Low Carb with C25k

rws262
rws262 Posts: 15 Member
Currently in the middle of week 7 of the C25k program while at the same time doing low carb for about the last four weeks.

While my conditioning is improving and im able to jog about 2.5 miles at a time, I am not losing any weight.

I am 6'0" and about 265 lbs. Sticking to below 60 carbs a day. Running every other day. Some days I feel like I could keep running for hours and some days making the end of the workout is a struggle. What is my body telling me?

Replies

  • sb4480
    sb4480 Posts: 199 Member
    Two questions:
    1. Have you taken measurements? How are your clothes fitting?
    2. Are you eating enough fat and calories to account for the exercise you're doing? Where's your protein macro?
  • Domane1963
    Domane1963 Posts: 85 Member
    Hmmm.... I felt like that when I did the C25K programme and I wasn't on reduced carbs. It is possible that 60g isn't low enough to affect your glycogen stores so you are just feeling "normal" for a newbie runner. Runners all have duff runs, it's what makes the good ones good. The more you progress, the less duff ones you will have and it is the "high" of the good runs that will keep you addicted to running (I only started in May, a month off my 50th birthday and I've recently started running TEN km, despite the biggest protestations that I never would! lol)

    Do you track your running with something like Runtastic or Endomondo? I found that when I felt I'd had a bad run, it was because I hadn't paced myself properly and had actually run faster and further than the previous time. So it changed my mind from being "Oh, I can't do this" to "Wow... I was faster than last time!" and cheered me up for the rest of that day instead of feeling useless..... A tracker will also tell you how many calories you have burned which may help you to see why you're not losing weight. I reached maintenance 6 weeks ago and it was only then that I started eating back the calories I'd burned whilst running. Are you logging everything you eat and drink?
  • rws262
    rws262 Posts: 15 Member
    I haven't noticed a huge difference in the way my clothes fit. Maybe a small difference. I don't keep track of everything I eat. I only keep track of net carbs. My fat and calories come a lot from almonds, peanutes, olives, avocados, tuna with mayonnaise, cheese. Every morning is an Atkins shake. Salad with chicken is my preferred lunch. Full fat bleu cheese or ranch. Nightly meal is usually beef, chicken or pork steaks with a veggie side and salad. I would love to be able to track everything eaten every day but too often for me that leads to "diet exhaustion." I try to make it as easy as possible on myself to stick with something.

    I use a Polar FT7 heart rate monitor to monitor my heart rate and calories burned as well as the Nike + Running app to track distance and pace. Yesterday the entire Week 7 workout from warmup to cooldown was 650 calories for about 40 minutes of time according to heart rate monitor.

    Are intense workouts ok to do on low carb? Often times, I like to sprint for the last minute which brings my heart rate up to around 188 for a little while.
  • Domane1963
    Domane1963 Posts: 85 Member
    Yes it is fine to do intensive work on LC, just bear in mind that it may take your body a while to learn to swap from burning carbs for energy to fat so you may experience "the wall"! But persevere and I'm led to believe that it WILL transfer, looking for an alternative energy source if the carb store is empty!!!
  • danimalkeys
    danimalkeys Posts: 982 Member
    for me, the weight is coming off really slow on low carb. 3lbs a month is average even though I'm at 500-600cals a day deficit from my TDEE. Some weeks I don't lose anything, 1 week I lost 2lbs, usually its around .5lb a week.

    I wouldn't really worry about it- just stick with your program and it should jump start at some point.