To lose 1 lb., you must displace 3,500 calories through exercise or by trimming them from your current diet. Most people do a combination of both. To lose weight by walking and running, you have many options. If you are out of shape and your goal is to become a regular runner, start with walking. As you get stronger, combine walking and running in your workouts.
Do 30 Minutes of Cardio, Five Days Weekly
Cardio is important for weight loss because it increases your metabolism --- the rate at which your body burns calories. Healthy adults need at least 30 minutes of cardio, five days a week, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. To lose weight, it says you might need 60 to 90 minutes. If you weigh 160 lb. and walked for an hour at a pace of about 3.5 mph, you'd burn about 277 calories, according to MayoClinic.com.
Lose Weight with Short Bouts
If you are deconditioned, start with short bouts of walking to get back your cardio fitness. All cardio relies on a fit heart muscle to sustain vigorous exercise long enough to lose weight. Begin with 10 minutes of brisk walking, once or twice a day, five days a week. In a study published in the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition," short bouts of exercise, when combined with a restricted-calorie diet, helped overweight college women lose weight in 12 weeks. Three groups of women did either three 10-minute bouts of exercise a day, two 15-minute bouts a day or one 30-minute workout a day; all lost weight.
Transition to Jogging
After you can comfortably walk briskly for 30 minutes, five times a week, whether in short bouts or one longer workout, transition to jogging at 5 mph. Start with 10 minutes of walking and five to 10 minutes of jogging and 10 minutes of walking to cool down. Gradually reduce your walking time and increase the jogging time for three months. For example, by the second month, you might be able to walk for five minutes, jog 20 minutes and walk five minutes. By the third month, you will probably will be able to jog 30 minutes. If you were to jog at 5 mph for an hour, you'd burn 584 calories if you weighed 160 lb., according to MayoClinic.com.
Running Workouts
After you can easily sustain 30 minutes of jogging, boost your speed to about 8 mph. As you did with the walking to jogging workouts, now begin with jogging for 10 minutes and run at faster clip for 10 minutes and jog for 10 minutes to cool down. Each week, gradually increase the running time for the next three months. If you remain consistent, you will be running at 8 mph --- if not faster --- for 30 minutes, five times a week. Were you to run at 8 mph for an hour, you'd burn about 986 calories, if you weighed 160 lb., according to MayoClinic.com. Remember that by walking alone, even for 10 minutes, three times daily, you can lose weight; you don't have to jog or run but if you do, you burn more calories.
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