Why half marathons make you FAT

“Ooh you should take up running, that will help you lose weight”…yeah right, you’d think so hey? But it doesn’t quite work like that.

Six weeks ago I weighed 16 stone 5lbs, after being on a gradual downward trajectory with my weight loss, losing close to 4 stone since having my daughter in January, however during the past 6 weeks whereby I have been swimming, practiced yoga, run an interval track session, a 5k race and three, yes THREE half marathons and guess what? I’m heavier than what I was to start with?

Where am I going wrong?

Well, I actually know exactly where I am going wrong!!

I can’t stop eating…eating crap I might add…and eating way too much of it too.

So with a half marathon on the horizon I let the odd chocolate bar slip in to my diet cos “I’m running a half marathon”, I eat bread, pasta, rice and potatoes under the guise of carb loading as “I’m running a half marathon” on the day of the race I have jam on my toast and a banana cos you guessed it… “I’m running a half marathon”, I take on energy drinks whilst running whilst “I’m running my half marathon” and afterwards boy oh boy do I eat and drink cos I am celebrating the fact “I have just run, 13.1 miles…a FREAKING half marathon”

Take this weekends Lisbon Half marathon for example, according to my Garmin I burned a grand total of 1451 calories not bad hey? however my food intake for the day was as follows

Toast, marg and jam
Banana
Gels x 2
Powerade x 4 cups
2 quarters of orange
Half a banana
A magnum ice cream (given at the finish line)
A carton of chocolate milk (from goodie bag)
Spaghetti Bolognaise (post race dinner)
Cereal bar (from goodie bag)
Quarter Pounder & Cheese meal (at airport)
Twix (on plane)

Coming in at an approximate 3336 calories eaten, so take away from this the calories burned through running, and the 1670 Calories my body needs just to function and you can see where the problem lies. Despite running for over 3 hours I find myself in 215 calories worth of deficit for the day, and remember this is only today’s food intake.

So why do I do it? Why do I sabotage my efforts?

I have these stupid thoughts going on in my head that tell me “I deserve it”, my unhealthy food choices are a direct result of this silly belief that the half marathon will counter balance it, even though I know it will not. I know that you cant out train a poor diet, but I can’t seem to help myself.

I am sure I’m not the only one who has this problem as many plus sized runners I talk to tell me that they struggle to lose weight one they start training for a half marathon or a marathon. There is no doubt about it, running makes you hungry…but I think the biggest problem is this sense of entitlement we have, before and definitely after a long race.

I don’t really have another half marathon on the horizon as I don’t think my bank balance or my body could manage another one for a while, but I do have to get on top of my nutrition because I can tell you carting over 16 stone of weight around a half marathon course or in fact any other course hurts, and it hurts just as much when you get on the scales the following week and realise it hasn’t shifted.

I don’t just run to lose weight, but it would be a welcome side effect and if I am being completely honest with myself I only have myself to blame for this. The sabotage has to stop. If I was more in control of my eating not only would I would shift some of this unwanted weight, but I would feel stronger, my body would function better and I would more likely see some improvement in my running times too.

I am starting over…wish me luck!!

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