Gaining weight while running high mileage....WTF am I supposed to eat?!?!?

I wouldn't worry about your weight. That can happen if you are running slow mileage, particularly in colder climates.

I would recommend doing some super easy speedwork every once in a while or even a few easy crunches. I think by working a few extra muscles in some manner that goes beyond a constant boring aerobic effort can give you results.

If you really want to avoid speedwork, maybe make sure your aerobic runs at least include one or two steady states per week (marathon pace, quite a bit slower than threshold pace, but not as easy as your normal easy runs).

Again, I want to add an emphasis that your diet sounds fine.

Hang in there buddy. The weight game is a work in progress. It takes a lot of fine tuning and adjusting, and what works over time does change, so one needs an open mind and flexibility.

That said, there's probably no one silver bullet. Many things help so you might try several things at once.

One of these is to just be generally more active in your day to day activities. Things like a sit/stand desk help somewhat, and finding reasons to walk and move. Hell, sometimes i even strap on ankle weights and go for walks.

Timing of meals and snacks helps, too. Several small meals help curb hunger rather than a few large meals.

Avoids sweet deserts and drinks. Shoot for nutrient dense foods.

Eat to 80% full, don't try to eat until your full. Eating a little more slowly helps let your body feel full before it's wolfed down a massive amount.

Lastly, on the timing thing, i find that if i am going light on the calories, taking a little pre-run energy drink can energize me through the run. Then, i am careful to get a replenishment drink/snack afterwards, as well.

Hope this helps.

You probably eat too much carbs/sugar. Eat more fat. Check out "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" by Dr. Mary Enig

All of these answers are wrong. Calories in, calories out is all you need to know. The idea of being an endurance runner on a low carb diet is retarded.

And yes, 10 bananas a day is perfectly reasonable. My first meal of the day is usually a smoothie of 10 bananas with orange juice and strawberries.

Weigh your food and count your calories for a week. The advice to eat more fruit is good, because it is very satiating and filling.

Are you able to check your body fat percentage? Some grocery stores have combo: blood pressure monitor, scale and body fat analysis. If no such grocery stores near you, go to TGT and buy a scale with body fat analysis. Beer and soft drinks will counter you attempts to improve your fitness.

Whole foods, plant based diet.

Here's my typical diet.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with banana and skim milk

Greek yogurt with strawberries/blueberries

Lunch:

Big salad with kale, spinach, peppers, tomato, avocado, and some meat like turkey or ham or tuna. Also olive oil.

Bowl of frozen mixed veggies with about a half can of kidney beans

2 eggs scrambled

Apple

Dinner:

Some dish with rice, beans, meat, tomatoes

Baked or sweet potatoes

More salad or frozen mixed veggies

Meal before bed because I'm usually still starving:

Scrambled eggs

More greek yogurt and fruit

Some leftover dinner

fat percentage wrote:

Are you able to check your body fat percentage? Some grocery stores have combo: blood pressure monitor, scale and body fat analysis. If no such grocery stores near you, go to TGT and buy a scale with body fat analysis. Beer and soft drinks will counter you attempts to improve your fitness.

I bought a Renpho scale a few weeks ago, according to it my body fat right around 12%. Not sure how accurate that is, but that's what it says.

Lydiard Cerutty wrote:

Whole foods, plant based diet.

Can you give me a sample of what a typical day would look like?

The Voice of Wisdom wrote:

All of these answers are wrong. Calories in, calories out is all you need to know. The idea of being an endurance runner on a low carb diet is retarded.

Not really. What*is* retarded is to treat the body as a bomb calorimeter with no regard to age, muscle mass, hormones, ambient temperature, and all of the rest of the variables.

snow blow wrote:

Lydiard Cerutty wrote:

Whole foods, plant based diet.

Can you give me a sample of what a typical day would look like?

A typical day for me looks like:

Breakfast: oatmeal and peanut butter

Lunch: rice and beans

Dinner: rice or pasta with some vegetables

For more info:

snow blow wrote:

Gaining weight while running high mileage....WTF am I supposed to eat?!?!?

Less

Lydiard Cerutty wrote:

snow blow wrote:

Can you give me a sample of what a typical day would look like?

A typical day for me looks like:

Breakfast: oatmeal and peanut butter

Lunch: rice and beans

Dinner: rice or pasta with some vegetables

Hmm..... well I already eat all that stuff plus a lot more and I'm still starving. That barely seems like any food.

snow blow wrote:

Lydiard Cerutty wrote:

A typical day for me looks like:

Breakfast: oatmeal and peanut butter

Lunch: rice and beans

Dinner: rice or pasta with some vegetables

Hmm..... well I already eat all that stuff plus a lot more and I'm still starving. That barely seems like any food.

I am 5'8 and weigh 125 ibs. I run about 10-20 miles a day. And I feel pretty satisfied with my appetite. I like to remember what Lance Armstrong said on the Joe Rogan podcast. Which was, to paraphrase Lance Armstrong, if I wasn't hungry I knew I ate too much.

snow blow wrote:

Lydiard Cerutty wrote:

Whole foods, plant based diet.

Can you give me a sample of what a typical day would look like?

For me... this was yesterday

Pre Run - Black Coffee

Post Run (630am) - Whole Wheat bagel w a smear of PB

8-10am 5 bananas

10am- Sandwhich - Ezekial Bread, Avocado, Tomato, cucumber

Lunch - Brown Rice and Veggies

Afternoon 1/4 Watermelon

Dinner - Copious amounts of homemade red beans and rice and brown rice with green onions and cilantro

Couple Beers watching the College World Series

A calorie in equals a calorie out has been medically disproven. Carbs trigger an insulin response that in turn stimulates fat storage and weight gain.

Keep your carbs under 100g a day to lose weight, 150 to maintain. You are eating too many carbs to lose weight.

Read “Eat Fat, Get Thin” by Dr. Mark Hyman.

I’m about your height and went from 156 lbs to 143 doing 15 -20 miles a week, eating way more fat and much less carbs over the past 4 months.

Another good read that discusses this is “Primal Endurance.”

Good luck.

Healthy Fat wrote:

A calorie in equals a calorie out has been medically disproven. Carbs trigger an insulin response that in turn stimulates fat storage and weight gain.

Keep your carbs under 100g a day to lose weight, 150 to maintain. You are eating too many carbs to lose weight.

Read “Eat Fat, Get Thin” by Dr. Mark Hyman.

I’m about your height and went from 156 lbs to 143 doing 15 -20 miles a week, eating way more fat and much less carbs over the past 4 months.

Another good read that discusses this is “Primal Endurance.”

Good luck.

Man, 100g a day, how's that even possible? Could you give me a sample day from your diet? I'm doing 70-80 miles a week so I don't know if I could continue to run well on so little carbs.

The Voice of Wisdom wrote:

All of these answers are wrong. Calories in, calories out is all you need to know. The idea of being an endurance runner on a low carb diet is retarded.

And yes, 10 bananas a day is perfectly reasonable. My first meal of the day is usually a smoothie of 10 bananas with orange juice and strawberries.

Weigh your food and count your calories for a week. The advice to eat more fruit is good, because it is very satiating and filling.

0/10 bananas

Lots of cardio = increased cortisol

Increased cortisol = higher cellular stress level

Higher cellular stress level = fat gain especially around the abdominal area

This leads to being skinny fat. Hit the weights (for the hormonal benefit (dont worry about bulking because you wont be eating enough calories to bulk) and tone up more/lower BF percentage.