Scaling Back

The running is going well, the body is healthy, the mind is fit. All that remains now is to lose the weight.

You would think running 30 miles a week would take the weight off but not so much. At least, I don't notice a huge difference. I don't actually own a scale. We threw ours out about 5 years ago. But I certainly don't notice my clothes hanging off me by any stretch of the imagination. My guess is I've lost maybe 3-4 pounds. I'd really like to take 10 off by the marathon in December. There's a runners creed that says for every extra pound you carry you slow down something like 1 minute in the marathon. So 10 pounds = 10 minutes. That's a lot in runners time.

I read an article that recommended writing down everything you eat.--nothing new there. What was new is that the author said most people consume  1,000 calories a day more than they think they do. 1,000 calories??? That seems like a lot. But I agree with the premise that writing down what you eat and when you eat it can lead to  weight loss, just from the fact that you have to ask yourself if a handful of grapes or grabbing a cookie is worth hauling out your booklet to record it.

I'm only on day 4 but you know what? I think that 1,000 calorie thing is true. I guessed I probably consumed 1500-1600 calories a day. Writing down what I ate, I've found myself a little more aware of what I'm eating and saying "no" when before I might have gulped it down without a thought. Even so, I'm still around the 1500-1600 mark. So it's probably fair I was munching down 500-1000 extra calories a day before this. Ack! So much for my "I must have a slow metabolism" excuse. Apparently it's been working overtime. =)

I'm not sure how long I'll last with the food diary. Frankly, it's a pain. But I'll stick with it long enough to get a firm grasp on what's going in and at what cost.  Ten pounds  in 3 months is doable. Sigh. I'll just have to make Blair do a better job of hiding the chocolate...