The expectation is that intense running will burn body fat and help with weight loss. But if we take a close look at the medical literature we will find out that the workout takes a small percentage of weight loss as a whole. A change in the diet is the thing that helps in cutting body fat the most.

According to a research in the journal “Obesity” women that were doing aerobic exercises 5 days a week for 45 minutes only lost about 2% of body fat over time. On the other hand women who combined exercise and diet changes lost 11 % body fat. This was a one year research.

A similar study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that women who worked out intense had increased appetites so that they ate enough calories to entirely replace the ones they lost.

Don’t get this in a wrong way though. Working out is undeniably healthy, but if you tend to lose fat by running hard it is not the way to do it, because there is no information that can support this.