Fat loss through running

[erushforth]

Hi folks, my first post here, sorry for bombarding with questions! I aim to lose stomach and chin fat, I know the best way is cardio so I've taken up running every other day of the week. After about three minutes of running, I find myself out of breath, which is annoying as I've been told and read that a good run is meant to last a heck of a lot longer than that. Should I up the amount of runs I do a day or is there anything else I can do to help? I do random exercises in my home, following a book, though they're getting quite intense so I plan on carrying them on once I've lost a bit of body fat as I think that'd make them a lot easier.

Thanks for reading, hopefully I haven't come across as too annoying :D

[keithinrl]

I've been a runner for several years, and I can say that running has definitely been beneficial to my life. In the beginning, It was difficult to compete with the kids on my track team but through practice I built up to greater distances, and I'm aiming to do half marathons and marathons in the near future.

I've always heard that in the beginning if you can't stand consistently running for a long period of time, do run-walks. Alternate between a few minutes of running and either twice as long or three times as long of walking, and do this several times per workout. As you start to build endurance, lessen the ratio from 1:3 to 1:2 or from 1:2 to 1:1.5 as you get better. Eventually there will be no need to walk at all! But just make sure you don't sprint on these runs if you're trying to build up to longer runs. Sprint workouts should be done on separate days, maybe on a local track.

Hope this helps!

[erushforth]

Wow, this is very helpful, thanks a lot :D I generally run for a few minutes and once I'm out of breath I just brisk walk back home, but instead I'll run all the way home and then add six or seven minutes of walking. Thanks again, and good luck with the marathons!

[JimmyChew]

I do random exercises in my home, following a book, though they're getting quite intense so I plan on carrying them on once I've lost a bit of body fat as I think that'd make them a lot easier.

Doing workouts that seem hard will be infinitely better than doing them if/when they feel "easier". The point of doing them at all is that your body is not used to it, so forcing the body to do the hard work will force change.

I won't attempt to give advice on running, as it's nowhere near my expertise here--but I would recommend doing it after some weight training to burn extra calories and burn more fat.

Change = change

^ Meaning, you need to introduce something to the body that it's unfamiliar with in order to get results. Will running for 3 minutes every day or so promote change? Maybe to a small extent, but not likely what you're aiming for. The more you change, the more your body will change.

Hope some of this was useful, as this was an extremely truncated reply (relatively speaking) from me. ;-)

Cheers! (oh and welcome to the forums!)