Why am I not leaning out / gaining leg muscle / losing weight, even on high mileage?

The food you mention, while obviously not your whole diet, looks at first glance high carb and maybe vegetarian or vegan, is that right?

Also, what ethnicity are you?

You are very slow-twitch it seems. It's mostly about genetics, you are doing everything you can so don't think you aren't running enough or having big flaws with your diet.

Ever tried a 40 dash? Can you do it in 4.7 or faster? Highly unlikely, but being able to run a 1:14 half off a 16:15 5k is something most people can't do, you should compare your performances over 200/400m and over half-marathon etc to your friends and see where your strengths are with your unique muscle fiber physiology.

You're in starvation mode and your body is holding onto stuff. You're most likely going 1,000 calories or more in the hole every day. Eat more and you'll recover faster, race faster and maybe even lean up a little bit more.

replyposter wrote:

The food you mention, while obviously not your whole diet, looks at first glance high carb and maybe vegetarian or vegan, is that right?

Also, what ethnicity are you?

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I eat of lot of tuna/salmon and chicken as well. Not a vegetarian by any means!

I'm also Caucasian, for what it's worth.

Ya can't outrun genetics.

I was similarly built....5'6", 140lbs, PRs of 15:43, 1:09:40, 2:32:45.

Just train. Don't eat like a glutton. Your weight will be whatever it is. Don't worry about it.

Alan

Yes, first is genetics. I'll leave that at that.

Second, you eat a lot of carbohydrates. Cut down on the oatmeal and fruit.

Eat Dude wrote:

You're in starvation mode and your body is holding onto stuff. You're most likely going 1,000 calories or more in the hole every day. Eat more and you'll recover faster, race faster and maybe even lean up a little bit more.

I've heard of this before. I don't know if it correlates, but I've noticed that before I started running high mileage (and when I've gotten injured and could only do light crosstraining), my body fat composition / lean muscle profile was better.

133 pounds and only 2200 kcals on 90-100 mpw??? You are starving yourself.

Certainly continue to watch the calorie intake

Try eating more protein dense foods.

A lot of fruit especially in the evening near sleep time isn’t necessarily a good thing. The sugar turns to fat if you don’t burn it.

Try doing full body hitt workouts regularly. Running itself will not get you ripped.

my 3 cents wrote:

Certainly continue to watch the calorie intake

No, just no. This poster is UNDEREATING!!!!!

Skinnyish wrote:

replyposter wrote:

The food you mention, while obviously not your whole diet, looks at first glance high carb and maybe vegetarian or vegan, is that right?

Also, what ethnicity are you?

I'm also Caucasian, for what it's worth.

Huh? For what it is worth? You clearly need some educating about white privilege!

eat more wrote:

my 3 cents wrote:

Certainly continue to watch the calorie intake

No, just no. This poster is UNDEREATING!!!!!

This....2.2k calories is way too low for someone running that much. I’m in the low 60s and usually burning 3.2-3.8 calories a day depending on volume.

Like others have said focus on more protein dense food but don’t overdue it. Your body should only be able to digest 20-30 grams of protein in a sitting no sense in eating more than that or you’ll just be excreting the excess.

You could also be holding a fair amount of water weight.

Skinnyish wrote:

Eat Dude wrote:

You're in starvation mode and your body is holding onto stuff. You're most likely going 1,000 calories or more in the hole every day. Eat more and you'll recover faster, race faster and maybe even lean up a little bit more.

I've heard of this before. I don't know if it correlates, but I've noticed that before I started running high mileage (and when I've gotten injured and could only do light crosstraining), my body fat composition / lean muscle profile was better.

If you are eating 1,000 calories less than you need every day and running high mileage, you might be jacking up your cortisol/hormones and causing your body to hang on to extra fat. If you need to lose a little weight, it is inadvisable to be in a deficit of averaging more than ~300 calories or so in a heavy training block. My friend just went through this when working with a sports dietician. She found she was typically under-eating (often inadvertently) by ~400+ calories per day, even more on long run or hard workout days. Once she started eating more, she dropped 5 lbs.

This doesn't make sense. 22 years old. 90-100 miles a week for a month and a half. Averages only 2200 calories a day but still gained 4-5 lbs in the last month, or +3200 net calories a week. Maybe your running becomes more efficient the more you do it.

Skinnyish wrote:

To be fair, I'm not terribly heavy, and my abs are quite visible. That said, I seem to "get a gut" on a random day-to-day, my face always looks like that of an unfit person, and most notably, my quads and upper legs always look like smooth, round sausages rather than the ripped muscles of my training partners.

Has anyone experienced anything similar or have any ideas what might be up?

If your abs are clearly visible and you get a gut “on a random day-to-day” whatever is causing the gut is behind your abdominal wall. Unless you deposit an inhuman amount of fat amongst your intestines I would say you are just getting bloated from time to time, which had nothing to do with having an actual gut. And also, correct me if I’m wrong, but it is logical to expect muscle mass gains in your legs from running high mileage? Muscle tone maybe....

Maybe it's water weight. I pick up a few pounds the day after a hard and long workout in the summer.

Another purely anecdotal note, I have weighed the same amount and have had the same body type for the last 7 years while slowly increasing mileage from 35mpw to 100. So far I’m stuck with what I am, maybe you are too.

throwaway6969 wrote:

And also, correct me if I’m wrong, but it is logical to expect muscle mass gains in your legs from running high mileage? Muscle tone maybe....

Running definitely builds the calves a lot. I used to be a cyclist first and never had any visible calves, but after running 60+ mpw for 1-2 years my calves are finally strong and visible (forefoot runner).

On the other hands, running doesn't do much for quads. If he wants to build quads, he needs to do cycling/biking and/or squats or other strength exercises. Biking also helps a lot with the glutes, the "glute activation" in running, while existent, is nothing compared to being able to use them on a bike for power (25+ mph on the flats or fast hill climbs).

As LateRunnerPhil alluded to, you have to start hitting the gym, even just for the sake of your running. You're not the only one who can't change their body comp by only running high mileage. See all of the threads on "skinny fat."