Wow. I've been eating in the 2500-2800 range thinking that I'm supposed to eat all the time. Tons of quinoa, berries, whole grains, greens and lean protein. Cashews, eggs and string cheese for snacks. All the time. Been taking two weeks off from beer just to do it. I drink beer daily, so I'm very curious to see what not having it in my routine will do for my body.

Beer is a pretty standard recovery beverage in the ultra world. Elite dudes are known to throw down a 6-pack daily when training.

Oh, it's pretty standard in the <10 mile a week world too! The only running club I've ever belonged to met every Tuesday at the pub.

I will not be giving beer up forever. My better half is on antibiotics for two weeks and can't have it so I figured what better time to take a break with her.

Still curious about my calorie intake, though. Think I'm eating too much? I'm 200 lbs trying to trim down below 185. With running and an on-my-feet job I'm burning around 4000 calories a day. I never feel bloated or super full while eating constantly and I've already seen small improvements on the scale over two weeks so I figure I'm all good.

Given your activity level 2500ish seems pretty reasonable. I would probably gain weight if I ate that much consistently, but I'm basically on my ass 10 hours a day, five days a week. Ultimately the scale will tell you if it's too much and you adjust from there.

I generally eat 1,500 calories a day if I'm trying to cut weight.

I'm 6-foot even and weight between 150 to 165. When coming out of summer hibernation, I usually weigh between 160 and 165.

I'll run ~60 MPW and consume ~1,500 calories and can generally drop to 150 within a month. I'll then bump up my calorie intake to ~2,000.

I won't pretend like I don't look like the walking dead, however. "Emaciated" and "gaunt" are the comments I get from family.

Yeah i get a lot of negative comments despite looking pretty much how I want to with the exception of more tone needed at my core. But hey, that's fat America for you.

I've lost about 40 lbs this year (190 to 150), a pretty jarring aesthetic change for people who have known me for a while. My athletic friends are all very complimentary/encouraging; my family and more shlubby friends look at me like I've been in a horrible, disfiguring accident.

I know what you mean. Even before watching what I ate, I shed some pounds recently. I think just because I walk from A to B more and gave up sodas and sugary things a while back. Family members have noted my slimmer figure with an air of skepticism, like I'm hooked on drugs or dying of cancer or something (I'm not.)

Yeah I've gotten that joke before. It was lame then too.

that's argo for ya

I wonder how much of Bale's look in that movie had to do with him exaggerating posture. He was skinny as fuck but that picture is him overselling it in my opinion.

he's flexing

he looks like a kind of giant skin tag one might find his or her mouth full of after a night binging at the local watering hole

After this morning's run I realized that I'm okay with short distances for a while. Old goal: consistent routine. New goal: work up to 5 miles comfortably then maintain.

Trying to do too much too fast is how I ended up in nagging injury hell for a month. In 3 weeks I went from long runs of 2, to 5, to 12. Dumb. Nothing wrong with dialing it back.

This is supposed to be my first week of half marathon training and I haven't chosen a training plan yet. NBD since the ones I've looked at pretty much sync with what I'm already doing. Does anyone know: If I choose a plan that is mostly endurance based (i.e. little or no speed work) but then decide to do some speed work when I feel like I'm ready for it, is there any harm in subbing a speed day for a regular run day?

I found a good looking training program on Runner's World that's designed to help run without stopping. I planned to use it as intended, but after a week I just said fuck it and am using what they're giving me as suggestions rather than training. Still building but doing what's most comfortable for me.

Kind of on that same subject, I foresee myself getting burnt out too quick if I keep obsessing over pace improvement. I love running with a Fitbit and Strava -- they track so much with so little effort -- but it's time to focus on disciplining myself to not even look at my pace while I'm running.

I'm contemplating signing up for the Henry Vilas Zoo Run Run 10K in Madison in September. Just need to decide if I want to be predator or prey. And to convince my wife that it'll be fun for the whole family and not an inconvenient interruption of her and her mom's birthday weekend extravaganza.

Haha, good luck with that. Are you trying to convince your wife and the family to all do it together, or that it'll be cool to skip out on time with the in-laws?

I only run downhill while wearing a backpack.