run, rest, eat, bitch, buy things, cross-train, blog, repeat.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

What's the deal??

As you very well know (since I talk about it all the time), I have made a running come back. During my hiatus, I gained a few pounds...ahem 20 ahem ahem. Of course I wasn't thrilled about the extra pounds, but I kept telling myself...

Hey, don't you worry, April, you're about to kick it up into hardcore training mode again and you'll bring sexy back where it belongs because all that weight is just gonna melt away.

Fast-forward to week 3 of marathon training...the weight is NOT melting away. I'm running, I'm cross-training and I'm lifting weights. I've always heard that once you reach a certain age, your metabolism slows way down and it becomes much harder to lose weight. I'll be turning the big three-oh in November and I fear I have reached that age. damnit damnit damnit! See, I've sorta been lucky...I think I have pretty high metabolism and although I do eat mostly healthy, I definitely splurge more than my fair share. Up until now, when I've gained weight, I was able to start losing it after about a week of amping up my work outs. I know that muscle weighs more than fat and all that, but I feel like I should be seeing the results by now.

Another thing about me...I am not a dieter. I don't like that word and I very rarely do any kind of fad or popular at-the-moment diets. I did do South Beach for a minute, but eh...like I said...I'm not a dieter. I have friends who are chronic dieters and it looks miserable. If I notice that my eating habits have been less than healthy, I will make a conscious effort to minimize my intake of sugars, fried foods and white carbs, but that's about it. But I mostly do that because eating a lot of junk makes me feel sick after a while. And as a side note...I do feel like my diet is pretty healthy. I eat tons of fruits, veggies, fish and whole grains, however I also love chocolate, pizza, and beer. I just don't like guidelines and restrictions. I've never done very well with people telling me what to do. (Yeah, ok, I have issues, but that's not what this post is about.)

Recently, when Amy told me that she was going to try and eat a little bit better so that she could loose a couple of pounds, I was SHOCKED. Why? Because she was running 70 MILE WEEKS!! It seems to me that a good and reasonable reward for running 70 miles a week would be the ability to eat whatever the hell you like and still look like a waif. So. Not. Fair. So, I guess I'll have to splurge much less than I'm used to if I'm gonna shed these pounds. I'm just not happy about it.

7 comments:

Amy said...

Oh dude. dude. dude. yeah man, it totally sucks. I mean, at some point you have to ask yourself... is having an extra 20 pounds (or 35 in my case) worth being able to eat whatever the hell I want? If I'm holding a beer can while I'm asking myself the question I usually say... hells yeah. You only live once.

But then... when you're trying to breathe while wearing your running shorts that have strangely gotten too tight (must be from the dryer and not from the beer) you realize... being a skinny bitch would be soooo much better. And sadly, now that we're pushing 30... what we eat is more important than how much we're exercising. Stupid metabolism.

Chic Runner said...

I totally know what you mean this post. My weight fluctuates a LOT and it's me just taking charge and doing it myself and being healthy.

Happy Feet 26.2 said...

Almost 30, ha ha, try over 40. I always remember thinking if I could just run marathons I would be able to eat whatever I want and still be super skinny. Dang! That's definitely NOT true. I hate that! It's just wrong.

This summer I did manage to drop 11 lbs. I've been incorporating a lot of spinach salads at lunch with various veggies, egg whites, avacado, sometimes beans, etc. etc. It changes from day to day. Anyway, I also have some dark chocolate. It is really filling and satisfying with the chocolate. Lots of fruits and portion control. Now to keep it off, still a challenge. Good Luck!

Vandy-Montana said...

Here is Craig's foolproof way to lose weight (Amy can attest).

Run maybe, MAYBE, 40 miles a week...
Drive a tractor between 12-16 hours a day...
Eat whatever the hell you want...

Foolproof...although I didn't drink much during this...

Amy said...

April: I can attest... also, Tombstone frozen pizzas have some kind of magical weight loss power, too, apparently.

Vandy-Montana: I hate you.

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

Don't listen to boys. I'm looking at you Craig.

Yeah, it totally blows. I've been feeling the same way, now that I have been upping my training. I have even been writing everything I eat down, just to keep track and yet that needle is just as likely to go up as down.

Turning 30 suuuuucks!

(Well, mostly just for that reason - otherwise, it was a relief to get it over with and get all "Hey Young'un - you don't know what you're talking about. I'm 30. I'm experienced."

Vandy-Montana said...

You guys make it sound like my life is over in 2.33 years.

Danielle, it worked. I don't know how, but it worked. Went from 170 to 165 by not doing much. I think it may be because when I was on said tractor I was in a constant state on tension. Not relaxed at all.