Hi I run 3-4 time’s a week 5K on average a run
Does anyone else run in this as worried I won’t have enough energy as I run for depression ?

Thanks x

Hi Lawman51, lots of people on this plan manage to continue with their exercise programmes although most tend to give it a miss in the first couple of weeks until your body gets used to the reduced calories. There is a science that means when you stop carbs your body starts burning fats for energy which is much more efficient for exercise. Also, can you time your exercise so you are not exercising on empty, so within a reasonable time after eating or save some snack calories for exercise time. There are always ways to do this. If the exercise is necessary for your depression you might want to try something else for those first couple of weeks, something less energetic but mind soothing like yoga, meditation and so on. People who do this diet find it is good for lots of other things besides weight loss so it might help with your IBS. If you put key words into the search box i.e. exercise, you will find lots of other people asking and getting replies on this subject. Good luck.

Not a runner but a cyclist. When I embarked on the BSD I just didn’t feel like cycling the first 2 weeks. Energy levels were low.
First time I got back on the bike I felt like I had done 40 miles in my legs before I started!
I took things easy and gradually. Upping the mileage / time on the bike as the weeks went by. The only time I felt insatiably hungry during the 800 cals phase was after a bike ride!!!
I’m now 10 months in happily maintaining and my riding mileage is back to where it was before. One of the things that is good is previously for the long rides I had to snack regularly keep the fuel up. Now my body is trained to process fat I don’t need to take a mountain of carb loaded bars and food in my back pocket. Handful of nuts and I’m good for 100km+.

Also 3 stone lighter so flying up those hills!

Sorry for resurrecting an older post but I’m looking for a bit more detail in the reply.
I’ve read the BSD book now I want to put it into action but I currently have a number of races coming up and all 3 weeks apart unfortunately and they are all 10k. Is there any possibility of maintaining training and starting the 8 week plan or should I take a race out of my calendar? TIA!

As you can see from comments above many people do manage to continue to exercise while on the 800 calories. As you are not diabetic when it is dangerous to have a very low blood glucose reading, your body will soon learn to run on its fat stores. Dr Bikman, who advocates long fasts, says you have around 20,000 calories stored in fat so why not use that. Obviously that is an exaggerated example but you could do 3500 calories of exercise and still only use 1lb of fat. Maybe work up to racing level at a slower pace just to let you body get used to it. If you think you will not be able to manage, make sure you eat just before a race but don’t carb load – load with protein and some lower GI carbs. Try also to have a snack with you on the race.

As I am not an athelete that is the best I can do for you.

Thanks for the advice. Think it’ll be very much trial and error for the first while. I have done the 5:2 before and had great success but carb loading and a higher sugar intake is taking its toll on my belly 😂 Running a bit slower won’t hurt.

Hi Stevie, I was a runner until 2018 when a serious injury and unrelated surgery a couple of years later put paid to that, so quite a while since I have run but I do walk a lot now. I follow(ed) the 5:2 and later the BSD whilst running. I often ran a weekend training half marathon distance before breakfast, so fasted. My weekday shorter training runs were also pretty much fasted i.e. pre evening meal. I stopped carb loading when I went low carb/higher good fat (there are no essential carbs, there are essential fats and proteins). I will say that I wasn’t the fastest runner, I did it because I loved it, but I wasn’t the slowest either. Racing for me was against myself more than anything. So I would say that unless you are running to place, just go ahead with your races for enjoyment; take the first one as an experiment to see how you go; or choose one where you want to go hard and take the others easier. If you take to this (diet) way of eating well and become fat adapted quite soon you won’t need to carb load. Professor Tim Noakes was an athlete who promoted a high carb diet and carb loading for years but he saw the error of his ways 😀 and, after research, changed his mind to running fat adapted. If you use You Tube there are many videos of interviews with him. I will say that he did become diabetic which he ascribed to family history and his years of eating high carb. “Getting through a day eating no fat was a good day” paraphrasing him. Obviously he overcame this.

Hi Annie, thanks for the info it’s very much appreciated.
I’ve really only taken up running over the past 18months owing to an op that didn’t go according to plan but I love it and the community that comes with it. As a cyclist in a previous life I always carb loaded and drank high sugar drinks whilst out on a cycle but keeping the weight off wasn’t an issue… until I came to running…. I was very surprised to hear runners have a propensity to putting on weight probably because of carb loading.
I’ve always feared fasted rides now fasted runs as they’ve never been pleasant when you bonk but possibly down to incorrect fuelling to begin with. I’m definitely not running to place and most definitely running against myself and my pb’s although they’re not that important to me. I have a race in 2 weeks time but my time isn’t important on this one so I’ll maybe try and start the BSD this week and see how I get on with energy levels go. I had a race on Friday passed and had an unintentional fast which didn’t go well but made me more aware of what I should be fuelling with leading up to the event. I’ll take a look at Prof. Noakes as he sounds interesting.
Thanks for the info really appreciate it.