Best Time of Day for Running

I was wondering which time of day was good to run for more weight loss. Like sweating a lot during a hot time of day?

Does it matter if it's hot or cold?

Does sweating a lot help?

Answer by Dominique:


Hi there,
Thanks for your question about the time of day to go for a run.

There are lots of theories about when would be most beneficial to go for a run.

Some say early in the morning to kickstart your metabolism for the rest of the day.

Some say just before lunch when your stomach is relatively empty so you'd burn more fat.

Some say at night, to burn off the calories you took in after dinner (usually the biggest meal of the day).

I think a lot of it is cow-cookies from people trying to sell weight loss books, pills and so on!

More important than the time you go for a run is that you actually go. Just do it as our friends at Nike say. A consistent regime of exercise and moderate calorie intake should help you establish weight loss results, no matter when that exercise takes place exactly.

Running during the hottest hours of the day is not a good weight loss tactic. All you do is lose water and salts which you will need to replenish anyway after the run. I usually try to avoid the warmest time of day because it makes running a lot more unpleasant and you run additional risks of sun burn, heat stroke, dehydration etc.

So stay out of the sun preferably. For anything else about running and weight loss see my Running for Weight Loss page.

Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Dominique