Hi There

I have been running for about a year now, started cause I gave up the ciggs about 18months ago and wanted to lose weight, note I have a BMI of 30. Last year I ran the race for life in 28mins, a 10K in 1hr 4 mins and 2 other 5ks at 32mins. This year I am going to run 4 5ks a 10K and the cardiff 1/2. I have not lost any weight, I even had my thyroid checked and I am normal. It is so disheartning as I am running about 4 sessions a week and have started some intervals on the treadmill in the gym, I am faster than many of my friends and know if I was 3 stone lighter then I would beat all of them. I know I am getting fitter but remain fat what the hell do I do now. I dont want to starve or do any quick fix diet involving glupy shakes. Has anyone got any reasonable advice for me??

Hi Lisa

Have you tried measuring your fat percentage as well as your actual weight?  As muscle weighs more than fat its often the case that beginner runners stay the same weight, but actually their percentage of fat has lowered.

If this is not case, then perhaps you have increased your food intake to fuel your running without realising it.  I always find the simplest thing is to keep a food diary and try to cut down on treats and monitor portion sizes.  A good site that I have found useful is www.nutracheck.co.uk - although not cheap you can sign up for short periods when you need it.  I definitely don't recommend a quick fix diet - that won't help your running - you just need to cut down gradually.  I suggest you have a look at our 'weight management' page under the articles and Advice menu. 

Hi Louise

I always joke that underneath my flabby jacket is a lovely toned body, thanks for advice I suppose I have to accept that I really need to eat less, its quite hard when your husband is 6ft 4 and can eat like a horse and be slim and with 4 cchildren and a full time job trying to concentrate on food discipline is hard. I really hope that my body fat has changed and that my running is not in vain

Thank you everyone for the advice and support, Louise I have joined the site you suggested and when you do input your food consumption it is a bit of a shock anyway going to try and reduce my portion size first will let you all know how I get on

Lisa

Good luck with it Lisa.  I have found tha every now and again I put on a few extra pounds that I don't need! - then I just monitor calories for a few days and this reminds me of the amount and type of food that  I should be eating!  Generally, though,  as runners we have got extra calories available than non-excersisers so this can only be good news!  I am definite that without my running I would be quite a bit heavier now and probably worrying much more about what I eat -and that would be very depressing - to lose weight without the extra excercise must be so difficult.

Hi Lisa, there's a lot of very sensible advice here - running will be doing your body loads of good so keep with it.

The one thing I would add is - based purely on my own experience - is that one of the keys to losing fat is also to gain muscle - though this doesn't mean bulking up! Running does a good job of strengthening your leg muscles, but if you can find the time and motivation to fit in a few very good gym sessions a week you might find it cracks the plateau.

Not sure if I'm allowed to give recommendations (let me know if not!) but I trained with a personal trainer called Gavin Walsh for a couple of months a few years ago and during those 8 weeks I lost about 8kg - all of it fat. I didn't bulk up at all - but it did really change my body shape in a relatively short space of time and did wonders for my confidence.

The downside is that using a personal trainer is undeniably expensive, but on the other hand, I'd probably wasted a small fortune on gym memberships over the years by not really knowing how to use them. It was very hard work and did require commitment to a healthy diet as well, but it sounds like you've already got a great attitude, so having someone alongside you might just be the spur you need. It worked for me, is all I can say.

Hi Lisa,

Im not an expert but when i started running i followed the weight watches points diet (my mother-in-Law was on it and she said it was good) anyway i followed it for about 12 months and lost nearly 2 stone. It was fairly easy to follow and all i did was make sure i ate a bit more on the days i ran and drunk plenty of water. Not saying it will work for you but might be worth a try.

John 

Hey have made some progress and have lost 8lbs in 3 weeks using the nutracheck site so thanks Louise for the recommendation, think its a food thing, need to be very strict about food input as will not lose it which seeing as I run a bit is so not fair but onward and upward

xxx

Thats great news Lisa - well done.  Hopefully you will soon get to a point where you are happy with your weight and will be able to maintain this with a combination of running/exercise and the occasional check on your food intake.  It may not seem fair that its still not easy to lose but just think of those poor people who just try and lose weight without burning calories through running as well!  That seems quite a lot to lose a week, though, so try not to overdo it or you may not fuel your running properly - its usually best to lose weight slowly but comfortably.

think the weight loss will naturally slow down from now on never stick within my 1400kcals a day but off set it in calorie burn so probably eating an average of 100kcals extra a day, anyway am loosing weight on that so will drop down when my weight drops so when I need it, have lumped bit stones etc for 90 mins today so have earned the right to go out for tea tonight

Thank You for your continued support 

Lisa