With summer on the horizon and inflation putting the squeeze on Americans’ spending, people are looking for easy and free workout routines.
There’s one effective, equipment-free exercise that almost anyone can take up: Running!
Adaptable, versatile and fairly easy to start, running can help you lose weight, especially when combined with a healthy diet. TODAY spoke to two nutritionists to find the best way to combine running with diet to reach your fitness goals.
Is running an effective way to lose weight?
According to Natalie Rizzo, a New York City-based registered dietitian who works with “everyday athletes,” running is a great way to lose weight since it burns a lot of calories quickly.
“You’re burning more calories per minute” with running than you are with strength training or cycling, Rizzo said.
Kristin Kirkpatrick, a dietitian and the manager of wellness nutrition services at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, added that the amount of calories you burn running can vary based on how long or intense your workout does, and said that diet plays a huge role in making the exercise effective.
“My husband’s a trail runner, he will go out for a run and run 15 or 20 miles out in the mountains,” Kirkpatrick explained. “So that is very high intensity. If you’re doing something like that, the chances of losing weight are pretty high, but if you’re just someone who walks out the front door and runs three miles, that might not be enough for weight loss if your diet is still lousy.”
“One of the main goals, when it comes to weight loss, is that you want to burn calories,” Rizzo explained. “That has to go hand in hand with good nutrition.”
Running + a healthy diet = weight loss
The problem with suddenly increasing the amount of exercise you do, Rizzo said, is that people frequently think they are burning more calories than they are, and overcompensate when it comes to diet.
“It’s really easy to overeat,” she explained. “You’re going to feel hungry when you’re just starting to…
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