Gaining weight while running

Question
My girlfriend has been running for about 4 weeks now, anywhere from 2 to 6 miles a, two or three times per week.  She eats a bowl of oatmeal, with very little in it and a yogurt for breakfast.  She has a small chicken salad for lunch and dinner.  It seems like she is not getting enough calories to me.  She has gain 5 pounds in 4 weeks and she is concerned.  Can she be doing something differently?  Thanks

Answer
Well, if she isn't eating enough, and isn't doing anything extra like strength training, she isn't going to lose much weight by eating less and running alone.  By eating very little, her body is going into a mode of keeping body fat on her, and any food she does eat will get stored quickly for immediate energy, and the rest will be stored as fat, because the body is experiencing a starvation mode.  It will store extra energy as fat if its in a starvation mode.  Running extra will just burn up more immediate energy, in the form of carbohydrates mainly, and any food taken in will most likely be re-stored to replenish those carbohydrate stores, while the rest will be stored as fat.  

What could help here is getting a full dietary assessment for 3-4 days through a site called FitDay.com.  This is free, it takes time to enter, but it's well worth it.  Also, beginning a basic, full body strength training routine will help do two things:  build more bone mass & muscle mass over time, and help burn body fat more at rest.  Also, the type of running you do also makes a difference on fat loss.  High intensity interval training is a better method to use, other than just running set distances per running day at a set pace.  The most common form of a running program is just merely going at the same pace you can handle, and running a set distance.  This is okay for starting out, but over time, you will have to amp up your intensity and vary it throughout the workout itself, and your efforts will be focused on your intensity during the workout, not just the total distance/duration of the run itself.  With high intensity efforts mixed in with lower intensity efforts, your body will shift into a state of burning more fat at rest.  These types of workouts have been proven in study after study to do this.  Typical steady-state, long distance runs will have very little 'after-burn' for fat loss after the workout.  Another thing to consider: most traditional running plans are based on what happens during the workout itself: i.e. burn 300 calories in 3 miles.  The high intensity interval workouts may have you running shorter, but having you running for harder periods of time within that shorter distance total.  This type of alternation in intensity will raise your levels of fat-burning hormones and keep them up well after your workout, helping to burn more fat while you are at rest.  

I further explain these issues in my free guide, The Mini-Max Method, found on my site at http://speeddialcoach.com/minimax.pdf  I also just came out with a supplemental article to go along with that, which is also found on my speeddialcoach.com site.

I hope this helps get you started in a better direction,

Rick Karboviak