Aug 7 in General Discussion
How To Lose Weight While Training For Your Marathon
In my last post, I talked about how to fuel for your marathon.
I talked about how you want to eat a high protein diet and be in a calorie surplus.
But for this post, I want to talk about how to lose weight.
But first, you have to understand something.
Nutrition is the lever you pull to either lose weight or eat for performance.
To give you an analogy, imagine there being two rabbits and a wolf.
The rabbit on the left is weight loss and the rabbit on the right is eating for performance. You are the wolf.
If you try to chase both rabbits at the same time, then they will both get away. Meaning you won’t achieve either one of your goals.
But if you focus on chasing just one rabbit, then there is a higher chance of you catching one. Meaning you have to decide if you want to lose weight OR eat for performance, but not both at the same time.
I will lay out the pros and cons for both and you can make the best decision for yourself. (If you want me to help you out with this then book with me.)
The pros and cons:
To lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit. Meaning you have to burn more calories than you eat on a daily basis.
Pros:
- The number on the scale goes down
Cons:
- Affects energy levels
- Slows down the muscle growth process
- Takes longer for you to recover
- Won’t perform as well on your runs
- Worse marathon time
To eat for performance you want to be in a calorie surplus. Meaning you want to eat more calories than you burn.
Pros:
- More energy
- Faster recovery process
- Builds muscle quicker
- Perform better on runs
- Better marathon time.
Cons:
- Gain a little bit of weight
What I’ve learned is that runners think a smaller number on the scale will translate to body composition.
It's true to an extent, but if you want to burn fat and tone up, then you actually want to build lean muscle.
Anyways let’s say you eat to optimize for weight loss, here’s how you do it.
First, you will want to give yourself additional time to train.
If a marathon training plan is 16 weeks, you will want to give yourself at least 24 weeks.
Because on average, you want to lose 5-8 pounds per month.
And then once race day approaches, you will want to switch to eating for performance.
If your marathon is in a few weeks, then it’s best to start optimizing for weight loss after your marathon.
The general rule to losing weight is that you want to lose 1 - 2 pounds per week.
Step by step on how to lose weight.
1) Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate. (Number of calories you burn being alive)
You can easily get this number by using an app like MyFitnessPal
2) Calculate how many calories you burn while working out. (A few hundred usually)
3) Add them together to get the number of calories you burn each day while training.
4) Calculate the number of calories for all the food you eat on a daily basis. (Look at the nutrition labels on the back)
5) Compare the two numbers. To lose weight you have to be in a calorie deficit.
The goal is to be in a calorie deficit of 500 to 800 calories a day.
For example, let’s say your basal metabolic rate plus working out is 2200, you want to eat 1700 calories a day.
Ninja trick - Eat the same 3 to 5 meals so that you know exactly how many calories are in each meal. You won't have to count calories again.
6) Stay in a calorie deficit everyday until you lose your desired amount of weight. Switch to eating for performance once your race approaches.
Follow these steps and you will lose weight.
Tony
P.s. If you want to work directly with my team and I so that you successfully run your half or full marathon. Click here to check out the details.
P.s.s. If you need a training plan for your upcoming half or full marathon. Click here to check out The Marathon Training Starter Kit.
P.s.s.s. If you have any questions you want me to answer, hit the reply button.
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How To Lose Weight While Training For Your Marathon
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