Does running while losing weight (calorie deficit) negatively impact training gains in a similar way to weight lifting?

Training Advice/Discussion General

5 years ago 04/18/2019 9:46am EDT

When bodybuilders or weight lifters go on a cut, they go on a calorie deficit to lose weight and maintain muscle mass as best they can. However, their expectations for making gains in their training are lowered and they mostly lift to maintain what strength they've gathered in their previous training cycle.

However, it seems like runners lose weight going into races and expect a faster time. Does running on a calorie deficit not impact training performance?

For me personally, I need to lose 20 pounds because I am now a fat person. However, I'd also like to increase my miles to 50 per week (from what has become a meager 20 per week) while making some speed gains working towards the Chicago marathon. Is that possible?

TDEE calculators suggest that with my current state of exercise, I need about 2400 calories per week to lose a pound per week. Will I "bonk" in training if I increase my mileage to 50 while staying at 2400 calories per week?

5 years ago 04/18/2019 10:22am EDT

re: TheNoBeardRunner

I've had good success with going on a 500 calorie deficit per day but allowing myself to go a bit above that number if I feel that my body needs it, usually the day of hard workouts and sometimes the day after. I've lost 13lbs in my current HM cycle on 50mpw doing this, and have been hitting my workouts and recovering fine.

5 years ago 04/18/2019 10:36am EDT

re: waitloss

waitloss wrote:
I've had good success with going on a 500 calorie deficit per day but allowing myself to go a bit above that number if I feel that my body needs it, usually the day of hard workouts and sometimes the day after. I've lost 13lbs in my current HM cycle on 50mpw doing this, and have been hitting my workouts and recovering fine.

This^^^^^^

If anything, doing like that^^^ should improve efficiency whilst maintaining strength. Especially at this time of year (in the northern hemisphere anyway) when the day are getting warmer and you can shed your winter coat.

5 years ago 04/18/2019 2:27pm EDT

re: way to go

Bodybuilders don't expect gains because they're looking at gains in absolute terms. Runners are concerned about speed, which is a product of power to weight ratio. So even if you don't gain aerobic fitness, your VO2max can increase with reduced mass.

That said, nutrient timing is key. Elite runners are known to alternate their calorie deficit days so that they're well fueled for hard work, and less well fueled for easy runs. You don't need your carb stores topped off (not that easy to do anyway) for an easy run when you're operating at lower intensity because you can easily pick up the slack with fat metabolism. At higher intensities, there's no way around the fact that you're burning mostly carbs. That's even true for so-called "fat adapted" athletes who have made a point of trying to increase their fat burning capacity (not that useful at non-marathon distances anyway because it's less efficient even if you can do it).

It's also important to make sure that you're getting adequate protein, both immediately following exercise and throughout the day. Protein has a hard time turning to fat because it has to be converted several times first, plus a ready availability of protein will keep your anabolic hormone profile favorable and help to ensure that your body isn't eating its own muscles to make up for the calorie deficit. Some small amount of energy is always being produced by protein, but ideally that will be coming from dietary protein, so make sure it's always there.

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