is 2 seconds per pound per mile accurate

He's right, you know.

I went from 135 ibs to 115 ibs once at 5'8. Only thing that happened was that I was always injured. But to about 130 ibs now I'm a lot faster, healthier and train much more consistently with more volume.

My advice: talk to your parents about this and ask them to schedule an appointment with a dietitian (not a nutritionist). Our sport is littered with people who have screwed up their bodies and ruined their performance potential because they got caught up in the whole power-weight ratio thing and didn't do it correctly.

Thank you everyone, after reading all the stories and advice I think I am just going to start making healthier choices, (I eat unhealthy on an almost daily basis) but not restrict myself. I am going to be a sophmore this coming year (last year was my first xc season) so I have 2 years left of cross country to find what works best for me

I lost about 30 pounds over 9 months about a year ago. I lost the weight by tracking all of my food intake using the MyFitnessPal app and gradually changing to a healthy diet based on mostly natural foods and getting rid of processed foods (for the most part, I still splurge rarely) like chips, sodas and baked sweets. I set a calorie goal (net -250 to 500 calories a day factoring in the calories you are burning from training/working out) to lose 0.5-1 pound a week which I feel is a sustainable weight loss rate. I also read a book called "Racing Weight" by Fitzgerald which discusses a healthy diet for endurance athletes to get to your optimal racing weight. I got my marathon time down from 4:12 to 2:52 which is at least partially attributable to my weight loss. Good luck with your weight loss journey.

weightloss struggle wrote:

Thank you everyone, after reading all the stories and advice I think I am just going to start making healthier choices, (I eat unhealthy on an almost daily basis) but not restrict myself. I am going to be a sophmore this coming year (last year was my first xc season) so I have 2 years left of cross country to find what works best for me

You can't out exercise a bad diet, make wiser choices and run.

weightloss struggle wrote:

would 4 months be a good time frame? thatsy how long there is till the state qualifying meet

No. Healthy weight loss is 1 lb per week or less. You could safely lose about 15 poounds in 4 months (not 30).

Remember if you run a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day that is one pound per week. Or 5 miles worth of running on empty every day. Do not try to have a larger deficit than that.

weightloss struggle wrote:

is 2 seconds per pound per mile accurate?

I believe the actual calculation is 2 seconds per 5 pounds of body weight or 1 ounce of shoe weight. However, they both only work up to a point and then becomes detrimental. While going to light on a shoe will result in discomfort, losing too much weight can cause way more problems.

Hi Weightloss struggle,

My advice if you want to shed weight and run faster is to do it smart and to stay committed.

Hopefully you have 3 or 4 months before your season ends.

Keep it simple: Run more, sleep more, drink only water and lots of it, and eat healthy. Make sure you have a good pair of training shoes. Can't run fast or far if you're injured.

It'll take 10-14 days to see any real changes, but keep it consistent. Cut out dairy and limit meat consumption to see optimal gain...even sooner. If you're running more, you eat more carbs, veggies, fruit. NO MEAT??? NO DAIRY? WHERE R U GETTING UR PROTEIN??????

Protein is in a lot of foods. Eat more nuts, peanut butter, brown rice, veggies, potatoes, etc. Avoid hydrogenated foods, High Sodium foods, and foods with a lot of sugar.

The Western diet has resulted in a lot of unhealthy people. We have a lot of fat people, and as you get older, your metabolism will slow, and diet will be > than training. Ex:) 8th grade weight: 147. 9th grade weight:130. College race weight: 143. Currently 28 y.o. male hovering in between 157-162 depending on the day, and I've run 55-65 miles the past 4 weeks. Lifestyle changes will get me to run faster, but I like carbs, I like cheese, I like beer, I'm married, I have a career. Laziness, excuses, yada yada. Life is full of choices. Life will get in the way. If you're in high school, make a positive change and make it soon.

History Lesson:

Culturally, look at what most Asian countries have as staple foods. Veggies and rice. Look at what a lot of East African countries eat diet wise....Quinoa and other earthy foods. I don't know off the top of my head but the bottom line is as you get older, your diet and lifestyle will need to adjust and just be smart. Those countries don't have Heart Disease as the #1 killer in females like America does. Just because EVERYONE is eating this or that or doing this or that doesn't mean it's right. It doesn't mean humans have always done it.

Columbian Exchange: Look it up. In the history of human beings, the last 500 years have been crazy fast. Rapid changes are happening. Take a look at your life and reflect.

Humans 500 years ago weren't putting additives, and coloring and preservation ingredients in their foods. (salt is the only one I know of off the top of my head)...They weren't drinking milk every day, and eating cheese every day and able to eat "beef" or "chicken" or "pork" in less than 10 minutes at their local eating hole. Italians were afraid of tomatoes and the honey bee hadn't been to America yet, and people weren't craving sugar, or chocolate or coffee or those FIRE Mountain Dew Freezes at the Taco Bell. You know what I'm talking about people.

r2k83 wrote:

I believe the actual calculation is 2 seconds per 5 pounds of body weight.

No. That's just very wrong. I posted the math earlier. Two seconds is just a rule of thumb, because what matters is your relative weight loss, i.e., what percentage of your body weight you're losing. Two seconds is happens to be exactly right for a 150 lb runner. For a 100 lb runner, it's closer to 3 seconds. For a 200 lb runner, closer to 1 second.

MatthewXCountry wrote:

No. Healthy weight loss is 1 lb per week or less. You could safely lose about 15 poounds in 4 months (not 30).

Remember if you run a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day that is one pound per week. Or 5 miles worth of running on empty every day. Do not try to have a larger deficit than that.

One thing to keep in mind is that accurate calorie counting is extraordinarily difficult unless you're literally weighing every ingredient that goes into everything you eat. People tend to underestimate the calories they're consuming. One of the reasons eating quality whole foods works for weight loss is that most of those foods have low calorie density. You just end up not being hungry when you eat that way.

Also, deficits don't have to be identical every day. Elite athletes typically cycle their diets so they're well fueled for hard workouts and they get plenty of nutrients afterwards to recover, but on lower intensity days, they run deficits because you don't really have to be fueled up for easy runs.

Don't even think about dieting. Just eat healthy and train hard. Thinking about losing weight is a rabbit hole. Don't go there. Eat healthy, trust in the process.

I agree with the other posters, this can be very dangerous and have long term consequences. If there are easy changes you can make (drinking diet soft drink to normal soft drink, or switching to water) then do those. If hungry, eat! Do not try to restrict calories and increase training!

I think the best thing to do would be to try and add an extra 30 minutes of walking each day. It will improve fitness, not stress your body and be a safer way to try and get the race improvement you are looking for.

In order to improve your race times, you need to be well fuelled for your key sessions

the old cheap guy wrote:

Don't even think about dieting. Just eat healthy and train hard. Thinking about losing weight is a rabbit hole. Don't go there. Eat healthy, trust in the process.

The above is correct. Just eat healthy.

In HS I knew a runner who was addicted to DQ blizzards. She stopped eating them, must have been 5 to 6 per week, and she lost a ton of weight.

Losing 30 pounds is going to do more harm than good. You’ll not only lose fat but also lose muscle(including muscle around your heart which is not something you want to lose as an endurance athlete). Instead of focusing on dropping weight focus on running well, building strength, and eating healthy. If all you think about is losing weight you will likely end up anorexic which will put you at risk for injuries. Instead run daily, cross train 3-5 times a week, do core and body weight strength work 5 times a week, and lift twice a week. That will drop at least two minutes off your time if you are consistent and you eat healthy and eat enough. If you don’t eat you won’t reap the benefits of the workout.

I gained 20 pounds and ran 20 secs faster 2 mile. 915 to 855

weightloss struggle wrote:

According to a race weight calculator I need to lose 30 pounds give or take. My best xc 5k time last year was 22:13, and I will admit im not fat but I could change my diet and lose some weight even if not for racing. I want run in the low 20's and hopefully qualify to state. If I lose 30 pounds, (safely all fat not muscle), could I really cut off 3 minutes from my time?

Watch "That Sugar film" on Hulu and you will see how to lose weight but still be eating the same amount of calories. Don't try to eat less calories to lose weight.

I suppose somebody mention the book "Racing Weight" by whomever wrote it?

My experience with the 2 second rule is that it doesn't work within 10 pounds of my lowest reasonable weight on mostly healthy omnivore diets, for my physiology. Above that it doesn't really matter because looking at it realistically , I know I need to go back to base. If you really care, this is something to be learned if you don't know it . At that point where I am approaching race shape, I am under 10% BF which for my gender and age is lean. However in that range I am the most trainable, outside of that I am an exerciser, not a runner.

As far as time goals go. I think a couple of minutes is too big of a reduction goal over this distance in your case and mine(without going into details) if your PR is 22:13, Make you all course goal for the same distance just under 21 and keep learning. I say "all course" because you want to keep racing without being obsessed about the difficulty of each course.There is a lot to be gleaned from comparing times against your training log and various courses even when you don't PR. take a longerish term approach. Be kind but disciplined with yourself and you will go in the right direction, get help if you ever get too far off track with your eating behaviors, not saying that you will.

Dufas wrote:

My experience with the 2 second rule is that it doesn't work within 10 pounds of my lowest reasonable weight on mostly healthy omnivore diets,

So at that point, roughly how many seconds/milliseconds per pound per mile can you lose?

George213 wrote:

Dufas wrote:

My experience with the 2 second rule is that it doesn't work within 10 pounds of my lowest reasonable weight on mostly healthy omnivore diets,

So at that point, roughly how many seconds/milliseconds per pound per mile can you lose?

Well I think my answer here applies to me and maybe the OP, but maybe not people who run at high skill level and/or race for longer distances perhaps. Maybe those people have it all dialed in, but I think even they only hit super lean for highest priority races.

For 5k, It is not calculable or significant at my admittedly limited level of expertise, not for any given race, I am not even sure there is a favorable trend given the variables in training, other life demands going on, temperature, course etc. My best 2 races were not at the typical training weight minus 10 pounds it was at the typical training weight, which is very easy to maintain. I can't even tell the difference in my ability to hit workouts.

Going back to the Centro thread topic. I bet at 10 pounds heavier he could still break 3:40 easily?