QOD: "I eat 5000 calories per day" Hasay - BS

I am a female training around 65-85mpw most of the year, usually running at least 60 miles, cross training including some swimming and elliptical, minimal strength work, and a student walking 3-5 miles around campus each day.

I am 5'2, 108lbs and am 13-14% BF last time I got it checked, so I am not that far off from Hassay. My guess is she is about 107-110lbs at 5'4, she has quite a bit of muscle on her for her size and she is probably around 10%BF.

I need around 3,000 calories a day

So, given that she trains around 30-40 more miles per week and does way more strength training than me, and requires more energy for muscle repair because of a higher training load in addition to that fact that I think she narurally has a high metabolism, 5,000 calories a day is probably about right for a typical/high training day.

I am sure it is not 5,000 every sigle day. maybe 3,000 on easier days, but she was just estimating to make it easy to explain and to also send a message to young girls that starving themselves in conjunction with high training is stupid.

she was just answering a question to make it simple for the reporter and set a good example.

GET THE HELL OFF JORDAN'S CASE.

and also, why does this bother so many adult male runners that a young elite female runner can eat more than you?

like, are you jealous that you can't eat chicken wings and drink 5,000 calories of beer a day and not get fat?

TRAIN MORE AND STOP BITCHING, THEN.

Great post. Agree 100%

Agree.

I'm a girl, 5'4 and around 115 pounds now. I would put Hasay at around 108. She probably will lean down for the Trials but there is no reason for her to be risking stress fractures by being 100 pounds at this point in training.

I don't think she eats 5000 cals a day, but I would not be surprised if it is 4000+, especially since she has a fast metabolism. Running about 35 mpw I ate probably 3000 calories a day and maintained my weight at 108-110 pounds in high school. (I have a pretty fast metabolism I think but not unheard of.) She is running 3x as much as I was!

For those who don't believe me here was a typical day of eating:

Breakfast: HUGE bowl of cereal, usually Special K with a bunch of sugar dumped in there, 2% milk, a banana

Snack: Clif bar

Lunch: Everything that I could get my hands on during our 20 min lunch period. Generally pasta, pizza, and/or a PB and J with some kind of fruit or veg thrown in.

Pre practice snack: Another clif bar

Post practice: Chocolate milk and a bagel with butter (or heck, another bowl of cereal)

Dinner: Large amounts of pasta, some kind of meat, and a vegetable

Post dinner: Large bowl of ice cream

That might actually be more than 3000 now that I think about it. The point is, some girls (like me and her evidently) just have fast metabolisms. When I ate "normally" I weighed 90 pounds and everybody thought I had an ED. Luckily I love eating so it wasn't too hard for me to make a change. Just because you guys are eating a deficit and grumpy about it doesn't mean she has to.

maybe she does

See, you're still doing the same thing everyone else does. You're estimating your calories at a nice round number without bothering to figure out what they actually are, then you're guessing that Hasay burns an extra 1000-2000 calories without figuring out how much extra activity that is (a hell of a lot, especially since Hasay is a pro runner with very efficient form). It's worthless.

For what it's worth I've actually tracked my food as a 145 pound dude running 100 mpw, and was topping out at 4000. And before you say "fast metabolism" again, read up on the % difference a fast metabolism makes.

Eating super healthy and eating that many calories is where it becomes difficult. When I was super fit, I also ate very, very clean, I was probably 5'7" and 115 pounds but only running about 50 MPW with a lot of supplemental work--lifting heavy twice a week, PT and form drills, core, cross training probably an additional 4-6 hours and I felt like I was constantly eating yet when I actually tallied up my calories I had a hard time cracking 2000 calories a day.

-o[iopihugv wrote:

Eating super healthy and eating that many calories is where it becomes difficult. When I was super fit, I also ate very, very clean, I was probably 5'7" and 115 pounds but only running about 50 MPW with a lot of supplemental work--lifting heavy twice a week, PT and form drills, core, cross training probably an additional 4-6 hours and I felt like I was constantly eating yet when I actually tallied up my calories I had a hard time cracking 2000 calories a day.

You're an idiot.

err, well that escalator dickly!

Someone might have claimed to eat more food than they actually do?

I am so angry I can't think straight.

Best reply! Totally agree!

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

Kl55 wrote:

It is a lot, but really not that unbelievable. I'm a female distance runner who runs probably half of what she does and eat at least 2000-2500 a day.

Same here. Funny how people are using female college runners as an example here. No, we didn't eat that much in college, but that's because about 75% of the team had an eating disorder. Finally I started paying attention to successful runners outside the college bubble, those who have had long-term success, and discovered that female pro runners eat 3000+ calories.

By "eat," she probably doesn't mean by mastication alone, she's including recovery drinks and smoothies with USADA approved supplements. That's my bet.

I AM OUTRAGED!!!

Ghrelin wrote:

See, you're still doing the same thing everyone else does. You're estimating your calories at a nice round number without bothering to figure out what they actually are, then you're guessing that Hasay burns an extra 1000-2000 calories without figuring out how much extra activity that is (a hell of a lot, especially since Hasay is a pro runner with very efficient form). It's worthless.

For what it's worth I've actually tracked my food as a 145 pound dude running 100 mpw, and was topping out at 4000. And before you say "fast metabolism" again, read up on the % difference a fast metabolism makes.

What do y'all figure it takes her to run a mile, about 85 calories? An extra 1000-2000 calories a day would be good for about another 12-24 miles per day. People over-estimate the "fast metabolism" impact at least as much as they over-estimate the amount of energy it takes to lift weights. A 60 minute lifting session might use as many calories as it takes to run about a mile and a half. 3 at the most.

That girl don't weigh 108 pounds. That's laughable.

You all still aren't someone training at an elite level.

You just don't get it until you start training like that.

I have experimented with my caloric intake over the past 2 years and I have gotten incredibly lean and faster eating 2,500-3,500 calories a day running 60-70 miles a week.

yet, equations tell me I need 2,500

1200 (BMR) + 200(thermic effect of food)+ 300 (daily living)+700-800for running= 2400-2500 calories.

The extra 1,000 can come from genetics, muscle repair, post exercise oxygen consumption, the more calories you eat, the more energy it takes to digest them, how much protein you eat (20-30% more energy it takes to digest), to just fidgeting around during the day, to how hot/cold you are.

STOP ACTING LIKE YOU ALL KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT SOMEONE ELSES BODY.

I personally know several elite level female runners and they all take it 3,000+ a day.

Most, however, train around 60-80 miles a week.

100+ miles a week is rare for a 5k or 10k runner excluding her supplemental training.

It's really not that mind blowing that she would then need 5,000 a day.

Still, I find it really funny that there are over 130 responses on here that get upset that a young speedy runner can eat a lot, and grown (mostly) men find their spare time best spent bitching about how she can eat a super-duper amount of food because she trains like a super human.

bump

jamin wrote:

Yes, it's obviously B.S. I don't see why distance runners have to be in the closet about the fact that they starve themselves. Distance running is a sport where performance is a function of strength in relation to body weight. Wrestlers don't hide the fact that they are obsessive about their weight.

Jamin: Wrestlers have to "make" weight. They are not obsessive about it!

They have weight classes such as 118-126-132 etc.

Calories in calories out is BS

I am almost underweight and I eat like an absolute horse, I rarely go over 45 mpw

Hah I love this post!

The little known 4th Law of Thermodynamics states that:

"No human being truthfully reports how much they eat; obese people under report by on average 800 KCals a day and very thin people exaggerate by the craziest number they can think up on the spot"