Every single day, as a run coach and weight loss coach for female runners, I get messages in my inbox or I speak with a woman runner who is confused by the fact that they’re running more, or even training for a marathon, yet have gained weight.
And sometimes these women try a macros or calorie deficit to lose weight.
Yet – despite being “good” all week, the scale doesn’t move when they weigh in on Monday.
Here’s why –> Watch this 3 minute video where I break down, day by day, why a 1,600 calorie macro plan may not work for a female runner and why you may end up eating a sleeve of girl scout cookies on Saturday night (the Samoas are my favorite). If you watch to the end, I get a bit fired up because I truly hate seeing this happen.
Why Calorie Counting and Macros Don’t Always Work To Lose Weight as a Runner
Here’s the obvious fact that is often ignored:
Runners have different calorie needs each day, depending on whether they run 6 miles easy or do 8 x 400 intervals or lift weights.
When a 160 pound runner tries to eat under 1,600 calories a day to lose weight, it may work for a 4 mile run day, but once they have a speed workout or a 10 mile long run, & they try to force a certain number or calories or macro split –> they end up either exhausted or eating a whole bag of chips.
So what DOES work?
Nutrition Periodization Can Help Runners Lose Weight & Have Energy For Runs
Nutrition periodization – or a fancy way of saying – adjust what you eat based on your activity level and goals.
If you’re familiar with running periodization, it’s the concept of training in phases, depending on how far away you are from your goal race.
For example, in marathon training, there’s a base building where you’re working on increasing mileage, training your heart, and getting your bones, tendons and ligaments used to the increased pounding. In this season, you’re running either very fast for a short time (ex: 1 minute intervals) or very slow and your goal marathon pace feels pretty hard and unattainable.
And then there’s, specific training, which you do in the 6 weeks leading up to the taper and race – where you’re now getting your body used to running at moderate, marathon effort. You might even run 3 x 5K at marathon pace – which is over 9 miles of running at marathon pace.
But you won’t be able to handle the marathon pace runs without the base building phase – you can’t be impatient & skip steps.
How Quickly Can a Runner Lose Weight
When it comes to nutrition – runners often get impatient. They want to lose 10 pounds NOW & they revert to calorie cutting or cutting out food groups. They end up grumpy, deprived and are pretty convinced that it’s not worth it – because not only are they not able to lose weight or if they do, keep it off, but their runs feel like complete garbage.
When you learn to periodize your nutrition (which is easier than it sounds because you don’t have to count calories or log protein in an app) to match your running and your goals – you will not only lose weight consistently, but your mood, energy and running performance will improve, not decline.
I’ll be sharing more about periodization of nutrition in coming posts- but for now, I just wanted to remind you that you aren’t destined to hide your body in a one piece bathing suit if you also have running goals – you CAN love your body and improve your running. It will just take a different approach than you’ve used before.
Run Fuel – Weight Loss Program for Female Runners
Run Fuel is my weight loss program, designed just for female runners 35+. If you’ve gained weight while training for a marathon or half marathon, and want to learn how to lose it, keep it off and fuel your training for years to come so you can love your body AND run faster, Run Fuel will help.
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