Running and weight loss advice please

Hi, I'm new to running and have been following the C25k program for nearly 4 weeks and enjoying it.  I'm just finding my way around this website so if there is a thread about this elsewhere I do apologise.  I'm looking to increase my fitness and loose weight with my new found running program and need a little advice.  What sort of food should I be eating?  There are so many protein products on the market ie shakes,choc bars and was wondering if these help in anyway or should I just stick to eating good healthy food ie fruit and veg.  Any help/advice would be very much appreciated.

Stick to good healthy food.

In my opinion, you don't need to be thinking about dedicated nutrition until your mileages are up into the teens of miles.

I've heard people laughing at beginners who do 5 minutes on a treadmill (burning perhaps 40 calories)... then sucking on sports drink with about 200 calories in it!   That might be unfair because we're all the victims of "good" marketing.

Running is great for health, but no exercise (in itself) is particularly great for weight-loss. Running is one of the best though...  but weight-loss is all about what you eat (perhaps until you get to running for more than an hour at a time)

I'd agree with that.  I've just finished C25k and have lost just over a stone through running and just using a decent calorie counter app (I've used MyFitnessPal) - eating 1200 calories a day and then eating half of the calories that I've burned through exercise on the top of the 1200 allowance seems to have done the trick

Hi guys, This is my first post here on Runnersworld, I have just finished the first week of C25K, I've never been a particularly adept runner, or enjoyed it but I have found this programme fun. I think I like just being told exactly what to do. I was wondering if there are any adverse effects to not leaving a day in between runs or leaving more than a day in between? Also I was wondering if anyone has any fun or usefull tips to give to an absolute begginer like myself  Any advice would be appriciated. Thanks!

Hi Lucinda,  I've been using the app for the ipod and found that it would let me train for two days but when I tried to do the third day the counter says 'rest' and wouldn't let me start.  As I'm new to this I thought that I ought to do what I was told and take a day off.  I'm just starting week 4 and loving it!

Hi All, my first post too. I've also just started, I've done 9 runs and gone from half a mile to 2.4 miles without stopping which I never though I could do (my pace isn't great towards the end mind). I'm hoping to push the 3.1 mile barrier this week which I never thought I could do, especially not so soon. I'm running to lose weight, I lost 3.5 stone over the last year from diet and various exercises but I've now started running and use it as my sole exercise. 

How quickly are you finding that you can run greater distances? I run on a 0.8 mile road circuit and try and run a bit further each time which seems to be working, I'd love to get to the 6.2 mile mark. When did you first hit that marker? Any tips would be much appreciated, thanks!

Jo Limb wrote (see)

Hi, I'm new to running and have been following the C25k program for nearly 4 weeks and enjoying it.  I'm just finding my way around this website so if there is a thread about this elsewhere I do apologise.  I'm looking to increase my fitness and loose weight with my new found running program and need a little advice.  What sort of food should I be eating?  There are so many protein products on the market ie shakes,choc bars and was wondering if these help in anyway or should I just stick to eating good healthy food ie fruit and veg.  Any help/advice would be very much appreciated.

Jo,

Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% training. In order to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit (burning more than you're takign in). 1 pound of fat roughly equates to 3500 kcals. So if you burn 500 calories less than you take in a day you'll loose 1 pound a week, with 1-2 pounds a week being a steady, safe and maintanable weight loss.

In terms of what to eat here are some examples: chicken, turkey, lean beef mince, steak (all lean proteins) salmon, tuna steaks, saw fish (not as bad as it sounds is almost pork tasting) pollock (these are all great fish meats) sweet potatoes, wholemeal rice and pasta, wholemeal bread, oats (all slow releasing carbs which keep you fuller longer) and then some smaller things like eggs, and cashews and almonds in small quantities. Get the basics down and then worry about supplements if you so wish. I do have protein shakes, some say they're unecessary and they are to an extent but sometimes I cannot stomach extra food and I also use it as a bit of a treat but worry about that much later on.

Hope that essay helps you out a bit, if you want any more help I'm happy to give you an example of my diet. But for the mean time use this tool: 

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Fill it in honestly and pop in how many times a week you exercise. It'll give you a number of calories to maintain and to lose weight and then extreme weight loss. I'd aim for around 100kcal lower than the weight loss figure and then you should be working towards 1-2lbs loss a week. Also a mistake I made at first was thinking I could eat the amount of calories shown in the calculator then once I had exercise I could have another couple of hundred only to find I didn't lose weight. The calculator includes your calories burnt in its results.

Where did you get "Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% training" from? If you're someone who would describe themself as "I only have to look at food and I put on weight" or " I eat very little, always on a diet but can't lose weight", then you need to pretty much take exercise out of the equation, say 99% diet and 1% training. In other words no amout of exercise will make this type of person lose weight because they eat too many kcals. Forget adding any kcals to your basal metabolic rate to allow for exercise, because frankly, if you were that good at judging your exercise and calorific needs you wouldn't need a diet.

Wondered if I'd run into you as you seem to just go against anything anyone says. I follow a lot of athletes and nutritionists, mainly people involved in weight lifting but the same principals apply across all exercise. The main thing is "you can't out train a bad diet". Yes you can lose weight without exercise but exercising too allows you to eat a bit more and enjoy your food, I don't diet nor was a I suggesting DIET just a healthy lifestyle eating good foods, everyone is entitled to a treat now and again too. If you don't allow for the calories you burn during exercise then you can end up eating quite a low intake of calories and therefore slowing your metabolism and making it harder to shift weight. 

You can clearly see that I said eat good whole foods most of the time, exercise well and be in a calorie deficit so tell me is that not how you would lose weight, enjoy your exercise and build a strong and healthy body?