Nutrition for Running and Hunger in General

strebalicious

So over the past six months or so, I've lost in the neighborhood of 25-30 lbs. I'm a 6'0" dude and went from 203 to hovering in the 175 area. This is probably a pretty decent weight for me to be at. I still looks like I have a beer gut and love handles, though that's probably more to do with my weird frame.

Comparison. (Linked for the tattoo of the naked woman on my side)

Problem One: Running

I enjoy running. Now more so that I did in the past. But my ability to run seems entirely random. Let's compare these two runs (ain't technology cool?).

7.13 Miles and 4.0 Miles.

See the difference? The first run, I was fine. No problems and could have probably ran another mile easy. The second one was hell. Stopped running multiple times, and felt pretty lightheaded and dizzy for most of the last half. This happens multiple times, where I can feel like I can barely finish a couple of miles one day to having to stop running because I'm simply don't have the time.

Is this more of a function of improper nutrition or improper hydration? I usually run at lunch time, and have a breakfast at about 7 or 8am. I drink a decent amount, but probably not more than a liter in the morning.

I've been kind of freeform in my running habits so far, so I suppose I should get more together to step up my game. Anyone got any pointers for me? I understand carbs are a good thing for runners, and I do seem to run better after I have some rice (maybe a cup or so) and eggs in the morning. Just don't know what or when I should be eating or working out, I guess.

So, what sayeth you all?

Problem Two: Hunger

I have weird eating habits, I think. I lost most of that weight simply cutting out sodas and other crappy drinks, and simply not snacking as much. I still eat crap, like Taco Bell for lunch or stuffing my face at a sushi-go-round until I want to vomit. But here's a typical day for me...

- Breakfast, 8:00 - bacon sammich OR cup of rice and three eggs OR some yogurt and a 'naner
- Lunch, 12:30-1:00 - 6" sub and some chips OR a couple of chalupas OR a bento box (some chicken, spaghetti, rice) from 7-11
- At this point, I'm usually pretty hungry by around 4pm.
- Dinner, 5pm - whatever seems like a decent size for a dinner, stuffing myself to the point of feeling slightly bloated

And by 8pm, I'm feeling hungry again, and if I'm particularly bored, I will find myself snacking on something every 30 minutes, even if I feel somewhat full.

Should I eat more for breakfast/lunch? Space out the meals more? I know it's best to eat smaller portions more often, but I never seem to have the time to do that, as my work comes in fits and starts and makes it somewhat hard to plan a routine during the work day.

That's all, I guess.

Hermus

I've run into the exact same problem (problem 1, I mean). I've found that eating a pretty fuckin big breakfast helps my energy levels for the day. If I know I'm going to go on a fairly long run (5 or so miles in my case), I'll eat more when I wake up. Most days, I eat EITHER a 2-3 egg sandwich OR some yogurt and granola with fruit. On days I plan to run, I combine both of these. It's really helped me run a bit further than normal.

Oh, and water. Sometimes I forget to drink water throughout the day, and I can generally notice this if I go for a long run. So remember to drink water throughout the day--not a TON, just a cup every now and then or something.

RUNN1NGMAN

On the running issue:

First of all, sometimes you're going to feel good, and sometimes you're going to feel like shit. There's no way around it. On the days when you feel like shit, go easy, take walk breaks, whatever. You're still getting most of the fitness benefits, and you'll feel better just having done something.

Without a lot more information most of this is just guesses as to why you might be struggling on certain days. On the second run, it looks like it was at 12:41 unless I'm reading things wrong. How long before that did you eat? If you went for a run at 12:41 and hadn't eaten anything since breakfast at 7, then you're going to feel totally dead. For me, 4 hours is about the maximum I can go between a meal and a workout, and even then I usually have a granola bar or something in between.

How much do you run typically? It's also possible you're over-training. If you're not doing this already, you'll probably see a benefit if every third week you cut your mileage by 20 percent or so. And if you're not alternating longer/harder runs with shorter/easier runs you can eventually start to feel the effects of not resting enough.

As far as what to eat, you can find plenty of advice on websites like runnersworld.com. But generally a meal with a good mix of carbs and protein is what you want before a run, which is what you're doing already so that's good. You might want to also try having something after a run, especially a long one--something high in protein with some simple carbs, like yogurt or chocolate milk. That will help your muscles recover faster, but it's not a great diet strategy.

EggyToast

I run first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, and for me any lightheadedness, odd sweating, sudden heat flash, etc., is because of water. Which is probably the case for you as well.

Endurance athletes need carbohydrates because they burn through them quickly. Your body tends to run out of energy due to simple depletion around mile 19-20. I can run 10 miles on two eggs, a strip of bacon, and an english muffin (whole wheat). And water, of course.

If you're hungry, you need to eat more protein. My wife recently switched her normal dieting, which was primarily simply counting calories, to south beach, which is explicitly low-carb (and counting calories). She eats the same amount of calories BUT significantly more protein and her hunger is significantly less than it was before. Often around 4-5pm she'd feel lightheaded, crashy, and felt like she needed to eat something. Now she's good to go until dinner, typically between 7-8.

Her biggest change was altering the snacks. Instead of fruit (carby) or yogurt, she instead has nuts or beef jerky. Beef jerky and bacon are actually great for dieting because they have very few calories and a ton of protein.

But it sounds like you might need to drop the carbs a bit. When I have similar lunches that are mostly bread-things, I get really hungry before I'm done with work as well. My snacks at work are nut-based typically which help. Another thing that can help are granola bars -- ones that are very high protein and low carb, again.

Yogo

From what I can see in your Problem 2 section, it looks like you are eating too many easily digestible carb rich products and not enough proteins/complex carbs. This goes for lunch as well as for dinner. Try adding fiber to your (white) bread selection when you go for a 6" sub and try to add more proteins to your other easily digestible carbs (spaghetti + low fat meat etc). The point is to have your stomach munch on something that takes longer to digest which will lengthen the time between meals (reasonable amount of proteins and fiber should do the trick).

Furthermore if you feel hungry between your regular meals, grab a snack in form of an apple, banana (or 2) or any other fruit product you like. It's healthy and will fight off the hunger long enough in time for the regular meal.

Rook

On the running:

Start slow, and gradually work up to speed rather than trying to set the pace in the first couple of km. This gives your body a proper amount of warm-up time and you'll have a better idea of what you're capable of that day.

If you want to work on your running, I'd suggest entering a race/fun-run etc. and then following a training plan (Bupa training plans) rather than just slogging away on long runs all the time. Mixing up sprints/intervals and long and short runs will give you a lot more variety to make your workouts more interesting and also do a lot more to build up muscle and cardiovascular fitness.


Some proper warm-up drills might also help with your warm up and running technique. Spoilered link for a good video on this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcH97Dx8VCk

(As an aside, looking at your picture, I'd suggest doing some weight training at the gym, or grab a training video to do at home. A little bit more muscle will help define everything a lot better).

Food wise, I don't really see a problem, if you eat at 5 then it's pretty natural to want a snack later on, and as long as you stick to eating good food and keeping up with the workouts then you shouldn't have a problem, although I might recommend factoring a snack at 4-5ish then dinner 7ish as more manageable.

strebalicious

I did enter the Tokyo Marathon, but I got an e-mail last week saying that I wasn't selected. But I still grabbed a training schedule for it from Hal Higdon and I'm starting it this week. So we'll see how that goes. I suppose I should look at these pre-run drills also, but I don't even stretch before a run (terrible, I know, but it seems to work for me).

Thanks for all the advice so far. I'm going to need some time to digest (hurr hurr) it all.

tehmarken

Just a quick note: it's important to limber up before running. Dynamic stretches or mobility drills; static stretches are bad before exercise.
Dynamic stretches and mobility drills literally warm up the muscles and stimulate bloodflow to the areas.
Static stretching tears muscle fibers so that they heal back elongated and able to do a further range of motion.

Hoz

I run on an empty stomach, and I have no problems with it and I'm a slim guy. Perhaps your body hasn't adjusted yet and you need to run fewer miles. Why are you doing 7 miles anyway? I think it's better to work on increasing your 5 mile pace than going on to anything over 5.

And I'm with eggytoast in guessing that it might be your hydration. You should be drinking two to three liters of water per day every day, like half a liter every two hours.

DirtyDirtyVagrant

I remember Alton Brown explaining this, but I can't find a clip or even remember what show it was in, so I will attempt a loose paraphrase.

When you consume a lot of simple carbohydrates (like the kind you find in lunch boxes at 7-11), You get a blood sugar spike and a hefty insulin response. This results in lethargy and general yuckiness, but it also creates a surplus of insulin, which causes your body to demand more sugar, which may be why you are getting hungry so quickly.

Grenn

strebalicious wrote: »

but I don't even stretch before a run (terrible, I know, but it seems to work for me).

Start stretching, and also make sure you warm up and warm down (walking briskly to get your heart rate up, or allow it to return to normal). Get into the routine of doing this. Do it. Do it. Do it.

I have friends who never saw the point in stretching or doing a proper warm up. Once they'd recovered from their injuries (which were a direct result of not stretching/warming up), they soon started though. 8-)

Hoz

I read about recent study in the NY Times that showed stretching had no impact on injuries during a run, unless you already have a routine of stretching before a run then stopping will increase injuries. I don't think a warm up is debatable though, that should be basic to any type of training.

Rook

strebalicious wrote: »

I did enter the Tokyo Marathon, but I got an e-mail last week saying that I wasn't selected. But I still grabbed a training schedule for it from Hal Higdon and I'm starting it this week. So we'll see how that goes. I suppose I should look at these pre-run drills also, but I don't even stretch before a run (terrible, I know, but it seems to work for me).

Thanks for all the advice so far. I'm going to need some time to digest (hurr hurr) it all.

I'd recommend against a long distance training program, and go for something short and snappy like a 10k. Running for 15-20 miles on training runs week in week out can be very mentally draining.

papacuppa

Hi

I had this problem, I think I can make a decent contribution.
I was told about this free presentation by a friend a couple of weeks back -- I think you'll benefit from it! It shows you 5 foods that fight ab fat.

You can check it out here:

www.booklug.com

Hoz wrote: »

I read about recent study in the NY Times that showed stretching had no impact on injuries during a run, unless you already have a routine of stretching before a run then stopping will increase injuries. I don't think a warm up is debatable though, that should be basic to any type of training.

Yea, I read this. I've heard quite a few personal trainers say the warm up is the most important part of your exercise routine. Period.

It makes sense to grease the hinges ^^

tehmarken

I'd liked to see a link to that study, because I'm betting they studied static stretching. Like I said earlier, static streching BEFORE exercise isn't helpful; but dynamic stretches are helpful as they are another form of "warming up".

Hoz

Go search stretching on NY Times.

But don't bother, you're right. It was static stretching.

Here it is: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/phys-ed-does-stretching-before-running-prevent-injuries/?scp=1&sq=static%20stretching&st=cse