FRUSTRATED THAT RUNNING DOESN’T SEEM TO BE SHIFTING THOSE POUNDS? YOU CAN EASILY GAIN WEIGHT AS A REGULAR RUNNER, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE THAT

WORDS: CHRISTINA MACDONALD

Running is one of the best forms of exercise for burning calories. It can burn around 10 to 15 calories per minute depending on your age, weight, fitness level and the intensity of your run. When I first started running, I was amazed by how quickly the pounds fell off. But then the weight stopped coming off and a few pounds began to creep back on, even though I was still running regularly.

Professor John Brewer, head of applied sports science at St Mary’s University (stmarys.ac.uk) and author of Run Smart (£12.99, Bloomsbury), warns against relying solely on scales. “Runners burn on average around 100-120 calories per mile, which raises energy output for the day”, he says. “So long as extra food isn’t eaten to compensate, the pounds will start to drop off, but because people sweat and lose fluid when they run, weight loss in the early stages can seem quite dramatic. The reality is that some of this is related to short-term fluid loss, rather than long-term loss of body fat.”

COMPLACENT ABOUT FOOD

In my case, it was more than just fluid loss. I lost body fat, but I became complacent. “It’s easy to overcompensate for the calories burnt through running”, says Laura Tilt, an ambassador for sportsshoes.com and a registered dietitian.