Running and Weight Loss (or lack thereof) Explained

I am a runner, and at this point running became a part of my personality, something that I need to do to maintain my sanity.
I ran for almost 10 years. I completed numerous half-marathongs.

I could never lose any weight while running!

I ran 20-25 miles a week, added biking to it, all to no avail. I was still carying a spare tire around my waist. My weight stayed at the same level.
Running half-marathons sure gave me the runners high, but never made me feel good in a dressing room.

It was a kind of rediculous situation.

Dissatisfied with it, I've started Slim in 6 in November of 2007, and I put my running on hold. Now I run very little - I call it maintenance runs - and focus instead in BeachBody programs and diet.

In other words - Slim in 6 got the magic formula (see the previous post "Slim in 6 Explained").

When I go to the park where I live I see a lot of people doing aerobic exercise, especially women. I think that Team in training and other charitable walk-a-thons and initiatives and literature about the benefits of the aerobic activity must be having an effect on the health-conscious population. But when I think on my experience and that of the runners I know who remain unable to lose weight, I scratch my head and reach out to science for the explanation

Here's the exserpt from Christian Finn, TheFactsAboutFitness.Com explaines this phenomenon:

"Aerobic exercise has a small effect on the rate of fat loss
Some answers come from a recent review of several hundred weight loss studies, conducted by Dr Wayne Miller and colleagues at The George Washington University Medical Centre (Miller et al.,1997). The team examined 493 studies carried out between 1969 and 1994. Miller and his associates wanted to determine whether the addition of aerobic exercise to a restricted calorie diet accelerated weight loss. Twenty-five years of weight loss research showed that diet and aerobic exercise provides only a very marginal benefit (in terms of weight loss) when compared to diet alone.
TABLE 1. Average weight loss over a 15-week period
Method Weight Loss
Aerobic exercise 3.3kg (7.3lb)
Restricted calorie diet 7.8kg (17.2lb)
Exercise and diet 9kg (19.8lb)

This is not the only research to cast doubt over the effectiveness of moderate aerobic exercise. A study completed at Appalachian State University also showed little effect on body composition over a 12-week period (Utter et al 1998).
The research team assigned a group of 91 obese women to one of four groups. Group one followed a restricted calorie diet (1,200 - 1,300 calories per day), group two performed moderate aerobic exercise for 45 minutes, five days each week, while a third group combined the exercise and diet programme. The fourth group acted as controls.
TABLE 2. Fat loss following a 12-week programme of diet and exercise
Method Weight Loss
Aerobic exercise 1.3kg (2.9lb)
Restricted calorie diet 6.8kg (15lb)
Exercise and diet 7.2kg (15.8lb)

"Moderate aerobic exercise training," says Alan Utter, the researcher leading the study, "has a minor, nonsignificant effect on fat mass."
Despite the popular support for aerobic training, it does not appear to significantly accelerate fat loss, even when combined with a low calorie diet. When performed without restricting calories, moderate aerobic exercise has only a very small effect on body fat levels.
Why moderate aerobic exercise is so ineffective
This isn't surprising when you consider how many calories are contained in a pound of fat. Each pound of fat contains the equivalent of approximately 3,555 calories (McArdle et al., 1991).
The most fundamental aspect of any fat loss programme is to create a caloric deficit - to expend more calories than are consumed. Unfortunately, moderate aerobic exercise has only a moderate caloric requirement - around 187 calories per session (Utter et al., 1998). Based on this estimate, it could take up to 19 moderate aerobic workouts to lose just 0.45kg (1lb) of fat.
This might come as a surprise to those of you using the calorie counters on exercise machines to monitor energy expenditure during a workout. Unfortunately, these digital readouts are not always accurate. The most reliable way to assess energy expenditure during exercise is to measure oxygen consumption. Each litre of oxygen that you consume generates approximately five calories of energy. For example, if you were to exercise for 30 minutes and consume 30 litres of oxygen, you would have expended approximately 150 calories (five calories x 30 litres). Without directly measuring oxygen consumption, it's difficult to establish an accurate estimate of energy expenditure during a workout.
A second factor affecting the reliability of calorie counters is the difference between net and gross energy expenditure. Gross energy expenditure refers to the energy cost of exercise plus the metabolic rate. Net energy expenditure refers to just the energy cost of exercise. Calorie counters often display gross energy expenditure - so they don't accurately represent the additional energy that is used during exercise. In fact, during a 45 minute workout, net and gross energy expenditure can differ by almost 30% (Utter et al., 1998). The moral? Don't always believe what the machine tells you.
Another popular misconception is the idea that aerobic exercise increases caloric expenditure AFTER a bout of exercise, thus making a further contribution to fat loss. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (the name given to the increase in caloric expenditure following a workout) is more likely to occur after high intensity exercise. Moderate aerobic exercise has very little effect on post-exercise metabolic rate (Sjodin et al., 1996). Furthermore, when an increase in physical activity results in a caloric deficit (as would occur with diet and exercise), there is evidence to show that the metabolic rate does not rise at all (Sjodin et al., 1996)."
The author goes on to say that aerobic exercise has it's benefits: it reduces the risk of gaining weight and can promotes healthier patterns of eating.
But if you found this page chances are it is because you see that I was successful in LOSING weight and that's what you want to do as well. In that case BeachBody products (like Slim in 6) are your answer! Happy losing!