There are some people who believe jogging would be the best exercise to lose weight. Indeed jogging is a great exercise that will help burn plenty of calories, increase fitness and boost energy levels. A thirty minute jog three times each week has helped many people control weight however, there’s a difference between controlling weight and losing it. I personally wouldn’t recommend jogging to lose weight, especially for a beginner or the overweight individual.

The problem with jogging is the potential for injury. The joints of the knees and ankles take a great pounding from the constant impact of the foot hitting the ground. For an overweight person this constant stress could be even more severe. Any potential injury could mean rest and recovery for weeks but that means no exercising for some time and resting is not the way to lose weight permanently. If the dieter starts again after recovery the injury cycle could start again.

Also jogging is an exercise where the full weight of the body is involved with every movement, in other words the weight must be carried, for a beginner this can easily make jogging a more intense than swimming or rowing. When exercising at higher levels of exertion the body tends to burn more carbs, so even though a jog would burn lots of calories it would be no use for losing fat weight if 90% of the calories burned are carbs!

I believe dieters should steer clear of jogging until they have lost some weight and gained a little fitness. Then jogging can become useful for maintaining control of body weight. It may be wise for the beginner to start exercising using a light and low intense activity such as walking.