Does Running Help You Lose Weight? What Science Says
Jan 9, 2026 • 14 min read
Published on January 9, 2026 | Updated on January 9, 2026
January 9, 2026
NASM Personal Trainer, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist, ACE Sports Conditioning Specialist, NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist
If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you’ve probably had this thought at least once: “Should I just start running?”
Running to lose weight looks like the obvious answer, especially when you’re frustrated with slow progress.
It’s tough to do and it makes you sweat a bunch. Even better, your watch shows a huge calorie burn.
So why isn’t the scale moving too?
If you’re like most people, maybe you tried running before and didn’t lose much. Maybe it made you ravenously hungry. Maybe your knees hurt, or you burned out after a week.
It’s confusing, and honestly, a little discouraging.
The truth is that running can help with weight loss but not in the clean, linear way many people expect.
How effective it is depends on how you run, how often you run, and what your lifestyle looks like outside your workouts.
When you understand those pieces, running becomes a tool and not a magic fix or a waste of time.
Let’s unpack what running actually does for weight loss, and how to make it work for your body, experience, and goals.
Sustainable weight loss still comes down to one basic principle: over time, you need to burn more energy than you take in.
Running is simply a very efficient way to burn a lot of energy in a short period.
Surprisingly, it may not be as much as you think.
In a study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, runners who completed moderate and vigorous-intensity workouts on a treadmill overestimated how many calories they actually burned by as much as 72%!
Fitness trackers often make this worse, since they rely on formulas rather than direct measurement.
So, the question is…
On average, many people burn around 100 calories per mile of running, though the real number depends on your weight, pace, and fitness level.
A person around 70 kg (154 lbs) might burn roughly 300 to 400 calories in a 30 minute run. The faster you run, and the higher your body weight, the more you’ll burn.
Remember that shorter runs still count.
A 20-minute easy jog might burn 200 to 250 calories, while a 60-minute moderate run can approach 600 to 800 calories for many people.
Those runs add up quickly across a week.
Your watch or app can only estimate how many calories you burn.
Since they don’t measure oxygen consumption, the most accurate method, the numbers are often inflated.
Several factors can also shift your true energy expenditure.
As your fitness improves, your body becomes more efficient, meaning you may burn fewer calories at the same pace.
Running can also increase appetite, especially after longer or faster sessions, which may unintentionally replace part of your calorie deficit.
Even environmental factors like heat, hills, wind, or softer terrain change how much effort your body uses.
For all these reasons, pairing your runs with a bit of structure around your eating habits is usually more effective than relying on running alone for weight loss.
Not all runs feel the same and they don’t impact your body in the same way either.
The pace you choose, how long you run, and how hard you push yourself all influence how many calories you burn and how your body adapts over time.
Some running styles are easier to stick with, some burn more energy, and others are better for building long-term fitness.
Understanding the differences can help you choose the type of running that supports your weight-loss goals instead of working against them.
Steady runs at an easy or moderate pace are the backbone of many weight loss plans.
They are easier to recover from, which means you can do them more often and build up a larger weekly volume of movement.
For most people, this looks like 20 to 45 minutes of comfortable running where you can still speak in short sentences without gasping for air.
You should finish the run feeling worked, not wiped out.
The easier effort helps you stay consistent, which matters far more for fat loss than pushing yourself to the limit once or twice a week.
For example, a beginner might run at a pace where they can hold a light conversation for 3 minutes, then walk for 1 minute, repeating this cycle for 30 minutes. Over time, those run intervals naturally lengthen as fitness improves without forcing intensity too early.
Intervals and tempo runs introduce higher-intensity efforts in short, controlled bursts.
Because you’re pushing harder than you would during an easy run, these workouts burn more calories per minute and often produce a stronger “afterburn” effect, meaning your body continues using extra energy after the workout ends.
They also help improve speed, anaerobic capacity, and running economy, which can make your easier runs feel smoother over time.
The trade-off is recovery.
Harder sessions place more stress on your muscles, joints, and nervous system, so doing them too often can increase the risk of injury or burnout.
For weight loss, most people do best with one or two interval or tempo sessions per week, layered onto a foundation of mostly easy running.
For example, a simple beginner-friendly interval session might be: 1 minute running at a challenging pace, followed by 1 to 2 minutes of easy jogging or walking, repeated 6 to 8 times.
For a tempo run, you might warm up for 5 minutes, then run 10 minutes at a comfortably hard pace (where talking becomes difficult) before cooling down.
Running uphill requires significantly more energy than running on flat ground.
The incline forces your glutes, hamstrings, and quads to work harder, increasing both calorie burn and lower-body muscle recruitment.
Because hills naturally slow your pace, they often allow you to train at a higher effort without feeling like you’re sprinting, essentially giving you a built-in strength and cardio combo.
Hill workouts come with extra stress, though.
Uphill running places greater demand on your calves, Achilles tendon, and knees, so it’s important to build gradually.
Beginners or people carrying extra weight should be especially mindful, adding hills slowly and checking in with how their joints feel afterward.
For example, a simple hill session might be 30 to 45 seconds of steady uphill running, followed by walking back down for recovery, repeated 4 to 6 times.
Alternatively, choosing a route with gentle rolling hills lets you incorporate elevation changes without the intensity of formal repeats.
When used sparingly, hill workouts can be a powerful tool for improving strength, stamina, and calorie burn without increasing training time.
Long runs offer a different kind of advantage: time. The longer you’re on your feet, the more overall energy you expend, which can meaningfully contribute to fat loss across the week.
They also build mental and physical endurance, helping you get comfortable sustaining effort for extended periods.
The downside is that long outings place a higher demand on your body.
Spending over an hour running can leave your legs fatigued and may increase hunger afterward, especially if you didn’t fuel or hydrate well beforehand.
For many people, a sweet spot emerges with one longer run per week, plus shorter, easier runs or walking on other days.
For example, a beginner might start with a session like 3 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, repeated for about 45 to 75 minutes. The goal isn’t speed. It’s settling into a steady rhythm that feels maintainable from start to finish.
Long runs can be a valuable part of a weight-loss routine, but they work best when they complement, not replace, your other weekly activities.
The “afterburn effect” refers to the extra calories your body burns in the hours following a tough workout.
The technical name is excess post exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).
This is the increased oxygen demand your body experiences while returning to its resting state.
High-intensity running, especially intervals or sprints, increases EPOC more than low-intensity jogging.
Your body uses extra oxygen and energy after the workout to restore normal levels of oxygen, clear lactate, repair muscle, and bring your system back into balance.
This means that a tough interval session may continue to burn a modest number of extra calories for several hours after you stop.
The afterburn effect is real, but it is not huge compared with the calories you burn during the workout itself.
It might add, say, 6 to 15 percent extra on top of the workout, not double it.
So yes, hard running can give you a small bonus, but it doesn’t cancel out frequent overeating. It works best as a supportive effect layered onto an already consistent plan.
Most people aren’t just hoping for the scale to move. They want to lose fat, especially around the midsection, while preserving as much muscle as possible.
Running can be a useful tool in this process, but it helps to understand exactly how it influences body fat, both overall and abdominal.
Running is a form of aerobic training, which has solid evidence for reducing total body fat and improving body composition, especially when the weekly movement dose is high enough.
Both aerobic and resistance training reduce subcutaneous and visceral fat, with combined approaches often doing the most.
This means that when you use running to help create a calorie deficit, you are not just losing scale-based weight. You are likely losing some of the more harmful fat stored deeper in the body as well.
You can’t spot reduce fat from one area with a specific exercise, so running alone cannot choose belly over thighs or arms.
But exercise, particularly regular aerobic training, is effective at reducing visceral fat, the deeper abdominal fat linked with higher health risks.
While you cannot tell your body exactly where to lose fat first, using running to support fat loss can help reduce waist measurements and abdominal fat over time, especially when paired with diet changes and, ideally, some strength training workouts.
Even if your primary goal is weight loss, running offers far more than just calorie burn.
It supports multiple areas of your health that can make you feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Understanding these additional benefits can make your running routine feel more rewarding and keep you motivated beyond the number on the scale.
Regular running is strongly linked to a lower risk of all-cause mortality, including deaths from cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.
Large population studies show that even 5 to 10 minutes of slow running per day is associated with meaningful reductions in heart disease risk, which is far more than you’d expect from such a small time investment.
You don’t need long distances or fast paces to benefit.
Short, steady runs improve cardiorespiratory fitness, which reflects how well your heart, lungs, and blood vessels deliver oxygen to your muscles.
Over time, running helps the following metabolic markers:
lower resting heart rate
improve blood pressure
increase HDL (“good”) cholesterol
support healthier blood vessel function
These changes not only protect your heart but also make everyday physical activity feel easier and less tiring.
Even a modest weekly running habit can create measurable improvements in cardiovascular health.
Regular aerobic exercise helps your muscles take up glucose more efficiently.
When you run, your working muscles draw sugar out of the bloodstream without needing as much insulin.
Over time, this improves insulin sensitivity, meaning your body requires less insulin to manage the same amount of glucose.
Better insulin sensitivity leads to more stable blood sugar levels, fewer spikes and crashes, and less of the fatigue or cravings that often derail weight-loss efforts.
It also reduces your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, especially if you’re already dealing with insulin resistance or elevated fasting glucose.
Running can also increase your daily energy expenditure, both during the workout and through subtle metabolic improvements afterward.
While this doesn’t drastically raise your resting metabolism, it does support long-term weight maintenance by helping your body use fuel more efficiently.
Running can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, improve mood, and provide a reliable outlet for managing daily stress.
Aerobic exercise increases the release of endorphins and supports neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which play a role in emotional regulation and resilience.
These improvements may not show up directly on the scale, but they create the internal environment that makes healthy habits easier to maintain.
When you feel calmer, clearer, and more emotionally balanced, you’re more likely to make supportive choices around food, sleep, and everyday movement.
Consistent running can also offer a sense of routine and accomplishment, a psychological boost that helps sustain long-term motivation.
Running is a highly effective form of exercise, but it’s also a high-impact activity and that means it deserves a balanced perspective.
While it can strengthen your heart, support fat loss, and boost mental health, it can also place notable stress on your joints, muscles, and connective tissues.
Knowing when to be cautious helps you stay consistent without dealing with injuries or burnout.
Studies suggest that recreational runners experience a relatively high rate of overuse injuries, particularly in the knees, ankles, and hips.
Risk goes up with sudden jumps in distance or intensity, poor recovery, and inadequate strength around key joints.
If you are new to running, carrying a lot of extra weight, or have a history of joint problems, starting with walk-run intervals, softer surfaces, and strength work around the hips and core can reduce your injury risk.
For most people, the cardiovascular benefits of running far outweigh the risks.
There is some evidence that extreme volumes of very high-intensity endurance training (like frequent marathons or ultramarathons) can stress the heart in specific ways, but this applies to a small group of people training at a very high level.
If you have heart disease, uncontrolled blood pressure, or other significant medical conditions, it is always a good idea to check in with a healthcare professional before starting a running program.
Overtraining isn’t always about sore muscles or aching joints. Sometimes the strain shows up in your mood, motivation, and mental clarity.
When running becomes too demanding, too structured, or too frequent, the enjoyment can fade and be replaced by dread or pressure.
This mental fatigue often leads to disrupted sleep, irritability, or a sudden drop in motivation, even if your body still feels capable.
Burnout can happen to anyone, but it’s especially common when someone increases training volume quickly, pairs running with aggressive dieting, or ties their self-worth to performance metrics like pace or mileage.
Taking regular rest days, mixing in easy runs or walks, and reminding yourself that progress is not linear can help keep running mentally sustainable.
A healthy running routine should leave you feeling energized and balanced, not overwhelmed or trapped by the habit.
If you notice that running starts to feel like a chore rather than a choice, that’s a sign to step back, adjust your training load, and prioritize recovery and enjoyment again.
There’s no single “perfect” running plan that works for everyone.
Bodies, schedules, and preferences all differ and the best approach is the one you can repeat consistently without burning out or getting injured.
What matters most is finding a style of running that fits your current fitness level, supports your lifestyle, and feels sustainable enough to build into a long-term habit.
From easy steady runs to intervals, hills, and longer sessions, each type has its own strengths.
The key is choosing the mix that keeps you moving week after week while supporting your weight-loss goals.
If running feels intimidating, a simple walk run approach is a gentle entry point. For example, you might:
Warm up with 5 minutes of walking
Alternate 1 minute of easy jogging with 2 minutes of walking, for 15–20 minutes
Finish with another 5 minutes of walking
Over time, you can gradually increase the amount of running and reduce the walking, as long as your body feels OK.
If you can run continuously for 20 to 30 minutes, a balanced week for weight loss might include:
2–3 steady runs at an easy to moderate pace
1 slightly longer run on the weekend
1 interval or hill session for intensity, once you tolerate it
Combine this with at least 1 to 2 days of strength training per week and general daily movement, like walking and taking the stairs.
If your knees, back, or energy levels protest every time you run, forcing it isn’t the solution.
And it’s definitely not required for weight loss.
Plenty of people lose fat and improve their fitness using lower-impact options like brisk walking, cycling, swimming, rowing, or strength training.
These activities can raise your heart rate, burn calories, and build muscle without the impact stress that running brings.
The real key is consistent movement and a nutrition approach that feels sustainable for your lifestyle.
Walking for 30 to 45 minutes most days, lifting weights a few times per week, or doing short sessions of cycling or swimming can create the same weekly energy burn as a running program, often with fewer aches and faster recovery.
Example Routine for Non-Runners:
Day 1: 35–45 minutes brisk walking (you can talk, but your breathing is elevated)
Day 2: 20–30 minutes cycling or swimming at a steady pace
Day 3: Strength training (full body, 30–40 minutes)
Day 4: Optional: 20-minute interval walk (1 minute fast / 1–2 minutes easy)
Day 5: 30–40 minutes walking or light cardio of choice
Weekend: Rest or gentle stretching/mobility
Running can be a powerful tool for weight loss, but it works best as part of a bigger picture, not as the entire strategy.
It helps you burn calories, improve heart health, and reduce harmful fat over time, especially around the abdomen.
Different running styles give you different advantages, from the steady calorie burn of easy runs to the intensity and afterburn of intervals and hills.
At the same time, running comes with impact and injury risks, and it will not override an eating pattern that keeps you out of a calorie deficit.
If you decide to use running to help you lose weight, start where your body is now, build up gradually, and pair your runs with supportive nutrition, strength work, sleep, and stress management.
That combination will take you further than any single run ever could.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!
