What's your views on jogging pls?

[Madison]

Hi,
I will be on the Dukan path 2 weeks this Sunday. Lost 5 lbs in Attack and haven't weighed self since then but will this Sunday, fingers crossed for a good result as have been 100% focussed and saintly I started training with a group a week ago to do the Couch 2 10K jog. I must be the laziest person going and up till I started the Dukan diet my form of excercise would've been window shopping on my lunchbreak. Anyhow, the jogging's going really well so far. Last night someone asked the trainer - if we will lose weight. She said not to go by the scales but by our clothes as she has had people in the past that after a few weeks training actually gain a few pounds. She went on to say how muscle weighs heavier than fat... Now, I've heard this many times before in the past and was wondering what your views are on it. In my opinion, and I aint no scientist or fitness expert but surely a pound is a pound, whether it's muscle or fat. Don't get me wrong, I'm longing for the day when I can get back into my smaller clothes but I'm also one of those people who love to see the number on those pesky scales drop at a steady rate. Would love to hear your ideas and sorry for long winded post!

 

[louschu]

I started the c25k in January last year. I too had a big aversion to exercise but really got into running and run whenever I can even on holiday I'm so addicted now and it's all thanks to c25k. As for weightloss I don't think it made me lose any weight at all as I lost the same amount of weight whether I ran or not but it definitely helped me tone up and now helps me maintain my weight. I'm also much fitter and healthier. I also believe that a pound is a pound and ' muscle is heavier than fat' is total rubbish

 

[anjuschka]

I completely agree with Lou. A pound is a pound, and it's badly expressed that way: what they mean is that a pound of fat takes more space / is more wobbly / than a pound of muscle. Some of your fat may 'turn into' muscle as you build and strengthen your muscles to carry out the new activity, so measuring circumference/dimensions rather than weight is a much better indicator of improvement in this case!

I also started the c25k last summer and I now still run ~15k every week, spread over 3 sessions. I started running about a year after I reached my target so I can't comment on weightloss specifically, I'm just using it to keep some activity in my otherwise very sedentary life, and I hope it allows me to offset the odd chocolate biscuit.

What you will find is that in time you will get fitter - being able to do physical exertion without being out of breath - in my case I can quickly dash home if we forgot something for school, and not be out of breath, and I'm no longer out of breath when cycling up a hill.

And there are of course unseen health benefits associated with any kind of activity, so well done on starting, and keep it up, at your own pace. But the running alone will not make you lose weight unless you also switch to a healthy diet etc - which you already have.

Re: the numbers on the scales - they will not always drop at a steady rate, even for saintly dukanners. In my case (and I was not running), they would always stick, even go up for 5 days and then record a big drop. I still managed ~2lb per week but it was in zig-zag steps rather than steady down every day. Don't let that fool you - if you know you have followed the rules (and come back here if you have any questions or problems), the weight will drop in the long run (sorry bad pun!)

 

[Madison]

Thank you both for your encouraging replies and well done on your your weight losses. You've both done fantastically well. To be honest, I'm really surprised that I'm able to jog at all without falling over in a heap. I can't wait for the next few weeks and see my fitness level improving. If I could just kick the dirty habit that smoking is I'd be so happy. Tried to do it after Christmas whilst faffing around with weight watchers, failed epically at both after 3 weeks. I think maybe trying to do too many things all at once is not a good idea for me!! So Dukan and jogging it is more the moment..thanks again.