Gaining weight while running high mileage....WTF am I supposed to eat?!?!?

1.5 cents wrote:

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

I asked the same question. More importantly, how many *years* have they sustained this? I can tell you that no pro runner I know restricts carbs.

"Restricting carbs" seems to be of a bit blanketed term on this thread. It's pretty clear with more and more science backing this up that our bodies have a yo-yo response with insulin spikes, even for runners.

Right. Which, is why a varied diet with some rich food is likely better for many, but, not everyone. Again, calories_eaten over several days is roughly equal to calories_used over several days. AKA moderation. Beyond that, your body takes care of itself.

Eff bagels. Cottage cheese dude. You need to be going through a bucket of cottage cheese every 2 days. Solves all diet problems except gas.

I’m surprised that so few of the folks on here “get” it

Eating way too many carbs for your activity level is why you keep getting fat

100 - 150 carbs per day is all you need to sustain 10 miles per day or 70 miles per week

If you don’t want to get lean, keep up your high carb ways - otherwise, I recommend switching things up

You can certainly get fat from eating healthy carbs like oats and brown rice. Having the right portions is key

Mostofyouguyshaveitwrong wrote:

I’m surprised that so few of the folks on here “get” it

Eating way too many carbs for your activity level is why you keep getting fat

100 - 150 carbs per day is all you need to sustain 10 miles per day or 70 miles per week

If you don’t want to get lean, keep up your high carb ways - otherwise, I recommend switching things up

You can certainly get fat from eating healthy carbs like oats and brown rice. Having the right portions is key

Having said that, if you want to achieve optimal performance and are OK getting fat, carb up.

However, last time I checked this thread is about reducing weight, not optimizing performance

snow blow wrote:

Here's my typical diet.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with banana and skim milk

Greek yogurt with strawberries/blueberries

Lunch:

Big salad with kale, spinach, peppers, tomato, avocado, and some meat like turkey or ham or tuna. Also olive oil.

Bowl of frozen mixed veggies with about a half can of kidney beans

2 eggs scrambled

Apple

Dinner:

Some dish with rice, beans, meat, tomatoes

Baked or sweet potatoes

More salad or frozen mixed veggies

Meal before bed because I'm usually still starving:

Scrambled eggs

More greek yogurt and fruit

Some leftover dinner

Everyone's metabolism is a little different. What works for one person might not for another. That's why there are so many diets. Here is my suggestion.

What you want to do is decrease cravings. In your case, that's your problem, right? I'd suggest that you significantly increase your intake of Omega-3 oils. This is found in olive oil, coconut oil, butter, some cheeses, and some fish.

I usually start my day with coffee with a tablespoon of coconut oil. I'll use olive oil in my salads and cook my eggs in coconut oil.

Oils burn slower than carbs and can help prevent blood sugar spikes and food cravings.

"Forget counting calories and just eat tons of fat and protein and avoid grains as much as possible and you'll never get fat. A nutrient dense diet is what you need, void of any filler foods like rice, bread, pasta, etc. A perfect diet is high vegetables, high fruits, high saturated fat, high protein, few or no grains. Eat tons of grass-fed dairy, coconut, avocado, animal fats, lots of animal organs, and tons of green veggies."

This is correct, except for the part about fruit. Do not eat lots of fruit.

Make sure to focus on what matter - improve your race pace, not your weight. Weight is good to measure and make a note of but do not give it more attention that it deserves. It is a secondary parameter that can give you some ideas of what you could do to improve the primary (race performance), but it should never become a matter of primary focus.

Weight can increase or decrease for a number of different reasons. Let it be what it needs to be for your body at this time in your life to run the fastest you can.

Every runner is different. A diet that works miracles for one runner could produce disasters for another. Find what works for you. My method for finding the right foods and their amounts is to try to run 30 minutes after and see if I can hold 7:00 pace without a major side ache or feeling bloated. This method might have some universal merit as it tests the rate at which your stomach is able to digest this particular combination of the type and amount of food. Of course to this you should add another test - how well you feel when running the next day. If you did not eat enough of what you needed , you may still be OK at 7:00 pace 30 minutes after a mean, but will not have the energy to run well the next day.

Here is a personal example that illustrates that weight is far from everything. Let's take a distance where performances (at least for me) do not fluctuate much from race to race over a short amount of time - half-marathon. At the age of 34 I ran 1:09:40. Now (age 45) I ran 1:16:33 on a comparable course. My weight was the same. Yet clearly there is a non-weight related factor X that is drastically different between now and then - likely the hormonal state of the body. In your case, the concern is that while focusing on the weight, you might worsen the "weightier matters" - that factor X.

Looking at the nutrition facts of the foods I eat, seems like I may be lacking in fat intake. Right now I use skim milk and fat free greek yogurt... should I switch to whole milk and full fat greek yogurt? My main fat sources now are avocado (usually 1 a day), flaxseed, peanut butter, and almonds.

Now that I think of it, every once in a while my wife makes this dish with cheese, ground beef, beans, and tomatoes and I'm usually pretty satisfied afterwards. So yeah, maybe I just need to eat more fat.

I follow the No S Diet - no sweets, no snacks, no seconds, except on days that start with S (Saturdays, Sundays, Special Days).

Only one plate of food, three times a day. No sweets, no snacks, no seconds. Then on weekends and holidays (Saturday, Sunday, Special Days), I can have sweets, snacks, or seconds.

I've been following this for over a decade, and in my 40s, I weigh 5 pounds less than I did in college. I run about 40 miles a week, and am competitive in local hobby jogger races in the masters division.

Initially, I'd abuse the system by binging on weekends, but over time, that stopped. Now my S days aren't anything crazy, and I feel terrible if I overeat, so I don't.

The plan is sustainable (again, I've been doing it over a decade), because instead of saying I can never have (fill in the blank), I tell myself I can have it on the weekend.

And I should add: my doctor raves about my annual physical exam results. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels of a fit teenager, he tells me.

snow blow wrote:

Looking at the nutrition facts of the foods I eat, seems like I may be lacking in fat intake. Right now I use skim milk and fat free greek yogurt... should I switch to whole milk and full fat greek yogurt? My main fat sources now are avocado (usually 1 a day), flaxseed, peanut butter, and almonds.

Now that I think of it, every once in a while my wife makes this dish with cheese, ground beef, beans, and tomatoes and I'm usually pretty satisfied afterwards. So yeah, maybe I just need to eat more fat.

You definitely need more fats. Dairy should be limited but yes always opt for full fat organic dairy - whole milk and full fat yogurt. You could also increase the avocados, add more olive/coconut/avocado oils, and switch the peanut butter to almond butter. Eat more fish too - particularly salmon.

ExpertKipWatcher wrote:

Healthy Fat wrote:

A calorie in equals a calorie out has been medically disproven. Carbs trigger an insulin response that in turn stimulates fat storage and weight gain.

What reputable scientific journal has contradicted the First Law Of Thermodynamics ?

As for the debunked insulin hypothesis of Taubes, see here

https://www.wired.com/story/how-a-dollar40-million-nutrition-science-crusade-fell-apart

Digestion is never 100% efficient. A piece of wood has calories but you're not going to extract much from it.

I gotta disagree with the above advice to "always opt for full fat organic dairy - whole milk and full fat yogurt". The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states "If you are trying to lose weight, consider eating small amounts of food with healthy fats, such as avocados, olives, or nuts. You also could replace whole-fat cheese or milk with lower-fat versions."

So does mine and I eat a lot of junk food. I'm 48.

gregmacd wrote:

HahaRiiiiiiight wrote:

You definitely need more fats. Dairy should be limited but yes always opt for full fat organic dairy - whole milk and full fat yogurt. You could also increase the avocados, add more olive/coconut/avocado oils, and switch the peanut butter to almond butter. Eat more fish too - particularly salmon.

I gotta disagree with the above advice to "always opt for full fat organic dairy - whole milk and full fat yogurt". The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states "If you are trying to lose weight, consider eating small amounts of food with healthy fats, such as avocados, olives, or nuts. You also could replace whole-fat cheese or milk with lower-fat versions."

https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/myths-nutrition-physical-activity

You just quoted the US Department of Health and Human Services for nutrition advice - this is literally the LAST place you should be looking. Have you seen the food pyramid they put out? The US Gov't is largely responsible for the obesity epidemic in this country - by pushing a high carb low fat diet. A good rule of thumb is to do the exact opposite of what they will tell you...

snow blow wrote:

Looking at the nutrition facts of the foods I eat, seems like I may be lacking in fat intake. Right now I use skim milk and fat free greek yogurt... should I switch to whole milk and full fat greek yogurt? My main fat sources now are avocado (usually 1 a day), flaxseed, peanut butter, and almonds.

Now that I think of it, every once in a while my wife makes this dish with cheese, ground beef, beans, and tomatoes and I'm usually pretty satisfied afterwards. So yeah, maybe I just need to eat more fat.

I recommend you

1. Go find a calorie tracking thing on-line

Determine how much protein you need. Start there. The usual metric is .8 grams per kilograms of body weight. Dial that into the calorie tracker. It will calculate how many calories that is.

2. Add 100 grams of carbs. This is a good starting point. Dial that into the tracker and it will find the calories

3. Whatever is left, calorie-wise is fat.

After be weird about logging your food and weight everyday for a month. Every single thing you eat should get logged. Record your daily weight, and of course how your training is going. Then start looking for patterns. Every body is unique. Other peoples experience is useful but it come down to you, your performance, your training.

Lastly, think about doing this on your next training cycle. Dropping weight and training well are hard to do at the same time. Performance is the goal so focus on your training until the goal race is past. Then on your next build up start with a weight loss phase.

All the best to you. Enjoy your running!

gregmacd wrote:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states ..

For the millions of people that don't have an interest in PRs, and eat whatever, it's a great suggestion. But, if you are spending time on letsrun.com, probably not a great suggestion.

Some full-fat yogurt is likely going to feel more content after eating. It's not going to triple your weight eating moderately.

That's not true for everyone, but works for some.

Healthy Fat wrote:

A calorie in equals a calorie out has been medically disproven. Carbs trigger an insulin response that in turn stimulates fat storage and weight gain.

Keep your carbs under 100g a day to lose weight, 150 to maintain. You are eating too many carbs to lose weight.

Read “Eat Fat, Get Thin” by Dr. Mark Hyman.

I’m about your height and went from 156 lbs to 143 doing 15 -20 miles a week, eating way more fat and much less carbs over the past 4 months.

Another good read that discusses this is “Primal Endurance.”

Good luck.

At 50 miles/week (40+ yrs old), I eat appx. 450g of carbs a day and 3,000 calories to avoid losing weight.

100g carbs is not "too much." Lol.

Your doctor RAVES about your fitness? Donald, is that you?