If you’ve been around the endurance world for more than five minutes, you’ve probably heard it:
“Never diet while marathon training.”
And to be fair—that advice isn’t wrong. It’s just wildly incomplete.
For many runners, especially Masters and menopausal athletes, this message can feel like a dead end. What if you’re carrying extra weight that’s making running harder? What if you want to improve your health markers and your performance? Are you just supposed to put your goals on hold for 16 weeks while you carb-load your way to the finish line?
Not necessarily.
If done recklessly, dieting during a marathon cycle is a great way to underfuel, stall your progress, and drag your recovery through the mud. But when done strategically—with macros aligned to training needs, smart carb cycling, and a focus on lean mass—it’s possible to lose fat and still show up strong on race day.
Let’s dig into how that works.
What “Strategic Fat Loss” Actually Looks Like
We're not talking about slashing calories and hoping for the best. Strategic fat loss is about fueling your body well, timing your nutrition to your training, and creating a small energy deficit that doesn’t tank your performance. It’s nuanced, and it’s tailored to you—not some one-size-fits-all spreadsheet.
Here’s what it looks like when you do it right:
1. Macro Targeting Based on Body Weight and Training
Rather than guessing how much to eat, anchor your macros—protein, carbs, and fats—based on your body weight and weekly training demands.
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Protein: Around 0.8–1 gram per pound of body weight to preserve muscle and support recovery. Most runners are wildly under-eating protein.
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Carbs: Adjusted up or down depending on the day’s workload. You need more on your long runs and speed days, and less when you're resting.
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Fats: Held steady (usually not less than 20–25% of total intake) to support hormone health—especially crucial in menopause when estrogen’s already dipped.
This isn’t about rigid macro counting forever. It’s about being intentional with your intake and understanding how to match fuel to function.
2. Carb Cycling That Makes Sense (Not That Keto Nonsense)
Carb cycling isn’t new, but it’s often misunderstood. The goal here isn’t to cut carbs to the floor—it’s to time your carbs with your training output.
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High-carb days: Long runs, hill repeats, tempo sessions—these are the days you need gas in the tank.
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Moderate/low-carb days: Recovery days or easy shakeout runs—your energy demands are lower, so carbs can scale back.
This teaches your body to become metabolically flexible: burn carbs when they’re needed, tap into fat when they’re not. Bonus: it helps stabilize blood sugar and keeps cravings from swinging wildly.
3. A Sustainable Calorie Deficit (We’re Not Starving Here)
The key word is sustainable. Think small, consistent calorie reductions—not massive cuts.
Aiming for maybe a 300–500 calorie deficit per day max, which can lead to about 0.5–1 pound of fat loss per week. That’s it. Any faster, and your training or recovery will take a hit.
Even better? Some weeks, you won’t be in a deficit at all. During peak mileage or tough cycles, maybe bringing you back to maintenance to avoid excess stress. Because here’s the truth: you can’t diet your way through the pain cave. Recovery needs to be funded.
4. Prioritizing Lean Mass and Strength
This is the unsung hero of body recomposition: muscle.
If you want to be leaner and faster, you can’t lose muscle in the process. This is even more important in menopause, where sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss) is a very real threat.
Support lean mass by:
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Keeping protein high and consistent
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Strength training 2–3x per week, even during run training cycles (again, strategically so you aren't struggling on speed or long run days!)
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Tracking progress by more than just the scale (think: how do your lifts feel? How’s your running power?)
Muscle isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s your metabolic engine and your armor against injury.
5. The Reverse Diet: Where the Real Magic Happens
Ever finish a training cycle, hit your goal weight... and then immediately gain it all back?
This is why we reverse.
Reverse dieting is the phase after a fat loss block, where you strategically add calories back into your diet to bring you up to maintenance (or beyond), rebuild your metabolism, and keep your results.
It’s not a free-for-all. It’s a controlled ramp-up that keeps you feeling good, performing well, and mentally grounded after a focused effort.
Because the goal isn’t just to lose weight—it’s to maintain while continuing to thrive as an athlete.
What This Approach Isn’t:
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It’s not a crash diet
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It’s not a “run more, eat less” trap
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It’s not generic macro templates that don’t account for hormone shifts or performance
This is data-informed, athlete-led coaching with a deep respect for how bodies change through life—and how to work with those changes, not against them.
You Don’t Have to Choose Between Performance and Fat Loss
You just have to stop choosing between smart and sexy.
"Sexy" is: “Eat 1200-1500 calories, run every day, and shrink your way to faster times.”
Smart is: “Eat enough to train well, time your nutrition around your workouts, and lose fat at a pace your body and nervous system can handle.” (There's a reason the standard calorie goal is 2k per day.)
I’m not a nutrition coach—but I worked with an amazing one during a marathon training cycle where I successfully lost weight, gained strength, and performed better than I had in years. It wasn’t magic. It was strategy, personalization, and consistency. She taught me a ton during our time together, gracefully.
If you’re curious what that looked like, I’ll share my before/after photo:
My goal was to simply be more comfortable in my menopausal body again, perform better, and to improve my blood markers. (My endocrinologist was amazed, btw.)
You can also check out Cassie's Instagram here or the gym she works through here (it's a pretty bare-bones website). She’s the real deal and helped me dial this in without sacrificing my performance, health, or sanity. She'd be happy to chat and answer any questions you may have. Tell her you saw this post!
You’re not a template. You’re an athlete. And your training and nutrition should reflect that.
Want help creating a running or strength plan that works with your body and supports your goals? (And maybe with Cassie's macro plans...we work together for shared athletes!)
That’s my lane. I coach Masters and menopausal runners who want to thrive—not just survive—through every stage of training. Let’s talk!