Food Intake and Running: Fixing the Lunchtime Energy Dip

I leave for work at 0645, and have breakfast about 0620, usually fruit and yoghurt. A sandwich at about 1000 and then I run in my lunch break, and eat again (Fruit and yoghurt) about 1500. Usual meat and veg dinner at about 1800.

So far I have lost no weight, and sometimes running at lunch time seems really hard, as if I have no energy. Am I eating enough at the right times, or is there a better way to do this?

– Ro Moore, New Zealand

Answer by Dom: Hi Ro, thanks for your question. I am not a nutrition expert, so I will stick to what I see in your day as a runner. My usual advice for people wanting to lose weight is run and eat healthy, which is what you appear to be doing. The problem is the timing and the amount, and both are fixable.

Here is what I'd work on, in this order:

1. Top up with carbohydrate before your lunch run
2. Eat a bit more at breakfast and after you run
3. Don't cut calories — try a small increase for a month
4. Lengthen your lunch runs, five minutes at a time
5. Add two short strength sessions at home

Top up with carbohydrate before your lunch run

Look at your day. Your sandwich is at 10:00 and you run around 12:30 or 13:00. That is a gap of several hours, and your only real carbohydrate source in that stretch is the sandwich itself. Carbohydrates are the body's main fuel for running, found in bread, fruit, rice and oats.

I understand that you want to restrict your carbs if you have weight loss goals, but carbs do give you energy for running. Runners do need them. So you are running on a nearly empty tank, and that explains the flat, heavy feeling.

My advice to you: eat a small snack 60 to 90 minutes before you head out. A banana, a slice of toast with a thin scrape of jam, or a handful of dried fruit all work. Keep it small — about 100 to 150 calories, nothing that sits heavy in your stomach. Keep it in your desk drawer so there is no excuse. Try it for two weeks and see how the runs feel.

Eat a bit more at breakfast and after you run

Fruit and yoghurt at 06:20 is light, and you leave the house at 06:45 with hours of work ahead. I'd add something with staying power — porridge made with oats, or two slices of wholegrain toast alongside your yoghurt. That gives you a steadier supply through the morning, so the 10:00 sandwich is not carrying the whole load.

After the run, your 15:00 fruit and yoghurt is a good start, but yoghurt is your only protein there. Protein helps your muscles recover from running. Have something within an hour or so of finishing — a boiled egg, a small tub of cottage cheese, a handful of nuts, or the yoghurt with some oats stirred in.

None of this means a bigger dinner. It means moving food to where you actually need it: before the effort and after it.

Don't cut calories — try a small increase for a month

With the weight loss: despite the described healthy lifestyle, you need to see how you can break through the status quo. That means eat less or exercise more. What's that expression? It's simple, but not easy, or something like that?

Unless you are eating big tubs of yoghurt or that sandwich has got 12 layers, I am not sure how much you can take out of your diet, given you are already feeling depleted when you run. My concern is that you are not eating enough. Running on too little food leaves you flat during the run, and it makes you hungrier and less active later on. Some people also find the scale simply stalls when intake is very low.

So I'd recommend the opposite of cutting. Add the snacks above, roughly 200 to 300 extra calories a day, and keep everything else the same for three to four weeks. Weigh yourself once a week, same day, same time. If your energy improves and the weight starts to move, you have your answer.

Set realistic expectations too. A healthy rate is 0.25 to 0.5 kg a week at most, and some weeks it won't move at all.

Lengthen your lunch runs, five minutes at a time

I know from experience that those lunch time runs are usually too short because you have got to shower, get dressed, get back to work etc. If yours are around 20 minutes, that is not much running to move the scale.

Build up gradually. Add five minutes a week at an easy pace, until you reach 30 to 40 minutes. A sensible plan looks like this: week one 25 minutes, week two 30 minutes, week three 35 minutes, week four 40 minutes. If a week feels hard, repeat it as a consolidation week and carry on.

Keep the pace easy — you should be able to hold a conversation. Easy running burns more fuel than you'd think, and it is far less likely to leave you tired and hungry at 15:00. If you can't fit 40 minutes into your break, run 30 and add a longer one at the weekend.

Add two short strength sessions at home

I'd also suggest cross-training: weights at home or body weight exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, star jumps. Strength work builds muscle, and muscle helps with both running and body composition.

Do this twice a week, on evenings when you are not running. It takes 15 minutes, with a minute's rest between rounds:

• Squats: 2 sets of 15
• Push-ups (on your knees if needed): 2 sets of 8 to 10
• Sit-ups: 2 sets of 15
• Star jumps: 2 sets of 30 seconds

Once that feels easy, add a third set, or hold a couple of full water bottles for the squats. Progress slowly, and listen to your body — a little muscle ache the next day is normal, a sharp niggle is not.

For more running and weight loss info check out Running for Weight Loss.

Ro, you are already doing the hard part by running regularly and eating well. A few small changes to when you eat should make those lunch runs feel a lot better. Let me know how the next month goes:)
Kind regards,
Dom

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