April 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

@Avidkeo Hooray! I’m also an average sized person and BMI also represents me well - when I was morbidly obese I was sick and barely able to walk, when obese I could walk easily but not run easily, when overweight I could run but not as well as I wanted to. So happy for you being healthy and strong!

I'm in for 36 miles this month, with a stretch goal of 50.

Question #1: I've followed a variety of diets in the past, using the definition of "a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons". Never did keto though. I couldn't give up carbs like that. I tried.

My husband and I followed a whole foods plant based diet (WFPB) for about 6 months after his father's heart attack, and I loved it. Then our youngest son and his wife came to live with us when he got out of the Army, and it just became too much work. I had been batch cooking, which meant I didn't do anything but shop, prepare and cook every weekend.

So right now I choose to use the definition of diet that is "the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats". I prefer WFPB for so many reasons, but don't restrict anything at the moment. I'm trying to lose fat by tracking and being mindful of portion sizes, changing my lifestyle in the hopes that it will stick. So far, so good.

Question #2: No April Fools jokes here. My cousin's kids made her lunch today though. She loves toothpaste Oreos.

50? Don't know. I started a 1/2 marathon training plan. I hope to follow it. Three days a week of running. 12/13 miles a week. Yeah, okay, 50 miles in April.

Avidkeo wrote: »

@Elise4270 Happy Birthday (its the 2nd here)

Thanks!!! I'll take it! Whoo! You have any cake??? 😁

So finally read through, didn't realise how appropriate my jumping in comment was! I just wrote that up before heading out the door to work.

Diets are so hard. and there is so much bad information out there (like anything I guess). I am embarrassed at the amount of money I have spend on various "guaranteed to work" diets to fail after 3 months. When I started losing the weight, I didn't do anything different, other than stop eating every meal at that satisfied mark. That worked really well for 6 months and I lost 10kg (about 22lb). then I plateaued and I turned to MFP to help me through that plateau. it was as simple as picking up small habits like having a sandwich every night before going to bed. I ploughed through and ended 2017 having lost 20kg (around 44lb). I used MFP on and off, but not religiously. ETA just realised I made a typo in my brag post, I started Jan 2017 not 2016

Last year I basically maintained. My goal was running, not weight loss, I joined this group in July I think and promptly found a new group of friends. I gained and lost the same 5kg over the year and ended the year about 5kg heavier - to pretty much just maintained really. So this year my goal was to get into the middle of healthy range for me. I've been logging pretty consistently since the beginning of the year. and am having fits and starts with running and weight lifting though now finally feel like I've hit my stride (groan), but have persevered and I'm half way there!

I eat chocolate every day. I eat cakes. ATM a LOT of cakes haha. I am a complete sugar addict. Heck the other week, I ate an entire packet of biscuits (cookies? chocolate macaroons which are kinda like a coconut cookie covered in chocolate) in an afternoon - but I still ended the day on a deficit. I am proof that - in general, no pre-existing medical conditions - you can lose weight eating what ever the heck you want.


wow sorry guys, that was a bit of a soap box moment. Um, running. I ran 4k this morning. I was going to stop at 3.5 but my legs wouldn't let me. Nice when that happens haha

runnermom419 wrote: »

Well, my original goal in March was 80 miles and I ended the month with 101 miles. I'd like to be in for 100 miles again as goal #1 with a stretch goal of 110 miles for goal #2.

We shall see!

April 1 - 5 miles

Miles until Goal # 1 - 95 miles
Miles until Goal #2 - 105 miles

Well, I think I'm in for 70 miles this month. I actually went back and counted it again because I though that surely I made a mistake in there somewhere. Nope.
I am starting a new base building plan this month to give me something new to do before my HM plan kicks in. That is a lot of miles for me. We'll see, I guess. I definitely like having a training plan. I feel like my mileage drops off when I'm just going out for a run with no real plans in mind.
Not starting the month off great. I got out of work late and just didn't have it in me to run tonight. Also, I am sore from head to toe from my marathon climbing session plus 7 mile run on Saturday. Doing some stretching and rolling tonigt and back to climbing tomorrow night!

Scott6255 wrote: »

Thank you ALL very much for the monthly question input (@elise4270,@rheddmobile,@avidkeo,@eleanorhawkins,@noblsheep,@Squish815,@quilteryoyo,@7lenny7,@kgirlhart)!
I 100% agree that cutting out an entire food group is not realistic, at that is not my desire. I just want to significantly reduce the amount of processed food (and specifically carbs) that I take in a day. My average has been between 170g - 230g per day (my calorie intake is usually less than about 1400). I have been concentrating on reducing that in the past 6 days, and have been in the 60g - 90g neighborhood. It is hard, but I have been staying away from the cracker snacks, oatmeal , high sugar fruit,etc. I have never been a consumer of soda, sweets, chips, candy. So really my only 'junk' food is crackers, bread, rice, high sugar fruit. Reducing those, and increasing consumption of meats and cheeses SEEMS to have reduced my hunger between meals. But am going to see if it can also reduce my 'bloated' feeling.
Thanks again y'all! This is such a supportive and informative group!

@Scott6255 On a 1400 calorie diet, 170g to 230g carbs is roughly 50% to 65% of your calories from carbs. That's quite reasonable for a runner, I wouldn't want to cut it any more. You might want to avoid sugars, and go with less processed carbs; oatmeal instead of cheerios, for example.

On the satiety front, I lost weight the last time on a 1900 calorie regime, which is way low for me even when sedentary. I found that the key to being satisfied wasn't cutting carbs, it was getting enough protein while controlling total calories. The lower your total calorie number is, the more challenging that will be. In many cases, foods with lots of protein also have lots of fat, and the fat drives up the total calories.

The standard recommendation I've seen is that males should have at least 75 grams of protein per day, regardless of percentage from macro recommendation. That goes up for athletically active people. I find I do better physically if I get 150g of protein per day; getting more doesn't seem to have any particular benefit. With your rather low total calorie limit, perhaps you should try for 90 grams of protein.

I also found that if I controlled total calories, I naturally gravitated to eating less fat. This went so far as to drive me to affirmatively choose some foods like almonds just to get enough fat in my diet. Bottom line, I strive to get enough grams of protein, enough grams of fat, control total calories, and let the carbs take care of themselves. In marathon training mode, I also need to watch fiber; too much is not a good thing. At 1400 calories per day, too much fiber is almost certainly not one of your issues.