Eating back my running cals

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tessaleonie
tessaleonie Posts: 13 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've started running again a couple of weeks back and while I try to only eat back a percentage of the bonus cals, I do need to eat some back.

And I think I figured out what works best for my body. Namely a 200 (for a short run) boost on my rest days. I found that a day after my run I get the cold shakes in the afternoon. Something that was easily fixed by having a sandwich with a boiled egg.

I do also tend to eat a little bit more on the days of the run but I aim to not go over eating back more than 75% .

Only downside is purely aestheic. I run 4 times a week and in my chart my cals are very much under. But my three rest days show annoying little red peaks.

But I don't feel too bad about those peaks because it is always after those rest days that the scale goes down.

So fellow runners how do you guys eat back your running cals?

Replies

  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    Yes, I like to fuel my body and retain muscle. Sometimes I burn 2500 calories running, then its a feast of peanut butter, ice cream, and chocolate.
  • tessaleonie
    tessaleonie Posts: 13 Member
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    I'm not burning that much yet (10k today) but I look foreward to some substantial amount of those (a teaspoon of peanut utter or 2 squares of chockie are not enough)
  • hyg99
    hyg99 Posts: 354 Member
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    I try and underestimate calories out and over estimate calories in but pretty much eat most back as I dislike being hungry. I have set my calories at 0.5 lb loss a week despite being at maintainable so I feel no guilt eating sometimes all back.
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
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    I may not have it all figured out yet, but what I have found so far is:

    1. I need to eat back my running calories or I WILL get hungry and eat eventually. If I do not my performance suffers until I finally do catch back up after caving in.

    2. I started my weight loss journey on doctors orders of 120g carbs per day max to get blood sugars under control. Now that I am thinner and have my blood sugar under control, I am finding I need more carbs between run days to refuel properly. I've seen better results working at 160g carbs/day with 2040 calories/day allowance, but I still have run out of gas on a couple recent runs so I am upping that to 200g carbs/day. I am trying to keep it to the minimum needed to maintain my long runs (training for a half marathon).

    3. I run in the late afternoon/early evening, and I eat all of my normal daily calories before my run, making sure to eat my final meal 2-3 hours before my run.

    4. My post-run meal is a milk and protein powder smoothie with cocoa powder for flavor and a few extra calories, and possibly peanut butter if I need more calories to get some added fats and protein in there.

    This is what has given me my best results so far, but I am no expert, and honestly still dialing in what seems to work best for me.

    Oh, I also find I need a TON of sodium. It's crazy. Since I started running my blood pressure gets low sometimes even though I have always had more sodium than normal recommended daily amounts. So I get a lot of sodium, particularly run days now when I find pickle juice helps, particularly to avoid cramps. If it works, I ain't changing. I don't track sodium on MFP any more though because the numbers are just plain stupid. Oh, and the doc recommended I bump up my sodium EVEN THOUGH I had ALREADY been taking in more than the recommended daily amount of sodium. Someone told me I was a "salty sweater". I don't know if that's true or not, but maybe so.
  • tessaleonie
    tessaleonie Posts: 13 Member
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    Yeah I seriously crave salt after a run.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
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    tessaleonie wrote: »

    So fellow runners how do you guys eat back your running cals?

    I'm having beer and fish right now. I eat back most of my calories burned from running. NET calories are all that matter.

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