I never normally weigh myself (this is why!) but did the other day and was very surprised. It's strange. Since graduating in early November I've kept up the three thirty minute runs a week, and I'm doing a vegan and no booze January too.
The thing is, I am sure I LOOK slimmer, people have told me so. I feel much better. My clothes are a little looser. But a stone is a LOT of extra weight.
I know yes muscle weighs more than fat but I'm not defined or anything... I am still my usual slightly zaftig self.
I wouldn't normally mind (it's more important to be doing the regular exercise rather than watching me weight) but I'm concerned it's going to keep going up - how do I reverse it? Has this happened to anyone else? I've heard maybe I need to mix the runs up with some sprinting to lose weight... Any thoughts much appreciated!
Written by
ceelou
Graduate
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You are eating more calories than you are burning through exercise. eat more healthy less fattening stuff and the weight will shift, if you keep running.
If you want to eat as you normally do then you are going to have to increase your mileage
Keeping a food diary for a while would flag up what's going wrong
I eat very well - I'm not eating more than I did pre-running. I'm not 'rewarding' myself for runs with occasional treats either. I'll increase my mileage though...
Try an app like My Fitness Pal anyway. Yes, you are building muscle, but there may yet be something about your diet that you dont realize. Portions might have crept up during an earlier phase of becoming the runner you are. Or indulgences so minor you dont really think of them as indulgent. a little here or there adds up. And if the weight gain situation continues, the first thing a doc will say is to track your diet so they know it isnt diet related. So, you can present that as a fait accompli.
What MissW said. 3 x 30 minutes running a week is realistically only burning 1000 calories, tops, and is unlikely to be building muscle. To burn fat running you really need to be doing lots of LSD - Long Slow Distance (not the other kind, although that can make for an interesting run). If you up your distances to the 10 mile mark you will start seeing some significant weight loss, or do 3 10ks a week and 3 5ks, or mix it up with some other cardio work at the gym: spin or boxercise or rowing machine etc.
Weight loss is generally about 80% diet and 20% exercise though. Good work on going boozefree, and being vegan will have a positive impact on your helth generally, but only lose you weight if you eat less of it than otherwise.
Keeping a food diary for a week or two is a very good suggestion. A lot the fitness apps have them built in with calorie counters. MyFitnessPal for example.
Haha an LSD run would be most memorable I am sure!
Thanks for the advice. As I said above my diet is good, so I doubt it's that. I had an inkling I had to up my game running wise but I guess wasn't sure what to do next now the podcast is behind me, will have a look around for some new challenges!
Have you done the c25k+ podcasts? They are a available here, free and with good old Laura
I like sami murphy bridge to 10k, also downloadable here. That's a challenge. Good music too. I run with both podcasts all the time. Stepping stones has 3 different podcasts, all will keep you busy for a while
Keeping a food diary is really essential - not necessarily as an ongoing thing, because it is very difficult to do especially when it comes to complete home cooked and/or restaurant cooked meals.
But - it is essential to do for even a short time - because you will be AMAZED at just how many calories are in certain (easy to indentify and record their calorie content) foods!!!!
CHEESE!!!!! RED WINE!!!!! CHOCOLATE!!!! OTHER BISCUITS/CAKES!!!! MANY BREAKFAST CEREALS!! SOFT DRINKS!!! etc etc.
If you haven't already, you could try myfitnesspal (as suggested above) to get a daily calorie allowance and for calorie counting. Be totally honest (only you will see) and try weighing everything for about a week, just to see if your quantity guesstimates are accurate (mine were way off, always erring on the side of generous, of course).
If you are religiously following a calorie controlled diet and are truly burning more calories than you are consuming but gaining a stone in the time it takes to do c25k I would probably seek professional advice because that sounds very unusual.
Having said that I managed to gain 1kg over the Christmas/New Year week, but I think there might be an easy explanation
It could also be a thyroid problem. I've been hypothyroid for nearly 20 years and relatively stable on my dosage but running has really done a number on it and my weight's gone up over half a stone since April last year due to the thyroid instability. Might be worth getting it checked out?
I agree I had to go to a slightly higher dose since starting to run. I put on a good half stone before it was noted. Still trying to lose it hehe. It's a long slog.
By pure coincidence I had a fasting blood glucose test before Christmas and it returned a prediabetic reading. (I'm pretty much guaranteed to develop diabetes in the next five years whatever I do.) So once the festive period passed I dropped my carbohydrate intake to about 100g / day and upped the fat intake. The weight is now starting to come off me and I'm never hungry! Result. It makes it very easy to keep to about 1300 kcal / day if there's enough fat. I think I can no longer handle even medium amounts of starchy / refined carbohydrate and the level I was consuming before was being laid down as fat by the insulin. And I was on about 1300 kcal / day before Christmas too. Just had my macronutrient ratios all wrong for my poor beleaguered pancreas.
Ceelou, what a drag. You say that you feel and look well, so presumaby have no worries about poycystic ovaries or thyroid-type problems that will get you running to the GP? If not then have a look at your portion sizes and measure out some everyday foods and work out their calorific values. It can be quite surprising once you start adding everything up. And, if you're revolting like me when I nip into my food cupboard for something and can't help sticking a teaspoon in the peanut butter jar or 'tidying up' the cheese, then all those 'forgotten' moments are calories surpass to requirements. Lots of GPs swear by the 5:2 diet partly, I think because it fits in with their work quite well, but a lot find that they want to eat far less once they have succeeded with it for a few weeks. Hope this helps. It must be very frustrating.
Hang on, you just said , " I feel so much better and my clothes are looser'" so why on earth does a number on a set of scales bother you? We are conditioned to believe all this bolloc** about ideal body weights blah blah, when actually it's about feeling fit, strong and comfortable in our skin. Please done let it bother you, throw them away and keep running because it's the best thing ever....( I haven't weighed myself in months and it's very liberating)...
As Rignold has said 3 X 30 minutes per week will only burn up an extra 1000 calories although it will make you leaner and meaner. If your eating the same then you actually must be less active than before when you are not running. This apparently is quite common, you are not rewarding yourself by giving yourself food treats but for what ever reason (reward, exhaustion, aching body) you are actually moving less instead.
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So glad I started this
1 year since I started c25k
One month in. One stone lighter. About to start W4 run 1
First run outside since I started again
Do you walk more since starting running?
