Benefits Of Jogging For Weight Loss

Jogging is an activity that can easily be regarded as a light but impactful form of exercise. Exercising in general can help you to reduce the chances of developing major illnesses which include cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, and cancer. Exercising also increases your lifespan by 30%. 

For adults, typically between the age of 19 to 64 years old, it is advisable to do moderate exercise for at least 150 minutes per week. Moderate exercise such as jogging is recommended to be done for at least 75 minutes per week.¹

Is jogging good for weight loss?

Jogging is proven to be very beneficial for losing weight. Compared to walking, calories burned from jogging contribute to 90% of weight loss. However, to obtain a more substantial weight loss result, some form of caloric restriction can boost the process of losing weight. 

Intermittent fasting was suggested that it can help to lose weight at a faster rate. This is mainly due to a state of caloric deficit which lowers the chances of body fat accumulation. Jogging is also a great form of exercise as it may suppress your appetite which may also lower your calorie intake and promote weight loss. 

What are the benefits of jogging for weight loss?

Weight management

Jogging is a form of aerobic exercise. Aerobic activities utilize energy and calories that you consume from food. As calories are being used during your exercises, fewer calories will be converted and stored as body fat. Hence, jogging lowers your risk of body fat accumulation, ultimately sustaining your weight at a healthy range.

Protect you from heart diseases and strokes 

Frequent aerobic activities such as jogging can improve and help your heart muscles to become stronger and ensure constant low blood pressure. It can also minimize the risk of you developing heart diseases and strokes. 

This is because jogging improves your cholesterol level by increasing the amount of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (the ‘good’ cholesterol) and removing low-density lipoprotein (the ‘bad’ cholesterol).

Prevent degenerative diseases

Jogging every week for half an hour can even prevent you from developing chronic degenerative diseases including type 2 diabetes mellitus, certain types of cancers, anxiety disorder, major depression disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, or even dementia. A study suggested that jogging and exercising regularly can help to improve symptoms of depression.

Conserve bone strength

Jogging paired with small weight training such as lifting can further improve the strength of your bones and ensure your bones always stay strong. Upholding maximum bone strength and bone density is beneficial to prevent the progression of bone diseases such as osteoporosis.²

How often should you jog to lose weight?

It was suggested by experts that adults are required to do any type of moderate-intensity physical activity such as jogging for at least 150 minutes which is equivalent to 2 ½ hours a week. You do not have to do it everyday. 

Spreading your exercise across a few days is sufficient enough to see changes in weight. If you start jogging 3 days a week alternately and consistently, you will feel that your health is instantly improving. This will also lower your risk of sustaining an injury, be more energetic, and prevent yourself from being overweight. 

You will reap more benefits if you decide to exercise more frequently. Jogging for at least 300 minutes across a week instead of the recommended 150 minutes can even decrease your risks for cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes respectively. Furthermore, jogging beyond 300 minutes per week was shown to be able to minimize your chances of developing several cancer types.

For optimum benefits, you should pair jogging with muscle-strengthening exercises such as weight lifting and exercising using resistance bands for a minimum of 2 days a week. This will help to enhance your muscle definition as well as promote the use of fat storage as energy during exercise.² 

Walking vs jogging - which will help you lose weight faster?

The biggest difference between walking and jogging is the amount of calories burnt. Although yes, the amount of calories burned is dependent on the type of physical activity that you do as well as your body weight, however, jogging burns more calories than walking. 

On average, a 70 kg healthy adult can burn up to 600 calories an hour if they are jogging at a constant 5 mph pace. Walking at a lower speed on the other hand will only let you burn half of the calories per hour. Therefore, you are more likely to lose weight faster as you burn and utilize more body fat by jogging. 

As you can already notice, walking, compared to jogging, is a lower-impact activity. Jogging puts a lot of pressure and stress on the soles of your feet as well as the joints along your legs. The more pressure you exert while exercising, the more calories you will burn.

It was suggested that to maximise fat-burning activity, you have to reach 70% of your heart rate. Jogging can help to increase your heart rate faster which ultimately allows you to use more calories and burn more body fat essentially making you lose weight faster than walking.

A study demonstrated that jogging or running can help you to lose weight 90% more compared to walking.³ It was also suggested that jogging or running reduces your appetite predominantly during and right after your exercise. This is very beneficial as the best way to lose weight is by practising periods of fasting, caloric restrictions, and diet control. As jogging suppresses your cravings for food, fundamentally, it makes it a lot easier for you to lose weight. 

However, although jogging reaps more benefits towards losing weight does not mean walking is forbidden. Walking too promotes weight loss. Walking can be as effective as jogging if you lower your calorie intake and increase your caloric restrictions. 

What are the things to avoid during jogging for faster weight loss?

Avoid skipping meals 

It is always very important to have regular meal times and eat a healthy and balanced diet. Eating at normal times will help you to burn calories faster during the day and lower your temptations to eat snacks especially those containing high fat and sugar content. If you pair regular meals with jogging, you are more likely to burn a higher amount of calories which eventually leads to weight loss.⁴ 

Food banning

It is not advisable for you to ban your favourite food while jogging, whether it be a classic peanut butter cookie or a fresh vanilla ice cream. Banning foods, especially the ones that you enjoy the most from your diet will only make you crave it more. 

This will lead to a binge eating period which will only increase your calorie intake. The calories burned from jogging will not be nearly enough to cause a weight-loss effect and all the extra calories will be converted into body fat. 

This will eventually cause all your jogging efforts to go to waste. Therefore, as long as you are consuming food within your daily calorie allowance while maintaining a constant jogging routine, it is not a sin to enjoy all your favourite treats.⁵

Alcohol consumption

Alcohols such as wines, ciders, beers, and spirits amongst other types of alcohol contain a huge amount of calories. They are made of natural sugars and starches which amount to as much as a gram of fat, approximately 7 calories per gram. Therefore, trying to lose weight by including jogging as an exercise in your daily routine will not be as helpful if you are consuming alcohol.⁵ 

Summary

Ultimately, jogging is a well-recommended exercise for losing weight. It uses calories and prevents them from being converted into body fat. Moreover, jogging regularly helps to sustain a healthy weight and also improves overall health as it lowers the risk of developing major diseases. Jogging together with diet control and calorie restriction will further enhance your weight loss in a healthy manner. Hence, make sure you start jogging today to live a healthier life.