323. How to Lose Weight Without Tanking Your Running

323. How to Lose Weight Without Tanking Your Running

From Running Lean by Patrick McGilvray

March 6, 2026 · 28 min

About this episode

This episode discusses how runners can lose weight without negatively impacting their running performance.

If you’re a runner trying to lose weight, you’ve probably run into this frustrating experience: you start cutting calories, trying to “eat clean,” maybe even running more… and suddenly your runs feel terrible. Your energy drops. Your pace slows down. Workouts feel harder than they should. And sometimes you end up gaining the weight back anyway. This happens all the time. Runners assume the solution is to eat less and run more. But that approach almost always backfires. Today I’m going to walk you through how to approach fat loss in a way that actually supports your running instead of sabotaging it. We’ll talk about why so many runners tank their performance when they try to lose weight, what’s actually going wrong, and the smarter strategy that helps you lean out while staying strong and consistent with your training. If you want to get leaner and run better, this episode is for you. Start The Leaner, Stronger Runner Project If you’re putting in the miles but not getting the results you want… something is off. Maybe you’re running a lot but the weight isn’t changing. Maybe you feel tired all the time. Maybe running actually feels harder than it should. And deep down you know…

People in this episode

Host: Patrick McGilvray

Topics covered

  • weight loss
  • running performance
  • nutrition
  • fat loss strategies
  • training consistency

Keywords

  • lose weight
  • running
  • calories
  • energy
  • fat loss
  • training
  • performance

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