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Running is a great way of staying fit and healthy. It also burns a lot of calories, so it can help in a weight loss program. Running burns more calories per mile than walking (about 0.75 calories/pound body weight running compared with 0.63 walking) [1]<ref name="calories"/>. Running also covers more miles in a given time than walking, so the rate of calorie burn for a given time is even higher. Great, eh?
Not so fast. The problem is that weight lost is about the balance of calories burned compared with calories consumed. Eat more than you burn to put on weight, Burn more than you eat to lose weight. That's the simple, if harsh, reality of weight loss. Everything else is about boosting the burn or limiting the intake. If you burn more calories, the body will tend to react with an increased appetite. I can run 100 miles a week and put on weight. I know this because it's happened.
As an aside, some people walk (lower intensity) rather than run (high intensity) because walking burns a higher percentage of the calories from fat. It sounds appealing, but there are two problems. Firstly, it is the total calories that count, not if they come from fat or carbohydrates [2]<ref name="myths"/>. Secondly, though walking burns a higher percentage of calories from fat than running, in terms of the absolute number of calories from fat, running is higher [2]<ref name="myths"/>. If anyone is interested, I can post some tips on ==Insulin Sensitivity==Probably the biggest benefit to weight loss, which from exercise is sort of related the [[Muscle|muscle]]'s increased sensitivity to runninginsulin. But This means that the key take away is that diet is important calories you eat get used to replenish the [[Glycogen]] in the muscles and to weight lossbuild new muscle, even if you do rather than being stored as fat. See [[Nutrient Timing]] for more exercisedetails. [1]How many ==References==<references><ref name="calories are you really burning?[">http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html http://www.runnersworld.com/articleHow many calories are you really burning?</0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html]ref>[2]Busting the Great Myths of Fat Burning[<ref name="myths">http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/busting-the-great-myths-of-fat-burning.html http:Busting the Great Myths of Fat Burning</ref></www.dummies.com/how-to/content/busting-the-great-myths-of-fat-burning.html]references>