losing weight for track season

Thanks guys for the advice. Not sure what my BMI is. What's a good BMI for running?

it doesnt matter. everyones body type is different. focus on hard and smart training, and eat a balanced diet. you've heard it before. thats all, the rest will come.

woah, 1800 calories a day and 100 miles a week? hopefully this wasnt a serious post. if you are running any decent amount of mileage (especially 100s) and arent losing weight, you suck at life. just dont overeat. if you wanna take off a couple pounds, incorporate more morning runs. this always seems to help me. hit up the food groups and dont deny yourself anything. dont get neurotic about it, or you'll forget about the fun stuff. like living.

D Nice wrote:

pound mileage

eat cheeseburgers

drink beer

rinse

wash

sleep

repeat

DONT count calories.....how many serious distance runners out there do you think are weighing their bagels and measuring their sandwiches?

actually a lot are.. idiot

But what is the best BMI?

I should weigh my food? Huh?

Carolyn B. wrote:

But what is the best BMI?

BMI is utter garbage, and should never be used as any type of tool for an athlete to gauge fitness, AT ALL.

runnnininn

really? i'd be curious to hear about them or know who they are. letsrun posters not included.

everyone knows about lance, i was just never under the impression that kenyans are sitting around with a calculator adding up the carbs in their ugali. if you can post something that would leave me to believe otherwise, i stand corrected.

It's not that hard to lose weight.

Calories in,calories out.

b0B

Stop drinking so much beer college kid.

Body Mass Index is not irrelevant - it can reveal some obvious truths. Elite long distance runners will have BMI's from 18.high to 21.low. This is skinny to thin to say the least. BMI is simply a statement of someone's core body size assuming they are in shape. If you have a well muscled 800 meter runner, they most likely will have a higher BMI than say, a half / marathoner.

Not everyone is destined to be a great basketball player if you are under six foot and a male you face pretty long odds. So too not everyone genetically can healthfully get to a BMI of 19 - are there folks on scholarship running good in cross country who are BMI's of 22-23? yes. Are they average? Not just no, Hell no.

BMI can tell you if you should focus on a shorter event where the extra mucle mass will not be a factor (in carrying "excess" musculature and also the thermodynamic disadvantage over a comparable person with more skin surface per unit of mass) and may in fact be a benefit - if God made you to be a lean BMI of 25 you should be looking at sprints or shot put or pole vault or perhaps (dare he say it) a sport other than Track and field.

If you have a BMI of 19.2 and excel at the 800 -- look out because there isn't much (if anything) that could keep you from training for and excelling at the 1,500, 3,000, 5,000, etc. Give me someone who also excels at the 800 with a lean BMI of 23.5 and the only direction they ought to look to move is down - could they be competitive at 1,500 or 5,000? depends on their talent and toughness, but is that what they are built to run? Not just no, Hell no.

My BMI is 17. Is that good?

I'd say an optimal BMI for long distance is 16-18. You don't want to go any higher than that!

A 6'4"/300lb. fat man who is out of shape will have the same BMI as a 6'4"/300lb bodybuilder with 4% body fat.

That is why BMI is useless.

Jim "flagpole" Rome gave some pretty good advice.

If the numbers he came up with are correct (they seem pretty close to me)try to shoot for 1800 calories everyday. This will give you some leeway once a week to treat yourself with something you really like.

Spread your meals out over the course of the day eating 6 meals of 300 calories each. Keep track of the calories as you go. An example would be to eat at 9,12,3,6,9,and 12. You will never get real hungry this way and if you eat the right foods, will have more than enough energy.

jim "flagpole" rome,

i also have a question. if you are going to eat an extra 100 calories per mile of your run, should you eat those extra calories the day of the run or the day before or after the run...

for example, if mon. you run 10 miles, tues. you run 15 miles, should you eat 1000 extra calories on sun, mon, or tues, and should you eat 1500 extra calories mon, tues, or wed.? i know it probably doesn't matter too much, but which will be most efficient so as to allow you to feel most energized for your run (after all, food is just fuel). Thanks alot.

Go on the all-sugar diet. No meats, no veggies. All about sugar.

hoping to lose 10 lbs. as well wrote:

jim "flagpole" rome,

i also have a question. if you are going to eat an extra 100 calories per mile of your run, should you eat those extra calories the day of the run or the day before or after the run...

for example, if mon. you run 10 miles, tues. you run 15 miles, should you eat 1000 extra calories on sun, mon, or tues, and should you eat 1500 extra calories mon, tues, or wed.? i know it probably doesn't matter too much, but which will be most efficient so as to allow you to feel most energized for your run (after all, food is just fuel). Thanks alot.

On this particular topic I'm not qualified to give a definitive answer. My GUESS is that in your scenario you have to go by feel a little bit. When I was an ultramarathoner, I would have training runs of 30 miles+, but I didn't then plan to eat 3000+ MORE calories in that day than I normally would. Usually people eat more on higher mileage days because they are a little more hungry. Unless you have food issues (eating disorder of some kind) then it probably doesn't matter too much. You want to think about your caloric intake over a week, and while you don't want to NOT EAT for a whole day to make the numbers work, each day doesn't have to jive with that day's caloric output. This was all just my guess. Someone could CERTAINLY have a better and more educated answer on this topic than I.

Jim Rome - OUT!

healthyfastrunner wrote:

Jim, I don't think that formula is correct.

If an average woman (non-runner) is 5'8 and 140, she needs 1540 calories to maintain that weight? It's more like 2500.

Additionally, if this runner is 130lbs and running 7 mpd, and she eats 2130 (with no other exercise) I think she's going to need more than that to maintain.

We don't know anything about her, or if she really is 10lbs overweight, and I don't think it's very likely either.

BTW I am 5'8 and 120lbs and I eat a lot more than those calories! I start at 2000. If it's a 50 m week, I add on 5000/7 cals each day. Which is similar to your formula in that respect (100 cals for each mile).

healthyfastrunner,

Trust me, the formula is correct within a varying error to apply to different people who have slightly different metabolisms. This DOES NOT apply for people who have a thyroid condition or some other condition which affects metabolism.

Some things for you:

1) If you are a MAN, your weight x 12 = 1440 which is only 560 shy of the 2000 you say you start with each day. The 1440 would maintain your weight if you were SEDENTARY. If you ever walk around anywhere or do any physical activity other than your running you could easily get up to 2000 calories a day to maintain your weight.

2) Let's say you are in a 50 mile week (50x100/7=714). So, you get to eat 714 calories extra each day. Perhaps you don't eat those extra calories. Many times people have an idea of how much food they should eat in one sitting, or their body tells them they are full, regardless of how many miles you are running. It is very possible that you aren't eating those 714 calories extra each day when you run 50 miles a week.

3) Unless you are strict with pulling out the calculator, it has been my experience that people don't really realize how many calories they are eating. I have a buddy who is 6'1" and he weighs 140 (he's not a runner) and he is very thin. He often talks about how he eats like a pig but can't put on weight. I work with him, and I see what he eats - a banana or some raisins for breakfast with black coffee. A banana is only 125 calories, and a big box of raisins is 130 calories. Then for lunch he'll have a Lean Cuisine meal that ranges from 350-450 calories. He'll get a candy bar in the afternoon (240 calories or so), so he's now up to 820 calories on the days he eats the most caloric stuff. He can now eat 860 calories for dinner to maintain his weight if he were just a sedentary person, but he fences and does martial arts three days a week, plus he lifts weights and uses an Orbitrek. He has NO IDEA what eating like a pig is. In my former obese days, it was not uncommon for me to eat three large fast food hamburgers (with cheese of course) for lunch. I've had many a meal where I had two Big Macs and a quarter pounder with cheese. That's almost 2000 calories right there. THAT was eating like a pig.

4) Finally, getting down to using formulas is only necessary for those who have tried to lose weight by doing other things and were unsuccessful. If you are able to maintain your desired weight doing the things you do, then consider yourself fortunate - you don't have the burden that some people do (granted for most of those people that burden is self inflicted). If you ever find yourself needing to lose 5 pounds, 10 pounds, whatever and it seems that running more and eating less isn't doing it for you, break out the calculator and have a go at it.

NOTE - Initially (in the first week or so) most people will lose more weight than just 1 pound even with just a 500 calorie deficit because they will lose excess stored water as a result of cutting both carbs and sodium. After this initial water weight loss, the forumla for 500 calories deficit per day is right on with regard to a pound a week loss.

certainly sounds like good advice all around. i think the general consensus is, eat a little less, run a little more. you'll lose weight. theres nothing wrong with bein fat, as i speak from many seasons off of experience. i think you will find weight goes quickly with consistent hard training. if you do want to count calories, and think this could add some more discipline to your regiment, maybe you could do something like this.

say you are going to eat a certain number of calories ( and its probably ok to be a little strict with yourself at first) per day until you reach a certain weight. then maybe increase by a few hundred calories, and see how your body reacts. you'll probably be able to find a comfortable level of intake to compliment your training. its by no means the only way, and i am no dr. phil, but its just an idea. this is what it might look like for me if i needed to slim down. im 5'7" and 130 in shape, a dude, and am pretty comfortable running 100 a week. again, just a vague example here.

eat 2000 calories till i weigh about 140

.....2500 till i weigh 135

......3000 till i weigh 130

........3500-4000 to maintain weight. and so on and so forth

again, i dont really believe in counting food, but if you think itll help you, go for it.

Water and fruit juice fast until you reach your weight goal, but make CERTAIN you take a daily multivitamin. That is vitally important.

Go get 'em!!!

:D