How many calories do male elite runners (middle-long) eat per day?

I have heard swimmers eat up to 8000 calories per day. Just wondering if it was the same with runners.

I would guess around 4000-5000 depending on how much they train. Not as much as cyclists and swimmers

justafatkid wrote:

I have heard swimmers eat up to 8000 calories per day. Just wondering if it was the same with runners.

Elite swimmers: 5000 - 6000 (people love to exaggerate)

Elite mid-long D Runners: 3500 - 4000

Solinsky is 6'1 160lbs. You fine.

haha, yes, I will start thinking about losing weight when I get closer to 26:59 ;)

Restrict to 1500-2000 calories a day. Isn't that what Wetmore demands at Colorado?

I find this a worthless inquiry. So many variables; age, height, weight, activity level. There is so much variability it is really unimportant data IMO.

flagpolerules wrote:

Restrict to 1500-2000 calories a day. Isn't that what Wetmore demands at Colorado?

I doubt even his female distance runners exists on such a small amount of food.

Where did you hear this info?

justafatkid wrote:

I want to run 5k and longer. I am 6 feet tall and 158 pounds (183cm/72kg). This is not fat, mostly muscles, but it's still too heavy for these longer distances, and the weight does not go down although I run 80miles/week.

6 feet and 158 is to heavy? And you claim your "mostly muscle". You are not too heavy if you weight 158. That's for sure.

flagpolerules wrote:

I was hoping this troll post would make it past 0/10.

Nope, it was way too obvious so 0/10 it is

This give you some info:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16441917

Kenyan elites consuming a little over 3000 kcals a day ( I converted it). apparently they were expending more than that.

Since they likely were training more/harder than you, you might want to shoot for a little less, especially if you are trying to drop some lbs. Try ~2600 and see how you feel/how your weight moves. Make sure you get a good amount of carbs for glycogen replacement/energy use. Eat your biggest meal post run to maximize glycogen replacement, and muscle damage recovery. Good luck.

In all fairness, 6'0", 158 is too heavy. I'm 6'0", 155 and I could lose a little fat beyond having more muscle than the typical distance runner. At 6'0", ideal race weight shouldn't be more than 150. If you don't have fat, then stop lifting weights or something, because you probably have more upper body muscle than you need.

I agree, I'm not lifting any weights, and this has been my weight since I started running more than 70miles/week (3 years). I have not been counting the calories, but I would guess it's around 2500-3500 per day (I eat pizza, soda and cakes almost every day too). I guess 150 would be a good weight, but at the same time I'm not sure if eating less than 2500 calories and runnin 80miles or more is going to make me stronger.

It's not way too heavy, but I think 150 pounds would be better, if there is a healthy way to do that.

I find it interesting that most people consider themselves "more muscular than most." People tend to over state their muscularity frankly.

justafatkid wrote:

It's not way too heavy, but I think 150 pounds would be better, if there is a healthy way to do that.

I guess I'm no expert on weight, but I can't even fathom how people could be so light. I'm slightly under 5'8", 140 pounds, and I don't think anybody would see me as anything other than skinny Asian man. And yes, I'm a runner, and no, I'm not slow.

Holy crap. I'm 6'2 165 and I eat at least 7000 a day. When I'm dieting to get myself to race weight I limit myself to 5000 and that will get me to ~158 within a few weeks. These 2000, 2500 figures you guys are throwing out would get me killed.

...or lean. Maybe I should try some time...

There is no way you're eating 7k in calories, no way.