Is Jogging Harmful to losing Weight and Fitness? 

How jogging make you lose weight?

On a Sunday morning, you're more likely to encounter runners than landscapes if you drive down any picturesque route. You could be envious of how athletic and lively they seem. You might even experience a tinge of remorse as you glance down at the box of doughnuts on the seat next to you, which was your reason for being out this gorgeous morning.

But are your sentiments of resentment and embarrassment justified? Should it be you out there in high-end stylish running gear jogging to lose weight and become in shape? After careful consideration, we believe you will agree that the proper response is NO; that should not be you. Why?

Because jogging is detrimental to weight reduction and fitness.

While you should undoubtedly explore strategies to reduce weight and get in shape, millions of individuals are doing more damage than good by selecting jogging as their form of exercise. Can millions of people be mistaken? So, take a doughnut, read on, and make your own decision.

FIRST, A COUPLE OF DEFINITIONS 

Okay, let's define who we're talking about and what we're talking about:

JOGGER - A person who runs for one hour at a speed of five miles per hour during an exercise session (12 minutes per mile). Because many joggers run at a quicker rate. We'll also talk about "Runners" who run at an 8-mile-per-hour pace (under 8 minutes per mile). 

WEIGHT LOSS - Losing weight as measured by a scale or feeling more comfortable in your clothing. Sorry, but purchasing new, bigger clothing does not fall under this description (though it would be fantastic if it did, eh?).

Fitness: There are several definitions of fitness. We've picked one that should be of interest to most people: a person's general physical health as evaluated by their ability to effectively do a broad range of functional activities.

How jogging affects your body

WHY JOGGING IS BAD FOR WEIGHT LOSS AND FITNESS - CALORIC DEFICIT EVIDENCE

You will most likely consume more calories than you burn when jogging or running.

To lose weight as a direct consequence of this activity, our runners must make sure they do not consume more calories than the 584-986 they just expended. This is known as a "caloric deficit," It is arguably the most commonly acknowledged and confirmed way of losing weight. How plausible is that? Not at all. An hour of any activity tends to induce a fairly severe hunger later that day (which, by the way, is the worst time to consume it), much alone the sense of "entitlement" that comes with a well-executed workout. So most joggers (from now on, when I say joggers, I also mean "runners" unless otherwise specified) will go out for a good supper to reward themselves for their efforts. A meal with much more calories than they would consume if they did not exercise.

Is it really necessary to eat a large lunch to make jogging or running a net loser in terms of weight loss? The Power Bar you take before the run has 230 calories, and the bagel with cream cheese "schmear" you eat with your running group after the run has 400 or more calories. ONE fair-sized piece of pepperoni pizza you've undoubtedly earned has 400 or more calories. Suppose you decide to indulge in dessert because you ran today. In that case, any quality one will almost certainly add 500 calories or more. We won't even bring up the additional beers or glasses of wine...oh, wait, we did! So it's a safe bet that joggers and even runners will add enough calories to their meals on activity days to outeat what they just burnt, which will result in a net caloric (as in WEIGHT) GAIN at best and a net caloric (as in WEIGHT) GAIN at worst.

But we're not going to stop there. What about the days when you don't jog? How many individuals are self-disciplined enough to limit their meals since they won't burn those extra calories? More often than not, you'll hear them say, "I'll run this off tomorrow," as they return for seconds on the spaghetti. As a result, the increase in calories induced by jogging on training days now translates to more calories on non-workout days, resulting in even greater weight gain. We claim that this is how MOST individuals regulate their food, implying that most runners gain weight due to their running efforts.

To be fair, a select few individuals control their calories more successfully than those described above—we call them "The 2 percent club": The 2% of persons who effectively follow a low-calorie diet. While the 2% of club members may produce a calorie deficit by jogging, it will not be a big deficit. More importantly, the 2% club members DON'T NEED TO JOG TO LOSE WEIGHT BECAUSE THEY ARE DIETING SUCCESSFULLY!

CATABOLISM OF MUSCLE 

Jogging causes muscle loss, particularly since it does not use your upper body in any significant manner. A "catabolic state" is a condition in which your body burns protein to meet its nutritional requirements. A catabolic condition is one you want to avoid since it indicates you're burning muscle to generate energy for your workouts. However, joggers and runners put their bodies in this condition every exercise.

When you jog, you use your leg muscles, which causes them to develop stronger. That's great, but running for an hour requires your body to get energy, and low-intensity sports like jogging for an hour will need your body to access energy from all potential sources, including fat and muscle. Here's a basic question: How can running help your upper body? The simple answer is NOTHING. So, in addition to the fat you want to burn, your body is burning muscle to provide energy for your running sessions. And where is this muscle most likely to "catabolize"? It comes from your upper body, where it isn't employed and isn't required.

And although jogging might help you build stronger legs, a weak upper body is detrimental to fitness, as outlined at the beginning of this post. This is one example of how jogging may be detrimental to your fitness. There will be more to come. Most joggers and runners begin practicing upper body resistance exercises such as weight lifting to avoid muscle catabolism. That's a great concept, but it's not exactly running for fitness, is it? No, you have to perform MORE exercise to compensate for the negative consequences of jogging! Furthermore, studies show that every pound of muscle on your body requires 3 to 10 times more calories to sustain than fat, thus permitting any muscle catabolism means you are decreasing your metabolism throughout the day. Slower metabolism does not seem beneficial to either weight reduction or fitness, does it? 

Again, the devil's advocate will claim that joggers may minimize muscle catabolism without supplementary exercise by employing Target Heart Rate Training. Essentially, this is exercising at a pace slower than your "target" heart rate to promote greater fat burning. So we're jogging slower now, which means we're burning fewer calories, which is bad for our caloric deficit. This makes losing weight much more difficult. We're now perplexed. What is the most efficient technique to resume jogging? Do we jog faster to burn more calories or slower to save muscle? 

RESPONSE TO ADAPTIVITY 

Your body will soon adjust to the difficulty of jogging, making it increasingly more difficult to shed weight or get more fit. When your body adjusts to jogging, you enter a "death spiral" in which you need to run farther, faster, or both to experience any additional progress. Adaptive response is just a fancy way of expressing that your body will do its best to adapt to whatever amount of activity you are doing. It will "adjust." This is why it is much simpler to finish the one-hour jog after doing it ten times than it is the first time.

However, when it comes to losing weight, an adaptive reaction is precisely what you don't want. It indicates your body has progressed to the point where jogging is no longer a problem. Since you can now tackle the work at hand, there is no need to lose any more fat or gain any more muscle. Furthermore, your metabolism has a similar adaptive reaction. You'll be performing the same workout, but the metabolic advantages you are receiving will diminish as you grow better at it. This scenario might be described as a "plateau." As adaptive response reduces the effectiveness of your runs in terms of fitness, metabolism, and weight loss, joggers are left with two options: run faster or run further to provide your body with a new obstacle that it must overcome to adapt. Running faster or further isn't always a negative thing. Still, it greatly raises your risks of injury and makes it difficult to do an efficient exercise. It's also HARD. A significantly more difficult jog (or run) that lasts much longer increases your chances of abandoning your jogging regimen. And if you stop running because it becomes too difficult to see benefits, you are in danger of gaining considerable weight unless you follow an even more stringent diet.

Bottom line, your adaptive response to jogging has a positive aspect in that it is good for your ability to jog (but not necessarily for your overall fitness—see PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS), but it is BAD for your weight loss efforts because it creates a never-ending "death spiral" of harder, longer jogs or harder, faster runs that most people will struggle to maintain due to injury or lack of motivation. 

INJURIES AND OTHER HEALTH CONTROVERSIES 

Jogging's repeated action over lengthy periods of time increases the likelihood of joint injury. Other injury and health risks stem from the aforementioned adaptive response death spiral, as well as jogging in traffic and in bad weather. The pavement is rough and harsh. Your legs were hammering against it for hundreds of steps every running session may create significant acute and long-term joint and muscle damage. Sure, there are decent running shoes that may assist avoid injuries, but you're going to hurt a knee, ankle, or, worse, a hip when jogging at some point. There's also the problem of running on roads with cars, which has been known to result in significant injury or even death. That cannot be seen as a benefit for joggers.

And, owing to muscular exhaustion, the sheer duration of jogging, a repeated action for a whole hour, raises the risk of a number of ailments such as shin splints or a variety of foot issues compared to shorter types of exercise. There's more to it. The health and safety risks of jogging in bad weather must be considered. Running in excessive heat or cold, rain, snow, or, worst of all, slippery weather dramatically raises the chance of injury or sickness, which may cause you to skip sessions for a short period of time or worse. Of fact, the treadmill may help with many of these concerns, but not all of them. And many joggers insist on running outside all year. When they do, the danger of injuries and other health problems is quite real, and it should be included in any assessment of the advantages of jogging. 

EXAMPLES OF PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 

There are few practical uses for jogging. Except for additional jogging, jogging is not a useful method of training for most other hobbies. Furthermore, the loss of upper body muscle and lower body joint issues that often occur as a consequence of running might actually impair your overall fitness level. Remember our definition of fitness: a person's total physical health as assessed by their ability to execute a broad range of functional activities effectively.

That's all we can come up with. The remaining actions in the aforementioned sports, as well as many others such as skiing, tennis, and golf, need strength (both muscular and joint), the ability to move your body at full speed, and hand-eye coordination, none of which are aided by jogging. The fact that jogging has no practical uses as cross-training for any other activity renders it a waste of time, with the exception of #1 above—more jogging. This is particularly true when compared to other workout options such as strength training and intensity training. You may spend much less time training and become far more successful at a variety of different sports and hobbies. As a result, you will have more opportunities to have fun while also improving your fitness. Does improving your running abilities assist you with any other hobbies or chores you enjoy?

THE END RESULTS? 

The judgment is that jogging is a BAD activity for weight reduction and fitness, based on the overwhelming data shown above. Running at a quicker speed for an hour has certain benefits than jogging, but it is still a net negative for weight reduction and fitness when all aspects are considered.