Marathon Training and losing weight
Quick question: I am training for a marathon so am currently doing between 5-18 miles a day 4 days a week right now running. I am also trying to lose weight, about a pound or two a month. I am eating so that i have a 500 cal deficiet daily, but that means on some days I am eating 2100 calories or more! Its all healthy foods with no simple carbs, plenty of protein, veggies and fruits so in that respect I am doing fine. But for example, today, I have been doing nothing all morning, relaxing from a very hectic work week, and ate about 500 cals for breakfast and lunch. I was full. But I know that I am doing 8 miles this afternoon so I ate a tuna sandwich plus a bowl of oatmeal bringing my calorie intake up to 1100. I am right on track, because I should be able to eat 700 for dinner giving me a defeciet of 500 when it is all said and done, but I feel terribly full on the days that I do this! I feel as though I will end up gaining weight since I am eating so much! I think I just need some insight incase I am doing this wrong, or some encouragement if I am doing this correctly. also, if I was to increase my defecit on the days that I am doing so much running, would that be detremental to my healthy weight loss plans? I dont want to end up losing my muscle, which is why I am trying to closely follow the rules of having only a 500 cal defecit. Is it ok for a person to have morethan that as a defecit if they are eating so much?
Hey! I'm training for a marathon as well and currently running 45 miles/week. I'm trying to drop 5-10 pounds and have been succeeding so far. For me, I try to keep my cal oric deficit to around 50 0-600 calories.
Like you, I sometimes find it difficult to eat without feeling uncomfortably full, especially as my long runs get longer and longer. I've noticed, though, that if I don't eat enough, it catches up with me the next day and I'm like a bottomless pit! So I try to keep my deficit to around 500-600 calories, even if I'm not feeling particulalry hungry, just because experience tells me that it will catch up with me later.
wow! I'm also training for a marathon October 12th and currently running 40 to 50 miles per week. I would like to lose about 5 pounds before the race but if I tone up a bit more I will be happy. I agree with croweej, when I have a deficit larger than 500 calories the next day I want to eat the entire contents of fridge and then some.
It is really important to feed your body. You might want to look at eating more calorie dense foods like nuts to help get the calories and not feel so full.
Good luck
Thanks guys that helps a lot! I do find that too, that the hunger comes the next day. I hate that though, because my defecits look all off if I just follow my hunger, so I have been trying to eat more before and right after the longer runs. I will just continue to make sure I am getting enough cals and keep my deficit at 500 so as to not screw up my muscles.
Good luck on the marathons! Mine is Oct 5th, its my second, Im pretty pumped! Now that the runs are longer I am kind of excited to get back to a normal eating schedule, but it will be easier wtih CC. The last time I think I overate for 2 weeks after the marathon and gained 5 lbs after the marathon!
I've been running shorter distances recently, but have been going on longer bike rides. I so identify with wanting to eat the fridge the day *after* a long ride with a big deficit. And I've also found that making myself eat more the day of a long ride helps prevent feeling ravenous the next day.
Thanks for sharing the experiences and tips, and good luck with the marathons!
I guess I'll join the "I'm training for a marathon" discussion as well.
What you might try to do is eat more frequent smaller meals. A lot of runners and trainers suggest rather than 3 regular-sized meals a day that you have 4 or 5 lighter meals that total the same amount of calories for the entire day.
On long run days I just have something healthy whenever the hunger hits me rather than trying to have one big meal to make up for the calories I've burned.
While I am not personally training for a marathon (gave up running long ago because of knee problems), my oldest son is a marathon runner. It seems like he eats constantly, but it really is more like six or seven smaller meals per day. No junk; supplements with a protein shake after his weight lifting; eats very clean all around. When he began training for his first race a couple of years back, he had a hard time eating enough to keep his weight stable (he lost a significant amount of weight very quickly -- and didn't have much meat on his bones to begin with) and had to really watch his nutrition in order to keep his weight steady. Try to make everything you eat count -- higher calorie, nutrient dense snacks and meals (nuts; seeds; lean protein; whole grains and other complex carbs, etc) instead of low calorie or processed foods and you should be able to find a balance that works.
Good luck to all of you in your marathon goals!
I thought it was just me. Some days I will do a long run and actually not feel that hungry and I think well why eat if I'm not hungry when normally I struggle with trying to eat less and I'm really proud of myself for having such a big deficit but then it catches up with me and the next day I'll end up with no deficit at all even if I've done lots of exercise again ie. even if I do another long run so have a massive burn I still eat enough to cancel out any deficit! I think I'll try to maintain a steady deficit like you've all said since I've been struggling with a plateau for months now.
Well, I did 18 yesterday morning. I had about 350 cals before the run in the form of oatmeal with protein powder and flax seed. I did really well during the run so I think that was a good breakfast. Then I had lunch with a friend which was good because restaurant foods tend to be a bit higher in the calories, and since I am normally not to hngry after a long run it was a good way to "force the calories" I had baked tilapia, a salad, and let myself dig into the bread bowl (which I never do anymore :) Then I was not hungry again until 10pm for dinner, but I had only eaten 1800 calories so instead of going to bed I actually got up and ate dinner....to test the theory that I could have a normal day the following day! So my defecity was 500 for the day, and it was hard but I ate all that I should, and TODAY....went really really well! I am not as sore as I normally am, i did not feel tired today, and I had a normal caloric intake!! The only problem that came of my experiment was that I could not sleep for a few hours becaue I was full, ,but I will just have to eat dinner at a more reasonable hour. I had been waitin gto get hungry; next time I will just eat when I am not hungry.
Is other people finding that this is working for them? And also, ducklingerthank, you mention that you have been struggling with a plateau... I am also worried aobut this. we will both have to see what happens -- I am worried that I am going to plateau too. Its so counterintuitive to me to be eating if I am not hungry to lose weight! But it logically makes sense, and today did go better than a lot ofmy post-long run days, so we will have to see.
Wednesday I did 9.7 but ate enough to get a deficit only ~600. Yesterday I went out for lunch and had a piece of chocolate cake but I was ok with a very light dinner and went swimming so managed to have a deficit ~400. I had 500 exactly tuesday so that's 3 days in a row now and I'm really pleased. No time to exercise today so let's hope I can keep it up.
Great thread, it is encouraging to see how others are doing with similar circumstances. Maybe the makings of a group!
Tomorrow I have a 33km (20.5miles) long slow run to do. I plan on doing it early in the morning to avoid the heat. I am also going to get up an hour earlier to eat a small breakfast. (300cals). For the run I am packing three car booms (110cal each) and water. I need to get use to the ikki stuff because that is what is going to be available on race day. I will also be stashing water along the route to make sure I don't run out.
The weather network says that it is going to be a high of 24c (77f) and sunny. So I should be alright in the morning.
After the race I am going to try and eat several smaller meals (as suggested) to see if that helps the following day.
Hey--let me join! Let me join!
I'm training for my second marathon this October, and it always seems like I'm unsuccessfully trying to lose 5 to 10 pounds with the hopes that a lower weight on race day will result in a faster time. But at the same time, I fear that if I don't eat enough, that I won't have the energy to get my workouts completed successfully. At least that's what I tell myself. According to http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/weightl oss.php , given my average weekly mileage, I should be eating about 2900 calories/day for an average loss of of about .88 pounds a week. It's not happening.
As others have mentioned, I'm hungriest the day after a really long run, when I'll will eat just about anything that isn't pinned down. Maybe it's because I restrict myself too much on other days. I do eat several small meals (five or six) every day, but maybe they're a bit too small. I'll need to look at making my smaller meals more moderate in size--hopefully that will help me to avoid huge swings in caloric intake during the week.
On top of that, it's likely that many of us that are training for a marathon don't have much to lose in the first place, so trying to lose 5-10 lbs while marathon training=big pain in the a$$! Notwithstanding the foregoing sentiments, I AM losing weight with a 500-700 calorie deficit, albeit really slowly...
wrm:I checked out your link and used my stats and come up with a similar number 2993calories/day. I only wish!. I have been logging really closely to make sure that I am not conveniently forgetting what I eat but the number is still way below 2993. (2100-2200 average). I don't mind so much now, but do wonder about what is going to happen when I finish my training schedule and go back to my previous exercise routine.
Wow, I'm amazed at you guys going 18-20 miles with just 300-350 calories for breakfast. Do you not get very hungry during your long runs?
For a long run I will typically have a breakfast more like 800-900 calories. Even at that I fell like I'm out of fuel after 6-7 miles. Maybe I'm eating the wrong things?
No, I don't get hungry on a long run. If anything it supresses my appetite for a couple of hours after too. ( :D - prolong the 'I've just been for a run' abs look! )
I usually/ideally eat some porridge and nutella for about 250-300 cals an hour before I go because I wouldn't want to run on a full stomach and I like to give myself time to get a BM in before the run or else a stop's inevitable during the run....
I try to eat a small breakfast 1-2 hours before I run so I don't have a full stomach. (apple, cereal, 1/3c milk, lowfat yogurt) When I am running more than 10km I eat 1/3 of a gel pack and drink 3oz of sports drink in addition to water every 5km. I agree with ducklingerthank that running suppresses the appetite. It is the next day that I have to watch.
