How to avoid gaining runners weight. Q & A

Q- Hey Katie. What my ultimate goal is shed some weight. But since I run 4 days a week, I need some high carb but good for you foods. I teach so I am pretty busy during the day so I dont have time to eat 6 small meals a day. Also, I know its better to do the natural thing, but I need stuff that is easy to make on the go and is healthy.


A - (I am going to address the first part of the question in this post)


"Think about this scary fact: It takes only 100 extra calories a day to gain 10 pounds in a year. That's one high-calorie prerun snack that you didn't need. Or one unnecessary bottle ofsports drink before a 30-minute walk. The extra weight many runners carry around is simply the result of eating for energy or performance--with little regard for total calories. But calories do count, and as runners we tend to underestimate the amount we eat and overestimate the amount we burn." Says Runners World's Madelyn H. Fernstrom Ph.D., C.N.S. (See the full article HERE)


Basically we think we need much more then we really do. Even as a runner, who tends to needs more carbohydrates for energy during those long runs, we don't need as much as we think that we need to eat... Or want to for that matter. As a runner you need to eat 50% of your diet from carbohydrates, 25% from protein and 25% from fat. That's the general break down, but more important then anything is that you need to eat for what you burn. If you are trying to maintain or loose weight, then its time that you sit down with yourself and do a little math. 


I hate counting calories, so I dont do it. I have tried, and it just takes way to much thought and time for me. I eat for what my day is going to be like. Let's say you have a long run this weekend. 12 miles for instance and you are going to run it Saturday morning. So for your planning process on Friday night you down a huge bowl of pasta with garlic bread on the side for dinner- carbo-loading as we call it in runners lingo. Then you wake up and have a huge bowl of oat meal for breakfast. On your drive down to your favorite path, you down a bottle of gatorade to "fuel up", and another one after your run to "re-charge". When you get home you know that you need protein and carbs to repair your muscles so you make yourself a protein shake with two scoops, some PB and a banana to boot. Then you reward your good efforts with a few (or 6) beers that night. The next day you step on the scale and you have gained 3 lbs. What The Heck, Right?


Well here is the problem. You ate probably 5 times more then you actually burned, causing all of those carbohydrates to now turn into fat and be stored on your body. Find out how much you actually burned using this little chart here- (varies slightly for speed and hills)


Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile               Your Net calorie Burn/Mile (minus your Basal Metabolism)
Running - .75 X your weight (lbs.)       .63 X your weight

Adapted from "Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running," Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, Cameron et al, Dec. 2004.

Eating like that can be good in certain cases. But carbo loading is so much more then we think. It takes time to carbo load properly by spreading your carbohydrate increase over the course of a week, and not all in one night when preparing for the big race. And it is only needed before a long run or a race, not before that 5 mile mid week run. Recreational runners like to eat like elite runners. People who are logging 10-20 miles a day are the ones that need to be carbo loading or training for a marathon, once you start getting into 30+ miles a week. But for someone doing under that amount of miles, then you really just need to make sure you are eating 50% of your DAILY ALLOTTED calories from carbs, not adding calories from carbs. Im not saying dont have a bowl of pasta before a long run, the fuel can be good for you. But make sure you are not overdoing it. Have 1 bowl of pasta, not 3.

 My general rule is that I am aloud to eat one meal (usually the meal AFTER my run) that is bigger, again, not 3 big meals. And the meal needs to be tailored to how much I ran. If I ran under 6 miles, I dont consume more calories then I would normally eat that day. If I run an 8, I let myself splurge on a 800 calorie meal, if I run 12, I can eat generally whatever I feel like eating for ONE meal. My splurge usually involves pasta and cheese, which I normally do not eat. (alcohol counts my friends!) That way I know that I am eating enough calories to replace what I lost, to help avoid getting fatigued muscles, but that I am not ADDING calories to my diet.

One last thing I avoid, that I think helps a lot with not gaining weight when training, is sports drinks. Sports drinks get an unnecessarily good rap. They are basically calories and sugar in a bottle, with some added electrolytes. I see so many people running 3 miles, and then downing a bottle of Powerade because they think they need to replace lost electrolytes (and unknowingly adding the 300 calories they just burned right back on). Yes, you do need to replace lost electrolytes, but only if you lost them, which probably does not happen on your 3 miler. Save these sugary drinks for your race day, or the one or two long runs you will have before your race, and nix them  in your daily regimen. Drink water immediately after running, and eat a healthy diet and you should have no problem refueling yourself. 

You can read what I DO recommend for drinking Here.