I haven’t written about weight loss in a while because…um…I haven’t lost weight in a while.
I’ve always heard that it’s next to impossible to lose weight while training for a marathon. Running close to 40 miles per week means almost constant hunger. In fact, while running last weekend I overheard one runner say to another, “I’ve been hungry every minute of every day since I started training for my marathon.” I can’t say I’ve been hungry every minute, but yipes, I’ve needed to eat quite a bit more food than before I began training for this event.
Coach Lynn told me that when she trained for marathons it wasn’t unusual for her to gain six or seven pounds which she promptly lost after her events. But I thought I would be different. I wanted to be the only person in the Universe to lose weight while training.
So, guess how much I’ve gained over the last 16 weeks. Yep, seven pounds. But rather than feeling dragged down by the weight, my legs feel incredibly strong and my pace is improving. Yet, who wants to gain weight while trying to lose?
Now that my 20 miler is behind me and I’m in the tapering phase, I’m really concentrating on portions and making sure everything I eat is ultra clean and unprocessed. It’s already paying off. I checked this morning and I’ve lost 3.5 pounds.
While I’d love to lose a few more lbs before marathon day, I’m not going to stress about it. I feel fantastic and I’m making good nutrition choices (one day at a time).
The rest will take care of itself.