Miles and calories

If your weight is constant, not gaining or losing, it's probably the right amount. If you're losing eat more. Gaining eat less.

At a casual glance that sounds low at that mileage.

I'm 19, same height/weight. I eat like 3000 cals a day doing 60 mpw. Assume all you do is sit around all day besides running-that's 2000 calories, give or take. Add around 90-100 calories for each mile run. That's a good gauge. I'd guess you need anywhere from 2300-3000 a day. Probably more, unless your weight is staying constant at 2000-2500 calories a day now.

Sounds low to me. I'm a female, 5'4 and 110, very low mileage at the moment and I put away around 2000 calories a day.

Calorieadvice wrote:

80 to 90 mpw average 2000 to 2500 calories

5 11 31/m 138lbs.

Is that enough calories?

I think it is low. I train endurance about 20 hours a week, give 1-3 hours roughly, and I am eating around 4000 calories a day, BMI is LEAN at an 18.3, male. So say 10 hours of running, all of that pounding and repairing muscles (vs no impact cycling/swimming), I'd say 3000 cals is a good ballpark

not sure, but I think I need more. I find it hard to eat more though, just not that hungry.

People tend to underestimate energy intake, but that sounds very low.

the general formula for energy expenditure of running is right around 1 kcal per km per kg body mass. Let's say that is avg 12 miles per day or about 20km. Your body mass is 138 lbs or just under 63 kg. That means daily your runs are costing you about 1200kcals. Your REE is estimated to be around 1600kcals. That means that running and just lying around the rest of the day your energy needs are going to be around 2800kcals.

OP don't listen to all the BS formulas or people saying "well if you run X miles you HAVE to eat Y calories or you'll die". if your weight is steady and you are training/racing well, no need to change.

i'm in a similar situation: 5'10, feel best racing and ran all my PRs (from 800 to HM) in the last 1.5 years at around 137-139lbs, turn 30 in a few months. when i was in my early to mid 20s, i could put away 3000+ calories and not think twice about what i ate or drank. but at 27, 28, 29, i definitely noticed a change - had to restrict and start counting calories to get down to race weight, even when running the same mileage (80-90mpw) and intensity as before.

i shoot for 2000-2500 a day. like another poster said, we usually underestimate our intake (i'm not measuring out every tablespoon of PB or salad dressing, or weighing to the oz. every cheese cube, etc.), so i figure if i aim in that range i'm really getting 2500-3000 per day.

losing weight is a B*TCH now, i took a few weeks "off" (same mileage but no intensity, just relaxed running) in May after some track races and immediately shot up to 145 without changing my diet...feel like garbage trying to get back into workouts now & get the weight back down, but keeping calories to < or = 2500 has started to make a difference.

if you are VERY well-trained and SUPER-FIT, your body gets really efficient at both running (thus you'll burn less calories per mile) and energy use....you need way less than any calculator would ever predict (especially if you want to keep very lean). you just have to time the meals right so you have energy for workouts and to recover well.

at 5 10 anything below 150 seems really frail to me...it's probably normal to weigh a little more than 137-139

is say, trying to run 1:05 for a HM "normal", or is the lifestyle required to do so considered "normal". hell no, but i know for sure i'm not reaching my running goals at 150lbs (which by the way is what i weigh during times on a "normal" diet and doing "normal" amounts of exercise. i was acually a fball/bball player in HS and weighed close to 170lb!). and as far as "frail" goes, my BMI is still higher than guys like Farah and Souleiman...do they look "frail" dropping 50s last laps in 10Ks, or running 3:49 miles? your BMI or how you look has nothing to do with strength/the power you can generate if trained properly. i can kick pretty well, and sqaut/dlift 1.75X my bodyweight, probably better than a lot of "frail" runners.

Normal Guy wrote:

at 5 10 anything below 150 seems really frail to me...it's probably normal to weigh a little more than 137-139

FLOPTASTIC wrote:

i can kick pretty well, and sqaut/dlift 1.75X my bodyweight, probably better little more than 137-139

please tell us that you're a female. What guy can't squat at least twice his own weight??

Floptastic I use to be like you and that is not bad I run on a partial ride in College at a Division II and I was quick in Highschool, but my biggest problem was that I thought I had to get to 135 to get good. I am 6 feet and I realized that Mo Farah and Ayanleh Souleiman are from african decent and as Americans we will never be that skinny and feel good. I hear people talk about how Chris Solinsky is so heavy, but you can only get so quick by getting to a certain weight before your body declines. For example he weights 160 pounds but his body fat is probably 5 percent while a guy can weigh 140 and have 15 percent body fat and be the same height and be slow. You also get endurance and speed by years of training and having a base not by starving yourself.

fair enough. but i should point out that i am currently ~10lbs. over my college race weight...sub-130lb, it was bad, full-blown ED, never put together more than 6 months of consistent training. THAT was body decline.

took the first part of grad school away from serious training, settled in at 150 but never felt good racing at that weight. only when i dropped back down to sub-140lb did i start to train & race well, blowing anything i ever did in college out of the water and going on almost 2 years of consistent, injury-free training now. it's the right weight FOR ME and i know what i have to do to get there.

i never said anything about starving myself...you see a calorie intake number that you think is "too low" and assume i'm starving & barely making through the day let alone training well. but i never feel like i am "starving" now - restricting & being mindful of what i eat, yes. but not starving. if you eat good foods you can eat more than enough to keep you satisfied throughout the day on 2500-3000cals, it just takes effort & planning.

So, how many fewer kcals in terms of kcal/km/kg do you think one improves with training?

10%, 20%, 50%?