A friend and I were discussing this weekend the amount of middle aged men marathon training with a gut in our training groups We are both around 40 years of age and been in marathon training group for quite a few years observing this.
Many of the guys we see in marathon training groups run 35-45 miles a week year round. Age from late 30's to upper 40's. Not high mileage by any means, but creating a significant calorie deficit with the miles. These dudes are married, getting up early to run mornings before work. Hence, they aren't out binge drinking with the boys taking on alcohol calories.
How can someone be 25-30 lbs overweight when logging that cardio activity? Is their diet, just terrible? I don't understand how they can train for marathons and still have a gut if there not out getting ripped drinking several times a week?
Middle-Aged men marathon guys with a gut
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It's your mom's cooking.
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Roughly one mile = 100 calories and less as you get efficient. Your overall metabolism gets raised as you exercise but not to the level of the average 20 year old.
Eat one muffin and you have to balance that with 4+ miles of running.
Go 10 days of taking on 360 calories per day more than you have burned and you gain a pound. Not hard to do. Do this for 3 months and you are now 9 lbs heavier. -
35 to 45 miles is just not enough to eat like a pig and a lot of runners use running to justify eating like a pig. You still have to watch what you eat somewhat closely unless you're doing big miles.
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what gives? wrote:
How can someone be 25-30 lbs overweight when logging that cardio activity? Is their diet, just terrible? I don't understand how they can train for marathons and still have a gut if there not out getting ripped drinking several times a week?
For most people, as you age it becomes very easy to gain weight and very hard to lose weight.
I gained over 30 pounds over my college weight without ever really noticing, got busy at work, family etc. - and with that weight I could still train for and run a marathon and a lot of thin young guys were not happy to get beaten by me. Slow for me was still a lot faster than kids who'd never ran in college etc.
I had that weight on for years, could not lose it despite various protracted efforts. Diet was the main issue. It's not enough to just eat well, you need caloric deficit over a prolonged period while not screwing your metabolism. Its hard work. I eventually lost most of it (range between 5-10 pounds over college weight now), and I'm keeping it off for, but for me it means always watching what I eat. Diet > Exercise. -
Probably a lot of this is due to sitting around at desk jobs all day. Not only are you not moving but also it's fvcking boring. So maybe at some point some donuts appear in the kitchen, and that's entertainment of sorts. A can of Coke or a large iced coffee full of sugar sounds good in the afternoon. Someone has a big bowl of candy on their desk. Etc, etc. It's surprisingly easy to consume 1000 or more extra calories and barely notice.
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You can't outrun a bad diet.
Google "insulin resistance" and "LCHF"
61 and always under 10% bf here. -
I have no trouble gaining weight on 70+ miles per week if I don't limit my food intake. And I'm not binge drinking either. As many other people have said here and elsewhere, you can't outrun a bad diet. Calories are just too easy to take in.
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Well in an effort to lose some inches, for a while I tried supplementing my running (~45mpw currently) with additional cardio at the gym. Some young punk kept running by the window while I was using the elliptical and making funny faces at me. It got to the point where every single time I'd try and workout this kid was just in the window, staring at me. Made me so uncomfortable to the point that I just cancelled my gym membership and have accepted that I'll be a fat runner for the rest of my life.
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'You're looking at my gut aren't you? Well I'm working on it!'
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Go to the source and ask these carbo-gut skinnyfats "Do you even lift, bro?"
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I see it a lot too. I don't think slow jogging 40 miles per week does a lot of fat burning and running makes people extra hungry. I think diet and intensity of running is far more important than sheer volume. A guy running 30 miles per week with consistent speed work and a good diet is going to beat a guy doing 40 to 50 slow miles weekly with a bad diet every time.
But our culture is obsessed with the marathon. People get more props for a slow 4 hour + marathon even with a beer belly than a fast 5k time. -
what gives? wrote:
These dudes are married, getting up early to run mornings before work. Hence, they aren't out binge drinking with the boys taking on alcohol calories.
You're right, you can't binge drink, but you sure as hell can drink 3-4 beers every night. You could easily throw back a 30 pack a week and not even catch a buzz.
The answer though is genetics. That guy with a gut might naturally be 50 pounds heavier without running. -
told a 14 hour ironman guy that idea. Try running a sub 17 min 5k at 34 years old, sub 1:20 half marathon. did not get any traction.
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oh he is 25 pounds overweight.
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brlt wrote:
told a 14 hour ironman guy that idea. Try running a sub 17 min 5k at 34 years old, sub 1:20 half marathon. did not get any traction.
what idea? -
Unless you are doing mega miles running just isn't enough to promote losing a gut. That requires intense work.
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I cannot write... Instead of the 14 + hour triathalon, or 5 hour marathon how about trying to improve shorter races.
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I notice that quite a bit. I think so many guys just do long slow running. I stay relatively thin (not too hard compared to the public at large), but I don't get what I call "runner skinny" until I crank up the up tempo stuff and crank down on my diet.
Resistance training helps tremendously. Just lift or do some body weight workouts a couple of days a week, you don't have to become a lifter. -
what gives? wrote:
A friend and I were discussing this weekend the amount of middle aged men marathon training with a gut in our training groups We are both around 40 years of age and been in marathon training group for quite a few years observing this.
Why are you and your "friend" still in a freaking training group??
