Inspiration & Weight Loss

[El Gordo]

Hi Robert

Well done on the running - it sounds like you're making great progress.

I do have a writing project on the back burner though I read the Looniness of the Long Distance Runner a couple of weeks ago, and realised the bastard had nicked most of my ideas. But thanks for the compliment.

Weight? A thorny subject. I originally started running to lose some weight. I was about 243 pounds, and went down to 195 at the time I did the London marathon. This then crept, well OK, rocketed, up again to about 225. By the time Chicago came round it had gone down to about 205 but now it's crept up to somewhere around 215.

In other words, I've had trouble keeping my weight down too. It's a shame because there is no single thing that would help me to run better and a bit faster, than to lose another 20 pounds and keep it off.

I know exactly how to do it -- stop drinking alcohol, and reduce the amount of bread and potatoes I eat. Unfortunately these are my favourite things, so it's almost impossible. I need another way.

When I lost a lot of weight I drank very little, and was much more disciplined about what I ate. Typically I'd have a big breakfast then salad for lunch and some very light snack in the evening. It did the trick, but it was easier for me to regulate what I ate because I was working from home at the time. Being out of the house for most of the day now (or worse, being away from home completely) makes it much harder.

But the main thing that led me losing weight before was massive motivation. I really wanted to do the London marathon, and was quite scared that I wouldn't manage it which forced me to be quite disciplined. Once that was over I lost a lot of impetus.

In my case, I have to either rediscover that big motivation again, or I have to run/exercise more. An extra-marital affair might kill two birds with one stone....

But seriously, it might seem that I run a lot but I don't at all. The week just gone I ran 20 miles for the first time in ages. If I could run 25-30 miles a week I think it would make a difference. The main thing I've found is that there is a significant snowball effect that I need to exploit. And it's a snowball that can travel both up and down. When I'm running well (by my modest standards) it makes me feel better, which encourages me to eat better which helps reduce my weight, which helps my running, and so on. The opposite can happen too though. I stop running, I get lethargic, eat more, put on weight, don't feel like running. When that happens the cycle has to broken.

Perhaps it would help to set a slightly frightening goal. It's great that you're doing 10Ks, but how about trading up to a spring half marathon, with the possibility of an autumn marathon? That might help to concentrate your mind.

Remember that doing a lot of exercise doesn't necessarily reduce your weight. If you're doing a lot of gym work, you tend to increase your muscle which weighs even more than the fat it's replacing. Are you doing sit-ups? That's the other thing that seemed to help, though I've not done any recently.

Does anyone else have anything to add on this?

Cheers,

Andy