Diet and Weight Loss

Since I started running I have lost nearly 3 stone in weight.

This isn't just through running but from a few other changes to my diet as well... Over the years I have tried just abut every sort of diet going, from diets that you mean you seem to leave off milk shakes and other meal replacement "stuff" to weight watchers, low fat diets etc etc.

On each of them I have lost weight only to gradually put it all back on again over the coming months. For me this has been the main problem with "diets" in that yes, they do help you lose weight but unless you change your underlying eating and exercise patterns you WILL put the weight back on again. 

There are many reasons that people eat too much or the "wrong" things.... I tended to eat as a reward to myself... or to cheer myself up if I was feeling fed up... there are so many reasons, the list could go on and on.... including not enough time to cook "proper" food etc, etc. But a basic fact is that if you want to lose weight you need to consume less calories than you use. You can do this by either changing the food you eat to versions that contain less calories, cut down on the amount you eat or by increasing the number of calories you use through exercise (or a mix of all three).

There is no magic answer. The real downside is that you have to keep up with these changes to keep the weight off. You have to make lifestyle changes.

When I started running I did this because I wanted to lose weight. I also started looking at what I was eating.. as well as what I was drinking ! I kept a food diary and wrote down literally everything that I ate and drank. To be honest I scared myself a bit, I wasn't aware of how many calories were in the snacks I was having or in the alcohol I was consuming.

Did you know that a large (250ml) glass of average strength red wine is approx 214 calories ? or that one pint of "premium" larger is 330 calories ?? Did you also know that you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1lb of fat. Yes, when you start a diet you may lose far more than that to start with but that may just be extra fluid that you are losing and not just fat......

The main changes I have made are as follows (in no particular order !):

1. Drastically reduce my alcohol intake
2. Eat more fruit and veg
3. Change to wholemeal pasta and brown rice
4. Reduce portion sizes
5. Cut out snacks or switch to a healthy option (dried fruit rather than biscuits)
6. Cook healthier versions of meals

These aren't just changes for the time that I am "dieting" these are permanent changes. They have to be or I will start putting the weight back on... So what is different for me this time ? Well, this time I am far more committed to the weight loss being permanent. It has taken me 18 months to get where I am today, I have seen the differences it has made in my day to day life. I am far fitter now than I have been at any time in my life. I don't worry that I won't be able to keep up with friends if we go for a walk (yet alone hire bikes and go for a ride !) Work has become easier, being fitter has had some real advantages.... I still eat chocolate, biscuits, cakes etc... just nowhere near the amount or frequency that I used to. It is a "treat" rather than the "norm" in my day... It hasn't always been easy, to start with I did feel hungry between meals but that has gradually gone.. but it has been worth the effort. I'm now training for a marathon, something that I would have though impossible 18 months ago.

Week 2 - done ! (only 18 to go...)

After a brief rewrite of my training plan all is looking good ( Is that cheating ??)

Sunday's run was a bit wet and windy.... We ran up to Devils Dyke and back, it is quite good running as part of a group, there is always someone to talk to and many of the people have run marathons before so there is a whole knowledge bank I can tap in to.

I have met some really interesting people that I wouldn't have met any other way and it is wonderful to see such a wide variety of people all with one common goal.

This weeks mileage is a bit less than last week, my plan is to build up for a few weeks followed by a recovery week....

I will be updating my training plan with my total miles run each week rather than posting them on each blog post.

Anyway, this is a photo of everyone's muddy trainers at the end of Sundays run :)




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All Change !

Well, I have made a few changes to my training plan.... (what is a plan for if not for changing !) and also put it in to a spreadsheet to make it a bit easier to update in future. So, as time goes on, especially over the next few weeks I am going to be "tweaking" it a bit. As you can see I have dropped the Monday runs, I may still run on Mondays but if it isn't in the Plan then I won't feel guilty if I miss it (hopefully that makes sense). I'm also putting the Plan on a separate tab to make it easier to have a sneaky peek at.....

Brighton Marathon Route changed....

Well, it looks as though the Brighton Marathon route is being changed... http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/9403817.Brighton_Marathon_route_tweaked_to_draw_in_elite_runners/ I'm not sure how I feel about this, I have never run a marathon so I have nothing to compare it to. The only thing is I hope there is still some "scenery" to look at... My least favourite race was the Bupa London 10k, I'm not sure if this was just the heat of the day but lets just say I didn't really notice the historic landmarks I ran past.. just keeping on running was my main concern.. Personally I don't mind some hills, for very uphill there is also a downhill :) and because of where I live it is almost impossible to run anywhere without a hill of some sort being involved.. I do find it quite strange running on the flat; it seems to use your leg muscles in a slightly different way....

Week 1 - Done !

Well that is the first week of marathon training completed.... The "Plan" said 25 miles, I ended up running 29.58.... This was mainly due to me deciding to run home (5.5 miles) and the group training run of 7.5 miles this morning. So, this is a break down of what was planned and what I actually did (actual distance in brackets):

Monday - 2.5 (2.48)
Tuesday - 5 (6.01)
Wednesday - 3 (0)
Thursday - 4 (2.92 recorded on my Garmin but I forgot to start it on one lap... So closer to 4)
Friday - 2.5 (5.18)
Saturday - 0 (0)
Sunday - 8 (13.09)

So, all in all not a bad week.

One thing I did find out this week is that my nice white Nike t-shirt really is see through when wet ! Quite glad I had a high vis jacket on top....

I am also quite glad I have started a couple of weeks early, I know I'm going to be missing some weeks so this does help a bit...

Next week I know I'm going to miss Mondays easy run. One thing I like about my plan is that it is ok to skip the Monday and Friday runs if either I just can't make it or if I need some extra rest. I'm now thinking ahead about Christmas, not necessarily the shopping but how to fit some running in ! (Am I becoming obsessive ??)

I met someone this morning who had been training for the Brighton Marathon last year until she injured herself in training in January. She went along to watch the marathon and said it was one of the most bitter sweet things she had ever done and gave her the added incentive to try again... I that come the end of march/ beginning of April I'm going to become a bit paranoid about injury, I can only imagine how heart breaking it must be to but so much work in to the training only to miss out at the last hurdle...

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And here it is !

For the people that have asked to see it this link *should* take you to my Marathon Training plan The runs highlighted in yellow are the ones I know I will miss because of work commitments so I will be juggling those weeks around a bit..... Some of the easy 2.5 mile days may become rest days and I may swap some of the mid-week runs round depending what time I have available.... So although it is a plan that looks as though it involves running 6 days a week it is quite flexible and may not end up that way. I have also started it 2 weeks early to allow for the runs I know I will miss.

I have a plan !

It is a very cunning plan. It is a plan that will get me round the marathon....

I have typed it out, added it all up and pinned it to the wall next to me desk....

It contains a lot of running.... But part of me is worried that it is still not enough because, if I'm honest, it isn't an awful lot more than I've been running some weeks over the summer anyway; the main difference is how the runs are split up.

Everyone tells me to trust The Plan because it isn't just having a plan, and sticking to it that will get me round this marathon, it is Believing in the plan... Believing that the plan will be plenty.... Apparently this is as important as the actual training.....

Do I believe ? It is a bit like asking me if I believe in Father Christmas.... I would love to believe... I really would, but I'm not sure that I do... yet....


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