Runners Diet

[Deleted User]

Okay,

I'm an absolute beginner to running (started Dec 03), have become addicted and now find myself entered into a couple of 10ks in April, June and then the GNR in September. With this in mind I really could do with some nutritional advice from you guys because at the moment i don't know my a** from my atkins..

I'm 6ft2 and weigh about 81kgs (or 178lb in old money). I'm currently running about five times a week and covering approx 30 miles in total, added to this i weight train twice and play badminton once a week.

My question is how much should i be eating? I've tried doing the 1600 calories a day diet suggested in some men's health magazines and to be honest, although i did lose weight i was very hungry. I also tried Atkins and found it didnt suit me at all (talk about constipation). My goals, before you ask, are to lose perhaps a little weight but specifically to tone up and get a little fitter.

Any suggestions?

Bod

Darnay

I wouldn't get hung up on diet just yet, you need to fuel your running first. Just try to eat the right stuff and get plenty of carbs. When you consider that a 1hr run will burn nigh on 1000 calories it's clear that you'll feel hungry on 1600/day. Normal for a bloke is about 2500 and you may need more like 3000.

Be comfortable about running and eating, you may find you don't have to do anything special to eat, I lost 2st eating loads but no chips, chocs or crisps. If it doesn't work then start to reduce calorie intake.

[Deleted User]

Darnay - plenty of advice etc on the diet support thread on UFRWFRC (although hard to find amoungst the normal chat). I think the successful approach is to eat sensibly, cut out the crap and reduce the beer. Otherwise eat as normal.

I find calorie counting (well I would cause I ain't even tried) desperately demoralising although it works for some....

Just keep at it..and the results will show!

[Deleted User]

Hi Darnay

I am no expert and have no qualifications in sports nutrition, I am just sombody who took up running about 19 months ago to get/stay in shape and help with weight control.

Having looked around the net to find answers to questions similar to yours here is my tuppence worth.

1. At 81 kg you are at what is perceived to be a healthy weight for your height.

2. Making an assumption of you age to be 25 I have calculated you Basal Metabolic Rate to be 1919 Kcals per day. This is the number of calories your body needs daily if you sat quietly in a chair all day and did nothing and does not include any form of activity.

I used the Harris benedict formula which is as follows

88.362 + (4.799 x H) + (13.397 x W) - (5.677 x A)

Where H=height in cm, W=weight in Kg and A=age.

(see this site.

3. Running 30 miles a week would use around 3000 calories. Divided by 7 for a daily breakdown = 428 kcals.

4. Weight training twice a week for 1 hr each time would burn approx 900 kcals. Divided by 7 for daily total = 128 kcals.
(Assumed 2 x 1 hr sessions)

5. One hour of badminton would burn around 450 kcals per hour. Divided by 7 for daily total = 64 kcals.
(Assumed 1 x 1hr session)

So for you BMR + your exercise, your daily requirements would be around

1919 + 428 + 128 + 64 = 2539.

This figure does not include your normal daily activity (walking to shops, work, housework, gardening etc). So say we add another 250 kcals to allow for this, your calorie requirements are now 2,789 Kcals daily.

Lastly you use up around 10% of the calories you consume just processing the food which is 278 kcals.

This now gives you a daily intake of 3,067 kcals. This figure should see you maintain your weight with your current lifestyle.

A daily deficit of around 500 kcals should see you loose around 1 lb per week. This is a steady and maintainable weight loss.

Trying to use a bigger deficit to speed up weight loss it is said does not work and actually it is said works against you.

This then gives you a daily intake of around 2,500.

One thing that seemed to appear in all the sites that I came accross it that you should NEVER eat less than your BMR daily which in your case if my figures are correct is 1,919 kcals.

Have a look at this thread where I gave some links to sites I used to come up with these figures.

Sory this turned into an epic and again I work in IT and not the health industry. So take this post as a guide the links on the page above will help you work out your numbers for your self.


Hope this is of some help

MK

[Deleted User]

Thanks to one and all for some good sensible advice, as Bod says i guess i've managed to get hung up on too many health magazines and get myself caught up in the need to count calories and eat a certain number religiously each day which, as The Count implies,leads to a pretty mundane lifestyle.

Thanks to Michael for his truly excellent reply and also for aging me at 24(you made a 34 year old feel very happy!). All i can say is it must be a quiet afternoon in the IT field 'cus i work in Health Care and i'd never in a month of Sundays be able to sit down and do all that whilst i was at work!!!

Anyway, thanks mate again for your formula, it was most interesting and enlightening. Can see why eating 1600 calories a day wasnt working for me when my BMR is in fact 2000!!!