AIBU to think you CAN outrun a bad diet?

[HotLatteontherunplease]

Well, am I? Runners? Have you been able to keep eating whatever you want aslong as you run enough to burn it off. All advice I have read has been that obese people cannot outrun a bad diet but I know many people whose story is just that. They were obese or overweight, did couch to 5k, got hooked on running and lost half their body weight through running!

Can this really happen or are all the before and after pictures lying?!

I've been running for about 9 months, carried on eating the way I usually did (not the best diet but not the worst). But my weight has stayed the exact same, so that's not been the case for me! I've recently started eating a lot healthier and have now started losing weight

They don't usually outrun a bad diet. They get the runners bug and eat better to fuel better runs, longer distances and faster times... and then the weight comes off, too.

If eating what you want puts you 100 calories over your maintainence, you could probably outrun it. If it puts you 1,000 over, you'd have to run for hours each day...

If you run enough, yes...

'You can't outrun a bad diet' is usually shorthand for a longer explanation that food has more impact on your weight than exercise will, because you can eat a whole lot of calories easily, but it takes longer to burn the equivalent off. e.g. for me, a 5k run will just about cover the calories in a packet of crisps.

I find that running generally allows me not to watch what I'm eating super-carefully and then maintain my weight within a couple of pounds. However, longer runs can backfire a bit because they make me ravenous!

There are people who take up running or other form of exercise and the weight just melts off them, but I agree with the PP who said that's usually because they adopt a new lifestyle around their healthier habits.

The runners I know are overweight. Yes they can run 10k (I can’t!), but they freely admit they need to eat better to lose weight as well.

You can't. I took up running to lose weight, but it didn't work. Once I sorted my diet out, I lost 4 stone in 18 months.

Watching with tons of interest

DH eats absolutely loads of shite but if he’s having a gym phase the weight drops off him even though he doesn’t change his eating habits.

Nope don't think so. I only lose weight when I watch what I eat carefully and I run about 20 miles a week.

Too much refuelling is my big problem.

At 30 miles a week I can literally eat what I want but up to about 20 I still have to watch it a little. I suppose it depends on your body and what it gets used to.

When I first started running I also downloaded Map My Run. It measures the length of your run, the time, and also the calories you have burnt.

A 5K run, taking around 30 minutes, used to burn around 320 calories. (Can't remember the exact amount but it was around that).

While that might sound a lot, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that your body wants to stay in homeostasis - i.e. preserve the status quo - and so you'll be hungry after exercise and want to eat more. Plus there's the psychological element which is often in play - 'I've been to the gym so I deserve that extra slice of toast/pastry etc'

Exercise is undoubtedly good for you, but you have to an awful lot of it to create a truly beneficial calorie deficit which will mean you lose weight.

I find that the weight falls off me when I run, and I really struggle to eat enough for that not to happen...

Yes, I did initially lose weight doing slimming world (though I never followed it to the letter), and I lost three stones over two years while I started running doing the couch to 5k.

I stopped going to slimming world three years ago and I haven't followed it in that time at all. I eat what I fancy and run 15-20 miles a week and I'm quite active generally so it works for me.

So it's still mixed opinions then....

Yes!!!! When I was running marathons I ate like a horse.... whatever I wanted in whatever quantity I liked. It was bliss and I was properly skinny. But I was doing serious mileage. A knee injury means I can’t run anymore. So now I do weight based exercise and keep strictly to a calorie controlled diet. And I’ve never been bigger.

I really don’t believe the 80% diet / 20% exercise rule works for everyone. It’s certainly not true for me.

I’ve been running for ten years. I used to be able to eat more (but that could be my age) also your body gets used to it. If I want to lose weight through running alone now I have to do 10k every day (I currently run 5k a day). Diet is massively important

Diet is everything!
But don't stop running, it definitely helps loads!

Well if you exercise a huge amount then yes you can not gain fat but it won't be healthy so depends what your goal is. Is it literally just weight you worry about? Surely a healthy balanced diet and exercise to feel good and strong rather than thin would be better?

Weight isn't the only problem with a bad diet. My parents are slim but my Mum is diabetic as she ate a high sugar (but low calorie) diet for years and exercised and my dad has heart problems as he eats load of saturated fats (though is almost underweight).
I am healthy in what I eat but drink too much so will probably have issues with that.

The other side of that coin is that a good diet will not address the damage done by a sedentary lifestyle

If eating what you want puts you 100 calories over your maintainence, you could probably outrun it. If it puts you 1,000 over, you'd have to run for hours each day...

Agree with this! Also when I am in a good exercise routine I don't have as much time to snack. Then after gym endorphins stop me needing to snack so eating what I want is normally a lower amount.

I suspect that if you start running before you gain weight, you'll be able to stave off weight gain. But looking to use running to lose/keep weight off is probably much more difficult.

What's your situation, OP?

I did couch to 5k last year and eventually was running two miles every second night. It got to a point where I was dropping a pound after every couple of runs. I lost a stone in a couple of months. I did not change my diet I don’t think.

I need to get back into running. Everything was better when I was running.

@weputthespring. Everything was better when I was running too ☹️

Up until January I was running around 20 miles a week, and had been for months beforehand (plus a couple of hour long exercise classes). I was reasonably slim and more or less right where I should be in terms of weight.
I then got injured - not running related - and have not changed my diet - if anything I'm making more of a conscious effort to cut back. I have gained over 2 and a half stone since then.

You absolutely can outrun a bad diet. I think people just underestimate how much exercise is required to do it.

Nope. I train for Ironman triathlon and still have to watch what I eat. I was envisaging eating huge bowls of pasta with unlimited hobnobs with my tea. Not the case sadly.