Can you Run Away From Fat?

Every day I go to the gym I see dozens of people running on treadmills. Some of them are running from the moment I arrive until the time I leave. I always wonder if these people are running because they really like running, or if they are running in hopes of burning off body fat.

My guess is most of them are interested in fat loss, and only a small portion of them are actually doing it simply because they like running. Unfortunately for these people running is not a very effective way of burning fat. Let me explain.

No matter if you walk or run your body burns the same number of calories per kilometer that you travel. You actually burn one calorie per kg of bodyweight per kilometer.

1 calorie x kg bodyweight x kilometer = total calories burned

Let’s say you are a 200lb man, and you went for a 5 kilometer run/walk. You would burn off about 450 calories during this exercise, for arguments sake let’s also say it took you 1 hour.

The calculation looks like this:

1 calorie x 90 kilograms bodyweight x 5 kilometers = 450 calories

There are two catches to this.

First catch: you will only burn this many calories if you weigh 200lbs. If you weigh 150lbs you will only burn 340 calories over a 5 kilometer run/walk.

Second catch: This total number of calories is not over and above your resting metabolic rate.

In this example the 200lb man probably has a resting metabolic rate of about 90 calories per hour. So even if he didn’t go for this 5 kilometer run/walk he would have still burned off 90 calories during that hour.

This means his total EXTRA calories burned from this hour of exercise is actually 450cal – 90cals.

So his total number of EXTRA calories burned for the day is only 360 calories.

When it comes to exercise I know there is an old saying that “every little bit counts”. But wow every bit really does seem LITTLE when you really get down to measuring it like this!

The bottom line is you can never out run and bad diet and overeating. If you truly want to lose weight and burn fat you must find a style of eating that allows you to eat less food and enjoy the food you eat. Eat Stop Eat is just that. A nutrition plan that allows you to eat the foods you like while losing fat.

If you want to run on the treadmill too, more power to you. But don’t expect it to replace the fat burning results of an effective nutrition program. Instead combine it with a good program and watch the fat melt off your body.