Why Marathon Running May Be Causing You to Gain Weight
Like many people, I signed up to run a marathon when I felt like I needed to lose weight. I thought that training for a race would keep me on a schedule so that I would get into the habit of running every day and ideally, that this would cause me to shed pounds.
Sounds realistic right? All of the professional endurance runners I saw in magazines and on social media were super lean! To me the formula seemed simple: the more miles you run = the skinnier you will be. Easy peasy!
So I began training. I printed out a free marathon running schedule I found online and woke up early every day before work to run.
As my training cycle went on and I got closer to the race, I felt great about my progress as a runner! I was on a steady routine of running daily with some days allocated for resting or light walking. And my confidence was increasing with each additional mile I was able to add to my weekly long run, ultimately reaching a high of 20 miles in preparation for the 26.2 miles I would be running in the marathon. This was quite an accomplishment for me!
But my weight? It went up.
My clothes got to be a bit too tight, which was frustrating since I felt like I was the most fit I had ever been!
