Live to Eat or Eat to Live?

Back in the day, I didn't run because I loved to.  I used to run just because I felt I had to, in attempting to "stay in shape".   To me, staying in shape meant not getting too fat.  I gain weight fairly easily without some sort of exercise, mostly because I LOVE to eat.  For most my life, I've had a bit of chub on me.  And my main motivation for exercise was to lose some chub or at least not gain more chub. Or to built muscle because under the chub is a pretty small guy. I was preoccupied with body image.  And to me, body image was how I looked in pictures and to others. It wasn't very positive motivation, and quite frankly, it wasn't very motivating at all.  I was only moderately successful at sticking with any exercise regimen.

Somewhere down the line, I was introduced to running by Team in Training.  I fell in love with running (we got married and are expecting babies).  Running became about joy.  My exercise motivation came from wanting to complete a marathon and be faster. Fitness became about distance and speed, not body image.  My number one motivation for exercise became PRs and greater distances.

Fuel for my muscles (aka, leftovers in the fridge)

What's my point?  Well, there are two things that I want to highlight. First, the tone of my motivation to exercise changed to what I consider to be more positive. Secondly, body image meant less to me.  It wasn't that I stopped caring about body image, it's just that my motivations changed and my priorities changed and my definition of body image changed.

I wish for anyone looking to lose weight to motivate in a positive way.  Doing so translates to tangible results that I can completely explain. In fact, I feel it's more important than all the other elements that I can explain (math and science).  If you're reading this blog, you're most likely already a runner and are exercising regularly which is fantastic.  Hopefully you're like me and also fell in love with running.  If so, the universe has given you an advantage.

Inspiration
I find these individuals and their stories most inspiring. I think you will as well.

The Other Inside (My friend Hollie)

Great t-shirt.

One Twenty Five

Runblogger

Ben Does Life




Science
So here are some resources.  I'm not a nutritionist or a diet coach. But I do believe that knowing is half the battle (G.I. Joe!).

• Research has shown that for every pound shed, a runner can drop two seconds of their per mile pace
• It takes 3500 burned calories to lose a pound
• How many calories one burns while running depends on speed and weight, but I like to use a general 115 calories per mile for myself.  Here's a calculator for those who want something more specific.
• So if you do the math, it takes about 30 miles of running to lose a pound of fat, assuming your diet remains the same.
• A 30 mile week is a healthy mid-season marathon training week for a beginner.  So you can see that losing weight via running is a gradual (and healthy) process.
• Cutting back on calories will speed the process, but you must do so in a healthy way.  If you're a runner, you've got to feed your muscles fuel so they can function and repair.  Please don't ignore this.
• Also, don't ignore the fact that you need rest days.  These days of rest are when your muscles actually build and repair themselves.
• Check this iPhone app out for some convenient calorie counting.