Weight Loss During Running Break?

mojohowitz

I have been a runner now for about 6 years and it has always helped me maintain a steady slow decline in my weight loss. I have come to depend on running to help me shed pounds. I have mixed it up occasionally with weights, trail running, yoga etc but it was running that has always burned the fat off.

The last six months I have plateaued and have noticed no weight loss. I have upped the miles and as a result my appetite increased exponentially. Much more than I have ever experienced before. It was a grueling effort to stay under 2000 calories. I was miserable.

So, out of desperation I just gave up the running. All the running was making me eat constantly and I was gaining weight. However, I noticed immediately (within the week) that I was losing weight. I've lost more weight in the past month (8 pounds) NOT running than the last six months of hardcore effort.

Has anyone else experienced this? Do I have something weird metabolically that someone may recognize?

I miss running but not if it is going to make me so hungry I eat everything in sight.

BioMechHeretic

Well for one your body is no longer retaining water to repair muscle which makes your number lower, it will start losing muscle which is dense and heavy, and your cardiovascular and heart health will decline.

You have to decide if the number on the scale or your actual health and measurements are what matters to you. If I have a super busy work week and don't get in as much exercise, my weigh in on the scale that Saturday looks more impressive. If I have a really intense workout week I may lose almost nothing. But that exercise is what is shrinking my body measurements, burning off fat, building muscle and endurance, making me feel better and more energized on a day to day basis and strengthening my heart. So I don't particularly care what the scale reflects, my actual fitness is improving much more with exercise.

If you are doing intense workouts you are supposed to eat more, just more of the right protein and nutrient filled things. Good food and exercised paired together is not going to hurt anything.

DavPul

A lot of that, if not all, is just from a loss in water retention. If I take a week off lifting I lose 5-6 pounds by the end of the week. It's not the fat loss that you're hoping for. It doesn't really mean anything.