Lost 85 pounds in 6 months - Marathon Training to Maintain? Diet floundering

ehimass

I lost 85 pounds from 1 Dec 2016 to 1 June 2017. Sadly this is about the 4th time in my life I've lost 50+ pounds. I usually end up gaining it back within 18 months, my worst was 290 in 2011. I'm a 6'0" 34 y/o male currently weighing 174 pounds.

This time I lost the weigh on the subway diet: two 6" subs per day and a protein bar + protein shake for lunch = 1500 cals per day, 150+ g protein, and roughly 1000 calories of cardio exercise over 60 minutes, everyday (30 minutes elliptical + 30 minutes treadmill, incline walking at first, then jogging). I know subway is not the best, but I travel 17+ days per month for work, and subway works for me because there is a location EVERYWHERE, even international, so I can stick to it no matter where work sends me (which can be just about anywhere in the US and sometimes Europe/Asia/Australia). For the non subway meal it's a protein shake & bar that have about 60g of protein total and about 400 calories, also available most places. Understand I've done this type of work for a long time so I'm not missing out on cuisine; been there done that in most of these during my fat days.

Over the past few weeks, now that I'm in the normal and not overweight BMI by a point or so, I find my appetite soaring. I am easily eating 4,000 calories + some days until I feel full. I am still doing the exercise, even upping the intensity and time a bit. At this point my diet is kind of cycling between 2 or 3 days per week of 4,000 calories and 4 or 5 days per week of 1500 calories. I'm afraid that I'm spiraling back into weight gain.

I'm a goal oriented person and need some kind of motivation to keep in shape. I was wondering if a marathon is a good idea. I ran a half marathon distance on my own last saturday and finished it in 1 hour 40 minutes, and I did a half marathon race 3 years ago. I like running. I have been following an online training program for a few weeks but would have 8 months to train for the race I have in mind.

So my questions:

Is a marathon a bad idea for a weight gain prone endomorph such as myself?

How am I supposed to eat? I've researched things but I will still need some kind of plan that can work while I'm at work. Should I just start eating footlongs instead of 6" to maintain weight so that I get to about 2500 cal/day or is my technique of dieting most days and eating 4k+ a few days per week ok?

Has anyone else tried a marathon a year or so after losing a lot of weight?

Other than drinking a lot of water ( I drink over a gallon per day), are there any techniques to keep hunger in check while I try to get to my target race weight (which I think is about 160 pounds, 14 pounds lighter than I am now).

Thanks.


Now:




January 2017:

allyphoe

If you start eating a reasonable number of calories every day, I suspect you'll binge less. Binge and restrict is a cycle.

cmriverside

Yeah, I agree. Start eating enough calories for a 34 YO man at 174 and you'll be able to break this cycle.

Set your goals here to "Maintain." Eat what it tells you. On exercise days with an hour of planned exercise, eat 400-500 more.

Do that for a while to stabilize. If you want to start training for a marathon that sounds great, but you need to fuel that exercise.

Djproulx

Agree with the suggestions above. Without looking up your numbers, it sure seems like your calorie intake is very low.

I lost 45lbs in 2011, going from 235 to 190 at 54 years of age. I have since became very active and I typically eat between 2500-3500 cal per day to support my endurance training. I completed a marathon this past March while maintainng my weight.

This spring, I decided to drop more weight to help me get faster. So I focused on balancing weight loss and performance during the build phase for a 70.3 mile triathlon. I have lost 14lbs more since mid April while training 10-12 hrs per week. (I'm 176lbs today) In addition to a daily diet that was planned with the help of a registered dietician, my tri coach is very specific about fueling during long workouts (2hrs & above), having me take in 240-300 cal plus electrolytes PER HOUR to prevent bonking. Endurance training demands fuel.

Another suggestion is to consider eating more frequently during the day. I eat 6 times per day, (every 3 hrs). It takes some effort and I prepare almost all my own meals, but I find that I have much more balanced energy and I'm not as ravenous at each sitting. If I were to go 5hrs between meals, I would be starving.

Finally, with your traveling, you'd have to figure out items that you could eat on the go. Beyond protein bars, I would maybe think along the lines of greek yogurt, cottage cheese, some almonds, etc (maybe baked sweet potatoes baked at home and eaten cold? They are my favorites) as items that you could carry with you or even buy at whatever local store you are near on a given day. If you have a bigger "go to" list of healthy food options, it becomes much easier to manage the hunger pangs when they occur.


Hope this helps. Good luck!

Luna3386

I'd up your calories slowly to maintenance first.

Marathon might be fine but, at least for me, lots of running makes me want to eat all day long!

Are you weight lifting? You can increase your daily calorie needs by bulking up.

ehimass

Djproulx wrote: »

Agree with the suggestions above. Without looking up your numbers, it sure seems like your calorie intake is very low.

I lost 45lbs in 2011, going from 235 to 190 at 54 years of age. I have since became very active and I typically eat between 2500-3500 cal per day to support my endurance training. I completed a marathon this past March while maintainng my weight.

This spring, I decided to drop more weight to help me get faster. So I focused on balancing weight loss and performance during the build phase for a 70.3 mile triathlon. I have lost 14lbs more since mid April while training 10-12 hrs per week. (I'm 176lbs today) In addition to a daily diet that was planned with the help of a registered dietician, my tri coach is very specific about fueling during long workouts (2hrs & above), having me take in 240-300 cal plus electrolytes PER HOUR to prevent bonking. Endurance training demands fuel.

Another suggestion is to consider eating more frequently during the day. I eat 6 times per day, (every 3 hrs). It takes some effort and I prepare almost all my own meals, but I find that I have much more balanced energy and I'm not as ravenous at each sitting. If I were to go 5hrs between meals, I would be starving.

Finally, with your traveling, you'd have to figure out items that you could eat on the go. Beyond protein bars, I would maybe think along the lines of greek yogurt, cottage cheese, some almonds, etc (maybe baked sweet potatoes baked at home and eaten cold? They are my favorites) as items that you could carry with you or even buy at whatever local store you are near on a given day. If you have a bigger "go to" list of healthy food options, it becomes much easier to manage the hunger pangs when they occur.


Hope this helps. Good luck!

Thanks for this. I did just eat 3x per day while dropping my weight, but it wasn't that bad psychologically because I usually exercised at noon without eating anything up to then, so the first opportunity to eat wasn't usually there until 1-2 PM and I spaced my remaining 2 meals 3-4 hours apart after that. Plus I was carrying around 50-75 pounds of fat for my body to nourish itself with as well.

It makes sense to up my cals to closer to 3000 now if I'm going to continue burning 1k per day on cardio/endurance training, but I can't help but feel like I need to get down to about 160 pounds to be at an ideal marathon weight, although I'm confident I could complete one at my current weight. Honestly I'd like to get there fast so continuing with 1500 cals is tempting, but at my current body fat level my body might not be able to supplement itself adequately from fat like it did when I was carrying around 50+ pounds of it.

Are you weight lifting? You can increase your daily calorie needs by bulking up.

I have lifted on and off. I had an abdominal tear while doing bent over rows a few months ago and stopped on the advice of my doctor. I'm sure that's healed enough to start again though. Weight lifting definitely stimulates my appetite more than cardio unfortunately, but that's where discipline comes in, I guess.

cmriverside

lonestarwings wrote: »

Djproulx wrote: »

Agree with the suggestions above. Without looking up your numbers, it sure seems like your calorie intake is very low.

I lost 45lbs in 2011, going from 235 to 190 at 54 years of age. I have since became very active and I typically eat between 2500-3500 cal per day to support my endurance training. I completed a marathon this past March while maintainng my weight.

This spring, I decided to drop more weight to help me get faster. So I focused on balancing weight loss and performance during the build phase for a 70.3 mile triathlon. I have lost 14lbs more since mid April while training 10-12 hrs per week. (I'm 176lbs today) In addition to a daily diet that was planned with the help of a registered dietician, my tri coach is very specific about fueling during long workouts (2hrs & above), having me take in 240-300 cal plus electrolytes PER HOUR to prevent bonking. Endurance training demands fuel.

Another suggestion is to consider eating more frequently during the day. I eat 6 times per day, (every 3 hrs). It takes some effort and I prepare almost all my own meals, but I find that I have much more balanced energy and I'm not as ravenous at each sitting. If I were to go 5hrs between meals, I would be starving.

Finally, with your traveling, you'd have to figure out items that you could eat on the go. Beyond protein bars, I would maybe think along the lines of greek yogurt, cottage cheese, some almonds, etc (maybe baked sweet potatoes baked at home and eaten cold? They are my favorites) as items that you could carry with you or even buy at whatever local store you are near on a given day. If you have a bigger "go to" list of healthy food options, it becomes much easier to manage the hunger pangs when they occur.


Hope this helps. Good luck!

Thanks for this. I did just eat 3x per day while dropping my weight, but it wasn't that bad psychologically because I usually exercised at noon without eating anything up to then, so the first opportunity to eat wasn't usually there until 1-2 PM and I spaced my remaining 2 meals 3-4 hours apart after that. Plus I was carrying around 50-75 pounds of fat for my body to nourish itself with as well.

It makes sense to up my cals to closer to 3000 now if I'm going to continue burning 1k per day on cardio/endurance training, but I can't help but feel like I need to get down to about 160 pounds to be at an ideal marathon weight, although I'm confident I could complete one at my current weight. Honestly I'd like to get there fast so continuing with 1500 cals is tempting, but at my current body fat level my body might not be able to supplement itself adequately from fat like it did when I was carrying around 50+ pounds of it.

Are you weight lifting? You can increase your daily calorie needs by bulking up.

I have lifted on and off. I had an abdominal tear while doing bent over rows a few months ago and stopped on the advice of my doctor. I'm sure that's healed enough to start again though. Weight lifting definitely stimulates my appetite more than cardio unfortunately, but that's where discipline comes in, I guess.

But you're not able to stick with 1500 - because you're hungry, and because you are under-eating at that level.

2500-3000 is much more doable. That's kind of what you're doing anyway with those alternate 4000+ days. Not sure why you want to be at 1500. It isn't working, and eating at a steadier amount day to day will help balance your hormones so your hunger won't sneak up on you. It's the way we are designed.

Djproulx

Had an additional thought in the event you'd enjoy some reading on this subject. Two books I found very helpful are Matt Fitzgerald's "Racing Weight: Getting Lean for Peak Performance" and Bob Seebohar's "Nutrition Periodization for Endurance Athletes". Both writers are endurance coaches and dieticians. Fitzgerald makes the case for leanness as opposed to just weighing less as a predictor of performance. He also offers a holistic view of approaching what is the right Racing Weight for each athlete. Seebohar's book offers an approach to tailoring your nutrition based on where you are in the off season, base, build, peak or recovery periods of endurance training.

ehimass

I don't want to be at 1500, but I think I'd like to lose another 10 pounds or so, and 1500 cals worked pretty well for 6 months for losing weight. I know I need to bring it up, the question is how much and how soon with the goal of losing perhaps a few more pounds but most critically not gaining anything? According to the MFP maintain weight setting, it's 2470 calories per day before accounting for exercise.

The heavy craving/binging only started once I got to about 180, before that I imagine my body could supplement the calorie deficit adequately using the 50-80 pounds of body fat I was carrying around (I've read that the body can only utilize about 22 calories per pound of fat per day, so once I got below about 45 pounds of body fat, which probably happened around 200 pounds body weight, the fat wasn't enough to make up for the large deficit) . I am reading the Matt Fitzgerald book linked above in hopes of answering these questions, thanks DJproulx!

andrejjorje

Calculate your TDEE using a good formula like this one from here:
h tt p s://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
TDEE would be your current maintenance (eg 2470). Subtract 500 calories from this no. (eg 1970). For regular workouts you don't have to bother adjusting it but for high intensity and demanding ones like 1/2 marathon or similar you have to fuel accordingly.
Eat 0.8g of protein x body weight (lbs) and 0.4g of fat x body weight (lbs). Fill in in the rest with carbs or more protein/fat. If you calculated correctly you should lose around 1lb/week. Continue to lift heavy.
Monitor for couple of weeks. After that if the result is not the desired one adjust accordingly by adding or subtracting another 1-200 calories and monitor again for another couple of weeks.
Good luck.

Rusty740

I found Intermittent Fasting was really helpful for me and it might be for you. I just did the skipping breakfast version. I'd have black coffee though. It helped me meet my calorie goal, even if it was a maintenance amount.

The reason it was successful for me is that I found that once I was doing it for awhile (several weeks) I did not get hungry in the morning like I used to when I did eat breakfast. I also found that it helped me gain control over when I would eat. It was also helpful when travelling and now I find that I have an easier time not eating junk foods etc.

You might find that this helps you with both hitting your daily calories and also with controlling your appetite while travelling.

Since I have transitioned over to a bulk and am eating more calories per day I have had to add breakfast back into my routine and I have found that I get hungrier in the late morning. This did not happen when I was skipping breakfast.