It does take awhile for the body to become efficient at burning fat. If you recently began LC, I would give it more time.

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For longer runs, I do something similar. After every mile I will walk 30-45 seconds. I find that I can cover the distance in less time than if I ran the whole thing. I consider it a form of interval training.

I just couldn't stomach Mittleman after the nutrition chapter about muscle exertion of different blood types holding different types of food.

(Basically, he said that Type-O blood were intolerant to plant based foods, and Type-A blood were intolerant to animal based foods. If Type-O person held 1 lb of plant based food, it would cause more muscle exertion to hold it than 1 lb of meat. Vice Versa for type A).

Hi. i started Atkins induction a while age and found my energy levels dropped way down, i wasn't enjoying my runs at all. then i fell off the lo-carb wagon, and went out the next day and ran a PB over 5K. Since then i have dropped the atkins induction plan and am on about 35-40g carbs i have more energy and the weight is absolutely dropping off. Does anyone have any theories or experiance of this????

I dont' know much about how to do Atkins while running, however, it came to my attention recently that on a LC diet it is possible to get too little potassium, calcium and magnesium, which is a major factor in how our bodies function and how we get energy for our athletic endeavors. To put it simply, my women's multivitamin is great in many other ways, but it does lack potassium somewhat, so I researched good sources of potassium and found that pork is higher in potassium even than avocados and bananas.

(before Low Carb, did you eat a lot of bananas to get your potassium?)

Now I eat a bit more pork so I will have the right nutrients to keep me going in my martial arts training. Once in a great while this summer I have high potassium fruits (mainly figs) a few hours before a workout, figuring that I will burn those 20 or so carbs off quickly.

This is pretty much my experience. Eat crap, run personal best, bloat up 5 pounds.

Janine

I'm not an experienced runner, but started the C25K Program 7 weeks ago on Atkins but did not have enough energy to do the intervals... I then upped my carbs a bit with mostly veggies and dairy, following South Beach and my energy came back, and my running improved.

Now I know there are many runners who run on low carb diets, i.e. Charles, but for me it was impossible... I spoke to him about it and she suggested that it may take a while for my body to adapt, but I just had zero energy on Atkins! That said, as Janine suggested, I am not losing any weight either... Ultimately, I really don't know what the answer is other than perhaps interval training again which I have started again yesterday after my 30 minute run...strength training, or eating more....

Last night I carbed up for my run today, so I will see if I have more energy out there today as opposed to other days....I'm experimenting!

Anyway, hope that you find a regimen that works for you...

TJ

Good Morning all,

Just completed Day 3 of Week 7, tried the experiment last night and carbed up so that I could see how far I could run today... Today I did my 25 minutes and total ran 3.5 miles....

Ok, so I have finally reached a goal that I set out for myself...one of many more to come I hope... Thanks for the support. It has been a difficult couple of weeks because my enthusiasm has been waning because of no weight loss...but today I am happy! Apparently, the carb load helped me achieve the goal, the energy that I had was phenomenal!!! Now...weight loss...I definitely haven't found the formula for that yet!

I run, I do atkins, I do not have as much enery when I run and do not eat carbs. I have more energy when I eat carbs and then run.

I have read all the posts here with great interest.

So far, I have not really worked my way up to running full speed...5ks or 10ks, but I have walked pretty intensely for up to an hour, while doing low carb, and have not suffered at all for it.

Also, I have steadily lost weight, while doing this and hope to continue!

I recently took a couple month break both from exercising and eating low carb, BUT am back on track with my eating now, and am fighting to break the inertia of not exercising, and get back on track with that too.

LEANRUNNER

If you are running you have to fuel your body appropriately. Eat complex carbs in the morning and afternoon and cut down in the evening. Be very careful because you don't want to deprive your body of necessary nutritrients.

I really have not had to add anything in terms of macro-nutrients into my diet to fuel my marathon running or even the speed of half marathon or 10ks. The most important thing I have found on really long runs is to make sure I have enough sodium and electrolytes in and along the way.

I was doing great on my marathon until my wife missed our mile 16 meetup. In the end I had a 15 minute marathon PR in Sept, but missed the sub 4 hour I was shooting for in the race.

In my experiance i have found after low carbing for a few days i can do low intensity exercise for long periods of time. If i want to do higher intensity cardio, adding more carbs in makes a huge difference. low carb for low intensity, higher carbs if you wanna do high intensity. if you want to burn fat, stick to low carb and do low intensity for longer

i'm trying to do the same thing you are - the first post that is - . i can do about 10k on 130 grams of carbs daily, but i'd advise on your days off to go down to between 50 and 70, and then on long days to eat close to half of your carbs before and after the run. this way, you can keep carbs moderate for the day, but still stock and refill glycogen.

i am convinced based on a single experience that carbs make a huge difference in running. i've been low carbing for only a few weeks, and i've had no trouble running 12 miles on an empty stomach. but 12 miles was pretty much my max. then, i pigged out on carbs for two days over thanksgiving. on sunday morning, i got up and ate some more carbs (i pretty much gave up the diet for the weekend). then i went for a run...and ran 16 miles and still felt like i could go on. i have NEVER run that far in my life. i felt like i could have gone another 3 miles. i am absolutely convinced it was the carbs.

the carbs also made me gain weight, which sucks. in the future, i plan to carry a water bottle with gatorade, and during my run will be the ONLY time i eat sugar.

Lack of carbs might be a problem for running. Most of the long-term runners ate lots of carbs in the past, it was a "tradition" back in the running boom days of the late 1970's thru early 80's. I used to carb load for races of a half marthon upwards. I now stay in ketosis at least 5 days a week and do "refeed" days the other 2 days. This is not so much for weight loss, as it is to avoid insulin spikes and BS spikes. When I eat carbs I take insulin mimics to load the carbs in muscle cells and the liver to rebuild glycogen supplies for the week. This doesn't slow dieting efforts down much at all.

I have a chronic problem on my left ankle that keeps me from running, but the constant ketosis this last few months (or weight loss or something) has made it better, maybe... just perhaps....

Anyway as I've mentioned before I still do much cardio/arerobics these days, and a lot of resistance training too. My energy levels remain high most of the time while working out, even during severe calorie restiction, and even 3-4 days out from my refeed days.

I use a supplement stack. This stack hasn't any stimulants in it, in fact, it's healthy. It's composed of three supplements combined:

Beta alanine
Citrulline malate (2:1 is best)
and Cordyceps

The most important one is the cordyceps -- this is the stuff the sherpas use to climb Everest without oxygen, but it's hard to find decent cordyceps with most of it ranging for mediocre to outright useless. Beta alanine is the best stuff for getting rid of lactic acid in your body. Citrulline malate ups ATP in your sytem and relaxes arteries letting greater blood flow through and improving heart health as a bonus. In combination they act synergistically to give you deep down energy reserves when you call on your body to perform, but you barely notice their effects until you need them -- no stim effect. Short of drugs like EPO this is great stuff.