Dieting and Marathon Training

Although I've not really gained anything while I've been running, I've not lost either. I had hopes that with all the miles that I'd be putting in for the marathon training that just MAYBE I could drop a few pounds. Maybe those 5-10 pounds that cling desperately to my body? But so far, no progress. I know part of the problem. I've been journaling my food for YEARS. It's an old Weight Watcher habit that I've not been able to break. And I know that I'm probably consuming too many calories. It's all about calories in versus calories out, right? Maybe.

I did an experiment a few weeks ago when I decided to do a one week free trial on Weight Watchers. The Weight Watcher program has you count points, but I tracked both points and calories. My daily calories came out to around 1000 calories a day with sticking to the alloted points, and I could add more in for the exercise I did on any given day. But honestly, I was starving on that plan! And I had much less energy making running very difficult.

With some playing around with the calories, I determined that I could lose on around 1500 calories a day. That seems to be my magic number. That is a slow loss too, at about a half a pound to a pound a week. I'm actually good with that. My problem since figuring that out has been sticking to that number. But I really feel the need to focus on the diet now because I feel like the extra weight is weighing me down, and I'd feel so much better with shedding some of it.

So I'm now beginning to focus on the eating. I think I do pretty well, actually, with eating healthy foods. I've got slumps now and then, but when I look back to how I was a year ago, or 3 years ago, its a drastic change. Slowly but surely I will get to where I should be in my food choices. But for now, I'm very pleased at how well I do. Where I fall short is sticking to the 1500 calories. I am a girl that likes quantity! I like to feel full and hate feeling hungry.

I figured that now is the best time to address the food issue during my training, because honestly, I have read so much about people gaining weight while marathon training. That is the LAST thing that I want to happen! Right now, even though the scale isn't showing a gain in weight, I feel that my clothes are fitting tighter. Oddly enough, I took my measurements last weekend just to see HOW much bigger I've gotten, and the measurements were the same as a couple of months ago, but I just FEEL bigger. I wonder if I'm losing muscle tone from not lifting like I was. I'd like to add in some weight training, but I'll admit, its tough. With four days of running, I'm hard pressed to find the time to get in the weights. But it looks like I'm going to have to make it a priority.