Marathon Training and 1600 Calories...

callitaday1

It's that time again, ramping up my miles for marathon training which is 18 weeks. MFP is set at 1600 calories, all efforts are made to not eat calories back as I gain weight easily due to PCOS. (Running is the only exercise that helped maintained a 65 lb loss). Sometimes I feel this calorie limit is low as a 10 mile run easily burns 1,000 calories, not to mention the hours of cross training that goes into the marathon season. Any other distance runners want to chime in?

VintageFeline

You're grossing 1600 calories and eating no exercise? I'm not a marathon runner nor do I have PCOS but that's a worryingly low amount for your activity level. Are you losing weight currently?

Serah87

OP so basically your just eating 600 calories??

Good luck on the marathon.

RobD520

I cannot imagine even considering a Marathon training program on 1600 gross calories. If you are going to train for a marathon, in my opinion, you MUST eat back calories.

Elise4270

Hmm, how do you feel on 1600 net average? Are your runs hard or compromised? Do you feel fueled? At 30mpw, I keep it about 1500 net. And I'm not losing. I need to lose10 to hit my racing weight.

Serah87

Elise4270 wrote: »

Hmm, how do you feel on 1600 net average? Are your runs hard or compromised? Do you feel fueled? At 30mpw, I keep it about 1500 net. And I'm not losing. I need to lose10 to hit my racing weight.

She's not netting, she doesn't eat back exercise calories.

Guns_N_Buns

I would, at least, try to eat 1200 calories/day.

PCOS women, potentially, have a lower BMR, but nothing close to only needing 600 calories.

TavistockToad

Serah87 wrote: »

OP so basically your just eating 600 calories??

Good luck on the marathon.

This entirely.

How do you feel running 10 miles on 1600 cals OP?