Thursday, October 12, 2006
I have a plan
Ok, so I didn't lose much weight at all in the last few months, as I had hoped to do. This is hard to believe, given all the training. Maybe I've converted some fat pounds to muscle pounds, at least. Also, as aluded to in the last post, I'm concerned about post-marathon weight gain. So now I have a plan that should help both concerns.
I'm going to restrict my diet to very healthy food from now until the marathon. No soda, no candy (including "preview" Halloween stuff), no chips, etc. This should be a no-brainer, of course, but for me this has never been about brain but about willpower. So this is what the plan will do: I will use the marathon as the motivation for good habits. This should work because I am so focused on that goal right now, and an ascetic lifestyle is actually appealing. My hope is that this effort will result in a momentum that will help me establish a good post-marathon diet.
Of course, I'll have to keep up sufficient carbs for my remaining training, as well as enough protein and good fats to help my body repair itself during this taper period. And of course I will do some carb loading in the final week. But I think that totally cutting the garbage might result in a 3 lb weight loss over the next few weeks. Every little bit counts when you have to haul your backside through 26 miles.
I'm going to restrict my diet to very healthy food from now until the marathon. No soda, no candy (including "preview" Halloween stuff), no chips, etc. This should be a no-brainer, of course, but for me this has never been about brain but about willpower. So this is what the plan will do: I will use the marathon as the motivation for good habits. This should work because I am so focused on that goal right now, and an ascetic lifestyle is actually appealing. My hope is that this effort will result in a momentum that will help me establish a good post-marathon diet.
Of course, I'll have to keep up sufficient carbs for my remaining training, as well as enough protein and good fats to help my body repair itself during this taper period. And of course I will do some carb loading in the final week. But I think that totally cutting the garbage might result in a 3 lb weight loss over the next few weeks. Every little bit counts when you have to haul your backside through 26 miles.
