I'm a 19/f,
I am average weight and height (5'8, 130 lbs) And for the past couple months I have been running/jogging at the track for about an hour a night. I haven't really changed my eating habits; I still eat a lot of fast food due to convinience, but I figured that the running would begin to burn calories. My goal is to lose fat around my inner thighs and butt, and running seems to be helping to firm those areas, but it's not helping them shrink. Is the running possibly building muscle and making me even bigger?

No, running is not going to help build any muscle. Running is probably the fastest way to lose bodyfat but at the expense of some muscle. Weight training and dieting are also a big part of losing fat...maybe the answer lies there.

------------------
~If your not going to give 110% at the gym then why bother going at all~

Well... if you previously did nothing for your legs, you're probably gaining some muscle tone by running, but you're not building bulk. But I agree with CC... you should see significant fat loss with running, but you really need to change your diet if you want to see a big difference. Truly, drop the fast food and plan meals ahead of time. Your body will thank you for it.

------------------
Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins

Well, there may be some hypertrophy there since it's a physical activity that uses the muscles and will cause some damage. The diet is a big problem, and as has been said, plan your meals ahead of time (and eat healthy). The running will help burn calories, but it wont make you gain any major bulk (unless you were running track and doing special types of runs, hills, parachute, etc). The firmness you're feeling is just a result of the muscles being used, they're able to flex and tighten more readily. But they wont cut down in fat unless you change your eating habits. There may have been some major initial growth if you weren't used to running before hand, but you'll become adapted to your routine in time and your muscles will make it routine to do that ... routine hehe.

i would cut back on the fast food.

Me on the other hand My metabolisim is sky high i eat whatever i want. If you want to loose weigh just dont eat so much keep running and drink water.

Dont drink lots of beer either.

Marathon runners are some skinny dudes.

Define a "marathon runner." As I said, there's many body types out there running the marathon, and there were some pretty big people out there making it between 3-3.5 hours. I myself ran a marathon (and am training to run CIM at 3 flat this winter!) and i'm a big guy.

when you lose body fat it comes off in layers all over the body rather than in just one place, best analogy is like an onion being peeled....so cardio is the best to get rid of the body fat in addition to a change in diet that will promote the loss of body fat in exchange for a gain in lean muscle tissue...adding resistance training (weightlifting) would be a good bet to help tone and firm up your body to give you the more lean and sleek look i think you are looking for...best wishes to you...

hi guys, i have a question...i've been trying to do some different workouts since i think my muscles got too used to the same routine of workout on the eliptical so i changed to kickboxing and trying to run/walk for about 30mins. and swimming on days that i don't find time to go to the gym, but from all these different type of workout, which do you guys think would burn the most and help me to loose weight quicker? i've been trying to change my diet and eating less but more frequently and usually i swim for an hour, use the eliptical for 40mins or run/walk for 30min. (run 5min, walk 5 min can't fully run for straight since i get shin splints) but please if anyone knows which workout to recomment please help!!

sorry to jump into this thread but its relates to a question i want to ask.

im running alot lately, and my legs are getting smaller, this is because im losing muscles in my leg? should i start to do weight lifting with my legs to increase the muscle and will that help me run faster and longer distances?

newbie questions http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wink.gif

darkwolf,

I was making a joke as well as an observation. Most people I see running marathons and such are of the skinnier variety. Watching the olympic long distance running events or marathons or even HS cross country I don't see many bulky people winning those races. Sure, there are plenty of bulky people that run marathons but more of them are of the skinny variety and certainly the winners are of that mold. Define "marathon runner"? Well in case you aren't aware a marathon runner would be someone that runs in a marathon. Gee, I thought you would have known that and don't say then marathon runners aren't all skinny cause I never said they were ALL skinny. My point, since I need to spell it out for you, is that most people that run marathons competitively are not bulky but very lean and slender therefore based on the visual evidence one would think that running a lot would not build big muscles. Just like riding bikes as Lance Armstrong would have the largest legs in the world if riding a bike built large leg muscles when in fact the guy is what I would consider slim.

True, i never said that big means bulky. A lot of the runners have pretty damn big legs.


and you didn't say all marathon runners were skinny? "Marathon runners are some skinny dudes." You did not say "some" you incorporated the whole totality of "marathon runners."

In any case running lots won't give a person really big muscular legs, at least not the average person. I'm sure we can agree with that, if you got em, you got em, if you don't, you don't but running isn't going to grow them really big.

Of course, there would have to be something of the overload principle to be applied. Free body weight and gravity don't apply much to the average fit individual. But runners don't just workout for a marathon say, by just running some ought miles. Speed work, and energy system trainings as well as strength training are always best to be applied as well. Note the longer distances one runs, generally the smaller mass they would have. They use up a lot of energy stores to go for so long a distance and they lose mass.