Did you lose weight training for a half marathon?

unckate7

So, I know a lot of people say "don't train for a half marathon/marathon to lose weight." Mostly because it makes you so hungry that most people actually end up eating more and gaining weight.

However, has anyone been successful at losing weight while training for this? I know it's CICO, and I would think that as long as you accurately tracked your calories, you should still lose weight. But did anyone find that this type of training just made you too hungry to stick to your calories?

For the record, I'm thinking about maybe doing a half in March, but I'm early into my weight loss (lost 5 lbs, still have 20 lbs to go), and I don't want to do anything that would undermine my weight loss. So I'm wondering if I should stick to shorter distances to still get my exercise in and wait to do a half after I get closer to my goal, or if I should go ahead and do it.

yesimpson

I have lost about 2lbs whilst training for a half, but that's being in maintenance and without trying. Then again the day-after-long-run-day hunger is a force to be reckoned with. You need to be fuelling yourself properly for training too, so trying to maintain anything beyond a tiny deficit I would imagine to be very challenging.

BrianSharpe

During the early part of the training cycle you probably could but when you're doing those 2 hrs Sunday runs you need fuel (doesn't mean you'll gain...)

If you follow pretty much any training plan you'll find the first few weeks aren't too taxing. What kind of distances are you running now?

mwyvr

unckate7 wrote: »

So, I know a lot of people say "don't train for a half marathon/marathon to lose weight." Mostly because it makes you so hungry that most people actually end up eating more and gaining weight.

Not my experience at all.

In fact I find the half marathon is a distance that I can run regularly without real disruption to how I feel or eat. A marathon is a different animal, but one doesn't run marathon distances in training so you don't need to plan for the outliers. If your runs are regularly under 2.5 hours you likely won't ever run into the "bonk" resulting from glycogen depletion (which may drive some to over-eat). Half or all of a protein bar at 1 hour into a long run will probably forestall that feeling if you are on the edge. Most of your training runs for the half will be well short of 21.1km.

I started my weight loss program one year ago at 105 pounds over ideal weight. I started running, just 1km then, growing to 5km and 7km by Christmas. Not a ton of running - just 2 or 3 days most weeks, totaling 250km over those four months. I didn't track calories but did make some common sense eating changes. I lost 30 pounds over that period. That Christmas/New Years season was the first in over a decade where I did not gain weight. Yes, CICO matters most but going from sedentary to more active matters a great deal too.

Fast forward, I continued to ramp up my monthly mileage and goals and from January to July lost another 50 pounds and my running went to 200 - 280km monthly. I only started tracking calories in April and if anything my consumption went down a little more.

I run for fitness and because I enjoy it and enjoy challenging myself. The cardiopulmonary benefits and changes in all my health markers are, although fully expected, nothing short of remarkable. The weight loss was also expected but that really has everything to do with managing intake vs energy consumption. Frankly... it's mostly been easy for me. Truly. If I had to do it over again I would not change a thing except maybe to set my sights higher, earlier.

rybo

Several years ago I dropped weight while training for a half. It was a fine line to find my sweet spot to eat enough to have energy, but still lose. However when I stepped up to marathon training, especially the high mileage weeks, I was stuffing down ice cream & trail mix nightly to keep from losing too much weight.

unckate7

BrianSharpe wrote: »

During the early part of the training cycle you probably could but when you're doing those 2 hrs Sunday runs you need fuel (doesn't mean you'll gain...)

If you follow pretty much any training plan you'll find the first few weeks aren't too taxing. What kind of distances are you running now?

I'm about at the 5k distance right now. I've run on and off for a few years (the past 1.5 years it's been more "off"), so I'm just getting back into it. The longest race I've ever done though was a 10-miler, but I was pretty much at my good weight at that point and not trying to actively lose.

litsy3

I find I can lose weight while training if I make a small amount of effort and log everything. Otherwise I don't lose weight because, let's face it, I'm quite greedy. But there's no reason you can't do it and if you're just increasing your mileage a little you're not going to be that much hungrier. Eat plenty of protein and that should keep you feeling satisfied.

omma_to_3

You can lose while training for a half. Less likely for a full. It looks like I lost about 5 lbs. training for my first half (I was about 25 lbs. overweight). For the second, it looks like I fluctuated within a few pounds (about 15 lbs. overweight at the time). Pretty much maintained for the last two.

_Waffle_

mwyvr wrote: »

unckate7 wrote: »

So, I know a lot of people say "don't train for a half marathon/marathon to lose weight." Mostly because it makes you so hungry that most people actually end up eating more and gaining weight.

Not my experience at all.

In fact I find the half marathon is a distance that I can run regularly without real disruption to how I feel or eat.

Yep yep.

dewd2

Yes. I did earlier this year. From mid January to the end of May when I ran the race I lost over 35 pounds. Since then I ran a second HM and I'm down another 15+ pounds (I'm near my ideal weight now).

The only advice I can give is when your long runs start increasing (the last 3 weeks or so) eat at maintenance if you can (I found it hard to get enough calories). You should do this so you have the energy to finish the long runs and run the race.

dewd2

mwyvr wrote: »

unckate7 wrote: »

So, I know a lot of people say "don't train for a half marathon/marathon to lose weight." Mostly because it makes you so hungry that most people actually end up eating more and gaining weight.

Not my experience at all.

In fact I find the half marathon is a distance that I can run regularly without real disruption to how I feel or eat.

Agreed 100%. I am not training for anything longer than one leg of a full marathon in November but I still run 10 miles on the the weekend. My weekend easy "long" run is now nearly a HM.

SuggaD

I can lose weight while training, but its not easy.

_Waffle_

SuggaD wrote: »

I can lose weight while training, but its not easy.

@SuggaD I blame all the tasty, tasty food. It's not your fault.

patrikc333

you'll be fine, if you go for long runs you will have plenty of calories for both losing and refuel

FatMoojor

I started training for a 100k back in March of this year, the 100k was 12th of September. I Lost 24lbs during my training. Ate at a deficit and ate back 75%-80% of my exercise calories when I wanted.
On my very long runs I ate but 100% of calories. I tracked my calorie burn using a HRM.

monicarungood

rybo wrote: »

Several years ago I dropped weight while training for a half. It was a fine line to find my sweet spot to eat enough to have energy, but still lose. However when I stepped up to marathon training, especially the high mileage weeks, I was stuffing down ice cream & trail mix nightly to keep from losing too much weight.

I would say this is similar to my experience. I didn't struggle too much to lose weight while training for halfs, but when I tried a full I wanted to eat all of the things and unlike this poster I probably gained a few pounds in the process.

mbaker566

I'm doing a 10k program right now and I've been losing weight. I eat about half the calories back and try to make sure my eating is nutrient rich most days.