Maintenance vs. Training

oocdc2

I've been in maintenance mode since June; my weight fluctuates between 123 - 128 lbs., which is good for me. I also started running around that time, and I would only eat back 1/2 of the calories, which seemed to stabilize things and allowed my CW to be 125 rather than 130--also good for me.

Recently, however, I've been increasing my weekly mileage and training for a half-marathon in the fall. (I'm currently at 20 miles/week.) I recently read that it's ill-advised to try and lose weight *and* train, so I've been eating back most, if not all my calories for the past two weeks or so. So far, so good, but I worry about my weight creeping back up. However, I also am concerned about giving my body enough fuel and protein to repair itself while I'm training up.

Has anyone struggled with this? I'd love to hear some stories.

sijomial

I recently read that it's ill-advised to try and lose weight *and* train

That's ridiculous!
Of course you can do both. Your training may be impacted but the degree is going to partly individual, partly the intensity of your training and partly down to the size of deficit.

Athletes in weight divisions (boxers for example) don't stop training when they need to make their competition weight.

BTW - I train for century plus bike rides, normally in a moderate deficit apart from the final taper week. It's not normally a struggle but you have to be aware of your training performance, recovery, rest and take action if you see problems developing.

Yes you will need to eat more if your mileage increases.

jjpptt2

Just to be clear... right now the issue is what you're worried might happen, not what is actually happening, is that correct?

If you're monitoring your weight, you should be able to keep things pretty steady. You might see a bit more short term fluctuation in weight, depending, but it shouldn't be hard to keep you weight pretty steady long term.

As far as training while in a deficit... how big of a deficit are we talking? I've trained for half ironman races while in deficit without any obvious problems. If you're really trying to maximize your training for the fastest race you can possibly run, then the deficit probably isn't going to help you. Otherwise, I don't think a small deficit will be a problem.

My $.02. Ultimately you'll have to monitor your body, your weight, and your training, then make small adjustments if/when necessary. No one can tell you through the internet what will or won't work.

rybo

Just keep track. You were able to maintain while eating 1/2 back, it's likely that would continue even as your mileage increased. If your weight creeps up eating them all back, cut back down to 1/2 again. Dropping a few lbs while training isn't a big deal, it's when people try to drop a lot and run into issues with not getting enough to eat. Every marathon cycle I've went thru I dropped several lbs despite eating as much as I could

mia79gbr

Hi oocdc2,

I know exactly where you're coming from! It's difficult to maintain a balance especially when running as I find that after a long run I become very hungry and am quite capable of eating all the run calories back as a snack!

If you're starting to train, you will find you become heavier as you start to build muscle particularly in your legs. Don't worry - muscle is denser than fat so although you'll weigh more you'll look smaller. I try to eat at LEAST 80% of my running calories back (I allow a margin as the apps and Garmins / HR trackers etc can vary by as much as 50kcals a mile) as I'm running for performance.

Make sure you're eating enough protein after your run (within 45 minutes of finishing is ideal) but I wouldn't worry about weight but I would keep an eye on size instead. I run marathons (and ultras) and do triathlon mainly and it's all been positive in terms of body changes.

oocdc2

mia79gbr wrote: »

...but I wouldn't worry about weight but I would keep an eye on size instead.

Thanks for this--I am paying attention to how my clothes fit, too. (Though, that can lead to paranoia: "Were these pants this snug last week? Oh, crap..." : )

cwolfman13

My difficulty in "training" and losing weight is that I have a tougher time controlling calories...I've never had problems maintaining while training though, just losing weight. Right now I'm cutting and mostly doing a lot of walking, lifting twice per week, and about 50-60 miles per week on the bike which is about half of what I would riding training...I find it much easier to control calories and maintain a deficit with some regular light to moderate exercise vs training.

lorrpb

Fuel yourself. If your weight starts to creep up, then reduce calories by 250 per day.

__TMac__

Can I ask a follow-up?

@sijomial - Are you saying to eat at maintenance during taper week? My race is next weekend (2/12) and I'm pondering nutrition strategy. I was thinking I'd move up to maintenance and increase carbs slightly (I'm insulin resistant, so typically average 150g a day).

sijomial

TmacMMM wrote: »

Can I ask a follow-up?

@sijomial - Are you saying to eat at maintenance during taper week? My race is next weekend (2/12) and I'm pondering nutrition strategy. I was thinking I'd move up to maintenance and increase carbs slightly (I'm insulin resistant, so typically average 150g a day).

@TmacMMM

Yep - I raise my calories back to maintenance and taper down my exercise intensity. So I aim to hit my event target weight the week before the event. Idea is to be at the start fully fuelled, rested and fresh - I actually make those aspects the priority rather than being precisely the right weight on the start line.

I do carb load to a degree but tend to have fairly high carbs anyway.

I also take beetroot juice in the week before a particularly hard event but whether that makes a significant different is hard to judge. Partly it's the mental aspect of feeling you have done all you can do to be the best you can be on the day.

TavistockToad

I am half marathon training, and in a small deficit (250cal per day). i will increase my cals the last month of my training as i know i run much better at maintenance than at a deficit, and i am only trying to get rid of a few vanity pounds anyway.

as others have said, keep an eye on your weight, if the scale creeps up for more than a couple of weeks in a row, reduce cals slightly, other than that, don't worry unnecessarily.

Machka9

I've had a bit of trouble with this because I train for ultra-distance cycling.

At first, I was eating at a fairly significant deficit, even during long training rides and on events, and I was struggling through the events.

Then I adopted the following ...

If I were just doing a little bit of exercise ... like maybe a 1-hour walk and some stairs ... I'd eat about half my exercise calories back.

If I were doing a moderate amount of exercise ... like a 50 km bicycle ride or something ... I'd eat about 75% of my exercise calories back.

And if I were doing a long ride, I'd eat all my exercise calories back. The longer the ride, the greater the chance I'd eat at maintenance + all my exercise calories for the day or two before the ride, on the ride, and the day or two after the ride.

That worked for quite a while.


Then I had two really long rides about 6 or 7 weeks apart, and an illness, and the final busy-ness of my university course, plus full-time work ... and I kind of stopped watching and gained a little bit of weight.

But I'm getting back into what was working again.

oocdc2

Machka9 wrote: »

I've had a bit of trouble with this because I train for ultra-distance cycling.

At first, I was eating at a fairly significant deficit, even during long training rides and on events, and I was struggling through the events.

Then I adopted the following ...

If I were just doing a little bit of exercise ... like maybe a 1-hour walk and some stairs ... I'd eat about half my exercise calories back.

If I were doing a moderate amount of exercise ... like a 50 km bicycle ride or something ... I'd eat about 75% of my exercise calories back.

And if I were doing a long ride, I'd eat all my exercise calories back. The longer the ride, the greater the chance I'd eat at maintenance + all my exercise calories for the day or two before the ride, on the ride, and the day or two after the ride.

That worked for quite a while.


Then I had two really long rides about 6 or 7 weeks apart, and an illness, and the final busy-ness of my university course, plus full-time work ... and I kind of stopped watching and gained a little bit of weight.

But I'm getting back into what was working again.

I like your formula! I'm going to monitor my weight/size for a couple of weeks, but if things start to creep up, I might adopt this, thank you!

__TMac__

Thanks for the discussion, folks. I've just switched to maintenance and increased carbs to 200g until race day. One last hard workout tomorrow, then onto the restlessness that is taper week. :-/