Whenever we hear of people wanting to lose weight/ lose fats, others' advices to them would either be dieting or running. Running is, probably, most common advice given to people who desire to see a weight loss. Truly, how effective is running in reducing weight/ fats?
Losing fats is simply about expending more energy than the intake. Metabolism is the answer to long-term effective fat loss. The higher the metabolism, the higher the rate at which energy is being expended. Dieting, which reduces calories intake, will actually cause our body to store more fats for energy. It results in a drop in metabolism. Muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in our bodies. Thus, in order to increase metabolism, one good effective way is to increase the muscle mass in our bodies. This will in turn increase our bodies' ability to burn calories at a faster rate.
Then what about running? We often hear that by running long distance and for a longer period of time, our bodies will burn fats. Yes, it is true that a higher percentage of fats as compared to carbohydrates will be burned when we do aerobic training. However, as we look at the absolute value, the amount of calories burned is actually lesser than that of resistance training. Also, our bodies are very quick to adapt. If we continue to run for the same distance and pace, our bodies will adapt and become efficient in carrying out this activity. Lesser energy will be required; lesser calories will be burned. Lastly, running actually breaks down muscle mass. With lesser muscle mass, our ability to burn calories reduces.
As mentioned, we should increase muscle mass to raise our metabolism and this can be achieved by doing resistance training. Resistance training requires our bodies to overcome resistance (weights). It helps to build strength and muscle mass. Our bodies continue to burn energy even after a session of resistance training due to the temporary elevation in metabolism. While we are resting, our bodies operate mainly in the aerobic system. When our metablism is increased, our bodies naturally burn energy at a higer rate even when we are not doing any cardio training.
With that, I better start doing more resistance training!
