Running causing weight gain?

I eat ~1500 cal. a day). Unfortunatley, I gained weight!!!! Over the past 1.5 months or so I have gained about 6-8 pounds.

You lose weight by eating fewer calories than you burn. Open your diary for personalized advice, but you're probably underestimating your food &/or overestimating your burns.

Set your goal to .5 lb. per week and log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Get a digital food scale and weigh everything you eat—even packaged food. If you're still not losing, eat back half your exercise calories.

The Sexypants post should be required reading for all MFPers: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Thats a head scratcher, eating that much and running that far shouldnt be gaining weight.

Hello all! I am a distnace runner who is training for the 5K/10K distance. Last summer, I lost about 15pounds(135-120) and then a couple more pounds during the fall. This summer, I have upped my mileage from 35 miles a week to about 45-50 miles a week along with core, swimming, and biking a few days ever week. I gained a few pounds over the winter but nothing major, so at about the same time that I increased my mileage, I reduced my food intake in order to get my weight back down(I eat ~1500 cal. a day). Unfortunatley, I gained weight!!!! Over the past 1.5 months or so I have gained about 6-8 pounds. I know that this isnt huge, but to be in top condition for my races I need drop a few pounds. I feel like I shouldve lost weight with my calorie reduction and excersise increase am concerned that the opposite happened. Any ideas?

You're eating 1500 calories a day and exercising that much? Yikes.

I have been counting accurately. I know how to keep a food diary and add the numbers. I'm eating the same as I did when I lsot 15 pounds.

I'm sorry but the amount of people that say that but when you have a close look at their diary's they are not accurately counting. That is the most likely culprit.

Surely it's worth double checking? You're obviously doing something wrong because it's not working and that is the likely problem

Have a look at this thread

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

Sounds like you are not eating enough for all of the activity you are doing.

Yes, it's a miracle, your body actually gains weight the more exercise you do on a steady source of food calories. If you stopped exercising and eating altogether, you would be a total fattie. You have a divine source of energy and can never starve to death.

Either that, or you're not calculating your intake correctly.

Make a choice which you think is more likely.

LOL

I was thinking maybe the OP was drinking extra calories that arent being accounted for?

Do you track any measurements besides weight? That's an awful lot of weight to be muscle, given all the cardio you're doing. Do you look like you're gaining fat in any of your usual places? If it doesn't seem to show anywhere, I vote for a broken scale.

I've read a case study on a woman training for a marathon that actually put on weight while eating at a deficit. When tested, her RMR was depressed. Distance running is one of those things that causes high stress in our bodies. Couple that with a large calorie deficit, and the body reacts to that stress. Stress produces cortisol, and according to some researchers, that causes weight gain.

Now, not everyone is a believer, especially not on this site. And I agree. I think it's less common to over exercise and under eat your way to a suppressed metabolism. Most people just eat more than they think and burn less than they think. However, it isn't impossible.

If your are absolutely, positively, 100% sure you are logging accurately, there's an easy way to test your metabolism. It's a quick, relatively inexpensive test. I had mine done and it took about 20 minutes.

You are also small, right? Water retention from exercise will also show up as weight gain. 1500 calories isn't very many. I need to eat an average of 2200/day to maintain my weight of 130 lbs (at 5'5" and 38 years old). I work out everyday, but do very little cardio. Just a little bike riding here and there.

I've read a case study on a woman training for a marathon that actually put on weight while eating at a deficit. When tested, her RMR was depressed. Distance running is one of those things that causes high stress in our bodies. Couple that with a large calorie deficit, and the body reacts to that stress. Stress produces cortisol, and according to some researchers, that causes weight gain.

He's logging 50 miles a week. Good exercise, but hardly "high stress" training.

Do you track any measurements besides weight? That's an awful lot of weight to be muscle, given all the cardio you're doing. Do you look like you're gaining fat in any of your usual places?

I do track my measurements, but I don't really know how to properly analyze them. My thighs have had a slight increase, as well as my biceps. Is this likely to be fat or muscle?

With all that cross-training, I would expect it would be more likely to be muscle, especially if you're putting in significant pool time. Although I have no clue how you could have enough calorie excess at 1500 gross calories to even get out of bed, let alone build 6+ pounds of muscle. There are sites around with pictures of people at various body fat % -- might want to take a look and compare to your build.

I've read a case study on a woman training for a marathon that actually put on weight while eating at a deficit. When tested, her RMR was depressed. Distance running is one of those things that causes high stress in our bodies. Couple that with a large calorie deficit, and the body reacts to that stress. Stress produces cortisol, and according to some researchers, that causes weight gain.

He's logging 50 miles a week. Good exercise, but hardly "high stress" training.

Well, he is a 19 year old female, but I see what you are saying. Testing one's RMR is pretty dang simple. If the OP is truly only eating 1500 calories/day and running ~ 5-7 miles per day, and doesn't think her weight gain is purely water, I'd recommend she have her RMR tested.

I get that we hear it all the time on this site, so everyone has this knee jerk reaction. But it isn't impossible, and the OP is very small anyways. Her BMI is close to being underweight. Even only running 5-7 miles per day could over stress her body, since it's likely already a bit stressed.

BTW, OP, you are awfully tiny. Are you sure you want to lose any more weight? I know the common thought for endurance athletes is to be very small, but you might want to look at other avenues to improve performance. :flowerforyou:

If you really are exercising that much and really are only eating 1500 cals then the only thing I can come up with is....



Could you be pregnant....? That would add those pounds on...