Runners, athletes, people who exercise just about daily - what do you eat?

[Anonymous]

I'm curious about the diet/appetite of people who exercise very regularly (say, at least 4 days a week).

What kinds of exercises do you do?
How many hours of (non-walking, higher intensity) exercise do you do in a week?
Can you give an example of what you eat/consume in a typical, entire day?

[Anonymous]

I'm a runner. I train for and run one or two marathons a year. I also do yoga.

I eat whatever I want. Today I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast with a banana and coffee. A Baconator Meal with a coke from Wendy's for lunch. I'm eating Brownies and drinking a beer while watching football right now. We're having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

I run enough that I don't have to worry about weight gain. I struggle to keep my weight up to 115.

[Anonymous]

Can't speak for me but can for husband who works out for about an hour each weekday early am and does longer runs and swims on weekends. He does eggs based breakfast (more whites that yolks) and a banana. Turkey/tuna sandwich or leftovers for lunch (lasagna, burger) more fruit (Apple, peach, banana depending on season). A cliff bar on the drive home at 4 pm. We eat dinner around 6:30 and it's protein(chicken, fish, turkey and sometimes red meat) and a salad and a cooked veg (broccoli, green beans etc). Sometimes there's a carb at dinner or a pasta meal but usually only once a week.
I think because he works out so early it jump starts his metabolism for the day and he eats a bigger lunch with more carbs and fewer veg and we do lots of veg for dinner.
Now this maintains his weight not drops it. To do that we cut almost all refined carbs out and probably eat out less.

[Anonymous]

Depends on if I'm bulking, cutting or maintaining. Typically lots of eggs and egg whites, fish, chicken, turkey, veggies, sweet potatoes, quinoa, oatmeal, chocolate chip eggos and PIZZA! lol

I workout 6 days a week. Workouts vary depending on the same as above. But typically cardio warm up and then weight lifting by body part. I have one morning of HIIT, one night of track workouts and I run anywhere from 3-10 miles 3 times a week as well.

[Anonymous]

I lift heavy three times a week and run at least twice in between.

I am fairly predictable in my eating habits. I try to only eat food that I can look at and recognize what ingredients went into making it.

Breakfast is either oatmeal with a banana, nuts and berries or a boiled egg on black bread.

Lunch is usually something like chicken, a bit of rice and veg.

Dinner is pretty much always salad and protein.

In between, I eat as much fruit as I want and sometimes a yoghurt. Sometimes a handful of almonds.

[Anonymous]

I run 4-5 days a week, usually 3-5 miles a day but right now I'm training for a marathon so it's more.
I am at the high end of normal BMI for my height.

I have oatmeal, a banana and coffee for breakfast. I usually have a second breakfast of a donut or Trader Joes fruit bar when I get to work.

Lunch is usually some kind of bean based soup or a salad, fruit, and maybe chips or some chocolate.

Afternoon snack of hummus or yogurt or apple with peanut butter.

Dinner could be anything. A typical example would be chicken parm and steamed broccoli or bratwurst, sauerkraut and potato pancakes.

On the weekends I eat whatever I want.

[Anonymous]

I also workout 6 days a week (run, lift, bike, pilates) and usually am training for some event (1/2 marathon, sprint tris). I'm very careful about what I eat - lots of protein, lots of vegetables. I don't eat a lot of crap food unless I'm at a party or out to eat. I don't tend to eat very many carbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a runner. I train for and run one or two marathons a year. I also do yoga.

I eat whatever I want. Today I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast with a banana and coffee. A Baconator Meal with a coke from Wendy's for lunch. I'm eating Brownies and drinking a beer while watching football right now. We're having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

I run enough that I don't have to worry about weight gain. I struggle to keep my weight up to 115.

Tell me this is a troll, or someone with an amazing metabolism.
I could easily workout for an hour on the elliptical every single day and still have to keep my calories under 1600 in order to lose weight. And I have a good 50 pounds to lose.

[Anonymous]

What kinds of exercises do you do? yoga and dance classes and swimming. now I'm pregnant so swimming daily and do prenatal yoga (which I hate) twice a week
How many hours of (non-walking, higher intensity) exercise do you do in a week? hour and a half each day
Can you give an example of what you eat/consume in a typical, entire day? sure

Friday:
B: half a whole wheat english muffin with veggie omelet (mushrooms, peppers, spinach) on tomato and avacado
S: chocolate milk, apple
L: leftover dinner - pasta, peas, prosciutto, chicken
S: carrot sticks, cucumber slices, almonds
D: small salad, baked sweet potato, steamed veggies
S: popcorn

I also walk our dog twice a day and play outside with our toddlers, but I'm not counting those in the 90 minutes per your instructions.

[Anonymous]

I exercise 7 days a week, alternating a day of running (5+ miles) with a day of weight-lifting plus 30 minutes on the Arc trainer or elliptical. I take yoga twice a week.

I eat a lot more than most people, probably, but probably 80% healthy, 20% crap. Breakfast most days is oatmeal or instant grits plus yogurt with fresh berries. Lunch is often some sort of pasta with meat and a couple of veggies, often leftover from the night before, but sometimes a microwave entrée. Dinner varies - taco night or burgers on the grill or pasta or pizza or whatever my daughter and I want. I also have several snacks every day - baby carrots, grapes, swiss cheese, sometimes hummus. And I usually have dessert. And I like my wine.

My metabolism is pretty high for a 42-year-old mom in pat because I've never really deprived myself, so my body's never thought it was starving. plus, you know, the daily exercise.

[Anonymous]

(22:11 here - 5'8", 145 lbs, size 6, low body fat/muscular.)

[Anonymous]

Exercise 7 days/week. Cardio every day and lift a few times a week.

I go through stages where I eat a lot of the same types of food. Now, I usually eat:

English muffin w/ natural peanut butter and banana OR
Oatmeal and banana

Whole foods bean burrito (they're under 300 cal - not giant) with nonfat plain greek yogurt, apple, and a large salad, and a serving of nuts

Dinner might be a fried egg sandwich, but it sort of depends on what I'm in the mood for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a runner. I train for and run one or two marathons a year. I also do yoga.

I eat whatever I want. Today I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast with a banana and coffee. A Baconator Meal with a coke from Wendy's for lunch. I'm eating Brownies and drinking a beer while watching football right now. We're having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

I run enough that I don't have to worry about weight gain. I struggle to keep my weight up to 115.

Tell me this is a troll, or someone with an amazing metabolism.
I could easily workout for an hour on the elliptical every single day and still have to keep my calories under 1600 in order to lose weight. And I have a good 50 pounds to lose.

I think if you train for 2 marathons a year, you can eat whatever you want. I think she was being honest, not a troll.

I'm 40, 5'1" and 115 lbs. This summer, when I was training for a triathlon, I ate whatever I wanted. It was great! Now the flip side to that was that I either swam, ran, or biked 6 days a week and 2 of those days, I tried to do both, usually a 15 mi bike ride followed by a 5 K run. It was hard to fit all that exercise into my day and I'm glad to be done with it, but I miss being able to eat a bowl of chips and salsa at 10 PM with no repercussions

[Anonymous]

think if you train for 2 marathons a year, you can eat whatever you want. I think she was being honest, not a troll.

I'm 40, 5'1" and 115 lbs. This summer, when I was training for a triathlon, I ate whatever I wanted. It was great! Now the flip side to that was that I either swam, ran, or biked 6 days a week and 2 of those days, I tried to do both, usually a 15 mi bike ride followed by a 5 K run. It was hard to fit all that exercise into my day and I'm glad to be done with it, but I miss being able to eat a bowl of chips and salsa at 10 PM with no repercussions

I run an average of 40 miles a week, and I cannot eat whatever I want. Most active people eat a very healthy diet that sustains that level of activity, rather than downing beer, pasta, fast food, and brownies !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a runner. I train for and run one or two marathons a year. I also do yoga.

I eat whatever I want. Today I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast with a banana and coffee. A Baconator Meal with a coke from Wendy's for lunch. I'm eating Brownies and drinking a beer while watching football right now. We're having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

I run enough that I don't have to worry about weight gain. I struggle to keep my weight up to 115.

Tell me this is a troll, or someone with an amazing metabolism.
I could easily workout for an hour on the elliptical every single day and still have to keep my calories under 1600 in order to lose weight. And I have a good 50 pounds to lose.

I think if you train for 2 marathons a year, you can eat whatever you want. I think she was being honest, not a troll.

I'm 40, 5'1" and 115 lbs. This summer, when I was training for a triathlon, I ate whatever I wanted. It was great! Now the flip side to that was that I either swam, ran, or biked 6 days a week and 2 of those days, I tried to do both, usually a 15 mi bike ride followed by a 5 K run. It was hard to fit all that exercise into my day and I'm glad to be done with it, but I miss being able to eat a bowl of chips and salsa at 10 PM with no repercussions

+1. Did the Nation's Tri. Trained about 10 to 12 times per week with several double workouts. Eat whatever. I've already gained 5 pounds. I'm 5'4, 141 pounds, size 6. I've been working out for so long that my body really doesn't change sizes. However, I'm back to protein so that I can get down 7 pounds.