Returning after a decade away from consistent running.

If your goal is to just lose weight, there's better approaches than doing so by just running. But if you have running goals, that's a different story.

Similar story here... mid 30's, ran off and off for the past decade or so, along with some lifting, basketball, etc. Started back up consistently about 18 months ago. Had some injuries along the way from bumping up mileage and intensity too quickly, but am finally to the point where I am training close to the level I was in college and am (knock on wood) the healthiest I've been in a long time.

Biggest thing for me was losing weight. Raced at ~150 or in college, had gotten up to about 180 or so in my early 30s. Intermittent fasting and (mostly) cutting out booze helped the most for me.

Also really had to start listening to my body more. Much more inclined to take a day off nowadays if I feel the beginnings of an injury rather than just training through it like I would have in college.

Was a grind to get to where I'm at, but holy crap is it fun to feel fit again.

Late 30s dropped from 190 to 145. Rode stationary bike 3 hrs a week mostly zone training and ate 1500-1700 calories a day. Lost the weight in 7 months and have kept it off for 3 years doing similar exercise,, incorporating more running, and eating 1700-2000 calories per day. I’ll eat more calories day before and day of higher intensity workouts. Don’t have time to exercise much more than I am otherwise would be able to eat a lot more.

Great response,

So, I enjoy running, and the feeling I get from it...I just don't really enjoy it at the weight I am currently at. I really have no "desire" to race, however I enjoy training, so I typically build a plan and follow it pretty closely for 3-4 months, then take a step back and repeat. Just for reference at 205, I ran a 1:40 half marathon during a long run in the fall. This was on purpose, and essentially a "time trial" to base some workouts off in the future.

I really tried to listen to my body the past year, and honestly probably have gone from 220lbs-200 at my lighted before I had a minor injury that I have hobbled off an on for another month. I just focused on going really easy on my "easy" days, but when I try and run 5-7 days a week, with working and everything its hard to fit weight lifting or anything else in.

Reading Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald was the catalyst I needed to knock out the extra pounds I acquired in a similar fashion to you. It basically boils down to adequate exercise (cardio + strength training) and eating quality foods and cutting out the crap. In addition to gradually increasing running (+ cardio cross training) and additional strength training, knocking out sugars (soda + candy), ultra processed crap (potato chips + fast food), and alcohol really did the trick.

205-210 at 6'2 can look pretty athletic, you just have to make sure you don't have a ring of fat around your midsection

I gained a good amount of weight after college and found it pretty easy to lose the weight if I just ate 3 meals a day and only drank water. No beers, no dessert, no snacks between meals, no shakes after a workout, no nothing except for birthdays, weddings, and other special social outings/celebration. I lost about 1 pound every 5-10 days or so, so it was kind of of a long slow process to get myself down to a healthy weight

Now that I have kids, it kills me to bust out the ice cream bars for them and to not pull one out for myself (I let myself go a little crazy on the weekend so my kids don't think I am an absolute robot)

As for working out, I basically just did 20-30 mins of easy jogging 3-5 days a week. I probably could have done a little bit more on that front

I took most of my 20s off from running and balooned from 145 racing weight in college to 215, pure belly fat/booze weight.

Decided in 2019 to make some changes. Cut back a bit on the booze and started running again...slowly. Like 10 minute pace for 5 minutes, 5 minute walk. Took a few months but the weight started to fall off. Cut out eating Wawa/fast food/as many junk meals as I could. Slowly started to make progress. Ran a 1:45 half marathon at around 180 lbs.

2020 I cut out booze completely and within 30 days, was down another 10 pounds easily. 1:35 half marathon. Kept at it through injuries for the last 4 years. 2022: 1:28 half. 2023: 1:24 half. Targeting sub 1:20 this November. My weight is back to 148.

You can do it.

First off, I would like to thank all of the responses. I know a lot of people troll on letsrun, but I really enjoy hearing people's success stories. A lot of you guys nailed it right on the head, definitely need to be more discipline on diet, by cutting out snacks/drinks. Luckily I am not really an alcohol drinker, but soda/juices can be equally bad.

I think my plan for the rest of May will be (Starting today at 208.7)

-Track calorie intake on app to create baseline on weight/calories in etc.

-Run 5-6 days of week totaling around 25 miles

-Start strength training 2-3x a week on entire body

-Cycle more(I am terrible about this, but I do have a knock off peloton in my basement) No reason I can't do more low contact exercise instead of mindless internet scrolling.

Once May ends, I will take a serious look at weight, and make small weekly/monthly goals.

How to drop weight fast:

Run 4-6 days a week

3 meals: 2 small , 1 normal

Drink lots of water and green tea

- running day: carbs and lean protein

- non running day: low carb (salat)

Doubles, would burn more, but you are working so no time for that...

Loving the wholesomeness/usefulness of this thread, too. People have already hit the main thing—food—so I’ll just add a quick specific tip re: soda. As you noted, cutting that out is key because it’s just shoveling spoonfuls of sugar. If you like crisp bubbles/are bored with water, kill two birds at once and go hard on the sparkling water. Never occurred to me to drink the stuff until I met my wife, but she’s helped a lot of people out by just recommending they swap their sodas for sparkling waters. 7/10 times it gives people enough of whatever it was about soda that drew them in. And if you get sick of buying cans (though I suppose if soda’s your thing then it’s probably not a huge deal), sodastreams pay off pretty quick.

Other than that, just crushing as many veggies, proteins, and whole grains as you can really helps on the diet/snack front without relying entirely on willpower. Post-run smoothies are great for this, and you can trim a ton of sugar by making your own instant-ish oatmeal for breakfast (microwave, or use an electric kettle to pour over Quaker/store-brand quick oats; add some cocoa powder, cinnamon, PB, maybe a hint of honey or maple syrup if you want some sweet). Not to sound like a cliche, but eating enough good stuff for breakfast really helps during the day. But if anyone’s got advice for how to stop pounding tortilla chips, I’ll take it smh.