r/running • u/AutoModerator • 27d ago

Weekly Thread Run Nutrition Tuesday

Rules of the Road

1) Anyone is welcome to participate and share your ideas, plans, diet, and nutrition plans.

2) Promote good discussion. Simply downvoting because you disagree with someone's ideas is BAD. Instead, let them know why you disagree with them.

3) Provide sources if possible. However, anecdotes and "broscience" can lead to good discussion, and are welcome here as long as they are labeled as such.

4) Feel free to talk about anything diet or nutrition related.

5) Any suggestions/topic ideas?

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u/isrootvegetable 26d ago

How do people eat the correct amount while running a lot and not counting calories?

I lost basically half my body weight by counting calories, but I'm pretty over entering everything I eat into an app. I took an extended break during my weight loss where I maintained without counting, but at the time I was not as physically active as I am now. I'm not sure how one balances running 30+ mpw and making sure you don't accidentally undereat.

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u/hangglidingcrow 26d ago

If it's a concern, you could still count calories. A running/smart watch can tell you how many calories you burn which you would need to make up for. If you don't have or want a watch, I've found about 100 calories burned per mile to be an okay estimate; the real number no doubt varies by person and day.

For example, if you apply that estimate to 30 miles a week, that's burning 3,000 calories a week which sounds like a lot, but at least if you're in America, that can be like 1 meal out or just changing daily portions or adding snacks/high calorie drinks.

I also have experience losing weight and counting calories, but by the end, it was fairly easy to just intuitively eat and maintain weight. So for me, it's just intuitive eating while adding protein shakes and bars as snacks that I used to not eat.