Better nutrition for running

ghau0412 · October 2019

Hello! I started training for a 5K. I am not a runner AT ALL but I do exercise regularly. Im not burning crazy more calories than normal but the day after I run, I am starving! This leads to crazy snacking. Yesterday my BG dropped and nothing I ate made me feel better. I have MFP set at 1050 calories, macros 40% CHO, 30% Fat, 30% protein. I realize my calories are probably too low but I also have about 5 to 8 lbs to lose so I was still aiming for that calorie deficit. I don't know where to start. I eat pretty clean, GF, DF, SF, no soy. 3 meals with a high protein snack. This doesn't seem to be cutting it. I have upped my protein and I seem to reach for higher fat items when snacking; nuts, nut butters. Its been about 3 weeks. TYIA.

kimny72 · October 2019

You're hungry because you are under-eating, and severely restricting calories along with new training is probably causing water retention masking fat loss on the scale.

Set your MFP goal to lose 0.5 lbs per week. Log your training and eat back at least some of those calories. Use a food scale as often as possible, double check that the entries you are choosing in the database have the correct calories before using them, and make sure you're logging everything including beverages, condiments, cooking oil, nibbles, cheats, etc.

Under-fueling exercise can be counterproductive both to weight loss and to your training. Best of luck

apullum · October 2019

You are dramatically undereating. Set MFP to 0.5 lb/week and eat that number of calories plus a reasonable estimate of your exercise calories.

Scottgriesser · October 2019

I'm guessing since you made mention of BG there is a reason for eating what you do, so won't comment on that. How much you are eating, however, is too low as you yourself mentioned. Simple analogy to what you are doing:
you are asking your car to drive across the country without putting in enough gas to do so. Your body needs more fuel. You know it does. So do it.

cbihatt · October 2019

Runger (hunger caused by running) is a real thing. That’s why it’s not unheard of for people to gain weight while training for marathons. That said, you are definitely not eating enough. You could set your loss for 0.5 pound, as others have suggested, or you could eat at maintenance and not count your run calories. You can always readjust things when your 5k training is over. But, you really should not eat below 1200 calories, ever. There’s a reason why it’s the recommended minimum.

Better nutrition for running

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