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.

Okay, just been on mFP and i'm currently just under 13 stone (but 5'10) and if I add in jogging at 5mph (12 minute mile) for 90 minutes, that burns just under 1000 calories! at 5'3 you wont need 2000 calories a day (average woman) just to maintain your weight and it takes about 3500 deficit to lose a pound of weight so 2lbs is about 7000 calories. Pure finger in the air job I'd say that you probably need about 1600 - 1800 if you do a sedentary job just to stay the same weight. However you are doing a lot of exercise so should be gaining back lots of calories from that that you should be replacing to a point or you wont be able to function. So, if you start logging it you will see where the extra calories are coming from as you should be losing weight based on what you are saying you eat.

If you log everything and you are in a calorie deficit and still not losing, you need to see your Dr. I suspect you are just eating a lot more than you think but at least that will confirm one way or the other.

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.

Yup, this is exactly what happened to me and is very normal to gain weight. I would come back in from my 15 mile run and drink a pint of chocolate milk for recovery. Then later in the day I'd probably have a burger because I'd run 15 miles earlier that day. The calories add up so quickly and so subtlety that you don't realise you're doing it.

That was all years ago and now I run fasted and/or fat adapted for anything up to 6-8 miles and would definitely switch to a keto diet if I were going to run another half or full marathon. Being able to take in enough fat to quickly fuel your body is key, and it won't take long to become fat adapted if you start now.

On my fitness pal you can log your exercise and that adjusts your daily calorie allowance accordingly. Eg. if you burn 300 cals doing exercise you can eat 1500 cals per day instead of 1200 and still lose weight.

l agree with WaxOnFeckOff. My OH does marathons and triathlons and he eats tons of lean protein. He's in his 50s and as fit as a flea. Usually starts eating carbs again before the event, though.

I have 40g of porridge made with semi skimmed milk for breakfast (oatso simple plain porridge)
A weight watchers ready meal for lunch
Some sort of meat with veggies for dinner and a few times a week have brown rice with it. I don't eat fish, shellfish or nuts.

I try not to eat sugar so no fruit, sweets or chocolate. Only sugar I have is in my gels on my long runs.

I think you are not being honest about what you are eating.

Breakfast = 350 calories (40g oats 150 calories + 200ml semi skimmed milk 100 calories)
lunch = 350

So you are at 700 calories before dinner... a 600 calorie diner would not be unreasonable at all.

AND you are running lots.

Something isn't adding up. Snacks?

I have to be super careful on my big exercise days that I don't hugely over-eat

I was getting in from a c.700 calorie activity and whilst cooking dinner probably eating about 500+ calories in snacks! Then having a massive dinner.

Those evenings now I have a rule that dinner has to be something that I can have on the table in 10 mins of being home to avoid the snacking.

I wouldn't go for any extreme calorie restriction while training for a marathon. Not even 1200 calories.

I'm no sports coach, but it sounds like you haven't given yourself long enough to get up to full fitness.

Loosing weight even with exercise is slow. I expect 8lbs in 8 weeks if your very very focused on intake is more realistic.

Is it possible you have PCOS? I also struggle to lose weight and PCOS appears to have been a part of that

my old personal trainer said the only way to lose weight is in the kitchen. Get as fit as you like, but you have to eat less. I haven't read all the posts, but there is an app where you even include the amount of butter or marge on your bread, and how much olive oil you put in the pan.
EVERY CALORIE COUNTS
If you have a deadline approaching, you're going to have to suffer for a while, if you want to lose that stone.

If you don't want to calorie count, I'd suggest you write down everything you eat - every time you eat something. Doesn't matter if it's a bowl of cereal or 2 grapes - or if there's 3 hours or 3 minutes since the last time you logged some food. (If you really don't want to write, you could take photos instead.)

A daily food journal would help you think consciously about everything you eat. It should also help you identify any habits or patterns that you can change eg if you always eat a particular snack with your cuppa even if you don't feel hungry, or if you seem to be eating more often than you're drinking. (Thirst can feel similar to hunger.)

Good luck with your marathon plans - very impressed! :) x

If you want to get around your marathon without seriously hitting the wall you really need to be eating properly. This doesn’t mean over eating, it just means eating the right foods to be able to have enough energy during both training and the race itself. Even if you are only aiming to get around the course with a mixture of jogging and walking you’ll still need to have the energy available to be on your feet for 5 plus hours. People on this thread are making silly suggestions with the “shakes” “1200 calories a day” etc etc. If I was you I’d focus on your marathon first and then look at your diet/losing weight after this. When I trained for marathons I ate the calories/carbs I needed to fuel the run, I didn’t actually enjoy the porridge in the morning and pasta the night before but i’d have ran out of energy without it. As long as you aren’t overeating thinking you are burning more than you are I wouldn’t drastically start changing your diet with only 2 months to go.

I wouldn't try losing a significant amount of weight while training for a marathon.

I'm training for Manchester marathon (one month to go!) and I've been calorie counting for a year now, very gradually losing weight.

However once I got to the high mileage long run weeks, my legs just died. No energy at all. Had to cut so many runs short.

I would get yourself a stick of Body Glide and rub it everywhere before your long runs and just accept you won't lose much if any weight before you've done London.

Agree with blueskylies on this
Something doesn’t add up with your maths there...

Also for the chaffing stop messing around with gym kit and just buy some body glide it’s the stuff dreams are made of

What underwear do you use? I chafed loads until I brought proper running knickers.

I disagree with those who say you shouldn't diet and train- I've been doing exactly that.

What ready meals do you have for lunch? They could be quite calorific. I have soup for lunch with ryvita which would be lower calories. I swear by my fitness pal too, it's so easy to overeat.

Please do not cut your calories down to 1200. Especially if you're marathon training. Search for Team RH on facebook. They are doing it right. It's all about calories in vs calories out. Your calories are set by how much you weigh, how many steps and exercise you do etc I'm the same height as you, 13 stone and also run. I eat 2100 calories a day and have been consistently losing 2lb of fat a week. I eat carbs , chocolate..basically anything I want as long as it fits calories and macros. Seriously , check them out. There's loads of people training for marathons on there. The last time I trained for a half marathon I was doing slimming world and my body was weak. This time however my body feels so much better because it's being fuelled better .

15 miles is amazing! Well done! (A fellow runner)

I would do the 5:2 diet for 8 weeks. It's hard. But not that hard... I think you'll lose nearly a stone. And you can still run on a fasting day but maybe not a long one.

I've always put on weight when training for a marathon.
Also, there's always a lag with weight loss so you may find that suddenly you lose weight if you've been trying for a while.

Agree Bodyglide is fabulous for chafing.

Cambridge diet. Easily

my old personal trainer said the only way to lose weight is in the kitchen. Get as fit as you like, but you have to eat less.

^This.

I used to run but am recovering from a torn ligament and have been walking 3-5 miles a day instead, and have to constantly remind myself of another old saying, "You cannot outrun your fork".

Unless you do pretty rigorous calorie counting you will always be trying to outrun your fork. I use an app called Loseit, but it sounds very similar to my fitness pal. It's invaluable. It's extremely easy to underestimate your calorie consumption. I also have a small digital scale in the kitchen for tracking portions and I go low carb, mostly because protein and some fat is so much more satisfying.

If you have an iPhone and afford the splurge, get an Apple Watch. It's quite ingenious at tracking and motivating for weight loss. Between it and Loseit, I've lost a stone since Christmas.

Many foods, especially snacks and factory made processed foods are often around 495 calories per 100 g: which is a surprisingly small handful.

No wonder people get overweight so easily or can't shift it even if they do have a pretty good diet overall.

I’ve lost 1.5 stones since Christmas on a similar marathon training running cycle and a lower / smart carb diet approach.

For me that has meant mainly cutting out white carbs - bread, pasta and potatoes and replacing with lots of vegetables e.g. cauliflower rice with curry / chilli, large roast dinner but no potatoes etc. In this approach you can also use carbs selectively around your running e.g. a bagel or porridge before your long run to fuel as you will burn that glucose during the run.

Advantage for me in this diet is that it doesn’t mean restrict what you eat to the point of being hungry, where I always failed previously - you can fill up but just with the right things.

Key points to follow are the increase of good fats and not overeating protein (which just turns into glucose / sugars if you do).

Would highly recommend reading the “What the fat” book and watching the “The truth about carbs” on iplayer.

You can also try the cracker test for insulin tolerance - that will give you an early indication of whether this approach will work for you.

Oh I also meant to say that’s
Definitely not restricting down to tiny Keto carb levels e.g. 20g. That’s on more like 50-100g carbs a day and sometimes over but running 25-30 miles a week.

Also the beer had to go mostly... try to stick to a slimline gin or glass of wine mostly now which 1/5 or less of a beer in terms of carbs.

Thanks everyone. I am going to give my fitness pal a go and track everything and see where that takes me. Some really helpful advice and pointers here.