Can You Lose Weight While Training For A Marathon?
IS IT POSSIBLE TO LOSE WEIGHT WHILE YOU TRAIN FOR A MARATHON?
We live in a world where it’s impossible to escape diet culture (I call it poison punch because we’ve all been served it our entire lives!). We’ve all been sold this idea that we’re not good enough. Not thin enough. Not driven enough. Our weight is tied to morality.
THIN = Healthy.
Fat = Unhealthy, “lazy”, or you lack self-control.
BOTH of the above are untrue.
YOU CANNOT TELL HOW HEALTHY SOMEONE IS BY LOOKING AT THEM.
FAT IS A BODY TYPE. SO IS THIN.
Running won’t change your body type. Your body composition may change depending on how much you’re running, but balance is key.
We’ve all been sold this idea that regardless of what you weigh, you need to lose weight.
But here’s my challenge to you: Don’t run a marathon because you want to lose weight. Run a marathon because it’s a challenge that excites you.
When I signed up for my first marathon back in 2013, I thought I was finally going to shed the weight I convinced myself I needed to lose in order to be desirable. I thought I’d finally be skinny because in my mind (thanks to media), runners were skinny.
I didn’t lose a single pound.
Look y’all, even when I run 50 miles a week, cycle 2-3 days a week, strength train 2-3 times a week, and eat really, really well to fuel my body, I still find myself “overweight”. I put those in quotes because all of those charts are insane. To classify weight as “overweight” when you’re doing the work to train for a marathon is a perfect example of how fatphobic and broken our healthcare system is.
For women, the worst thing you can do when you’re athletic is to try to live in low energy availability AKA calorie deficit. YOU HAVE TO FUEL YOUR BODY. YOU HAVE TO EAT! If you don’t, your endocrine system goes haywire. You don’t recover and adapt from your workouts. You’re exhausted. And you’ll feel terrible.
That’s diet culture for you. Dieting is about obsessively counting the calories you take in against the calories you burn in hopes of being in deficit. And it sucks. Dieting sucks and it doesn’t work. It’s dangerous if you’re athletic. Dieting and counting calories does not work.
HERE’S SOMETHING RUNNING TAUGHT ME:
HEALTH IS NOT A LOOK. IT’S A LIFESTYLE.
STRENGTH COMES IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES.
Seriously.
I get hundreds of emails a year from people looking to run anything from a 5K to a marathon and lose weight. Please don’t start running because you think it’s going to be the thing that solves your weight loss woes.
I CHALLENGE YOU TO STRIVE TO FIND A WAY TO MOVE AND GET ACTIVE THAT YOU ACTUALLY ENJOY.
Now, that doesn’t mean you love it 24/7. But you need to enjoy it more than you hate it. For me, I love the sense of pride and accomplishment I feel running. I love that it gives me a way to process my feelings or connect with a community. 75% of my runs are really hard and feel terrible. ESPECIALLY in the early weeks when my aerobic system isn’t strong after a break. But it’s worth it to me. If you hate running more than you love it after 3-4 months, find something you look forward to doing and give running a try in a year or two.
As the former President of the “I F*cking Hate Running Club”, it’s possible to fall in love with running. Even if you don’t have an athletic bone in your body, you can fall in love with running. You can become one of those people that actually looks forward to getting sweaty and sore. Don’t write anything off. You may find a love for something you don’t enjoy down the line. But for now, move in ways that make you feel good.
IT KILLS ME THAT THE WORD DIET IS WHAT WE PERCEIVE AS ALL THE FOODS WE SHOULD CUT OUT IN ORDER TO LOSE WEIGHT OR MAINTAIN A “HEALTHY” LIFESTYLE. YOUR DIET IS WHAT YOU PUT INTO YOUR BODY TO HELP YOU THRIVE.
If you’re looking to lose weight, start with how you feel. What foods satisfy you and make you feel energetic? What do you know about your diet? Are you getting enough fiber, vitamins, nutrients, fat, and protein? Can you work with a registered dietician who is health at every size? Being anti-diet isn’t anti-health and the more you know about all the food that makes up your diet, the easier it is to ditch diet culture.
Your diet isn’t about what you limit. It’s about what you add.
Just look at this list of food that you can add to your diet to give you energy.
WHOLE GRAINS
amaranth
brown rice
bulgur (cracked wheat)
oatmeal
popcorn
rolled oats
quinoa
whole grain barley
whole grain cornmeal
whole rye
whole wheat bread
whole wheat crackers
whole wheat pasta
whole wheat sandwich buns and rolls
whole wheat tortillas
wild rice
Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals
whole wheat cereal flakes
Refined Grains
cornbread
corn tortillas
couscous
crackers
flour tortillas
grits
noodles
pitas
pretzels
white bread
white sandwich buns and rolls
white rice
Pastas
spaghetti
macaroni
Dark Green Vegetables
bok choy
broccoli
collard greens
dark green leafy lettuce
kale
mesclun
mustard greens
romaine lettuce
spinach
turnip greens
watercress
Starchy vegetables
corn
green bananas
green peas
green lima beans
plantains
potatoes
taro
water chestnuts
Red & orange vegetables
acorn squash
butternut squash
carrots
hubbard squash
pumpkin
red peppers
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
tomato juice
Beans and peas
black beans
black-eyed peas (mature, dry)
garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
kidney beans
lentils
navy beans
pinto beans
soy beans
split peas
white beans
Other vegetables
artichokes
asparagus
avocado
bean sprouts
beets
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
cauliflower
celery
cucumbers
eggplant
green beans
green peppers
iceberg (head) lettuce
mushrooms
okra
onions
turnips
wax beans
zucchini
PROTEIN (GO LEAN OR GO HOME)
beef
ham
lamb
pork
veal
bison
venison
beef
pork
lamb
chicken
duck
goose
turkey
ground chicken and turkey
Eggs
chicken eggs
Beans and Peas
bean burgers
black beans
black-eyed peas
chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
falafel
kidney beans
lentils
lima beans (mature)
navy beans
pinto beans
soy beans
split peas
white beans
Soy Products
tofu (bean curd made from soybeans)
veggie burgers
tempeh
texturized vegetable protein (TVP)
Nuts and Seeds
almonds
cashews
hazelnuts (filberts)
mixed nuts
peanuts
peanut butter
pecans
pistachios
pumpkin seeds
sesame seeds
sunflower seeds
walnuts
Seafood
catfish
cod
flounder
haddock
halibut
herring
mackerel
pollock
porgy
salmon
sea bass
snapper
swordfish
trout
tuna
clams
crab
crayfish
lobster
mussels
octopus
oysters
scallops
squid (calamari)
shrimp
Canned fish such as:
anchovies
clams
tuna
sardines
FATS
Monounsaturated fat
Olive oil
Canola oil
Sunflower oil
Peanut oil
Sesame oil
Avocados
Olives
Nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews)
Peanut butter
Polyunsaturated fat
Soybean oil
Corn oil
Safflower oil
Walnuts
Sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds
Flaxseed
Fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines)
Soymilk
Tofu
SO MANY FOODS! Food is fuel. Food is a source of connection. Food is tradition and heritage. Food is something to enjoy. Food helps us recover from the work we put in when we’re training. EAT! Stay out of low energy availability gang. EAT EAT EAT.
AND WHILE WE’RE HERE TALKING ABOUT WEIGHT AND RUNNING, HERE’S THE FINAL BULLSHIT RUNNING AND WEIGHT LOSS MYTH THAT I’D LIKE TO TALK ABOUT:
YOU WILL RUN FASTER IF YOU’RE SKINNIER AND LIGHTER.
Below you’ll see two photos of me during the Chicago Marathon taken three years apart.
On the left, I am 10 pounds lighter than I am on the right. Yet I ran 5 minutes slower.
In that picture on the left, I bought into the idea that I’d run faster if I weighed less and tried to lose as much weight as possible while training for my marathon. My diet was great but full of disordered eating and guilting myself after a cookie or a piece of pizza.
And yet on the right, after training on a powerful diet of proper portion sizes prepared by a meal prep company that specializes in athletes, I’m 10 pounds heavier (and so much happier and more confident.) AND SHOCKINGLY, I RAN FASTER!
YOU 👏🏻 DO 👏🏻 NOT 👏🏻 NEED 👏🏻 TO LOSE 👏🏻 WEIGHT 👏🏻 TO 👏🏻 RUN 👏🏻 FASTER.
Eat well. Learn to listen and trust what your body is telling you it wants. Fuel your body the way it deserves to be fueled. Rest. Chase goals that challenge you. Find a supportive @badassladygang to chase your goals with. Push each other. See your strength. Believe in it. But please, please, PLEASE do not run a marathon because you want to lose weight.
RUN A MARATHON BECAUSE IT WILL HELP YOU SEE YOURSELF AND EVERYTHING YOU’RE CAPABLE OF.
Running a marathon will change your life.
Chasing weight loss is a hollow outcome goal that won’t fulfill you the way chasing a feeling like pride and accomplishment because of what you can do will.
REMEMBER, HEALTH IS NOT A LOOK. IT’S A LIFESTYLE.
Don’t believe me? Watch this.
