Running for weight loss – yea or nay?1

The new year is here and with that comes New Year’s resolutions. Unless things have changed,I would say that weight loss is at the top of many lists. When deciding how to go about this endeavor most people know that eating better coupled with exercise is the sensible and lasting approach.

In addition to diet, cardiovascular exercise is typically how most people attempt to lose weight.  You hit the gym to get on the elliptical, exercise bike, treadmill or perhaps you start running.  A few months later, if you have managed to get past two weeks, and you are lucky, you may have dropped five pounds. Determined, you figure that you probably just need to do more. So now you are doing cardio five times a week for one hour a day. A month later you are only down that initial five pounds and in fact, it seems the scale is heading upward a little. Do more cardio, right? I’d say no. And here is why. (more…)