Is running hindering my fat loss?!

Psychgrrl wrote: »

If you're eating out, try something they can't sneak a lot of extra fat on or into. Salad with dressing on the side. Grilled fish/chicken. Extra veggies.

What about carbs like quinoa? A lot of bang for your buck. Fiber and protein, too.

Budget is a problem with those things... I can really only afford fast food most of the time. There is a salad place by my school that I LOVE but it is around $10 to eat there. Or I can get lunch at Taco Bell for $3. I'm vegetarian too so that complicates things, like Wendys near me does have some salads but if you get them without the meat they aren't filling whatsoever. Quinoa is expensive too, though I do get it sometimes. I do pretty okay eating at home - lentils, for example, are one of my favorite things to make for dinner. They are really cheap and have a ton of protein/low calories.

rybo wrote: »

I've seen it time & again, it's actually rather common not to lose weight (fat) with tons of running. Running more isn't the answer, neither is "just eat less". You need to start a structured strength program. The couple days a week circuit training isn't cutting it obviously.

I definitely agree. I used to lift 3-4 days a week and run 2-3 days and I was seeing great results. I definitely plan to get back to that once the marathon is over! I switched to circuit training rather than regular lifting because I was fining heavy lifting while training for a marathon to be too exhausting.

Homemaker57 wrote: »

christinev297 wrote: »

@LaurenAOK I cant help with your question, but I just wanted to say that I would kill to have your stomach!

Thanks, you girls are sweet I think that's another problem, I don't have that much fat to lose any more, and I know the last bit can be the hardest.

snowflakesav wrote: »

msf74 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

most likely you are underestimating your intake. training vs working out is pretty rigorous...I usually put on a couple of pounds when I'm actively training for a bike race simply for the fact that I need to eat a certain amount just for proper recovery. I've never lost weight while actively training...it's very difficult to keep calories in check when you're working at that level of effort.

i personally think you're eating a bit more than you think...enough to maintain...500 calories is pretty easy to underestimate.

All of this.

Your are putting your body under high amounts of stress which it will seek to guard against or recover from through a number of mechanisms which include unconscious food seeking behaviours. Your body isn't stupid.

Lots of people will get sorely disappointed if they are using marathon training as a means to drop body fat primarily. That is why some people have a specific weight loss phase in their yearly plan which compromises performance in favour of dropping weight before they get into the meat of their training.

I will echo that steady weight loss and marathon training don't coexist.

But I guess my question is why. Let's say, for a second, that I am logging very accurately - why can't I lose weight while training for a marathon? I think a few people now have pointed out that losing weight while training just doesn't seem to happen - you need to choose between one or the other. And that is okay! If I had known that before I would have just focused on the training and not gotten my hopes up about fat loss. But I'm talking scientifically - something just is not adding up to me. Even if my body is prompting me to overeat, etc... if I'm using MFP correctly the weight should be coming off whether my body wants it to or not. I know some have suggested I must not be using MFP correctly, but part of me is still finding that hard to believe because of my long-term use and prior success with it.

I had someone send me a PM about the matter saying they had experienced something very similar. They were logging with MFP, losing weight great, then started a very intense cardio program 6-7 days a week and their weight loss completely stopped for months. They were using MFP exactly as they had been before, but all of a sudden couldn't lose weight. I know their story, and mine, and the stories of many others are simply anecdotal evidence, which does not count for much. But I really have to think that something is going on here besides "you're not counting correctly."

Francl27 wrote: »

jgnatca wrote: »

My weight loss slowed when I started running. I think a lot of it is water retention.

I wonder too if people just don't overestimate how many calories running burns. I was very disappointed when I realized that it just didn't burn as much as I thought.

I mean I see people training even for half marathons then go and eat 3000 calorie meals after because they 'deserve' it...

I think a lot of people do overestimate. But I try not to fall into this trap - especially after getting the Fitbit Charge HR, I love this thing lol. It seems to track my HR as well as the chest strap monitor I used to use and I find that the calorie burn it gives me is spot on with that too. For example, for my 15-mile run last weekend Runkeeper gave me like 1600 calories, but Fitbit said more like 1300. I always go with the Fitbit number and even then, I usually don't eat them all back - 1300 calories is a LOT extra to eat for me, haha.

Side note, which I find pretty hilarious: After all this, I step on the scale today to find myself at 137, which is the lowest I've been in MONTHS. I think the last time I saw below 138 was over three months ago. Will it stick around? Certainly not, I'm sure I'll be back up to 139 tomorrow haha... but just thought it was ironic after posting this thread. It was nice to see, too.

shell1005 wrote: »

coreyreichle wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

Well, I'd think it would happen more often if it was really the case. I do an hour of cardio every day (walking at an incline, not running) and my TDEE hasn't moved a bit in a year, and I've maintained my weight just fine.

My guess is that you're underestimating your 'eating out' calories, you might be retaining more water because of all that running, or you have a thyroid issue and overestimating your TDEE.

That being said, I do think that there is such thing as too much cardio.

I'm going to agree here. Underestimating your eating out, and possibly overestimating your calories burned.

Fitbits (And MFP) are "notorious" for overestimating caloric burn. In fact, for this reason, I disabled automatic adjustments to my calorie goals for the day, just for this reason.

Actually FitBit aren't notorious for that BTW. They are usually pretty spot on, especially the longer you have had it. Said someone actually in maintenance who uses my FitBit to track my day to day TDEE.

P.S. Veggie here too. Not vegan though. I joined this facebook group of vegan athletes and considering it down the line, but right now....I need whey protein and cheese and well...ice cream!

I was going to say this, if used correctly Fitbit is actually very accurate from what I've read. It actually underestimates RMR because it assumes BMR for all non-moving time (which is lower burn than RMR). So that tends to balance out any overestimation that may occur. There's a lot of good reads about it in the Fitbit users group. I especially trust my HR one since it seems spot on with chest straps I've used in the past.

Haha, same! I totally support the whole vegan thing but I don't think it's for me. Most of my protein comes from whey, dairy, and eggs.

DeborahKilpatrick wrote: »

Hi, I have been in the same position as you and I know how frustrating it can be. I did a marathon in May and like you hoped to lose weight during training (aimed for same as you, .5 a week). My weight didn't budge either. Here are the lessons I learned.
1. Forget about trying to lose weight until after your race. Your body is under a lot of strain and psychologically you need to focus on your race.
2. Focus on being hydrated, getting loads of sleep and getting the right nutrition. Don't eat any empty calories. Your body needs a lot of good stuff for a marathon.
3. My weight did gradually drop. It's very very slow but if I look back at a pattern from the last year, it's very slowly going down. I'm speeding it up now by eating a lot less and not always eating all my calories. But that's not a good idea in marathon training.
4. Try to stop eating out if you can. I think that could be the problem for you. Make a box of stuff the night before to bring to college - even if it's cold leftovers!

Good luck x

Thanks for posting! It's cool to know I'm not alone. I agree I need to work on my nutrition, that's the hardest part for me. I did pack a lunch daily over the summer (though I didn't see an improvement in weight loss then either). I haven't done it since school started because now I'm a lot busier and even finding the 10 mins extra to do that is hard. Plus I don't like to carry around a lunchbox all day in addition to my huge backpack - I live in the city, so I have to carry everything with me, I can't just throw it in a car or whatever. Maybe if I could start packing lunch even 1-2 days instead of eating out that would help, though.

Congrats on getting through the marathon - I'm so excited to be done with it! This whole process has been really exhausting. Cool, but exhausting.

mkakids wrote: »

You mention eating out alot. Is this a new development? Could the sodium be effecting your water retention?

I am training for my first half. I'm not as diligent about logging as I used to be, but I've noticed that if I log correctly for a few days in a row, I AM seeing a loss. I'm not running nearly as many mile as you though (I'm averaging around 18-20 a week right now).

Sadly no, fast food has always been a big part of my lifestyle lol. I know it's not the healthiest, but it's easy, and it's cheap, and I've really got a taste for it. Some people don't like all that grease, I say bring it on

I too lost weight while I trained for a Half. Then I was running 3 days a week... it's only since I committed to the marathon that I bumped up running to 4 days a week, and that's when my weight loss stopped. Have fun at the Half, btw - they are a lot of fun! I think I will stick to those after this marathon is done.

I'm trying to respond to everything because I appreciate all the feedback, but it's hard to keep up! Just know that I'm reading everything everyone has to say and I really do appreciate it.

newyorkcitymom wrote: »

I bet you'll drop pounds post race. I Have pretty opposite advice. I think 2,000 cals/day is not enough to fuel all the training you do and your overall activity level. Your body is probably stressed to the max. I would try slowly upping your calories to your TDEE and see what happens. Just try it for a couple of weeks and see how you feel. You really have nothing to lose. You can cut more after the race. But I'm thinking your body is stressed and feeding it will help performance and comfort - at least - and perhaps weight loss. Though you are so close to goal that it's easy for your body to hang on - especially given conditions. Whatever you do, I would not drop calories more. And if your goal is.5lbs/week then don't do more than a 300 cal deficit. Once your race is over, take a rest week, eat at maintenance and then start a heavy lifting program with minimal cardio and eat at a small cut. I bet you'll see real results post-race.

I actually posted this inquiry just to my MFP friends a couple weeks ago and most of the responses were more similar to yours - they seemed to think I wasn't eating enough. The thing about that is it just doesn't make sense with CICO - if I wasn't eating enough to fuel my body, I would be losing weight. But on the other hand, what you're saying makes sense, especially because I have been feeling really low on fuel lately. For example in my workout today (one hour of circuit training) I felt really really awful, like by the end I felt like I was going to puke or pass out. And I have not felt like that while working out in a LONG time. To me, that's a red flag that I'm not eating enough. But I think most people on this thread agree that if anything, I'm eating more than I think I am, and at least eating at maintenance. And maintenance should be enough to keep me going - It's really confusing!!

questionfear wrote: »

Speaking purely for myself, I tend to lose weight if I'm in the 15-25 miles per week range, and maintain or gain at 30+ miles per week.

Yep, this sounds exactly like me. Previously I was running maybe 20 miles per week and that's when I was losing weight with no problems. Once I increased mileage, I stopped losing.

lemurcat12 wrote: »

I've been looking forward to being able to cut back on the cardio and focus on losing again, which sounds weird but is true for me. (I've also been toying with the idea of marathon training, but I may wait 'til I get to goal after all, as I don't think I can do both.)

I think the general consensus in this thread is that yeah, you can't do both. I definitely wish I had realized that before, so it's good that you're aware of it!

Mr_Knight wrote: »

I looked at the OP's diary. Many entries are not consistent with the description made in the OP's posts. That is the first place to look...

I'm genuinely curious, what did you see in my diary that was not consistent with what I've described? If I'm making errors I definitely want to know about it. The only thing I can think of is that often you might see "1 tablespoon" or something in my diary, but even if I log it like that, I did actually weigh out the serving size. Sometimes it's just hard to find the entry by weight on MFP, so I'll log the equivalent of the same serving.

michelle7673 wrote: »

It sounds like you ARE losing body fat -- so something good is happening, right? I agree with a lot of the previous comments -- I do think that, if you are eating a lot of fast food, those quantities are not necessarily as consistent to published counts as you'd expect. And yes, lots of sodium. So could be a combination of water retention from the running inflammation, and maybe a bit of additional non-fat mass (muscle or even bone density) on the margin. Also, as you're running long distance, and you walk a lot of steps besides, you could possibly be becoming more efficient and the burn might be a little less on the margin. 10% over on fast food calorie counts, 10% over on the exercise burn -- these are not big numbers but combined with the inflammation it could be the answer. I don't think it's a fancy body chemistry problem
Overall, I agree -- stay the course, train for your race. I get the sense that you're aware your choices could be better, but hey, that's certainly true of me as well and many of us. When you are ready to take it to the next level, there are lots of people here who can advise you very well.

I definitely think you're right, it's probably a combination of different things. I have also wondered about the efficiency thing. Running 7 miles now might not burn as much for me as it would have a few months ago, but TDEE calculators are not going to know that. I would love to know some more stats about efficiency reducing calorie burn over time - I will have to look that up.