Running is more than simply a way to get some fresh air while letting off steam after a long day at the office. It is also a good way to burn calories, which will help you lose weight and get a smaller waistline.
Running a few times a week might help you create a healthy physique, especially if you are carrying a few extra pounds (Kg) around your waist. So, how can run make your waist smaller?
You can run your way to a smaller waist on the treadmill, but it’s not because running especially targets belly fat. Treadmill running, like any cardiovascular exercise, is an efficient calorie burner. And the more calories you burn, the more fat you burn throughout your entire body. In addition, interval exercise is a great way to boost your fat-burning capacity further.
Even running at a low intensity for five to 10 minutes a day is enough to prolong your life by several years, compared to those who don’t run at all, according to a study from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology issued in Harvard Health Publishing.
Read on to find out exactly how running can make your waist smaller. I might also enjoy reading: How Running Can Positively Change Your Life.
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How Can I Slim My Waist Size?
Stubborn fat (AKA subcutaneous fat) deposits on your waistline can affect your health and your risk of certain health diseases. And reducing your waist size can give you more energy, improve your self-image, and positively impact your dress size.
Here’s how running can make your waist smaller, including tips that are proven to help you slim your waist size.
1- Run Regularly at Least 3 Times Per Week
Running is an excellent activity to add to your fitness journey if you want to lose weight around your waist.
Running combined with a healthy lifestyle, eating, and strength training will help you slim your waist size and get in shape.
Additionally, running will help you lose weight, but you will need to drop weight all over your body to get rid of the fat around your waist.
See also: 10 Amazing Benefits of Running Backed by Science
2- Burn More Calories Than You Consume
Losing weight and reducing your waist size is all about burning more calories than you consume. Running regularly is an excellent way to meet your calorie deficit. You may easily burn 500 calories in one run, resulting in a weekly calorie burn of 3500 or one pounds.
Although plenty of activities might help you burn calories, few are as effective as running. According to Harvard Medical School, a 185-pound individual running at 5 mph will burn 672 calories, 840 calories at 6 mph, 1050 calories at 7.5 mph, and 1342 calories at 10 mph per hour.
See also: The Best 10 Teas For Easy and Faster Weight Loss.
Overall, the calories you burn during your runs will depend on your weight and how fast and long you run. In addition, adding a daily run to your fitness routine is an excellent method to reach your goal of burning 500 more calories.
The table below contains calories burned in 1 hour of running:
| Running Intensity | 125-pound (56.70 Kg) person | 155-pound (70.30 Kg) person | 185-pound (83.92 Kg) person |
| Running: 5 miles per hour (or about 8 kilometers per hour) | 480 | 576 | 672 |
| Running: 6 miles per hour (or about 9.65 kilometers per hour) | 990 | 720 | 840 |
| Running: 7.5 miles per hour (or about 12.07 kilometers per hour) | 750 | 900 | 1050 |
| Running: 10 miles per hour (or about 16.09 kilometers per hour) | 906 | 1124 | 1342 |
3- Do High-Intensity Interval (HIIT) Running
Adding high-intensity interval training (HIIT) at the appropriate level of intensity and frequency into your running routine will help you reach your health and fitness goals faster, particularly by making your waist smaller.
During your workout, alternate brief bursts of high-intensity movement with recovery intervals of moderate activity to burn even more calories.
Interval training has been shown in tests to enhance cardiovascular fitness and fat-burning capabilities by leaps and bounds. In one research, just seven interval training exercises spread out over two weeks boosted fat burning by 36% over an hour of continuous moderate biking.
New research investigating high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) indicates that HIIE may be more effective at reducing subcutaneous and abdominal body fat (fat located at the waistline) than other types of exercise.
4- Creating a Running Habit That Sticks
Your current level of fitness will determine your ideal interval training program. When planning your run, keep in mind that your sprint phases should be long enough to get you out of the air for optimal efficiency.
Attempt to exercise for one to four minutes at 80 to 85 percent of your maximal heart rate. Also, don’t let your pulse return to its normal level while you’re in recovery mode.
See also: How To Create a Morning Running Habit That Sticks
5- Clean Up Your Diet
Running can help you lose weight, but only if you keep track of how many calories you consume each day. If you want to burn 500 calories each week, you will need to keep track of how many calories you consume regularly.
The typical daily calorie consumption varies by age, body type, and amount of activity. The National Health Service (NHS) recommends daily calorie consumption of 2,000 calories a day for women and 2,500 for men.
See also: 32 Foods That Will Help You Burn Belly Fat Fast – Based on Science.
6- Practice Yoga
Practicing yoga is an excellent way to slim your waist size. Twelve weeks of intensive yoga program significantly improved women’s health with abdominal obesity, found a study.
In addition, yoga also brought down the waist circumference of participants revealed in the same study.
Yoga may be particularly effective for weight loss and trimming your waistline. Additionally, practicing yoga burns calories and helps you manage stress.
See also: How Long Does It Take To Build Muscle With Yoga?
7- Add High-intensity interval Strength Training (HIIT)
HIIT workout may be more effective than traditional cardio at cutting down abdominal fat.
HIIT exercise involves brief periods of “all-out intensity,” such as sprinting, biking, or running, followed by a short period of lower-intensity activities while your heart rate stays accelerated.
You can try HIIT by using a treadmill.
- First, figure out your maximum intensity on the treadmill and a “rest” setting that feels like 60 percent of the effort.
- After warming up, try to aim for 30-second increases of your highest setting, offset by 60 to 90 seconds of your lower-intensity setting.
- Experiment with how long you last at your higher intensity, always returning to your “rest.”
See also: A Complete Comparison: HIIT Vs. Strength Training
8- Other Benefits Of Running
Running burns more calories than most other exercises since it requires you to move your whole body weight continually.
In addition, running is the cheapest way to get in shape, with little to no expense (no monthly gym membership needed). All you need are running shoes.
And you don’t have to run quickly to get the most out of your workout. Running slowly provides almost as much benefit. If you wonder between running and cycling, which one is better for belly fat,I wrote a whole article that I encourage you to read this article.
9- Adopt a Healthy Lifestyle
In addition to running, changing your lifestyle can help you lose weight and slim your waist size.
Here are a few adjustments you can make in your daily life:
- Take daily walks outside. A study from Harvard found walking counteracts the effects of weight-promoting genes. Harvard researchers observed 32 obesity-promoting genes in over 12,000 people to investigate how much these genes contribute to body weight. They discovered that the effects of weight-promoting genes were cut in half for people who walked briskly for about an hour a day.
- Trade coffee for morning green tea. Trading your morning coffee for green tea can also improve your circulation and boost your metabolism.
- Practice Meditation to help better you relax can help you reduce the size of your waistline. Stress may play a significant role in developing and maintaining obesity in individuals with increased glucocorticoid exposure or sensitivity, found a 2018 study issued by Current Obesity Reports.
See also: Advantages and Disadvantages Of Running Without Socks On
Final Thoughts
Running can make your waist smaller, but you must be disciplined, patient, and positive. And, while running, focus on losing fat which will help you lose body weight and slim down your waist size.
In addition to running, clean your diet, practice meditation to help you relax, adopt a healthy lifestyle, and commit to regularly exercising, including yoga and strength training.
As you can see, running has tremendous benefits, including weight loss, making your waist smaller, and expanding your life expectancy. So, what are you waiting for? Start running today.
