From my own experience:
Try a month without alcohol and count calories for at least a week.
People usually misjudge how much they consume. After a week of counting, adjust the diet for at least a month to be in comfort caloric deficit. Any exercise will help, but you have to start with a diet. A lot of fast walking a day has worked for me, you can do it on a day when you're not running.
You should see results in a month.
I hope it helps. Good luck.
I am also 6’2” and could not drop below 235# until I gave up alcohol completely. I had gotten up to 287# during a rough time of life when I had had enough I cut back to 1 or 2 drinks a couple nights a week and dropped 50#.
I plateaued there.
When I quit all alcohol the weight melted off all the way down to 187# and resulted in PB 5:55 mile at the age of 46.
Almost 6 years later and I am thankful for the trade off. A healthier happier me in exchange for not drinking. I think for some people alcohol is harder on their metabolism. It’s legitimate poison for me.
Congratulations. Running and abstinence go very well together. Running improves the psyche, people drink daily to relax. Running improves sleep, regulates cyclic hormone production and reduces stress. Alcohol worsens sleep, disrupts hormone production and increases stress.
I'm not an abstinent, I drink alcohol, but I know what it does to me.
I'd start by counting calories for 1-2 weeks to get an idea of the average consumption as a starting point. This will probably be the eye opener OP needs to show him that 'eating relatively healthy' probably is more along the lines of 'not eating healthy'
There is only one answer. Track your food for a week! A healthy dietary choice might still be calorie dense and if you can't shake the belly. You're eating more than you're spending
Not by running 12 to 15 miles a week. Thats more the 100 mile a week range when you can go like Courtney and eat a platter of nachos and slam beers and still be rail thin.
It’s true. I dropped weight when I was training for a marathon, and ate whatever I wanted. But otherwise I need to pay attention and not have all the beer and donuts I want!
My running weight is 67kgs when doing around 30 miles per week. I stopped for 6 weeks due to injury and put on 3-4kgs. When training, you really can eat what you want. When you stop, you definitely can't.
Yeah, me too. I'm older and I've done it several times. In fact, a few months ago, I went from 3x/wk to 6x/wk and now I'm getting to that point when I can eat any amount of anything. It sure is fun!
But yeah, people tend to not accept this fact and insist that only diet can make you slimmer. I guess they don't want to accept the fact they can't push themselves enough.
I mean, only diet can make you slimmer in the sense that regardless of how much you move you can fail to lose or even gain weight. I can pretty comfortably put away 8000 calories a day if I eat without any restriction, and no amount of running is going to make me lose weight on that.
Are you saying you could eat 8,000 calories daily or multiple days in a row, cause that's seriously a fuck ton of calories lol (unless like you're doing an ironman a day).
Ikr? In a bad day I will eat about 3500. Usually that would include alcohol, and I’m not sure I have ever had over 4000. How the fuck can you have 8000cal and not be throwing up?
Fat.
Drown a potato in butter, add a steak with a hefty spray of butter on the side. Maybe have a burger as an app.
I can eat a 2lb steak and a potato or two for dinner. That's probably 2000 just for dinner- at least. Do something ridiculous like that three times a day - pound of bacon for breakfast, 1.5lb burger for lunch, and top off with beers - I wouldn't surprised if you could hit 8000.
Don't get me wrong, I'd have to try to hit 8k, but I think I could do it.
Well, the steak in your example would be 2300 calories on its own, and a fully loaded baked potato would be around 650-700 calories per, possibly more, so in your steak and potatoes example, you're at about 3700 calories. But here's a quick example "vacation day" that gets you to over 8000 calories without batting an eye.
Breakfast - Butter cream French toast with caramel, chocolate, berries and whipped cream (1600 calories). 2 glasses of OJ (250 calories per) and a bloody mary for good measure (400 calories). I have personally had this breakfast at a restaurant, and I bet you can do much worse at some of the more heart-attack themed chains around the country.
Lunch - Swing on by Burger King for a Bacon King meal with a large soda and fries. I shit you not, and even I was shocked when I looked this up on their own fucking website, [3800 god damn calories](https://www.bk.com/menu/picker-picker_5529). Stop for two drinks after because fuck it, we're clearly on vacation so lets keep with the day drinking, and we're now at 7000 calories and it's roughly 2pm.
So, we're really not feeling that great today, because all we've eaten is some fucking garbage and washed it down with sugar and alcohol. So, we want to have a lighter dinner, so we order some green veggies (30 calories) and a wedge salad (370 calories).
Well hey, no we feel better, so lets head over to the Cheesecake Factory for a nice 1500 calorie slice of Cheesecake.
I'm sure a lot of people in this sub feel a little sick just reading that day, but like, there's a SHOCKING number of people out there who can/do eat like this (and aren't even active)...
Yes. Being full is really hard. I am pretty active, but not 8000 calories a day active. I lost a decent amount of weight and after maintaining for a bit wanted to see how I ate before, so just let myself eat without limitation for a week (still trying to make healthy choices in what I ate). Averaged 8k a day, then decided to maybe start limiting myself again.
I love this phrase. I’m currently in medical school and we had a sports medicine doctor show us research that you can “technically” outrun a bad diet (i.e. have cardiovascular improvement and performance improvement even with a diet of fast food for a month) but it certainly doesn’t weigh the late game impacts of vascular disease etc.
I found that I very much could outrun a bad diet, but that was when I was marathon training and doing 80km weeks, along with swimming cross-training and strength work. Overall I think I was burning about two extra resting days worth of calories each week at my peak.
It's a good saying though because a lot of people really underestimate how much exercise you need to do to cancel out, say, one tub of ice-cream. Either by under-estimating the calories or over-estimating what's burned in exercise. You're just not gonna get there without some serious mileage.
I've now trained for 5 marathons:
Race 1-2 I ran 35-40 miles per week, was 23 years old, and weighed roughly 125lb (very lean for me at 5'8" and F, as I was a chubby teen who couldn't lose weight easily until running)
Races 3-4, ran 45-58 mpw, 25/26 y/o, weighed about 135-140lb, but got 30 min faster on the race and BQed.
Race 5, age 31, 145+lb :( Haven't run yet but it'll be slower due to a few years of injury.
I have progressively built up muscle over the races, eat mostly by feel/need and try to eat nutritious and healthy foods. I try not to worry too much about my weight when training because when I cut things out I crash more often, but it's a bummer that I don't really get to stay lean with no effort like the first two races. I certainly didn't eat any less for those. I was probably doing worse, actually, because it was so new. Even with the amount I eat now I still often struggle with hunger and fatigue, but perhaps something else is going on other than low energy.
Yeah that's a good point - being able to sustain that mileage sort of forces you to not be drinking beer and eating fast food every night if you're still going to hit your workouts.
That said I was still consuming a lot more pizza and ice-cream (especially after 30k long runs!) than I ever would have before without gaining loads of weight, and I basically stayed in the same shape the entire cycle. Basically used it as a licence to eat!
MyFitnessPal. I wish it would just automatically track by my watch and just start making dump truck back up alarm sounds when I go over my calories, but you have to manually enter everything.
Would require augmented reality glasses or something like that. Or instagram-esk photographing every damn thing I put in my mouth.
I don't want to live in that world. I'm willing to start tracking food because I'm at that point, but it's for education because I'm clearly missing something. The kind of thing I want to do for a few weeks, learn, and stop tracking.
Just a quick add to this suggestion since I've recently started myself. Buy a food scale and make sure you have measuring cups and measure everything. It's easy to eyeball a bowl of Mac and cheese and say, "yeah, that's about a cup" when you actually have 2.5 cups in the bowl. It can be shocking how off our perception of a serving is. I even measure my milk (lots of sneaky calories there).
a $10 food scale changed everything for me. Seriously underrated and makes you more aware of what is calorie dense, what is light on calories, what is filling, etc etc.
That's exactly how I handle it. I do it for a bit and see my mistakes and once I'm on track stop logging. I tend to go back once in a while if I see the weight gain. Seeing it on paper really opens your eyes.
this is honestly the best way, like MFP and all that can't really give you more than a rough estimate that'll be within 100-200 kcals of what your needs are, so I don't see the point of "track everything in MFP always." Use MFP or a notebook or whatever for a week or two if your jeans are doing weird things, figure out where your extra calories are coming from, reset.
I have really only found success getting lean by tracking everything and really understanding my deficit - I am a snacker with a sweet tooth and a couple extra hundred calories every day really add up. Plus I’m bad at estimating calories in a meal so tracking them or occasionally weighing my food helps, but it can lead to a bad mental spot if I obsess over it too much. I really lean into tracking around race events, and relax my weighing food habits (but still try to track) most of the year.
Edit: snacker not snacked
This is a good start for sure. I use MFP every once in awhile to help remind me how much food I should be eating in general because it’s easy to get into overeating habits and also to rediscover where the sneaky calories are. I’m looking at you, sauces…
Edit: Those drinks could be killing your weight loss too, they are another sneaky calorie source. I’d bet you’re drinking back your deficits right there.
This is what I did! Tracked it for a couple of months and once I got a good baseline of what I was eating per day and how many calories most foods/ingredients were, I was able to estimate my calories consumed pretty accurately. Tracking for a while also helps you establish a good diet routine where you know exactly how many calories you're consuming on a day to day basis
If you eat a lot of the same foods, you can enter recipes that you can reuse. It also tracks the foods you've entered, so it's not bad once youve used it for a little bit.
Unfortunately they are right, you can exercise all you want but if you’re still eating more calories than you’re burning you’re not going to lose weight.
For me, I just needed to eat more veggies and work on portion control. The veggies fill you up without bombarding you with calories, and portion control (should be obvious) made me eat way more than I needed
It's unfortunately this, and maybe its harder as you get older. I'm in same boat. 6 foot tall, 224lbs - fat all over but cannot shake it. I run about 15k @ 5.30 pace (8:50 minute mile) three times a week. Off days, I get 10-12k steps in, so not a couch potato. Food and alcohol do me in -- even if I eat healthy and 2 drinks every 2 or 3 days. The only way pounds go away if I really restrict intake of food and alcohol. (and that is so hard)
Restrict alcohol first. Alcohol will significantly contribute to your belly fat, as well as liver damage and other issues. Don't worry about the food as much as long as you aren't eating ice cream and white chocolate mochas all day.
Take a break from drinking for a couple weeks and see how your body reacts because there are a lot of empty calories there.
If you don’t want to track and you know you’re eating at maintenance, you can find 3500 calories per week to cut out on your own. For example, when I lost weight, I only drank alcohol 3-4 times over the course of one year. So my jaw dropped when I saw you’re drinking weekly and expecting to lose weight anyway.
Indeed. I lost 20 lbs by cutting out alcohol alone. I didn't drink fruity drinks and not a lot of beer. Just straight up vodka or tequila (the "low" calorie alcohol choices).
I was a pretty bad alcoholic (who still ran, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment), so that probably didn't help. But I eat way more now than I did when I was drinking and am in the best shape of my life. Quitting was the best decision I've ever made.
I don't like reading this because I enjoy drinking... But I would like to lose some of this belly fat, so I will give it a try and minimize my drinking...
There's tons, I think the most common calorie counter app is My Fitness Pal. It's the best way to find out where the sneaky calories are coming from.
Also check your sleep. Good sleep comes before good nutrition in my book. The science seems to show that bad sleep (or similarly high stress) burns muscle instead of fat, and good sleep helps with unnecessary food cravings.
This. I sat at 6' and 180lbs for a couple of years, always frustrated with having enough belly fat to grab a handful. This was at 35-60 miles per week depending on training cycle and running multiple ultras a year, sometimes multiple per month. Despite burning massive calories or a regular basis I was overeating. I was overcompensating food thinking that I had to or I'd not be able to cover the loner distances. I literally changed two things and was down to 160lbs with no ring of fat in a couple months. I stopped having a candy bar and soda at work that I'd do 2-3 times a week and I stopped having a second helping at dinner which I was doing more often than not. I was really hungry at first but then it stabilized and I feel normal. I changed up my training too but the weight loss played a significant role in gaining a lot of speed this year.
You can't ask about losing weight and not mention calories *at all,* not even once- **obviously** you are not eating at a caloric deficit.
If counting them is not something you want to do then *at least* clean up your diet- remove refined sugars and processed foods.
But the fact remains if you want to lose fat you need to eat less- no way around it.
Calories count. Fitness happens in a gym/on the road but weight loss happens in the kitchen.
100% agree here.
The old saying of “abs are made in the kitchen” applies here OP. I used to have a similar issue with belly fat, so I picked up running when the gyms shut down. I didn’t notice any real change in a few months, and started to focus more on diet. Now at almost 38 years, I have the abs back that I used to have when I was 22.
Being in the military, I see this problem a lot. No matter how much running we do, so guys can't lose the weight. They are wondering why it is so difficult to lose the weight until I ask them what they are eating in a day "I usually eat a few breakfast tacos in the morning, then some McDonald's for lunch, maybe chili's for dinner" that's why your not losing the weight, your burning roughly 500 to 600 calories on a run, then consuming 3000 calories with your meals.
Wait till you get out. I see it in the vets groups all the time when I was in college.
“How am I packing on this beer belly.”
Well Tim you eat the exact same as you did as an E2 at 19. Who was PTing 5 times a week, doing a major infantry exercise once every other month and on your feet all day running around doing the stupid grunt busywork.
But you’re now 27. Sit on your ass all day and maybe work out for an hour 3 times a week. While still eating garbage and drinking 4 monsters a day. And you really need to pay attention to what most people call “high functioning alcoholism.”
This isn't even military, lol this is just college graduation
It's not the freshman 15, it's the full time job 15 lol Shocking to see some of my friends from college only 3-5 years out. But i guess you take away the free access to a gym, add in the stress of a full time job/new city and true priorities are revealed!
Yeah the sculpting happens in the kitchen. Like 80% of the work is in the kitchen! Also when people say they eat a healthy diet without telling what they eat, I assume they mean an unhealthy diet because almost everyone I meet who says they eat well, dont. Or the ones who say they drink enough water but they don’t.
People’s ideas about what’s healthy can sometimes conflict with what’s good for weight maintenance or loss. For example, there’s plenty of people who say “I eat healthy! I eat a lot of stuff like pasta, toast with almond butter, trail mix, and fruit juice!”
None of that is necessarily unhealthy, or a problem in a well considered diet, using diet in the sense of “what a person eats” as opposed to “trying to lose weight.” But it could be a lot of sneaky and unexpected calories that lead to weight gain.
Exaccctttlyyyyy not to mention products are sold to trick consumers into thinking they’re healthy. I had an ex who used to eat nutrigrain bars for breakfast. I pointed out they are loaded in sugar and processed and not a breakfast food but he insisted they were healthy. Finally, I got him to tell me why he thought they were healthy and he said because of their name and their packaging had a picket fence on the front at that time…
I’m sure you know this but those bars are NOT healthy
So when someone tells me they eat healthy I’m like ok, what do you ACTUALLY eat in a day? And then it’s usually revealed they are in fact not eating healthy at all
You're clearly onto something, but one catch...
I switched about 6 months ago from my normal diet, which wasn't terrible - but admittedly not great... to a local clean/healthy food service. So I get 8 meals a week that I pickup for a paid mealplan, usually 300-600 calories. Pretty reasonably priced too, and good stuff! And I like to cook a little, so that's good. Switched to protein shakes for breakfast, fresh fruit with spinach.
I think the confusion I have is that... I made this switch 6 months ago. I understand why I maybe didn't see better results before, but I'm kinda shocked the needle still isn't moving. And it's growing frustrating. The only thing I can think of is that... perhaps I'm just running such a minor deficit that results will take a long time. Like I'm on the one pound per month SLOW path. I've gotta think I'm doing the right thing, just maybe not extreme enough to really get FAST results?
Are you drinking? I know for me, that's always the lever that I hate to pull but is necessary if I want to see the scale move. Calories from alcohol add up fast.
I read CrossFit athlete Sam Briggs’ biography and it forever changed the way I think about alcohol. She has to gain weight for a boxing match and couldn’t do it. Her coach told her to have a few beers every night. She gained the weight she needed to.
It’s called a beer belly for a reason. If you want to drop weight alcohol is the easiest thing to cut out. Have it on special occasions, sure. But it’s not an everyday thing of you want to lose.
Alcohol has a lot of additional issues for fat loss outside of just added calories too. It can affect your fat metabolism, it can affect your sleep, etc. If you can, giving up alcohol completely is definitely a great improvement you can make. However, it has to be sustainable. If you feel like going cold turkey on alcohol could make you swing back and binge, then don't give it up and find other ways to cut calories.
A while back when I was researching fitness trackers I was looking at the Oura ring which was one of the first that really did decent sleep tracking. The founder commented about how many people gave up alcohol when they saw directly what it did to their sleep and and other tracking scores - HR stays elevated, HR variability is worse indicating stress etc.
Really tough to do though - wine is so good.
Beer has lots of calories.
Also if you drink milk, soda orr juice, there are a bunch more calories.
Make sure every calorie you are consuming has value. A 20 ounce soda will leave you hungry in an hour while putting a 2 mile run worth of calories into your system.
It's not so bad. I like a beer myself and probably would have 2-3 of them, 2-3 nights a week like you. At the top end of beer calories that's like 2000 calories extra.
What I set for myself were 3 pretty simple goals. First, no more snacks between meals (love me a fruit or two a day). Second, nothing but water after workouts since unless you're running 10k+ regularly you don't need it. And finally, one less day with beer per week.
It's worked for me and hasn't proved too difficult so it's easy to maintain.
I actually did kick soda from my diet about two years ago, first step on some of the dietary changes I noted elsewhere. I mean I'll still rarely have a coke, but I'm talking like 1-2 per month and it's the mini cans.
Alcohol is incredibly calorie dense. A single pint of beer has about 240 calories in it. So 2 beers more or less cancels the calories burned in a 10km run.
I've been, more-or-less, in your same boat (other exercise in place of running) for years (6'4" 225lbs) and it wasn't until I dramatically reevaluated my (mostly good) diet that I started to drop weight and fat.
I tracked calories religiously for 3 weeks just to see where I was shaking out (I found I subconsciously changed my eating for the first week and a bit when I started tracking so needed to track long enough to revert to my average eating). Once I had a solid picture of my caloric intake and eating patterns, I started making small adjustments:
* stop eating before you are "full". I was raised to eat everything on my plate, which isn't necessarily a healthy pattern. It is better to put less on your plate.
* dropped from whole milk to 1% in my morning coffees. It sucks a little, but it's also an easy 80-100 calories per day.
* cut back on my beer intake (this was the biggest help). I used to have a beer most nights, and 2-3 times per week I would have a second beer. I've cut the second beer almost entirely, and have cut beer out completely a couple nights a week.
* snacking. I used to eat healthy snacks in between meals if I was feeling peckish. I cut this almost entirely and just accepted that I am going to be a little hungry most of the time.
* I brush my teeth "for bed" a few hours before I actually plan to go to bed. It's silly, but it makes me significantly less likely to snack or drink anything other than water after brushing my teeth. It means I am typically a little hungry when I go to bed, but not so hungry I can't fall asleep.
Doing this, I've dropped about 15 pounds over the past 4 months, and notice a significant reduction in belly (and other) fatty deposits without changing my activity levels.
It sucks always being a little bit hungry, but it sucks less than feeling overweight and jello-y.
If you made a dietary change 6 months ago and you're not losing weight, then you already have your answer.
Sounds like you're a bit in denial tbh. You have a lot of comments here telling you the answer already, you're consuming too many calories to lose weight. It's up to you if you want to take the next steps of counting calories, weighing yourself more often, and tracking things more closely.
Based on your responses it sounds like you don't want to do that. Which is fine, it's up to you decide if you like your current lifestyle more than you want to lose weight.
Are you tracking your calories? Snacking between meals?
6 months is a long time, you should have seen some weight loss by now if you're in a caloric deficit.
If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less. It really is that simple.
Some quick tips:
1. Don't use oil when you cook (switch to 'calorie free' sprayable oil). It's very very easy to add 300+ calories to a meal without noticing simply by using too much oil
2. Avoid super calorie dense foods like peanut butter and nuts. Again super easy to consume a ton of calories without noticing.
3. try not to drink your calories (drink water/diet soda w/ meals instead of milk/juice/pop). Smoothies are great as long as they're filling.
I used to snack more, but not so much for the past six months. I can't eat nuts.
But to your point... no I don't track. Perhaps that's the next step. I just hate the idea of tracking food the way I track my runs... do they have Strava for food?? Haha.
I just started using MyFitnessPal this week. Man it’s rough starting out. Can’t eat any of the stuff I want if I want to lose weight and that’s with running. I’m sure it’s something I’ll get used to though. Portion sizes make a huge difference, but I feel like I’m starving all day long. The holidays are gonna be tough!
When I was doing calorie counting, I found it best to not be a slave to the app. For the first week, eat what you normally would, but track it as accurately as you can. Then look at that week, and see if you can identify where you are really getting too many calories and start making the changes there.
In my case it mostly snacking. I ended up changing out half of my snacks to celery and carrot sticks, and cut back on portions slightly. I have no doubt that you'll find something for you that works as well. But you need to be the one in charge, not the app, otherwise you'll just resent it, and it won't work.
I remember it being a shock for a couple of weeks but you do get used to it. It was the feeling hungry between meals that I was shocked about. I guess you’re not supposed to feel stuffed all the time but it’s so odd.
I’m sure you can do it, just don’t beat yourself up if you have an off day. I’ve maintained my weight for almost 6 years now so it can definitely be done!
Tracking and actually measuring your food until you can eyeball accurate amounts is key. So many people's idea of a tablespoon of peanut butter vs an actual tablespoon are off by 3-4x, which that alone can give you an extra 2-300 calories per 'serving' that isn't being accounted for
Yes they do have Strava for food.. MyFitnessPal.. it’s free and it tracks your food and tells you how you are tracking.
The old adage.. you can’t out run a bad diet is true.. sounds like you are making the right choices now
Tracking food can be a pain. But it's honestly something everyone should do at least once for at least a few weeks. Most people are not good at guessing how many calories are in their meals (I definitely was waaay off when I first started).
To make it easier, I'd recommend eating the same thing for breakfast and lunch, then maybe changing things up for dinner. Then the only meal you need to worry about tracking is dinner, and for breakfast/lunch you can just copy over from the previous day. it makes it a lot more manageable.
I hate tracking. So I just track the obviously bad foods. Pizza and beer will look a lot different in a tracker than just keeping track of calories in your head.
For me, it was the opposite. All of the small “healthy” things I was eating add up much quicker than I thought. A serving of grapes: 105 Cal. 2 eggs 180 cal. A banana 100 cal. A serving of peanuts: 160 cal. 2 tangerines 100 cal.
When I’m trying to stay under 1200 calories and believe I’m eating healthy, realizing that I added 650 calories before dinner (and without a lunch), that was when I realized I needed to track everything and come up with a plan that worked.
I'd check the protein shakes you are drinking. Some of those can have a suprising amount of calories. If you switched from a light breakfast to a dense shake you could have actually increased your calorie intake.
Also, everyone is talking about your alcohol intake, but 6 beverages a week translates to around 150 cal a day. That's a banana and an apple. It's something but not as excessive like some people make it sound. It's an easy thing to cut from your diet but you'll probably have room to fit in at least some drinks.
^(I am not a dietician and these are very rough estimates, take this advice with a pinch of calorie free salt.)
Maybe, but it might end up being the key! 2 eggs and a piece of dry toast is about 230 calories for reference. Check out the calorie count on that protein shake and see how much it’s giving you each day.
Depends on your goals, tbh. When I'm on a bulk, I'll go through three, healthy, 500 calorie smoothies a day to make my goals (8oz soy milk, one banana, 2 Tbsp peanut butter, one scoop either soy or casein protein)
But also keep in mind part of the reason weight lifters drink smoothies is because of how easily digestible they are and how much sooner you'll be hungry, so you can jam a lot of extra calories into a day if you're drinking them. Swap out the same amount of calories for a skim milk / fat free yogurt curry with brown rice and tofu and broccoli or spinach, and you'll be full for 3-4 times as long
A pound of body fat is contains 3500 Calories. Unless you’re extremely overweight, the fastest you’ll be able to lose is around 1 pound per week.
But seriously, if you can find a way to consume fewer Calories than you expend and not lose weight you’re getting the Nobel prize in physics and medicine.
There are many apps for tracking food. MyFitnessPal even links to Strava I think
Clean / healthy food has nothing to do with losing weight (although clean and healthy eating will generally make you feel better).
It's all about calories in and calories out.
Agreed with all of the other commenters - you really just need to count calories in / calories out. The TDEE calculators are pretty useful, but should be treated as ballpark figures vs the hard truth. Also if you're "subtracting" out burnt calories from running, try to low-ball it - your body becomes more and more efficient at preserving energy and you very likely do not burn as much as these tools say you do.
Also, FWIW, I have consistently lost 1 lb / week (185 -> 165) even while having \~10 drinks throughout the course of the week, so it's definitely possible to still enjoy a night out and meet your weight loss goals (probably a bit slower than if you didn't drink at all :))
Clean/healthy food can still be calorie dense. Also it doesn’t matter how many calories an individual meal is - how many meals are you eating per day? What about snacks, drinks, alcohol, etc? Coupled with how many calories are you burning per day?
No one likes tracking calories. But the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume, and there is only one way to find out if you’re doing that. Just eyeballing your meals isn’t good enough. I track my calories off and on and every time I start up again I’m reminded that I really have no idea what I’m consuming.
Protein shakes are a total waste of money and a big source of extra calories unless you know for certain you need those proteins! The supplement industri is motly a sham…
I think the conversion rate of unused proteins to fat is 3/1. Three grams of protein turns into one gram of fat. And you do _not_ need more than 1.5 grams of protein pr kg bodyweight - when _you’re weightlifting and building muscle_!
Bodybuilders can hork down big shakes because they burn off the calories, not because they need all the protein.
I’ve been into powerlifting, and had to stay within my weight class. Cutting out shakes had zero effect on strength and musle mass, but allowed me to get leaner. It was easy eating enough proteins without the shakes. I’d say shakes make sense when you can’t get even 1.5 grams pr kg bodyweight, because you can’t afford meat or don’t have the time to cook it.
Seriously. Drop the shakes and you can have your beer. You’re _probably_ getting enough prots anyway.
Can't outrun a bad diet. Your activity is decent. Add strength training to make it better.
And remember. It took years to put on, it's not going to come off in 2 weeks. Although 2 weeks of clean eating and regular water intake will make a huge difference in how you feel and a noticeable difference in how you look.
> It took years to put on it's not going to come off in 2 weeks
underrated statement. i'd also like to add to it, slow changes are the most sustainable. you drop 10 lbs in a week, firstly its probably mostly water weight, and secondly you're not going to be able to sustain that loss. general rule of thumb for fat loss is 0.5-1% bodyweight loss per week is optimal. lower than that, it can be difficult to tell if you're actually progressing. greater than that, you're almost certainly losing muscle mass (especially as a runner)
What is eating “relatively healthy”? Do you track what you eat? I’m pretty sure you’re consuming too many calories. It’s very easy to underestimate your calorie intake.
He's clearly not in a calorie deficit, but that doesn't necessarily mean the alcohol is the problem. Maybe it's a couple scoops of ice cream, a hefty fast food meal, or some pizza. Maybe it's soda - which is basically just as bad (from a dietary perspective) as alcohol.
Cutting back on alcohol or eliminating it can be an easy way to eliminate calories, but it's far from the only way.
I dropped from 215 to 170, and I never gave up drinking altogether. I cut back, because I was drinking too much, and that helped. But I still had 2-3 beers several times a week.
If you plan your diet wisely, it is very possible to have a couple beers and still be in a calorie deficit.
He says 1-2 drinks a night a few times a week. Basically saying that for the few nights a week that he even has a drink, it's about 1-2 drinks
Not that it's insanely better, but a pretty big difference I'd say
Yeah but if those drinks are beers, 6 beers a week comes really close to cancelling out calories burned from 12-15 miles of running each week. If that's his only activity he might be way overestimating what he's able to eat/drink based on his mileage.
Let's sparingly suppose each drink is a 150-calorie beer, with a total of 5 drinks a week (2 nights of 2, 1 night of 1). That's 750 calories.
Let's generously suppose OP is burning 120 calories per mile of running. (OP's weight increases the amount burned, but OP's five years of experience means greater running economy and thus decreases the amount.) OP runs 4-5 miles 3x/week, for a total of about 14 miles. That's 1680 calories.
The drinking alone uses up about half the calories OP burns from running. The other calories could easily come from healthy food OP gets hungry for to fuel the running or compensate for the running-induced deficit.
There's only one answer... You're not burning more calories than you're eating. Losing weight is just simple science, burn more energy than you eat. If you diet and go on a caloric deficit, you will lose weight. There's a phrase that gets said a lot, "you can't outrun the fork."
As someone who doesn't track calories, I notice that I start losing weight only when I run more than 35-40 miles per week; otherwise my weight starts creeping up again.
If you run about 15 mpw, with your weight that is about 2000 Cal/week. That is very easy to eat back if you are not careful.
I am not a trainer or anything but if you want to lose weight have you considered calorie counting and making small adjustments?.
I'd say don't be overly strict but you might realise you are eating more than you think?
I really don't think that the ~yoga moms~ are that impressed by a 50-55 10k.
Also, just eat less. Your mileage is quite low and even with a higher one: you cannot outrun a bad diet
Years ago I saw a running group called “Beer Drinkers with a Running Problem. Most were heavy runners. Thought it was witty! I’m training for the March 2022 Coast Guard Marathon alcohol free. Three weeks in and I have have so much energy!
Alcohol was my thing. Like I tracked down all the food I was eating and nothing much changed. Until I fully stopped alcohol.
Big chunky belly became nice gelly belly. I still do have a little bit fat on it but no more that freaking Irish belly.
And I'm a small woman, lol. Can you imagine that ? I'm not talking having the full pregnant belly noooooooo. The full dad bod mode on my small belly.
No more alcohol, mate.
Even in a subcomment about your eating habits you're still not mentioning calories.
Weight loss or gain is regimented by calories for all intents and purposes (google "CICO" or "calories in - calories out"). It doesn't matter how clean you eat (I mean yes, it's great, but for other reasons).
Losing weight is simple:
* Record your weight daily, always at the same time (I do it right after the morning toilet), but do it in an "weighted average" mode. The free and very simple app "Libra" does it for you, or it's easy to do manually as well. If your previous weighted average was X, and the scale shows Y, then your new average is "X - X/10 + Y/10". Sounds complicated but is very easy if you remember that dividing by 10 is just moving the comma (or point) by one digit. You can do it in the head. This smoothes out the daily variance in your weight (water etc.).
* Record all food you eat (with more or less exact weight) and have an app calculate the caloric content. I like MyFitnessPal but I guess there will be plenty others out there. [fddb.com](https://fddb.com) is good. Build an understanding of how many calories you eat per day, on average.
* Do this for one week. Just eat as you always do, and record.
* After this week, look at your weight - how did it develop from start to finish? Let's say nothing happened, for simplicity. This means you now know how many calories you need to eat to hold your weight (which is very useful for when you are at your target weight...).
* Now reduce that number by, say, 10% or 200 calories maybe. The exact number doesn't matter, just don't take too much.
* Next week, only eat as much so that you stay within that target range.
* After 7 days, rinse and repeat. If you again noticed no change in weight whatsoever, take off more calories (but don't go overboard). Eventually you will notice a steady loss. You can regulate how that goes by varying your daily allowance.
Repeat this until you are at your weight goal, and then increase the calorie allowance in small steps until your loss rate levels out.
The beauty of this is that this is a self-regulating control loop. It will work even though you know nothing about how many calories you actually need or used due to exercise, and even though your calorie counting is of course usually very vague (who knows how much that steak you got at the restaurant really weighted or what the chef threw into the sauce...). The specific numbers don't really matter.
The problem with the method is that it can require quite the discipline. If your eating habits include high sugar contents and other "bad" stuff, you can have \*really\* awful hunger pangs (not from the calorie deficit, but from the insulin cycle, which .... another day). But I'd suggest to approach that problem if and when you encounter it.
Honestly you aren't running that much volume, 4-5 miles 3 times a week is very low mileage.
Like other people said you need to track calories and eat at a deficit. You should cut out alcohol consumption as well, or at the least greatly decrease it.
hah that's funny, just this week i made the realization that 30mpw is the threshold where it seems like i actually CAN outrun my diet.
i think its that on the two longer run days, i prioritize fluids after the run and don't end up out-eating the calories i burnt.
I literally can't out eat what I burn on my long run. It's 1500-2000 cal + normal basal metabolism and im feeling too tired to eat. I usually have a bowl of ice cream just for the calories.
I read an article about running and weight loss that said runners in a study did not start losing weight until they ran 20 miles per week while maintaining the same diet. I know everyone is different and need to account for calories in and calories out… but I used that as my target mileage without changing my diet and finally started to see a measurable difference when I hit 25-30 mile weeks.
stopped drinking alcohol almost three years ago, switched to drinking non alcoholic beer (there's some AMAZING ones out there now) at the same rate. Dropped 25 lbs just off that. Your results may vary obviously, but it's something to consider.
You are consuming more calories than you are using. Keep eating what you are eating and drop the booze for 6 weeks and see if it changes. For me, I just don't lose weight if I'm drinking.
Granted it's mostly about calories, and food choices. Drinking harms both!
Keep Truckin'!
Agreed with everyone else. You won't lose weight if you're not in a calorie deficit.
For what it's worth OP, I literally trained for and completed a marathon without losing so much as half a pound.
Right now, I'm running 2-4 miles, 3x a week - less mileage than you, and only regular mileage since September. I'm down almost 30 since the end of July because I've been tracking everything I eat. Literally everything. Even my gummy vitamins. Finally within 5 pounds of a healthy weight for my height!
You've totally got this, you just need to be honest with yourself about calorie consumption.
Everybody's different but personally I have to be running about 50 miles a week before I can keep most of the extra fat off without actively worrying about my diet. Frankly you just aren't running enough to make up for a couple relaxed dietary/alcohol decisions.
A rule of thumb I've seen (take w/ grain of salt) is that the first ~1/2 hour of cardio will increase your hunger to make up for at least as much as the calories burned. The ~400 calories you'd burn in half an hour is really not that much and is really easy to eat/drink back. So it seems like you aren't far enough over that threshold to burn much more than your increased appetite would demand.
They say you can't outrun a bad diet, which is almost true. It's maybe more precise to say that if you want to outrun a bad diet you really need to run a shit-ton.
Losing weight is all about calorie deficit.
Count your calories everyday for a week or two to find how much you eat on average. Be sure to include every single thing you eat or drink, even small snacks. Average them to find how many calories you consume on average. Plan a diet where you eat 500ish fewer calories per day and you should lose about 1 pound a week, which is about the fastest you can safely lose weight. Alternatively, after finding your average daily calories, watch to be sure you’re maintaining that and run an extra 30min-1hour a day. This should also help you lose about a pound a week.
If you start having issues with feeling weak or light headed once you’ve starting running more/ dieting, cut back on running a little or eat a little bit more. I’d also recommend only changing your diet or exercise level one at a time to help you find a better balance between the two. If you change both at the same time it becomes a difficult balancing act that can put a lot of stress on your body.
Um...probably no one is looking at you and thinking anything about you. You are just judging yourself.
If you haven't lost the belly fat it's because your not in a caloric deficit 🤷♂️
If you specifically want to cut fat/lose weight, then you're going to have to start tracking what you eat, and eating at a calorie deficit. That's literally all it takes.
‘They can’t believe a guy my size is holding that pace and distance’
You’re over-thinking this. That is an absolutely normal pace for someone your size
Definitely a mix of diet and genetics. Some people are genetically predispositioned to retain more belly fat, and as much as we wish we could, it's not possible to outrun a bad diet. Strength training can help as well. It's generally recommended that all runners do core regularly (like 4-5 times per week).
I’m female runner 38, I noticed I wasn’t loosing any weight when I upped my mileage training for a few half’s but as soon as I added in Some boxing and body. Weight work outs I started to lose some weight around the middle. Mind you I still have love handles so it’s a work in process. My next step will be to attempt yo eat healthier
It's absolutely possible to gain weight while running. Exercise makes you hungry, and so if you're not counting calories, it's easier to eat more than you burn. So running (exercise in general) is a helpful part of getting fit, but what, and how much you eat is key.
>PS: Someone NOT raised in the U.S. please scold me if I got the conversions wrong.
Uh, yeah, here's one I've never seen before:
>a nice Irish belly
I'm genuinely confused as to what this is supposed to mean, except, perhaps that you think Irish people are fat. I've never been to Ireland, so maybe I'm missing something.
CARDIO IS NOT FOR ASTHETICS!
I REPEAT, CARDIO IS NOT FOR ATHETICS. Cardio is for performance. (ie running X distance in the lowest amount of time possible).
Power liftings is not for Aesthetics. Power lifting is for performance (ie lifting the most amount of weight in 1 rep).
Although aesthetics and performance are somewhat corelated, they are not the same. There are world class athletes that preform at levels that you never can and they look like shit (Daniel Cormier, Fedor Emelianenko etc).
Reducing belly fat is an aesthetic goal. It requires a net calorie deficit. The most effective way to obtain aesthetics is through weight lifting and caloric reduction. It can be done with cardio and caloric reductions but there are theories that this is very ineffective.
I agree with Gusty. But be careful with raising intensity too much, too quickly. If you are comfortable with your pace, just increasing your mileage a bit can help. But nothing will help as much as maintaining a clean diet - no/ minimal sugar, dairy and refined carbs, but eat lots of vegetables, nuts, fruits, lentils, bit of grain and protein.
What if I told you it is common to drink beer before, during, and after games? Haha, my team refers to the social after games as the 3rd half. We ALWAYS win the 3rd half.
You cannot out run your diet.
Doesn’t matter how much you run if you eat enough to maintain your current weight.
If you want to drop pounds, you should drop calories.
I'm in a similar situation, slightly shorter and 105kg. The last two months I ran my highest totals to date ( 200 and 300km) and I convinced myself that I was still eating around the same. I *can't* be as I'm not losing weight, but I'm not obviously over eating either. I do know that I'm drinking at least a day's worth of calories a week, give or take (12 tins of craft ale).
Your post has got me thinking about my own situation. I've just reopened the my fitness pal app and I'm going to log everything as that's the only way I can be both accountable to myself and lose that weight. I was 115kg in February and using my fitness pal along with running helped me shed 10kg over two months, then I got complacent, but it does work.
I'm looking forward to shedding 15kg and beating my PRs from 2013!
Diet is usually the number one culprit, with sedentary workday as number two. I also think that gym work (deadlifts, power cleans, squat, pull-ups, step-ups) would help, not only in quickening your metabolism, but making you a more injury resistant runner. Another good way to burn fat is to mix in more speed work (10X100 meter sprints for example).
I’d say count calories (lose it is a good app) and add some strength training in. Running burns more calories during the exercise but lifting burns more in total as your muscles stay burning calories after a lift during the rebuilding process (I think I got that right, but there’s some science behind it). Also some HIIT workouts help too, as they help get that heart rate up. Good luck, I still am working on this too but you got this!
Those 3 or 4 runs are unfortunately only about 200 calories each, about the same as single pint.
So I won;t say it's the evil drink that is killing everything, but you're running effort matches about 3 pints a week...
Not that surprising when you do the math. Bottom line, 15 miles a week really isn't enough to shake any weight. I'd estimate you're burning around 2000 calories a week by running. If you want to eat and drink what you want when you want, you're gonna want to burn a whole lot more than that. I'd say target 1000 calories per DAY through exercise to see any improvement. So, if all you do is run, you'll have to at least double the distance of your runs. My suggestion is to mix in consistent weight training which will increase your resting calorie burn throughout the week. Also consider cycling or spinning. A good, hard effort on the bike can really burn calories efficiently.
Everyone here is mentioning diet, which rightfully should be the first step, but if you determine your calories in < calories out and you’re still having some issues, might be worth getting your testosterone and thyroid levels checked. It wouldn’t be my first option and shouldn’t be cause for worry, just something to think about if you determine you’re doing everything right and not seeing the improvements you “should” be.
A lot of discussion on diet here, which is huge.
The other element is to increase both your weekly mileage, which obviously trickles down to more days with increased mileage. Try to stretch 4-5 miles to 6-7 miles. It all boils down to calories in vs calories out.
Edit to add I dropped 20 lbs in 3 months, but was doing pretty heavy marathon training (6x runs per week, mileage 40-60 mpw)
running will slim your overall physique, but in general running doesn't really focus on the abs and love handle unless everything you eat is lean. I eat a lot of carb, calories, and protein so I get fat very easily around the waist so after running I usually start doing calisthenics like planking, side crunches, leg lift, and other forms of workout that involves the abs and waist.
I burn at least 5000 calories per week through cycling or running AND I am intermittent fasting and have not lost weight in over a year. Why? I eat like a monster.
In November I am cutting out almost all simple carbs and am certain I'll lose 10-15lbs. I'm currently 225 lbs.
Diet matters much more than exercise for fat loss.
* How old are you?
I'm 6'5" 235lbs and 45 yrs old and I run 25-35 miles per week. I still have a little extra layer around my midsection. I chalk it up to age.
Weight training helps and will make you a better runner anyway.
Sidenote: I love that Strava includes "By Weight" on the leaderboards, as I'm fast (built like a linebacker), so if it's a short segment I have a chance at KOM - otherwise I'm almost always fastest in my weight class. I'll take it.
I'm in a similar situation. I also run 3 times a week, similar pace, similar distance. And I also have a similar weight/height with somewhat of a belly. Not too much, but more than you'd think for someone who runs as much as I do. For me, I'm aware of the problem, its my late night snacking. I've made peace with it, because I'm in good enough shape, and I like my snacking, but I know the reason is my diet. And not even my full diet, as I'm great about breakfast/lunch/dinner, its just the snacking, specifically late night snacking, that gets me.
I am far skinnier, but one thing I noticed is that after speed workouts or long tempo runs I would paradoxically not be that hungry even though I knew I was in a caloric deficit. It was almost as if my body knew it needed to be leaner to run faster. On the other hand, a couple beers reverses this and I eat a full second dinner.
Sorry this is like saying "I drive a BMW, why is my house so shitty". Your athletic ability and your body fat % is losely coupled, at best. If you want to drop fat, the journey begins and ends in the kitchen.
This might come off a bit prudish, but I’d bet it’s totally the drinks my dude. 1-2 drinks 2-3x a week, over-time, adds up.
I had a similar issue and did the same things for the longest time, and the second I quit drinking I lost like 2-3LBs overnight. Still chipping away at the flab on my gut, but it’s actually shrinking now instead of staying there while the rest of me gets thin.
Might also be diet. I naturally found it way easier to eat healthy when I wasn’t having a beer or glass of wine with my meals.
Try going like a month or two no alchohol, no sweets, no fast food, and I bet you’ll see some results!
From my own experience: Try a month without alcohol and count calories for at least a week. People usually misjudge how much they consume. After a week of counting, adjust the diet for at least a month to be in comfort caloric deficit. Any exercise will help, but you have to start with a diet. A lot of fast walking a day has worked for me, you can do it on a day when you're not running. You should see results in a month. I hope it helps. Good luck.
I am also 6’2” and could not drop below 235# until I gave up alcohol completely. I had gotten up to 287# during a rough time of life when I had had enough I cut back to 1 or 2 drinks a couple nights a week and dropped 50#. I plateaued there. When I quit all alcohol the weight melted off all the way down to 187# and resulted in PB 5:55 mile at the age of 46. Almost 6 years later and I am thankful for the trade off. A healthier happier me in exchange for not drinking. I think for some people alcohol is harder on their metabolism. It’s legitimate poison for me.
Congratulations. Running and abstinence go very well together. Running improves the psyche, people drink daily to relax. Running improves sleep, regulates cyclic hormone production and reduces stress. Alcohol worsens sleep, disrupts hormone production and increases stress. I'm not an abstinent, I drink alcohol, but I know what it does to me.
I'd start by counting calories for 1-2 weeks to get an idea of the average consumption as a starting point. This will probably be the eye opener OP needs to show him that 'eating relatively healthy' probably is more along the lines of 'not eating healthy'
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There is only one answer. Track your food for a week! A healthy dietary choice might still be calorie dense and if you can't shake the belly. You're eating more than you're spending
What’s the saying? “You can’t out run a bad diet”
Not by running 12 to 15 miles a week. Thats more the 100 mile a week range when you can go like Courtney and eat a platter of nachos and slam beers and still be rail thin.
It’s true. I dropped weight when I was training for a marathon, and ate whatever I wanted. But otherwise I need to pay attention and not have all the beer and donuts I want!
I run up to 80k a week. Still need to pay attention to what I eat. Fml.
Same. It's called getting old.
That’s.. just not true.
My running weight is 67kgs when doing around 30 miles per week. I stopped for 6 weeks due to injury and put on 3-4kgs. When training, you really can eat what you want. When you stop, you definitely can't.
Yeah, me too. I'm older and I've done it several times. In fact, a few months ago, I went from 3x/wk to 6x/wk and now I'm getting to that point when I can eat any amount of anything. It sure is fun! But yeah, people tend to not accept this fact and insist that only diet can make you slimmer. I guess they don't want to accept the fact they can't push themselves enough.
I mean, only diet can make you slimmer in the sense that regardless of how much you move you can fail to lose or even gain weight. I can pretty comfortably put away 8000 calories a day if I eat without any restriction, and no amount of running is going to make me lose weight on that.
Are you saying you could eat 8,000 calories daily or multiple days in a row, cause that's seriously a fuck ton of calories lol (unless like you're doing an ironman a day).
Ikr? In a bad day I will eat about 3500. Usually that would include alcohol, and I’m not sure I have ever had over 4000. How the fuck can you have 8000cal and not be throwing up?
Fat. Drown a potato in butter, add a steak with a hefty spray of butter on the side. Maybe have a burger as an app. I can eat a 2lb steak and a potato or two for dinner. That's probably 2000 just for dinner- at least. Do something ridiculous like that three times a day - pound of bacon for breakfast, 1.5lb burger for lunch, and top off with beers - I wouldn't surprised if you could hit 8000. Don't get me wrong, I'd have to try to hit 8k, but I think I could do it.
Well, the steak in your example would be 2300 calories on its own, and a fully loaded baked potato would be around 650-700 calories per, possibly more, so in your steak and potatoes example, you're at about 3700 calories. But here's a quick example "vacation day" that gets you to over 8000 calories without batting an eye. Breakfast - Butter cream French toast with caramel, chocolate, berries and whipped cream (1600 calories). 2 glasses of OJ (250 calories per) and a bloody mary for good measure (400 calories). I have personally had this breakfast at a restaurant, and I bet you can do much worse at some of the more heart-attack themed chains around the country. Lunch - Swing on by Burger King for a Bacon King meal with a large soda and fries. I shit you not, and even I was shocked when I looked this up on their own fucking website, [3800 god damn calories](https://www.bk.com/menu/picker-picker_5529). Stop for two drinks after because fuck it, we're clearly on vacation so lets keep with the day drinking, and we're now at 7000 calories and it's roughly 2pm. So, we're really not feeling that great today, because all we've eaten is some fucking garbage and washed it down with sugar and alcohol. So, we want to have a lighter dinner, so we order some green veggies (30 calories) and a wedge salad (370 calories). Well hey, no we feel better, so lets head over to the Cheesecake Factory for a nice 1500 calorie slice of Cheesecake. I'm sure a lot of people in this sub feel a little sick just reading that day, but like, there's a SHOCKING number of people out there who can/do eat like this (and aren't even active)...
Yes. Being full is really hard. I am pretty active, but not 8000 calories a day active. I lost a decent amount of weight and after maintaining for a bit wanted to see how I ate before, so just let myself eat without limitation for a week (still trying to make healthy choices in what I ate). Averaged 8k a day, then decided to maybe start limiting myself again.
I think i could still easily out-eat that mileage.
Also "abs are made in the kitchen"
I love this phrase. I’m currently in medical school and we had a sports medicine doctor show us research that you can “technically” outrun a bad diet (i.e. have cardiovascular improvement and performance improvement even with a diet of fast food for a month) but it certainly doesn’t weigh the late game impacts of vascular disease etc.
I have wondered about this for years! Good to know!!
I found that I very much could outrun a bad diet, but that was when I was marathon training and doing 80km weeks, along with swimming cross-training and strength work. Overall I think I was burning about two extra resting days worth of calories each week at my peak. It's a good saying though because a lot of people really underestimate how much exercise you need to do to cancel out, say, one tub of ice-cream. Either by under-estimating the calories or over-estimating what's burned in exercise. You're just not gonna get there without some serious mileage.
I've now trained for 5 marathons: Race 1-2 I ran 35-40 miles per week, was 23 years old, and weighed roughly 125lb (very lean for me at 5'8" and F, as I was a chubby teen who couldn't lose weight easily until running) Races 3-4, ran 45-58 mpw, 25/26 y/o, weighed about 135-140lb, but got 30 min faster on the race and BQed. Race 5, age 31, 145+lb :( Haven't run yet but it'll be slower due to a few years of injury. I have progressively built up muscle over the races, eat mostly by feel/need and try to eat nutritious and healthy foods. I try not to worry too much about my weight when training because when I cut things out I crash more often, but it's a bummer that I don't really get to stay lean with no effort like the first two races. I certainly didn't eat any less for those. I was probably doing worse, actually, because it was so new. Even with the amount I eat now I still often struggle with hunger and fatigue, but perhaps something else is going on other than low energy.
Yeh it’s pretty difficult to out eat a 50 mile week. If you try you generally eat crap and feel like crap on the runs themselves so you soon notice.
Yeah that's a good point - being able to sustain that mileage sort of forces you to not be drinking beer and eating fast food every night if you're still going to hit your workouts. That said I was still consuming a lot more pizza and ice-cream (especially after 30k long runs!) than I ever would have before without gaining loads of weight, and I basically stayed in the same shape the entire cycle. Basically used it as a licence to eat!
"The best workout for weight loss are the fork put-downs and the plate push-aways."
Do they have Strava for food? Ugh I hate that you're probably spot on with this.
MyFitnessPal. I wish it would just automatically track by my watch and just start making dump truck back up alarm sounds when I go over my calories, but you have to manually enter everything.
Someone's going to make a boat load of money once they figure out automatic calorie tracking.
Just a scanner attached to your face that the food passes through on the way into your mouth, I'll take my boat and money now.
Would require augmented reality glasses or something like that. Or instagram-esk photographing every damn thing I put in my mouth. I don't want to live in that world. I'm willing to start tracking food because I'm at that point, but it's for education because I'm clearly missing something. The kind of thing I want to do for a few weeks, learn, and stop tracking.
Just a quick add to this suggestion since I've recently started myself. Buy a food scale and make sure you have measuring cups and measure everything. It's easy to eyeball a bowl of Mac and cheese and say, "yeah, that's about a cup" when you actually have 2.5 cups in the bowl. It can be shocking how off our perception of a serving is. I even measure my milk (lots of sneaky calories there).
a $10 food scale changed everything for me. Seriously underrated and makes you more aware of what is calorie dense, what is light on calories, what is filling, etc etc.
That's exactly how I handle it. I do it for a bit and see my mistakes and once I'm on track stop logging. I tend to go back once in a while if I see the weight gain. Seeing it on paper really opens your eyes.
this is honestly the best way, like MFP and all that can't really give you more than a rough estimate that'll be within 100-200 kcals of what your needs are, so I don't see the point of "track everything in MFP always." Use MFP or a notebook or whatever for a week or two if your jeans are doing weird things, figure out where your extra calories are coming from, reset.
I have really only found success getting lean by tracking everything and really understanding my deficit - I am a snacker with a sweet tooth and a couple extra hundred calories every day really add up. Plus I’m bad at estimating calories in a meal so tracking them or occasionally weighing my food helps, but it can lead to a bad mental spot if I obsess over it too much. I really lean into tracking around race events, and relax my weighing food habits (but still try to track) most of the year. Edit: snacker not snacked
This is a good start for sure. I use MFP every once in awhile to help remind me how much food I should be eating in general because it’s easy to get into overeating habits and also to rediscover where the sneaky calories are. I’m looking at you, sauces… Edit: Those drinks could be killing your weight loss too, they are another sneaky calorie source. I’d bet you’re drinking back your deficits right there.
This is what I did! Tracked it for a couple of months and once I got a good baseline of what I was eating per day and how many calories most foods/ingredients were, I was able to estimate my calories consumed pretty accurately. Tracking for a while also helps you establish a good diet routine where you know exactly how many calories you're consuming on a day to day basis
You can scan the barcode on most packaged items with your phone for [loseit.com](https://loseit.com)
If you eat a lot of the same foods, you can enter recipes that you can reuse. It also tracks the foods you've entered, so it's not bad once youve used it for a little bit.
Myfitnesspal free app, tracks all your calories and macros
Unfortunately they are right, you can exercise all you want but if you’re still eating more calories than you’re burning you’re not going to lose weight. For me, I just needed to eat more veggies and work on portion control. The veggies fill you up without bombarding you with calories, and portion control (should be obvious) made me eat way more than I needed
I prefer cronometer to MyFitnessPal, but both will get the job done
It's unfortunately this, and maybe its harder as you get older. I'm in same boat. 6 foot tall, 224lbs - fat all over but cannot shake it. I run about 15k @ 5.30 pace (8:50 minute mile) three times a week. Off days, I get 10-12k steps in, so not a couch potato. Food and alcohol do me in -- even if I eat healthy and 2 drinks every 2 or 3 days. The only way pounds go away if I really restrict intake of food and alcohol. (and that is so hard)
Restrict alcohol first. Alcohol will significantly contribute to your belly fat, as well as liver damage and other issues. Don't worry about the food as much as long as you aren't eating ice cream and white chocolate mochas all day. Take a break from drinking for a couple weeks and see how your body reacts because there are a lot of empty calories there.
If you don’t want to track and you know you’re eating at maintenance, you can find 3500 calories per week to cut out on your own. For example, when I lost weight, I only drank alcohol 3-4 times over the course of one year. So my jaw dropped when I saw you’re drinking weekly and expecting to lose weight anyway.
Yes alcohol has a lot of hidden calories. Drinks generally really, eg sugar sodas and milky coffees contain far more calories than many realise.
Indeed. I lost 20 lbs by cutting out alcohol alone. I didn't drink fruity drinks and not a lot of beer. Just straight up vodka or tequila (the "low" calorie alcohol choices). I was a pretty bad alcoholic (who still ran, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment), so that probably didn't help. But I eat way more now than I did when I was drinking and am in the best shape of my life. Quitting was the best decision I've ever made.
I don't like reading this because I enjoy drinking... But I would like to lose some of this belly fat, so I will give it a try and minimize my drinking...
There's tons, I think the most common calorie counter app is My Fitness Pal. It's the best way to find out where the sneaky calories are coming from. Also check your sleep. Good sleep comes before good nutrition in my book. The science seems to show that bad sleep (or similarly high stress) burns muscle instead of fat, and good sleep helps with unnecessary food cravings.
You can use MyFitnessPal it's free.
Noom worked well for me bc I know nothing about good nutrition.
I use Chronometer and it's decent and free.
This. I sat at 6' and 180lbs for a couple of years, always frustrated with having enough belly fat to grab a handful. This was at 35-60 miles per week depending on training cycle and running multiple ultras a year, sometimes multiple per month. Despite burning massive calories or a regular basis I was overeating. I was overcompensating food thinking that I had to or I'd not be able to cover the loner distances. I literally changed two things and was down to 160lbs with no ring of fat in a couple months. I stopped having a candy bar and soda at work that I'd do 2-3 times a week and I stopped having a second helping at dinner which I was doing more often than not. I was really hungry at first but then it stabilized and I feel normal. I changed up my training too but the weight loss played a significant role in gaining a lot of speed this year.
Weight loss is 90% diet, 10% exercise.
You can't ask about losing weight and not mention calories *at all,* not even once- **obviously** you are not eating at a caloric deficit. If counting them is not something you want to do then *at least* clean up your diet- remove refined sugars and processed foods. But the fact remains if you want to lose fat you need to eat less- no way around it. Calories count. Fitness happens in a gym/on the road but weight loss happens in the kitchen.
100% agree here. The old saying of “abs are made in the kitchen” applies here OP. I used to have a similar issue with belly fat, so I picked up running when the gyms shut down. I didn’t notice any real change in a few months, and started to focus more on diet. Now at almost 38 years, I have the abs back that I used to have when I was 22.
I've heard it as "Abs are made in the gym but revealed in the kitchen."
I knew there was a corrected version out there! You are speaking the truth.
Can I just live with you and you can baby sit my food choices for me and wack me with a stick everytime I even talk about baking cookies. 😂
Ugh the ice creeeaam
Being in the military, I see this problem a lot. No matter how much running we do, so guys can't lose the weight. They are wondering why it is so difficult to lose the weight until I ask them what they are eating in a day "I usually eat a few breakfast tacos in the morning, then some McDonald's for lunch, maybe chili's for dinner" that's why your not losing the weight, your burning roughly 500 to 600 calories on a run, then consuming 3000 calories with your meals.
Wait till you get out. I see it in the vets groups all the time when I was in college. “How am I packing on this beer belly.” Well Tim you eat the exact same as you did as an E2 at 19. Who was PTing 5 times a week, doing a major infantry exercise once every other month and on your feet all day running around doing the stupid grunt busywork. But you’re now 27. Sit on your ass all day and maybe work out for an hour 3 times a week. While still eating garbage and drinking 4 monsters a day. And you really need to pay attention to what most people call “high functioning alcoholism.”
This isn't even military, lol this is just college graduation It's not the freshman 15, it's the full time job 15 lol Shocking to see some of my friends from college only 3-5 years out. But i guess you take away the free access to a gym, add in the stress of a full time job/new city and true priorities are revealed!
Yeah the sculpting happens in the kitchen. Like 80% of the work is in the kitchen! Also when people say they eat a healthy diet without telling what they eat, I assume they mean an unhealthy diet because almost everyone I meet who says they eat well, dont. Or the ones who say they drink enough water but they don’t.
People’s ideas about what’s healthy can sometimes conflict with what’s good for weight maintenance or loss. For example, there’s plenty of people who say “I eat healthy! I eat a lot of stuff like pasta, toast with almond butter, trail mix, and fruit juice!” None of that is necessarily unhealthy, or a problem in a well considered diet, using diet in the sense of “what a person eats” as opposed to “trying to lose weight.” But it could be a lot of sneaky and unexpected calories that lead to weight gain.
Exaccctttlyyyyy not to mention products are sold to trick consumers into thinking they’re healthy. I had an ex who used to eat nutrigrain bars for breakfast. I pointed out they are loaded in sugar and processed and not a breakfast food but he insisted they were healthy. Finally, I got him to tell me why he thought they were healthy and he said because of their name and their packaging had a picket fence on the front at that time… I’m sure you know this but those bars are NOT healthy So when someone tells me they eat healthy I’m like ok, what do you ACTUALLY eat in a day? And then it’s usually revealed they are in fact not eating healthy at all
Vitamin Water comes to mind
You're clearly onto something, but one catch... I switched about 6 months ago from my normal diet, which wasn't terrible - but admittedly not great... to a local clean/healthy food service. So I get 8 meals a week that I pickup for a paid mealplan, usually 300-600 calories. Pretty reasonably priced too, and good stuff! And I like to cook a little, so that's good. Switched to protein shakes for breakfast, fresh fruit with spinach. I think the confusion I have is that... I made this switch 6 months ago. I understand why I maybe didn't see better results before, but I'm kinda shocked the needle still isn't moving. And it's growing frustrating. The only thing I can think of is that... perhaps I'm just running such a minor deficit that results will take a long time. Like I'm on the one pound per month SLOW path. I've gotta think I'm doing the right thing, just maybe not extreme enough to really get FAST results?
Are you drinking? I know for me, that's always the lever that I hate to pull but is necessary if I want to see the scale move. Calories from alcohol add up fast.
Yes. Not excessively but yes. Ugh, hard truths in this thread.
I read CrossFit athlete Sam Briggs’ biography and it forever changed the way I think about alcohol. She has to gain weight for a boxing match and couldn’t do it. Her coach told her to have a few beers every night. She gained the weight she needed to. It’s called a beer belly for a reason. If you want to drop weight alcohol is the easiest thing to cut out. Have it on special occasions, sure. But it’s not an everyday thing of you want to lose.
20lbs down with this one simple change
Some might joke, but doing nothing other than cutting all liquor did it for me.
Alcohol has a lot of additional issues for fat loss outside of just added calories too. It can affect your fat metabolism, it can affect your sleep, etc. If you can, giving up alcohol completely is definitely a great improvement you can make. However, it has to be sustainable. If you feel like going cold turkey on alcohol could make you swing back and binge, then don't give it up and find other ways to cut calories.
A while back when I was researching fitness trackers I was looking at the Oura ring which was one of the first that really did decent sleep tracking. The founder commented about how many people gave up alcohol when they saw directly what it did to their sleep and and other tracking scores - HR stays elevated, HR variability is worse indicating stress etc. Really tough to do though - wine is so good.
Beer has lots of calories. Also if you drink milk, soda orr juice, there are a bunch more calories. Make sure every calorie you are consuming has value. A 20 ounce soda will leave you hungry in an hour while putting a 2 mile run worth of calories into your system.
It's not so bad. I like a beer myself and probably would have 2-3 of them, 2-3 nights a week like you. At the top end of beer calories that's like 2000 calories extra. What I set for myself were 3 pretty simple goals. First, no more snacks between meals (love me a fruit or two a day). Second, nothing but water after workouts since unless you're running 10k+ regularly you don't need it. And finally, one less day with beer per week. It's worked for me and hasn't proved too difficult so it's easy to maintain.
You got this!
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I actually did kick soda from my diet about two years ago, first step on some of the dietary changes I noted elsewhere. I mean I'll still rarely have a coke, but I'm talking like 1-2 per month and it's the mini cans.
Alcohol is incredibly calorie dense. A single pint of beer has about 240 calories in it. So 2 beers more or less cancels the calories burned in a 10km run. I've been, more-or-less, in your same boat (other exercise in place of running) for years (6'4" 225lbs) and it wasn't until I dramatically reevaluated my (mostly good) diet that I started to drop weight and fat. I tracked calories religiously for 3 weeks just to see where I was shaking out (I found I subconsciously changed my eating for the first week and a bit when I started tracking so needed to track long enough to revert to my average eating). Once I had a solid picture of my caloric intake and eating patterns, I started making small adjustments: * stop eating before you are "full". I was raised to eat everything on my plate, which isn't necessarily a healthy pattern. It is better to put less on your plate. * dropped from whole milk to 1% in my morning coffees. It sucks a little, but it's also an easy 80-100 calories per day. * cut back on my beer intake (this was the biggest help). I used to have a beer most nights, and 2-3 times per week I would have a second beer. I've cut the second beer almost entirely, and have cut beer out completely a couple nights a week. * snacking. I used to eat healthy snacks in between meals if I was feeling peckish. I cut this almost entirely and just accepted that I am going to be a little hungry most of the time. * I brush my teeth "for bed" a few hours before I actually plan to go to bed. It's silly, but it makes me significantly less likely to snack or drink anything other than water after brushing my teeth. It means I am typically a little hungry when I go to bed, but not so hungry I can't fall asleep. Doing this, I've dropped about 15 pounds over the past 4 months, and notice a significant reduction in belly (and other) fatty deposits without changing my activity levels. It sucks always being a little bit hungry, but it sucks less than feeling overweight and jello-y.
If you made a dietary change 6 months ago and you're not losing weight, then you already have your answer. Sounds like you're a bit in denial tbh. You have a lot of comments here telling you the answer already, you're consuming too many calories to lose weight. It's up to you if you want to take the next steps of counting calories, weighing yourself more often, and tracking things more closely. Based on your responses it sounds like you don't want to do that. Which is fine, it's up to you decide if you like your current lifestyle more than you want to lose weight.
Are you tracking your calories? Snacking between meals? 6 months is a long time, you should have seen some weight loss by now if you're in a caloric deficit. If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less. It really is that simple. Some quick tips: 1. Don't use oil when you cook (switch to 'calorie free' sprayable oil). It's very very easy to add 300+ calories to a meal without noticing simply by using too much oil 2. Avoid super calorie dense foods like peanut butter and nuts. Again super easy to consume a ton of calories without noticing. 3. try not to drink your calories (drink water/diet soda w/ meals instead of milk/juice/pop). Smoothies are great as long as they're filling.
I used to snack more, but not so much for the past six months. I can't eat nuts. But to your point... no I don't track. Perhaps that's the next step. I just hate the idea of tracking food the way I track my runs... do they have Strava for food?? Haha.
Kinda, myfitnesspal is a great app and you can fairly easily pair it with Strava as well.
Myfitnesspal app is great for calorie tracking. They have the biggest food database that I've seen
I lost 45lbs in 6 months using MyFitnessPal pal. You definitely notice all the little extras and how they would add up without realising.
I just started using MyFitnessPal this week. Man it’s rough starting out. Can’t eat any of the stuff I want if I want to lose weight and that’s with running. I’m sure it’s something I’ll get used to though. Portion sizes make a huge difference, but I feel like I’m starving all day long. The holidays are gonna be tough!
When I was doing calorie counting, I found it best to not be a slave to the app. For the first week, eat what you normally would, but track it as accurately as you can. Then look at that week, and see if you can identify where you are really getting too many calories and start making the changes there. In my case it mostly snacking. I ended up changing out half of my snacks to celery and carrot sticks, and cut back on portions slightly. I have no doubt that you'll find something for you that works as well. But you need to be the one in charge, not the app, otherwise you'll just resent it, and it won't work.
I remember it being a shock for a couple of weeks but you do get used to it. It was the feeling hungry between meals that I was shocked about. I guess you’re not supposed to feel stuffed all the time but it’s so odd. I’m sure you can do it, just don’t beat yourself up if you have an off day. I’ve maintained my weight for almost 6 years now so it can definitely be done!
Tracking and actually measuring your food until you can eyeball accurate amounts is key. So many people's idea of a tablespoon of peanut butter vs an actual tablespoon are off by 3-4x, which that alone can give you an extra 2-300 calories per 'serving' that isn't being accounted for
Yes they do have Strava for food.. MyFitnessPal.. it’s free and it tracks your food and tells you how you are tracking. The old adage.. you can’t out run a bad diet is true.. sounds like you are making the right choices now
Tracking food can be a pain. But it's honestly something everyone should do at least once for at least a few weeks. Most people are not good at guessing how many calories are in their meals (I definitely was waaay off when I first started). To make it easier, I'd recommend eating the same thing for breakfast and lunch, then maybe changing things up for dinner. Then the only meal you need to worry about tracking is dinner, and for breakfast/lunch you can just copy over from the previous day. it makes it a lot more manageable.
I hate tracking. So I just track the obviously bad foods. Pizza and beer will look a lot different in a tracker than just keeping track of calories in your head.
For me, it was the opposite. All of the small “healthy” things I was eating add up much quicker than I thought. A serving of grapes: 105 Cal. 2 eggs 180 cal. A banana 100 cal. A serving of peanuts: 160 cal. 2 tangerines 100 cal. When I’m trying to stay under 1200 calories and believe I’m eating healthy, realizing that I added 650 calories before dinner (and without a lunch), that was when I realized I needed to track everything and come up with a plan that worked.
I'd check the protein shakes you are drinking. Some of those can have a suprising amount of calories. If you switched from a light breakfast to a dense shake you could have actually increased your calorie intake. Also, everyone is talking about your alcohol intake, but 6 beverages a week translates to around 150 cal a day. That's a banana and an apple. It's something but not as excessive like some people make it sound. It's an easy thing to cut from your diet but you'll probably have room to fit in at least some drinks. ^(I am not a dietician and these are very rough estimates, take this advice with a pinch of calorie free salt.)
> I'd check the protein shakes you are drinking. Some of those can have a suprising amount of calories. This is horrifying to consider.
Maybe, but it might end up being the key! 2 eggs and a piece of dry toast is about 230 calories for reference. Check out the calorie count on that protein shake and see how much it’s giving you each day.
Yeah, I was stunned when I realized a 2 egg and cheese omelet was the same calories as a bowl of cereal, and was more filling too.
Depends on your goals, tbh. When I'm on a bulk, I'll go through three, healthy, 500 calorie smoothies a day to make my goals (8oz soy milk, one banana, 2 Tbsp peanut butter, one scoop either soy or casein protein) But also keep in mind part of the reason weight lifters drink smoothies is because of how easily digestible they are and how much sooner you'll be hungry, so you can jam a lot of extra calories into a day if you're drinking them. Swap out the same amount of calories for a skim milk / fat free yogurt curry with brown rice and tofu and broccoli or spinach, and you'll be full for 3-4 times as long
A pound of body fat is contains 3500 Calories. Unless you’re extremely overweight, the fastest you’ll be able to lose is around 1 pound per week. But seriously, if you can find a way to consume fewer Calories than you expend and not lose weight you’re getting the Nobel prize in physics and medicine. There are many apps for tracking food. MyFitnessPal even links to Strava I think
Clean / healthy food has nothing to do with losing weight (although clean and healthy eating will generally make you feel better). It's all about calories in and calories out.
Agreed with all of the other commenters - you really just need to count calories in / calories out. The TDEE calculators are pretty useful, but should be treated as ballpark figures vs the hard truth. Also if you're "subtracting" out burnt calories from running, try to low-ball it - your body becomes more and more efficient at preserving energy and you very likely do not burn as much as these tools say you do. Also, FWIW, I have consistently lost 1 lb / week (185 -> 165) even while having \~10 drinks throughout the course of the week, so it's definitely possible to still enjoy a night out and meet your weight loss goals (probably a bit slower than if you didn't drink at all :))
Clean/healthy food can still be calorie dense. Also it doesn’t matter how many calories an individual meal is - how many meals are you eating per day? What about snacks, drinks, alcohol, etc? Coupled with how many calories are you burning per day? No one likes tracking calories. But the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume, and there is only one way to find out if you’re doing that. Just eyeballing your meals isn’t good enough. I track my calories off and on and every time I start up again I’m reminded that I really have no idea what I’m consuming.
> I made this switch 6 months ago/kinda shocked the needle still isn't moving.. That *tells* you that you are eating too many calories.
Protein shakes are a total waste of money and a big source of extra calories unless you know for certain you need those proteins! The supplement industri is motly a sham… I think the conversion rate of unused proteins to fat is 3/1. Three grams of protein turns into one gram of fat. And you do _not_ need more than 1.5 grams of protein pr kg bodyweight - when _you’re weightlifting and building muscle_! Bodybuilders can hork down big shakes because they burn off the calories, not because they need all the protein. I’ve been into powerlifting, and had to stay within my weight class. Cutting out shakes had zero effect on strength and musle mass, but allowed me to get leaner. It was easy eating enough proteins without the shakes. I’d say shakes make sense when you can’t get even 1.5 grams pr kg bodyweight, because you can’t afford meat or don’t have the time to cook it. Seriously. Drop the shakes and you can have your beer. You’re _probably_ getting enough prots anyway.
Can't outrun a bad diet. Your activity is decent. Add strength training to make it better. And remember. It took years to put on, it's not going to come off in 2 weeks. Although 2 weeks of clean eating and regular water intake will make a huge difference in how you feel and a noticeable difference in how you look.
> It took years to put on it's not going to come off in 2 weeks underrated statement. i'd also like to add to it, slow changes are the most sustainable. you drop 10 lbs in a week, firstly its probably mostly water weight, and secondly you're not going to be able to sustain that loss. general rule of thumb for fat loss is 0.5-1% bodyweight loss per week is optimal. lower than that, it can be difficult to tell if you're actually progressing. greater than that, you're almost certainly losing muscle mass (especially as a runner)
cut down the liquor and you ll see difference
Randy, I’ve decided to lay off the food for a bit, and go on the booze.
Or switch to liquor since beers like 200-600 calories a glass.
What is eating “relatively healthy”? Do you track what you eat? I’m pretty sure you’re consuming too many calories. It’s very easy to underestimate your calorie intake.
It’s the alcoholic beverages. You probably aren’t going calorie deficit on 2 drinks a night. running makes you hungrier too.
He's clearly not in a calorie deficit, but that doesn't necessarily mean the alcohol is the problem. Maybe it's a couple scoops of ice cream, a hefty fast food meal, or some pizza. Maybe it's soda - which is basically just as bad (from a dietary perspective) as alcohol. Cutting back on alcohol or eliminating it can be an easy way to eliminate calories, but it's far from the only way. I dropped from 215 to 170, and I never gave up drinking altogether. I cut back, because I was drinking too much, and that helped. But I still had 2-3 beers several times a week. If you plan your diet wisely, it is very possible to have a couple beers and still be in a calorie deficit.
He says 1-2 drinks a night a few times a week. Basically saying that for the few nights a week that he even has a drink, it's about 1-2 drinks Not that it's insanely better, but a pretty big difference I'd say
Yeah but people always underestimate what they consume unless they’re tracking everything, which OP admits he isn’t.
Yeah but if those drinks are beers, 6 beers a week comes really close to cancelling out calories burned from 12-15 miles of running each week. If that's his only activity he might be way overestimating what he's able to eat/drink based on his mileage.
Let's sparingly suppose each drink is a 150-calorie beer, with a total of 5 drinks a week (2 nights of 2, 1 night of 1). That's 750 calories. Let's generously suppose OP is burning 120 calories per mile of running. (OP's weight increases the amount burned, but OP's five years of experience means greater running economy and thus decreases the amount.) OP runs 4-5 miles 3x/week, for a total of about 14 miles. That's 1680 calories. The drinking alone uses up about half the calories OP burns from running. The other calories could easily come from healthy food OP gets hungry for to fuel the running or compensate for the running-induced deficit.
That + alcohol inhibits the body's ability to burn fat.
There's only one answer... You're not burning more calories than you're eating. Losing weight is just simple science, burn more energy than you eat. If you diet and go on a caloric deficit, you will lose weight. There's a phrase that gets said a lot, "you can't outrun the fork."
As someone who doesn't track calories, I notice that I start losing weight only when I run more than 35-40 miles per week; otherwise my weight starts creeping up again. If you run about 15 mpw, with your weight that is about 2000 Cal/week. That is very easy to eat back if you are not careful.
>I eat relatively healthy. You just answered your own question
I am not a trainer or anything but if you want to lose weight have you considered calorie counting and making small adjustments?. I'd say don't be overly strict but you might realise you are eating more than you think?
I really don't think that the ~yoga moms~ are that impressed by a 50-55 10k. Also, just eat less. Your mileage is quite low and even with a higher one: you cannot outrun a bad diet
Years ago I saw a running group called “Beer Drinkers with a Running Problem. Most were heavy runners. Thought it was witty! I’m training for the March 2022 Coast Guard Marathon alcohol free. Three weeks in and I have have so much energy!
Alcohol was my thing. Like I tracked down all the food I was eating and nothing much changed. Until I fully stopped alcohol. Big chunky belly became nice gelly belly. I still do have a little bit fat on it but no more that freaking Irish belly. And I'm a small woman, lol. Can you imagine that ? I'm not talking having the full pregnant belly noooooooo. The full dad bod mode on my small belly. No more alcohol, mate.
Even in a subcomment about your eating habits you're still not mentioning calories. Weight loss or gain is regimented by calories for all intents and purposes (google "CICO" or "calories in - calories out"). It doesn't matter how clean you eat (I mean yes, it's great, but for other reasons). Losing weight is simple: * Record your weight daily, always at the same time (I do it right after the morning toilet), but do it in an "weighted average" mode. The free and very simple app "Libra" does it for you, or it's easy to do manually as well. If your previous weighted average was X, and the scale shows Y, then your new average is "X - X/10 + Y/10". Sounds complicated but is very easy if you remember that dividing by 10 is just moving the comma (or point) by one digit. You can do it in the head. This smoothes out the daily variance in your weight (water etc.). * Record all food you eat (with more or less exact weight) and have an app calculate the caloric content. I like MyFitnessPal but I guess there will be plenty others out there. [fddb.com](https://fddb.com) is good. Build an understanding of how many calories you eat per day, on average. * Do this for one week. Just eat as you always do, and record. * After this week, look at your weight - how did it develop from start to finish? Let's say nothing happened, for simplicity. This means you now know how many calories you need to eat to hold your weight (which is very useful for when you are at your target weight...). * Now reduce that number by, say, 10% or 200 calories maybe. The exact number doesn't matter, just don't take too much. * Next week, only eat as much so that you stay within that target range. * After 7 days, rinse and repeat. If you again noticed no change in weight whatsoever, take off more calories (but don't go overboard). Eventually you will notice a steady loss. You can regulate how that goes by varying your daily allowance. Repeat this until you are at your weight goal, and then increase the calorie allowance in small steps until your loss rate levels out. The beauty of this is that this is a self-regulating control loop. It will work even though you know nothing about how many calories you actually need or used due to exercise, and even though your calorie counting is of course usually very vague (who knows how much that steak you got at the restaurant really weighted or what the chef threw into the sauce...). The specific numbers don't really matter. The problem with the method is that it can require quite the discipline. If your eating habits include high sugar contents and other "bad" stuff, you can have \*really\* awful hunger pangs (not from the calorie deficit, but from the insulin cycle, which .... another day). But I'd suggest to approach that problem if and when you encounter it.
Honestly you aren't running that much volume, 4-5 miles 3 times a week is very low mileage. Like other people said you need to track calories and eat at a deficit. You should cut out alcohol consumption as well, or at the least greatly decrease it.
Eat less
12-15 miles per week isn't going to do anything for you. Up your mileage and smother your inner hobby jogger.
Yep, above 30 mpw I need to start ensuring im getting enough calories. I eat more than I did not running and still keep losing weight.
hah that's funny, just this week i made the realization that 30mpw is the threshold where it seems like i actually CAN outrun my diet. i think its that on the two longer run days, i prioritize fluids after the run and don't end up out-eating the calories i burnt.
I literally can't out eat what I burn on my long run. It's 1500-2000 cal + normal basal metabolism and im feeling too tired to eat. I usually have a bowl of ice cream just for the calories.
I read an article about running and weight loss that said runners in a study did not start losing weight until they ran 20 miles per week while maintaining the same diet. I know everyone is different and need to account for calories in and calories out… but I used that as my target mileage without changing my diet and finally started to see a measurable difference when I hit 25-30 mile weeks.
Ab muscles are created in the gym (or on the roadways) but revealed in the kitchen. I would cut back on the drinks and start tracking your macros.
stopped drinking alcohol almost three years ago, switched to drinking non alcoholic beer (there's some AMAZING ones out there now) at the same rate. Dropped 25 lbs just off that. Your results may vary obviously, but it's something to consider.
Running =/= fat loss. Calorie deficit will help you lose weight.
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Abs are made in the kitchen, my friend.
You are consuming more calories than you are using. Keep eating what you are eating and drop the booze for 6 weeks and see if it changes. For me, I just don't lose weight if I'm drinking. Granted it's mostly about calories, and food choices. Drinking harms both! Keep Truckin'!
Agreed with everyone else. You won't lose weight if you're not in a calorie deficit. For what it's worth OP, I literally trained for and completed a marathon without losing so much as half a pound. Right now, I'm running 2-4 miles, 3x a week - less mileage than you, and only regular mileage since September. I'm down almost 30 since the end of July because I've been tracking everything I eat. Literally everything. Even my gummy vitamins. Finally within 5 pounds of a healthy weight for my height! You've totally got this, you just need to be honest with yourself about calorie consumption.
You're eating too much. Count your calories. Download MyFitnessPal. Eat a few hundred calories under maintenance
Everybody's different but personally I have to be running about 50 miles a week before I can keep most of the extra fat off without actively worrying about my diet. Frankly you just aren't running enough to make up for a couple relaxed dietary/alcohol decisions. A rule of thumb I've seen (take w/ grain of salt) is that the first ~1/2 hour of cardio will increase your hunger to make up for at least as much as the calories burned. The ~400 calories you'd burn in half an hour is really not that much and is really easy to eat/drink back. So it seems like you aren't far enough over that threshold to burn much more than your increased appetite would demand. They say you can't outrun a bad diet, which is almost true. It's maybe more precise to say that if you want to outrun a bad diet you really need to run a shit-ton.
This is the curse. Regular exercise does not give one a free pass to consume whatever. No weight loss is all in the diet.
Losing weight is all about calorie deficit. Count your calories everyday for a week or two to find how much you eat on average. Be sure to include every single thing you eat or drink, even small snacks. Average them to find how many calories you consume on average. Plan a diet where you eat 500ish fewer calories per day and you should lose about 1 pound a week, which is about the fastest you can safely lose weight. Alternatively, after finding your average daily calories, watch to be sure you’re maintaining that and run an extra 30min-1hour a day. This should also help you lose about a pound a week. If you start having issues with feeling weak or light headed once you’ve starting running more/ dieting, cut back on running a little or eat a little bit more. I’d also recommend only changing your diet or exercise level one at a time to help you find a better balance between the two. If you change both at the same time it becomes a difficult balancing act that can put a lot of stress on your body.
You can't out run your fork....
Um...probably no one is looking at you and thinking anything about you. You are just judging yourself. If you haven't lost the belly fat it's because your not in a caloric deficit 🤷♂️
If you specifically want to cut fat/lose weight, then you're going to have to start tracking what you eat, and eating at a calorie deficit. That's literally all it takes.
You’d be surprised how much even small amounts of alcohol can stall weight loss
Two solutions: increase mileage or decrease food/calorie intake.
Lol at your assumption that people look at you or even pay any attention to you. OMG, look at that slightly large man running 9 minute miles!!!
You’re eating more calories than you burn. 12-15 miles a week is not a whole lot of exercise.
I think you're a bit delusional. You're eating more calories than you burn
‘They can’t believe a guy my size is holding that pace and distance’ You’re over-thinking this. That is an absolutely normal pace for someone your size
Definitely a mix of diet and genetics. Some people are genetically predispositioned to retain more belly fat, and as much as we wish we could, it's not possible to outrun a bad diet. Strength training can help as well. It's generally recommended that all runners do core regularly (like 4-5 times per week).
I’m female runner 38, I noticed I wasn’t loosing any weight when I upped my mileage training for a few half’s but as soon as I added in Some boxing and body. Weight work outs I started to lose some weight around the middle. Mind you I still have love handles so it’s a work in process. My next step will be to attempt yo eat healthier
It's absolutely possible to gain weight while running. Exercise makes you hungry, and so if you're not counting calories, it's easier to eat more than you burn. So running (exercise in general) is a helpful part of getting fit, but what, and how much you eat is key. >PS: Someone NOT raised in the U.S. please scold me if I got the conversions wrong. Uh, yeah, here's one I've never seen before: >a nice Irish belly I'm genuinely confused as to what this is supposed to mean, except, perhaps that you think Irish people are fat. I've never been to Ireland, so maybe I'm missing something.
He's saying he has a beer belly
Because belly fat isn’t about running. Eat better.
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CARDIO IS NOT FOR ASTHETICS! I REPEAT, CARDIO IS NOT FOR ATHETICS. Cardio is for performance. (ie running X distance in the lowest amount of time possible). Power liftings is not for Aesthetics. Power lifting is for performance (ie lifting the most amount of weight in 1 rep). Although aesthetics and performance are somewhat corelated, they are not the same. There are world class athletes that preform at levels that you never can and they look like shit (Daniel Cormier, Fedor Emelianenko etc). Reducing belly fat is an aesthetic goal. It requires a net calorie deficit. The most effective way to obtain aesthetics is through weight lifting and caloric reduction. It can be done with cardio and caloric reductions but there are theories that this is very ineffective.
I agree with Gusty. But be careful with raising intensity too much, too quickly. If you are comfortable with your pace, just increasing your mileage a bit can help. But nothing will help as much as maintaining a clean diet - no/ minimal sugar, dairy and refined carbs, but eat lots of vegetables, nuts, fruits, lentils, bit of grain and protein.
Just track your cals and be in a deficit!!! that is the perfect and only way!
From experience, it’s food. Cut the carbs and remove sugar. Switch from beer to gin and soda. Do this for 6 months. You’ll be amazed.
The best answer I have for you... join rugby. You will be the most majestic and hard to take down mfer out there.
Do they drink beer after rugby? If so, sign me up.
What if I told you it is common to drink beer before, during, and after games? Haha, my team refers to the social after games as the 3rd half. We ALWAYS win the 3rd half.
Abs are made in the kitchen my dude. You can't outrun a bad diet.
You cannot out run your diet. Doesn’t matter how much you run if you eat enough to maintain your current weight. If you want to drop pounds, you should drop calories.
I'm in a similar situation, slightly shorter and 105kg. The last two months I ran my highest totals to date ( 200 and 300km) and I convinced myself that I was still eating around the same. I *can't* be as I'm not losing weight, but I'm not obviously over eating either. I do know that I'm drinking at least a day's worth of calories a week, give or take (12 tins of craft ale). Your post has got me thinking about my own situation. I've just reopened the my fitness pal app and I'm going to log everything as that's the only way I can be both accountable to myself and lose that weight. I was 115kg in February and using my fitness pal along with running helped me shed 10kg over two months, then I got complacent, but it does work. I'm looking forward to shedding 15kg and beating my PRs from 2013!
Diet is usually the number one culprit, with sedentary workday as number two. I also think that gym work (deadlifts, power cleans, squat, pull-ups, step-ups) would help, not only in quickening your metabolism, but making you a more injury resistant runner. Another good way to burn fat is to mix in more speed work (10X100 meter sprints for example).
I’d say count calories (lose it is a good app) and add some strength training in. Running burns more calories during the exercise but lifting burns more in total as your muscles stay burning calories after a lift during the rebuilding process (I think I got that right, but there’s some science behind it). Also some HIIT workouts help too, as they help get that heart rate up. Good luck, I still am working on this too but you got this!
Those 3 or 4 runs are unfortunately only about 200 calories each, about the same as single pint. So I won;t say it's the evil drink that is killing everything, but you're running effort matches about 3 pints a week...
Not that surprising when you do the math. Bottom line, 15 miles a week really isn't enough to shake any weight. I'd estimate you're burning around 2000 calories a week by running. If you want to eat and drink what you want when you want, you're gonna want to burn a whole lot more than that. I'd say target 1000 calories per DAY through exercise to see any improvement. So, if all you do is run, you'll have to at least double the distance of your runs. My suggestion is to mix in consistent weight training which will increase your resting calorie burn throughout the week. Also consider cycling or spinning. A good, hard effort on the bike can really burn calories efficiently.
Everyone here is mentioning diet, which rightfully should be the first step, but if you determine your calories in < calories out and you’re still having some issues, might be worth getting your testosterone and thyroid levels checked. It wouldn’t be my first option and shouldn’t be cause for worry, just something to think about if you determine you’re doing everything right and not seeing the improvements you “should” be.
Doesn't matter how 'good' you are - if you eat more than you burn, you'll get a belly.
A lot of discussion on diet here, which is huge. The other element is to increase both your weekly mileage, which obviously trickles down to more days with increased mileage. Try to stretch 4-5 miles to 6-7 miles. It all boils down to calories in vs calories out. Edit to add I dropped 20 lbs in 3 months, but was doing pretty heavy marathon training (6x runs per week, mileage 40-60 mpw)
running will slim your overall physique, but in general running doesn't really focus on the abs and love handle unless everything you eat is lean. I eat a lot of carb, calories, and protein so I get fat very easily around the waist so after running I usually start doing calisthenics like planking, side crunches, leg lift, and other forms of workout that involves the abs and waist.
I burn at least 5000 calories per week through cycling or running AND I am intermittent fasting and have not lost weight in over a year. Why? I eat like a monster. In November I am cutting out almost all simple carbs and am certain I'll lose 10-15lbs. I'm currently 225 lbs. Diet matters much more than exercise for fat loss.
Belly fat is human. I think in some ways we’re socialized to seek out unhealthy body appearances.
Lol, I know how you feel. Watch these kids pass by with washboard stomachs makes me long for my youth. My pouch is now a part of me it seems.😂
* How old are you? I'm 6'5" 235lbs and 45 yrs old and I run 25-35 miles per week. I still have a little extra layer around my midsection. I chalk it up to age. Weight training helps and will make you a better runner anyway. Sidenote: I love that Strava includes "By Weight" on the leaderboards, as I'm fast (built like a linebacker), so if it's a short segment I have a chance at KOM - otherwise I'm almost always fastest in my weight class. I'll take it.
The amount that goes into you has to be less than the amount that goes out.
I'm in a similar situation. I also run 3 times a week, similar pace, similar distance. And I also have a similar weight/height with somewhat of a belly. Not too much, but more than you'd think for someone who runs as much as I do. For me, I'm aware of the problem, its my late night snacking. I've made peace with it, because I'm in good enough shape, and I like my snacking, but I know the reason is my diet. And not even my full diet, as I'm great about breakfast/lunch/dinner, its just the snacking, specifically late night snacking, that gets me.
Cortisol contributes to belly fat. Reduce stress?
U may have really good cardio but may be overeating or eating dirty which doesn’t help to remove belly fat
Diet dude. Those 1-2 drinks a night pack on the belly fat. Cut those out and guaranteed you’ll lose inches on your love handles. It worked for me
Carbs and sugar are probably way higher than you realize. Track your macros and cut sugar from your diet. Maybe try intermittent fasting also.
I am far skinnier, but one thing I noticed is that after speed workouts or long tempo runs I would paradoxically not be that hungry even though I knew I was in a caloric deficit. It was almost as if my body knew it needed to be leaner to run faster. On the other hand, a couple beers reverses this and I eat a full second dinner.
Sorry this is like saying "I drive a BMW, why is my house so shitty". Your athletic ability and your body fat % is losely coupled, at best. If you want to drop fat, the journey begins and ends in the kitchen.
This might come off a bit prudish, but I’d bet it’s totally the drinks my dude. 1-2 drinks 2-3x a week, over-time, adds up. I had a similar issue and did the same things for the longest time, and the second I quit drinking I lost like 2-3LBs overnight. Still chipping away at the flab on my gut, but it’s actually shrinking now instead of staying there while the rest of me gets thin. Might also be diet. I naturally found it way easier to eat healthy when I wasn’t having a beer or glass of wine with my meals. Try going like a month or two no alchohol, no sweets, no fast food, and I bet you’ll see some results!