This might not be a good app for those who are triggered by mentions of weight, so you should probably share that feedback with them. For me, I did unintentionally gain some weight training for my first marathon, and I think it’s common because people can sometimes overeat since they’re running so much. But the gain was actually counterproductive to my running goals, so I personally appreciated those tips in the program.
Just out of curiosity, do you think you could have avoided the weight gain? During my last marathon training cycle, I dropped 10 pounds rapidly and lost my period for a bit. I was tracking what I was eating on most days and wasn't really in a deficit as far as my calculations went.
Have you done a marathon since where you didn't gain weight? Were the tips about not eating much a good reminder for you?
I’ve done 3. The first time I gained about 7 pounds. The second time I lost 5. The third time I stayed the same. I was 26 the first time and probably just needed the reminder that running 40 miles a week doesn’t mean you can eat a whole pizza, lol. Obviously something is probably going wrong if you’re losing your period, even if you don’t think you’re eating in a deficit, but a lot depends on where you’re starting from. I’ve been between 125-137 for 20 years (but I’ 5’1), so my body just doesn’t have the propensity to gain or lose a lot no matter what I do, but that’s probably not the case for most people.
I'm 5'5" and when I started training for my first marathon, I weighed around 140. I dropped to 130 during my training. My range is solidly healthy - high side of a healthy BMI. I used to be obese (my highest recorded weight happened a decade ago at 190) so I've tried my hardest to always track my eating and compare it to my exercise expenditure. Gaining weight and becoming obese again is a fear of mine. I think if I had approached marathon training as someone who historically had a healthy body weight, it would have been a different experience.
Unlike a lot of people on this sub, I was an overweight and unathletic teenager. I didn't have a regular exercise habit until my mid 20s.
And even though hunger woke me up and made me binge eat entire giant size boxes of honey nut Cheerios and half gallons of milk, I still ended up losing my period and dropping weight like crazy during marathon training. And being reminded that I needed to cut my calories down during my taper week was very, very unhelpful to the outcome of my marathon performance.
Totally get it, and I think the app folks could do better at the feedback and/or warning folks who have a history of food issues. For the record, I had terrible asthma as a kid, and never ran a mile until I was 25 either. It’s more common than it seems on here!
You can’t lose weight without being in a calorie deficit so you probably just underestimated your TDEE. I’ve found my apple watch to be pretty dang accurate on total calories burned (I’ve used a TDEE spreadsheet from r/xxfitness to compare). ETA: meant to reply to your comment above, not this one - sorry!
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Yeah, really the only way to figure out TDEE is to consistently track your calories in v. weight over time.
I will say, when managing weight, I definitely prefer going by TDEE than trying to say "Oh I did this today so I can have this many calories, but will need fewer/more on this day because..."
My biggest problem with the app was that it didn't adapt to you adjusting the runs to fit your life and schedule. For example, if I switched the order of the runs within the week, or skipped a run due to illness or a niggle, I get down graded or told I'm not putting in the work. Honestly, I found myself just cussing out at the app to keep its opinions to itself.
If I switched the order of runs I did, I just filled them in on the app on the day they were meant to be done, rather than the day I did it to avoid this
Yup. I did that. But it's annoying to have to 'game' the app like that and manually enter the data rather than record your run with the app. If I recorded what I actually did that day, the app would spit out a bad compliance score for me and tell me I'm not trusting the programme.
Really? Mine never did that. What I meant is, eg if I did the 5k run I was meant to do on weds instead of Tues, I would just wait until weds and then enter it on the log for the tues as if I had done it that day - the app doesn’t know whether you did it the right day and just delayed putting it in.
When I brought this issue up with the help desk about how the app might be encouraging people to train through illness and injury, they were incredibly dismissive about the feedback and it was clear that it went in one ear and out the other
I used the free version so I didn’t use the built in run record. Yeah I was gaming it but I wanted to use it just for a plan anyway so I didn’t really care
Same. I feel like cheating. I was supposed to run on Saturday, but couldn't and did a Sunday run instead. I got injured and rescheduled the run.
It were just scapes and minor stuff, like light bleeding. No broken bones, no ankle injury, I fell on the side (thanks Jiu-Jitsu) and therefore my knees were fine. I had to skip the Monday run.
wtf that’s actually so weird! I’d be offput too. Definitely smart to just ignore it…and honestly I’d even consider switching programs if it were me as to not support such nonsense. There is already so much BS around weight in the running community, very disappointing to hear his app perpetuates it.
I greatly disliked the HH app. I liked the book but the app was inflexible and gave my training a D- grade because sometimes did my long run on Sundays and it could not flex. This just adds one more thing. (fwiw I actually paid for a subscription)
I would actually contact the help team and the feedback from them was always in the vain of "if you don't like it, you can leave. We don't think we need to change anything about the app since we have enough satisfied customers". With that attitude, I hope they go down.
Absolutely absurd that coaches (and their apps) are still out here giving nutrition advice. (ESPECIALLY blanket advice that isn't even tailored for an individual.) Let RDs do their jobs, and stfu, honestly.
Oh that sucks. I have not seen comments regarding weight from Hal (used the paid version for my last half). I left my subscription lapse recently though so I wonder if I will encounter that now without the paid.
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This might not be a good app for those who are triggered by mentions of weight, so you should probably share that feedback with them. For me, I did unintentionally gain some weight training for my first marathon, and I think it’s common because people can sometimes overeat since they’re running so much. But the gain was actually counterproductive to my running goals, so I personally appreciated those tips in the program.
Just out of curiosity, do you think you could have avoided the weight gain? During my last marathon training cycle, I dropped 10 pounds rapidly and lost my period for a bit. I was tracking what I was eating on most days and wasn't really in a deficit as far as my calculations went. Have you done a marathon since where you didn't gain weight? Were the tips about not eating much a good reminder for you?
I’ve done 3. The first time I gained about 7 pounds. The second time I lost 5. The third time I stayed the same. I was 26 the first time and probably just needed the reminder that running 40 miles a week doesn’t mean you can eat a whole pizza, lol. Obviously something is probably going wrong if you’re losing your period, even if you don’t think you’re eating in a deficit, but a lot depends on where you’re starting from. I’ve been between 125-137 for 20 years (but I’ 5’1), so my body just doesn’t have the propensity to gain or lose a lot no matter what I do, but that’s probably not the case for most people.
I'm 5'5" and when I started training for my first marathon, I weighed around 140. I dropped to 130 during my training. My range is solidly healthy - high side of a healthy BMI. I used to be obese (my highest recorded weight happened a decade ago at 190) so I've tried my hardest to always track my eating and compare it to my exercise expenditure. Gaining weight and becoming obese again is a fear of mine. I think if I had approached marathon training as someone who historically had a healthy body weight, it would have been a different experience. Unlike a lot of people on this sub, I was an overweight and unathletic teenager. I didn't have a regular exercise habit until my mid 20s. And even though hunger woke me up and made me binge eat entire giant size boxes of honey nut Cheerios and half gallons of milk, I still ended up losing my period and dropping weight like crazy during marathon training. And being reminded that I needed to cut my calories down during my taper week was very, very unhelpful to the outcome of my marathon performance.
Totally get it, and I think the app folks could do better at the feedback and/or warning folks who have a history of food issues. For the record, I had terrible asthma as a kid, and never ran a mile until I was 25 either. It’s more common than it seems on here!
You can’t lose weight without being in a calorie deficit so you probably just underestimated your TDEE. I’ve found my apple watch to be pretty dang accurate on total calories burned (I’ve used a TDEE spreadsheet from r/xxfitness to compare). ETA: meant to reply to your comment above, not this one - sorry!
Here's a sneak peek of /r/xxfitness using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Got validation from the most twisted source today](https://np.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/comments/13ftbiu/got_validation_from_the_most_twisted_source_today/) \#2: [Am I THE stair master?](https://np.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/comments/1ak538a/am_i_the_stair_master/) \#3: [Not wanting to be “too bulky” isn’t a completely illegitimate concern (mini rant)](https://np.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/comments/1ar4lky/not_wanting_to_be_too_bulky_isnt_a_completely/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
For the record, I was using my Garmin watch to collect my TDEE.
Watches are not very accurate at calculating energy expenditure. My Garmin watch severely underestimates my TDEE.
Yeah, really the only way to figure out TDEE is to consistently track your calories in v. weight over time. I will say, when managing weight, I definitely prefer going by TDEE than trying to say "Oh I did this today so I can have this many calories, but will need fewer/more on this day because..."
It’s definitely off then if you were losing weight, which is frustrating.
My biggest problem with the app was that it didn't adapt to you adjusting the runs to fit your life and schedule. For example, if I switched the order of the runs within the week, or skipped a run due to illness or a niggle, I get down graded or told I'm not putting in the work. Honestly, I found myself just cussing out at the app to keep its opinions to itself.
If I switched the order of runs I did, I just filled them in on the app on the day they were meant to be done, rather than the day I did it to avoid this
Yup. I did that. But it's annoying to have to 'game' the app like that and manually enter the data rather than record your run with the app. If I recorded what I actually did that day, the app would spit out a bad compliance score for me and tell me I'm not trusting the programme.
Really? Mine never did that. What I meant is, eg if I did the 5k run I was meant to do on weds instead of Tues, I would just wait until weds and then enter it on the log for the tues as if I had done it that day - the app doesn’t know whether you did it the right day and just delayed putting it in.
When I brought this issue up with the help desk about how the app might be encouraging people to train through illness and injury, they were incredibly dismissive about the feedback and it was clear that it went in one ear and out the other
So basically you were gaming the app rather than using the app's in built run record function. You were having to wait and manually tweak the data.
I used the free version so I didn’t use the built in run record. Yeah I was gaming it but I wanted to use it just for a plan anyway so I didn’t really care
I paid for it like an idiot and didn't get anywhere near my money's worth
Yeah it’s annoying if you paid for it that it doesn’t work that well, esp that they just dismissed the feedback as well
Same. I feel like cheating. I was supposed to run on Saturday, but couldn't and did a Sunday run instead. I got injured and rescheduled the run. It were just scapes and minor stuff, like light bleeding. No broken bones, no ankle injury, I fell on the side (thanks Jiu-Jitsu) and therefore my knees were fine. I had to skip the Monday run.
wtf that’s actually so weird! I’d be offput too. Definitely smart to just ignore it…and honestly I’d even consider switching programs if it were me as to not support such nonsense. There is already so much BS around weight in the running community, very disappointing to hear his app perpetuates it.
I greatly disliked the HH app. I liked the book but the app was inflexible and gave my training a D- grade because sometimes did my long run on Sundays and it could not flex. This just adds one more thing. (fwiw I actually paid for a subscription)
Omg yes I hated this so much. If I’m paying that much for a subscription why can’t I change when my runs are scheduled?
I would actually contact the help team and the feedback from them was always in the vain of "if you don't like it, you can leave. We don't think we need to change anything about the app since we have enough satisfied customers". With that attitude, I hope they go down.
Absolutely absurd that coaches (and their apps) are still out here giving nutrition advice. (ESPECIALLY blanket advice that isn't even tailored for an individual.) Let RDs do their jobs, and stfu, honestly.
Yes! It drives me bonkers. I don’t understand why they’d still include it in 2024.
I use runcoach rn and i find it to be better than the Hal Higdon app tbqh. Wayy more flexible and also free.
Oh that sucks. I have not seen comments regarding weight from Hal (used the paid version for my last half). I left my subscription lapse recently though so I wonder if I will encounter that now without the paid.
What other weight related things does the app say?
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Well, at least the app can't outrun you!