How many calories should I be eating?

Yeah man, 1,850 is NOT nearly enough. If you're averaging 75 mpw, you should be eating 2,500 calories at the minimum. Your body is going to use the calories to fuel your workouts. I'd quit worrying about caloric intake. Eat what makes you happy. Do not restrict yourself.

YouTubeSueTube wrote:

5’7, 133 pound 23 year-old guy here. Currently running about 75mpw, but ran 95+ all spring.

I’ve been feeling very sluggish lately, so I decided to track my caloric intake to see if I was eating enough. Over the past two weeks, I averaged about 1,850 calories just eating my normal diet. Obviously, that isn’t enough, but for some reason I haven’t lost weight in months and seem to gain fat very easily.

So, my question is, how many calories *should* I be eating? A lot of the online calculators are very general and / or not geared towards athletes. FWIW, I have a desk job, but usually walk at least 1.25 miles per day and strength training 2 times per week in addition to my running.

Thanks a lot!

3.5k, and get your thyroid checked. Sounds like you have hypothyroidism, and that in combination with low calorie intake will ruin your ability to train. You will be out of energy all the time, that way you won't max your performance.

And being idle most of the day doesn't mean you don't burn calories, if you have big muscles in your legs from running, they always require a lot of fuel, even at rest.

LRP is right on this one. Elite kenyan runners, with the same height and weight as you, also averaging 75 miles per week, tend to have a calorie intake of 3000-3300 cal/day (but remember that apart from running, they just rest all day)

I just think that, if you take your running seriously, you should focus on getting your calories mostly from healthy carbs (without neglecting other macronutrients of course). As it's carbs that really fuel your training, and not calories alone.

A very enlightening study on this subject:

That is an outstanding study, thanks!

I’ve also done some more research, and it looks running mileage on a huge caloric deficit can grenade your metabolism and cause weight gain. Do you think this is true?

YouTubeSueTube wrote:

That is an outstanding study, thanks!

I’ve also done some more research, and it looks running mileage on a huge caloric deficit can grenade your metabolism and cause weight gain. Do you think this is true?

Sure. Your body is on emergency mode, since you are not fueling it properly it will try to store anything it can as fat rather than metabolizing it. This is especially a problem with over-storing of water.

Many athletes were told to eat less so they can lose weight, but ended gaining weight. Only when they started fueling properly, and eating more, they started to drop weight.

You need to think about history - humans needed to persistance hunt for many hours to survive. They also had to travel a lot, and scavenge dead bodies and get to new plant/fruit spots. Our bodies are able to survive on low fuel, and get the job done, but it won't be ideal for running fast. This also shows when you can't get your HR up for example, or you feel you have no energy, like you can cruise at very easy/recovery pace but don't feel motivated to run any faster.

YouTubeSueTube wrote:

5’7, 133 pound 23 year-old guy here. Currently running about 75mpw, but ran 95+ all spring.

I’ve been feeling very sluggish lately, so I decided to track my caloric intake to see if I was eating enough. Over the past two weeks, I averaged about 1,850 calories just eating my normal diet. Obviously, that isn’t enough, but for some reason I haven’t lost weight in months and seem to gain fat very easily.

So, my question is, how many calories *should* I be eating? A lot of the online calculators are very general and / or not geared towards athletes. FWIW, I have a desk job, but usually walk at least 1.25 miles per day and strength training 2 times per week in addition to my running.

Thanks a lot!

Running 75 - 95 Plus walking Plus strength training puts you in a very active catigory.

Your body is in a starvation mode at the moment. I.e. it's trying to hang on to WHATEVER you give it, so that is why it retains fat easily right now as it is being chronically under-fueled, so it is refusing to let go to what it has stored and is trying to store more.

Metabolism is like a fire and calories are like fuel. Stop the fuel and the fire gets colder and smolders out. Don't eat enough calories and you feel sluggish and lethargic.

For you, at your height/weight/activity level, we're looking at probably 2500kcal per day and see what that does. Here's the breakdown:

140-150g of protein (600kcal)

300g of CHO (1200 kcal)

77g of Fat.

EDIT: After upping it at first, let your body adjust and then add on another 1000 or so calories, make sure you're getting enough protein.

That makes a ton of sense that the body would “panic” and hold on to whatever it has when you’re running an extreme deficit.

What kind of meals and foods would you guys recommend to achieve a 2,500+ calorie intake? Right now, I generally have:

-PB toast and strawberries for breakfast

-Small protein shake or cup of Greek yogurt for a snack

-A Sweet Earth or other healthy frozen meal over spinach and mixed greens for lunch

-A small protein-haven’t snack (e.g. a packet of tuna) of some kind

-~6oz. of meat with various kinds of roasted vegetables for dinner.

YouTubeSueTube wrote:

That makes a ton of sense that the body would “panic” and hold on to whatever it has when you’re running an extreme deficit.

What kind of meals and foods would you guys recommend to achieve a 2,500+ calorie intake? Right now, I generally have:

-PB toast and strawberries for breakfast

-Small protein shake or cup of Greek yogurt for a snack

-A Sweet Earth or other healthy frozen meal over spinach and mixed greens for lunch

-A small protein-haven’t snack (e.g. a packet of tuna) of some kind

-~6oz. of meat with various kinds of roasted vegetables for dinner.

A LOT more and much bigger portions.. at this point just eat as much as you can, so your metabolism changes and you can condition it to a higher caloric intake.

There are tricks, like eating carbs like gels during workouts/runs and/or drinking a big chocolate milk after a run/workout to sneak in calories in a nice way.

YouTubeSueTube wrote:

That makes a ton of sense that the body would “panic” and hold on to whatever it has when you’re running an extreme deficit.

What kind of meals and foods would you guys recommend to achieve a 2,500+ calorie intake? Right now, I generally have:

-PB toast and strawberries for breakfast

-Small protein shake or cup of Greek yogurt for a snack

-A Sweet Earth or other healthy frozen meal over spinach and mixed greens for lunch

-A small protein-haven’t snack (e.g. a packet of tuna) of some kind

-~6oz. of meat with various kinds of roasted vegetables for dinner.

Add on some eggs for breakfast, breakfast burritos are a great place to start.

Ditch the salads for lunch and look for some more calorie dense options with carbs.

More meat and carbs for dinner.

Carbs are fuel, your body needs them.