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    LYON77   5,045
SparkPoints 		4,000-5,499 SparkPoints
 
 
40 days of running.........ques
tions about weight loss.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Hi everyone! Thanks for reading my blog. As you know, yesterday was my 40th run. It wasnt that long ago when I was trying to make it running a full minute, now my usual workout is 30 minutes non stop and my longer runs are 45 to 60 minutes non stop. I cant tell you how incredibly proud and confident I feel after every run. When I started this attempt at running again I told myself that this time I would run for me and not to burn off (fill in food here) or to fit into (fill in piece of clothing here). I would just run for me. BUT.....................I would like to lose some weight too. So, I am asking fellow runners about their experience/opinions. I have a Polar HR monitor watch with a chest strap so I know how many cals I burn. Runners World mag says to maintain my weight I would eat 1860 calories so I need to eat 1360 cals or less to lose a pound a week. I can do this by eating less or through exercise or both. I usually burn about 300 cals when I run for 30 minutes. What do you guys think? Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks!
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  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

HIKINGLEAH 10/18/2011 7:54PM

    Wonderful job on sticking with running! emoticon

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STEFFIROCKSIT 10/18/2011 6:31AM

    Hi!
I've completed the C25K program which includes 3 runs every week. I keep up that schedule and sometimes even sneak in a 4th run. I use a SUUNTO heart rate monitor with a foot pod for tracking distances. Just like you I did it only for me and not to lose weight in the first place.

I eat my 1700 cals (suggested by SP) every day (give or take 100 cals) and burn approx 350-450 cals on every run. I've dropped 9 lbs in 12 weeks and lost 6 inches on my hips. I guess running helps with this target area because I've never lost inches on my hips so fast, no matter which sort of diet/exercise plan I was on. So, I don't think you need to dramatically drop you calorie intake, as long as it's in a normal range.

How many cals did SP calculate for you? To lose one pound you have to burn roughly 3,500 cals. So that's a good place to start your calculation. So you run on a regular basis and that sounds very solid. Why not give it a try and throw in some intervals? This will kick your metabolism into high-gear. Let's say 5 minutes warm up and then 2 minutes jog and 30-60 seconds sprint (as hard as you can). Repeat 3-4 times and see how you like it.

Good luck with it, let me know if you will try this and how it works for you!

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DITZYCHICK 10/17/2011 12:37PM

    Love your running excitement girl!!! You're definitely hooked!!! Of course you're doing this for the fun of it, but seeing the scale move is fun too! As long as you are consistent with your fitness and your nutrition, then you definitely should lose some weight. What worked well for me was to swap days between running and strength training. That way I was building muscle which helps you burn fat quicker. By switching it up, my body was able to heal from each activity. Also...keep on top of that water intake, it does wonders!!! Most importantly...keep smiling and loving it!!!

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SEPPIESUSAN 10/16/2011 1:22PM

    Like many have said, it's not an exact science but if you're patient enough you can try something I did a few years back:

I tried eating at X calorie level for a certain amount of time, paid attention to what happened to my weight, and if I was losing fine, I tried eating more. (My goal was to be able to eat as much as possible and still lose weight - haha - that may or may not be your goal too, but I LOVE to eat and run much better when my hunger is satisfied.) I'm so glad I took the time to do this, because I was so pleasantly surprised by the results: I was able to eat up to 2,400 calories per day and still lose weight (about a pound a week)!!! That was FAR higher than my SP range, so I never would have known this was possible if I hadn't just started experimenting. I think this may not be possible for everyone, but for me I knew that 1,200-1,500ish calories just felt AWFUL, and I was losing 3+ pounds per week eating that little, and I figured that COULDN'T be healthy for me to feel that way all the time.

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AIMLESS07 10/15/2011 8:33PM

    Yup! As your weight goes down your BMR will go down a little so keep an eye on that. It's definitely not an exact science as APIRL said but if you use it consistently, you will see the progress anyway. I weigh in and measure myself every Sunday morning. I see not only the weight loss but inch loss as well.

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APIRLRAIN888 10/15/2011 8:02PM

    Oh one more thing I found.......

Today I am 170 muscle, I started 170 fat
So when I use SP FITNESS TRACKER it says 3mils was 200 cals...true for 170 fat me

But my HRM says 500 today lol, b.c I was speed working. I am too lazy to log in .2 milesat 6 min and .8 mile is blah blah blah.... I just say 40 min for 3 mile hahahah.
But I was 6 min miles For .5 miles in burst.

Same for my long runs... I think my 9 miler SP says 750 my HRM says 1130
and that was same avg pace. I logo it in as 1:50 and 9 mile...think it was 12 min mile.
What my pacer said I did.

That is where not exact science comes in......

Comment edited on: 10/15/2011 8:10:44 PM

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APIRLRAIN888 10/15/2011 7:57PM

    Yes!!!!! Not exact science but yes!!! But remember if u haven't ran bef u will be building muscle so I advise ignore scale and take pics...bc measure tape can't distinguish muscle either! I found when I bend to take my thigh my muscle flexes same for arms! Adds an inch or so lol

Comment edited on: 10/15/2011 8:09:55 PM

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LYON77 10/15/2011 7:55PM

    So, I just looked at my BMR on Spark and it says it is 1,696 so thats how many calories I burn by just being alive and going through my day? Then you add my exercise calories burned to this. As long as my calories eaten stay below that number I should lose weight? Am I understanding this right?

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AIMLESS07 10/15/2011 6:59PM

    When you are considering weightloss, your body's metabolic rate plays in too. If you don't have the Sparkpeople app, I would totally reccomend it. Under the reports section it shows your BMR which is the amount of calories your body burns just through daily functions and then it adds up the calories you burn from exercise. It will then show the calories you ate and calculate your calorie differential for that day. I am marathon training and down about 15 lbs since the end of July using the app and putting in EVERY food and beverage that enters my body. I am going for 1650-1800 calories per day and as my mileage increases I will manually change my caloric goals on Spark. All I do for exercise is use the website to calculate my calories. Don't know how accurate that is but it is working for me so far. If you want a gadget for running, go for a Garmin 305 running watch. It has a heartrate strap but tracks your distance and pace so you can run wherever you want to go! If you have any questions, just let me know.

Comment edited on: 10/15/2011 7:07:37 PM

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APIRLRAIN888 10/15/2011 6:35PM

    Yup sound solid! When I did c25k or b210k I was just following SP recommendatio. I didn't have HRM then.

So I just added the cals up and let the tracker tell me. I was at 1250-1450 I think.
I was fine. But I ran 3 miles tops or 4

When I started 6 miles and up it got weird bc I got really hungry and so am I now with marathon training!

Remember I lost 10 lbs and stop losing weight but dropped tons of inches my 7 month 160 plateau

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