Is it possible to lose 15-20 pounds in 3-4 months in a healthy way while running high mileage?

15fat guy wrote:

I have a qualifying race in 3 months and a championship race in 4 months and I'm a little overwheight with 15-20 pounds of fat to lose and I was wondering if it's still possible or is it already too late?

Ideally in healthy way without getting injured or having to lower my mileage not to get injuried.

1 pound a week is doable for a lot of folks so yes. Probably talk to a legit sports dietitian.

What is your mileage? Seems odd that someone running high mileage would be overfat.

Also, it's not that I have a lot of muscle (quite the contrary) but would I lose a lot of muscle because of the quick loss of weight? (Because that would probably affect the performance)

Gave myself away again!

I know it's strange but that's the reality, I'm running high mileage for almost a year know and can't seem to lose any weight, in fact even gained some 4-6 pounds during this time.

Lot of fat everywhere :(

...Eat a lot to fuel though.

15fat guy wrote:

I have a qualifying race in 3 months and a championship race in 4 months and I'm a little overwheight with 15-20 pounds of fat to lose and I was wondering if it's still possible or is it already too late?

Ideally in healthy way without getting injured or having to lower my mileage not to get injuried.

In my mid- to late-30s I got heavily into weightlifting. I am 6 feet tall and got up to 220 from religiously lifting weights. I had given up running at the time. Eventually, I got tired of weighing so much and got back into running and really backed off on the weights. I dropped 35 pounds in about 6 weeks.

Don't worry about losing muscle. You will lose some, it's not a big deal. Your body works that way - it's either generally catabolic or generally anabolic. What you can do is:

- be in a slight calorie deficit. more is not better here. -500 a day is your maximum

- eat more protein - this will spare some muscle

- doing low intensity (long slow jogs are ideal) activities on an empty stomach will help

- add coffee and yohimbine for better effect for those jogs

- don't worry too much about specific numbers - you will get close enough to your optimal weight in 3 months if you do everything right, but it might be not what you had in your mind

haha, classic. why post anonymously (from usual handle) in the first place

I think it is possible. However, there are many factors to consider. Based on the limited information you gave, my answer is, yes it is possible to lose 15-20lbs in 3-4 months while running high mileage.

Aunt Judy wrote:

15fat guy wrote:

I have a qualifying race in 3 months and a championship race in 4 months and I'm a little overwheight with 15-20 pounds of fat to lose and I was wondering if it's still possible or is it already too late?

Ideally in healthy way without getting injured or having to lower my mileage not to get injuried.

In my mid- to late-30s I got heavily into weightlifting. I am 6 feet tall and got up to 220 from religiously lifting weights. I had given up running at the time. Eventually, I got tired of weighing so much and got back into running and really backed off on the weights. I dropped 35 pounds in about 6 weeks.

That seems a stretch. 35 pounds in 6 weeks?!

You starved to death.

Darby wrote:

Don't worry about losing muscle. You will lose some, it's not a big deal. Your body works that way - it's either generally catabolic or generally anabolic. What you can do is:

- be in a slight calorie deficit. more is not better here. -500 a day is your maximum

- eat more protein - this will spare some muscle

- doing low intensity (long slow jogs are ideal) activities on an empty stomach will help

- add coffee and yohimbine for better effect for those jogs

- don't worry too much about specific numbers - you will get close enough to your optimal weight in 3 months if you do everything right, but it might be not what you had in your mind

I liked you guys saying that it's definitely possible. Really inspired me to start losing weight.

I've read about this 500 calories per day limit in calorie deficit. Do you think that by going over it, like 600-700 calories would put me in risk of injury?

Do you think that starting to lift heavy would be a good idea? As in theory it would save some muscle, specially when combined with an increased protein uptake.

Also could lifting heavy, while on a regimented diet and running high mileage increase the risk of injury?

Train for your races and talk to a nutritionist. All things being equal, lighter is typically faster, but in your case all things are not equal. If you focus on training with a calorie deficit as suggested to lose weight, you risk a variety of injuries and at some point your body will break down. Since you are posting on a running website I am assuming you want to maximize your race performance. To do that you should have a proper training plan with a coach and a nutritionist can help you set up a proper fueling plan for your body to make sure you are getting the right food consumption for your training. You'll probably see a bit of weight loss this way, but you'll mitigate more injury or health risk.

If you're too lazy to use a coach or nutritionist, just cut out all alcohol, soda, sports drinks, and fruit juice, and desert first and drink lots of water instead of cutting actual food your body needs.

One caveat is it depends on the % 15 pounds of your bodyweight is (i.e. if you're really a healthy weight for your height, it would be an injury issue vs. if you are really 15-20 above a healthy range then yes it's absolutely possible).

Having cut ~15-20 lbs for a marathon last year over 10 weeks, the things I did:

-Downloaded a free app and tracked my food to make sure I got a solid mix of the right fuel (protein, carb, etc.) while also keeping my calories below the intended threshold. Most apps account for intended weight loss and exercise also, but I kept exercise separately because the apps tend to over count exercise calories. So if your baseline is 1800 calories and you exercise 1000 calories worth during the day and you want a 500 calorie daily deficit, you just plan your day and stop eating at 2300. This is an incredibly annoying process b/c the apps also are usually built around packaged foods and not home cooked meals, but it's possible and gets easier once you have your typical meals saved.

-Didn't buy any packaged food other than dark chocolate and limited myself to 1 square per day of that (this kept me from binge eating sweets and mindlessly eating snacks, but you may have a different thing that helps you).

-Weighed myself at the end of the day on a regular basis, but not daily, to make sure I targeted the right daily calorie intake and the trend was as expected.

-Overshot by a couple lbs so I could fuel as much as I wanted during the week leading up to marathon and still be at my target.

One final note, don't try to lose more than 2 to 2.5 lbs per week for a long period of time. You'll be hungry all the time and will likely binge eat at some point unless you just have incredible discipline.

Cut out alcohol.

Train diligently, eat lots of fruits, veggies, protein, whole grains. Cut out the processed food, but enjoy an ice cream or desert when you want.

cut out the simple carbs ma man and i guarantee you'll be slimmer than a lizard in no time! If you DO happen to be craving some simple carbs (candy, high sugar fruit, etc.) I recommend consuming it shortly before a workout so you can utilize that glucose before it turns into unused energy -> fat. long story short - consume mainly complex carbs and lean protein (lil fat is good as well). Lezzzgoooo!! #iLikeBananas

HarrierStu wrote:

Cut out alcohol.

Train diligently, eat lots of fruits, veggies, protein, whole grains. Cut out the processed food, but enjoy an ice cream or desert when you want.

that ice cream might be 700+ calories/day. At a high level if you are gaining weight when you are running 70+mpw (i.e. the lower edge of high mileage), you are eating way too many calories. Log them for a week and see what you are actually eating.

HarrierStu wrote:

Cut out alcohol.

Train diligently, eat lots of fruits, veggies, protein, whole grains. Cut out the processed food, but enjoy an ice cream or desert when you want.

Eating deserts when you want. That's my downfall. What nonsense.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Eating deserts when you want. That's my downfall. What nonsense.

Shut your pie hole! I eat dessert 5 to 6 times a day. Some days I only eat dessert(s). I may be fat but eating dessert(s) has nothing to do with it. It's because my calorie deficit is too large and my body goes into starvation mode.

ILikeBananas wrote:

cut out the simple carbs ma man and i guarantee you'll be slimmer than a lizard in no time! If you DO happen to be craving some simple carbs (candy, high sugar fruit, etc.) I recommend consuming it shortly before a workout so you can utilize that glucose before it turns into unused energy -> fat. long story short - consume mainly complex carbs and lean protein (lil fat is good as well). Lezzzgoooo!! #iLikeBananas

Bananas are for monkeys. Have you tried pie!?!?! That's where it's at! #iLikePie

Playing with calorie intake is risky business. The last thing you want to do when you are pushing your body hard is deprive it of the fuel it needs to do the workouts and to recover.

15-20 lbs is too much to lose in 3-4 months. 10 lbs is a good goal. It will help your times get faster without risking getting sick or injured. If you swap out some carbs for lean protein, fruits/veggies, you will get better results. Some runners do not need as much carbs as others and will hang on to fat for longer unless they reduce the carbs.

Fruits are predominantly carbs.