Run Well Juliet McGrattan (microsoft ebook reader TXT) 📖

your goal) and supplies the nutrients your body needs to repair itself; one that keeps you healthy, that’s practical and affordable for you and that sits comfortably with your own environmental conscience. It should give you pleasure too. If you’re ticking all those boxes, then that’s perfect. If not, then it’s up to you to look at alternatives and make adjustments. It’s just important to know that you can’t put rubbish in and expect excellence out. If your diet is poor, for whatever reason, then there is lots of unleashed potential that you could gain from, both in terms of your running and your general health, so be pro-active, and explore your options and what might work for you.

Q Why doesn’t running help me lose weight?

A Many people start running thinking that it will be a good way to lose weight and the majority are disappointed. While for some running can result in shedding pounds, for others it actually results in weight gain, which can be incredibly frustrating and disappointing. The first and most important point is that if you have increased your fitness through running and become more active than you were, then you have improved your health, regardless of what the scales say. Yes, some of the benefits of exercise come from losing weight, but many of them are completely independent. Using weight loss as a marker of your fitness gains is not a good idea. By increasing your activity levels you will have boosted your muscle mass (which may be responsible for some of your weight gain). This results in an increased number of myokines, which are released from muscle during exercise and have an anti-inflammatory effect in the body, reducing the risk of many serious medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and cancer. By exercising more you will have also reduced your visceral fat. This is the harmful fat around your internal organs and it causes inflammation in the body. It is responsive to physical activity and by lowering the amount of it you will again have reduced internal inflammation and improved your health.

So running can build muscle, which may make the scales read higher, and it can also make you really hungry. It’s so easy for the overwhelming hunger that strikes after a run (also known as runger) to result in larger portions, extra carbohydrates and multiple snacks. The cravings are real! It’s also easy to overestimate how much you’ve burned off during a run (approximately 100 calories per mile) and even easier to overcompensate with food. The same can be said for activity levels. Knowing that you have been for a run can lower the amount of exercise you do during the rest of the day – you may feel you’ve earned the right to lie on the sofa for the rest of the day. This may be a subconscious behaviour, but it still leads to using fewer calories and weight gain. Don’t forget that if you’re using sports gels or drinks they will contain additional calories that are easily forgotten. In fact, you may return from a run without a calorie deficit at all. It’s common to see some weight loss initially, but then it may plateau and even increase over time. This can be a result of the body adapting and becoming more efficient at using fuel, resulting in a slower metabolism. Throwing in some high intensity work and building muscle can help to counteract this. The moral of the story, though, is to be wary of what the scales tell you. Judge your fitness and body by how you feel and look, and find your own balance between running and eating.

Q I run every day and train hard but my running isn’t going very well at the moment. I eat really ­healthily because I don’t want to become overweight but I’m ­conscious I might not be eating enough for all the ­exercise I do.

A Whatever your size, if there is a mismatch between the energy you are putting into your body and the energy you are expending, then this can potentially cause problems. There is a fine balance needed to remain healthy. You may have heard of the term RED-S, which stands for Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport. This is used to describe a situation where disordered eating results in a negative energy balance and subsequent health consequences. Disordered eating includes specific eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, but also includes any poor relationship with food leading to eating habits that don’t provide the body with enough energy for training and for basic bodily functions. Clearly, low energy availability will impact running performance, but RED-S is more serious than that. The body starts shutting down some of its normal functions to conserve energy. Many systems will be affected. The most significant for women is the fall in oestrogen levels, resulting in amenorrhea (a lack of menstrual periods) and osteoporosis (low bone mass). Amenorrhoea (see here) can lead to fertility problems. Osteoporosis leaves people susceptible to bone fracture and collapse. The combination of an eating disorder, osteoporosis and amenorrhoea used to be called the ‘female athlete triad’, but we now use the term RED-S because we realise that any type of disordered eating is significant. The consequences are much more widespread than just bones and periods, and men can be affected too. People with RED-S often underperform and are at high risk of injuries. There can be disruption of digestion, mood, the immune system and also negative effects on the cardiovascular system.

If you are struggling with balancing eating and training and think you may have RED-S, then it’s important that you seek help. Specialist input and advice is needed to diagnose and treat RED-S. Your next step should be to make an appointment with your GP who can refer you to a specialist clinic if required.

Did you know?

You can’t tell if someone has an eating disorder by looking at them. People who are underweight, overweight or of