Long Distance Running vs. eating Back Calories

That's why I just love my Runs :bigsmile: I can eat some more since I'm using up so many cals now

I find that I certainly need to eat more, particularly on the long run days, but if you are still trying to lose weight while doing so, don't hold your breath. When I hit 15 miles and above for my long runs, i finally actually started losing weight while feeling like I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted, but I know was not eating all that I was burning. Beware, though, once the race is over and you stop running that far, your metabolism will slow way down within 2 months and you'll start packing on the pounds if you don't limit your caloric consumption again. It's hard.

Eat.

I don't burn that much in a single run - usually 1000 at most - but when I'm doing a long bike ride, I need to injest about 300 calories per hour of activity. When I'm biking, it's solid food, but I couldn't do that running.

Slightly different, when long distance hiking, you burn a tonne of calories too (walking a marathon+ a day while carrying 20lbs). Different in that you need to carry your food, but the idea is the same. Calorie dense food is the rule. Nuts, nut butters, certain grains, etc. All have a lot of calories per ounce of food.

When I am training for long distance I usually have 1 long run a week and I do enjoy what I eat that day and eat most of my calories back, my favorite after race treat is a whole wheat turkey sub! (if training for a marathon I usually don't eat all of my calories back because that becomes 3000+ on some days).

I would just warn to be careful and track your calories because it becomes very easy to snack or say "I am carbo loading" and add on way more calories than you want. Your body will do a pretty good job of telling you if you need more. Also dont get frustrated if you notice the scale go up a bit after long runs - you will store water weight and I always struggle not to get frustrated with it.

Best of luck and so excited for you!

I find I struggle to eat back enough on my long run days, but that gives me a bit of scope to go over on other days. I tend to look at how it balances out over time. That said, my loss goal is only 1/2lb per week at the moment.

I do have to be sensitive to fuelling, so go over the night before a long run.

Subject to your plan your long runs will mainly be around the 8 mile point, a couple at 10 miles, so you're really not looking at many really big days.

You kind of have to see what works best for you. I eat until I'm full. However, when I'm training for a really long run say a marathon or longer, I try to run on empty occasionally. Not particularly to lose weight, but to train my body to go for longer without fuel (I have a tendency of not being able to eat much during a race). So, see what works for you... in training is the best way to experiment. If you are out of fuel, then eat more.

Okay....here is my two cents based on my own personal experience. Not a runner, but a long distance cycler. Today, I did a run that was just short of 60 miles. I burned over 3500 calories on that 5 hour trip. My macro is set to sedentary (so that on off days, I don't overeat). Therefore, for example, my calorie consumption for today could be as high as 4500 calories if I wanted. But, here is the thing with my body....I am trying to lose weight (still have 50 pounds to goal) and when I eat anything over 2400 - 2500 calories, even on days when I do 100 mile plus rides and could eat 10,000 calories in a day.....I gain weight and it sticks to me like it has been super glued on. It takes me several weeks to lose the pounds I gain from the long rides when I try to eat back too many of the calories (which, as I said, is much over 2400 - 2500 calories total for the day).

Now, no one has been able to explain this to me in a believable and intelligent manner that is supported with research. A long ride (100+ miles) has caused me to gain (on the scale) anywhere from 5 to 11 pounds immediately after the run and it takes some time to get that weight gone off the scale. While I realize that SOME of the weight gain is muscle, some is water from tissue repair....even so, the weight persists beyond muscle repair and no way it could all be muscle. I have found that I can not cycle long distances in a Ketogenic state. It does not work for me, even though I am LCHF and T2 Diabetic. I do fuel with Gu and other carbs during my long rides and that works for me, as I have found the balance to fuel with carbs and still find myself in Ketosis by the next morning.

So, it really DOES have to do with how your body responds. I will end by saying that, even though I do gain weight per the scale, there is a very very marked difference in the fit of my clothes soon after a long ride. So, while the scale is doing its thing, the body does seem to have shed significant fat stores. Which, in the end, is the true tale of your efforts.

Good luck. Hope that this helped you or someone else.

I don't do well eating back huge run calories and then eating much lower calories on off days. (I would only ever do about half usually anyway, because otherwise I seemed to be eating just to eat.). This was a problem I had years ago training for the marathon, and now that I'm regularly doing 13 mile long runs and 2-3 hours of biking on the weekend I started to experience it again. I switched to TDEE method to average my calories through the week. I'm leaving room to still budget more on a big workout day--added 200 extra today because I was hungrier than usual--but this is working much better for me so far.

The same for me. TDEE - % is much easier to manage and if I have an extra hard work out (like the HM I had yesterday) I may have a few extra cals if I'm hungry.

I'm having the same problem. My half marathon is in 3 weeks and I take my long run on Sunday. It totally kills my appetite--my deficit yesterday was more calories than I even take in on a normal day! I know I need to eat more to fuel my body, so I guess I'll just have to eat a bit more during the week (and I'm planning on taking a break from actively losing during my taper).

mshawski wrote: »

Thanks guys! My focus is cutting calories, so adding so many back just seems daunting. I feel like I'm cheating, but I'm not. You know? I needed a little reassurance, as I don't want to be that girl that curses because she didn't lose weight while she's eating 500 more than she should a day.

I AM looking forward to pizza not being forbidden on 13 mile days

Thanks again!

The notion of needing to "earn" your calories and food is a very dangerous one...

This is coming from someone who has completed 4 half marathons and was training for a full while not eating enough. I wound up with stress fractures that would haunt me for 1.5 YEARS...not to mention an eating disorder.

For that issue of huge eat-backs on big training days, and not always feeling like it, I would use a combo TDEE-MFP approach as mileage ramped up.

I'd figure TDEE on only 1 hr of workouts on the 4 or 5 days normally done.

Eating goal based on deficit to that.

And then on days where the long run or ride occurred, I'd figure the extra calories for what happened over the hour, and totally be able to eat them back that day - because it usually wasn't that much extra.
Not once you counted in the extra fuel eaten during the ride or run, usually about 100 per hour, so 3-4 hrs, and then an easy 100 afterwards of chocolate milk or such.

I ran 12 miles yesterday. I ate back all those calories plus some I had banked earlier in the week and hadn't already used. I want to be absolutely certain that I'm fueling both my run and my recovery properly. Remember that recovery is just as important as training, and your body needs proper nutrition to replenish glycogen and repair muscle.