Post run munchies 😬

[Catbee]

Any suggestions as to how to manage the post run munchies?

I could eat EVERYTHING 🤐🐷

[Hidden]

No idea. I have the same problem. Cant get enough carbs after a run, pasta, Danish pastries, spuds, donuts, hot cross buns. Nice fruit and veg just dont cut it.. I dont put any weight on with it, bit on the other hand i need to lose literally two or three pounds from my middle, due to post op medication two years ago.

[misswobble Graduate10]

I eat before a run. I eat my meal 60 to 90 mins beforehand then eat my lunch. So i’m Not eating anything EXTRA, just my planned meals

If you are fuelled beforehand you don’t need anything extra afterwards. a banana would be my go-to if I felt I really needed it. I only eat one banana a day, no more

If you keep feeding these runs you’ll gain weight, as you’re not running far enough to warrant the extra grub. Sorry to say 🤷‍♀️

[Catbee in reply to misswobble]

Can’t always be that organised! I’ll bear pre-loading in mind though 👍🏻

[GoogleMe Graduate10]

Cup of tea and then get out of the kitchen is my strategy.

[Catbee in reply to GoogleMe]

Sound advice! 👍🏻

[misswobble Graduate10 in reply to GoogleMe]

Yeah but are you running a 10 k just on a cuppa tea Googleme?

[GoogleMe Graduate10 in reply to misswobble]

Haha, no way! I eat a couple of hours before (I'm like you, no extra meals) Which is why my lunch sometimes happens at 9.30am.

[misswobble Graduate10 in reply to GoogleMe]

😁

I have two breakfasts sometimes, when I get to walk the dog at stupid o’clock 🙄.

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

Depends what distances you're doing. And what your metabolism is like. I need to eat before doing anything otherwise I get light headed and so for any runs over 7K I have a protein shake afterwards, making it myself. Chocolate milk is very good runners' post-run fuel (milk and two teaspoons of pure cocoa powder). For longer runs I add a banana and whey protein and whatever is in the fridge (fruit, kale,seeds, etc) but I lose weight very easily and so I need to add calories in a healthy way.

The protein shakes fill me up and stop me from eating rubbish. But I have excellent will power and so snacking is not an option for me 🙂

[Sandyscroll Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

Arrgh I wish I could do that! I'd never bother with meals at all if I could get away with it. I'm one of life's grazers. Should have been born a deer or rabbit or something.🐇 🐐😂

[Irishprincess Graduate10 in reply to Sandyscroll]

Ha! I'm a grazer too and have to eat every couple of hours but I do try to eat healthily. It's a bit of a joke among friends because everywhere we go the first thing we have to do is find something for me to eat 🙄

When I say "snacking" I really mean sweet or fatty choices. I don't do that but I do eat several meals a day 😂😂😂

[Sandyscroll Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

Glad it's not just me then. 😆

[misswobble Graduate10]

My legs gave up once when I was running on empty. I couldn’t take another step. Never did it again. I felt lousy 😫

[Lordi Graduate10]

A 10k jog for me is equivalent to a whole bottle of red wine or 7/8 digestive biscuits or 120g of chocolate or 3-4 Cadbury's cream eggs.

I do tend to take advantage of the calorie burn to indulge, luckily I've never had a sweet tooth but my liver is suffering a bit...

The munchies are somehting I see as a positive from running - Just make sure you know how many calories you've burned through and indulge yourself if you want but DON'T exceed the run calories obviously.

I wasn't losing weight through c25k and b210k (see booze above) but now I'm running longer distances I am starting to slim down (started c25k at 77kg and am now 74kg). I think if you exercise enough then it's quite hard to eat back all the calories burned (unless you binge a whole 1000+ cal big bag of crisps after every 10k run).

[Catbee in reply to Lordi]

Thanks for your reply! I like your way of thinking!! 🍷 I’ve definitely toned up since starting the program and but I’ve noticed that I’m much hungrier after the longer runs. Maybe I need to drink more fluids? 🤷‍♀️ I’m still learning how to sort the run/food/fluid balance as I’m relatively new to all this malarkey. 😆

[misswobble Graduate10 in reply to Lordi]

Eat healthy, drink healthy. Just because you can indulge yourself doesn’t mean you should 🙂. Seems a shame to run for health and fitness reasons only for it to unravel through overdoing the eats

We are what we eat 👍🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Sorry to nag ☺️😊

[Catbee in reply to misswobble]

Thanks misswobble I agree with what you’re saying. I’m still a learning...You’ve obviously got this whole thing sussed

[misswobble Graduate10 in reply to Catbee]

I was a lard ass and a lush but saw the light, just in the nick of time 😃💪🙂👍🏃‍♀️

[davelinks Graduate10 in reply to misswobble]

😂

[Lordi Graduate10 in reply to misswobble]

I disagree in all humbleness. If you want to indulge you can if you want to (because you're in calorie deficit) and are free to do so. If you overdo it, well that's a different kettle of fish/ issue to the body's natural munchies response which is due to real "need". You are conflating earned indulgence (without exceeding your daily calories - yipee!) with "overdoing it"/exceeding it (Crap! I knew that 5th Creme egg would tip me over into calorie excess!) but they are two separate things IMHO.

I agree that if you are running as part or weight-loss drive then eating back the pounds is counter-productive/dumb. For others not so much ( i.e. weight maintenance for normal BMI).

[misswobble Graduate10 in reply to Lordi]

Yeah but we want to be healthy! If you burned a 1000 calories you can eat it back in good stuff rather than mars bars 😇.

[Lordi Graduate10 in reply to misswobble]

True. No sweet tooth here.

[Hidden in reply to Lordi]

I agree. I eat pretty healthily most of the time, but I can consume a bag of donuts or three Danish pastries at a sitting without putting on weight. I think it’s fine to indulge if your core eating habits are healthy. Now Im vegan, it’s a tually harder to eat naughty things because there is less choice. Mr i dont snore is delighted that i dont pinch his smarties and white chocolate cookies and swiss rolls now. Runni g certainly makes me crave and consume more carbs.

[HeleneCorsa Graduate10 in reply to Lordi]

"it's quite hard to eat back all the calories burned"

You are clearly an amateur...

I should be more careful - I have spent my life so far not thinking about calories in/out at all and while I generally eat well, I am also greedy. But I realise I am reaching an age at which my indulgent habits may well catch up with me if I'm not careful, and after a run I do have the tendency to eat anything that isn't nailed down to the floor.

That said, yesterday I ran a fair bit and didn't have time to pig out afterwards, which was great. I ran in the gym and showered there, so by the time I was dressed and ready to go it wasn't really on my mind, whereas if I am at home it is easier to eat before, after - and to hell with it, why not - during my shower. (Ok, I haven't done the latter yet but I won't rule it out).

I know that apps like MyFitnessPal are not hugely reliable but I think they are good for eating more mindfully, and helping realise that in fact we can easily chomp our way through far more calories than we realise.

Ming told me to eat more but then I suspect he wants to build me up like Arnie.

[Lordi Graduate10 in reply to HeleneCorsa]

I am an amateur! My wife can't believe it when I leave something sweet, I can't believe it when she leaves something savory or alcoholic. Jack Spratt and Mrs Spratt personified!

[Lordi Graduate10 in reply to Lordi]

Seriously though, it's a whole extra huge meal per day (700-800 cals) on run days of 10k to put back enough calories to avoid weight loss.

[Rignold in reply to Lordi]

How are you arriving at this conclusion? Are you running race pace for your 10ks?

[Lordi Graduate10 in reply to Rignold]

My Garmin says 600-700 cals for a jogged 10k at 6.30-7.00 pace. Hrz 2-25% / 3-75%. Losing weight despite eating more/ indulging. Don't imagine Garmin is spot on but in right ballpark. Strava always shows 30-40% more calorie burn, which I don't believe.

[Sandyscroll Graduate10]

I eat before I run. I drink before I run. I start increasing intake of oxygen at the bottom of a hill instead of half way up...and we always have way too many tea bags and toilet rolls in the house. Basically, I don't like running out of calories, water, oxygen, tea, or ....other stuff, so I make sure I prep and top up regularly. It does limit the nibbles after a run, but I snack my life away (as healthily as possible of course 😉) so maybe I'm not such a good example. 😕

[Catbee in reply to Sandyscroll]

Thanks Sandyscroll, that’s given me food for thought...(Pun intended!) I think being more prepared might be the way forward for me! I tend to run without massive planning so perhaps if I start to plan in the longer runs then I can plan in the food before I go? 🧐 🤷‍♀️ (I snack less when I’m at work but as I’m on holiday at the mo...anything goes 🤣😬)

[Whatsapp Graduate10]

I run in the morning on nothing but a glass of water beforehand. I was told it is better for weight loss to run on empty as it taps into your bodys storage (fat) for energy.

After a run I have a nice bit bowl of museli - I happen to like it. In the colder weather I might have porridge with blueberries. I keep a packet of nuts (unsalted), seeds or dried fruit on my desk for snacking - and usually a banana between meals at work.

I think the trick really is to find healthier foods that you enjoy. Eating smaller but more times thoroughout the day has been shown to prevent the peaks and troughs in you blood sugar that 3 big meals a day can create.

Experiment to see what you like and what works for you.

[Catbee in reply to Whatsapp]

Sounds good. I defo like the idea of eating more often (smaller portions mind) 🤣😬

[Hidden]

Try something full fat; like natural yoghurt with fruit and seeds, or a cup of coffee with some double cream. Fills you up and feels like a real treat 👍😊🏃🏾‍♀️

[Catbee in reply to Hidden]

That does sound like a good post run treat. I haven’t had full fat anything for years! 🤗

[davelinks Graduate10]

I usually have breakkers, which is either porridge, branflakes or eggs, then go out a few hours later or before Saturday Parkrun a cuppa & and a couple of plain biscuit's at 7am listening to sounds of the 60s, then after PR have a cup of herbal tea in the park cafe with running pals and family, I enjoy that, then get home I usually have eggs on toast...😊

[Sqkr]

Everyone is so different I don't really eat anything before I run, nor do I drink anything unless I'm going further than 10k. I've never been one for drinking much though, I drink tea and coffee to get a screen break at work rather than because I'm thirsty. If I'm doing a race or parkrun I'll sometimes have a flat white on the way, because they take a bit longer to travel to and buses are boring. I'm not especially hungry when I get back either, though I usually make a cup of tea or something to have in the shower. If I'm at parkrun with pals I'll have a coffee and cake, but in a social way rather than a hungry one! There's no one size fits all answer to anything, is there. That would just make it too easy...

[Catbee in reply to Sqkr]

Wouldn’t it!! 🙄 I’ll go with the flow, a bit of trial and error as to what fills me up best 🤷‍♀️

[Hidden in reply to Sqkr]

If I ran empty, I would pass out. If i run too soon after eating, Im sluggish.

[Hidden]

Celery sticks😂😂

[dubnde]

I normally run first thing in the morning before breakfast. Otherwise I try to time it so I can run before the main meals. I prefer running on empty anyway. That way I do not eat any extras. Just a thought. 🏃🏿‍♀️