Want to lose weight quickly? Go for a morning run. Most people usually run on an empty stomach in the morning. That is why, to produce energy and keep you going during your intense running session, your body will start burning body fat.
Evening runs help lower your night-time blood pressure; and running in the late afternoon or early evening helps you improve your form and build muscles. Science says the best time to run is late afternoon or early evening. Also, while late afternoon is best for long-distance runs, early evening is best for sprints.
How much should you run to lose weight? According to the World Health Organization (opens in new tab), adults should aim for between 150 and 300 minutes of exercise per week. This means that even running for 30 minutes five times a week could help you see results in your weight management.
However, the good news is that running is one of the best forms of exercise to lose belly fat, and there are even a few small tweaks you can make to your regular running schedule to deliver a sustained fat burning boost.
Running Faster Burns Calories More Efficiently
Since it's more efficient, you'll burn more calories per mile when you're going faster — even if it means you're running for a shorter amount of time.
Running generally burns about twice as many calories as walking depending on the walking and running speeds being compared. So if you go for a 20-minute jog and you want to burn the same amount of calories walking the next day, you need to walk at least 40 minutes.
So if you're just getting into jogging, aiming for an average jogging speed of 4 to 6 miles per hour is a good bet. And if you gradually want to work your way into running at faster speeds, know the average pace tends to hover just above 6 miles per hour.
If you run 8-10 kilometres daily, then you can burn 350 calories more than walking. Research by Harvard University found that running for 30 minutes at a speed of 10 km per hour burns about 372 calories. Running also helps to reduce belly fat faster.
If your goal is to lose weight generally, you should run about 3 or 4 times a week on alternating days for about 45 minutes. On rest days it is still crucial to engage in some form of exercise. Moving and burning calories are key! Most people overestimate the calories they burn on a run.
It was shown that the runner was able to run constantly at a speed of almost 7 km/h, achieved the distance of 164 km, and lost 1 kg of visceral fat. For everyday life it takes about 4 marathons to lose 1 kg of visceral fat mass.
Slow jogging on the other hand is more effective for weight loss. Since it burns more calories, you can expect faster results. Other than that, you can reap all other benefits associated with cardiovascular exercise such as better immunity, better heart health and more.
The CDC recommends 150-minutes of moderate exercise per week, or 75-minutes of vigorous exercise (such as running) just to maintain weight. The amount needed for weight loss may be quite a bit more than that especially if you don't make dietary changes as well.
“You definitely don't want to overdo it if you're new to jogging, but a good 20- to 30-minute jog is a great range to be in,” she says. Thomson suggests a walking/jogging protocol where you alternate between the two, if you're just starting out.
A pre-run snack consumed 30–60 minutes prior provides your body with quick fuel. It's only necessary to have a pre-run snack if you intend to run for longer than 60 minutes, but it's also fine if you simply prefer to do so regardless of the length of your run.
People who exercise at night may experience more deep, quality sleep. You may find it easier to fall asleep and sleep deeper. Night runs are ideal for people who feel tired after running, since often it's more convenient to sleep after a run later in the day.
But is it OK to run every day? The simple answer is: No, you need at least one rest day a week to allow your muscles to recover. Plus, overtraining can lead to overuse injuries, stress and prolonged fatigue.
“Running is good for your health, but more may not be better. You don't have to think it's a big challenge. We found that even 10 minutes per day is good enough. You don't need to do a lot to get the benefits from running.”
Walking and running are both excellent forms of cardiovascular exercise. Neither is necessarily “better” than the other. The choice that's best for you depends entirely on your fitness and health goals. If you're looking to burn more calories or lose weight fast, running is a better choice.
You're building muscle.
Running doesn't create a lot of bulk, but it does allow you to slowly build muscle, especially in your lower body. Since muscle weighs more than fat, you may not see the scale budge, or you could actually put on a few pounds.
Running is a valuable component of a diet and exercise regime that attacks unwanted thigh fat. Yet, it won't solve your problem itself. Even high mileage runners can have excess thigh fat if they eat and drink more calories than needed to lose or maintain the weight.
Running or jogging too is considered a good exercise to lose thigh fat. The exercise helps strengthen the quadriceps, hamstring muscles, calves, and gluteus muscles.
We touched on this already, but slow jogging burns more calories than walking at an identical pace, and thus, it is a more effective way to lose weight, if that's your goal.
Studies show that running just 5 to 10 minutes each day at a moderate pace may help reduce your risk of death from heart attacks, strokes, and other common diseases. But the same research also shows that these benefits top off at 4.5 hours a week, meaning there's no need to run for hours each day.
Although there are no hard and fast rules for jogging vs. running pace, most sources put the cutoff point at around 6 miles per hour. So, if you cover the equivalent of 6 miles or more in an hour (10-minute per mile pace or 30 minutes for a 5K race), then you're running; if you cover less than that, you're jogging.