Running and Weight Loss

I have been in the process of losing that winter weight. That 5 or 10 pounds that you pick up in the off season, or over the Holidays. After the first 10 weeks of the year, it's all off. Now I'm looking for any suggestions for looking the next 10 pounds.

After 40, losing weight is brutal. You can halt the weight gain by your running, but moving in the opposite direction always seems like it takes twice as long. The metabolism slows down, the recovery between runs takes a little longer, and the number of races that you run each year gets less and less.

But I've been working on a new method this year. Instead of getting on the scale each day, I've gone to one set 'scale day' each week. Instead of counting calories, I'm counting minutes. Instead of playing around with meal plans, spread the meals throughout the day. Don't overeat the right foods; just eat foods the right way.

I'm using my running this year as the great equalizer. If I get on the scale and see the weight the same or going up on scale day, I'm going to increase the minutes spent running/walking in the coming week. I'm not looking for anything more than a pound a week. But I'm not going to add more than 10 minutes each week regardless of what the scale says. This should be a fun experiment. But so far this year, I haven't needed to add the minutes (yet).

How are your weight loss plans going? Are doing better than the suggested 1-2 pounds a week? Do you have any ideas that you want to share? Write me at marathonmadman@gmail.com with your comments, I'm all ears.