Hey everyone,
I (51M) wanted to say thank you to both r/loseit and r/firstmarathon. The advice, stories, and encouragement from these communities helped me stay focused and keep going over the past couple of years.
This past weekend I hit a huge goal: I ran my first marathon.
Along the way, I lost about 70 pounds and discovered that I really enjoy running. But I also learned a pretty big lesson that I think a lot of people here can relate to.
Earlier this year I was supposed to run a marathon in April. I had trained hard, hit my goal weight of 165 pounds, and felt ready. I was actually in my car at 5 a.m. driving to the race when it got canceled because of thunderstorms.
So I ended up running a “fake marathon” around my neighborhood that day instead and decided I’d eventually do a real one.
After that, I went back to running about 25 miles a week, which is my normal amount when I’m not training. Somewhere along the way, I eased up on my diet. I figured since I had reached my goal weight and was still running, I could relax a bit. I stopped tracking calories, stopped weighing myself, and just ate more freely.
By summer, I decided to run the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis in the fall. I started training again, and by the peak of training I was running about 55 miles a week. But I never really got back to watching my diet.
Last weekend I finished the marathon in 5:04. Not the fastest time, but I was proud of it. A few days later I got on the scale and saw 185 pounds. I had gained 20 pounds in 9 months, even while running between 25 and 55 miles a week.
A few people told me it might be muscle, but I know that’s not the case.
So I’m back on my diet now. With the holidays coming up, I know if I don’t start paying attention again, it’ll be even harder after the new year.
If there’s one takeaway from this, it’s this: exercise is great, but you can’t outrun your fork. Running a mile might burn 170 calories. I can eat 170 calories in 30 seconds and forget about it five minutes later.
I still love running and plan to keep doing it, but I’m reminded that nutrition will always matter most when it comes to weight loss.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/CpcTUeL
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