To want to know how to lose a stone in 8 weeks

[marathonrunner2019]

AIBU to ask for help in losing weight?

I am meant to be running the London marathon in 8 weeks and I really need to lose weight. It's uncomfortable for me running and it's also making me really slow.

I currently weigh 12 stone and I'm 5ft 3inches. I'm running around 35 miles a week and do a yoga class and HITT class too.

I did a 15 mile run at the weekend and I have grazes and chaffing due to my size. It's so demotivating and embarrassing.

I've pretty much given up drinking alcohol apart from a glass of wine on birthdays/ parties etc. No chocolate etc

I'm eating porridge for breakfast and thought I was eating healthy lunches and dinners but I am not losing anything (in fact have put 3ln) on.

Can anyone share a diet plan I can just follow for next 8 weeks so I lose weight?

The only plan I don't think I can do is low carb due to all my exercise and no time to fat adapt.

Hope someone can help as I'm feeling desperate.

haven't RTFT, OP have you taken measurements too eg waist, hips, upper arms, thighs etc as well as weight?

you might not notice the loss but be losing inches and gaining muscle maybe?

Strangely, I don't find porridge fills me up, I find it actually makes me hungrier than nothing. I'm not advocating missing meals though when you are training. DH and I have 3 meals a day but none of those are breakfast and we try to only eat in an 8 hour window but you've said that's not recommended while training.

Can you pinpoint when you are getting hungry and when you are tempted to fridge raid to see if you can try to counteract that?

I think I am fairly fit apart from the weight (if that makes sense?!) as my resting heart rate is around 50.

Re: rubbing clothes I tend to wear sweaty Betty or activ8 brands. Chafing is inner thighs, under boobs, where butt hits thigh. Basically where there is lots of excess flab! I am a sweaty person so I don't think that helps - it all pools in my wrinkles!

I just feel really confused about what I should be eating. Should I cut carbs out, should I increase protein, should I just measure everything and calorie count.

Should I be using protein shakes and recovery drinks?

I just had this vision that cutting out the booze would make the weight fall off given how much exercise I am doing but nothing has happened.

My belly is so big even my running tights don't suck it in!

Different diets work for different people. I’m the same height as you and would ideally like to be 9 stone, I’m not sure how heavy I am but guessing close to 10 stone. I go to the gym 5 times a week, occasionally swap gym for the pool or do both. I eat porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch and a average meal for dinner, I still eat chocolate and have a take away occasionally. I stopped the gym for a while over Christmas and gained, I’m now working hard to lose it before the summer. It is hard to lose weight, even more so when you don’t have lots to lose. For me it’s all about exercise and just being careful with food, for others diet maybe more important then exercise.

I only use gels on my long runs, which are 15 miles plus now. I take three of them over course of 3 plus hours.

I run 3-4 times a week which includes the long run. I do an intervals session which I don't take gels for and a tempo run again no gels. Then if I get chance I do a slow 3-5 miles. I also do a yoga class and a 1-1 HITT with weights (kettlebells etc) class, with squats etc.

I tend to get hungry mid afternoon onwards. Tried bringing my dinner earlier to each with DD but then I get peckish around 8ish instead!

Slim fast or other shake diets are really easy to follow

I've lost a stone in 4 weeks on them never mind 8

I don’t cut out carbs completely but I don’t eat that many (cut back on bread, no pasta, rice and limited potato. I eat mostly chicken and fish, rarely eat red meat and often eat vegetarian meals. Don’t starve your self, just make the right food choices.

I also vote for my fitness pal. It isn’t until you actually weigh /portion stuff out that you can see how easy it is to over eat.

There really is a lot of conflicting advice and what works for one person doesn't for the next and we are all probably not helping either!

There must be some specific running forums that might be able to give something more targetted?

Personally, I'd log with My fitness pal, add in your excercise and set your target for 2lbs a week and it'll tell you how many calories you've gained back from your exercise. It's not an exact science though.

I'd try to spend my 1200 standard calories on a balanced normal diet and spend some of my gained back ones on higher protein foods as snacks or added to meals. So, add in an egg or some chicken or a shake.

Try to work out when you are getting hungry and add in some slow release carbs an hour or so before or some extra protein in whatever meal you have before that.

Probably best getting some more specialist advice though. Good luck with it.

Be really careful about cutting your calorie intake now. Eat too little and you can end up really hitting the wall in your training, and feeling extremely shaky and unable to repair from all the mileage you are doing.

I would focus on alleviating the symptoms and a healthy and nutritious diet that is calorie counted to just over 2000 cals. If you are chafing, you can get creams to stop that happening (Bodyglide is great) - and you can change clothes to good fitting lycra to make sure that you are not getting skin on skin rubbing. Your weight will come down naturally with the mileage you are doing.

Different diets work for different people, but your problem is that you don't have much time before your marathon and it's not a good time to be experimenting too much.

I'd suggest getting the My Fitness Pal app and logging every single thing that goes into your mouth for a week weigh out portions if possible so that you know exactly how big they are, and don't ignore anything. The chances are that by the end of the week it will be obvious what the problem is with your current diet on the other hand if you are eating well and still gaining weight it may be worth a visit to your doctor in case there's some other problem (e.g. thyroid).

another one voting for myfitnesspal to log calories. you'd be surprised where they creep in - it's the only thing that works for me when trying to lose weight these days. A healthy diet with lots of fruit and veg and good proteins, hummus and raw veg for snacks, etc.

I use BodyGlide for chaffing (used to have it real bad when I lived in a hot country despite being quite slim then).

Get yourself some Bodyglide off Amazon to prevent chafing - amazing stuff. A small tub lasts a long time.

Oh, and you don't have to wear lycra all over if you feel self-conscious - a good pair of running tights, and a loose top that covers your wobbly bits should work!

I'm not specifically recommending this but this is what DH and I do. We don't have breakfast, we have lunch around 12, Dinner around 5 ish and then supper about 8. DH usually times his exercise before a meal and will have a shake straight after and then have his meal. He usually has some sort of carby supper, sometimes a big bowl of porridge and fruit or banana, sometimes he'll make french toast. I usually have either a bit of toast or a small bit of cereal or a cornetto I have a sweet tooth and i'd have something at supper time anyway, even if I ate breakfast so this helps with the calories for me. I stopped being hungry in the morning after about 3 days.

Could you use 'proper' porridge oats rather than the processed Oatso simple ones? I would put money on your lack of weight loss being either 1. You are eating more than you think ie big portions, snacking 'because you've been for a run and have earned that cake/chocolate bar/curry etc. I used to do that all the time without realising that a 3 mile run will only burn around 300 calories and I was eating twice that as a 'reward' 2. You aren't burning as many calories as you think you are running/exercising in general.

I have used my fitness pal for years but it wasn't until I started weighing and recording everything that went into my mouth that I realised how much I was actually eating! Its amazing how quickly those sneaky biscuits or pieces of cheese (1oz is 100 calories and thats a REALLY small chunk of cheese!) or left over chips from the kids plates add up.

Oh and big kudos from me for entering, training for and completing a marathon!! Could never do it myself

For the chafing, if you go to a sports or cycle shop you can get proper chub rub which helps. I'm sure the cycle stuff will be just as good for runners!

Please don’t use slimming shakes whilst training for a marathon (or at any time), they are just a short fix and won’t give you all the nutrients you need whilst training. I really hate these things and I don’t understand why people use them, as soon as you stop using them you gain weight and they are not good for you are all (we are made to chew food not drink it).

I am the same height as you and at 8st 8lb I would not want to be any heavier as even though I am fit and athletic like you, any extra weight is just not necessary as it just makes it harder on the joints and makes you more injury prone.

I wouldn't take any notice of calorie counting (I don't) but I weigh myself frequently.

The biggest advice I can offer is to get your thyroid checked out ( I was found to be hypothyroid and am now on levothyroxine).

Then eat only when you are hungry even if it means a gap between meals: buy any unprocessed vegetables, nuts, seeds, fish, fruit, eggs as your staples.

The variety of veg and fruit is the key here rather than big portions.

Small portions are fine as long as you get the variety in.

I don't eat meat ot gluten but I have delicious meals everyday and that's important as I love good food.

I also have a small amount of chocolate, cake, icecream etc per day if I want so don't feel I am missing out.

I'm not a big drinker so 1 or 2 glasses a week is about all I want.

If I want a snack I have one but I try to have an apple and a carrot first before reaching for the nuts, crisps or chocolate!

Hope that helps. I love feeling fit and healthy and I am probably fitter now I am in my 60s than when I was in my 20s.

Slimming World every time. Really easy to follow, no calorie counting.

Can I just go 'WOW!' that you can do 15 mile runs and are going to do a marathon?

Anyone telling you to eat 1200 calories when training for a marathon is giving stupid advice. Really stupid. You’d collapse.

Some of these suggestions are not good for someone training for a marathon.

When I was getting married, I stupidly decided to go on a drastic diet/exercise regime to get down to a size 0. Yes, I know, it's ridiculous. I stopped eating more than 800 calories and I ran 6 fairly hilly miles every day (1600 ft ascent), so by the end of the day I was in a significant calorie deficit.

After a couple of weeks, I was going downhill at the end of the day and it was like my mind separated from my body. I felt really sick and I couldn't control any of my limbs, to the point that I found it really hard just to put one foot in front of the other. It was like being incredibly drunk. I had to call my friend to pick me up in her car.

If you are running seriously, you need to be really careful to maintain decent calorie intake. That doesn't mean you can eat anything you like - you still need to count calories, and you need to eat good nutritious food, lots of carbs for glycogen. What you don't need is to be subsisting on 800 calories a day - I guarantee if you try to run any kind of distance in that, you will feel terrible - and your chances of hitting the wall are really, really high. We can't have OP having a massive crash in the middle of her next 15 mile run (a bloody long way, btw, that, you impressive person you!).

think you either train for the marathon, and nourish yourself properly to support that, or you focus on losing weight. Did someone say 1200 calories a day?! That’s what you’ll burn doing one half marathon. Soon your long runs will be 15-20 miles each.

Actually it is common to put ON weight when marathon training.

You properly fuel for your training run in advance. Then you come in all hungry and tired and scoff down a sliced of cake/cheese/whatever because 'you deserve it after running x miles' then scoff down a bigger dinner and hey presto more calories in than out.