Eat more when running

DriverMad

Hi folks,

Do people each more when there running but not in a good way.

Eat a bar of chocolate at 3 and say sure I will run it off this evening when I run?

How do people combact this? How do people be disciplined.

Thanks.

paky

i find that i can eat 2 - 3 times more food in a day if i run 5 times a week. chocolate now and again is grand

tunguska

Definitely eat more. I find that all I do lately is eat. Im constantly getting grub into me. Anything goes really(well except for alcohol and greasy fatty food)its all fuel. I find that if I dont eat enough I feel weak come the next session.

ecoli

DriverMad wrote: »

Hi folks,

Do people each more when there running but not in a good way.

Eat a bar of chocolate at 3 and say sure I will run it off this evening when I run?

How do people combact this? How do people be disciplined.

Thanks.

I think feeling guilty over one bar is bit OTT but I can understand what you mean

Main tip i can give you is : Planning

If you are going to snack during the day try to have a healthy option on hand. If you are in work (office type as example) rather than holding off for as long as possible before hitting the shop or vending machine try to have bag of nuts or dried fruit on your desk that you can delve into throughout the day. By snacking on this regularly you minimize the crazings you get.

Also many times when you think you are hungry this can be satisfied with a drink. Alway make sure I have a few tea bags of green tea or peppermint tea (to satisfy the sweet tooth).

If you do shift work (I am in this bracket) take aways can be a big challenge aim to try bring in your food with you. There are many health foods that you can cook in bulk at start of the week and freeze enough for 2-3 meals during the week. By bringing the foods in you reduce the temptation

Again dont go OTT with it but the best option I find in many cases is to substitute rather than cut out all together. Dont be afraid to let yourself have treats but keep in moderation

paky

stay well away from chippers if your trying to refuel on grub. anything deep fried in oil is poison and you wont be doing your body any favours. that goes for crisps too.

kennyb3

I think it depends on 3 main things:

1. how much you run - do a few small runs a week and think you deserve a treat or two and you ll soon be getting fatter.

Run 100miles a week and you ll need to be eating plenty not to starve.

2. The quality of food is important - there is refuelling food and there is junk food (and of course some stuff in between)

3. Your goals - if you need/want to lose weight eating a bar of choc a day wont help. I read on the fitness forum before ' you cant outrun/outtrain your diet' and i think that holds through.

A 5mile run for me is about 500kcals - eat a pizza when i come home and have a bar of choc because 'i deserve it' and i ll be putting on weight.

huskerdu

I think Kenny hit the nail on the head.

If you have a healthy diet and dont need to lose weight, then have a bar of chocolate every so often.

But, if one of your motivations for running is to lose weight, you also have to control your calorie intake.

A bar of chocolate is 300 calories. At an average jogging pace of 6km/h, that is 30 minutes jogging just to burn off the chocolate.

pconn062

I generally train 5-6 days a week all year around, but I still take a lot of care over what I eat. It is a misconception that because you train you can eat what you want but I find it can lead to poor progress (at least it did with me when I started running). I limit my sugar and fat intake and hardly ever eat take aways or chocolate or anything, I would simply rather run better in my next race and it is a worthwhile sacrifice!! But occasionally it doesn't hurt to go a bit mad, we're not professionals after all!

corny

pconn062 wrote: »

It is a misconception that because you train you can eat what you want but I find it can lead to poor progress (at least it did with me when I started running).

Me too. I swear if i had temporary amnesia one day i'd be able to tell you what i ate the previous day simply by i recover from a run.

I do eat a lot more these days though and sometimes on an LSR day i'm ravenous. Tend to go through phases of eating very healthily and eating absolute rubbish. I don't have any weight to lose so enjoying lifes little pleasures now and again doesn't seem that big a deal to me.

paky

pconn062 wrote: »

I generally train 5-6 days a week all year around, but I still take a lot of care over what I eat. It is a misconception that because you train you can eat what you want but I find it can lead to poor progress (at least it did with me when I started running). I limit my sugar and fat intake and hardly ever eat take aways or chocolate or anything, I would simply rather run better in my next race and it is a worthwhile sacrifice!! But occasionally it doesn't hurt to go a bit mad, we're not professionals after all!

i dont agree. it depends how hard you train. obviously your not going to be living out of fish and chip shops but you can be fairly lenient with your diet. have you ever looked at how michael phelps eats or any professional soccer player? its shocking. i know we may not be professionals put 5-6 hours a week of training can equate to 4000-5000 calories, nothing to be sniffed at

Stark

I had a BMI of 26 and trending upwards earlier in the year despite running more than 80km per week. I was actually a lot heavier than when I was training less, something I put down to satisfying my increased appetite with crap foods. I've since lost nearly 5kg just by being more sensible with my diet (I never let myself go hungry, I just make sure that I'm filling the hole with healthy stuff). Professional swimmers burn nearly 10000 extra calories a day, it makes no sense to compare them to amateur athletes like ourselves.

DriverMad

Thanks for all the replies.
Yes, I think I have this idea in my head, that if I do a run and can eat something sweet. But I am trying to loose weight. I have it in my head that if I eat something during the day, that I can run it off that evening which is not the case if I am being honest.

you cant outrun/outtrain your diet' and i think that holds through.

I think this is the most important part. For the average person you cannot outrun a poor diet.

Thanks.

Cartman78

It's easy to fall into the habit of thinking "I can eat/drink whatever I want cos I'll be running later/tomorrow etc" but this is very much a falsehood in my experience.

If you get into a habit of eating massive portions, eating cake, eating chocolate, eating chocolate cake, eating massive portions of chocolate cake, you can 'get away with this' up to a point or breakeven if you're training regularly.

However, if you can't train due to injury, sickness, work etc. that's when you can run into problems, as what happened me in the past anyway, I was still guzzling away the treats.

ecoli

I think alot of people are looking at this from a strictly weight aspect. They see elites as being able to eat as much as they want as they pit in the miles but as the mileage increases the focus of diet changes.

Many starting off look to running as a method of weight loss and as such aim to watch what they eat in order to lose weight, but when you get to more experienced runners they focus on their diets in an attempt to enhance their performance.

Up until about 12 months ago I was of the same impression. I ran decent mileage and no matter what I did i didnt put on weight so I was of the mindset that I could eat what I like.

I then made a few changes to my diet as well as training and found that the results were extraordinary. By making minor adjustments I was able to drop weight for the first time in about 3 years (I was at a point I just figured was my ideal weight and couldnt go beyond that). More importantly I feeled more energised and just generally better as a result and have seen many PBs since.

Again my changes werent drastic but just generally tried to analyse my food on a daily basis in the attempt to be generally healthier so that when i did treat myself it was occasionally and didnt impact me overall.

Some of the switches I made:

hot beverages > cut down on the lattes by substituting with green tea
Cereal > Swapped my cereal for porridge (filled me better)
Toast > Switched from white to brown and peanut butter from normal butter (again filled me for longer)
Nuts and fruit at work > cut down on my sweet and crisp intake
Portion control > one less scoop of of spuds etc. with the dinner can make a huge difference

These little changes made a huge difference for me without making me feel like I was starving myself or missing out too much. Aim for clever healthy alternatives to what you usually eat and you will find it can have a big impact on not only your weight but your performance also

G-Money

ecoli wrote: »

Nuts and fruit at work > cut down on my sweet and crisp intake

What type of nuts do you eat? Today for example I'm finding myself very hungry at work between meals and I want to avoid going for a snickers bar and a can of coke later to tie me over until dinner time.

Cartman78

Snap ecoli - this is pretty much a carbon copy to my situation.

I too had figured that I had reached 'my weight' and despite having a relatively healthy diet I was still topping it up with crisps and other bits and bobs (I wasn't trying & am still not specifically trying to lose weight btw).

Have come down about 3.5-4 kilos in the last year & setting PB's across all distances

ecoli

G-Money wrote: »

What type of nuts do you eat? Today for example I'm finding myself very hungry at work between meals and I want to avoid going for a snickers bar and a can of coke later to tie me over until dinner time.

Aldi do a good mix bag of seeds,nuts and fruit for like 1.50 that I find great other than that you can find loads of other ones like the mixed fruit bags etc. My advice keep nibbling away to supress the hunger. Waiting till one is very hungry for food can cause cravings and should aim to try and avoid this. Better to eat small amounts regularly than big meals 2-3 times a day

kennyb3

G-Money wrote: »

What type of nuts do you eat? Today for example I'm finding myself very hungry at work between meals and I want to avoid going for a snickers bar and a can of coke later to tie me over until dinner time.

A snickers and coke? Bloody hell - keep them for strictly after races as treats or at the very least the weekends - not an everyday snack. So many options - nuts, fruit, a slice of brown bread. anything is better than that crap. And change the coke for water, milk or tea or coffee. The amount of sugar in full coke is ridiculous and the amount of chemicals in the diet isnt much better.

Personally i like almonds - but dont go mad on them or other nuts, just a handful. I also use a banana, an apple and a yoghurt (ne extra sugar and 48kcal version) as ways of filing between meals.

Cartman78

Have a nut intolerance so cannot recommend anything on that front but would be a huge fan of oatcakes for snacks of all kinds at any time of day or night.

Great with all types of fruits and pretty much anything else you can think of

G-Money

It was a figurative suggestion (snickers and coke), not a particularly likely scenario today or most days. Turns out my lunch has hit the spot well so it's unlikely I will need to eat until dinner time.

Perhaps I should have just said "rather than junk of some sort".

ultraman1

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lottery.ie%2Fen%2FDublin-Marathon%2FVideos%2FDiet--hydration-tips-for-training%2F&h=vAQD0s6AHAQCbWuUnNbsZzcrhPYD7-ZaeppEEvkSi56VjHA.
anyone dat interested;)...only for sub3 runners though

huskerdu

G-Money wrote: »

What type of nuts do you eat? Today for example I'm finding myself very hungry at work between meals and I want to avoid going for a snickers bar and a can of coke later to tie me over until dinner time.

I find a protein based snack very filling, so am a fan of nuts.
I like the Tesco own brand mixed bag of roasted nuts.

Of course, you do have to be careful to only eat a small portion. Too eas yto keep nibbling.

Also don't forget the obvious - thirst can feel like hunger. Make sure you drink plenty of water before eating.

Timmaay

ecoli wrote: »

I then made a few changes to my diet as well as training and found that the results were extraordinary. By making minor adjustments I was able to drop weight for the first time in about 3 years (I was at a point I just figured was my ideal weight and couldnt go beyond that). More importantly I feeled more energised and just generally better as a result and have seen many PBs since.

Good post there, I'm at the point where I have dropped back to a steady 11stone (70kg), from 12stone (77kg) last yr, after i started to focus on athletics properly and gave up other sports. However I'm at the point where I'm now stuck at 11, and the aim to be closer to 10, which would be an ideal weight for an athlete of my height is just not happening at all! I'll consider a few of your tips (the latte/cappuccino addition has got crazy by now ). I've bumped back up my mileage for the cross season just now, and I find myself starving the whole time, and annoyingly going for the vending machine all too often when I'm staying late in work.

Out of interest, did you drop much when you changed your diet?

G-Money

I tried 2 slices of brown toast this morning with peanut butter. Filled me right up and has kept me full for about 2-3 hours so far.

Might reduce it to 1 slice tomorrow to see how that goes.

ecoli

Timmaay wrote: »

Good post there, I'm at the point where I have dropped back to a steady 11stone (70kg), from 12stone (77kg) last yr, after i started to focus on athletics properly and gave up other sports. However I'm at the point where I'm now stuck at 11, and the aim to be closer to 10, which would be an ideal weight for an athlete of my height is just not happening at all! I'll consider a few of your tips (the latte/cappuccino addition has got crazy by now ). I've bumped back up my mileage for the cross season just now, and I find myself starving the whole time, and annoyingly going for the vending machine all too often when I'm staying late in work.

Out of interest, did you drop much when you changed your diet?

I used to have a limit regardless of how much mileage I didn i could not go under 9.5 stone but with the small changes within 6 weeks I was hovering around the 9 stone mark (IM 5"7). Havent weighed myself in a while I think I am slightly over it now after 10 days off and a boozy month and not great eating habits but I have improved over the last two weeks and wont be far off getting back there.
Give me a shout for any long runs over the next while if you interested in a bit of company (dunno who you are training with these days)

AngryLips

My doctor told me I needed to consumer 2,000 calories a day if I wanted to avoid weight loss while training for the marathon.

I find I always crave the unhealthiest of foods after a big run for 13km+ distances.