running and a low carb diet?? does it work

Just in general I think 1200 is too low for most people, and personally I've found its better to restrict either carbs or calories, its hard to do both. I once tried to do low carb/lower calorie while doing a lot of cardio...major burnout. I was so exhausted, I was taking naps all day, sleeping 12hrs a night...not good.

I mostly eat primal. I found that I can maintain better on it than with carbs, I just like them too much, I always overeat them. Now my carbs are mostly veggie and fruit.

Your need for carbs depends on the distances you want to do. A mile or two on low carb is no problem - you're not tapping into your energy reserves too much. If your plans included longer runs (half marathon and longer) you'd probably want to re-think your fueling strategy.

though im injured now, I follow the paleo/primal diet that ends up being low carb (less than 70-100 g of carbs a day) and my performance is better than ever. I do eat between 1600-2300 calories a day though and that is the key to fuel my endurance runs. Your body does not need a ton of carbs consumed--it can make what it needs from proteins, fats, and eating fruits and veggies (natural carbs versus processed ones).

I agree with Brian. And long as you're keeping it in the 5k range and lower you're fine with whatever diet floats your boat. Past 5K, I'd seriously consider adding more carbs, and at the half or full marathon level I'd be very careful staying low carb.

Although I have relatively high protein vs carb ratio, I've found that going tooo low carb kills my go. It also triggers depression, anxiety, and nasty mood in general for me. Nevertheless, I've had no difficulty losing and maintaining weight loss while still consuming quite a bit of carbohydrate. I typically run at least 5 miles in the morning and spend about 45 minutes on elliptical 3 nights per week.

1200 is such a stupid number to get stuck on. What you need to eat for a deficit is relative to your RMR. If you are short you really don't have much room for up compared to the 1200. If you are taller you will have a higher RMR and can go up or down and still be in a deficit (way above 1200) so you can lose no matter what. All that matters is a calorie deficit.

To tell everyone eat more is wrong.

To tell everyone to eat less is wrong.

To find the exact amount of calories for you to be in a sustainable calorie deficit is correct. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others. Some people have emotional eating disorders and it comes into play. Even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such and everyone is different.

You just need to find the correct calories for YOU to be healthy and sustainable and still lose weight. It might require some experimentation and tremendous patience. You can always notch up and down by 100 until you find what is sustainable and still allows you to lose weight.

If you have emotional eating issues than you are not going to be able to handle such a deep deficit and if you eat to low it will backfire. A better strategy is to eat at a shallower deficit, and sometimes give yourself a break from the deficit and eat at maintenance. This is not going backwards, but eating to low and then binging because you can't sustain it is going backwards. It's better to stay forwards even if it is slower. The tortoise wins this race in the end.

The same with carbs and protein. No one here can tell you the exact amount. Talk to your doctor or learn to listen to what your body needs.

I did low carb for years and it did me more harm than good. For fat loss all that matters is calories and that is what MFP is based on.

These were the diets I tried and failed and did the diet yo-yo with for 15 years:
Low fat high carb, Slim-Fast, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Organic, Weston Price Diet, The Schwarzbein Principle, Eat Fat Lose Fat, The Ultimate PH Solution, The Makers Diet, A friends diet from a personal trainer/dietician

I finally just got sick of it all and made up my own diet with healthy foods I enjoy and smaller portions.

I ate my meals from small desert plates and bowls. I stopped eating in the evenings (not that it matters when you eat). I started calling what I did mini-meals and mini-fasts and I lost 40 lbs. Then I found Eat Stop Eat and learned why it worked and everything took off for me at that point.

Eat what you want, eat what you like, mostly healthy. Don’t deprive yourself of foods you love unless there is a serious health risk. Depriving yourself of food you love and creating extensive good food and bad food lists at some point borders on a mental disorder. It will drive you insane.

I agree with those that say on low mileage, low carb is fine. As a marathon runner, I could never do low carb. I tried to cut grains out once, just to see, and while I could make the distance up to about 7 miles, I had no kick and my times suffered. I normally run in the 7:30-8min/mile pace for longer runs, and was gassed trying to crack 9min miles. But my guess is that up to 10k you'll have no problems.