Ultimate Guide to Managing Marathon Hunger- RunToTheFinish

“My appetite is huge during training, how do I fuel and not gain weight?”

Have you found yourself asking this question?? I bet you have because you email me about it all the time! What’s the deal, why are runners always hungry?

No, not the kind of hunger where you grab a snack bar to fill you up until lunch. The kind of insatiable hunger that can stretch the entire day, no matter how many seemingly full meals you consume. I have been victim to this gnawing hunger from several of my runs over 20 miles.

There are a few key reasons, which involve the amount of calories needed to support our sport, too many of us trying to run lose weight by cutting calories and of course focusing on the wrong nutrition.

10 Ways to Manage Marathon Training Hunger

Registered Dietitian Kim McDevitt is here to save the day with how to control your ravenous appetite during marathon training! Marathon training is a huge undertaking; taking in the appropriate amount of calories will ensure that you maintain a healthy weight and support your training.

On the flip side some women worry that they are eating too much, and fear weight gain during marathon training {well it has been known to happen!}.

Remember that you’re asking a lot of your body and in order to train and perform optimally,you need sufficient calorie intake. Calorie-cutting during high volume training leads to illness, injury and diminishes your weekly training gains and overall performance.

If you are focusing on losing weight, it’s possible this isn’t the right time to marathon train. Checkout these tips on running for weight loss.

With all that in mind here are 10 tips to tame marathon training hunger while optimally fueling your body.

1. Refuel immediately

Once you finish, look for a recovery drink, like a green smoothie, if you don’t feel like a meal or this dairy free cookies and cream recovery smoothie for something that feels more like a dessert.

One reason I like smoothies is because you can toss in so many greens, which is a great way to increase your nutrients to recover from all those miles. It’s also often more palatable to people who are absolutely not hungry after a hard or long hot run. The nutrients can more quickly be absorbed by the body since it doesn’t need to be broken down.

While newer studies prove you don’t have to eat immediately post run for recovery, it does seem to help with preventing massive overeating later in the day when your hunger arrives!

2. Pay Attention to Protein

In both your post workout meal and throughout the day it’s important, to look at protein and not just carbohydrates.

After you’ve had your refuel shake, make the first meal you prepare a bit higher in protein to help with rebuilding muscles and ensuring your body is growing from the workout, not eating your muscle for fuel. It could be a green smoothie, a salad with protein rich quinoa, lentils, chickpeas and/or hummus.

Checkout these 97 high protein clean eating breakfast ideas or even some delicious high protein dessert ideas.

3. Don’t Fear Fats

Fats are so important in the diet, and especially for the athlete. Adding 1 – 2 tablespoons coconut oil to your smoothies, pre-run breakfasts, or cooking is a great way to boost some calories while reaping the performance enhancing benefits of coconut oil.

I eat ½ – 1 full avocado during the day (usually ½ at lunch, ½ at dinner). Avocado offers healthy monounsaturated fats + is very satiating. Leaving you full and satisfied.

It’s also one of the reasons you might find yourself craving nut butters! It provides more than just fats, it also hits on other key runner nutrients.

4. Don’t Wait Too Long to Eat

Sometimes it might feel smart to ignore hunger and wait until the it’s “time” for your next meal. I recommend trying not to stay too rigid to times and pay more attention to when your body is telling you it wants to eat. Yup that whole intuitive eating thing.

The problem is that when you wait too long you end up overeating and eating far more calories than you likely would have had you eaten when you first felt hungry.

In addition to each meal incorporate 2 – 3 snacks per day – depending on training distance. Quick snack ideas:

¼ cup raw almonds+ blueberries
1-2 Tbs Almond butter + apple slices
coconut milk yogurt + berries
simple protein smoothie
hard boiled eggs
sliced peppers and hummus

5. Carbs Are Your Friend

Avoiding carbs is like trying to run without body glide. You can do it, but it won’t feel that great. I encourage complex carbohydrates, from vegetables and whole grains (sweet potatoes, squash, quinoa, oats), the majority of the time.These provide both energy and important vitamins/minerals. Simple carbohydrates, coming from refined grains and processed foods (think crackers, cookies, chips), candy, soda, etc. can certainly be enjoyed occasionally or even as fuel during a run, but they aren’t optimal for keeping the body running strong.

Checkout “how to carb load the right way” and how to use whole foods to fuel your run.

6. Sugar Control

It’s easy to feel you’ve earned the donut, bagel, cookies, but if marathon sized hunger is something you’re experiencing then it’s time to shut down the “I deserve it mindset”.

High sugar foods spike insulin causing you to feel hungry when you may not be…resulting in a vicious cycle of nibbling and eating more than necessary. This is an easy trap for any distance runner to fall in to because after weeks of pushing hard, it can absolutely feel like we deserve “treats”…nothing wrong with it, just realize it might be setting you up for failure.

7. Sleep More

Did you know that you may need up to 9 or even 10 hours of sleep for your body to fully recharge?! Our elite idols often get up to 12 hours of sleep by napping during the day.

During sleep your muscles are working hard to recover from all the added miles. Your digestion is catching up after having all that blood flow diverted to your legs and your cortisol is trying to reset after the stress of your workouts and life.

Sleep..DO IT.

Read more on why runners need more sleep and tips to make it happen.

Why are runners always hungry? And how to we manage our marathon training hunger?? These tips work! #runchat Click To Tweet

8. Nutrient Focused

Women are notorious for under eating because of scale watching and years of calorie counting. However a diet too low in calories will result in fatigue and likely injury. Marathon training stresses the body {and brain!!}, but a diet focused on high nutrition can help keep you rolling.

Focus on including a high volume of fruits and vegetables to ensure you feel full, aren’t worried about calories and are meeting all of your bodies recovery needs. One of the tricks the Holiday Challengers learn is to aim for at least 5-7 servings of fruits and veggies {affectionately freggies} daily. This is so much more empowering than counting calories!

Checkout sports nutrition should we stop counting calories and Thrive Forward for more details.

9. Electrolytes

I am sure you guys now think I’ve been brainwashed as I mention electrolytes pretty much every time I talk about marathon training, but it’s just so true!

Because you are the smartest runners ever, I know you are already carrying a water bottle around every where you go {nudge}, so really all I can do is remind you about electrolytes!! Drinking and sweating so much flushes out the body which is great on many levels, but not if it levels your mineral levels imbalanced leading to muscle cramps and fatigue.

10. The Most Important Tip: Listen to Your Body

Hydrate and listen to hunger cues.

When you’re hungry, eat soon so that you’ll more easily choose whole foods rather than simply whatever is available because you’re famished. It’s easy post run to get busy with so many other things, but your nutrition is part of marathon training! Don’t neglect the time that needs to be put in to it for optimal recovery, which will ensure you can make it to your next run healthy and energized.

If you feel like you shouldn’t be hungry, first water…then EAT.

Some people worry about calories on rest days, but most have a surplus from the long run, so it all balances out if you let your body guide your hunger and not your calories burned or eaten.

Kim McDevitt, MPH RD
A runner, cooking enthusiast and plant-focused flexitarian, Kim McDevitt has passionately built her career in nutrition. Noticing that her running performances were closely tied to what she was eating, Kim decided to study nutrition and pursue advanced degrees in Dietetics and Public Health, to better understand the power of food in performance. Today, Kim specializes in sports nutrition to enhance athletic performance and focuses on realistic and approachable ways for improving health through educated dietary choices within an active lifestyle.

If you’re focused on running for weight loss, here are some additional tips that can help you to make it through training without feeling hungry while running!

Do your hunger levels go up or down with increased training?

What’s your favorite way to refuel?

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