Is there a such thing????

tlynnweb

So I've run many 10K's and 5K's but never a half so I've signed up for one in October. I'm following a 2/1 (run/walk) plan from about.com which suits me well. My question is this. I'm 5'5" and 160 lbs. I'm really wanting to drop weight but all of the things I read about training lead me to believe it's not all that possible. I've gone to the runnersworld.com site and figured out how many calories I need to do so. Does anyone have any tips for losing while training????

bridies01

Congrats on signing up for your first half!!

I struggle with losing weight when I ramp up my training as well. If I am eating at a deficit to lose weight, I can tell I don't have quite as much energy for a great workout. I think it is possible if you plan your meals well. Like, the day before a long run I won't have much of a deficit because I eat a carb heavy dinner to fuel up for my long run. I don't eat before my long run and then drink a gatorade after.....I am usually not hungry for a while after a long run, so I use that to my advantage and skip breakfast that day, eat a high protein lunch with some carbs (egg whites, bagel thin, veggies), a sensible snack (pita chips and hummus) and last night I had two veggie burgers for dinner - with one hamburger bun, ate each as an open faced sandwich with mustard, ketchup and pickles. I had a pretty good deficit yesterday.

If you are just trying to get through the miles and not doing intense interval training, it's probably fine to maintain a deficit. But when I do speed intervals and that kind of stuff, I tend to be very hungry! Friend me if you want, I am training for a half in October as well, I'm happy to share my diary, etc if you need inspiration.

montana_girl

It's difficult to lose weight while training but not impossible. And the closer you are to your goal weight the harder it will be to train and lose weight. The hardest part is finding the balance between fueling your body and trying to maintain a deficeit.

Guess what it comes down to is a lot of experimenting to figure out what works and doesn't work for you...trying to figure out how many exercise calories you should (or shouldn't eat), eating more protein and/or carbs, etc. Takes a lot of patience, but once you find the right balance then it becomes easier.

Most of all, focus on your training and don't worry as much about losing weight. Have fun and enjoy training for your first half! Watch out though.... they are addictive! :flowerforyou:

tlynnweb

I normally wouldn't worry too much about losing the weight but I signed up for the race the same month that I'm in my sister in laws wedding! I NEED to drop at least 10 lbs!