the “calories in” side of the equation, and the amount of calories you burn every day make up the “calories out” side of the equation.
So to lose weight, you can either:
A) Burn more calories
B) Consume less calories
C) A combination of both
Running and cardio in general burn calories, which can help create a calorie deficit so that you can lose fat. Running tends to burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time, which can make it an effective way to create a calorie deficit.
But as you’ll soon see, it’s not quite as simple as that..
Calories burned when running
How many calories does running actually burn?
It sounds like a simple question to answer, but in reality it depends on a number of factors like how fast you’re running, how much you weigh, whether you’re running on a treadmill or a trail.. Then once you know those things, you can calculate how many calories you burn by using something called METs, which stands for “metabolic equivalents”. These are a standardized way to express the intensity level of an activity.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to do any math. I’ve created a calculator that does all the math for you. Just enter in your info and you’ll get an estimate of how many calories you’ll burn while running.
So as an example, someone who weighs 180 pounds and runs for 30 minutes will burn about 380 calories.
Not so fast (pun intended)..
Just because you burn a certain amount of calories during running or cardio in general doesn’t mean you will lose fat.
Remember that in order to lose fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit. While running can burn calories and help contribute to a calorie deficit, there are three main reasons that burning calories during a workout won’t guarantee that you’ll lose weight.
Reason #1: It’s easy to eat back the calories you burn
Let’s say you go for a 30 minute run and burn around 300 calories.
You then head into the office and find a tray of donuts in the breakroom. There’s a chocolate glazed donut that’s calling your name. You think to yourself “I ran this morning, I earned a donut”.
That one chocolate donut can easily have more than 300 calories, which would cancel out the calories you burned from your run. If you’re doing this on a weekly basis, you might think you’re in a calorie deficit when you’re really not.
Now, you might be thinking that running or doing exercise in general is a good way to eat more calories, but this can be counterproductive.
And I’ll explain why, but first I have a confession to make.
Remember that running calorie calculator at the beginning of the article? It’s only an estimate, and it’s not 100% accurate. In fact, it’s actually extremely difficult to measure how many calories you burn during exercise. The amount of calories your smartwatch says you burn is probably not very accurate either.
So you think you burned 300 calories during your run, but you might have actually burned only 200.
This is the main reason I don’t have clients track how many calories they burn during their workouts. It’s not accurate and it can lead to you overeating on calories.
Reason #2: Your body is smart
Generally, your body likes to stay where it’s at. When you increase your activity levels by doing something like running, your body tries to balance itself out by burning less calories later in the day.
To understand why, you need to first understand how your metabolism works.
Your metabolism is all the processes in your body that burn calories. It’s made up of four different parts:
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- Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR for short, is the amount of calories your body burns by doing nothing at all. It’s the amount of calories you burn from doing basic things like breathing, keeping your blood pumping and all your organs functioning.
- The amount of calories you burn from exercise (like running) is called exercise associated thermogenesis, or EAT for short.
- Your non-exercise associated thermogenesis, or NEAT, is the calories you burn from everything that isn’t specifically exercise. This can include walking your dog, cooking, running errands, and working.
- Breaking down the food you eat requires calories as well. This is called the thermic effect of food, or TEF for short.
Let’s say you decide to go for a run one morning. When you get back, you crash on your couch and binge watch Love Island.
If you hadn’t gone for a run, you might have cleaned your house, taken your dog for a walk, or met some friends at the park.
All of those activities would have burned calories through NEAT, but since you were tired from your run, you end up burning less calories later in the day.
So you THINK you burned a few hundred calories during your run, but in reality your body cancels out the calories you burned by moving around less later in the day.
Of course, you might be thinking that you can just increase your activity the rest of the day. And you absolutely can, but my point is most people don’t even realize that their body compensates for the calories you burn during a workout by moving less.
Reason #3: You’re shooting in the dark
A lot of clients I work with have never tracked their calories. And when they start tracking how much food they actually eat, they are almost always surprised at how many calories they are eating.
It’s a bit like your finances. You probably don’t think you spend very much each month, but when you look at your credit card statement and realize between groceries, gas, your phone bill, car payment, Netflix subscription, Amazon purchases, Starbucks orders, Spotify subscription and Doordash deliveries..
You spend way more than you think!
If you aren’t keeping track of the calories you’re consuming, you’re basically shooting in the dark trying to run and lose weight. It would be like trying to save money without knowing how much money you make each month.
Many people who want to lose weight start running because they know it burns calories. Which is true, but without knowing how many calories you’re consuming you’re going to be spinning your wheels.
And if you combine this with the fact that your body compensates for the calories you burn during your workout AND the fact that most methods of estimating how many calories you burn aren’t accurate anyway, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Does running make you lose weight?
Hopefully by now you realize that running burns calories, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll lose weight.
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just burning more calories from exercising.
If you want to include running into your fat loss program you can. But just know that running alone probably isn’t going to lead to you losing fat.
So whether or not you decide to include running into your workouts is up to you. But here are a few more things for you to consider.
Do you actually like running?
This should be the most obvious factor when deciding whether or not you’re going to start running.
Now that you know there isn’t anything magical about running, and you don’t have to run to lose weight.. Do you actually like running?
I’ve had a decent amount of clients tell me that they absolutely HATE running, but do it anyway because they think it’s the best way to lose fat. And when I explain to them why they don’t need to run, they are always ecstatic.
Forcing yourself to run just because you think it will lead to more fat loss is a waste of time. You should be running because you enjoy how it makes you feel, not because it burns more calories than other forms of exercise.
Risk of injury
Running can be pretty taxing on your joints, especially if you’re carrying around extra weight.
I used to work at a sports rehab clinic and some of the most common injuries the doctor I worked under would see were running injuries. Shin splints, plantar fasciitis, and knee pain were all extremely common among people who started running in an attempt to lose weight.
Now I’m certainly not trying to scare you away from running. If you follow a program and introduce running gradually, most people will do just fine.
But it’s a good idea to lose weight before starting a running program so that you can reduce the chances of injuring yourself.
Other forms of cardio
When it comes to cardio, there really isn’t anything special about running.
Cardio is amazing for your overall health, but you can get the same benefits as running from using a stationary bike, elliptical, or even incline walking.
All these options are easier on your joints and will burn a similar amount of calories.
What to do instead to lose weight
If you’re sick and tired of spinning your wheels when it comes to fat loss, I’ve got your back. I’m going to give you the exact formula you need to lose fat and keep it off.. Forever!
There are four main steps you need to follow, which I’ve outlined below.
Step #1: Calorie deficit
First and foremost, you need to be in a calorie deficit if your goal is to lose weight.
I’ve already gone over what a calorie deficit is, so if you skipped over that part go back to the beginning of the article and actually read it!
But how do you know whether or not you’re in a calorie deficit? If you remember, I don’t have my clients keep track of how many calories they burn during their workout. Instead, I use a calorie calculator to get a rough idea of how many calories they burn per day.
A good calorie calculator will take into account all aspects of your metabolism, including how often you workout, and give you an idea of how many calories you’re burning each day. There are a number of different equations you can use to figure out your calorie deficit, but once again you don’t have to do any math..
You can use my calorie calculator below to figure out exactly how many calories you need per day to lose fat. No math required.
Cal’s calorie calculator
Once you know how many calories you need, counting calories is going to be the fastest, most efficient way to make sure you’re consuming the right amount of calories to lose fat.
Step #2: Protein
How many calories you’re eating per day is only part of the equation.
If you really want to make fat loss easier and get the best results, you need to be eating enough protein every day as well.
Protein is going to help fill you up while you’re trying to lose weight. It’s the most filling macronutrient out of protein, carbs and fats.
I have my fat loss clients shoot for one gram of protein per pound of goal body weight.
So for someone who weighs 180 pounds and wants to lose 30 pounds, they would try to eat 150 grams of protein each day.
Step #3: Strength training
Now that you know how many calories you need to be eating, what about your workouts?
Strength training should be the foundation of your workouts. Strength training is going to help you build and retain muscle while you lose weight, which is going to make you look better and make fat loss easier overall.
Muscle mass is what’s going to give guys a chest and shoulders and girls a butt and toned arms.
The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll burn at rest. This is because muscle burns more calories than fat does. What does this mean for you? It means the more muscle you have, the more calories you can eat and still be in a calorie deficit.
Not sure where to get started with strength training workouts? I have a completely free strength training guide with 50 different workouts you can download below. All you have to do is let me know where to send it.
Clink the link below and I’ll send you my Strength Training Blueprint, completely free.
Step #4: Set a step goal
Want a super simple way to boost your metabolism and guarantee you’ll burn more calories each day?
Just walk more.
Walking will increase the total amount of calories you burn each day and help you to burn enough calories even on days that you don’t workout.
I have clients shoot for somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 steps per day. And if you’re nowhere near that number, you can slowly increase the amount of steps you take each day until you get into that range.
Wrapping up: Does running make you lose weight?
Hopefully by now you understand that running alone probably isn’t going to make you lose weight.
While it can help you burn more calories, it’s likely not enough to really make a change without changing your nutrition.
I also have nothing against running. If you like running, then you should absolutely include running into your fitness routine. I’ve just come across too many people who run simply because they want to lose weight, and that’s not a good enough reason to do it.
If you want someone to take all of the guesswork out of your fitness and nutrition, you can apply for coaching to see if we’d be a good fit for each other. I’ll help you come up with a plan to lose weight and keep it off forever.
Thanks for reading and as always, leave any questions or comments below!