This is a post that is long overdue. About a week ago, I had an epiphany - a virtual light bulb came on above my little peanut brain so to speak. Those who know me well know that my weight is something I'm very bothered by. For most of my life, my brothers "lovingly" referred to me as birdlegs. Then genetics decided one day to play a mean, nasty trick on me & bestowed me with thyroid disease and diabetes -- metabolism's double whammy. At the age of 40, having never had to battle a weight problem before (actually the weight became an issue in my thirties, but did I even really exist before I became a runner? hmmm) I decided to get off the couch & run. Like Forrest Gump, I just started running and I kept on... But, eventually the running took over (not complaining) and I quit making healthy food choices, blah, blah, blah... This post is NOT about how I got here - this post is about how I'm going to get THERE.
I'm a slave to the scale, or rather, WAS. Everyday I'd step on and if there was gain, I was depressed and the rest of the day was impeded with thoughts of "why try." If there was loss (rare, but it happened) I'd think of all the indiscretions of the previous day and say "if I could eat as much as I did yesterday and STILL lose, why, I can have cheesecake for breakfast today! Yay me!" Neither of these methods work by the way and any that you lose is quickly found again and those pounds have friends!!!!
On the drive home from work on Thursday a week ago, I was really giving myself a hard time about it. After all, I've run half marathons and marathons, I have discipline in this area of my life. Why don't I have any when it comes to this? Then the lite bulb went on and I started re-evaluating my approach. As with all moments of clarity in my life, they are always accompanied by some lesson I've learned from running and most often revolve around the marathon. You see the marathon is the greatest physical accomplishment of my life. I say "the marathon" because it's not one particular race, it's all the races (even Chicago) and all the training miles that lead up to it and all the recovery miles after it that make up this glorious event called "the marathon." You quickly learn that when you stand at the start line, you have to call your mind immediately into submission. If you stand there thinking, "I've got to run 26.2 miles!!!!!", you'll say to yourself, "no way, that's impossible" But if you tell yourself, I just need to make it to mile 1. When you get to mile 1, then goal then is to make it to mile 2. So basically, you run it 1 mile at a time - sounds a lot easier that way, right?
So, why not look at weight loss with the same mindset. Instead of standing on the scale and looking out towards how many pounds I have to go to reach my goal, why not focus on 1 lb. at a time. After all, who can't lose 1 lb a week? That sounds much easier. Then I started thinking that although it sometimes seems that way, the pounds did not show up all at once. They came on gradually. I began to think that 6 months should be my goal. Ok so let me do some math here: 1 pound per week for 6 mths or 26 weeks = 26 lbs. Hmmmm.....the marathon is 26 miles!!! I literally got chills. So there's my plan...
Fast forward to today, well, yesterday actually - weeky weigh in day is Fri. Remember, my epiphany came on a Thurs so I started on Fri. You can imagine my dismay when I saw that I had GAINED half a pound! Although I was disappointed, I resolved that I would NOT be discouraged. Not every mile is easy (in fact most are anything but) -- not every pound is going to be a given either. I looked at the past week and logically looked at things I did well as well as the areas for improvement. The "needs improvement" items far "outweighed" (pun intended) than the things I did well. Realistically speaking, that's good news. If I had done everything right and gained, I'm sure I'd be giving up today.
Anyway, sorry for the lengthy post but I felt I just had to share. Remember, keep your dream in front of you even if it seems farfetched and there's no better time than now, no better day than today to stand at the start line and take it one mile at a time...
Gotta run...
Lisa
Mississippi River Half Marathon
4 years ago
2 comments:
Great post! I have been trying to lose the same 5 lbs since Sam was born! I had a hard time losing the last 5 after Clay too (must be a boy thing)! Anyway, I know that 5 lbs is really no big deal to most people, but on my short frame (5.2) it makes a huge difference in how my clothes fit--or don't fit. Jimmy always advises people to just cut back a little, don't just all of a sudden stop eating all sweets or carbs or something like that. Just eat smaller portions. I think I will try that for a few weeks, and I will let you know how it works. I thought I would lose 5 lbs when training for the half, but I did not!
WONDERFUL!!!! I couldn't agree more. In fact, I was scratching my head trying to remember whether or not I had written this post, as it mirrors my thoughts exactly. :)
You go, girl. I am on your team! I love the theory and the approach. Now, please remind me of this when I am stressing over losing the baby weight. One pound at a time!
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