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This running business is gonna make me fat!!!!! (Read 961 times)

    I know I'm not alone as I've read a similar post or two that others have/had the same phenomenon, but I CAN'T STOP EATING!!! Shocked Now that I'm consistently (and it hasn't been long for pete's sake) going out on the ol' trails, I am always hungry! I'm not "boredom" eating, "I have an emotional problem" eating, "I smell something good cookin' & I happen to be at the counter" eating. I'm just plain hungry! My stomach growls. Feeding myself is becoming a little tedious, if that's possible!!! Big grin
    zoom-zoom


    rectumdamnnearkilledem

      And now we see why my weight has not budged since I started running almost a year ago...heck, I think I'm about 5#s up from where I was. And here I started running to LOSE weight. Ugh. And before anyone tells me it's muscle, I had to go buy new pants a couple of months back. I was able to lose a bit before the holidays--but it's all back. *sigh* I wish I had advice, but at least we are in this club together! Tongue k

      Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

      remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

           ~ Sarah Kay


      Cryptic

        I don't claim to know anything about anything but you are only 127 pounds. You are running at least 15 miles a week probably many more. You should be hungry. I am sure someone will chime in with what you should eat more of and all that jazz but I don't think you should be worrying about anything unless you start rapidly gaining tons of weight.


        Finished!

          I am sure someone will chime in with what you should eat more of and all that jazz but I don't think you should be worrying about anything unless you start rapidly gaining tons of weight.
          Smile well I for one will e interested to see what people have to say. I started running to lose weight, and it's uh...not working. Wink
          Walk + Jog = wog.
          I'm trying to Lose 5% at a time
          I support Heifer International - join me by donating via my registry
            Big grin Well, I've only really recently started doing more miles ontop of *consistently* doing them, so my body's probably still in shock mode. The scale hasn't tipped upwards yet, and I have to admit even though I'm not the healthiest eater, I'm by far not the worst. So I've just tried to watch not how much I'm eating, but what it is that I'm shoving in there! Kirsten, Oh no!!! Don't tell me that! I see you've started doing some crosstraining videos and though I've tinkered with those too, I'm going to try to do mine more consistently. I'm hoping any muscle I'll hopefully get will help me "lose" weight. Maybe everything will just "re-shape" itself by toning up! I weigh the same as when I was wearing two sizes smaller! It's "good" to know I have a partner in crime! Smile
              Smile well I for one will e interested to see what people have to say. I started running to lose weight, and it's uh...not working. Wink
              Me too! I'm at the baby stages of running. I hate to see what I'm gonna be eatin' in the next few weeks or even months!
              Trent


              Good Bad & The Monkey

                Resist the urge to eat more to compensate for your running. If you are hungry, you need to treat this as any other appetite. All the usual stuff applies - - eat high fiber, highly filling, low calorie foods (beans, fresh fruit and vegiies) - don't eat too many carbs - don't eat until you are full, just until you are no longer hungry - only eat at meals and maybe one healthy snack (fresh fruit or veggies only) between meals - put your bigger meals early in the day When do you run in relation to your meals?
                  I know that all these diets tell you how many hours you should eat and what not, but I found that losing a few pounds happened when I didn't think about food. I just wrote down a list of every healthy food for breakfast, lunch dinner and snack, chose one when my stomach was growling and stopped eating when I was full. When I thought about it too much then I was gaining weight. I ended up eating more when I ran in the morning than at supper.
                  Kate ;) "The pain of regret is greater than the pain of self discipline."
                  Scout7


                    Here's what I do.... I eat throughout the day. Yeah, often, sometimes about 5 times. BUT....I eat small portions. If you want to lose weight, the best way to do it is to track everything you put in yourself. EVERYTHING. That little cup of coffee with a splash of cream? Counts. Anything you take in during a workout? Counts. Once you do that, you can see where you can cut out 500 kCal / day. This will equate to 1 pound a week. It's slow, but it's the most effective method to take off weight, and keep it off. That being said, expect to not necessarily drop weight, either. Remember that muscle is denser than fat, therefore weighs more. You might even see, at some point, a slight upswing in weight. But if your clothes fit looser, then you're doing fine. Beyond that, surround yourself with healthier treats. And no, I'm not talking about Snackwells or anything like that. I like yogurt, fruit, veggies, peanuts and cashews. Heck, crackers and peanut butter work too.
                      Resist the urge to eat more to compensate for your running. If you are hungry, you need to treat this as any other appetite. All the usual stuff applies - - eat high fiber, highly filling, low calorie foods (beans, fresh fruit and vegiies) - don't eat too many carbs - don't eat until you are full, just until you are no longer hungry - only eat at meals and maybe one healthy snack (fresh fruit or veggies only) between meals - put your bigger meals early in the day When do you run in relation to your meals?
                      I think i'm doing pretty well with the fiber and not a lot of carbs, but good idea with only eating until you are full. I'm probably eating more than i need to. What's a little weird is when I get hungry now, it's not gradual. It's all of a sudden *boom*, deep hunger! So then i have a tendancy to really eat when i could probably give it a bit and allow my stomach to tell my brain that i'm not in starvation mode anymore! It's so bizarre. It's almost like when i was pregnant. I'm trying to get a little more organized and have things ready for when the hunger "hits" like having veggies ready to go in the frige, grapes, etc. Little things like that make a difference. I can grab a handful of that and i'm good for awhile! Big grin Most of the time, unless i can't for whatever reason, i like to go out early in the morning. Even if i have a bowl of Total or something,when i get back it's like i didn't even eat beforehand. You'd think a bowl of fiber would last awhile! I'm really not too worried. It's just my body saying it needs more fuel. I am in a size bigger than i used to be but still weigh the same, so hoping that running will start toning things up again...and of course, the more muscle you have, the more kc you burn...so hopefully things will all work out! Kate, why is that? We get hungry if we run in the morning. Now that i think about it, the few times i've gone out in the early evening, i haven't come back famished. That's weird!! Scout7, tracking is a good idea! Just takes discipline to do it! I had a nutrition class in college where we did that for 3 days. While only 3 days, it was amazing to see what we were eating. You're the one eating it, but somehow it's different when it's on paper! Big grin
                      Scout7


                        FitDay.com is a popular site for tracking what you eat. It's free, and has a pretty sizable DB of foods and their respective nutritional values. Total hypothesis on my part, here, but if you're running in the morning, chances are you haven't eaten a whole lot (if at all), so it's been much longer since taking in calories. Now you're suddenly upping your requirement at that time, and your body starts upping its signals that it's in need of fuel. Again, no real scientific study to back up this supposition, but it makes some level of sense (to me, which really....that's what matters).


                        madness baby

                          Kate, why is that? We get hungry if we run in the morning. Now that i think about it, the few times i've gone out in the early evening, i haven't come back famished. That's weird!!
                          It's also said that if you run (or exercise) in the morning, you tend to make healthier food choices throughout the day. So, I wouldn't worry too much about eating more, because it might have an effect on what you choose to eat. I would recommend tracking it, though. I use sparkpeople.com. It helps me to make sure I'm getting the right balance of protein and carbs and watching particular nutrients. When I first started running, I was hungry all the time. It sounds a lot like your sudden, intense hunger. I got lightheaded a lot and my stomach would growl. I was tracking calories to make sure I wasn't going crazy with fuel, but I began eating a lot more throughout the day. I was also absolutely exhausted every night. I had been going to the gym a few times a week prior to running, but apparently running was something my body just was not used to, and I compensated with stuffing my face and sleeping a ton. Now, after running for 3 or 4 months, my body needs either a run or a trip to the gym every day to feel tired. That's a great feeling. I've increased my calorie intake by up to a couple hundred a day, but I'm still tracking weekdays to make sure I don't gain any weight. Weekends are a lost cause for me. I'd just recommend that you have your first breakfast, run, then come home and have another breakfast. You should eat again after a run, and that usually gets me back on track to eat normally for the rest of the day. I try to eat 2 breakfasts, a med lunch, 2 afternoon snacks, and a small dinner. That's a lot of eating, I guess, but when portions are smaller, it works out pretty well. And I get to eat when I want (!) and don't deny myself anything. I do think it's good that you're listening to your body and feeding it. Maybe in a few weeks it will calm down and get used to the running. I promise, mine did! I liked being so hungry and tired because I felt like I was shocking my system. And, now I fit back into my favorite jeans from my honeymoon Wink
                          deb
                            You could try eating peanut butter at times when you are hungry and it's not time to eat. Good protein and tides you over. I had someone suggest taking flaxseed oil supplements because they have a natural appetite suppressant (more of a regulator IYAM). I tried them and they work really well.
                            spacedcadet


                              I feel everyone's pain! Big grin I started logging here in November when I seriously upped my mile base (before that I was running an easy 30 minutes 3/4 times a week). Since then I've been constantly STARVING! It's awful! Especially since I have no will-power! Wink In the middle of November I was 62 kilos, now I'm 65 (I think that had more to do with my Christmas and New Year blow-out! Blush Although I was gaining before that anyway). The same thing happened to my friend and she found that when she cut the miles down again, she also cut the cravings down and has since lost the extra weight she gained and is steadily losing again (she must be eating 1400 cals a day and running 10 miles a week). I'm now eating AT LEAST 1800 cals a day (some days a lot more!!) and running between 20 and 25 miles a week. Having said that I'm getting faster and fitter so I don't care about what the scales say! Cool
                                Think about it this way, for every mile you run you burn about 110 calories. That's not really much at all. For example if you want to lose one pound a week you could run around 35 miles a week (1 pound equals 3500 calories) while not eating any extra food. Running makes you keep your metabolism at a higher rate thus making you hungrier and if you are only running a couple miles a day your post-run snack can easily put back into your body all the calories you just lost by running. Losing weight is all about expended more calories than the calories you put in your body. It tougher to lose weight while running than you think, especially as you start to approach your goal weight (the lighter you are the less calories you burn per mile). Back in college when I was running about 85 miles a week I would never lose weight and actually start to gain weight if I didn't watch was I was eating.
                                The point is you see, that there is no point in driving yourself mad trying to stop yourself going mad. You might as well give in and save your sanity for later.
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