Thursday, August 2, 2012

Weight loss and fuel

So one of my biggest challenges over the summer has been eating. I'm eating for weight loss and for running. 

It's been tough to find that balance. On some days I end up starving my body because I filled up on lower calorie foods then on other days I just throw caution into the wind and the inner fat guy in me comes out and devours everything in front of him. Like I said, a huge challenge.

Lucky for me the fat guy version of me hasn't made too many appearances. I love that version of me, and it is my opinion that gorging on food once in awhile is a good thing, but only if you get right back on track. 

Now when I say gorging, I don't mean the Michael Phelps 12000 calorie kind of day. Unless of course you're training as hard as he does. For me, I welcome the odd cheat day. It's a day where I can indulge in pizza, and maybe some movie theatre popcorn while watching a movie or Justified, Breaking Bad, Suits, Franklin and Bash, or one of my other favourite shows.

The point about cheating is that it isn't cheating. You shouldn't have to cut out something you love just so you can lose weight. For me, on average I indulged once a month. I also ran on average 80+ kms a month the last 4 months so maybe even less frequent depending on your workout routine. 

My regular diet still consists of a lot of the same foods I ate before the weight loss journey. I still eat eggs, although I eat egg whites more frequently. I eat turkey bacon instead of bacon when it's available,  I still eat chips on occasion, but very small portions (betcha can't eat just 20... I can), basically everything in moderation.

I was once a 260 lb guy who sweated going up half a flight of stairs... Now I'm 170 lbs and I can run 20+ kms easy. I am by no means an expert on nutrition or fitness, but I know what worked for me. It's important to stay motivated, find that extra gear and stay there. Losing weight has been one of the toughest challenges I've ever faced, and even though I'm at a healthy weight now, I know it'll be on ongoing battle. It will definitely be easier than losing the weight... I do not want to have to lose weight ever again.

One thing that helped me with my weight loss is reading about the Gracie family and their diet. They're a legendary family of fighters from from Brazil. They treat food as fuel first, not taste. Obviously the general public as a different idea, but the general public is also in an obesity epidemic.

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