Calories when losing weight

One thing I do note in your example btw, is you seem to eat very little protein in the evening if I read that right, maybe it's not typical though, but if it is, I wonder if that plays some part. Lots of carbs typically means they pass through them fast, and are always hungry. Then its down to metabolism, age etc as to what happens to that (and maybe when one exercises). Whereas most people would probably be protein heavy later on (that's not a criticism, there's lots of different ways that works for everyone, and no point over thinking it, just an observation).

Sheesh wrote:

Ok, thats not so bad, you initially said 3,400 to maintain, whereas it seems a bit more like 3500 - 1/1,200 calories for the 10 miler, so down to maybe 2,200 (+ 500 as you may lose a pound or so a week), so not quite as high as I first thought (may have miscalculated or forgotten something).

For me, I would probably eat a mix of granola/protein stuff for breakfast, probably about 700 calories, sandwich for lunch, probably 500, dinner of some fish + potatoes + beer or something, maybe 1000. Then I've probably burnt off 500 calories running or other activities. Say 1,700 net. I adjust what I eat if I run more.

Always interesting! That's why its good for everyone to figure their base rate, as everyone is different! I sometimes wonder if some just dump out some of the stuff they eat in the loo :)>

I think you misunderstood what I said. Right now, 3,487 calories is what is my calculated maintenance. In other words, if I did NOT run, I would have to eat 3,400 calories to just MAINTAIN my current weight.

I just weighed in today at 145.6 pounds. The first day I weighed in was April 8th, at 152.6 pounds. This is quite a dramatic loss of weight in a relatively short period of time. I have averaged a NET calories since April 8th of 2857 calories. (NET = total calories - calories burned running)

Therefore, my average calories consumed since April 8th is about 3,700 calories per day, give or take. I then run off about 800-900 calories each day, for a NET intake of around 2857 calories. This has resulted in an average rate of loss of 1.26 pounds per week.

I have slowly been increasing my mileage, and as I am getting close to 70/week now, I can tell that my body is demanding more and more calories. In the last 7 days, I have averaged a total daily calories of 4,247. My NET calories for the past 7 days is 3,348. Yet, my weight loss has continued this week and I am actually feeling very drained and lacking energy, so I am going to eat more than usual today so as to not get hurt/run down.

It is quite clear from this thread and reading other threads that runners vary WIDELY with how many calories they need. I have seen other posters say the same thing as me, and then get attacked by others as liars, etc. All I know is that my body requires around 3,500 calories to just maintain my weight right now if I WAS NOT running. With running, I need well over 4,000 calories to maintain weight.

Clearly, humans differ greatly in their caloric needs based on many factors, many beyond our control. I do know that I use the bathroom quite often. I can't complain though. I get to eat more food and still lose weight.

This all does make sense though as I was always very skinny as a kid. I only put the weight on when I was injured for long periods of time and not running, combined with binge eating like crazy. It's actually surprising I didn't gain more weight than I did. Simply not binge eating and running consistently again is making the weight drop like crazy.

Do you fidget a lot, move around a lot, get up and down, can't stay still or seated for very long?

I used to eat a lot and in the office I worked in this other woman took the piss out of me constantly and it used to really annoy me. She barely ate and said she used to go home and eat fish, a tomato based sauce and vegetables and that was it. But I didn't understand it because she was a normal weight yet she barely ate anything.

Whereas I was eating throughout the day and she made out I had an eating disorder which used to annoy me extremely because it was like can't a woman eat normally without someone saying there's something wrong with them?

I think I need about 2500 to maintain - that's without any sport.

People are different - if you look at what someone does all day there is massive variation.

Doubt the trackers are particularly accurate.

Apparently worrying and thinking a lot can burn off an extra 500 or something crazy. But it makes sense, as constantly werreting simply feels like it does that. There are so many differences - sleep, walking about at home, walking about at work, walking outside, stairs, fidgeting, what you do all day.

Liquid calories are an easy way to get calories in if you're not hungry.

Agreed with the post above. Different people = different needs. I’m only running 30 mpw right now (building back up after a serious non-running injury), and I need about 3K cal/day just to maintain ~135 lbs at 5’11”. You have to figure out what’s right for you.

The 100 cal/mile when running estimate can also vary wildly from person to person. It depends on your size, economy of movement, and muscle mass. And of course your individual metabolism.

Hungry Boy wrote:

All I know is that my body requires around 3,500 calories to just maintain my weight right now if I WAS NOT running. With running, I need well over 4,000 calories to maintain weight.

I don't think you can necessarily jump to that conclusion, but it makes sense why. The only way to tell how many calories you'd burn without running, is not to run.

Chances are there's a lot of post run calorie usage as well. With intense exercise, there are studies (albeit some conflict) indicating 30% more calories for example, and that's not with runs like 10 miles per day.

I'd also ponder if one isn't absorbing all of their food when at extremes. I was half serious about mentioning poop. Some runners seem to pop less healthy let's just say. I've never inspected them, but listening to some folk, I suspect they simply dump some of it out into the loo. There's probably only so many enzymes etc the body has (it is pretty efficient tho), and if eating certain types of food, I just wonder if they pass through quite easily :). If you don't have any problems in that department, don't worry. If you do, you may want to ponder if there is some current limit you are reaching given the current nutrition.

I did mention before about there not being much protein in your evening meal (may not be typical though, but you seemed to eat a load of carbs mainly), I just wonder if your not getting enough of something like protein to form enzymes whilst it's also repairing your body from the exercise, to properly digest the other stuff (that may not be quite how it works, I'm a bit hazy on that stuff, but the general principle may apply).

Anyway if it works, that's good, no need to over think it, but if you keep getting tired and are increasingly eating more, you may want to look at what you are eating, when, and any other factors.

You nailed my situation with this post. I am definitely a "fidgety" person. I just naturally move around a lot, even while sleeping! So even when I am sitting, I am moving more than an average person probably.

I know what you mean about the woman at your work....It can sometimes be annoying to see others eating like pigeons. However, at the same time, I would much rather be like us and be able to eat/enjoy more food than the average person.

That's also so funny you mentioned the liquids! This morning I knew I needed to get some calories in me so I stopped before work and legit got 2 strawberry milks, a sprite, and 2 gatorades! I am feeling better now that I've got some good calories in me after lunch.

Thanks for the post - it's really helpful to know that there are others like me who need to eat more! It takes getting used to though. I want to lose weight and I feel guilty eating 4,000 + calories in a day, yet I continue to lose weight. Just gotta do what works for yourself though!

My 2 cents:

16 Week Marathon Build:

Weight at start: 141.5

Race weight: 138.0

Average Calories In: ~3400 kcal

Basal Metabolic Rate: ~1800 kcal

Average from exercise: ~1700 kcal (average was 110 miles per week)

Net Calories = In - Out

3400 - (1800 + 1700) = ~ -100 kcal/day

Races during build:

1/2 marathon: 1:05

5k (multiple) (14:30-14:40)

Marathon blow up (low 2:20)

For me, this was a sustainable loss of a few pounds, naturally from running more (100-125 miles per week).

Don't limit yourself, eat to recover.

Focusing on running faster and eating healthy, it's pretty simple.

will run for beer wrote:

Agreed with the post above. Different people = different needs. I’m only running 30 mpw right now (building back up after a serious non-running injury), and I need about 3K cal/day just to maintain ~135 lbs at 5’11”. You have to figure out what’s right for you.

The 100 cal/mile when running estimate can also vary wildly from person to person. It depends on your size, economy of movement, and muscle mass. And of course your individual metabolism.

Thanks for the post. It's good to see someone else who needs more calories to maintain their weight, especially since you are 10 pounds lighter than me and still need 3K/day.

I agree there are so many variables that impact caloric needs.

Sheesh wrote:

Hungry Boy wrote:

All I know is that my body requires around 3,500 calories to just maintain my weight right now if I WAS NOT running. With running, I need well over 4,000 calories to maintain weight.

I don't think you can necessarily jump to that conclusion, but it makes sense why. The only way to tell how many calories you'd burn without running, is not to run.

Chances are there's a lot of post run calorie usage as well. With intense exercise, there are studies (albeit some conflict) indicating 30% more calories for example, and that's not with runs like 10 miles per day.

True that's a good point. I actually calculated this before one time when I was injured, but cross training on the elliptical. I used the Garmin to determine calories burned through exercise on the elliptical, and counted calories. It came out to about 3,000-3,200 NET calories as my maintenance. So it makes sense that now that I'm running, my calorie needs have gone up by 200-500 calories. I probably have gained some running muscles which accounts for that.

I agree that my overall nutrition could use an upgrade, with some more lean meats probably. Thanks for your responses - I appreciate it!

Sweet Lou wrote:

My 2 cents:

16 Week Marathon Build:

Weight at start: 141.5

Race weight: 138.0

Average Calories In: ~3400 kcal

Basal Metabolic Rate: ~1800 kcal

Average from exercise: ~1700 kcal (average was 110 miles per week)

Net Calories = In - Out

3400 - (1800 + 1700) = ~ -100 kcal/day

Races during build:

1/2 marathon: 1:05

5k (multiple) (14:30-14:40)

Marathon blow up (low 2:20)

For me, this was a sustainable loss of a few pounds, naturally from running more (100-125 miles per week).

Don't limit yourself, eat to recover.

Focusing on running faster and eating healthy, it's pretty simple.

3400 calories average? Was that your NET calories? Or do you mean you only ate 3400 calories/day when training 110 miles/week? That would give you a NET intake of less than 1900 calories a day. If I was running 110 miles/week, I would need to consume around 5,000 calories/day to maintain my weight.

If I'm running, I eat about enough to offset the calories burned from running that day (500-1500 typically), based on my weight being stable. So my base non-active calories burn is 1900 plus 500-1500 burned from exercise gives me 2400-3400 calories to eat in a day.

I'll typically eat 300-400 for breakfast (cold cereal and plant milk), 200-400 mid-morning snack (snack bar, chips, apple and nut butter), 600-800 lunch (some sort of salad/wrap, chips, and berries, plant yogurt, and granola), 200-400 afternoon snack (same as morning), 800-1000 dinner (various wildly), then 200-400 evening snack (same as breakfast usually).

I'll skip snacks some days if I didn't run as far or at all, and some days I'll eat way more calories for lunch and/or dinner but then offset it by eating less the next day. I still think anyone my size claiming a base burn rate of 3500 calories is miscalculating badly somewhere. There's no amount of fidgeting someone can do to burn an extra 1500 calories (equivalent to running ~15 miles).

So you are claiming that if you don't run at all you only eat 1900 calories to maintain your weight. I think that anyone my size claiming a base rate of 1900 calories is grossly underestimating what they are eating, or literally sitting in bed all day and doing nothing. I cannot see how a grown man can eat 1900 base calories and not lose weight.

800-1000 calories for dinner is an extremely small amount of food, especially for an endurance athlete.

To each their own though. Do what works for you. But believe me, I'm not stupid. I know how to add calories and track my weight. It's not really that difficult. My base calories is 1500 higher than yours, assuming you are tracking correctly as well.

Joe Jackson wrote:I still think anyone my size claiming a base burn rate of 3500 calories is miscalculating badly somewhere. There's no amount of fidgeting someone can do to burn an extra 1500 calories (equivalent to running ~15 miles).

I think you need to open your mind to the possibility that people have different lives, different metabolisms, different nutritional needs. See the other posters in this thread that also have higher needs than you, one being a female.

There are many examples of elites who say how much they eat, and then posters like you claim they are lying, etc. I understand it though, because in my mind, I don't see how you can only eat 1900 calories and survive. That's just nuts.

I noted that 1900 is me doing absolutely nothing and that a typical day will include an extra few hundred calories from normal activity.

I spread out my food consumption. Sometimes I won't have an evening snack so there's 200-400 more calories that I'll eat for dinner. Maybe I skip an afternoon snack, too, and eat even more for dinner. Doesn't change my daily caloric consumption.

I don't believe I ever called you stupid. I am doubting your claim, though. It would make you highly unique to have that high of a base burn rate per the studies I've seen. And maybe there's a study out there that identifies extreme cases like you and I'm simply ignorant of its existence.

What is your resting heart rate by the way?

Joe Jackson wrote:I noted that 1900 is me doing absolutely nothing and that a typical day will include an extra few hundred calories from normal activity.

I spread out my food consumption. Sometimes I won't have an evening snack so there's 200-400 more calories that I'll eat for dinner. Maybe I skip an afternoon snack, too, and eat even more for dinner. Doesn't change my daily caloric consumption.

I don't believe I ever called you stupid. I am doubting your claim, though. It would make you highly unique to have that high of a base burn rate per the studies I've seen. And maybe there's a study out there that identifies extreme cases like you and I'm simply ignorant of its existence.

What is your resting heart rate by the way?

So 1900 calories plus a few extra hundred is about 2100-2200 calories for an entire day when you don't run. That is an incredibly small amount of food. I would never survive on such a low-calorie diet. That would have my body breaking down within a matter of a day or two. That would give you like 500 calories for breakfast, 500 for lunch, and 1100 for dinner. That is nuts for a grown man in my opinion.

There are other posters who share the same thoughts as me. "track girl" in this very thread stated she needs about 2500 calories without any exercise at all. So your calorie needs are LOWER than a female who most likely weighs considerably less than you. Don't you think that's a little weird? I'm not alone either.

See the following threads for other examples of people similar to me:

(Jordan Hasay eats 5000 calories/day)

(poster "Heb. 12.1" eats 4300 calories/day and was losing weight with increased mileage)

(original poster like me is amazed and how little some letsrun posters say they eat)

(in the comments, a 136 pound female says she is eating 3200 calories a day and slowly losing weight).

I think all of this needs context (which naturally should be running, but I think there are crossed purposes).

Firstly 2100 calories is not an incredibly small amount of food in terms of Base rate. Eg if you go to somewhere like

https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html?ctype=standard&cage=25&csex=m&cheightfeet=5&cheightinch=10&cpound=150&cheightmeter=180&ckg=65&cactivity=1&cmop=0&coutunit=c&cformula=m&cfatpct=20&printit=0&x=66&y=17

and put your stats in, it will probably show a figure of 1,650 or so (less for women, and varies on age etc).

This is pretty standard, it will vary a bit, but ignoring running for the moment, the typical person will be about that. So that's the standard starting point. I think some people here and on other threads, are talking about basic calorie intake for a runner, when that should be ignored if talking about BMR.

Then you have to add typical daily activies, if you are a builder vs a computer programmer. This will change it a lot.

Then you have to add your running on top. That consists of extra calories during the run, and any side effects after.

But ultimately, the calories have to be accounted for. If you eat a load more than you can sum up, it's probably going down the loo.

Everyone is different, there's no rights or wrongs :). Each can do what works for them, but as mentioned previously, if one is eating a shed load, and losing weight, if they can't account for it with maths, there may be some issue that ideally could be addressed.

I have seen the different "calculators" you are talking about. However, I find them completely inaccurate for what my body needs. Like I said, I've counted calories and tracked my weight before, and I always get the same result. I need over 3,000 daily calories to simply maintain my weight with no running. If I run, I have to add the calories burned to my intake to maintain my weight. So right now, I'm running 10 miles/day. Right now, the data shows I need about 4,400 calories/day to maintain my weight running 10 miles/day. I am trying to lose some weight, so I am actually only eating about 3,700-4,000 calories a day, which creates a deficit.

Anyways, I've gotten off the point of this thread. The whole point of this thread is to let others like myself know that all those online calculators and other letsrun posters might not apply to their situation or energy demands. Those calculators and other posters needs are nowhere close to my needs, and I know that for a fact. I have recorded enough data over a long enough period of time to know a very close estimate of my caloric needs.

I will post an update in another 3-4 weeks to let people know how things are progressing.

See Im 5’6 and didnt start losing weight until I did 1500 calories while training running around 15-20 mpw, short daily runs. Yup, you read that right 1500 calories.

Now that the blubber is gone Ive leaned up to 133lbs and Im happy, still building body mass at 25-28mpw I run 10ks 4x a week and on off days do core exercises. I havent been this in shape since I was a teenager.

I think genes have a big part to play my body LOVES to build fat and is very efficient at it.

My ideal when I run a 10k is maybe 1800-2000 calories especially if I eat a nice 800-1000 cal meal the night before. Lunch and breakfast are almost snacks for me it makes me sleepy through the day if I eat too much. I can really push myself to not eat and my body prefers that. If I eat in the 2500 - 3000 calorie range I become very tired and my physical abilities really go dow. Ive learned to accept it, everyone in my family has similar issues with weight gain. Im the skinniest/leanest.

Just my experience.

Thanks for the post. This is very helpful for those wanting to lose weight - you and I are on complete OPPOSITE ends of the spectrum. You need 1500 calories/day. I need 4,400 calories/day to maintain weight running 10 miles/day.

So, anyone who wants to lose weight should do the following:

Track your daily weight in the morning

Track your total calories consumed each day and subtract any calories burned through exercise (this is your NET calories for the day)

After a month or two, see how how weight has changed. If your weight is the same, your have found your maintenance calories. (whatever you have averaged eating)

If you have lost weight, you will need to calculate your rate of loss and how many calories per day that comes out to being under, and add that to your average intake to find your maintenance.

Same for if you gained weight, just the opposite obviously.

This will provide you with INDIVIDUALIZED data that is true for you, and you only.

This is the only way to find an accurate measurement of your own needs. No online calculator can tell you what YOUR body needs.