Half marathon training & weight loss

Gemmageldmacher
Gemmageldmacher Posts: 45 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have two conflicting goals right now: lose the last 10 lbs and train for my first half marathon in the first week of April. It's really seeming to me that these goals are mutually exclusive, since the training makes me so hungry and I am definitely trying to make sure I give my body what it needs to get me through 15+ miles of runs a week. Anyone have any thoughts? Am I crazy to even be trying to think about weight loss while I'm training for this half?

Replies

  • CallmeSbo
    CallmeSbo Posts: 611 Member
    No its not crazy. There is no conflict here, i am living proof of that. Im doing my 1st half marathon Feb 25 after following the Runnersworld beginner program. In the past 3weeks i have been more hungry, ate more calorie and my weightloss has doubled.
  • nukie19
    nukie19 Posts: 16
    You might not lose as much while training for a half marathon, but you should be able to maintain. Just make sure to accurately track the calories you burn while running and eat back those calories or you will be crazy tired - overeating for your running won't help you any either, it will make you sluggish. Keep it all in balance.

    April isn't all that far away either, so if you get healthier with your race, you can always lose the weight after the race by dialing back a little bit.
  • vtate75
    vtate75 Posts: 221 Member
    No, I don't think the two are mutually exclusive at all. You can eat your calories back, so if you are starving and you run 10 miles, that should give you around 1000 calories! I am SLOWLY training for a half. I don't plan to do it until the Fall. On the days that I do MY long runs (7 miles or so), I eat a few more calories.
  • k8bugz
    k8bugz Posts: 64 Member
    Nope, the two are not mutually exclusive at all. I'm steadily losing weight (1-2 lbs/week) while training for two upcoming half-marathons and some other races. I always eat back my exercise calories. But on long run days I don't usually eat all of them back, but mostly because I have a sensitive runner's tummy. But I don't worry about going 100-300 over my calories the next day if I'm hungry. The week of the race I'll probably bump my net calories up a bit too. You just have to find the balance where you getting enough nutrition to fuel your body but still have a deficit & losing weight. That may take some experimentation but it's worth it.
  • dbsav
    dbsav Posts: 24 Member
    I can sympathize. When I trained and ran in the ’07 Boston marathon, I was ravenous. I would run 18-20 miles and burn off 2200 calories, which left me really hungry all the time. The day I ran the marathon, I burned over 4000 calories. How do you make up for that? I’m sure I overdid it at times. Just keep an eye on the calories in vs. the calories out and you should be fine. ~Dave
  • nickyeatrunread
    nickyeatrunread Posts: 173 Member
    I think it's definitely possible, though I didn't lose THAT much while training for my first half in September. I made sure to eat back at least half of my calories (sometimes all). For me, the biggest change was in my figure rather than my weight. I wasn't tracking my inches at the time, but I definitely slimmed down a lot with all that running!
  • OLFATUG
    OLFATUG Posts: 393 Member
    I am currently training for a half as well, and find myself *constantly* hungry. I want to lose weight, but I want to finish this race more. So I'm concentrating on getting the miles under my belt first, and getting the belt to fit second. :)
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    They aren't conflicting, you just have to be a bit more careful/self-aware. Your training will be putting a lot of strain on your body, yet you're going to be doing it on a deficit. It's very easy to be undernourished and/or over worked. Just pay attention to your body and you'll be OK.

    I hope this goes without saying, but if you're trying to lose your last 10lbs AND training, your deficit should be minimal. None of this 2lbs per week crap for you.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    It shouldn't be a problem losing weight while training for a half marathon. I was able to do so. Eat back your exercise calories leaving yourself the 250 calorie deficit and you should still continue to lose one half pound per week.
  • Gemmageldmacher
    Gemmageldmacher Posts: 45 Member
    Thanks for the advice everyone! Jackson, you've inspired me to go back and re-check my goals...I had it at 1 lb a week and I think it's time to put it down to 1/2 lb a week. And good point Serendipity...even if the pounds aren't flying off I am definitely slimmer.

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