Running and Weight

This weeks TiaRT topic over at the Runner's Lounge focuses on Running and Weight. Now thinking, reading, dreaming and practicing running is a lot newer to me than thinking, reading, dreaming and practicing (notice I don't say perfecting) weight loss. While I've only been dabbling in running for about the last 4 years, trying to lose or maintain weight has been something I've struggled with for 10 years. I'll describe it here, along with some good habits I've picked up along the way....

I grew up thin, and was always in sports, so managing weight and watching what I ate was something I never had to do. Until I was 21 I never thought about what went in my mouth. That year my activity level and metabolism reached an all time low, and I spent most of the next 5 years significantly over my ideal, and the last 5 yo-yoing up and down within a smaller range of pounds.

The year I turned 21 I was 1. able to drink, and 2. therefore often hungover and needing fat laden recovery food :) I also moved home to commute to college so 3. had lost access to a gym and 4. worked at a diner similar to Denny's where free junk food was plentiful. I don't know how much beer I drank or potato skins filled with sour cream I ate, but judging by my ever increasing waist line it was a lot! This pretty much continued through March of 1999, at which point I got an internship at a wildlife refuge.

I moved to Arkansas probably having lost a little, but still probably close to 30 pounds over what I am now! Lucky for me, the job was very physical, and even if my eating didn't improve I probably returned home 6 months later and 10 pounds lighter. At this point I had my first of four experiences with WW, or weightwatchers, for those of you not in the know :)

My dad was doing WW, and having amazing results. I dabbled in following along, and also got a gym membership. Over the next four months I dropped to what seems to be my body's preferred weight of 157 or 158. I'm 5'10", so this is an acceptable weight for me. I probably only stayed there 6 months, however, because in the spring of 2000 I began a serious relationship (translation- no longer have to worry about how you look! Lots of dinner dates!) and graduated college, moved back to Boston and started The Job Search and contemplated What Am I Going To Do Now? (Translation...STRESS...EAT!!).

This gain was probably about 20 pounds...and I was introduced to WW again. This time my sister was going (and ended up losing 100+ pounds!!), and I stole and copied all her recipes, tips, and exercise ideas. I loved the 'points' system and found it easy to follow, and even (gasp!) fun. I probably got rid of 10 lbs of extra weight, but eventually fell off the wagon again.

Two years later, in 2002 I moved to CA and started grad school. I was actually very disciplined about exercising through the next few years, but still eating badly. Enter WW x 3. This time I enrolled myself with a friend. It was summer of 2004, and also when I started running. I went from 171 to 143 in a year! I felt great, had tons of energy and was really in control of my fitness and nutrition.

I bounced up and down a bit over the next year, and was back at 155 by June of 2006, when I got married. Looking back, it was inevitable that I would gain weight. In the fall of 2004 I had met my now husband, and enter again the world of dinners out, and not having to maintain the 'dating weight'. We moved in together in July of 2005, and that first year of domesticity led to lots of caloric meals (my husband is one of those annoying people who struggles to gain weight), cookies and wine. Right after the wedding (like 5 days!), we moved here, to Louisiana, for a job I'd accepted.

Once again I started the cycle of eating badly and not exercising. This time, however, it wasn't entirely my own fault....we moved without securing a residence, and therefore spent the first three months living in a kitchen-less guest house (actually room) of a family our realtor had hooked us up with. Three months of fast food and ramen noodles definitely didn't help my physique, and neither did that fact that Louisiana is basically the hottest, most humid place on Earth. I swear.

So WW x4. This time with a coworker. I quickly got back down to 153 or 154, but my Lifetime Member weight at WW is 150, so unless I was less than that I had to pay. Pesky 4 pounds! Needless to say, being tight on cash and not loving the meeting leader here, I stopped going...Again. We moved into our house in October of 2006, and finally able to cook again I lost a couple inches again, and regained some lost fitness as well. I continued only occasionally exercising through 2007, but found myself still above my ideal weight.

In the fall of 2007 it finally cooled down, and I got serious about running. I was going several times a week, and finally going further. In the past, even at my most fit I was generally never running over 3 miles. A coworker and I signed up for the Crescent City Classic, a 10k in New Orleans in March, and I found I really liked following the 10k training schedule we found online. We did a couple of 5ks also, and ended up doing Disney's Women Run the World 15k in May, which was so much fun. Theeennn....it got hot. Ugh. I took most of the summer off, and combined with summertime food and drink (Yay margaritas!) the scale was creeping up again.

I finally got back into running in September, and have had great progress getting back in shape. I still have a hard time watching what I eat, but the 21 Day Habit Challenge couldn't have come at a better time. Now, on Day 4, I am 153.8 (but this means nothing as my weight fluctuates greatly on a day to day basis). Fitness and Nutrition will remain an ongoing struggle for me, but one that gets easier as I go. The yo-yo still goes up and down, but not half as far as it used to.

I have learned many things about healthy eating over the years, and my diet mistakes are rarely in ignorance any more...I just don't heed advice that I know works! Some of the things I do believe in:

1) WW. It works. Period. Not having foods that are taboo makes you feel free-er; you can have the brownie, you just have to count it. I always turn to this when things really get out of hand.

2) Hydration. Many people don't realize how much better a properly hydrated body burns calories.

3) Portions- this is something WW really helped me with. There analogies are given comparing measured amounts (say 4 oz of meat) with recognizable objects (like a cassette tape). I have also learned how your mind tricks itself...you will think you've had a serving only to find out you've had 3. For this reason I divide things. If a serving of tortilla chips is 13 chips, I will take a bag and count out 13 at a time and store them in Ziploc bags. I buy cheddar cheese that has 8 servings in a block. I divide each half into four, and keep in a Ziploc bag.

4) snacks! self sabotage is less likely when you're not starving (though these need to be healthy snacks; I've ruined myself recently with junk snacks!).

5)shop from the perimeter of the grocery...where the fresh food is. Avoid the middle aisles.

6) fill up on the lo-cal stuff. Eat tons of veggies.

7) fiber. while not necessarily good in large amounts of a runner's diet, I found it to aid greatly in weight loss in the past.

8) identify problem times. For me this is at night when I read or watch TV. I will inevitably find myself wandering to the pantry.

9) get rid of the extras that contribute fat and calories but not much else. You can replace so many ingredients in cooking and baking that shave calories here and there for an overall savings throughout the day.

10) journaling. I will probably always have to log everything I eat. I just go overboard otherwise!

So learning about and understanding nutrition and weight loss is like running for me- a work in progress. I refuse to be a slave to a diet, but I don't want the extra pounds either. I want to eat my cake and be thin too :) The route to learning more involves reading more, so I'll leave you with the simple but true formula of nutrition writer Michael Pollan: 'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.'