Marathon training and calories
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loopyedmonds4
Posts: 5 Member
Is it okay to keep a negative 500 calories per day while training for a marathon even though it adds them to the daily calorie allowance? Need advice.
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Replies
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what do you mean a negative 500 calorie per day? Like your dashboard is saying net -500 calories.
Yeah, no...
ETA: or are you talking about maintaining a 500 calorie deficit from maintenance? That could be a tough rode to hoe...I don't run, but I do endurance cycling events from time to time and I pretty much can't eat in a deficit if I'm training for a 1/2 century or more without feeling like crap.
If I'm cutting weight I just ride normal fitness rides and do a 1/4 century or something if I want something to do...I put a 1/4 century kinda there with a 10K...not something you have to rigidly train for, just have to be out on the regular.0 -
losing weight why training for a marathon is always hard to do - i recommend eating at maintenance and then eat back a portion of your long run calories (or use them to figure out race fueling)0
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You don't want to do that, no.0
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Not the OP, but am curious. If I'm training for a half, should I give up on weight loss, slow down to 1/2 lb per week or what is the suggestion?
Plan is a half June 10th. Just figuring out the training plan now (have done 1 10K and another this upcoming weekend, so not starting from scratch) but I also would like to lose another 10-12 lbs. Are the 2 goals too hard to do? I want to get to about 195 (I'm ~207 now).
Thanks0 -
i would probably slow down or go to maintenance - i find when i'm training that i tend to eat at maintenance and roughly recomp - because when i was trying to lose weight my training suffered and i was hangry all the time2
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My daily allowance is 1200 calories, but when I run 6 miles it adds roughly 600 calories to my daily allowance. I’m not wanting to do the marathon training weight gain, so not sure I should really eat 1800 calories a day.0
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what is your current weight and goal weight? because 1200cal while training for a marathon is going to cause serious stress on your body3
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Currently 149, goal 1400
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Losing weight while training for a half: totally doable
Losing weight while training for a full: tough, very very tough.
Losing weight while training for an ultra: I swear I'm gonna do it! I swear. I don't care. I've lost like .5 kg and I want to eat everything but screw it.
OP you can certainly try. Be sensible and conservative and while you can resist giving into runger somewhat, don't totally ignore your body's signals that you need more fuel.7 -
loopyedmonds4 wrote: »Currently 149, goal 140
i would re-evaluate your rate of loss - set it to no more that .5lb a week (with only 9lbs to lose); then eat back a portion of your run calories (the MFP calorie recommendations are based on the premise of eating back working cals)2 -
I started on MFP about 15 months ago when I wanted to lose 8 pounds to prepare for a marathon. I ended up losing 20. I found that I had no problem losing weight in the early part of marathon training, when I was just starting to ramp up the miles, but when my mileage is high I am hungry all the time, even eating at maintenance. I don't even do that many miles, peaking at 55 or so, and still I am always starving. Fortunately, I burn more calories than the app gives me, so even on days I go over, I am able to maintain a stable weight.
For me, the problem with weight gain isn't during the marathon build up, it's the period just around the race when my mileage is cut but I still have the appetite. Taper and post-race I eat like a marathoner, but don't exercise like one any more. That's when I need to be careful to monitor my calories.
Tacklewasher - you have lots of time before you'll be at peak mileage, so I would go ahead and continue your weight loss, but if you start getting hungry all the time, change your weekly weight loss goal.
Loopy - eat back your exercise calories. Marathon training is hard enough without dealing with being underfueled.1 -
spiriteagle99 wrote: »Tacklewasher - you have lots of time before you'll be at peak mileage, so I would go ahead and continue your weight loss, but if you start getting hungry all the time, change your weekly weight loss goal.
Thanks. That's kinda what I was thinking. And, really, my goal isn't 195, I just want to stay under 200 so the 195 was my buffer. I can lose 4-5 in March and be ready to up calories mid-April.
Putting my plan together tonight. It includes a 10K Saturday that I've signed up for.
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loopyedmonds4 wrote: »My daily allowance is 1200 calories, but when I run 6 miles it adds roughly 600 calories to my daily allowance. I’m not wanting to do the marathon training weight gain, so not sure I should really eat 1800 calories a day.
Distance running training while eating only 1200 calories a day is a bad, bad idea.3 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »spiriteagle99 wrote: »Tacklewasher - you have lots of time before you'll be at peak mileage, so I would go ahead and continue your weight loss, but if you start getting hungry all the time, change your weekly weight loss goal.
Thanks. That's kinda what I was thinking. And, really, my goal isn't 195, I just want to stay under 200 so the 195 was my buffer. I can lose 4-5 in March and be ready to up calories mid-April.
Putting my plan together tonight. It includes a 10K Saturday that I've signed up for.
if you decide you want to take the marathon plunge - lottery for Marine Corps opens mid-march2 -
Thank you, very helpful advice! I appreciate all the help I can get as this is my first marathon and I’m in my fourth week of training and it’s going great, and want to keep it on that track.0
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deannalfisher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »spiriteagle99 wrote: »Tacklewasher - you have lots of time before you'll be at peak mileage, so I would go ahead and continue your weight loss, but if you start getting hungry all the time, change your weekly weight loss goal.
Thanks. That's kinda what I was thinking. And, really, my goal isn't 195, I just want to stay under 200 so the 195 was my buffer. I can lose 4-5 in March and be ready to up calories mid-April.
Putting my plan together tonight. It includes a 10K Saturday that I've signed up for.
if you decide you want to take the marathon plunge - lottery for Marine Corps opens mid-march
No idea what that is, but if things go well there is the BMO Marathon in October.
I'm thinking we are talking different countries
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I'm the oddity in this scenario, but when I trained for marathons and get into my training cycles for trail races and ultras, I inevitably lose weight. Half's, if I'm only training to finish, it's a lot easier to maintain.2
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Tacklewasher wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »spiriteagle99 wrote: »Tacklewasher - you have lots of time before you'll be at peak mileage, so I would go ahead and continue your weight loss, but if you start getting hungry all the time, change your weekly weight loss goal.
Thanks. That's kinda what I was thinking. And, really, my goal isn't 195, I just want to stay under 200 so the 195 was my buffer. I can lose 4-5 in March and be ready to up calories mid-April.
Putting my plan together tonight. It includes a 10K Saturday that I've signed up for.
if you decide you want to take the marathon plunge - lottery for Marine Corps opens mid-march
No idea what that is, but if things go well there is the BMO Marathon in October.
I'm thinking we are talking different countries
Marine Corps Marathon in DC / one of the best experiences for newbies but if you aren’t in the US then London is supposedly a great marathon as well0 -
I'm training for Brighton Marathon on 15th of April and I did try eating at a deficit to start with at the beginning of the year but found it unsustainable for a couple of reasons.
1. Runger is very real, a couple of hours after a long run sees me eating everything in sight. it's my body trying to tell me something and I'm learning to listen to it
2. Long distance running takes a lot of fuel, I was finding that I was running out of steam eating at a deficit, moved over to maintenance gave me far more energy and improved the quality of my long runs
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deannalfisher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »spiriteagle99 wrote: »Tacklewasher - you have lots of time before you'll be at peak mileage, so I would go ahead and continue your weight loss, but if you start getting hungry all the time, change your weekly weight loss goal.
Thanks. That's kinda what I was thinking. And, really, my goal isn't 195, I just want to stay under 200 so the 195 was my buffer. I can lose 4-5 in March and be ready to up calories mid-April.
Putting my plan together tonight. It includes a 10K Saturday that I've signed up for.
if you decide you want to take the marathon plunge - lottery for Marine Corps opens mid-march
No idea what that is, but if things go well there is the BMO Marathon in October.
I'm thinking we are talking different countries
Marine Corps Marathon in DC / one of the best experiences for newbies but if you aren’t in the US then London is supposedly a great marathon as well
West coast of Canada? Big one here is the BMO. It is a Boston qualifier. I plan to do the half there as well.
It might change but I'm having a tough time seeing myself do a full marathon. I mean, I'm 53 and this time last year I was still doing C25K.0
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