How to Lose Weight While Training for a Race

It seems like it would be easy to lose weight while training for a half or full marathon, right? You’re running all these miles and your watch is telling you you’re burning 1,000+ calories every Saturday.  But you probably know that’s not always true.

I personally gained 7 pounds last fall while training for my trail marathon!!! Not only was I extra hungry, but I was using all that extra mileage as an excuse to eat more treats and because I was busy running so much, I also didn’t spend as much time cooking or preparing healthy food.

I often have runners come to me and ask – how do I lose weight WHILE also training for a race? 

My response is often: choose a priority. Choose weight loss or choose performance. The two CAN go hand in hand, but it’s a delicate balance so I want people to be clear on their priorities. But what if BOTH are a priority?

I asked Tess Chupinsky, the nutritionist on Team Run the World, to give more insight into this topic in our marathon & half training group and here’s the incredible advice she gave: 

Losing weight without sacrificing performance: It’s not always easy but it CAN be done. Use these tips to help lose weight while training for a race.

How Should I Eat while Training for a Race?

Times to fine tune and really focus on quality, nutrient dense nutrition (aka lots of veggies, lean protein, low GI carbs):

• Easy run days
• Recovery weeks
• Most Meals + Snacks

Times to focus more on performance:

• The night before and morning of speed workouts
• The night before and morning of long runs
• Entire Race Week
• Post Workout

VERY IMPORTANT: Pre and post workout nutrition plays more a part of this than you might currently understand. It will allow you to perform and recover without binging, craving and making up for lost calories later in the day.

If you are properly fueling + recovering from your workouts, all your other nutrition can be eaten as if you didn’t run ALL THE MILES.

• Pre Workout: Carb + Fat
• Post workout: Carb + Protein + BCAAs (Beachbody Recover blended with ½  banana is perfect!)

What Foods Should I Eat While Training for a Race?

One more thing to mention, is the idea of focusing on QUALITY food. When I say quality food, I mean asking yourself, “How is this food benefiting me on a molecular level?”

Think vitamins, minerals, nutrients in general. The more foods you’re eating that are providing your body nutrients, the more the food will be used, the less the food will be stored. Obviously there always needs to be room in our diet to eat food for the pure sake of enjoyment, but the vast majority of the food your eating should be serving you!

I have to say that Tess’s advice is so true. My experience following the 2B Mindset while half marathon training is that I have had a slow, steady weight loss of 1 lb/week following these principles while also fueling my workouts so that I feel great during them.

My sleep patterns have improved and overall, I sleep better. I experience less muscle soreness and have more energy throughout the day when I’m fueling well.

These principles can be applied to any runner, not just those wanting to lose weight. Quality nutrition affects our running performance and our long term health! 

Looking for More Support?

Need help with nutrition to support your running goals (weight loss OR performance)?

I am teaming up with run coach Jen Vickery to host a 3 week group for RUNNERS only that will give you guidance on run nutrition, strength training and mobility so you feel and perform your best!!! 

Get more info on Run – Lift – Fuel here! You can follow your own running plan & any Beachbody program (we’re recommending #MBF for those who need guidance) and we will help you make your own schedule that works for YOU and educate you how to fuel your body to support your goals. Incorporate the knowledge you have of how to lose weight while training for a race and find support in this group.

Free 5 Day Coach Apprenticeship

Have you always wanted to make a career or side hustle out of your passion for health & fitness? Or do you love Beachbody programs and think it would be really fulfilling to help others? I talk to a lot of women who are love Beachbody programs and/or running and would love to help others, but they have a lot of hesitations about becoming a Beachbody coach.

They wonder if they need to send dozens of spammy messages every day (nope), if they need to want to quit their full time job to coach (many coaches fit it in while working full time), if they need to have a perfect body (people are inspired by your REAL life, not perfection), and if they can actually succeed (If you show up and do the work, YES). With my help, you can build a Beachbody business that feels sustainable, fun, & lucrative AND feel good doing it!
 
Whether you already love Beachbody programs or you’ve never tried them, I’m offering anyone who has an interest in testing out being a coach on my team an opportunity to do just that for one week! No obligations, NO enrollment! (If you are curious about how much it costs to be a coach, read my blog post here).

During the 5 day free, self-paced coach apprenticeship*, starting September 13th, you will:

• Learn what we do as coaches
• Try out short coaching tasks to see how it feels (20 min max a day including videos)
• Get a feel for our incredible coach community of runners on Team Run the World & learn how we’re different from other teams
• Learn how we earn an income and what systems & support we have in place to help you be get started and achieve your personal business goals
• Get all your questions answered

If you’ve never done a Beachbody workout before, you will get your choice of 2 workout calendars with free sample workouts & runs scheduled in!