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how many calories? (Read 1309 times)

    i know this question will not have a definite answer because there are a variety of factors. Just looking for some feedback. Currently, I am 27 year old female, weigh 164, and am running 22-25 miles per week. Plus I usually do an hour of elliptical everyday. I want to lose 10-12 pounds. I currently subscribe to a website where they say I should eat 1385 calories/day. However if I exercise I am supposed to eat back the calories I burn. For example, if I run and burn 500 calories, I should eat 1850 for the day. Anyways, those of you who lost weight while starting to run, did you eat more or less? I know runners require a lot of energy, but I am not losing anything when I eat 1850. any suggestions? Thanks in advance
    Teresadfp


    One day at a time

      I found that I was NOT losing weight by eating the same number of calories and running. I had to cut back on my calories in order to lose 35 pounds. The good news is that now I am keeping off the weight with running - I don't worry too much about what I eat.
      runnerclay


      Consistently Slow

        Some where in the running world I read you lose 125 calories per mile. You can do the math. Remember muscle weighs more than fat and you will gain muscle. There is always a bright side. Cool

        Run until the trail runs out.

         SCHEDULE 2016--

         The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

        unsolicited chatter

        http://bkclay.blogspot.com/

          The website says you have to eat (part of) the calories you burn by exercising because when the difference between energy-intake and energy-use is to large, your body goes into 'starvation mode', i.e. it is trying to limit the energy-use as much as possible, for fear of starving. Result is, that you loose less weight than you hope for, and that, when returning to a normal diet, your weight rapidly increases. I should therefor recommend to start from 1850, and going down 100kcal a week. As soon as you start loosing weight, don't decrease your calorie-intake further (to large a decrease can make you gain more weight in the end, think about the starvation-mode.)

          Running in Belgium
          Ann

           

           

           

            Running is great exercise but running alone will not cause you to lose significant weight without the proper diet. A couple key points... You body will most likely not go into starvation mode if you only consume 1,300 calories a day. Even with that, it's possible to fool your metabolism by having a high caloric meal every 7 days +/- a couple days. Caloric estimates tend to be higher than reality in terms of what you or your treadmill think you're burning in a given session. Without lab testing, these numbers are little more than a guesstimate. If you're running 25 miles a week, you could guesstimate that you are burning 2,500 calories a week. You could guesstimate that it takes a 3,500 calorie deficit to lose one pound of weight. You could then guesstimate that you would lose 2 pounds for every 3 weeks of running. On the other hand, if you start logging 100 miles or more a week you will definitely drop weight. You will also most likely eat anything that you can get your hands on. Muscle does not weigh more than fat. That's like saying that a pound of bricks weighs more than a pound of feathers. A pound is a pound is a pound. It is true that a pound of muscle occupies less volume than a pound of fat but there's really no relationship between fat and muscle. I hear people talking about turning fat into muscle but that's just silly. Fat is a fuel. It can be used but it cannot physically transform into something else. Another thing you'll hear a lot is that muscle burns more calories than fat. It's a true statement but the effect for a normal person is insignificant. Running might actually make you hungrier or give you the illusion that you're hungry or even serve as justification for eating more because you ran. It's not uncommon for beginning runners to gain weight because of misjudging calories in vs calories out. Run because you enjoy running or because you want to look better (how you look and what you weigh aren't directionally related) or because you want to have increased cardiovascular fitness and better general health. If all you care about is the number on the scale then diet. I've been running for 18 months. I initially started running just to lose weight. It worked for about a month and then stopped. Since then, if I diet, I lose weight; if I just run and kinda watch what I eat, I maintain weight; if I run and eat whatever I want, I gain weight. If you really want to use exercise to lose weight, consider High Intensity Interval Training. It's very hard to do correctly (vs regular interval training, at least in my opinion) and it's probably going to lead to injury but it will give you more bang for your buck so to speak. My understanding is that calories are burnt in relationship to oxygen used. A workout that causes your HR to remain elevated for several hours afterward will result in more O2 use and more calories burnt. That's probably greatly over-simplified.
            2008 Goals Don't attack the guy that passes me like I'm standing still when I think I'm running fast...I can't catch him anyway and I'd just look silly


            Menace to Sobriety

              The rule of thumb I've always heard was a calorie deficit of 3500 is equal to losing 1 pound. So, if you eat 250 calories less per day, and burn 250 calories more, you'll lose about 1 lb per week, which is a good healthy rate of loss. Peoples metabolisms are different, so there will be some variation from person to person. I dropped about 100 lbs over the last several years, most of it in about the first two years I started running. The first 50 lbs or so went pretty easy, just exercising was enough, after that, it took more exercise and some diet changes. Also, as you become more fit, you will probably require more effort to burn the same amount of calories.

              Janie, today I quit my job. And then I told my boss to go f*** himself, and then I blackmailed him for almost sixty thousand dollars. Pass the asparagus.

              zoom-zoom


              rectumdamnnearkilledem

                Running might actually make you hungrier or give you the illusion that you're hungry or even serve as justification for eating more because you ran. It's not uncommon for beginning runners to gain weight because of misjudging calories in vs calories out.
                I don't know anyone who has done that... Shy Blush

                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

                Trent


                Good Bad & The Monkey

                  http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/c7bfa97969a04a5582fc78deb97c532c#focus http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/d93ac968789447138d9dd9bc64685676#focus http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/3261b609596a410fa5173640649286c9 And this - To run, you need calories. To propel yourself at speed, you need stored glycogen, which is the storage version of carbs. At any given time your body stores a maximum of about 2000 cal of glycogen. Your body does not particularly care how it gets those carbs (i.e., there really is no such thing as junk carbs in terms of glycogen storage, however complex carbs are less likely to be easily absorbed from your GI tract and therefore less likely to replenish glycogen or to make you gain weight). French fries and potato chips help replenish glycogen as well as pasta, but bring with them extra fat. High fructose corn syrup may be more likely than other simple carbs to form abdominal fat when consumed in excess. Whether you run or not, your body uses up about a third to a half of its glycogen just to keep you alive as you sleep at night, so you are constantly using and replenishing your glycogen. To sustain and increase muscle mass you need proteins. To do this, you need to consume the variety of amino acids that serve as the building blocks for protein. As long as you are able to find and eat the diversity of needed amino acids, including the ones that your body cannot manufacture on its own (the so called, essential amino acids) then the source does not matter. If you like tofu, so be it. Egg whites, great. Steak or fish or chicken, bring it on. As long as you are getting all the needed amino acids in sufficient quantity, you should be fine (see the article on proteins in this past month's TN Running magazine). To sustain yourself when not running at maximal pace and to support your running at that pace, you need fats. You are always burning some fat, even when running at maximal pace; the proportion of calories supporting your effort coming from fat simply drop as you increase your effort. One pound of stored fat is enough to propel most runners about 80 miles, provided that there are also enough carbs around to support the fat (or that the runner is running slow enough that the carbs are not the major energy source). There are lots of different fats out there, and some are better than others. The fats that are bad are considered so because they damage your body in ways that the better fats do not, and some of the good fats actually protect your body. Trans fats inflame arteries. Saturated fats do the same, and increase your risk of cancer. Cholesterol fills the walls of the inflamed arteries. As we are learning more about fats, it seems that the more natural fats (e.g., olive oil, butter, grain oils) have fewer troubles than the relatively synthetic ones. The major problem with snacks and fast foods is that they are made using the synthetic oils that contain the trans- or saturated- fats. Eating out at nice restaurants, you often will encounter just as many hidden fats and bad fats as you will at a fast food restaurant, so don't be fooled by ambiance or price. However you choose to eat, you need to do it in a way that is sustainable. If you feel like you are eating special on a diet, or feel like you do not have energy then you will not sustain that type of intake. If all you eat is fast food, you will balloon up, feel terrible and then get sick and die, also not sustainable. A nice balance of interesting foods, including a healthy and well balanced base with occasional snacks and meals out is generally sustainable and inexpensive. Making your own foods helps you be in control, cut cost, and ensure that you get the needed calories to support your running. You do not need to eat salads only, and can loose weight eating pasta and bread and rice, so long as you balance those things with proteins and healthy fats, and keep the portions in balance with your energy needs. You can use on line sites like nutritiondata.com to figure out how many calories are in a serving of food, and match your running miles (~100-130 cal/mile) and your living calories (~1500-2000 cal/day) with what you eat. If you weigh, for example, 160 lbs and you run 20 miles per week, you need approximately 1800 cal/day to live and an additional 2600 cal/week for your running. No more. BTW, for those keeping score, this is a frequently asked question...
                    Two quick questions for the OP...how long have you been on your current plan? What is your main goal? What Craig said about a pound a week is just about right (unless you're in the first 10 day honeymoon phase) and the numbers Trent gives would be somewhere between that pound and a push. Unless you're extremely overweight (and unless you're very short I don't think you are) I think it would be really tough to be a good and getting better runner while losing more than 2 lbs per week. Personally, I would lose the elliptical. I find it to be a "feel good" piece of equipment that doesn't provide the workout it claims (the calorie estimators on those things are awful) AND it's another weight bearing exercise which you don't need if you're running. I would try biking, rowing, or swimming. I think the most important part of a diet is that if it feels like a diet then it's never EVER going to work long term. I know that changing the way I ate took a lot of trial and error to find out what foods did and didn't work for me. What absolutely didn't work were packaged meals (Lean Cuisine, South Beach, Weight Watchers, etc) and reduced sugar/fat/calorie/taste (and over processed) snacks. Maybe Weight Watchers works for some people but buying a frozen meal that tastes like cardboard and has XX points and a box of "treats" that taste like cardboard and has YY points made me miserable. What did work was a high-fiber cereal for breakfast with a piece of fruit, a sandwich or healthy salad for lunch, and a piece of lean meat with all the steamed veggies I could eat and a cup of whole grain rice and maybe a cup of beans for dinner. Obviously, I would add in variety but that was the basic meal plan. I was able to slowly drop weight while still keeping my energy level high.
                    2008 Goals Don't attack the guy that passes me like I'm standing still when I think I'm running fast...I can't catch him anyway and I'd just look silly
                      I think if you want to run and also be on a calorie restricted diet it is possible... however you really need to learn your body and learn to time your food consumption well. You also need to spread out your eating throughout the day 6 times a day would be a good guide.


                      running yogi

                        few days ago we had a similar discussion here http://www.runningahead.com/forums/topic/a3587a1f6e3e47828a3545504f3b680f/0 Most websites I have found over estimate calories that you burn. I lost weight when I ate slightly less(cut back about 200 cal/day), but also completely overhauled my food choices. Only whole grains, loads of fruits and veges, good protein and fat and no processed food. Just because I went on a "diet", I did not want to feel deprived so once a week I let myself go and pig out. It took me about 8 months to lose 25lbs.
                          I was waiting for Trent to post that. Smile Which, by the way, I have written on a post-it in red crayon on my fridge. And on my desk at work. Mmmmm. Leafy greens.
                          "If you run 100 miles a week, you can eat anything you want - Why? Because (a) you'll burn all the calories you consume, (b) you deserve it, and (c) you'll be injured soon and back on a restricted diet anyway." ~ Don Kardong