Longer Runs & Weight Gain...Wait...What???

In light of the tragic event in Boston last Monday, and with all due deference to the many excellent blog posts and moving commentaries about that event, I decided to forego putting out a post last week and instead watched the rest of the week's events unfold. That said, if I may make one quick observation in the wake of Boston's horrible turn of events, I was comforted to watch a positive human spirit rise from the proverbial ashes. From what I could see, I'm only about 100% certain that nobody spent time asking the victims questions of their political inclinations, of whether they supported or opposed marriage equality, or of whether they thought their taxes were too high or too low...no, these questions weren't on anyone's mind. Competitors finished the marathon and then sprinted to hospitals to donate blood; First Responders protected runners and spectators alike; strangers ran to the aid of other strangers; and at the end of it all, we all had the opportunity to bear witness to the positive human spirit that rears its beautiful head in the most dire of circumstances, in those times when we choose to recognize only our interconnectedness and to ignore our differences. And it is to that aspect of April 15, 2013, that I am going to choose to remember.

Okay. I told myself I wasn't going to do that, but I guess I did have something to say. I'll get on with my little post now...

A couple of months ago, I posted about my initial pre-running weight loss and the weight loss plateau. Well, as you can imagine, after I started running, the pounds started shedding again, and over the next few months, my weight dropped consistently, as follows:


August 4, 2012 -          243.4 Pounds  (Total Loss Since January - 32.2 Pounds)

September 1, 2012 -     238.3 lbs  (Tot - 37.3 lbs)

October 6, 2012 -         233.5 lbs  (Tot - 42.1 lbs)

November 3, 2012 -     229.5 lbs (Tot - 46.1 lbs)

December 1, 2012 -      225.8 lbs (Tot - 49.8 lbs)


But two (not so) funny things happened in December:

• I really started undertaking some longer runs, which was the good news.
• I actually gained a few pounds in December, which was the crappy news.

On January 5, I found myself looking at a scale telling me I was back to 228.9 pounds...meaning that I had pretty much gone back to where I was back on November 3rd. ARRRGH! Very very frustrating...and on top of being angry with myself, I also had to share my disappointing numbers with my friend and mentor, Roger (whom you met in an earlier post), and he didn't coddle me (thanks, Roger) nor did he give up on me (thanks again, Roger). Basically the message was that I had screwed up, I needed to recognize how I screwed up, and I needed to dust myself off and try not to screw up anymore.

So what happened? Well, during December, I started the "longer run" portion of a 5K-to-10K running program, which meant that three or four times per week, I was getting out there and running five to six miles and burning over 1,000 calories each time...which is an awesome feeling!

But here's the not-so-awesome part...if you burn 1,000 calories, it doesn't mean you can eat 1,500 to make up for it, and that's exactly what I started to do. When reaching for that second (or third...or fourth) holiday treat, I would think to myself, "Hey...I just ran six miles this morning! I burned 1,000 calories! Of course it's okay to eat a little extra!"

While that is certainly true, the key word in my statement was "little." The problem, however, was that my definition of "little" did not correspond with the actual "extra" I was taking in.

At the end of it all, I fell into the long-run "trap" of eating more than had been burned on those six-mile jaunts. Fortunately, my self loathing healed quickly, and I dusted myself off and started with a fresh new attitude (and a different diet plan) at the year's outset. After all, I had more weight to lose and races to run...but let's talk about that next time.

Until then, enjoy your journey...