Running but hardly losing weight!

[Staycalmandscream]

Started the couch to 5k with my kids as their PE challenge, roughly late April. Ran 3x a week, completed each challenge in order. After 7 weeks, I found on the longer runs I could increase my time so I was running 30 mins by the end of week 7. Result.

My samsung app told me I was running 5k in about 28 mins. However after an app update it recalibrated & now it tells me I do about 3.5k in 30 minutes. So I extended my run time to reach 5k & manage it in about 40-43 mins.

I run 2-3 times / week.

Throughout all this I've lost ... 2kg. Wtf!! All that work for 2kg? I mean, my clothes feel better & I'm definitely more toned / less wobbly. But everyone else seems to have 4x this weight dropping off by week 3! What am I doing wrong?

I started at 70kg. Now at 68kg. Current target 63kg. I don't snack. I eat at least 4 of my 5 a day. I'm veggie, my diet is pretty healthy & low fat, certainly not exceeding guidelines on fat & saturated fat. I don't add sugar to anything. Skimmed milk. I watch for hidden sugars.

Can anyone advise? I love the fitter feeling but if I'm honest I want to slim down too. Being this size makes me feel & look old. Could it be genetic? Should I get a medical mot?

Thanks.

I think you need to track your calories accurately (use an app)
and look into doing some resistance training.

To lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn

Running and eating sensibly will probably only stabilise your weight. It's very easy to burn a couple of hundred calories in a run and eat a few hundred more in your dinner because your body does not want to lose weight

Exercise on top of your regular diet only works for people who calorie counted everything before so you can guarantee you are not eating an extra apple ( that's ? 15 mins of running)

A 40min run will burn roughly 340 calories. So 2 runs a week = 680 calories and 3 = 1,020 calories.
To lose 1kg of weight you need a deficit of 7,000 calories.

You can't out run a bad diet. Trust me I have tried 🤣

If you can't calories you will loose but exercise alone won't necessarily cause enough of a calories burn.

Running 5k uses about 350 calories.

Do that 3 times a week you will work off about 1000 calories.

Do that for 10 weeks and you will use 10,000 calories.

1 pound in weight is 3500 calories. So after 10 weeks you should be 3 pounds down or about 1.5 kg. Which is roughly what you have done.

I suspect people who have also lost weight have also been massively cutting down on their eating.

Your weight is going down. Slowly but surely. If you keep going at your current rate (a pound every couple of weeks then by Xmas you will be more than a stone lighter than you were in April.

Generally the slower you lose weight the slower you put it back on as you are discovering a new lifestyle rather than a temporary diet.

Keep going!

(I’ve lost 5 pounds since the start of lockdown. On the one hand - so what! On the other hand - go me and keep going!)

Aerobic forms of exercise are not "efficient" ways of loosing weight unless you are running miles and miles professionally. They are excellent for overall health but not for weight loss. If you ever watch a marathon there are plenty of runners who are far from skinny but are very proficient at running.
Intensive training which utilises muscles and with an aspect of cardio along with dieting will shift weight far quicker. All the better if you can maintain the running too.

This is why HiiT is so popular. It's effiecient.

Your a vegetarian but you only manage 4 of 5 a day. What do you actually eat?

As above.

Exercise burns disappointingly fewer calories than one would hope. It is all too easy to have an extra snack or whatever as reward for the run.

I have been running for about 10 years and unless I track my calorie intake religiously I don't lose anything.

I see someone mention strength training too. It's a good idea. More muscle burns more cals. It will help your running. Its generally good for everyone to workout with weights for many reasons.

nbee84 that's interesting.

I'm definitely eating less, and have cut out things like crisps, choc unless a small once-a-week treat, no biscuits, rarely eating after 7PM to avoid late munchies. I don't drink alcohol.

I know some people are in denial how much / what they eat but I think I'm pretty aware. Will count calories for a few days to understand what I'm consuming.

You can't out run a bad diet. Trust me I have tried 🤣

Well it seems you can! Dh has basically done that over lockdown. Still not a great diet but he has lost nearly 2 stone.

However...... he is Zwift (cycle) racing for over an hour every night. (He’s got a bit obsessed!) He races to a point that despite two industrial fans his clothes are soaked through with sweat and he has been sick on a number of occasions. And he is an ex junior international athlete so he has a different idea of “pushing himself” than most people.

However, for those of us mere mortals who don’t see making themselves vomit as a fun part of an evenings entertainment then - yes - reducing calories is also needed to lose weight.

1. You need to be in a calorie deficit. Figure out your basal metabolic rate and track calories to eat less than that. Exercise calories are difficult to track accurately so don't eat them back. My fitness pal is an app that's good for tracking calorie intake.

1. Without making vast over generalisations, lots of (yes I know not all) people who do C25k are quite overweight to start with. The more weight you have to move, the more calories exercise burns. Increase your weight on a run to burn more in the same time. Either run with water in a backpack or weighted ankle straps.

1. Only running a couple of times a week isn't enough for sustained weight loss. Cardio is excellent exercise but doesn't burn fat. Daily weight lifting will increase your metabolic rate so you'll continue to burn more calories whilst not exercising, as opposed to cardio which is great for burning calories whilst you do it but not sustained.

In the flip side, building up to running 5km and losing weight is a fantastic achievement. You've probably built up some muscle also which explains the small change on the scale. Try measuring yourself to see a difference. Keep it up!

You won't.
You will lose weight if you eat fewer calories.
As pp do weight training to lose weight.

You have lost some weight and you've probably gained muscle, so probably look slimmer.

Well done on the running.

Don’t run with weighted ankle straps! It’s tendinitis or worse just waiting to happen. Try a weighted vest instead, wrist weights if you must (but it’ll change your arm carriage, which might not be a good thing if you do it a lot)

Wow you've made really impressive running progress .
What age are you ? I find losing weight in my 40s and now 50s a lot slower than it used to be, but not impossible.
I've been running a lot more in lockdown than before - signed up to This Girl Runs on Facebook - last month I ran 100km, from doing the odd parkrun (5km) before. I've not lost any weight but people think I have because my legs are a lot more toned - now trying to add in some arm weights and stomach crunches.

You're doing really well OP, and should be really proud of yourself.

However, two or three short, slow runs a week isn't going to lead to weight loss on it's own I'm afraid. Upping the milage on two of your sessions, and turning the other session into intervals or hills so you work harder, will really help though.

I also hate it when people chug out that old "you can't outrun a bad diet" shite. You really can. You just have to run a lot and have a lot of high-intensity sessions in there.
It's not by chance that the people who win at races or at Parkrun tend to be slim, and heavier runners tend to be at the back (yes, I know there are exceptions).

I plodded my way round several 10ks, halves and a full marathon when I was almost 11st, during which I was barely reaching 25 miles a week during most of my training . But as soon as I started putting in proper mileage and doing some targeted training, I dropped more than 2st and started running decent times. The only major change to my diet has been giving up alcohol, which I would also massively recommend if you want to improve your running and lose weight. I drank an average amount before- probably 4 or 5 glasses of wine a week - but stopping altogether had a huge impact for me. I still eat chocolate, cheese, cake etc when I want, just not loads of it. Thanks to the running I do, I can stay a size 8 fairly easily. And that's after being a 12-14 for much of my adult life.

Crikey @fellrunner85 25 miles per week sounds like a lot to me. How many miles do you run per week now ?

A usual week (ie not in marathon training) would look something like this..

1x speed or hills session (1 mile warm up, 3 miles intervals, 1 mile cool down = 5)

1x hour tempo (8ish miles)
1x medium easy (6ish miles)
1x long run (15ish miles)

Plus a couple of casual runs (ie with kids on bike, or just recovery to tide the legs over = another 8 miles or so)

So just over 40 for a normal week? More in marathon training though, which is 4 months of the year. And more over the summer and Christmas, when I've got more time just to get out there and enjoy long, slow miles.

Thanks for giving me a realistic perspective!

In my 20s I ran 10k 3x a week, plus did weights. Fittest I've ever been.

Now in my 40s I'm so out of the zone after a roughly 15 year break. Lone parent so I can only exercise around the kids & with no one to mind them ever, it's trying to fit it in around them that's hard. They have to come with me still at their ages but at least are now old enough to have a go too, or they walk when I need to run & they don't want to, and I have to keep doubling back on my path to keep near them.

I'm really pleased with where I'm at, wasn't expecting the endurance to be there so soon (not that it was easy, every run has been hard going & they seem to feel harder rather than easier each time still despite keeping the 5k distance) but the cardio vs muscle focus wasnt something I thought of. Is there a recommended beginners guide to basic weights, similar to couch to 5k for muscle training? I've still got some 20 yr old dumbbells

fellrunner85 your standard routine covers impressive distances!

The nhs seems to have strength and flex as well as couch to 5k, may be worth a look as a starting point

www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/?tabname=fitness-guides

Body weight exercises are a really good place to start, you can find some good videos on youtube to follow. I'm doing Chloe Ting's summer shred challenge- some HIIT training and body weight exercises, it's just the right level for me, makes me sweat but not complete burnout.