Trying to lose weight while training for a marathon

Somebody_Loved

Recently I've seen a few comments on here and articles elsewhere talking about losing weight while training for a marathon as an either/or situation which has made me question my current routine. I completely understand properly fueling your body for the training you're doing, but is not possible to do that while trying to lose?

Currently, my goal is set to lose 1 lb/week which gives me 1200 calories a day. I wear a fitbit and eat back all of my exercise calories on days I work out. Currently running 4 days a week with an average of 20-25 miles a week.

Should I rethink this, especially as my miles keep increasing, or is it fine to stay in a deficit so long as I'm eating back my exercise calories? Thanks!

TavistockToad

I'd see how you feel. You can always reduce your deficit to 0.5lb per week if needs be?

litsy3

I think it depends how much weight you have to lose. I'd generally prefer to lose more slowly (and have had success with about 1 pound every 3 weeks while marathon training in the past) but I am close to my ideal weight and do a lot more running than you do, so maybe need to be more careful. However, I would suggest balancing your calories more so that you don't just eat them back on the days you run, but as your miles increase, make sure you've eaten enough on the days before long runs too.

Somebody_Loved

Thanks for the replies. I have noticed that some long runs I bonk a lot harder than others, but have attributed that to whether or not I've eaten before since I run in the morning. I'm still experimenting with nutrition but it definitely makes sense to balance the exercise calories throughout the week.

I have thought about changing my deficit to .5 lb/week, too, especially since I tend to get pretty ravenous the days I run longer.

Also, I'm 5'6, female and CW is 132.4 with a GW of 123-127, if that helps.

StealthHealth

IMHO it's not impossible to lose whilst training for 1st mara but it is very difficult to get the balance just right and with hindsight, myself and other runners I trained at the time, with came to the conclusion that you had to decide which had the priority.

Completion and/or a result or weight loss. Both at the same time seemed unachievable.

I picked weight loss and knew, on the day, that had I given myself more fuel during training I would have trained better, had less time out from illness and probably posted a better time.

I think this effect is much lower if you get to mara fitness for your first and then maintain that level or top up for subsequent races.

drachfit

I believe in the nutrition section of virtually every marathon training plan in existence, it states "do not attempt this plan while also attempting to lose weight."

It is very easy to end up overtrained, which you will not feel until many weeks into the training and you have dug a hole so deep you can't climb out. You are at higher risk for repetitive strain injuries due to your body's compromised ability to heal. You also won't get optimal performance out of your training.

I'm sure people have done it though. Its possible to push through even if overtrained and still complete the race, albeit not with optimal results.

You do you, captain.

blues4miles

Somebody_Loved wrote: »

Also, I'm 5'6, female and CW is 132.4 with a GW of 123-127, if that helps.

Since you are already at a healthy weight I would definitely drop your goal down to .5 lb a week instead of 1 lb a week. But of course, what your goals are is really up to you. I don't think you can lose weight and train optimally for a marathon. That just means your best marathons are still going to be ahead of you, when you can train at maintenance. Since your fitbit is giving you back calories I'm guessing you aren't really eating anywhere near 1200 calories as an average so you're probably doing just fine.

If you do feel yourself bonking often, that would be a good reason to reduce your deficit. You could even do a custom deficit at .25 lbs a week. Also make sure you are getting plenty of sleep, that is a big thing that impacts my running.

Somebody_Loved

blues4miles wrote: »

Since you are already at a healthy weight I would definitely drop your goal down to .5 lb a week instead of 1 lb a week. But of course, what your goals are is really up to you. I don't think you can lose weight and train optimally for a marathon. That just means your best marathons are still going to be ahead of you, when you can train at maintenance. Since your fitbit is giving you back calories I'm guessing you aren't really eating anywhere near 1200 calories as an average so you're probably doing just fine.

If you do feel yourself bonking often, that would be a good reason to reduce your deficit. You could even do a custom deficit at .25 lbs a week. Also make sure you are getting plenty of sleep, that is a big thing that impacts my running.

Yep, my weekly averages range from 1300-1500 calories/day depending on the week. I do like the idea of getting more calories a day, though, as I get pretty ravenous and tend to eat way over my calories 1-2 days/week. Maybe that's a sign I need to eat more throughout the week?

Also, this is my first marathon so although I have a time goal in mind, my ultimate goal is just to finish.

rybo

This question comes up so often and I swear I was a complete outlier when I trained for my marathons. I was not trying to lose weight but when I got up to my high mileage weeks I had to eat everything in sight (nightly bowls of ice cream) to keep from losing too much weight.

litsy3

Somebody_Loved wrote: »

Also, I'm 5'6, female and CW is 132.4 with a GW of 123-127, if that helps.

Ooh, that's not very heavy at all - I'm 5'4 and I've just achieved that exact same weight loss (132 to 126) between January and early Feb while eating loads more than you are. I do do a bit more running, but you're in the process of increasing your mileage. So I've changed my answer to 'eat more and fuel your training properly' - log your running at 0.63x weight in lbs x miles and you'll still lose.

tiny_clanger

Your body is screaming at you that it's not receiving proper nutrition. You're hungry, you're binging. Your body can't talk to you, it's doing everything it can to keep things together while under immense and growing pressure.

Eat more food and enjoy your marathon

Machka9

I'm training for and doing long distance cycling events ... and I'd really like to lose the last couple kg.

I eat within my calories all week. I eat within my calories when I ride the long distances on the weekend, which isn't hard to do because I burn a lot of calories. But then the day after the event, I could clean out a grocery store!

Part of me wants to eat more the day after an event ... part of me thinks I should just ride it out in the hopes that I'll drop those kg.

TavistockToad

Somebody_Loved wrote: »

blues4miles wrote: »

Since you are already at a healthy weight I would definitely drop your goal down to .5 lb a week instead of 1 lb a week. But of course, what your goals are is really up to you. I don't think you can lose weight and train optimally for a marathon. That just means your best marathons are still going to be ahead of you, when you can train at maintenance. Since your fitbit is giving you back calories I'm guessing you aren't really eating anywhere near 1200 calories as an average so you're probably doing just fine.

If you do feel yourself bonking often, that would be a good reason to reduce your deficit. You could even do a custom deficit at .25 lbs a week. Also make sure you are getting plenty of sleep, that is a big thing that impacts my running.

Yep, my weekly averages range from 1300-1500 calories/day depending on the week. I do like the idea of getting more calories a day, though, as I get pretty ravenous and tend to eat way over my calories 1-2 days/week. Maybe that's a sign I need to eat more throughout the week?

Also, this is my first marathon so although I have a time goal in mind, my ultimate goal is just to finish.

13-1500 net or gross?

litsy3

I think she means gross, TT, as she said her goal was 2000 and she's only running 25mpw so that would add up. Now we have more details re. being really hungry and going over calories etc. I'm definitely in the 'eat more' camp. It's entirely possible to lose weight without trying very hard at all once you get into the higher mileage marathon training. I'm expecting to have lost another 7 lbs before my marathon in April and I'm eating more like 2300 calories (gross) on average.

Somebody_Loved

@TavistockToad @litsy3 - Thank you both for trying to help! I'm taking it off the nutrition part of the app that says my net calories.

litsy3

Oh, okay, if it's net then it's not so extreme, but I still think you can get away with eating a fair bit more and still lose weight! How much are you planning to build your mileage and when is your marathon?

cwolfman13

In my experience, trying to lose weight while at the same time training for a big endurance event was next to impossible for me. I did much better just focusing working out and doing some 5Ks and general cycling and whatnot. I've found that when I'm actually training for something I have a great deal of difficulty restricting energy...I don't have any issues maintaining, but I have an incredibly difficult time trying to restrict my calories coming in because basically I'm starving all of the time...and when I do restrict, my performance suffers.

I usually put on a little weight in the winter and I start cutting it right now in the spring while I'm in pre-season for cycling...I basically don't want to be in-season training on a cut. I start getting in more miles now, but nothing like when I'm training for an event where I'm sometimes out 4-6 hours on my bike...and starving.

Probably everyone is a little different, but my guess is that most people would struggle with both restriction and performance trying to diet while training for a big endurance event.

Somebody_Loved

litsy3 wrote: »

Oh, okay, if it's net then it's not so extreme, but I still think you can get away with eating a fair bit more and still lose weight! How much are you planning to build your mileage and when is your marathon?

My marathon is June 18th so still a ways out. I'm running a half tomorrow and following a Hal Higdon plan after that, so my mileage will peak at the end of May with 35 miles that week.