Below is something that I posted yesterday to our local running club website. Many of you are much more knowledgeable and structured in maintaining your weight, maybe you have some good ideas to recommend.
So it’s Jan. 2010 and most of us as runners have resolved to drop the holiday lbs. I wanted to start a discussion about balancing dropping some weight with trying to train for races. I would like to get some tips or ideas on what you do to “get back on track.” In addition to the desire to drop the extra weight, I continue to strive toward being healthy. In general I think I do ok, I try anyway. I do have too many boo boos, but I quickly get back on track. I have scary family history on both sides of the family so it’s important to me to be healthy inside and out.
Several years ago, I counted calories and that worked very well for me, but I eventually tired of all of the calculations. This past summer, I implemented portion control and limited the “whites" and lots of spinach salads. Currently, the winter cravings have me up a few lbs again so I am trying to get back on track. The other issue is I am finding it hard to do the cold salads in the cold winter.
In counting calories, you need to first figure out your caloric needs. From Nancy Clark’s books(see titles at the bottom), she recommends the following:
1. Determine your resting metabolic rate, that is, the amount of calories you need to simply breathe, pump blood and be alive: Multiply your weight by 10 calories. She uses the example of 120 lb person (120 X 10), so this would be 1200 calories per day, to do nothing except exist. She recommends using an adjusted weight if you are significantly overweight: the weight that is halfway between your desired weight & your current weight.
2. Add more calories for general daily activity apart from running & other exercise.
Moderately active add 50% of your calories figured in step one. If you are sedentary add a little less than 50%, if very active, a little more than 50%. Back to the example 1200 to exist and another 600 for daily activities for a total of 1800 for the day.
3. Add more calories for purposeful exercise. Roughly 100 calories per mile of running. So if you are running, let’s just say 20 miles per week. That would calculate out to 2000 calories burned per week. If you divided that by 7 days per week you get around 285 calories per day. So if you take the previously calculated 1800 calories and add the 285 you come up with approximately 2100 calories per day to maintain your current weight. If you want to lose weight, subtract 20% of your total calorie needs: 2100 – 20% = roughly 1700 calories per day.
If you are training for longer distances and getting in higher mileage, the calorie needs will be much more. With these calculations you can determine your calorie needs throughout the year as your training mileage goes up and down.
Because I am near my weight goal, (currently 5 lbs away), I use the weight I want to be, and I calculate my numbers based on 25 miles per week, and I come up with roughly 2000 calories per day to get my back down to my desired weight. This week I am not doing 25 mile so my calorie needs will be less than 2000. Probably around 1850 per day based on my current 10 mile week.
The key, as most of us know, is balance. If you restrict too much your performance will suffer just as quickly as your performance being hampered by too much weight. Below you will find a general guideline for healthy weight based on height.
Woman: 100 lbs for the first 5 feet of height and 5 lbs per inch thereafter.
(ex. I am 5' 10 so my recommended weight is 150 which is 100 for 5 feet, and then 5 X 10 because I am 5'10 = 150. If I subtract the 10%, because I want to be a little lighter than the general guideline, my lowest recommended weight will be 135, which I will not see for sure. My personal goal is 140-145, mostly 145. If I go below 140, I believe my race performance and my body will suffer. I have also read many times that our bodies have a "set weight." I do believe that my personal body craves to keep me at 150, so it is always work to stay at my most comfortable weight of 145.)
Men: 106 lbs for the first 5 feet of height
6 lbs per inch thereafter
Many runners prefer to be lower than the average public for better performance, myself included. The above calculations can be adjusted 10% up or down based on body frame, etc., but in my opinion, if you go much more than 10% either way, up or down, you are sacrificing your health and performance.
I would love to hear any tips or recommendations that you guys use in losing or maintaining weight.
I would recommend the following books if you want more info on sports nutrition.
My favorite is – Food Guide for Marathoners Nancy Clark, MS, RD (I would recommend it for non marathoners too)
Others:
Sports Nutrition Guidebook – Nancy Clark
Endurance Sports Nutrition – Suzanne Girard Eberle, MS, RD
Several years ago, I counted calories and that worked very well for me, but I eventually tired of all of the calculations. This past summer, I implemented portion control and limited the “whites" and lots of spinach salads. Currently, the winter cravings have me up a few lbs again so I am trying to get back on track. The other issue is I am finding it hard to do the cold salads in the cold winter.
In counting calories, you need to first figure out your caloric needs. From Nancy Clark’s books(see titles at the bottom), she recommends the following:
1. Determine your resting metabolic rate, that is, the amount of calories you need to simply breathe, pump blood and be alive: Multiply your weight by 10 calories. She uses the example of 120 lb person (120 X 10), so this would be 1200 calories per day, to do nothing except exist. She recommends using an adjusted weight if you are significantly overweight: the weight that is halfway between your desired weight & your current weight.
2. Add more calories for general daily activity apart from running & other exercise.
Moderately active add 50% of your calories figured in step one. If you are sedentary add a little less than 50%, if very active, a little more than 50%. Back to the example 1200 to exist and another 600 for daily activities for a total of 1800 for the day.
3. Add more calories for purposeful exercise. Roughly 100 calories per mile of running. So if you are running, let’s just say 20 miles per week. That would calculate out to 2000 calories burned per week. If you divided that by 7 days per week you get around 285 calories per day. So if you take the previously calculated 1800 calories and add the 285 you come up with approximately 2100 calories per day to maintain your current weight. If you want to lose weight, subtract 20% of your total calorie needs: 2100 – 20% = roughly 1700 calories per day.
If you are training for longer distances and getting in higher mileage, the calorie needs will be much more. With these calculations you can determine your calorie needs throughout the year as your training mileage goes up and down.
Because I am near my weight goal, (currently 5 lbs away), I use the weight I want to be, and I calculate my numbers based on 25 miles per week, and I come up with roughly 2000 calories per day to get my back down to my desired weight. This week I am not doing 25 mile so my calorie needs will be less than 2000. Probably around 1850 per day based on my current 10 mile week.
The key, as most of us know, is balance. If you restrict too much your performance will suffer just as quickly as your performance being hampered by too much weight. Below you will find a general guideline for healthy weight based on height.
Woman: 100 lbs for the first 5 feet of height and 5 lbs per inch thereafter.
(ex. I am 5' 10 so my recommended weight is 150 which is 100 for 5 feet, and then 5 X 10 because I am 5'10 = 150. If I subtract the 10%, because I want to be a little lighter than the general guideline, my lowest recommended weight will be 135, which I will not see for sure. My personal goal is 140-145, mostly 145. If I go below 140, I believe my race performance and my body will suffer. I have also read many times that our bodies have a "set weight." I do believe that my personal body craves to keep me at 150, so it is always work to stay at my most comfortable weight of 145.)
Men: 106 lbs for the first 5 feet of height
6 lbs per inch thereafter
Many runners prefer to be lower than the average public for better performance, myself included. The above calculations can be adjusted 10% up or down based on body frame, etc., but in my opinion, if you go much more than 10% either way, up or down, you are sacrificing your health and performance.
I would love to hear any tips or recommendations that you guys use in losing or maintaining weight.
I would recommend the following books if you want more info on sports nutrition.
My favorite is – Food Guide for Marathoners Nancy Clark, MS, RD (I would recommend it for non marathoners too)
Others:
Sports Nutrition Guidebook – Nancy Clark
Endurance Sports Nutrition – Suzanne Girard Eberle, MS, RD
Looking for some fresh ideas for 2010.
8 comments:
Great to run with you today! Take it easy and I think you will be fine... you looked strong today. Cheers!
Great run! You are on your way.
Great info too!
Ginny, please email me so that I can send you the handouts for Boston, they are great!! Nice job with your run and extra core work. Core work is my goal for this marathon training spell! Email me!!
Glad you had a pain free run!!
glad you had a pain free run! hope you have 100+ (/infinite) more days of pain-free running :)
calorie counting works for me... when i do it. it's not fun, but it got me down to a reasonable, healthy weight (~15lbs). i'm not overweight, but i do tend to get a little extra storage in my stomach/butt/thighs like most women. counting the calories + running/working out tightens those areas up for me.
Hooray for pain free 4 milers!!! Isn't it awesome
how wonderful those little, "take for granted" runs are when we are coming back from being sick or injured???!!! Thanks for sharing the nutrition info - interesting. We don't do anything magical- just try to eat decently - everything in moderation - and keep our training consistent. This time of year, we do a little less volume due to the shorter, cold days but try to keep some intensity up. Hit the hills!!! :-)
This was very informative. So informative, I don't really have any advice. What I do, though, is get my weight under control in the off season, and then start training for big races with the right weight. I know this doesn't help with what you are doing. I just found, for myself, that losing weight when I'm focusing on training hard really hurts my performance and attitude. For example, last year I started training wth about 10 lbs over my desired weight, and I just couldn't lose weight because I couldn't stand the hunger. When I don't train, I find that eating little doesn't really hurt my wellbeing.
i tried to comment earlier this week but it didn't go through. i LOVE Nancy CLark, i have all her books and it was after reading her books and changing my eating habbits that i started to get fast. I ate how she said to for like 5 days and then all of a sudden i was a fast runner! Of course i still eat how she says.
they are selling 7,500 slots again for goofys challenge so you probably have time. at $310 a pop, i'm guessing you have plenty of time to sign up. doing back to back races isn't goofy, its paying the $300 thats goofy! but i'll still probably do it again! (by the way, in 2006 it was like $200). but its pricelss, its soooo fun! hope to see you there next year! thanks for your comment!
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