Anabolic Runner - Controversial DNA

 

I have recently started on a weight loss journey as I started to realize that I am absolutely not only slow, but struggling with the uphill, especially steep uphills. I am monstrous and stable on the descent, can push the flats, short uphill road intervals are great, but long, steep over 5min uphill sections, I am in a bad spot. 

Hi I am Levi: a seasoned trail runner, ex-running coach, from Hungary, living in the Pyrenese in the south of France. I used to have a lot of content online from blogs to videos and engaged in a lot of discussions in forums and on coaching related sites, but as I am getting older, I started not seeing value in it, so did not follow up, for nearly half a decade. I chose Blogger, this nearly dead google platform, to just write. Write out my thoughts and experiences, my journey back to high performance ageing running and so. 
If you asked why did I stop coaching ? Simple, I am in love with running science, education, running itself. I could listen to running podcasts, read running and strenght and conditioning books, all day long if I could. I would go back to schools and learn exercise physiology, kinesio therapy, osteopathy or get to a quality pilates school herited from Joseph Pilates if I could. 
I simply stopped coaching, because people do not listen, for one. Second, because of the internet. I absolutely hate online coaching from distance, mass coaching and automated coaching. Not going to do it ! If I had 10 local clients face to face and get a simple minimal wage for coaching them, I absolutely love that, but it is not going to happen. People cannot allow, especially runners, cannot allow 100 or 150€ a month for a coaching service. This is an artifice. Pay for something non graspable, that supports a simple passion and available in books and videos. Even if they do not read the books and do not watch the videos as 2026 attention span is 5 to 10seconds, knowing that it is available freely is enough to not to pay. So, simply I am not really passionate about the reality of coaching in this era and as professional life goes, I went towards IT, what is one of my passions and work on those skills instead. That is it about me and running, so let's continue this weight loss journey.

I used to be body building and doing all sorts of crazy feats of strength and conditioning. I also used to weigh 100kg, what is not that heavy for a 196cm tall guy. Than in 2006, I had a back injury, well after a decade long degradation due to alcohol, smoking, sitting, volleyball and very heavy weights. So I stopped body building. I was jiggly and subconsciously wanted a sport that is not dependent on equipment. Running came after missing a bus, when living in Ireland. I always used to be running but just as fun. During my kickboxing years, or in the university as athletisme was a class. Maybe 10 to 20 times a year. 
Anyways, because of this background of 10+ years of weightlifting, my body is trained to be very anabolic I guess. From 1997 to 2007 I gained like 35kg of muscle ! I was abusing protein as much as I can. In Malta I lived between a butcher and a fishmonger. I was hammering swordfish and chicken, countless sea urchins, fishes, razors, beef and porc. I had 50% off in the only BodyBuilding shop on the island that time with tons of free nutritional goodies. I was dedicated. I never cared about aesthetics. I was just enjoying that time in gym and the execution of routines with proper lifting technique. 

One year ago, in 2025, I bough a couple of weights, a barebell and a started doing specific training for arm-wrestling. Not that I want to do a competition, but that specific strength is very appealing to me. There is a goal about it that is not subjective. 
To know, from 2007 since 2024, I used to be running a lot. Doing all sorts of competitions from 5km to the Tor des Geants. Done many 100milers, 100k mountain races, sky running, road and track races. I have done over a decade  over 125km per week on yearly average. I was even clocking once for over 6months over 200km weekly average. I was doing weeks of over 10000m of elevation gain regularly. I also used to be tour guiding on a bike, rolling 30+ hours a week for two years on end. So when I was really on top of my class, living on the Cote d'Azur, when started getting on the podium against professional runners, I weighed around 74kgs. I was skinny, but due to the mountain cycling, I was very very leg strong. Could not do a pushup, but was strong ! Then I started doing some stuff for upper body core and more, and 78-80kg became my sweetspot. I stayed at that for all the time without effort. Last year as I said, I bough some barebells, dusted off my 16kg KB, got some elastic bands, started doing also heavy demolition, wood chopping, gardenning, chainsaw work. I gained 12kgs in not even a year. I am not fat. I am not 5% for sure, but not 15% either ! I still show abs and have definition. But for a runner 92kgs is way too much. I tested out some 6 x 1000 the other time flat, I am still good. At 3:45 I am feeling very comfortable. Breathing, but I am comfortable. On the uphills on the other hand I am not only slow, but struggling. Knowing that I am climbing nearly daily. Doing uphill drills. Tuesday Thursday we do big climbs like 4k 650m like yesterday. Weekends I am out doing 1000ms and long runs, but the weight remains. 

I started a weight loss routine. The goal is to loose 500 to 1000g a week. To get down to 80 at least for towards august. On a way that I am not loosing power and strength. Well, not much. What I need to keep up is acceleration capacity, agility and trail technicality. 

How to loose that weight without struggle ? 

Well it is easy. People often go on diets of some sort or cut calories. That is a good thing to mess up your head, to mess up your metabolism and also to develop mental eating disorders. To f-up your thyroid and pancreas. Like going on a low fat, high fat, only vegetable based diets or only liquid diets. Doing shakes.

Humans, animals, mammals, never restrict calories. It is rare that there is just a little food or a little bit of this and a little bit of that. No ! There is either food or there is no food ! When you have availability, serving yourself only half a plate, or stopping before you are satisfied messes with the head ! 

I have been eating clean for over 2 and a half decades. I eat my fare share of raw fruits and vegetables, I eat little gluten, I avoid milk products. I never drink alcohol. I drink 0 to 2 coffees a day. I drink a ton of hand picked infusions of lavander, nettle, thyme  and so. 

The only way I believe to health-fully loose weight is fasting and intermittent fasting. I think and believe that this is the only way. I just mentioned everything before. Instead of messing up your mind and body, it reinforces it. Clarifies and purefies it. You don't need to buy or invest into anything. It is free immediately. The only thing to focus on is extra salt and hydration. 
When you sit down to eat, on the other hand, you eat like normal. Not less not more. 

Keep up the perf and volume

 So, that is another subject. You don't want to mess up your training, that is for sure. You want to keep improving. I have naturally all my hard workouts in the afternoon and I always take gels. Always ! You need sugar for your body to execute ! Always !!!

So it is simple. I do an overnight 24h fast Sunday last meal to Monday first meal. It is not strict. It can  be 21h to 19h you know, 22h or so. Most importantly I don't eat, just drink after Sunday dinner and Monday I eat only dinner. Easy. Monday is recovery, so maybe two easy runs. 4k in the morning with pilates, 4k in the evening with yoga. 

Then all other weekdays, I intermittent fast so I have only two meals every day, starting at noon or 14o'clock. 
I have 2 interval sessions in the week that is Tuesday and Thursday.  Nothing changes, except, that I have snack 45min before those runs. I also take my gels seriously on these runs. I have often 3 45g carb gels with me for the 90m session. I warm up before everybody for some extra miles, then take one gel for the group warm up, then dose the rest during. 

Saturday and Sunday I do not do cheatmeals or sh*t like that. I just eat normally, breakfast, lunch and dinner and also again, take my gels seriously as I either do tempo runs, like 4 back to back tempo, if the weather was crap. Or two long runs.

Week 1 is done around 500g down. So it is not radical and my body of course if holding on to the weight as I am not fat or overweight. It is going to be slow and easy. No struggling. Just keep on drying out the muscles. 

So you know, first Thursday I already had 24 + 4 intermittent days. That climbing workout went already so well !!! Going to write down the updates here.