I have been loosing weight steadily for the past 5 months. I had lost 34 pounds total. I have 13 more until I will be at personal goal. I have picked up my running distance (30+ miles per week) the past 2-3 months and my weight loss has stopped. I can eat whatever I want, and I don't gain weight, but when I eat really good, I don't loose weight either. I am just wondering how some of the longer distance runners deal with this. Do you have to pick either distance or weight loss? Doesn't seem fair, I would think the more active you are the more you would loose. Any help will be great!

I'm in the same boat as you are. Right now I've just accepted it and I've given up on 'losing' weight (for now) and now just pay attention to my clothing.

I want to run a marathon - more than getting 10-15 more "pounds" off. I will have the rest of my life to watch calories/points/carbs, etc...but I've worked too hard to get to this point to not have the energy to finish it

It's definitely a different mind-set than I'm used to but I know it will be worth it. After it is over and I go back to a 'normal' exercise routine, I can watch my caloric intake more closely...but right now I need to eat!

I don't think my body wants me to get rid of anything right now if that makes any sense

I'm just going with the flow - if I lose weight - great - a few less pounds to carry with me across the finish line. If not, that's ok too - those pounds got me to where I am today

I have an extremely hard time losing weight when my mileage gets up as well. I do OK until I hit about 10 mile long runs (up to half marathon training level). I get really really terrible cravings for sugar at that point, and they really will take over my eating plan.

When I finish my event, I back off a bit and then I can take off some weight if I want.

Anne

What do you mean by backing off? What is a typical routine for you? I am running a half marathon next September so I am not really in training, but I have built up to this level of running and I don't really want to loose to much endurance. When you aren't in training, what is a typical running week for you?

Once heavy training is over I think 15-20 miles will be about normal with some other cardio alternatives mixed in. (I'm guessing an average of 5 miles 3-4X week would be sufficient).

Right now I'm over 30 miles per week and I average over 2000 calories a day lately.

I don't think you will lose too much endurance if you do this type of routine - i think the important thing is to keep up your long runs and mix in some weight-training to keep your muscles.

Right now that's my plan for after the marathon is over with.

If I keep my workouts to about an hour a day, my body will let me lose weight. If I work out longer than that, I get horrible sugar cravings, my calorie intake goes way up, and I tend to maintain. Trainng for a marathon can mean three to four hour training runs for me. So if I'm not training, I'll just keep my runs to 4-6 miles a day (or less) and I am able to take off weight.

In the winter I run 3-4 days a week, cycle and swim once each, plus some strength training. In the summer, I swim, bike and run twice each at least. If I'm training for a long-distance event, I'll have one long run during the week, and at least one speed session.

Anne

My weight loss has pretty much stopped, but I'm not sure whether that's to do with running more and eating more or just the fact that my body is happy with where it is, and maintaining nicely. It's certainly partly down to me feeling happy with my body and not wanting to lose more weight enough to actually cut back on my food, at the moment I'd far rather eat more to fuel my training, even if it means that I'm not quite as thin as I could be if I "dieted" more strictly.

I did notice my appetite increase during marathon training, but I didn't have a problem losing when I was running shorter distances.

At the moment I'm recovering from a marathon and running 20 - 25 miles per week, although I'm hoping to pick that up a bit sometime soon. I don't track my calories so couldn't tell you exactly what I eat, but it's quite a lot.