5 Ways to Avoid Off-Season Weight Gain

During heavy and intense training, you need to up your nutritional intake to properly fuel your body. The opposite is true during the off-season. Your overall energy needs, including carbohydrates and protein, decrease, thanks to moving less and not needing to repair your muscles quite as much. 

Off-Season Tip: Reduce your caloric intake to match your level of activity. You’ll want to reduce carbohydrate intake to 1.4 to 2.3g/lb. of body weight. But don’t decrease your protein too much; you still need it to repair muscles and keep hunger at bay. Aim for about 0.5g/lb. of body weight. And don’t cut out fat during your downtime. You may not be able to get away with an extra dessert every night, but you need fat and it will keep you feeling full. (Unsure of how many calories you’re burning? Use the Runner’s World Calories Burned Calculator.)

If you’ve followed my training advice, you were hydrating like a pro during your race prep. Now that you’re not running as much, it’s easy to skip refilling your water bottle. Thirst, an indicator of dehydration, can stimulate your appetite, even if you don’t actually need to eat anything. 

Off-Season Tip: Hydrate like you would in training (on calorie-free, non-fake sugar drinks like water and seltzer!), making sure your urine is light yellow.

Simply put, overcompensation is the act of eating more calories than you burned. I’m talking about the mindsets of: “I just ran five miles, I earned two donuts,” or if you cross-train for 30 minutes and then guzzle 32 ounces of sports drink. Avoid undoing your sweat session by consuming calories you don’t need and don’t support your health and fitness.

Off-Season Tip: Skip seconds on dessert. And pass on midrun fuel for runs less than an hour (although that’s an “on-season tip, too). You also have less wiggle room to have an extra snack in the afternoon.

After group long runs, you may have found yourself surrounded by your training partners waiting for hard earned scones and “recovery” lattes. But just because your long runs don’t exceed eight or 10 miles doesn’t mean you can’t be social. Try these healthy swaps for your next postrun coffee meet-up. 

Instead of: 1 bakery scone, a strawberry Greek yogurt parfait, and 16 oz. vanilla 2% latte (910 calories, 26g fat, 137g carb, 32g protein)

Try: Strawberry Greek yogurt parfait, 16 oz. cappuccino with skim milk  (320 calories, 3g fat, 51g carb, 23g protein)

Still hungry? Head home and make yourself an egg-white omelet with lots of veggies. 

You shouldn’t avoid foods during the off-season, but you should reduce the amount you eat, as I explained earlier. Take a look at how your meals will differ while training for your marathon versus hitting the road just a couple of times a week.

Off-Season Tip:

Training plate: 2 cups spaghetti topped with 1/2 cup marinara sauce, 2 garlic breadsticks
(738 calories, 9g fat, 136 g carb, 24g protein, 9g fiber)

Recovery plate: 1 cup whole grain spaghetti topped with 1/2 cup marinara sauce, 1/4 cup shredded Italian cheese, 3 oz. grilled chicken, and 2 cups steamed broccoli
(575 calories, 15g fat, 69g carb, 49g protein, 18g fiber)

You slashed your carbs in half, upped the protein significantly, doubled the fiber, and still managed to save 163 calories. Go you!

Training plate: Sweet and sour stir-fry: 2 cups white rice, 3 oz. steamed shrimp, and 1/2 cup each bell peppers, pineapple, and broccoli, tossed with 1/4 cup sweet and sour sauce
(780 calories, 3g fat, 32g protein, 159g carb, 6g fiber)

Recovery plate: Stir-fry: 1 cup brown rice, 6 oz. steamed shrimp, and 1 cup each: bell peppers, sliced mushrooms, and broccoli, tossed with 1/4 cup oyster sauce
(591 calories, 6g fat, 54g protein, 83g carb, 12g fiber)

With just a few simple swaps, you save close to 200 calories and 76 grams of carbs, and gain 22 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.