It's no small stroke of luck that as well as being one of the most enjoyable pastimes on the planet, running is also one of the very best* for shedding unwanted weight.

With a firm emphasis on getting healthier while thoroughly enjoying life, this index should help to ensure that your exercise - and your eating - works to your very best advantage.

The articles - all from our archive - are grouped by type. You can find eating and training plans; general tips; some of our very best forum threads about weight loss, and rather a lot more. Most are very beginner-friendly, and there are two specific get-started articles at the bottom.

The ones marked are our very best articles, for RW (UK) magazine subscribers only (get 30% off and instant access here!) Enjoy!

*For you snow-lovers, cross-country skiing sits at the top of the table.

Weight-loss plans - best training and eating for shedding pounds

The best way to tackle weight loss - trim down calories in, increase calories out:

Light On Your Feet Forget diet shakes and hamster-size portions. The secret to losing weight is better training - here's how. This is one of our best-ever articles

Lose 10lbs This Month The goal - lose 10lb this month. The modus operandi: (1) Run a series of fat-burning work-outs each week; (2) Watch what and how much you eat. It couldn't be easier.

Losing Weight - The Simple Truths How to shape up - and keep your sanity - with eight simple eating rules and a frank look at the best training for weight-shedding

Loss Highway Three no-diet plans for getting a bit thinner, a lot healthier and fit enough to run a marathon

Tipping The Scales Want to lose weight? Exercise alone not enough? Here are nine weight-loss strategies, just one of which will help you shed those unwanted pounds

Weight-loss tips for runners

No one expects you to apply 120 different changes to your eating at once. But if just two or three work for you, you'll notice the difference they make:

10 Low-Fat Tricks Low-fat living - the cunning way

Your Loss, Your Gain Tired of lugging that extra weight around? These 30 ways are guaranteed to shift it

Weight-loss questions

Each month in Runner's World magazine, our experts answer your real-life training and health questions. Here are a few of the weight-loss highlights:

When I run I eat more. How do I lose weight?

Does a faster runner burn more calories?

I'm heavy. I'd like to run more than 20 minutes

How can I change? I'm 40 and a physical wreck

Fat-fighting Q+As Butter or marg, vegetarian or meatie, takeaway or eat at home? Here are the answers to your dilemmas

Nutrition basics and healthy eating

No agendas, no drum-banging - just simple principles of eating:

Nutrition Basics Is nutrition too complicated? These 10 simple commandments are guaranteed to make you healthier, fitter and faster

Food Groups: The Basics Especially for runners: the foods groups you need, and how much you need of them

Eating And Training: How To Time It Right If you can coordinate your appetite with your training, you'll become a more effective runner

How Many Calories Do You Burn? How many calories do you burn when you run? Here's a weight- and speed-adjusted table

Low-Fat Eating On The Go Why snack foods needn't be fat foods

The Fats Of Life Good fat, bad fat... here are the simple basics you need to know

Real runners, real conversations

Our busy, friendly forums are at the heart of the UK running community. Needless to say, weight loss is a recurrring theme. Start your own thread, or check these out first:

Best of the forum: weight loss Hand-selected forum archive highlights, which you can bring back to life by posting a new message at the end:

• A 15 stone beginner…
• A delay before losing weight…
• Eating for energy and weight loss
• Half a stone that just won't shift
• Losing weight and getting back to running - a long thread!
• Over-weight beginner - help!

Other popular live threads that you really shouldn't miss include the 2500-strong The Count's Weight-Loss Support Thread for people with weight-loss targets. And on a fractionally less practical note, there's the 24,000-message strong Porkers of the World thread.

Like minds...

Need a little reflection? These may (or may not) add a little perspective:

Diet Hard Abstinence. Detoxification. Self-denial. Makes you sick, doesn't it? So says Andy Blackford in the way that only he can

Our Bodies, Our Selves John 'The Penguin' Bingham says: You can't trade your body in for a new, improved model. Accepting the natural strengths and weaknesses of the body you have is the key to becoming the best you can be

Beginners' Pluck Meet our three brave non-runners who've agreed to let us transform them into trained athletes ready for the 2004 Flora London Marathon.

Getting started

If you haven't started running yet, don't miss articles like these:

Beginning Running: The First Of Many Miles RW USA Editor Amby Burfoot with a friendly overview of how to get started and what to expect as a new runner

Going For Goals How to build up to running for 30 minutes - and nine other first-time running goals