How to Lose Weight Training for a Marathon or Triathlon

 Professionally, I have studied metabolism and weight loss extensively. I’ve helped thousands of people lose massive amounts of weight and keep it off healthily. As someone immersed in this industry, I will still tell you that losing weight while training for a race is challenging and tricky. We get head faked into thinking that the increase in exercise will automatically cause the pounds to come off… and then when the scale doesn’t budge, we wonder what is wrong with us. Here are some of the problems (and solutions) with training and weight loss:

1. Exercise makes us hungry- Why? Partly because our body requires more energy in the first week of starting a new training program (after that, the body balances the calorie burn). This initial hunger tricks our brains into believing we simply can eat more because of exercise. That fact may be true for elite or lean athletes but is misleading for overweight athletes. The truth is that your body needs more nutrients and needs to learn how to use alternative pathways to make energy. 

The solution is to eat nutrient-dense foods and supplements to meet these new requirements.

2. Exercise raises cortisol, and cortisol makes it harder to burn fat. 

The solution is to sleep well, not exercise and possibly supplement to help combat the cortisol. Vitamin C and Ashwagandha are my top supplement recommendations.

3. Underlying hormone imbalances- exercise can compound these and interfere with weight loss. In fact, I even experienced weight gain when I was younger due to PCOS and estrogen dominance. You have to understand the cause to know the solution, so I recommend functional testing as a first step if you suspect hormone imbalances. I also recommend addressing insulin resistance by heavily reducing processed foods and sugars from your diet. This alone can support hormone balancing.

The GOOD NEWS is that IT IS POSSIBLE to lose weight while training for endurance races. I’ve designed an in-depth course that helps athletes lose up to 20 lbs in 2 months using whole-food nutrition strategies. 

 To learn more and see if Brave Nutrition is a good fit for you, schedule a free call with Brigitte.

She’ll customize nutrition solutions just for you!