Question for long distance runners! (From a newbie)

Are you eating anything at all during the run? I usually do a Gu pack on any run longer than 90 minutes and I find it helps me feel better after the run.

Are you eating back the calories you're burning from exercise?

I wish I knew a trick other than self control. I'm also super hungry, especially the day after a long run. I often hear, "Oh you're a long distance runner...you can eat whatever you want!." I wish, but I certainly can't if I want to maintain my weight!! (However, my 6'3" younger brother apparently can eat whatever he wants. He's a runner too, but he has an incredible metabolism and can eat so much more. My marathon time was faster than his though so maybe that's worth something...Lol!)

I just finished my 1st marathon, and I thought I'd be losing weight like crazy as I got into the longer runs. I pretty much fluctuated between my goal weight to +3 lbs though.

I did try to make sure I didn't eat back all my calories on my long run day so if I go over the next day, it's not going to hurt anything. Also, drinking lots of water helps. When I get at least 64 oz a day, I find that helps.

This is kind of interesting. Right after I run often I feel less hungry. Sometimes when I feel really strong hunger pains I will run to help control them. I guess you are however saying that it is controlling hunger next day that gets you. It is interesting to me about gaining weight when training for a marathon. From what I have seen this is almost always the case unless you really watch things. The truth is you are not going to feel good a lot of the time if you are trying to lose weight and building mileage. One thing that was interesting for me was I was dieting really hard before a big event a few years back and feeling terrible. My training runs were horrible. The week before the event. I switched back to more a maintenance diet. My body bounced back immediately and I was able to get a PR.

If you are training for a half marathon you need to eat more. I'd suggest eating at maintenance calories until after your race. You need to fuel those long runs- I found sweets like fruit pastilles worked well when I trained for a marathon- eat early and regularly during the run to keep your energy up. Good luck with your training.

If you're not eating any exercise calories back and you're running more than a couple of miles, your net calorie intake is going to be less than 1200. I highly recommend eating at least some exercise calories back. Yes, you will still lose weight if you do this.

I am just under 5 feet tall. I have been eating a baseline 1200 calories/day plus exercise calories for the past 2+ years. I've gone from C25K to training for and completing two half marathons, and am currently training for a third. And I've lost 95 pounds in that time, putting me at 5 pounds from my goal. I could not have done that if I hadn't eaten back at least a large proportion of calories I burned while running. My body wouldn't have gotten enough nutrients to recover properly from my training.

If you don't like Gu, there are other options--I like Clif Blocks or similar products, but I've also fueled with raisins. I wouldn't recommend Clif Bars during a run because they take longer to digest, and during a run you just want a quick boost of sugar. Clif Bars are better before or after your workout.

Track your exercise calories accurately, eat enough of them back, fuel your runs properly. You'll feel a lot better.

SaritaWolf wrote: »

@MeanderingMammal @_runnerbean_ @TavistockToad

What about losing weight? I am about 10 lbs away from a healthy BMI. Before I started training, I was eating only at 1200. I increased it to 1400 for the purpose of training. I would still like to lose that 10lbs before the race.

You won't make race day at all if you don't train properly - and that means eating enough food. You need to decide your priorities- do you want to be healthy and run the half marathon or do you want to lose weight (and probably be sick or injured come race day).

It's also really important that you fuel yourself properly to help your muscles repair after training (you need Carbs AND Protein, not just Protein) and nutritious foods to help prevent injury. I recently went on a low carb, low calorie binge to lose weight before a race, I can't tell you how much of a difference I noticed being under-fuelled vs eating at maintenance with 60% calories from carbs and 20% from P&F equally.

After I finish long runs I generally feel pretty sicky but try to make myself glug down a recovery shake all the same.

Like you though it is the next day that I'm then REALLY hungry (which is a bit of a headache for MFP since it works calories out per day). The only recommendations I have are to try and choose nutritious whole foods that fill you up as opposed to calorie dense non-satiating foods. E.g have scrambled egg on wholemeal toast rather than a fruit smoothie for the same calories. I have found a big breakfast bowl of Fruit n Fibre with skimmed milk meets my macro needs well and starts to fill up the massive hole that's opened up in my tummy overnight ;-)

I’m also training for my first half, and about 10lbs away from goal as a 5’ shortie.

But I care more about getting to the end of that HM than I do running a big deficit at the moment. And like many others, it’s the day AFTER exercise that I feel the hunger. After a run? Nah, not that interested (unless it’s fruit, gimme fruit after a run). I work on a daily average to get round the fact that MFP thinks I’m eating over on some days, and I aim to eat ALL of the exercise calories that my fitbit and/or tomtom gives me.

I do run a very small deficit, but we’re talking on average 50 calories here. As long as I can fuel my running then I’m fine with that. At this close to goal I’m also a bit more concerned with my physical figure than the number on the scale – I plan to bring in more strength training into my routine for that.

Maybe eat more before and during your runs to prevent the runger?

Eat more. Seriously.

My personal experience: I'm currently a couple weeks into a mileage-building HM training plan, will be hitting 37 miles this week. Last week was 34 miles. I'm also still trying to lose weight. I have my net goal set to 1520 cals, for a .5lb/wk loss, and I definitely eat exercise cals back. If you look at the below graph, of my gross calories, you can see I'm eating quite a few calories on average (ignore that one super low day, it was my bday and I didn't even track, lol). Now, despite eating all these calories, I've still on average, tended to be netting below my 1520 goal, because I had recently upped my cals, and was trying to be conservative.

Well, in the last 3 weeks I lost a total of 6.4 lbs, obviously well above my .5lb/wk goal. And I'm not super obese, I am currently 3 lbs above the top end of my suggested healthy BMI range. You, by not eating most of your exercise cals back, are falling well below your net calorie goal, and are at a more severe deficit than I am. So please, do yourself a favor, and start eating more. You will feel better, your runs will feel amazing, and you'll probably still lose weight, as long as you continue to stay on top of your tracking.

gross calories:

net calories:

SaritaWolf wrote: »

Thanks all. Tough love is hard but I appreciate you all be straight forward. I think I will try something different with my next long run on Saturday.

I always eat 2-3 eggs before hand, mini cliff bar during (and water), and then some sort of fruit after. Obviously that isn't working too great. (It did before when I was only running 6ish miles...so I assumed it would still work.)

I think I will try same meal before (eggs) because I get really sick if I eat too much before a run. I will buy some grapes for quick fueling along with my cliff bar during. Afterwards, I will try a smoothie for refueling directly after the run. I think I will focus my lunch/dinner meals around a nice carb/protein mix, like pasta. (I gave up pasta when I started MFP for weight loss.) I'll try to make it my goal to eat back at least 1/2 my exercise calories.

On Sunday, I think I will make it my goal to eat at 1600 calories (which MFP says is my maintenance amount). If I do any sort of exercise that day as well, I will eat back some of those calories.

For those who read this, thoughts?

I think this is smart to up your cals a bit. I also can't eat a big meal before a long run, but I think increasing your calorie intake in general will be of benefit to you. Also, I forgot to mention in my first post, but in regards to being properly hydrated, that doesn't just occur the day of the long run. I always make an extra concerted effort to be drinking tons of water the day, or two days before my long runs. It takes a little time to get yourself properly hydrated, and you can't accomplish it by just drinking a huge glass of water the morning of your run. If you are really properly hydrated before you start your run I think you'll be surprised by how little you actually need to hydrate during your run. I did an 11-miler on Sunday and only had water in my car for after I was finished. Now obviously, this advice changes if you're running in the heat. During the summer I can easily lose 5-6lbs of water weight on just one long run, so would always take my hydration belt.

Hello,

I've also recently started long distance and did find this to be an issue. Add rehydrate to your water and keep an energy bar on you to snack on a long the way while running (I've learnt this from the other runners I know) afterwards they seem to have something a bit higher in sugar like a milkshake.

Personally I eat a lot already - about 5 or 6 times a day, spreading out my calories. Just try eating every 2/3 hours of controlled portions and try up your carbs but with good carbs. Hope this helps

pre-run/race for me - is normally oatmeal - but think ahead to what might be available race morning if you are traveling for a race (is the hotel going to have a comp breakfast etc)...because you want to train with how you are going to race