dumb question about food for fuel- Need advise from all the " Real" runners! (Read 670 times)

So DH and I have been running since 9/07 with C25K and are now almost at the end of One Hour Runner. This evenings run is going to come out at around 5 miles, as we are doing a 55 minute run. At my current pace, I hope to get the full 5 in, ( although I have every reason to think this should not be a problem). So because I am still so new, and clearly just in the building stages of my running strength and endurance, I like to properly fuel my inexperienced running body with good food the days of my runs to carry me through it with ease. Here's the tough part: Trying to lose Weight at the same time! Am I overkilling it by eating too much food for as long as my runs are? Here is What today will be like with our Run taking place around 6:00pm. Breakfast: Oatmeal with Flax Seed Meal sprinkled into it, (12oz organic instant) Coffee, and a Protein Shake made with Skim Milk. Snack: (3 hours later) a handful of almonds/walnuts Lunch: Subway 6" sub on whole wheat ( the new black forest thing) with Sunchips and a diet coke Afternoon Planned Snack: Protein Shake with skim milk Water: 1.5 liters Enought " Runners Fuel"? Are the protein shakes overkill? I really want to shave those 10 pounds off, and I think I am eating quite sensibly, But I am curious how many of you eat on such a planned run for this amount of mileage, or if you can critique my food plan, and provide any tips for fueling a newbie body and stay on track with my weight loss goals... Thanks In Advance to all~ Cheffy

http://runningahead.com/forums/post/c4da7a89827944e2ab175671c3ae710c#focus Basic point here is this : because running burns about 80-150 kCal per mile (depending on your weight) and the 2000 kCal/day diet actually overestimates our needs (more like 1500-1800 kCal/day) then running less than 20-30 miles per week does not require extra intake if you are trying to lose weight.

I didn't take a very scientific approach to my diet program. I cut out the junk and substituted better food. That combined with the exercise too off the weight.

Yep...this same approach is working for me. I am down from 234 to 209 in the last 7 months. It's not coming off real fast but it is coming off!!

there's a group on here for those of us trying to lose weight - Running for Weight Loss it has a lot of good resources, including a spreadsheet to help you work out how much food you need and help you track your food intake. for some people - just eating better quality food and running is enough. others find they need to be stricter (especially those who don't start with any junk food in their diet to replace!) my personal opinion is that as you're not running huge mileage the protein shakes are probably unnecessary - unless your diet is hugely protein deficient normally.