Weight loss with half marathon training

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Sweettart
Sweettart Posts: 1,331 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
In a few weeks I will be training for a half marathon and I still have 55 poounds to lose. I know I need to fuel my body but just wondering how many calories I should be eating.

Also Ive read 50% carbs and 25% protein and fat are good macros. Do you agree?

Replies

  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    Training for a half is a lot of work. You will need to fuel your body properly. Your macros are probably good, but I'm no expert there (I aim for 50% carbs, 30% fat, 20% protein - I know I'm low on the protein!). I will caution you though, you may not lose weight while training for the half. Many people don't. When I trained for my first half, I did lose weight but at a slower rate. I think I lost 8 to 10 lbs. over a 4 to 5 month period. In fairness, this also did span Christmas cookie season LOL.

    This year, I didn't lose any weight while training for my half. I may have actually gained a couple of pounds. Because I was simply eating too much. I was able to cut almost 20 minutes off my half marathon time though. But, you want to make sure you're not restricting calories too much while training - it will work against you. You should probably raise your calorie target and shoot for losing at a slower rate while training.
  • litsy3
    litsy3 Posts: 783 Member
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    I think if you just log your exercise calories and eat them back there's no reason you can't keep (gradually) losing weight safely. The reason people often don't is that they feel entitled to eat more because of the extra running they are doing and overdo it a bit.
  • Sweettart
    Sweettart Posts: 1,331 Member
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    ill be wearing my heart rate monitor so ill know how many calories ill be burning. Im not really worried about my short runs more for my long runs.
  • litsy3
    litsy3 Posts: 783 Member
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    I usually run first thing in the morning, so if I've done a long run it's pretty easy to eat back the calories as I'm hungrier for the rest of that day. If you build up the length of your long runs gradually you'll get used to it, but if you're running further than you have before and feel like you don't have enough energy, make sure you (a) take it slowly, and (b) have a good dinner with some carbs the night before. Is this your first half? And are you following a specific training plan?
  • jec228
    jec228 Posts: 67 Member
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    I have ran about 4 halfs and just ran my second full marathon this year (never again though!) a half marathon is a great goal and accomplishment so congratulations already!
    i think a lot of times myself included, we think becuause we are logging so many miles per week, we need to eat eat eat to make sure we are fueling ourselves properly. i have actually ended up gaining weight through several of my trainings because 1. I'm actually really hungry from all of the running, and 2. i am constantly telling myself 'oh you ran 8 miles before breakfast - you can have all of this extra food'.
    i would recommend continuing to log your food on mfp. keep track of your calories burned with an HRM or something accurate. eat back half or most of your burned calories which will likely be more than what you earn in whatever exercise you are doing now. if you are into giving yourself a treat meal - have this the day of your long run... you can indulge in the extra calories without really worrying about going over for the day becuase you earned them! i followed this while training for my last race and lost about 12 lbs.

    most of all good luck and enjoy it!! you will be so proud of yourself when you cross that finish line :)
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    Half marathon burns around 1,500-2,000 calories. If in the morning, I would have probably had a carb rich dinner the evening before - e.g. pasta, pizza. - and then around 800 calories in the morning before with carbs; typically for me - cereal/porridge, glass of milk, banana, flapjack/energy bar with carbs.
  • TriShamelessly
    TriShamelessly Posts: 905 Member
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    Fuel the workouts but don't overdo it. I aim for eating back 75-80% of workout calories but sometimes do more due to the rungries! Have fun and best wishes for successful training and completing the half!
  • ejoy77
    ejoy77 Posts: 19 Member
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    One way I have found to balance the need/desire to fuel my body while training with my attempts to lose weight is to scale back my weekly weight loss goal a little bit. I run half marathons, and have run one full marathon. I actually gained a few pounds while training for the full, because I was just hungry. all. the. time. But this spring I lost 7 lbs over 3 mos while training for a series of three half marathons. That probably doesn't seem like that much of a weight loss, but the way I figure it, it's better to come up with 7 lbs lost than 0 lbs lost (or 7 lbs gained, for that matter).

    I think the key, for me, was to set my deficit with a goal of losing only 1/2 lb/week, but also allow myself a little freedom in that. Like, if I was really, really hungry, I could eat a little more than that, so long as I was maintaining a weekly deficit. I also tried to make better choices when I was hungry: re-fuel with complex carbs and protein, rather than just stuffing anything I could reach into my face.

    Log everything. Be consistent. And celebrate the small victories. You may be training for a race, but the weight loss itself shouldn't be a race. :)

    (Also, congratulations, and good luck with your training!)
  • Sweettart
    Sweettart Posts: 1,331 Member
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    I did a half marathon 2 years ago. Its the same one I will be doing again this September. I wasnt as into losing weight as I am now.

    I will be training to do a walk/run for my half. Either 3 run/ 1 walk or 4/1


    And I amgoing to be following a half training schedule. It has 4 running days, 1 cross train day and 2 rest days
  • RaluKitty
    RaluKitty Posts: 62 Member
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    It depends what is your main goal - 1) keep losing weight or 2) run the greatest half you can run at this time. I lost 10-20 pounds while training for 2 halfs, but my goal was 100% number 1). So I tracked my calories carefully, ate back only what I burned and didn't overdo it on the carbs. I still ate mostly protein and veggies through the week - steel cut oats in the AM, veggies and a protein at lunch (chicken, tofu or black bean burger), a protein snack (yogurt or cottage cheese) and veggies with protein for dinner. Before my long runs on Sunday I had the only "carby" meal - usually half a Trader Joe pizza (thin crust, adding up to maybe 500 cals).

    Eating fewer carbs and more protein instead helps me stay full longer - very important given that I run almost daily and I can get very hungry otherwise. It's true that my runs are slower and a bit harder than when I really carb up, but there are 2 advantages for me to this: 1) I still lose weight very easily; 2) when I DO carb-up before a race or long run, I feel like a champion! So those harder runs do train my body to run as efficiently as possible, and carbs just take me to turbo mode.
  • LauraJayneHazzard
    LauraJayneHazzard Posts: 12 Member
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    I lost nearly 2 stones whilst training for my last half marathon. I just made sure that I fueled my work outs and long runs correctly (I made sure I ate a good amount of carbs - porridge, whole-wheat pasta, sweet potatoes etc) and ate back my exercise calories so I met my daily goal. Make sure you have a lot of protein too so that you can help build and repair muscle so aim to have protein with every meal :) Good luck with it!
  • Sweettart
    Sweettart Posts: 1,331 Member
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    What % did you have your carbs, protein and fat set at?

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