Tips for losing while Marathon training ?

boooie1
boooie1 Posts: 13 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all.... I am hoping some of you lovely people could give me some tips...I want to lose 14-21 lbs roughly but also training for London Marathon...How do you do it so your still fueling enough to cover the miles you need to put in...Any tips or ideas would be fab thanks

Mandy :)

Replies

  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    Hi, Mandy. What an awesome goal! Good on you. I just read an oooooolllld thread, but a good one, written by stroutman. In it he addresses your question specifically. I think he has a group on here, and maybe another commenter can give better directions for finding his stuff. It's a tricky goal for someone who is already lean. Best of luck!
  • boooie1
    boooie1 Posts: 13 Member
    Thanks :) will do some searching ! :)
  • kaspatore
    kaspatore Posts: 95 Member
    Eat back your running calories for sure. Don't be afraid of eating more carbs than most people so that you have the energy to have effective training for your runs. I'm only training for a half and I eat a little more on the day before and morning of 6 mile or longer days. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!! I admire you and hope someday I'll be able to do a marathon!
  • Roxiegirl2008
    Roxiegirl2008 Posts: 756 Member
    Seriously was one of the best feelings in the world when I crossed the finish line for my marathon just a few short weeks ago.

    After long runs it is super easy to want to eat everything under the sun. I made sure that I tracked all of my food that I was eating and had many snacks through out the day after the long runs but managed to keep them within my calorie count. I didn't eat back all of the calories I burned with running. I typically ate about 1/2 of them back but not all. That worked for me. I never once felt hungry or lacked energy on a run.

    Good luck!
  • boooie1
    boooie1 Posts: 13 Member
    Thank you ... you so can do one.. just a bit of self belief and determination :)
  • Roxiegirl2008
    Roxiegirl2008 Posts: 756 Member
    You can totally do it!

    I have to admit, I treated my training like a part/full time job. I made sure that I got my runs in regardless of the weather or what have you. I enjoy wine and vodka soda but I limited myself on that on Saturday nights (Sundays were my long run days) simply because who wants to run with a hangover. HAA I found that also cross training (weights and spin class) helped with my running and the stronger my core got the easier the running became for me. I know this is about food post but I wanted to share that as well. :D
  • fit4lifemom
    fit4lifemom Posts: 47 Member
    For me the key to not overeating on my long run days was fuel while running and my first post run food. What worked for me was a few banana chips every 20 mins or do while doing a run longer than 90 mins. Without this, I felt too depleted by the end of a run to think straight and make good choices. Then my favourite post long run food, like within 20 mins of being done, was a baked potato with a small amount of butter and some baked beans. Additionally on long run days, I would eat closer to maintenance calories than weight loss calories. I found my weight would be up slightly for the 2 days after a long run, maybe because that is what my body does while healing. But by the 3rd day, I would be back to normal and my weekly weightloss would not be affected.

    Good luck. I am training for a half at the end of May. I have done 2 full marathons before, but I know prefer a destination half marathon.
  • fit4lifemom
    fit4lifemom Posts: 47 Member
    And totally agree with doing strength work and ab work as part of your cross training. Once your abs go and form starts to degrade, injuries are more likely and the joy leaves the run quite quickly
  • boooie1
    boooie1 Posts: 13 Member
    Thank you all.... I did run a marathon last year and loved it...I just know if I lose a few lbs it will be less harsh on my joints etc.... and it makes me feel so much better energy wise,I do need to do core work and got a yoga dvd to start doing and investing in a cross trainer to do on my *rest* days! ..I think im panicing a bit about weight as last year I gained 24lbs during training from excess bread for keeping my carbs up... so this time I really want to get it right... I am planning now on having 1400 cals on non run days and on run days eat back half of exercise calories and see how that goes for a couple of weeks and then if needs be up it a bit more... Happy Running :D
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    Hey! I had the same problem: half marathon, +10 pounds; marathon, +15 => MFP.

    I'm a little bit into the training cycle for my next marathon and still losing a little weight, although I have slowed down the rate (on purpose) from before.

    What's working for me is to eat back 75-100% of my calories on "quality run" (speedwork and long run) days according to that .63*weight in pounds*distance in miles formula--speedwork makes me h-u-n-g-r-y. (I think that formula is a little on the conservative side.) On recovery run days and cross-training, I credit myself a couple hundred extra calories if I feel like I need it towards the end of the day but definitely not all.

    I'm also tracking *everything*, especially my post long run "eat the house" splurges. Although I think my problem last time was eating too much on the easy days, not the hard ones.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    I'm training for an Ultra at the moment. What you need to accept is you may not lose any weight if you prioritise your training (many people gain weight while training for Marathons). You need to fuel your training sufficiently otherwise even if you lose weight you may not perform as well as you can. i'd love to lose another stone by race day but I'm not going to let that goal override my race goal. You need to work out what will work best for you an your training. Tweak the amounts of foods and the type until you hit the sweet spot. I'm afraid there is not one way that will work for everyone. My goal at present is to maintain and if I lose some that will be a bonus. Good luck
  • boooie1
    boooie1 Posts: 13 Member
    Thanks all ... its lovely getting different peoples input and how they have done it... the main goal has got to be getting over that finish line it might be the only time I get to do London so I just do not want anything getting in the way of it :)
  • Mamafood
    Mamafood Posts: 55 Member
    I'm having this exact issue ... Got a ballot place after taking about 6 months off running & piling on 18lbs .... Am being plagued by injury & had to defer london & hope to be able to s.l.o.w.l.y. Complete Edinburgh instead as I've already raised nearly £1000 for epilepsy action :-/
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