A Once in a Lifetime Blog Post About Weight Loss

To be clear, this is a running blog, not a weight loss blog. I don't believe running and weight loss automatically go hand in hand. Sure, weight loss can be a nice side effect of running, but it is by no means guaranteed. If your #1 reason to run a marathon is to "lose weight," then in my opinion you are probably doing it for the wrong reasons. When it comes to adding miles, its actually fairly easy to gain weight by overeating. I gained a few pounds during my first marathon training cycle. I didn't mind however, because weight loss wasn't important. Crossing the finish line was.

I love food and I strive for moderation, but truthfully overeating has always been a problem for me. Fortunately I've still picked up a lot of good habits over the past years that have helped transform my diet. I've learned that adding healthy habits one at a time is the best way to go. If you do it all at once, it can be too overwhelming. Over time I replaced soda and juice with water, white grains for brown, french fries for salad and veggies. My tastes have changed and now I legitimately enjoy eating healthy foods. I will always look for a side of brussels sprouts on a menu before anything else and dinner at the Every Day Is Run Day house is usually pretty healthy:


Quinoa patties

Salmon and wild rice

Turkey burger and green bean "fries"

All that said, I really enjoy dessert too and I don't think I could live without sugar. Don't steal any of my chocolate chip cookies unless you're looking to get smacked.


Pinkberry

Crumbs

The most importrant part of the day - dessert table

In my short running career I have been injured twice and each time I stopped running completely for about 6-7 weeks. I don't know about some people (aka my husband), but I was not born with a runner's physique. So after about 3 weeks of not running, despite whatever cross training I am doing, my body starts to take on weight again. Each injury I've gained about 6-8 pounds and even after I've started running again, the weight does not easily come off (like I said, running and weight loss don't necessarily go hand-in-hand). After the first injury I forced the weight off because I had to fit into my wedding dress (very stressful, I don't recommend!). This time, I didn't have a pretty outfit that I had to wear in front of a hundred people motivating me to lose the pounds. So, in a last stitch effort to get back down to my racing weight (and fit properly into my pants again), I joined a DietBet game.

I found out about DietBet through some other blogs and after looking into it more I decided to give it a whirl. Essentially, you bet money to join a game and have 28 days to lose 4% of your body weight. You submit photos (only seen by the mods) at the beginning and end of the game with your starting and final weight. At the end of the 28 days everyone who has lost 4% splits the pot. The game is set up sort of like a Facebook newsfeed, with participants posting their work out details, accomplishments, motivational words for others, etc. Even though its online, there is definitely a community aspect that I could see being helpful to a lot of people.

For me, I didn't join for the message boards or the support network. I joined because I like money and hate losing it. I figured if I actually laid money down on the line, it would actually motivate me enough to moderate my eating habits and get back to base. Turns out I was right:

Sweet!

Over the 28 days I didn't change what I ate, as much as how much I was eating. I still enjoyed dessert on occasion, but didn't fill up my bowl quite as much at dinner (usually a major source of my overeating). I also watched my food choices a little more on the weekend. I don't consider what I did a "diet." I just used a little more self-control without causing any feelings of deprivation.

At the end of the game, I lost 7 pounds and won $43. Good deal!

Running and weight loss - what are your thoughts? Have you ever done a DietBet?