How Much Weight Will You Lose By Jogging 2 Miles A Day?

How Much Weight Will You Lose by Jogging 2 Miles a Day?

Jun 14, 2011 | By Dom Tsui

Jogging is an effective way to burn calories and lose weight as part of a balanced and healthful lifestyle. Jogging 2 miles a day is a good start, but experts recommend developing a habit of exercising regularly and eating well for effective weight loss.

Theory

The amount of weight you lose depends on the amount of calories you burn. According to the government's Nutrition Information site, burning 3,500 calories will be enough to lose a 1 lb. The number of calories you burn depends on several factors, including the speed you jog, the terrain you jog on, how fit you are and how much you weigh.

Speed

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, if you weigh 130 lb., running at 5 mph will burn around 472 calories per hour. At that pace, you will burn around 189 calories over a distance of 2 miles. At a pace of 7-1/2 mph, you would burn 738 calories per hour, or around 197 calories over 2 miles. The figures are similar, because while you may be burning more calories over a length in time, when you run faster, you run for less time in total.

Considerations

However, this does not take into account the increase in metabolic rate that comes with intense exercise. The faster you go, the higher your metabolism will be raised. Your metabolism will take longer to return to normal, causing your body to burn more calories until it does. According to sports nutritionist John Berardi, this factor is known as afterburn.

Figures

While jogging 2 miles a day for an extended period will help you to lose weight effectively, just going for a single run will have a negligible effect on your weight. Given that you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. and that a single 2 mile jog burns roughly 200 calories, a single jog will only burn a fraction of a pound. If you jogged every day, you would burn the equivalent of 1 lb. in two and a half weeks.

Diet

While jogging for 2 miles will help you to burn calories, any weight loss you experience will also depend on what you eat. To lose 1 lb., you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you consume over a period of time, not just burn 3,500 calories. If your weight typically stays the same, then adding in routine jogs will cause you to start losing weight, so long as you don't compensate for the exercise by eating more, as is often the problem according to studies performed by the University of Louisiana and MayoClinic.com.