Runners: Is Low-Carb for you?

Answer these two questions:

1. Are you satisfied with your current weight or would you like to lose 5-10 lbs?
2. Are you satisfied with your running? Does it feel strong? Are you enjoying it or does it feel like a drag (especially the long runs)?

If you answered “yes” to both questions then you are fine. Whatever you are doing is working. Keep it up. If you answered “no” to both questions, then you should consider a low-carb diet and see how it works for you. I know that this is going against everything that you've read in the mainstream running books and web sites, but how do these “experts” know what is good for you personally?

Jan, in the running list said something about not having time to read a book on low-carb or something about a low-carb cookbook. The beauty of low-carb nutrition for me is that you do not need to read anything, or cook in any special way. All you need to do is eliminate high carb foods: Bread, wheat & flour, pasta, rice, sugar & sweets, potatoes. Eat fruits, nuts, dairy, in moderation. Eat lots of eggs, meat/fish, oil, vegetables. Drink plenty of water.

Most people on a low-carb nutrition typically start the day eating eggs for breakfast (no bread, milk, cereal). I make a two egg omelet cooked with olive oil (or butter) and eat some cheese and vegetables. I might add bacon or sausage. For lunch, try a large salad (with lots of olive oil) and a 4-6 oz piece of meat or fish (tuna, salmon). Again, no bread, crackers, etc. Same for dinner. For snacks you can have nuts (almonds are better than peanuts), cheese, yogurt (regular, not low-fat or no-fat), a piece of fruit.

Avoid processed foods. Avoid foods labeled "low fat". Check the ingredients on anything with a label and avoid foods that are high in carbs, or with sugar and derivatives (high fructose syrup, etc.) listed as ingredients. For fun, or education, keep a log of what you eat to see how you are doing. I have been entering my food in fitday.com, but there are other sites too. Standard low-carb diet advice is to only monitor your grams of carbs and keep them under 20 (very strict), under 50 (strict, that's how I think I started) or under 100 (more liberal, this is where I am about now). Experts recommend to subtract fiber from carbs to get net carbs, which is what really counts.

Allow yourself two weeks to adjust to this. If you lower your carbs drastically, the first week or two your running will suffer a bit as you deplete your glycogen reserves. Be prepared for a large weight drop the first two weeks, mostly water, from losing the stored glycogen and getting rid of salt stored in the kidneys. Then your body will learn to burn fat (hopefully your stored fat) and synthesize glycogen from fat. It took my body 2 weeks to adjust. My wife suggests to wait a month before deciding if this works for you or not.

My wife started dieting the same time I started eating low-carb. While I never saw this as a diet, she clearly did and kept a detailed food log, aiming at restricting calories. She ate about 1000 calories/day, working on a caloric deficit. She did not consciously try to eat less carbs, but I influenced her and she dropped bread and sugar. While my ratios are 60/15/25 (fat/carbs/protein), her ratios are something like 30/30/30 (but she is eating about as many grams of carbs as I do, because she is eating less calories overall). At first, she struggled a bit with running. It took her a month to start running strong (note: she was not running strong before the diet either.) Now she has lost a total of 14 lbs (started at 145 and she is now 131). She continues to eat the same way, just a bit more food, about 1200 calories, but she does not feel like she is on a diet now. One thing she keeps repeating is that it is liberating not to be afraid of fat. While she continues to eat 0% fat yogurt and skim milk, she is not afraid of meat, bacon, olive oil, eggs, mayonnaise, or other high fat foods.

I have lost about 15 lbs (from 172 down to 157) and my running is better than ever. I can run 10 miles first thing in the morning, without breakfast, maybe only eating a couple of almonds. I do not “bonk” any more. I enjoy running more and I have increased my weekly mileage. My races are going well. I start a bit slower, but gradually accelerate and tend to run the 2nd half of the race faster than the first. It is nice to pass exhausted runners, knowing that you are going to finish wrong.

What is the explanation for this? I think my body has learned to burn fat more efficiently. While our glycogen reserves are limited, our fat reserves are not, plus there is more energy in a gram of fat than glycogen. While I do drink Gatorade during a race (and I enjoyed the banana on mile 21 of the Akron Marathon) I do not try to carbo-load and I eat a low carb breakfast before the race (I just eat my regular breakfast of eggs and half an orange). I also do not make any attempt to “replenish” my glycogen reserves after a race. (Standard advice is to eat carbs 30 minutes after a run/race – I ignore this advice because I do not think I need to replenish anything.) As a matter of fact, I usually crave fat after a race, not sugar/garbs. After Akron, my wife and I went to Bob Evans for a cheese omelet and sausage/bacon. It looks like this will be our after-marathon tradition from now on.

If you like to discuss low-carb nutrition with other runners, please consider joining my email discussion list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LowCarbRun