Why running makes me gain weight??

apriltrainer

I gained weight with running. I even talked about it for a fitness podcast. My problem was i overate my training. Also the better I got with running, the less I burned.

dsjohndrow

Get a food scale and a measuring cup.

I run with an HRM and in a 10K (6'1' 210) I burn about 1000 calories in an hour. That's 500 for a 5K. A half-m would be 2000.

Based on all the race junk you can eat, and some of the post race goodies, it is EASY to overeat on race day too.

MinnieInMaine

There are a lot of factors at play here and I don't know what your stats are but just going by your profile pic, it looks like you don't have much weight to lose. So I'm guessing first of all that it's very unlikely that you're burning 170 calories for a mile at 5mph. When I run closer to 6mph, I get at least 120 calories and I'm 5'7" and about 170 pounds (so about 20 pounds overweight). If I had to guess, I'd say you're probably getting closer to 120 calories.

Another possibility is that if you're not running consistenly, when you do, your muscles are retaining water as part of the natural healing process. This can definitely add on a pound or two. And if you're eating a high sodium content diet on top of that, the water weight will increase. I think if you're consistent with your running and you watch your sodium intake and drink plenty of water (meaning 12-14 cups on an active day), you'll see that water weight come back off.

droneofvelvet

1. If you love running- keep it up.
2.Stick with your eating goals.
3. STOP WEIGHING YOURSELF EVERYDAY!!

(Maybe just weigh yourself once every week or every 2 weeks. My weight goes up after each workout!)

Frances_C17

I have to agree with Minnie that it's unlikely you're burning 170 calories for one mile at 5mph. Obviously a HRM is the most accurate way to track calories burned but I always work on the assumption that the average woman burns around 100 calories per mile. This number will be slightly higher depending on your weight or if you run really fast but its not going to be wildly different from this number.

blues4miles

The first year or so I was running I couldn't lose any weight. Turns out I was NOT EATING ENOUGH. Okay calories in calories out is still valid. But I was trying to survive on 1300 calories (and not eating back exercise) which was causing me to binge on weekends etc. Which meant that even though I THOUGHT I was staying within goal and eating only 1300 calories, I was averaging much higher. Now I eat closer to 1600 calories (as my TDEE) and my runs have been much better and the weight loss, though slow, is at least trending downwards. Also agree with others on measuring carefully. I'm sure before I got my food scale and joined MFP even though I was calorie counting that 1300 might have been more like 1700 some days.

I have to agree with Minnie that it's unlikely you're burning 170 calories for one mile at 5mph. Obviously a HRM is the most accurate way to track calories burned but I always work on the assumption that the average woman burns around 100 calories per mile. This number will be slightly higher depending on your weight or if you run really fast but its not going to be wildly different from this number.

This too. I wear a HRM while I run and find that a 12 minute-mile (5 mph) is about the tipping point for this. If I run a little faster than that, it's about 100 calories per mile. If I ran slower than that, it'll be less.

ladyrider55

When I used to do daily 5K speed walks I'd eat afterwards like a reward & thinking it wouldn't hurt me. Boy was I ever wrong! For a long time I wasn't losing per the scale but was losing inches on my body. Most women (OK, ME lol) have to see lower numbers on the scale to know we're doing better vs. knowing our clothes are getting baggier.

rabt6f

I have a nice treadmill that tracks calories. However, once I bought a HRM, I realized my treadmill was estimating my calories at about 40 to 70 more a mile than I was really running.

emills1970

bump