How do these lean girls do it?- nutrition advice please

Two different sports. Running is weight dependant ; swimming is not

Hey, Kendra is very cute. What r u talking about?

Sir Lance-Lot you missed something.

e) snort coke and/or shoot heroin to kill appetite.

1500 calories may be the right ballpark. Little people don't need to eat as much. She's 4'11", so if she's only 100 pounds (my 4'10" friend is 85 pounds or so), she may only require that much food. Don't be so quick to dismiss her.

I have no idea what the answers are and would never give someone nutritional advice, just trying to be a little reasonable.

1500kcal/day is not enough. I agree with txRUNNERgirl, eat more, a lot more.

The important thing to realize is that those fast 1500m girls are doing some serious training. Sessions like 20x 200 in 30-32 10x 400 in 64-66 8x800 in 2.20-2.25 etc etc as well as good endurance runs the day before a hard session.

As well as this they do a lot of other work, so that the total volume of work requires a very large amount of calories, 3000 plus per day. They will maintain low body fat on this diet and workload and still be healthy. The ones who don't eat enough become anorexic very quickly and may have a very distorted view of their own body shape, and a very obsessive compulsion for diet and exercize.

So the message is clear, eat more, train more.

Ah, the days when women wanted to put on weight:

http://2-www-accel-pss.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?container=accel&gadget=www.retronaut.co&debug=0&nocache=0&v=aehlgr0hdf54gsfrm75u1hcs1g&rooe=1&html_tag_context=img&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.retronaut.co%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F11%2F1167.jpg

Hope that helps.

I can feel your pain. I ran DIII cross country and track in college (just a few years back), and while the bulk of the ladies may not be as lean as they are at DI, the national qualifiers certainly are. Have one or more all-americans on your team and you can easily be comparing yourself to some very lean women.

Anyhow, I managed to come into college something like 5'4",120lbs and 22% body fat. In the end I would run my best at something like 116 and 16%. (A big improvement, but still not up to the leaness of most national qualifiers, ~10-13% I believe).

In my opinion, the best way to get lean is through weight-lifting. Everything else (extreme dieting or ramping up your mileage too quickly) puts your body at risk for injury or illness. I actually took some time to gain a bit of weight, mostly in the form of muscle mass and then took some time to loose fat. I had a semester off (study abroad), that allowed me to do this. Through weight lifting and a slight increase in calories (mind you I was still running regularly - but more like base-training you might do in the summer), I put on ~5 lbs. Then slowly and carefully, while continuing to weight lift and increasing my running mileage and intensity, I was able to cut back my weight. This continued into my track season when I returned. So over 8 months (summer + fall) I gained 5lbs of mostly muscle, lost 5 lbs that was a mix of the two. Over the next 2 months I lost another 3lbs from my already leaner body and ended up ~16%. Doing this longer or for a second time would no doubt result in another improvement.

I recommend this is you have some time off. If not, just try and gain a little bit of muscle by lifting. Having more muscle will burn more calories, and having more muscle also means reaching lower weights without injury.

Some good advice here.

Unfortunately, I know from personal experience running D-1 that some of the girls that are fast and lean are that way because they do starve themselves by eating only salad w/fat-free dressing and no-fat/no-sugar yogurt. It was crazy. They ran fast... until they couldn't.

Your goal should be to be healthy for the long-term, while getting lean and getting fast.

- Lift weights, like has been suggested. This is important for your muscular health as you get older and also helps increase lean muscle. You can also do power yoga.

- Yes, eat more. There is such a thing as "starvation mode" I also lost weight when I started eating more and a more balanced diet (not a low-fat diet.)

- Eat more FAT!!!! I could write a book on this and my experience with eating more fat, but several have been written already. I start my day off with chia seeds and coconut oil. I also eat eggs almost every day. I snack on nuts. Everyone has a different body type, but I have realized that eating a higher percentage of fat, instead of the usual runner's diet of pasta and bagels, is much better for my system. It also is better for your brain.

- Eat less sugar. Your simple carbs should be in the moments after a workout to refuel your glycogen stores. But during the rest of the normal course of the day, skip the sugar and carbs that are without fiber, protein or fat.

- And yes, (this is letsrun, right?) run more. Personally, I like malmo's idea that the easiest way to add mileage is to add a few doubles in there. I also think doubles are a great way to stimulate the metabolism and burn some extra calories. It is also a good way to improve running.

- Don't forget to go to sleep on time! Plenty of correlation between no sleep and getting fat.

And finally, be nice to yourself! It's good to want to improve yourself, but don't be mean to yourself by restricting your calories to much. I view my diet/running as a way to feel great.

HS Senior wrote:

part of it is also probably the opposite.

They aren't skinny because they run; they run because they are skinny. Their bodies allow them to run well.

This is the answer. It's all about genetics. Ectomorphs self select for running. If you're a fattie it's probably best that you for another sport or accept your limitations.

I know this is an old post, but runfastsharon your response was super helpful. I came into college at a decent BF (18%) at 5'6 and 125 pounds. However, after a year of injuries I've lost a lot of lean body mass. At my most recent Bod pod testing with the team nutritionist, I was the same weight except now 22% BF...

I'm interested to see what your weight lifting regime was... deadlifts, squats, etc????

unlikely wrote:

I ate a very low calorie diet for all of high school and was "skinny fat," injury prone and exhausted all the time. Now in college I actually run less mileage, eat way more, weigh about the same but am far more toned, healthier, have more energy and run much faster. If you're eating only 1500 calories a day your body is in starvation mode. It took me a long period of time to get my body to process food normally which included about about 3 months of no exercise at all and 5-6 of no running.

This is the right answer.

Get food and body image sorted out and the rest follows. Every body is different and some of those bodies you see are not healthy.

Good luck.

I don't think you are eating enough calories. Try increasing your good fats intake. I eat an avocado a day and eat two eggs every morning (with butternut squash) and cook with olive oil. I eat hot meals of chicken and sweet potato and veggies for the other two meals. I also have a snack a day of fruit and a Kind bar. I run about 40 miles a week. I've been running for about 45 years now and that probably has something to do with staying lean. I weigh 105 and I'm 5'4". I used to be 110 forever but since I gave up bread and pasta, I lost that extra 5 pounds without even trying. I make sure I eat mostly healthy! I do have a dessert just about every day, though!

Unless you are actually overweight, don't count calories or diet. This will only lead to an eating disorder, and ultimately poor performance in running.

If your real goal is to RUN FAST, not to LOOK SKINNY - keep that goal in mind. Focus on eating to feel energetic and strong in your workouts, and to help your body recover. Don't count your calories. Eat when you're hungry. If you starve yourself you'll end up bingeing (and potentially purging) or becoming obsessive and anorexic.

Don't read the book Racing Weight. It might be applicable for fat people who have a bunch of weight to lose but it's relatively useless for people who are not too fat. Getting obsessive about your weight when you are already relatively lean will only lead to an eating disorder.

You also need to acknowledge reality. Your body has limitations. I could starve myself and I would never have a Deena Kastor or a Jordan Hasay body type. There are quite a range of body types (within a relatively narrow spectrum) among fast female distance runners. Look at the finish photo with Elle Purrier and Konstanze Klosterhalfen from the Millrose games, for example. Your body has a limit to how skinny/lean it will be and how it builds muscle (some people build a lot of muscle and others seem to get strong without putting on much visible muscle). You have to work with what you got. By listening to your body and focusing on getting faster rather than getting leaner your body will find it's optimal condition.

Take this from someone who had an eating disorder for a decade BEFORE I started running. Running helped me recover from an eating disorder (bulimia) by teaching me that food is fuel and food makes me strong and fast. I am 10 pounds heavier than before I started running but I look a hell of a lot leaner and I'm pretty damn fast.

To address just one aspect of what you wrote, I'll ask you: Do you REALLY want to EVER feel weak for your workouts? You are a runner. Obviously, the most important thing you do each day with respect to that is run. Whatever (hopefully not dysfunctional) eating plan you settle on, it should be one that leaves you with no doubt that any weakness or unexpectedly lower performance was NOT due to what you ate that day.

Now, is it possible that an optimal training/eating plan would have you noticeably weak during some of your runs? I suppose. But a) You don't know that, b) It's certainly not intuitive, and c) Even if it was (and you could somehow be sure), is that how you'd wish to "enjoy" what is likely your favorite (and most "important") activity?