Running to Lose Weight

Anybody who runs in interested in their weight. Some want to be as light as possible so they can run faster. Others want to lose weight to look better, feel more energetic or for other reasons. All of these reasons are a good thing. Let's start with the good news. Running 3 times a week for an hour each time will allow you to slowly lose weight even if your diet does not change. Running will treat food, any kind of food like fuel. It's just something to burn up. Even more so during the actual run. For example, Dean Karnazes routinely eats food during runs that he never touches when he does not run, including large pizzas, chips, cookies and all kinds of sugary and salty food. Why? Those are the foods his body craves while running for a long period of time, as in 3 or more hours. That said, Dean eats virtually no sugar or "junk" food when he is not running.
On the not so good side, getting into a habit of eating junk food and eating until stuffed and relying on the runs to keep the weight down only works when you are running. Too many people run less or give it up altogether and then gain a lot of weight because their eating habits don't change. For competitive runners, this issue arises during the tapering phase before a race. The temptation to sit in front of the tv and eat crap and drink beer can be huge! This must be avoided at all costs. For non-competitive runners, eating right is part of the overall plan and complements what you are trying to accomplish with the running. What I never recommend are diets of any kind. All protein, all carbs and other fad diets will actually hurt your running and cause your metabolism to surge up and down. Running will increase your metabolism (the thing that burns up the food, preventing fat buildup) enough all by itself. Living on vegies etc. won't help much and will probably hurt you in the long run because of protein deficiency prevents muscle growth and repair and lacking in carbs lowers the energy you will need to actuall do a run. Think balance!!! In eating, training, balance (more on that later) is really important. I do not fast, but there are runners who are successful who will fast on rest days and only drink water or other fluids.
So, as a practical matter, how do you lose weight while running? First, burn more calories than you eat. You can do this by running for a longer period of time, increasing your normal run from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Or you can run the same time but 4 times a week instead of 3 times a week. Or, you can do your normal 3 times a week run and do it faster, which of course means that if you run for your normal 20 minutes each way, by running faster, you will run farther. Capice? If you've been eating a lot of junk food, or are eating less than 2 hours before you go to sleep, then eliminating or decreasing these habits should cause you to lose some weight. As with your running, you can make these changes gradually. For example, you love pizza and fried chicken etc and eat that 2-3 times a week. Try saving those treats for one day a week. Make Friday night your night to go crazy without feeling guilty.
One final antodotal note. In 1976, when he finished 4th in the Olympic Marathon at Montreal, American Runner, Don Kardong was asked about his diet. Kardong replied in all seriousness that he ate large amounts of Froot Loops and Hostess Ding Dongs. He said it didn't matter what kind of fuel you put in the furnace as long as the furnace was buring hot. He was referring to this metabolism. What he didn't tell the reporter was that he was averaging 120 miles or so a week by running twice a day with one run done at a fast pace.
Take note