Nova/BM training/weight loss

[RacersEdge]

I caught most of this show a couple times the past few days. It's about a group of fairly regular people training for the Boston Marathon. Interesting stuff - especially how your heart and cardio system become more efficient as you train - een with the possibility that your heart can actually grow during training.

But while their cardio was improvong greatly as they went from running more miles over this year or 2 (?) traing program, almost NONE of them lost weight - and there was definintely some fat to lose there. The doctor made the comment that "diet is the best way to lose the initial weight while exercise is crucial to maintaining the loss".

So is eating 300 calories a day less better than expending an extra 300 calories a day in terms of weight loss? I thought it was basic arithmetic on calories consumed versus calories spent, but this doctor said different. Comments?

[cbloom]

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So is eating 300 calories a day less better than expending an extra 300 calories a day in terms of weight loss? I thought it was basic arithmetic on calories consumed versus calories spent, but this doctor said different. Comments?

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Of course those are the same. The Nova runners were doing a pretty slow jog. Running 1 mile at 10 min/mile only burns about 100 calories. Furthermore, most people who run will compensate by eating more because they feel hungrier. OTOH it's quite easy to count calories and actually take 500 or so calories off your daily consumption. Obviously if you both diet and exercise it's the best of both.

I was pretty disgusted by that episode. Nova is supposed to be serious science show and there was about 2 minutes of science content in that whole program. Hell even the training that the runners got was pretty pathetic, they didn't seem to get any coaching on form, injury prevention, strengthening stabilizers, etc. it was just "get out there and run". Apparently they didn't get any diet or nutrition councelling either as they didn't lose weight and that one guy was just allowed to bonk.

Really it just shows you how easy it is to run a marathon.

[thirddan]

reducing calories has the side effect of lowering metabolism since eating increasing metabolic activity...berardi has a lot to say about this, basically food is the fuel of your metabolism...

exercising (strength training) has the side effect of increasing muscle mass which in turn increases metabolism cuz you will carry more metabolically active tissue...

berardi's concept of g-flux is bascially this...increase food intake and increase exercise will increase metabolism, allow for fat loss while increasing lean body mass and allow for increased intake of nutrition by allowing you to eat more...

hopefully this gives you some info that you are looking for or at least some places to get more info...

i can't remember who said it, but its a quote i remember..."long steady state cardio will make you into a smaller and weaker version of yourself"...not what most people are aiming for...

[POKEROMGLOL]

i think it is well known that long steady state running will not add significantly to weight loss.

[RacersEdge]

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exercising (strength training) has the side effect of increasing muscle mass which in turn increases metabolism cuz you will carry more metabolically active tissue...


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Yeah, this was always my take - burning calories that in the process builds muscle mass would be better that just reducing calorie intake.

That's why the doctor's comments on weight loss were strange. Maybe the distintion here is cardio versus muscle gain.

[thirddan]

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i think it is well known that long steady state running will not add significantly to weight loss.

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yeah, alwyn cosgrove said in an interview that he thought it would be very difficult to train for a marathon and get a six pack at the same time...

[Maybe]

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I was pretty disgusted by that episode. Nova is supposed to be serious science show and there was about 2 minutes of science content in that whole program. Hell even the training that the runners got was pretty pathetic, they didn't seem to get any coaching on form, injury prevention, strengthening stabilizers, etc. it was just "get out there and run". Apparently they didn't get any diet or nutrition councelling either as they didn't lose weight and that one guy was just allowed to bonk.

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My sister ran with one of the Tufts groups for Boston the year before this group and said pretty much the opposite. In fact, this televised group most likely received better nutrition information, training, injury prevention then 95% of all marathoners; hence, all except one of them finished.

I do admit that most of them hardly 'ran' the race, I think only 1 guy finished close to 4 hours, and he was the one with the genetic disposition to do well in the first place. Most of the others finished after the race closed; 6-7 hours is basically a brisk walk.


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yeah, alwyn cosgrove said in an interview that he thought it would be very difficult to train for a marathon and get a six pack at the same time...

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I trained for about 9 months and ran the Chicago marathon about a month ago. I suppose it doesn't count because I had a six-pack before I started training, but it certainly didn't go away during those 9 months, if anything it became more defined. I also incorporated a lot more cross-fit type workouts into my running then most who train for marathons, as I wasn't trying to lose definition.

Interestingly enough, since I stopped training I got back into lifting heavy and I've felt better then ever before. I don't exactly know why, but deads, squats, etc all feel better then they did pre-marathon, and I'm increasing weight much faster as well. Does anyone know any correlation between lifting and Vo2 levels?

[cbloom]

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My sister ran with one of the Tufts groups for Boston the year before this group and said pretty much the opposite. In fact, this televised group most likely received better nutrition information, training, injury prevention then 95% of all marathoners; hence, all except one of them finished.


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I would hope so! They didn't show one bit of it though, it would've been a lot more interesting if they'd actually shown something educational about how to train & prepare your body for a marathon.