You can lose weight and increase running distance by maintaining a balance between your food consumption and exercise. Reduce your daily calories just a bit to maintain enough energy for your running workouts. You can do another form of aerobic training to maintain capacity and decrease the strain of running one day a week. This reduces your risk of injury and improves your chances of maintaining a running program. Start with 5 to 10 minutes of a walk-and-run warm-up, then a quick stretch before every run.
Nutritional Strategies
Step 1
Eat breakfast to prevent overeating later in the day and increase your energy level to complete your runs. Eat five small meals per day, which you prepare at home, and keep track of your calories. Ensure that less than 30 percent of your daily calories come from fat, according to "Health & Fitness Journal."
Step 2
Consume 500 to 1,000 fewer calories every day to lose weight, according to the American College of Sports Medicine Certified News.
Step 3
Get 18 mg of iron a day if you are a woman and younger than age 50; if you are a woman age 50 and older, eat 8 mg of iron per day, according to "Health & Fitness Journal." Consume 8 mg of iron if you are a man, regardless of age. A lack of iron decreases the amount of energy your body produces and, therefore, decreases your running capacity.
Running Program
Step 1
Walk for three minutes, then run for 1 minute, completing a half-mile on Mondays. Stretch your muscles after your run, holding each stretch for 15 to 30 seconds to improve your range of motion and your performance at subsequent runs, according to "Health & Fitness Journal."
Step 2
Run at a light-to-moderate intensity for as long as you can before walking for 1 minute on Tuesdays. Maintain a running pace where you can comfortably talk aloud to yourself or a running partner, according to "Health & Fitness Journal." Run again for as long as you can, then walk, totaling 1 mile.
Step 3
Take Wednesdays off to give your body a day to recover.
Step 4
Change your run and walk interval to a walk for two minutes and run for two minutes, totaling 1 mile on Thursdays. Go for a swim, a bicycle ride or use the rowing machine on Fridays.
Step 5
Run for one minute longer than you did earlier in the week before taking a walk break on Saturdays; continue this long run with a one minute short walk break until you have completed 1¼ miles. Maintain a low-to-moderate intensity so you can run farther, burning more fat to lose weight. Take Sundays off to rest.
Tips and Warnings
- For subsequent weeks, increase the distance of every run by a quarter-mile to a half-mile, totaling no more than a 10 percent increase per week, according to Peterson.
- Check with your doctor to ensure it is safe for you to begin a running and weight-loss program.
Things You'll Need
- Paper
- Pencil
References
- "Health & Fitness Journal"; Keeping the Weight Off; Melinda Manore, Ph.D., R.D.; May/June 2004
- ACSM's Certified News: Nutrition Tips for Health and Athletic Performance
- "Health & Fitness Journal"; Iron Deficiency in Physically Active Adults; Pamela Hinton, Ph. D.; September/October 2006
- "ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal"; Exercise Equipment: Assessing the Advertised Claims; David Swain, Ph.D.; September/October 2009
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