TiArt Thursday: Running and Weight Loss

When I first began running after college, I was thrilled with how easily the weight came off. Ten pounds melted off with ease; I don't think I did anything more than up the miles. Naturally I assumed that increased mileage would always equal weight loss.

Fast forward ten years and two children later.

Last summer, I decided to run my first marathon. As I charted out my miles, I imagined the way the weight would just fall off. I wouldn't have to change a thing, other than dedicating more time to running. People would ask me if I was losing tons of weight from running, but the scale was telling me no. It was discouraging.

That winter, I decided to up the miles even more. Surely burning nearly a pound a week in calories would do the trick. Nope.

I was at a dead end.

But I knew what I needed to do. I needed to look at my eating honestly - face the truth about how I was fueling myself, how I was snacking in the afternoon, all of it. And I didn't want to. But I knew that if I ever wanted to have any chance of making a change in my weight, I was going to have to open the closet and look at the mess inside.

I happened upon the website Sparkpeople, which would give me an easy way to count the calories going in. But then I saw that I could get a sample menu based on my weight loss goals, and it was super easy to make changes to my diet based on what I had at home. The best thing about Sparkpeople was that it wasn't advocating some crazy diet based on grapefruit or toast; it helped me to figure out the right kinds of foods to be eating.

The education came quickly. I needed to be eating brown rice and whole grain spaghetti, whole grain bread and lots of vegetables. I needed protein at all of my meals, and a much larger breakfast than I was used to. Water was important to drink throughout the day. As I made the changes in the kinds of foods I was eating, I found that I no longer wanted the junk that I had been using as filler for so many years.

The weight came off quickly then. Nearly 15 pounds lighter now, I am finding it easy to maintain this weight as long as I continue to eat the healthy foods. I use Nancy Clark's Food Guide for Marathoners and the Essential Eating Well Cookbook extensively, as well as recipes from the Eating Well website. My running helps as well, but I realize now that I can't rely on running alone. Sure, I can splurge now and then, but I can't splurge every day at every meal.

I still have panic moments when I worry that if I don't get the miles in I'll end up like I used to be. I've noticed that about a week before my period I become an eating machine, craving sugar and high carb foods like they are going out of style. But I know that it will pass in a few days and that I can go back to the healthy eating that I truly prefer. And I know that all it will take is a good, hard run and my head will be cleared of all the panic I have created.