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Q&A with a Registered Dietitian: Why am I not losing weight?

Have you ever gone to the grocery store when you were absolutely famished?

Food

It’s a terrible idea – you end up buying WAY more food than you intended and much of that food is junk.

And I’m the worst offender. Since I’ve been blessed (cursed?) with the physique of a female supermodel that no amount of eating or sloth can change, I often make questionable food choices:

  • After a long run, I’ve been known to “crush a sleeve” of Oreos with whole milk
  • My birthday breakfast meal is a buttered white english muffin (whole wheat? Get that out of here) with bacon, eggs (cooked in bacon fat), goat cheese, and avocado
  • I can eat 8 servings of trail mix without a second thought

While I’ve vastly improved my diet over the years, I’m not perfect. I don’t claim to be – and I think perfection is not something you should strive for.

Still, I’m fascinated by the ideal diet for runners. Just like I love learning about ideal training for runners (and despise false claims of superiority), figuring out optimal fueling and nutrition for enhanced performance and recovery is intriguing.

About two years ago, I got serious about nutrition for runners. Not only for my own personal gain, but to bring those lessons to you. I wanted to know…

  • How can runners eat for maximum recovery and energy?
  • How do we structure our meals so that we’re not starving at the end of the day (and binge on snacks)?
  • Should runners attempt to lose weight while training for a race?
  • What are the critical lessons for weight loss that are specific to runners?

Many of these questions are addressed in these two audio seminars – and they’re free to listen to or download.

Today, I’m excited to bring you a new Q&A with Coach with none other than Anne Mauney MPH, RD.

Anne has quite the background in nutrition for hard-working athletes. She’s not only a two-time marathoner and 18-time half marathoner, but she owns a nutrition private practice in Washington, DC, helping athletes focus on whole-food nutrition – no calorie counting necessary! – and fueling right for workouts, races, and life.

She’s taught nutrition at George Washington University and you might have seen her work featured in Runner’s World, The Washington Post, Health, Woman’s Day, and Self among many others. Anne was also the sports dietitian for the Endurance Athlete Center in northern Virginia.

She runs a nutrition and lifestyle blog at fANNEtastic food and her RD site is Anne the RD. She’s also the coauthor of the Nutrition for Runners program, which covers these topics in much more detail.

Who’s excited? I know I am!

Q&A with Coach (and an RD!): Why aren’t I losing weight?

Today we’re answering an interesting question from a runner who’s struggling to lose weight. You might find this problem familiar:

Even though I’m running 15 miles per week and eating right, why am I not losing weight?

Anne and I were together in her Washington, DC office and filmed a new episode of Q&A with Coach to answer this very question.

Show Notes:

1:00 I’m eating right and running – why am I not losing weight?
1:20 – Why this is such a hard question
1:30 – Common mistakes runners make with their diet during training
2:00 – Jason is a cookie monster!
2:10 – What is “front loading” daily calories?
3:00 – The dangers of being in “survival mode”
3:40 – Why is eating less a bad idea for those who are trying to lose weight?
5:35 – You can’t fight biology!
5:50 – Exercising for health vs. training for performance
6:15 – Is 15 miles per week enough?
6:25 – Variety, variety, variety
7:00 – The importance of weight loss – especially for women
7:55 – Do you want to focus on weight loss or performance?
8:30 – Specificity of goals
8:55 – Where to find Anne on the interwebs

A big thanks to Anne for joining me on this episode of Q&A with Coach!

Want more weight loss advice? Sign up here to get our free nutrition series!
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