Training for a marathon makes you hungry.
This is frustrating. You would think that running so much would mean the pounds are just melting off. Nope, you are burning a lot of calories with all those runs, but that means your body wants more fuel. Spending hours on your feet is very taxing on your body, proper recovery through good food is important.
I was not that hungry the day of my long runs, but the next day I was an eating machine! Then, there would be another random day during the week when all those miles would catch up with me and I would be hungry. For some reason it was very hard to feel satisfied. I made sure to drink a lot of water too. I wanted to be sure it was hunger and not thirst, but my body still wanted food. I didn’t want to hurt my recovery so I listened to my body and ate what I wanted. I did not lose weight while training for the marathon. That kinda sucks because I really want to, but I am proud of myself for putting my desire to lose weight aside to achieve this goal.
Some people actually gain weight while training for a marathon. This is probably from building muscle mass, so it shouldn’t be looked at negatively.
From my personal running experience I would say that if your goal is to lose weight you should train for a 10K or maybe a half. That is the right amount of mileage to get those calories burning off without jarring your metabolism to a state of starvation. But, no matter what distance you are running – if you are hungry or thirsty listen to your body and fuel properly. If you want to make running part of your life you have to eat like a runner.
Just be warned: Racking up the miles makes you hungry!
I am currently training for my first half (in April), and quickly discovering long runs are what I look forward to – I think I might be addicted after I complete this half!