Let’s face it, running for weight loss is one of the main reasons to begin running. Running is one of the simplest, most basic aerobic exercises there is. It takes minimal equipment (good running shoes and comfortable clothes), a little bit of determination to run consistently (3 to 4 times a week), and some open space. How simple could it be? Not so fast, running by itself will help you to “control” your weight, but true weight loss will take more planning.

Don’t panic! It is not as bad as it sounds. One of the biggest mistakes made by those that are running to lose weight (or any exercise for that matter) is the idea “I’m exercising so I can eat whatever I want”. While it is true that because of the higher activity level your body will require more fuel (food) to maintain the new, higher level of activity, you can’t eat whatever you want, whenever you want. Here are 8 tips that will help you not only control your food intake, but also feed your body what it needs to keep running, and best of all, not feel hungry all of the time. This will take some time, about 12 weeks, and self-discipline, but you’ve already committed to running regularly so this next step won’t be a big burden.

Tip 1: Keep a really good food log. Write down what you eat and when you eat it every day for at least a week. Make it detailed, include where, when, how much and what you were feeling at that time. This gives you a picture of your eating habits. From this you can start making healthier choices of food and see when you are “grazing” or “binge eating”. Once you recognize the problem you can start to fix it. Repeat this on the fourth, eighth and twelfth weeks of your training and look at the difference!

Tip 2: Measure what you eat. Fill a bowl with cereal, the amount you would normally eat, then use a measuring cup and actually measure out a “serving”, the serving size on the box. Do you see the difference? We tend to measure with our eyes and we’re terrible at judging portions. A study by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine found that people would serve themselves up to 53% more ice cream if they were given a bigger bowl and a bigger scoop. This may seem like a pain but it is important to re-train our eyes to see proper serving sizes. Do this awhile, and after a few weeks this will be a new habit.

Tip 3: Eat more protein. This is essential in keeping your muscles strong and preserving lean muscle mass. Protein takes more effort to digest and keeps the hunger pangs away. A runner needs 0.5 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. That means that a 150 pound person needs 75 grams of good quality protein every day. Make sure that this is eaten throughout the day. Don’t just pound down a steak at night and then go to sleep!

Tip 4: Make your meals colorful. Meals are not supposed to be just brown and white. Pack your meals with fruits and vegetables. They are full of vitamins, minerals and fiber. All of these are key to helping you slim down and still feel full.

Tip 5: Stop grazing! This used to be “in vogue” but a study in the journal Obesity found that people felt fuller and more satisfied eating three meals a day instead of six smaller ones. They also found that when you are grazing you tend to eat the junk foods that aren’t beneficial to weight loss. “Cows graze, people don’t!”

Tip 6: Plan your meals for the week. You don’t have to have a rigid menu for each day, but this helps you to look forward to your meals, makes shopping much more efficient and it gives you control over the foods you are eating. Eating out, eating fast food or getting take out food, causes you to lose that control. Making a plan will take very little time, less than an hour each weekend. To help with the process there are websites that will give you recipe suggestions, use these to help you plan your menu for the week, then they will produce the shopping list for you! What could be easier?

Tip 7: Take your time eating. A 2008 study in the British Medical Journal found that people who eat quickly and eat until they are full are three times more likely to overeat than those that eat slowly. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for the signal in your stomach to tell your brain, “I’m full!” So slow down and enjoy your meal, you’ve earned it because of that great run you’ve just had!

Tip 8: Don’t rush the weight loss. This is critical! If you deprive yourself and cut your calories way back you’ll lose weight but you will get into the “yo-yo cycle” of weight loss, and you will gain it right back when you eat normally again. There are no quick fixes, no miracle cures. You are changing your lifestyle forever. Keep in mind that since you put the weight on slowly, it has to come off slowly, there is no need to rush, you’ve got a lifetime of health in front of you!

Julie Kellogg is a blog writer and running enthusiast. For more information on how you too can begin running for weight loss Run Your Butt Off program, visit this link. http://runyourbuttoffreview.blogspot.com/

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Sounds simple doesn’t it? This centuries old problem is just as simple or as hard as you make of it. I’m going to give you some tried and true principles that really do work. They’ve been working for me for the last twenty years. This is when I decided to tackle my weight problem. Constancy is the trick. Follow through with the program throughout your whole life and you should live as long as Buster Martin the 101 year old marathon runner.

To lose weight you must burn up more calories than your taking in everyday. Once you finally do get to your target goal weight where you want to stay, then you can back off a little on your daily running. Maintain three to four days a week should keep you in great shape. If your racing though, you’ll need to run more.

The second part of the equation of weight loss is by watching what you eat. By running daily and watching your calorie intake then you just about can guarantee your going to lose weight. If you don’t loss weight then the problem can narrowed down to a couple of things. Either your not running enough or your taking in too many calories everyday.

What is a normal amount of calories that one can eat every day? That’s entirely upon you as an individual. Some people regard 2,000 calories a day is a normal amount of calories. Of coarse depending on your amount of activities you do everyday–adjust from there. It’s best to eat five or more small amounts of meals a throughout the day. Some call it grazing.

To tell you the truth I’ve been a vegetarian since the 70′s. It’s only been in recent years that I’ve went to a raw food diet. As much as possible anyway. More accurately I’m able to stay on it at a 90% on 10% not throughout the month. I believe the closer you can keep what you eat in it’s most natural raw state is the best way to go!

If you haven’t been running at all, then you must start with a walk-run program in the beginning. Each week increase the distance your running and decrease the time your resting during your walking periods. A good place to start is by simply walk-running around your city block. By the end of your first month, all your walking should be fazed out. At this point with the running you’ll start burning more calories everyday. Good for you!

Each month you can add another mile to your long run day. This will build life long health benefits that your body will bank. This will build long-term endurance. The whole basis of a runner’s body is to continue to grow more and more capillaries with a heart strong and fearless! Oxygen will flow freely into all your newly formed muscle cells. A dynamic body will form at whatever age you may be! All under your control and command. Stick with this system of “how to lose weight by running plan” and it will work for you!

Gary Cooper is a writer/runner who reports on exercise & nutrition from a runner’s prospective. With well over 100 races behind him & 1,000′s of miles logged Gary encourages others to a make a habit of a healthier lifestyle, in this busy world we live in. He says, “You truly can renew your youthful years of strength, flexibility & vitality.” Stop by his website to learn much more!

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If you are planning on running for weight loss results in your life, then it is imperative you learn how to eat. With the combination of eating to burn fat and running or walking for at least thirty minutes a day you will change. You now stand a great chance to benefit using these things to create a calories gained, calories burned deficit to change your body. Vigorous exercise and sweating as a result can not only melt pounds off of your frame, but also add years to your life. Your heart will thank you.

Many people that run consistently are usually in very good shape. When you constantly exercise your cardiovascular system your heart becomes very strong. Cardiovascular exercise also improves your circulation which will help play a hand in improving your health. This can mean that you won’t become winded very easily.

Running alone will burn calories and help you lose weight. If you aren’t eating right and are just trying to run it off, you will not achieve the results that you seek. If you are overweight and have a considerable amount of weight to lose then you, especially, will want to adopt a new eating regimen. If you are planning to be able to use running to accelerate weight loss then you will also need to learn how to fuel your body effectively for strenuous activity. If you CAN run then you should. If you notice, the really good Olympic runners typically haven’t a ounce of fat on their bodies. This is because of how they train.

When they train they don’t eat like normal people eat. Not simply because you are hungry, but to fuel their bodies in an effort to fuel it with what is necessary. They eat enough to maintain their fuel reserves for hours of training where they will be burning more calories then a normal person would on any given day. Runner’s in particular must…well…Run! When they train, they put their legs through many strenuous drills and activities.

Walking can help in the same way but you won’t burn as many calories. Though walking is a good way to start, running should be your goal somewhere in the future. The point also is to just move. Towards a better quality of life, and a better looking body. Also of course for a stronger heart, and a longer healthy quality of life.

Discover the right eating techniques to assist and manage running weight loss effectively. To pick up free gourmet fat burning meal plans to start fighting fat with food click here

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There are many cardio workouts that don’t require any expensive gym equipment. The simplest of all is probably running on the spot, although this might quickly become boring. Skipping is the obvious alternative to this, although you do need a rope. The variety and element of skill needed to do large numbers of repetitions sets a nice challenge for improvement.

Walking (or power walking where you wave your arms like a mechanoid boxer) is another decent workout for beginners, but the real fun starts when you actually start running. This is so much easier than non-runners, or overweight hopefuls might think. The two essential keys here, when first starting out are: 1: GO SLOW. and 2. DON’T GO FAR. It is really, really important for you to gradually increase your pace and distance, and never the two at the same time. Pick a short route and run it slowly; take as long as you want. Time and weight loss are irrelevant at this stage.

The big mistake people make here is that you will feel little pain, although your breathing will be very very quickly all over the place, if you go too fast or too far. Too fast, and you will likely stop. Stopping is BAD. Too far, and you will have woeful muscle pains for the next three or four days. Either of which will demotivate you, and make you think running is hard. It is, sort of, but that’s the whole point. So, one short run, slowly; then take two days off. Your legs will let you know that this is a good idea. Day four, and the muscle ache will be almost gone, so go do it all again. Same route, same speed. The next day, your muscles will be grumbling again, but less so than before. Depending on how you feel, you can miss one or two days before doing it again. Then, no excuses, every day: same route, slow pace. Your muscles now have the idea, and this is the first real step towards cardio workout which will lead to weight loss.

Relaxing is the most important virtue, literally taking it easy as you exercise. This might sound like a strange thing to say, but if you persevere, you will find that your mind chills out and your body just moves effortlessly, stride after stride. I guess this is somewhat idealised in that you will need to gradually run and run for months and months, but it is nevertheless true. Running and relaxing are mutually inseparable. Calories will simply burn themselves as you enjoy the passing countryside, or (if you have to) watch MTV at the gym.

That isn’t really my idea of relaxing, as running in the gym is more like a ‘workout’ and as such is a chore or something to be ticked off a list. Running at sunrise, with the pheasants and rabbits and the red sun in your eyes. Now that is worth getting out of bed for. The smell of the autumn leaves or the frosty chill as you pass a river or canal; maybe a real miasma as the sun sparkles through the mist. Awesome, and all the time you’re burning calories. It’s a wonder more people don’t do it. It is just fantastic.

Ideally, you will find the distance you run easier and easier to achieve, and even find yourself ‘racing’ on occasion. This is where you have literally forgotten yourself and time and distance will have simply disappeared. Interestingly, you will find then that even a small decrease in pace will allow you to catch your breath, and that at the end of these runs, your recovery time is significantly reduced. This is the time it takes your heart rate to return to ‘normal.’ In fact, as you lose weight, and your cardiovascular system becomes more efficient, your muscles work better, you burn fat faster, you digest food more efficiently and your oxygenation goes through the roof.

It is also important to eat well when starting cardio exercises, so take a look at Fat Burning Foods for Women. Or maybe even a conventional diet plan: Super Fast Weight Loss.

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