HELP! Runner Gaining Weight!

Abbygrlbff
Abbygrlbff Posts: 52 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I'm a runner (currently in marathon training), and I've been steadily gaining weight (am up 13 pounds in 7 months). I've been running for 2 years, and I ran a marathon last year and didn't experience this problem! My clothes no longer fit, and I'm becoming increasingly depressed and unhappy with my weight. I am confused with how many calories to consume. Can someone please help me with calories, etc.? Thank you so much!

Replies

  • joanna_82
    joanna_82 Posts: 151 Member
    Are you overestimating the amount of calories you are burning by running?

    I always thought I could eat more after long runs but I always put on weight during marathon training because I ate too much junk because I thought I could get away with it!

    Are you logging your runs in MFP and then eating some of the calories back? if you are logging, is it accurate via a HRM for example?

    The one piece of very good advice someone gave me was 'you can't outrun a bad diet'. So true!
  • Abbygrlbff
    Abbygrlbff Posts: 52 Member
    It's so true that you can't outrun a bad diet, and thank you for your post. I guess I'm more confused as to the amount of food I should be consuming in a day as well as the amount of exercise calories I should be eating back. Really don't know where to go from here?
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    It's so true that you can't outrun a bad diet, and thank you for your post. I guess I'm more confused as to the amount of food I should be consuming in a day as well as the amount of exercise calories I should be eating back. Really don't know where to go from here?

    What is here?

    What is your calorie goal? What are you logging for exercise? Are you tracking/weighing your food?
    How tall are you? What is your weight?


    Will you open your food diary?
  • Laurenloveswaffles
    Laurenloveswaffles Posts: 535 Member
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Figure out your TDEE. Follow the calorie amount it gives you. Since your exercise is already included in the TDEE it gives you, you will not log your exercise on here. Much easier than figuring out your exercise calories on here.

    Weigh and log everything you consume.
  • spencch
    spencch Posts: 4 Member
    You should consider tracking how many calories you burn on your run and other exercise.
    Possibly a heart rate monitor would help.

    If you have put on 13 pounds in 7 months, you are overeating by about 220 calories a day (13/7 = 1.86 pounds/month: 1.86 pounds X 3500 calories/pound/30 days = 217 calories/day).

    That is just to get back down to maintenance for your current total calorie burn. If you wanted to lose the additional weight, you would need to go lower.

    Agree with the other recommendations. Track what you eat and burn and make sure you are in balance (or at an appropriate deficit if you are trying to lose).

    If you want to lose the additional 13 pounds you gained, you could cut another 500 calories a day (720 in total less). This would get you about a pound a week and help you lose the additional weight in about 3 months (13 weeks).
  • jparks341
    jparks341 Posts: 216 Member
    This was a very good article for men and women.
    http://womensrunning.competitor.com/2013/03/health-wellness/why-you-cant-lose-weight_11491
  • Bry_Fitness70
    Bry_Fitness70 Posts: 2,480 Member
    I am a runner in weight maintenance mode, trying to break even with my TDEE each day. I set my TDEE calculation to a sedentary lifestyle (based upon my office profession), and eat back any calories that I burn exercising. I measure my calories burned using an HRM (Mio Alpha wrist HRM) paired with Digifit on my iPhone – I almost always burn less calories measured with the HRM than those calculated by the general burn tables in MFP. So I’m guessing that either your TDEE is too high or you are over estimating your calorie burn, if you are eating at a breakeven or caloric deficit.
  • lavaughan69
    lavaughan69 Posts: 459 Member
    I've just started training for a 5k. I've never ever ran before so it's all new to me. The biggest surprise I had was just how few calories I would burn when running. Here I was thinking I'd be able to eat more...or should eat more in order to keep my energy level up etc. and as it turns out it only burns around 300 calories. In other words, two lovely glasses of wine! haha

    So I would suggest you fill in MFP and set it at .5lbs weightloss and then log your exercise. It will tell you how many calories you should consume to lose .5 lbs a week. Once you're at your goal weight set it to maintenance, it will up your calories.
  • marissanik
    marissanik Posts: 344 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    You can try this one as well for reference!
  • RUNNING_AMOK_1958
    RUNNING_AMOK_1958 Posts: 268 Member
    It's hard to see exactly why you're having this problem without knowing your weight. First you need to determine how many calories you should be eating. This is the calculator I use and it has always worked for me.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    Then you need to be sure you measure and weigh your food and log it correctly. I noticed a few quick added calories in your diary.

    I would add also track sodium. Looks like a lot of your food is high in sodium, and a lot of your problem could be water retention. I notice that the more water I drink the faster the weight comes off.

    You need to make sure your calorie burn is tracked correctly. It looks a little high to me, but without knowing your weight, I can't be sure.

    I was able to lose weight by eating back most or all of my exercise calories. That's something you can play around with and see what works for you.

    Good luck!
  • sabolfitwife
    sabolfitwife Posts: 423 Member
    So according to Scooby's TDEE calculator, here are my stats:

    BMR is 1,538
    TDEE to maintain is 2,115
    Calories based on exercise is 1,692

    So the third one takes account of my exercise (I entered 1-3 hours of light exercise/week) so that is how many calories I should be eating all together? Do not eat any exercise calories back? That's cutting by 20% to lose 0.8 lb/week. I believe I finally am understanding this method, going to give it a shot for the next 4 weeks and see what happens. Also just started 5k training (although that's nowhere near a marathon), but I definitely hope to see the scale go down with my increased cardio and continued strength training.
  • bingo_jenn
    bingo_jenn Posts: 63 Member
    I'm currently using a formula I found on Runner's World to calculate my calories burned. It's slightly less than MFP gives me, so I feel more comfortable with it. It is (0.63 x bodyweight) x # miles running. I just started using it, so I don't know if it works or not. :P
  • HerbertNenenger
    HerbertNenenger Posts: 453 Member
    that saying about how you can't out-exercise a bad diet is true. Go to a BMR/TDEE calculator and figure out how many calories you're supposed to be having.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
    Looking at your diary, I have spotted a few things...

    1. Quick add calories are the devil. Using quick add calories makes it impossible to track specifics like protein and fat intake. Commit to really logging everything fully and correctly, then you can make adjustments within your calorie allotment to be more satisfied and help meet your other fitness goals.

    2. Invest in a food scale. Entries like a cup of 1/2 a chicken breast or 2 bananas are likely packing tons of hidden calories because you have no way to know if your banana is the same size as that banana or how big the chicken breast was. Weigh your solid food and you'll get a much more accurate calorie count.
  • levicrouch
    levicrouch Posts: 99
    Just to clarify, if you are using MFP to track calories in and calories burned through exercise, you should not be using your TDEE numbers, it will be too high.

    TDEE accounts for your exercise in the calculation. So, if you are doing TDEE and MFP, do not log your calories burned during exercise, you will end up eating back your exercise calories and not be in a deficit.
  • dwh77tx
    dwh77tx Posts: 513 Member
    I don't run anymore for this very reason. For some reason, I can do an hour workout with weights, HIIT, etc, but the amount of food I needed to fuel my runs was just more calories than I really needed. I ran a 1/2 marathon in the spring, and gained a couple pounds traning for it. No more...And, running made me SO hungry a few hours later.
  • Laurenloveswaffles
    Laurenloveswaffles Posts: 535 Member
    So according to Scooby's TDEE calculator, here are my stats:

    BMR is 1,538
    TDEE to maintain is 2,115
    Calories based on exercise is 1,692

    So the third one takes account of my exercise (I entered 1-3 hours of light exercise/week) so that is how many calories I should be eating all together? Do not eat any exercise calories back? That's cutting by 20% to lose 0.8 lb/week. I believe I finally am understanding this method, going to give it a shot for the next 4 weeks and see what happens. Also just started 5k training (although that's nowhere near a marathon), but I definitely hope to see the scale go down with my increased cardio and continued strength training.

    So eat 1692 calories a day, and do not log exercise. Do this for 4-6 weeks, and then recalculate with your new weight.
  • graceire
    graceire Posts: 323 Member
    I'm currently using a formula I found on Runner's World to calculate my calories burned. It's slightly less than MFP gives me, so I feel more comfortable with it. It is (0.63 x bodyweight) x # miles running. I just started using it, so I don't know if it works or not. :P

    Is the # miles running for the week?

    OP, my weight loss has completely stopped since I started training for my 1/2 marathon. Which I've read is pretty common. Thanks to the guy who posted the link to the article--very informative and I think describes very well what's been happening to me (not trying to threadjack!). I think once I complete my half in October I'm switching back to my HIIT exercise (which I've almost stopped because of my training schedule) and increasing my strength training (which is unfortunately sporadic now).

    OP, for your Scooby's calculator--are you sure that you're only doing 1-3 hours light exercise/week if you're marathon training? And as a previous poster said, unlike the MFP way, don't eat back the exercise calories. I personally still log the exercise, because I like seeing it, but don't eat them back.
  • bingo_jenn
    bingo_jenn Posts: 63 Member
    It's that day. For example, today I did 4 miles.

    .63 x 185 = 116
    116 x 4 = 466 calories burned
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    I'm currently using a formula I found on Runner's World to calculate my calories burned. It's slightly less than MFP gives me, so I feel more comfortable with it. It is (0.63 x bodyweight) x # miles running. I just started using it, so I don't know if it works or not. :P

    Is the # miles running for the week?

    OP, my weight loss has completely stopped since I started training for my 1/2 marathon. Which I've read is pretty common. Thanks to the guy who posted the link to the article--very informative and I think describes very well what's been happening to me (not trying to threadjack!). I think once I complete my half in October I'm switching back to my HIIT exercise (which I've almost stopped because of my training schedule) and increasing my strength training (which is unfortunately sporadic now).

    OP, for your Scooby's calculator--are you sure that you're only doing 1-3 hours light exercise/week if you're marathon training? And as a previous poster said, unlike the MFP way, don't eat back the exercise calories. I personally still log the exercise, because I like seeing it, but don't eat them back.

    No, the number would be per mile. So at 150 lbs, it would be 150 x .63 x total miles. So for a 1 mile you are looking at 150 x .63 x 1 = 94.5 calories per mile.
  • Abbygrlbff
    Abbygrlbff Posts: 52 Member
    Thank you all for your posts! It's nice to have the support!
  • Abbygrlbff
    Abbygrlbff Posts: 52 Member
    Ok, so again I am currently training for a marathon in Oct. and am up to over 14 miles on the weekend and approx. 12-20 additional miles during the week. I weight approx. 150, am 5'7 and have an office job. How many calories should I eat a day, and how many do I eat on my long run days?

    Thanks
  • lisab64mfp
    lisab64mfp Posts: 89 Member
    Granted I'm older and (maybe) slower but for my 10 mile run Saturday my heart rate monitor said I burned 867 calories. Using the calculation that was posted (.65 x weight x miles) it came up to 913 - pretty close in my book. MFP says I burned 1032.. Personally if I was just going by MFP numbers I'd only eat back (up to) 1/2 the calories it says I burned and I'd keep a close eye on the scale just to verify it.

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