"New Year New You" - my thoughts on food, my body, and exercise

Doesn't it feel like that's what we sometimes hear in abundance? Doesn't it feel like we are constantly trapped between trying to be content with the bodies and "big bones" God may have given when not giving up on the effort to look nice?

I think I'm the girl that looks fine but is always in need of loosing that extra 10 to 15 pounds. I weigh 153ish and I think that being 5'4, "they" say I should weigh about 130 or less. Umm... ya, not gonna happen!

So, this is the reality I've decided to embrace. I'm not bad the way I am, but certainly not going to win any modeling contest (although why I would have thought I had a fighting chance to begin with might be a bigger issue to deal with ;)

Last year was my best year of running so far! I've been running off and on for the past 8+ years, but more aggressively in the past 2.5, although tend to slack off in the winter. Which is why I don't consider myself a "real" runner because don't real runners keep it up all year round? With the distraction of the wedding and training for the marathon this year, I seemed to just plug away as best I could and did really well! At least, well for me ;)

Regarding food, I LOVE to eat... a LOT!! My stomach issues over the past 2 years have lead me to discover I get pretty uncomfortable when I eat too much so have been better at portion control, if for no other reason then that I'm not a fan of refluxing most of my dinner.

The "problem" with running is you have to eat. Result = no weight loss. This summer Mark and I found ourselves at Macaroni Grill most Friday nights so I could carbo load (literally trying to stuff myself with as much wheat pasta as I could), in preparation for Saturday morning's long runs. I didn't really like to, but it helped keep me from getting hungry early on the next morning. Getting hunger pains at mile 5 of 18 is LAME!

The only problem with that strategy and not running much during the winter is a girl tends to forget she's not running as much and eat the same amount. Therefore, you easily pack on that extra 5 pounds expected every winter.

I've averaged an extra 2 pounds that haven't come off, every year since I was 16.

Last summer I saw a successful slimming of my body by the time of our wedding in early September. It wasn't much, but just enough that I felt really good for our wedding!! Which was pretty cool. I've never "slimmed down" in my life, only gotten less flabby from logging all those miles but don't loose weight or slim down, normally. But last summer I tried to watch what I was eating just a tiny bit extra and there you go!

I feel like I didn't put on as much of the 5 pounds normally predicted during the winter, so far this year (although the ice cream I've been having every night might not help). And have started my training for the year. We're (we=Trisha, my running partner and I) planning for 3 half marathons between April and October and the Portland Marathon, which we'll run with my mom and uncle (my uncle will probably be almost an hour ahead of us).

My running has started off better than I thought over the past week. I'm attempting to do something I haven't done before and run 4 days a week. I normally get burned out with 3 and 4 throws it too far over the edge, but every year I do a little better so maybe this is the year...

Another goal my mom, uncle, and brother are trying to set this year is to run 1000 miles. That is an average of 19 miles a week. By the end of this week I'll be behind 24 miles and it will be 2 or 3 more weeks until I can average the 19. However, there are weeks in the summer where I run over 19 so my projected total for the end of the year is over 1000... but that's if I run 4 days a week for the ENTIRE year!! Not so sure that's realistic. Hah!

I have to add that I DEEPLY appreciate Mark's 100% support of my running!! He is the best support system and encourager!! Most Saturday mornings as I'm heading out the door early to meet Trisha for our long run, he has left me a note by my keys, telling me how proud he is of me! And I LOVE the look on his face and big hug I get when I see him at the finish line after a race!!

For a girl who "blossomed" a little too much too early and was never athletic or anything, ever, the running is pretty cool!!