1

Just back to running and need to lose some weight- a couple questions!! (Read 1182 times)

MadandCase


    I am back to running and want to share some things before my questions. I'm 34, large frame, 5'10 and 218 lbs. I quit smoking (still fighting it!!) and am very motivated to make some lifestyle changes. My wife does the sprint triatholons and is in very good shape. She is also the person who is motivating me, along with our kids. I have just gotten to the point that I can run 2 miles without walking. I'm doing a 2.4 mile route. My question is this: What is the correlation between weight loss (at this point 38" waist), and increased mileage. My goal is to run some 5k's in the near future. My pace is 9:45 currently and I am not real concerned about the speed at this point.
    zoom-zoom


    rectumdamnnearkilledem

      Wow, I wish I could run that fast...my race pace for a 5k is still only about 10 minutes/mile... I'm also interested in the weight loss thing, as I have been fighting these last 10-15#s tooth-and-nail for about 2 years (I'm sitting right around 135 as a medium-build 5'3.5" 33 year old woman, but would LOVE to get down to 120). I still have to watch my calories closely if I want to lose, unfortunately. But I can eat pretty much whatever and maintain (I do see loss starting if I eat 1200-1400 calories consistently for a few days--but the weekends usually derail me), and I am only just at 17 miles/week. I have a feeling that once I hit 20+ that the weight will really start to come off easier. I have heard that 20-25 miles/week is the magic number for most people to really start seeing loss, rather than just weight maintenance. For every mile you run you are burning ~100 calories and there are 3500 calories in a single pound of body fat, if that helps you to make sense of how your efforts might add to pounds lost. Smile 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

      MadandCase


        Thanks for your response. I am guessing that I need to lose 10-15 lbs in order to increase my distance. I feel like I am carrying too much weight to increase much. I believe the extra pounds are adding to my lack of distance. I think I should be adding 10% per week....or is that too aggressive?
        zoom-zoom


        rectumdamnnearkilledem

          10% is supposed to be a safe maxium increase/week. I am doing generally about 7-10% from week to week. And I hear you on carrying the extra pounds--one more reason I want to get down to a lower, healthy-range weight is so that I can run faster with the same amt. of effort. Being able to fit into smaller pants (like the ones that fit me LAST Summer, before I pigged-out all Winter long) is an added bonus! Big grin 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

            It's somewhat a chicken and egg thing--the lighter you get, the easier the mileage becomes, but running more is the best way to lose the weight. I can say that when I was 15 pounds lighter, my "easy" pace was 45-60 seconds faster than it is currently. Actually at 218 you are burning 172 calories for every mile. So 172 x your weekly mileage = the extra calories you are burning by running. Figure that roughly 3000 calories equals a pound of body weight. So, assuming your diet remains the same, then the # of additional calories you are burning per week running, divided by 3000 = your weight loss per week. I am kind of in the same boat--getting back to running after a long layoff. I'm at ~40 miles per week now heading higher and at this mileage level I am dropping about a pound per week.

            Runners run

              Thanks for your response. I am guessing that I need to lose 10-15 lbs in order to increase my distance. I feel like I am carrying too much weight to increase much. I believe the extra pounds are adding to my lack of distance. I think I should be adding 10% per week....or is that too aggressive?
              I would think diet comes into play at this point. I'll be that you have reached the point with your not smoking that food smells and tastes better, which means you eat more. I remember this with my dad. Suddenly he went nuts over mom's cooking and actually she as doing nothing different. Try limiting your intake of all foods and watching the bad carbs. Try checking a few diabetic websites and eating as if you are a diabetic. Bet the weight comes off fast then. I lost 75 # in 7 months and 6 days that way and I was NOT running, just power walking 3.6 miles a day! Still have 45 # to go as I gained some back after surgery and not making time to walk as often.

              To paraphrase an old poster: Today is the first day of the rest of your training. It doesn’t matter where you started or how far you’ve come. Today is the day. Your training didn’t start 6 weeks ago. Your training started the last time you hit the road. John “the Penguin” Bingham Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire

                Hi, I think it's great you're able to put in 2 miles at a time. Congratulations on being a non-smoker too! A couple of suggestions that might help you from getting discouraged. 1. Don't worry about distance or pace. Simply set the goal of running a specific amount of time. I know that might screw up your log but just guess at the distance you ran and put in the actual time you ran. I'd suggest doing 20 minutes a day 3 x/week, then 20 minutes a day 4 x/week. After that, start to increase your time to say 25 minutes. After a month, you will be amazed how much easier it is. 2. Don't worry about having to take walking breaks. If you are struggling to run, stop, walk briskly for 60 seconds, then start running again. Jeff Galloway uses that method to get anyone to run a marathon. It can significantly help you from getting burnt out. 3. In my opinion, diet and nutrition are important but... If you're running, you will lose weight. If I were to go on some weird diet, I'd probably get frustrated with everything, say "screw it" and quit it all. When I'm running a lot, I eat better without even trying. I think it's because I know if I have a run later in the day, I will avoid heavy or greasy foods. Finally, get a running partner. He/she will keep you going when you don't feel like going out on your run. Hope this is helpful to you. Good luck! Ken
                MadandCase


                  Thank you all for both the feedback and the encouragement! I believe I need to mix it up some. Based on the fact that I will need to run around 20 miles per week to lose a pound, here is my new strategy: 1. Continue to run (go with time for now and increase the time each week). 2. Cross train (I joined a basketball group Monday nights) and I probably need to mix in some light weight training. 3. Work on the diet, but not go crazy. I need to make better choices. If I bite off more than I can chew at once, I'll get frustrated and not do any of it. I will keep you posted on my progress!!! Thanks again for the support. It is definelty motivating!! Smile
                    I also found it helpful to not worry about speed/pace at all. It is more important to slowly but surely too increase the distance and time on your feet. Running faster foes not burn significantly more calories - it just gives you injuries.
                    Run more.
                      SparkPeople.com will help you lose weight. You can say Sabre11 refered you. Smile
                        Like Sabre11 said, Sparkpeople can be really helpful. Sparkpeople is not so much about dieting, but on acquiring a healthy lifestyle. (I joined Sparkpeople in July because I wanted to loose some weight, and merely because I wanted to move a little bit more but seemed not to be able to be consistent.... After 6 week at Sparkpeople I started running, and I haven't skipped one run yet. Last week I reached my goal weight.)

                        Running in Belgium
                        Ann

                         

                         

                         

                        Scout7


                          Okey dokey, I will start off by saying I'm not a nutritionist, but I talk to one regularly (my mother), so take that for what it's worth. First thing you want to do is start to make a journal of EVERYTHING you ingest. Record what it is, when you eat/drink it, and the amount. You're primarily interested (at least right now) in calories, but if you track all the other nutritional info, it helps. Check out a sight like www.FitDay.com...They have all sorts of food info, and have an online journal to track everything. Once you've determined how many calories you take in in a week, you need to determine how much you actually need. There are several calculators out there, just google for caloric needs calculator. Try a few different ones, and take the average. Now, subtract 500 from that number, and that's the target for the week (or just drop about 100/day, either way will be fine). Now, compare what you currently eat vs. what you should, and start trimming out things. The real key to this is portion size, and remembering to record everything. If you drink coffee with cream and sugar, record it. Sports drink....Record it. That 16oz steak at the restaurant, record it as a 16oz steak. Proper weight loss is a slow steady process. But, the goal is to take off the weight and leave it off, not drop it just to gain it back.
                            Sparkpeople.com has a great Nutrition Tracker. You enter in all the food you eat in a day and it breaks it down so you see how many calories your getting. How much Protein, fat and carbs. You can track things like sodium or choloesterol too. That alone helped me lose 25 pounds this year to reach my goal weight. I'd never realized just how much I was actually eating before. It was kind of shocking actually. Blush Teresa (tbarton at SparkPeople.com)
                              Watch out for how much you take in with your runs - I realized that after I ran about 10 miles, I had burned about 800 calories. (I estimate 80 cal/mile based on my weight and speed...) I then realized I had eaten two packs of gu (220 cal), one bottle of powerade (150 cal) during the run, oatmeal (150 cal) and raisins (125 cal) after, probably some more powerade. Grand total: 650 or so for a net of only 150 calories. My point is that if you are drinking powerade and eating gels, you may not be netting as many calories as you may like, and I have definately had days where I came out ahead. Of course, I feel better about myself anyway and am glad I did the run, just watch out!
                              JakeKnight


                                Sparkpeople scare me. Wait. That's pod people. Never mind. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Science-Theater-3000-People/dp/6304203985 The guy who started thread started it so long ago he's probably wearing a size zero by now and looking fabulous in a bikini ...

                                E-mail: eric.fuller.mail@gmail.com
                                -----------------------------

                                1