Like almost everyone I know, my life is busy and it’s a challenge every single day to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. In fact, I don’t really search for balance in my life, so much as I try to make sure that every piece of my life gets to be the priority at one point or another.
But that’s not the balance I’m talking about today. My quest for balance right now has more to do with calories in versus calories out. The combination of getting older, having a few months of less intense exercise, and holiday splurges have plumped me up a little bit. (I’m not even going to get into “happy weight vs. ideal weight vs. what I see in the mirror” ’cause that’s a whole ‘nother post.) Let’s just leave it at my jeans are a little snug and I don’t like it.
I’ve been watching what I’m eating since January 1 and I’m down a couple of pounds. This is all well and good, but I found on my run yesterday that my legs felt without energy and my stomach was growling by mile 5. I had eaten my normal pre-run meal of a PBJ when I woke up and a banana about 30 minutes before the run, so I should have been fine. It makes me wonder how much my running was affected by three days of careful eating.
How do you handle trying to lose weight and build your mileage at the same time? I don’t mind being hungry, but I’m not a fan of crashing during a run. For now, I’m trying to eat more breakfast in the morning since I tend to run or workout around 9 each day.
Of course, the route I chose may have played a role – I hit super hungry at mile 5, which just happened to be the top of the last big hill…
BTW, Lisa – 8.2 miles yesterday in a lovely yellow hat covers that piece of our bet LOL.
oh I hate the whole jeans not feeling good feeling. i hope you find the balance you need.
this is somethign i struggle with all the time…eating enough so i have energy for runs and i'm not starving, but not so much i gain weight! i did find journalling my food (my fitness pal) really, really helped me make sure I was balanced.
Ugh hills. That's probably why you felt fatigued. Good luck in finding what works and your jeans feeling good again!
That's a tough one.. I gained a few pounds in marathon training, my body wanted food all the time. But running early in the morning at moderate lengths seems like a good plan. Good luck, and great job with the couple pounds lost already!
uh huh. thanks for writing this for me……
I'm struggling with that mirror thang too! Damn stupid calories in, don't they know I need them to run?????
I often struggle with the calories in VS out especially when trying to lose weight. It's hard to find that balance… for me it usually means eating half of the exercise calories that I "earn" in order to lose without starving myself.
It is such a fine line for feeding the athlete. It's hard to find a good balance. And heck…hills take it out of the hardiest eaters!I'm guessing the yellow hat might've added some weight and stress.
I've been experiencing the same thing this week, but I'm blaming it on stomach expansion because of everything I stuffed into it the week before. I'm hoping it will all balance out and return to normal next week.
It's a tough question to answer. I had a totally horrible run today – nothing in my legs – and I blame having to fast for half the day yesterday for a medical test. I didn't manage my full complement of calories. Didn't eat properly for the rest of the day and paid for it today.
My jeans are feeling just a little snug and I am too chicken to step on the scale. But I will do it tomorrow, to get the numbers and start working on scaling down. I don't think I fed my body right because I felt that steel/coal in the legs when I ran just a mere 3 miles yesterday. Do share with us what worked for you.