marathons put weight on

24

Comments

  • Lou H, do your clothes say you have excess weight or do the scales just say so?
  • Hi Gym Queen,
    Havnt even been on the scales, to scared too.I can feel it in my legs and i am now having to wear my big cloths. Perhaps i should get on the scale and get a shock. Hopefully to get my mind back on track.I have done nothing but eat today...irratating
  • I was going to reply earlier but I was too busy eating my Kit- Kat yum.
  • I haven't put on weight, but depressingly I haven't lost any weight either, and I could do with losing a stone. I'm no more hungrey than usual (I'm always hungrey and I get very grumpy if I can't eat when I need to!) except after my long sunday run, so I don't think I'm eating much more than usual. I'm not even consuming the vast quantities of wine either!

    I am feeling really down about this especially when everyone at work is saying 'wow, you must be losing loads of weight running 30 miles a week...'

    I wish....
  • sorry Lou...wipes choccy crumbs off chin.
  • Seriously ...I know what you mean I am a good stone heavier than 5 years ago when I last ran a Marathon.I have given up the boooze (apart from a few minor relapses) and with all this training I thought I would lose some weight it fell off me last time .I have a small roll around my tummy and despite crunches weights etc it refuses to shift.I put it down to middle age spread.I keep telling myself how much good the training is doing my heart even if the scales stay the same.
  • Olive Oyl that's an interesting idea - give up the booze. I hoped it would never have to come to that!
  • Hi all. Phew for a moment I thought it was just me thinking I'd just put on weight. Gym Queen, like you a gave up Body Pump twice a week and replaced with running. But I miss my muscles and definition so have been going back. Since my classes have started I've not had such an appetite and I've started to get my shape back.

    Artemis, defo calves - new boots for Chrimbo, could just about do up the other day...just so long as it's not the thighs!

  • When David Walliams swam the Chanel he described himself as being 'Fit but Fat'. This is exactly what marathon training seems to do to me. I eat for energy and the long runs / high miles but there always seems to be a bit that ends up as fat.
  • Goodbye knee high boots - see you after the marathon sometime!

    Also, I think a lot could be down to the season. I know I find it easier to eat 'lighter' in the summer months.
  • That is a good point Artemis. When I look back over my previous attempts to get fit I had no problem going out on my bike or running during the summer months and eating more healthily but as soon as winter started I would have an urge to eat more and I would want to have a big plate of sausage casserole and mashed potatoes (with plenty of butter!) rather than a salad. I try to blame this on evolution rather than my lack of will power i.e. we as a species are programmed to eat more and hence store fat for the lean times of winter.
  • A few years ago I trained for a marathon and did far less running than I'm doing now, but also did two BodyPump sessions a week. And that time I DID lose weight, so rapidly that I concluded that the training must be making me produce a melting-away hormone.

    I haven't done BodyPump or any other resistance work for almost 3 years now, but haven't lost the shoulders and upper arms it gave me :o)
  • Vel, i agree, i think the weight training definatley kept my weight down before xmas. That's why i've started again.2 Body Pump like you.
  • (But despite the extra pound or two I'm running MUCH better now that I'm not wearing my legs out doing squillions of squats twice a week, and my legs are in better shape from running than they ever were from BodyPump!)
  • I know what you mean. I did lower my weights for the squats etc to save my legs but it keeps my top half good too. (can't stand trying to find time to do weights, it's easier for me to just do the class and get it over with!).
  • Hi Everyone,

    I was hoping that the last few days depression would pass but today i definatly feel like giving up totally.Perhaps i have over trained and reached burn out, although this is my 5th marathon, so i should know what i am doing.The last time i felt like this i found out i was pregnant (this after the LM)oh no i hope not!!!!!
  • Better get the test done Lou!!!!!!
  • Crikey - now there's a worry! I've been busy putting my extreme tiredness down to training...

    Nah, can't be.... (she says, hopefully)
  • You'll be worth millions if you are GM!! a ha
  • If you are training hard but are not losing weight then perhaps one thing to look at is whether you are exercising enough at a heart rate that's optimum for burning fat.

    Look at your schedule and make sure you are varing your run pace so that you have runs at 60-65% max heart rate as well as 80-85% for cardio. I know you burn more calories overall when training in the cardio zone but as a percentage, you burn less fat calories. I think even bumping up to 70% makes a difference.

    A Heart Rate monitor would obviously help in this.
  • Yes you are right and i do have a heart rate monitor but i dont know how it works, so i just use the watch to wake me up in the morning...pointless really
  • I use a HR monitor and stick to the training rates (as much as possible). I think because we train more ridgidly during marathon training, we expect to see a difference in weight. I certainly don't train half as hard as i did when i stuck to the gym with no running.
  • I am definately heavier since i upped the miles. I can still fit into my size 12 jeans, even though i now weigh more than i have done for 2 years. However, i can see the difference in my physique. I hate getting on the scales, and did so this morning, just to check, and immediately wished i hadnt. I am drinking loads more fluids as well, as i am constantly thirsty...probably indicative of an increasing in blood volume.

    I am regularly starving in the night, but try and appease it with a drink.......

    Would be interested to see what my body fat % is though.........
  • 70-75% of max heart rate is supposed to be the best for fat burning. try doing morning run before eating if you can, if you eat before running your blood sugar rises, which means inslin is realeased to control the sugar. the down side of this is that insulin blocks fat burning, hence we all struggle to burn off fat. if you cannot run without food, leave 2 hours so that your insulin level has fallen, or take fuel with you, and begin eating on the run after half an hour, then the sugar you take on board is burnt as you run without the insulin peak. i am training for long distance/ultras, and since my twice weekly long runs were upped to 14/16 miles, i want to eat like a piggie!(and the weight has stayed the same but muscle has def increased. keep the faith, measure the fat, forget the scales!
  • Hi Pete,

    Wow very informative and encouraging, i have to say that it has been great chatting to everyone this week and realising that what i am going through is normal.Thus waking up this morning with renewed hope and enthusiasm. Keep the faith...thats my moto for the day.
  • Keep the faith, measure the fat, forget the scales...Love it!!
  • Hi Lou,
    Have you tried doing some swimming as part of your training? I haven't been in the pool for a while but that always helped shift the weight. I would do anything up to 120 lengths of my local 25 metre pool and I really noticed the difference in terms of my weight. It's not everyone's idea of fun swimming up and down the pool for a couple of hours but it's worth trying it once a week. And there's no impact so you get all the benefits of a good workout without risking injury.
Sign In or Register to comment.