Any endurance athletes trying to lose weight?

lostalykat · May 2011

I have posted this a million times I swear but I have not been able to find a group of people who train for endurance events and also struggle with losing weight while doing it. I know that when training for a triathlon, or century or marathon it might be hard to lose weight because your body is fighting to keep all that it can. Has anyone succeeded with losing weight while training? Should I hold off until after my event in July? Is anyone currently training for an event and trying to lose weight? Just wanted to throw it out there

pamiampam · May 2011

I am. And it is hard to do. I have a Sprint Tri on August 27. I am currently working out 6 days a week. Rest on Monday, run Tuesday, core abs class and swim Wednesday, sprint cycle on Thursday, swim Friday, 25 mile bike on Saturday, brick on Sunday. I have an old knee so am doing most of the running on the elliptical and treadmill right now until I drop more weight. Long term I would like to be 30 pounds lighter (and would still be Athena). I've been on 1200 cal net, and I haven't lost anything. I bought the coolest bike today though!

wewon · May 2011

The whole time that I was training for my half marathon my weight moved within the same 5 lb window. I could not get my weight to drop below 210 the whole time.

I always ran a deficit, and never went into starvation mode the whole time.

Now that I have completed the half (May 15th) I will keep my running at about 15 miles/ week and do a lot more weight training.

SheehyCFC · May 2011

I've never done those kind of "endurance" events - but have done a few 10-milers and a half-marathon. Was able to still consistently lose ~1-1.5lb/week but then again I was overweight enough that it could come off.

If you are training, just make sure to eat lots of lean protein and vegetables (for vitamins, etc.) and eat your exercise calories back as much as possible. Based on your picture though, i think you already knew that.

I'm friends with a few triathletes on here - LMac423 (and her friend Celo24) - they may be able to help... sorry I couldn't be more of one.

arc918 · May 2011

I'm an avid marathoner, you can decide whether or not that makes me an endurance athlete.

I managed to pack on ~ 15 lbs. while running 45-50 miles per week. I've now dropped 12+ lbs while training.

For me it is a simple math equation, eat more than I burn and I gain. Burn more than I eat and I lose. Thanks to MFP, I can keep a good handle on it all.

rrhode23 · May 2011

I am sorry to hear that you cannot find a group of endurance type people to chat with... i guess their all out training - cause thats all there is right?? lol But I am in the same boat as you, i would guess. I do triathlons, Oly distance mostly. I did my first half ironman last Sept. and will do it again this year, as well as a few half marathons here and there during the winter time (pr of 1:36 ! )
But anyway - I would say I am not over weight, but I do have a few lbs of fat i would like to rid my self of in the stomach area. Ultimately I would like to have the hightly sought after 6 pack abs... So I bought Insanity by Beach Body and I have started and stopped a few times... its too much to do 6 days a week and swim bike run - But I have deffinately noticed an improvement in my anaerobic capacity after doing the amount of Insanity i have --

Whats your story??

Nich0le · May 2011

Ahhh, I just bought a book called Run Your Butt Off and it tackles the issue of running and trying to lose weight, so far it has some pretty good info and it made me realize like the previous post that the more I run the more I struggle with losing and this book so far is helping me figure out how to balance it out. It is a runners world book. So far I have managed to lose 10lbs in the last few weeks.

ilsie99 · May 2011

I'm an avid marathoner, you can decide whether or not that makes me an endurance athlete.

I managed to pack on ~ 15 lbs. while running 45-50 miles per week. I've now dropped 12+ lbs while training.

For me it is a simple math equation, eat more than I burn and I gain. Burn more than I eat and I lose. Thanks to MFP, I can keep a good handle on it all.

Right here, this is the answer. If you dont watch what you eat, you will almost certainly gain weight when training high mileage.

Conversely, if you have too much of a calorie deficit while training high mileage, you could easily cause your training to suffer. It's a fine line.

lostalykat · May 2011

Thanks for the reply's everyone.

My Story- I started working out about 2 years ago and was able to lose 30 pounds, then I started training for triathlons and I have gained about 7 pounds of it back. I would love to lose 15 pounds for my wedding. I am not that large 5'7 170ish pounds, I am pretty muscular but I know I have some fat to lose. I am currently training for my 3rd triathlon a half ironman, I have done back to back since last summer. After this one it is going to be focusing on wedding planning and trying to lose weight. I know it will get easier when I am not training 6 days a week I was just hoping I might lose in these next two months haha. That's my story thanks peeps.

RMinVA · May 2011

Me too!! When I started, everyone told me it actually is more difficult to lose weight once you start doing any sort of endurance/distance stuff and they were right. As someone already said, it is a fine line. You not only have to manage your calories but also your "fuel."

So, I've been @ the same weight for awhile now. I'm kicking it into high gear this week as I start training for my first sprint triathlon. My plan is to do "block' training. So hopefully, since I will be adding swimming to my weekly workouts and doing shorter, more intense run/bike workouts instead of a 10+ mile run or 25+ mile bike ride, that will help!! I will need to start ramping up my runs back up by July. I hit a 4 week stretch in the fall where I have a race 3 of 4 weekends: my sprint tri, a 10k, a week off, and a 10 miler.

Also going to add yoga into my routine for stretching and flexibility once I am done with my small group personal training session: halfway through that now.

lclarkjr · May 2011

The key to losing weight while training for an endurance event is to find the right balance. When you train, you can't really have a restricted calorie diet because otherwise your performance will suffer and you will feel miserable. From Jan-April I trained for my first marathon which I ran on May 1st. Before starting to train I was expecting to lose a lot of weight because I figured I would be running more and burning a lot of calories. But after the 3rd week I realized you can't just burn all those extra calories without putting more fuel into the tank. They key is to find the right balance. You need to eat a lot of carbs for energy, but you also need to eat enough protein to help repair your muscles. I didn't discover MFP and start using it until after I finished my race so I honestly don't know how many calories I was consuming per day. But I was able to lose some weight during my 16 weeks of training. I lost just under 14 lbs. (13.8 actually) which isn't too bad considering my goal right now is to lose 1lb per week. You can't maximize weight loss and maximize training performance at the same time. But if you find the right balance you should be able to lose some weight without affecting your performance. Since the race I have lost 3.5 lbs in the last 3 weeks even though my running mileage has dropped significantly. I started using MFP after my marathon to make sure I didn't gain any weight while I am in between training programs. I am running a 10K in June, but my next marathon training doesn't start until August. I hope to be a full 10 lbs lighter by the time I start training again.

genokes · May 2011

I'm training for a half-marathon but also doing strength training 3 times a week. I'm losing wieght but its slow. I have put on alot of muscle though and dropped a few inches off my waist and % off my body fat percentage. I'm 6'1 , 195 and eating about 1600 calories a day or so. I started training mid feb at 200 lbs. I started seeing weight loss when I started eating more protein (to try and help with my strength training) and less carbs but my runs have suffered a bit. I came across this article recently:

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=18880

It pretty much says training with lower carbs trains your body to more efficiently use glycogen. I'm still looking for actual research in a physiology journal (I'm a scientist so I gotta see the numbers!). My plan is to continue with the higher protein/lower carbs % until race week and then eat normal carb levels to replenish glycogen stores for the run.

Hang in there! I was hoping to do a sprint triathlon as soon as I get over my inability to swim! Any tips you have would be great!

Legs_McGee · May 2011

I lost 18 pounds between Feb 14th and April 14th while training for a marathon...although that was early in the training so I was running 30-35 miles a week and my long runs weren't over 14 miles. I've been in maintenance mode for the last 6 weeks.

lostalykat · May 2011

I guess it makes sense that your training would suffer. It is just hard when you work out so much you would think you might lose a ton of weight. Well O well I will just work on toning until the race is done and then focus on losing weight.

RMinVA · May 2011

I'm training for a half-marathon but also doing strength training 3 times a week. I'm losing wieght but its slow. I have put on alot of muscle though and dropped a few inches off my waist and % off my body fat percentage. I'm 6'1 , 195 and eating about 1600 calories a day or so. I started training mid feb at 200 lbs. I started seeing weight loss when I started eating more protein (to try and help with my strength training) and less carbs but my runs have suffered a bit. I came across this article recently:

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=18880

It pretty much says training with lower carbs trains your body to more efficiently use glycogen. I'm still looking for actual research in a physiology journal (I'm a scientist so I gotta see the numbers!). My plan is to continue with the higher protein/lower carbs % until race week and then eat normal carb levels to replenish glycogen stores for the run.

Hang in there! I was hoping to do a sprint triathlon as soon as I get over my inability to swim! Any tips you have would be great!

That is exactly what I am trying to do now. I have been taking advantage of "down" time to work on training my body to function better off a lower overall carb count. I think that will be key for me to continue to move the scale and train effectively @ the same time.

lostalykat · May 2011

It is kind of funny to think that I signed up for a triathlon in the first place to get in better shape and lose more weight. Well I am in the best shape of my life and I am not the smallest I have ever been. It is going to be a tough balance, My coach started me with weight training and I am hoping to at least see some toning/losing of inches. I plan to do an overall measurement on the 1st of june and then again on the 1st of july. I am scared to take a whole year off training but I just don't know if I can do it while I am wedding planning. We will see how I feel as time goes on.

Any endurance athletes trying to lose weight?

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