This running business is gonna make me fat!!!!! (Read 960 times)

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! k

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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! 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!

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

I feel everyone's pain! 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! 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! 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!