Running & appetite

[MeadowViews]

I love running. It's so vital to helping me with stress and anxiety, I run every other day, around 40km a week total.

But oh my god does it make me hungry!! I make sure I eat well, complex carbs, healthy fats, lots of protein (tuna, eggs, nuts, yoghurt, chickpeas, lean meat) and my diet is probably a little better than average (def between 5-10 portions of veg a day) while I don't deprive myself of the odd slice of cake/chocolate. I drink litres of green tea and water.

Does anyone else fight a battle with their appetite induced by running? I have to just go hungry in order to not put weight on, and the longer my runs are the hungrier I am.

I feel permanently ravenous! Definitely eating enough as my weight hasn't changed at all, I make sure I'm fuelled up.

Any tips?! Is this normal?

I actually find the opposite - running shuts off my appetite. Which is not really a good thing for me as I also run every other day or so and really struggle to eat before (as I have responsive digestion - say no more!) and find it hard to eat straight afterwards. A couple of hours after is ok.

It sounds like you are eating the right things with lots of fat and protein and ensuring it is not dehydration. If you have just started increasing your distance it might be a temporary appetite increase?

Running makes me really hungry too.

Last year I lost 1.5 stone by running 25km/week and doing 16:8. What I didn't realise was that running itself was making me ravenous. I stopped running in November and found that my appetite correspondingly decreased. I have continued with the 16:8 and actually the wight loss continued at pace, but I don't feel the constant hunger of the running months.

BUT while slimmer my body is a lot less toned now. So I plan on taking up running again this summer (I guess I will just have to get used to being constantly hungry again).

I get very 'rungry'.... I hear all the time how exercise is supposed to reduce appetite but I am the opposite.

The only thing that helps me is 16:8 fasting. I run on an empty stomach in the mornings drink a shed load of water and wait for lunch to eat...Then I pretty much shovel it in until 8pm but this seems to keep things in balance.... If I eat first thing I then ravenous all day.

I used to have a similar issue (endurance cyclist BTW which amplifies the hunger as I go out and do very long, low intensity rides or very short intense). I read Matt Fitzgerald’s ‘Racing Weight’ - don’t be put off by the title! I learnt a huge amount about timing nutrition based on my weight and training needs. I wasn’t eating anywhere near enough before or during or immediately after for that matter. It’s all about targeting the correct nutrition at the correct times. For example I need to eat 100g of carbohydrate in the 4 hours preceding any session over 90 mins. Obviously you can incorporate a normal, regular meal into that figure (the 100g is unique to me). It took a bit of planning - MyFitnessPal was very handy as it’ll show the macronutrient counts (carbs, fat and protein) so you can get it spot on. I ended up eating way more and losing weight (I wasn’t trying to), I could train harder, recovered quicker, got ill less and no hunger. The hunger being the thing you are looking for!! If I don’t stick to it (it’s become second nature) I tend to need to tip the contents of the kitchen cupboards down my throat later in the day or the following day. I also recommend a book called Roar (think it is Stacey Simms?). She talks about lots of usual stuff specific to women including nutrition. It’s particularly important for women to get the correct ‘recovery’ snack/ drink in within 20 mins of finishing to aid recovery. My unique mix is 20g protein and 74g of carbs. I usually make it via a smoothie. Obviously that’s after a ‘proper’ session. I wouldn’t have it after a half hour cycle commute for example. It’s a fascinating subject anyway. I’m convinced you can fix the hunger with the right timing/ composition of food.

I should also add I keep my food ‘real.’ So I’ll only use gels and complex carbs racing. I always opt for ‘proper’ food on longer rides. I’m guessing that’s tougher running though.

I should also add, I force myself to eat when I’m not hungry... that’s usually during a long ride. I know from previous crap experience I’ll either bonk later in the ride, or become ravenous later in the day.

40 km/week is a lot.
For me that would be about 2500 more calories over whole week used just on running, or > 300kcal/day. So yeah of course I'd be eating lots.