Is running making me fat?
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wildshrubbery wrote: »I started working out spring 2015, primarily weight training, but my lifts never really got heavy (I don't think I like the concept of max weight/one-three rep).
The problem really begins and ends with this statement. I was able to drop my first 50 pounds easily by doing nothing but cardio. Then, the returns began to diminish, even as I upped my cardio to 45 minutes, then an hour, then 90 minutes, then a full two hours a day. It wasn't until I reintroduced serious weight training (not just going through the motions with 60% of my one-rep max for an hour) that I found myself losing the dad bod/skinny-fat look. Cardio does plenty for your cardiovascular health and fitness (heck, it's in the name), but it's not going to do a lot for muscle definition. The only thing that's going to do anything for that is actually putting stress on your muscles via strength training.1 -
wildshrubbery wrote: »srslybritt wrote: »Your net cals seem low in your edit, I'm going to lead with that because you need to adequately fuel your body while remaining in deficit (20% deficit is the HIGHEST you should be going). It's a delicate balance, for sure.
A possible answer to your question actually jumped out at me here:Also I think it's ironic that this calorie tracker gives literally zero points for weight training, only cardio. Like they could at least give a low-ball estimate, Can I have *15* calorie points for my squats?
Sorry if this was already addressed, but are you eating back your exercise calories? MFP is notorious for way out-of-whack burn numbers for cardio exercises. We're talking hundreds of calories off. Are you using TDEE?
I've noticed that it overestimates output. When I took a class that used a heart rate monitor, I noticed that the calories burned based on heart rate was already lower than what the machine read, this thing is much higher than the machine readings, but I allow it since it doesn't give me any extra points for the hills.
I also learned from the class that used a heart rate monitor that I wasn't really working as hard as I thought. It wasn't until I got myself into an I-think-I-might-drop-dead-right here level of exertion that I got into that sweet spot with my heart rate.
I have no idea what TDEE is, this is the only tracker I've ever used and I've used it for 3 days because I got fed up
TDEE isn't a calorie tracker.
It stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure and it's based on your height, weight, and activity level. A popular weight loss formula using this method is your TDEE -20%.
Try this:
https://tdeecalculator.net/
Also, I'm going to echo other posters and encourage you to get a food scale. It really is the best and most accurate way to assess what you're putting into your body.1 -
wildshrubbery wrote: »BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »Did you want us to tell you to stop running and you'll lose weight again? You could try it and see. Add your lifting back in. Track your calories.
Also this: "being anxious about the fat, it's nearly impossible for me to bring myself to do anything OTHER than run when I get to the gym." doesn't sound particularly healthy. Gaining a little bit of fat, whatever the reason, isn't that big of a deal. Nothing to get overly anxious about.
Ha! Nope I didn't want anyone to tell me to stop running. I need to run to train. But 3-5 miles, 2-3 times a week is enough to ensure I can complete any course I will do over the coming year.
I just thought maybe someone may have had a similar experience and course corrected. I know I need to keep my lift days and I've been trying to talk myself out of running instead, but it's only as my weight has continued to climb that I've started stressing over it and it IS unhealthy.
If I want anyone to tell me anything it's don't skip my lifting, that's what I've been trying to tell myself.
But I am convinced that there's something *to* the difference between running and lifting on how efficiently I run on whatever fuel.
K. DON'T SKIP YOUR LIFITNG.
Seriously, run 3 times a week, lift 3 times a week. No need to be extreme. Do you enjoy running? Are you doing it only on a treadmill?4 -
Just track your food. When I was training for my first marathon, I lost weight initially as I was running more than I was eating. Once I got used to eating a lot and "earning" my calories, I stopped losing weight. It was made worse by the fact that I'd have 15 mile run days followed by a couple days off, so I'd eat a lot on that 15 mile run day and make up most of the deficit, but then continue to eat a lot on days off. I also have a friend whose mom gained a lot of weight during marathon training; not only was she eating a lot, but she thought she had to eat an energy gel every half hour. There's no mystery why she gained weight, nor why I gained weight. Without tracking your intake, you have no idea what your weight is gonna be like; if you think running gives you permission to eat WAY more, you're likely undoing all your progress. Track. Your. Food. Also don't get anxious about weight gain, it happens, and anxiety will cause you to take more and more extreme measures (like running instead of hitting weights) and will suck all the fun out of exercise.5
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wildshrubbery wrote: »I started working out spring 2015, primarily weight training, but my lifts never really got heavy (I don't think I like the concept of max weight/one-three rep).
The problem really begins and ends with this statement. I was able to drop my first 50 pounds easily by doing nothing but cardio. Then, the returns began to diminish, even as I upped my cardio to 45 minutes, then an hour, then 90 minutes, then a full two hours a day. It wasn't until I reintroduced serious weight training (not just going through the motions with 60% of my one-rep max for an hour) that I found myself losing the dad bod/skinny-fat look. Cardio does plenty for your cardiovascular health and fitness (heck, it's in the name), but it's not going to do a lot for muscle definition. The only thing that's going to do anything for that is actually putting stress on your muscles via strength training.
I'm going to revert to this. When I was just doing cardio I was skinny but I was flabby so to speak. You are most likely not getting fat but losing some muscle definition. Muscle doesn't weight more it just takes up less space. So I would recommend (since this is apparently what you wanted to hear) add in weight training. Killing yourself with cardio will make you skinny and soft (for some) adding weight training will help make you toned. And yes get a food scale and be meticulous about your logging, you are most likely underestimating the calories that you are eating.0 -
BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
K. DON'T SKIP YOUR LIFITNG.
Seriously, run 3 times a week, lift 3 times a week. No need to be extreme. Do you enjoy running? Are you doing it only on a treadmill?
Primarily treadmill, the city is gross and traffic is heavy. But I get a real run on the ground in once in a while. We're going to San Diego this weekend and I'm going to run some real hills at Mission Trails Park. Maybe once a month I run on the ground.
And no I don't enjoy running; I wonder if I ever will. I do it for training only.
-Edit - I enjoy running in that I enjoy challenging myself and breaking what I thought were limits. I was proud as hell of myself when I ran my first 5k because when I was 15 and should have been at my physical peak I was too lazy to make an effort to carry a 10 minute mile pace through to the end. Now I can do 3 8-minute miles.1 -
wildshrubbery wrote: »BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
K. DON'T SKIP YOUR LIFITNG.
Seriously, run 3 times a week, lift 3 times a week. No need to be extreme. Do you enjoy running? Are you doing it only on a treadmill?
Primarily treadmill, the city is gross and traffic is heavy. But I get a real run on the ground in once in a while. We're going to San Diego this weekend and I'm going to run some real hills at Mission Trails Park. Maybe once a month I run on the ground.
And no I don't enjoy running; I wonder if I ever will. I do it for training only.
What are you training for? What is OCR?0 -
When I was in the army, we ran a lot. Like, 4 miles a day was standard, but we’d often do six or more. It was just one of those divisions. We did some muscle failure and weights, but not much. You’d think we’d have all been supper skinny from all of the running, but it’s like we were all just used to it. The guys would complain that we ran too much for them to gain muscle, and I know I ate more because of it. I’d have had to low cal volume eat, if I’d wanted to cut fat, but I had no idea how back then.0
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wildshrubbery wrote: »wildshrubbery wrote: »I'm losing my mind. I feel like it's obviously a vicious cycle of too intense of cardio somehow exacerbating body fat increases,
Simply eating too much is the most obvious cause.
You'd think right. But I was eating more when I was skinnier than I wanted to be. My overall suspicion is that my blood-sugar is a little on the volatile side (I might be borderline diabetic as I had gestational diabetes with one of my three pregnancies)
I've read that intense cardio burns up all your blood sugar causing insulin spikes that block bodyfat metabolism and trigger your body to store fat as much as possible.
"High Insulin Levels Stop Fat Loss and Cause Weight Gain. It is impossible to have high levels of insulin in your system while burning fat at the same time"
This last isn't valid. I'm a diabetic and I check my blood glucose frequently. Intense cardio is great for glucose control and increases insulin sensitivity for about a day afterwards. The idea that insulin blocks body fat metabolism and forces fat storage is pure grade A baloney. In fact, some bodybuilders abuse insulin because it facilitates muscle growth.
It is true that for some people, intense exercise of any kind temporarily raises stress hormones, which blocks the action of insulin and causes a temporary rise in glucose levels. (Edit: I just read one of those people posted above.) This effect is very short term and the long term improvement in glucose control outweighs it.1 -
How are you calculating the calories burned while running? Are you eating back your exercise calories?
You said you had a long run on Monday--and it looks like your difference between net cals and gross cals is ~1000 calories... How long was that run?2 -
Just wanted to comment that studies have found people with fitness trackers lost less weight on average than people without. This post seems to be a good example of why - obsessing about mostly fictional calorie burns from one activity, overeating as a result of having "earned" more calories, and neglecting other activities which do use calories despite not being counted as cardio.5
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rheddmobile wrote: »wildshrubbery wrote: »wildshrubbery wrote: »I'm losing my mind. I feel like it's obviously a vicious cycle of too intense of cardio somehow exacerbating body fat increases,
Simply eating too much is the most obvious cause.
You'd think right. But I was eating more when I was skinnier than I wanted to be. My overall suspicion is that my blood-sugar is a little on the volatile side (I might be borderline diabetic as I had gestational diabetes with one of my three pregnancies)
I've read that intense cardio burns up all your blood sugar causing insulin spikes that block bodyfat metabolism and trigger your body to store fat as much as possible.
"High Insulin Levels Stop Fat Loss and Cause Weight Gain. It is impossible to have high levels of insulin in your system while burning fat at the same time"
This last isn't valid. I'm a diabetic and I check my blood glucose frequently. Intense cardio is great for glucose control and increases insulin sensitivity for about a day afterwards. The idea that insulin blocks body fat metabolism and forces fat storage is pure grade A baloney. In fact, some bodybuilders abuse insulin because it facilitates muscle growth.
It is true that for some people, intense exercise of any kind temporarily raises stress hormones, which blocks the action of insulin and causes a temporary rise in glucose levels. (Edit: I just read one of those people posted above.) This effect is very short term and the long term improvement in glucose control outweighs it.
That second paragraph is exactly my issue (increased cortisol et. al. causes temporary insulin resistance). I only mentioned it because I do have wonky blood sugar when running and it doesn’t impact my weight loss (or gain) at all.
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Duck_Puddle wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »wildshrubbery wrote: »wildshrubbery wrote: »I'm losing my mind. I feel like it's obviously a vicious cycle of too intense of cardio somehow exacerbating body fat increases,
Simply eating too much is the most obvious cause.
You'd think right. But I was eating more when I was skinnier than I wanted to be. My overall suspicion is that my blood-sugar is a little on the volatile side (I might be borderline diabetic as I had gestational diabetes with one of my three pregnancies)
I've read that intense cardio burns up all your blood sugar causing insulin spikes that block bodyfat metabolism and trigger your body to store fat as much as possible.
"High Insulin Levels Stop Fat Loss and Cause Weight Gain. It is impossible to have high levels of insulin in your system while burning fat at the same time"
This last isn't valid. I'm a diabetic and I check my blood glucose frequently. Intense cardio is great for glucose control and increases insulin sensitivity for about a day afterwards. The idea that insulin blocks body fat metabolism and forces fat storage is pure grade A baloney. In fact, some bodybuilders abuse insulin because it facilitates muscle growth.
It is true that for some people, intense exercise of any kind temporarily raises stress hormones, which blocks the action of insulin and causes a temporary rise in glucose levels. (Edit: I just read one of those people posted above.) This effect is very short term and the long term improvement in glucose control outweighs it.
That second paragraph is exactly my issue (increased cortisol et. al. causes temporary insulin resistance). I only mentioned it because I do have wonky blood sugar when running and it doesn’t impact my weight loss (or gain) at all.
Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions to educate myself? 300 sounds really high, do you have symptoms when you get that high? I have vision blurring when I have swings over 200, so a temporary spike as high as you get would be problematic for me.1 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Duck_Puddle wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »wildshrubbery wrote: »wildshrubbery wrote: »I'm losing my mind. I feel like it's obviously a vicious cycle of too intense of cardio somehow exacerbating body fat increases,
Simply eating too much is the most obvious cause.
You'd think right. But I was eating more when I was skinnier than I wanted to be. My overall suspicion is that my blood-sugar is a little on the volatile side (I might be borderline diabetic as I had gestational diabetes with one of my three pregnancies)
I've read that intense cardio burns up all your blood sugar causing insulin spikes that block bodyfat metabolism and trigger your body to store fat as much as possible.
"High Insulin Levels Stop Fat Loss and Cause Weight Gain. It is impossible to have high levels of insulin in your system while burning fat at the same time"
This last isn't valid. I'm a diabetic and I check my blood glucose frequently. Intense cardio is great for glucose control and increases insulin sensitivity for about a day afterwards. The idea that insulin blocks body fat metabolism and forces fat storage is pure grade A baloney. In fact, some bodybuilders abuse insulin because it facilitates muscle growth.
It is true that for some people, intense exercise of any kind temporarily raises stress hormones, which blocks the action of insulin and causes a temporary rise in glucose levels. (Edit: I just read one of those people posted above.) This effect is very short term and the long term improvement in glucose control outweighs it.
That second paragraph is exactly my issue (increased cortisol et. al. causes temporary insulin resistance). I only mentioned it because I do have wonky blood sugar when running and it doesn’t impact my weight loss (or gain) at all.
Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions to educate myself? 300 sounds really high, do you have symptoms when you get that high? I have vision blurring when I have swings over 200, so a temporary spike as high as you get would be problematic for me.
300 is REALLY high. That was on one 4+ hour run. It was routinely in the 2-300 range (went higher the longer I ran). I would have symptoms starting about 200-250 (my on the go testing probably has a wide error range). Nausea, narrowed vision, incredible thirst, wobbly, heavy limbs, shaky. I felt just horribly spent, almost woozy and about to pass out, but like I’d just eaten a can of frosting with an espresso chaser. Long runs aren’t always pleasant, but these felt awful.
The symptoms were why I went to my doc in the first place about it. I’ve never had BS issues, my A1C is normal. So I would never have given it another thought. I had no issues for fasting or the oral glucose tests. We assumed it was a low blood sugar issue (because I have a hard time stomaching carbs during a run), but it turned out to the opposite.
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How about you post your daily calories consumed as well as your protein, fat, carbs breakdown. With that information we can give you better advice. Thanks.2
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Duck_Puddle wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »Duck_Puddle wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »wildshrubbery wrote: »wildshrubbery wrote: »I'm losing my mind. I feel like it's obviously a vicious cycle of too intense of cardio somehow exacerbating body fat increases,
Simply eating too much is the most obvious cause.
You'd think right. But I was eating more when I was skinnier than I wanted to be. My overall suspicion is that my blood-sugar is a little on the volatile side (I might be borderline diabetic as I had gestational diabetes with one of my three pregnancies)
I've read that intense cardio burns up all your blood sugar causing insulin spikes that block bodyfat metabolism and trigger your body to store fat as much as possible.
"High Insulin Levels Stop Fat Loss and Cause Weight Gain. It is impossible to have high levels of insulin in your system while burning fat at the same time"
This last isn't valid. I'm a diabetic and I check my blood glucose frequently. Intense cardio is great for glucose control and increases insulin sensitivity for about a day afterwards. The idea that insulin blocks body fat metabolism and forces fat storage is pure grade A baloney. In fact, some bodybuilders abuse insulin because it facilitates muscle growth.
It is true that for some people, intense exercise of any kind temporarily raises stress hormones, which blocks the action of insulin and causes a temporary rise in glucose levels. (Edit: I just read one of those people posted above.) This effect is very short term and the long term improvement in glucose control outweighs it.
That second paragraph is exactly my issue (increased cortisol et. al. causes temporary insulin resistance). I only mentioned it because I do have wonky blood sugar when running and it doesn’t impact my weight loss (or gain) at all.
Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions to educate myself? 300 sounds really high, do you have symptoms when you get that high? I have vision blurring when I have swings over 200, so a temporary spike as high as you get would be problematic for me.
300 is REALLY high. That was on one 4+ hour run. It was routinely in the 2-300 range (went higher the longer I ran). I would have symptoms starting about 200-250 (my on the go testing probably has a wide error range). Nausea, narrowed vision, incredible thirst, wobbly, heavy limbs, shaky. I felt just horribly spent, almost woozy and about to pass out, but like I’d just eaten a can of frosting with an espresso chaser. Long runs aren’t always pleasant, but these felt awful.
The symptoms were why I went to my doc in the first place about it. I’ve never had BS issues, my A1C is normal. So I would never have given it another thought. I had no issues for fasting or the oral glucose tests. We assumed it was a low blood sugar issue (because I have a hard time stomaching carbs during a run), but it turned out to the opposite.
Yikes! Now that you know what the issue is, what are you supposed to do for it?0 -
I don't think you have mentioned whether you actually weigh all your food as that tends to be key in being sure you are eating what you think you are.
Also, it is possible your body has simply got used to running...why do something that you don't enjoy? Why not try something else that is challenging such as boxing classes, weights, circuits ? I got my best results when I did a variety of things that were both challenging and, to a degree, enjoyable. Boxing classes are a killer workout. I like running, and do it from time to time, but due to lung disease I cannot really ever be someone who does a 10k or a half marathon, training or not. I did one 5k and was the first female back and that was the last real running I did.
I suggest religiously weighing and logging all that you eat and drink and switching up your workout regime. I too am prone to getting stuck in doing the same thing every single time I go to the gym, although in my case, it doesn't tend to impact my weight.0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »fitoverfortymom wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »So you're getting Rungry, and overeating and not logging.
Copy all.
Track your intake and you'll go right back down.
I feel like this post was directed at me :laugh:
Runger is real.
So real.
2 half marathons this year have proved that the runger is real!
not as real as swimger...just saying!
Swimger isn't bad for me. Now, LIFTger, on the other hand, THAT'S a beast.0 -
For me, my weight gain started when I started training for a half marathon. I had maintained a weight of about 130-135 for about 9 years before I was increased my running.
For me it wasn't like a logging issue or a "weighing my food" thing, it was a real hunger issue. If I didn't eat big dinners after long runs I would wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pangs in my stomach. I wasn't boredom eating or rewarding myself, I was hungry. I was hungry for more calories than I was burning.
I stopped running, went back to lifting, bootcamp, spin, pilates, walking - all the exercise I did before I thought "hey, let me accomplish running" and now I'm working on losing the weight and for me it's tough.
So yeah, for me, running did make me a little fat. I understand that eating made me fat, but running is what made me eat.5 -
OP, you still haven't answered - how are you tracking your calories? Do you use a scale to weigh in grams?2
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