25 pounds in 9 months

First things first. I am in my taper for the Phoenix marathon on February 28. Now since I have been running by time and effort instead of miles it's a bit tricky to know how to do this. I am following the schedule my coach Susan Loken gave me for the NYC marathon. This taper was a little longer and worked well for me. However I am taking the miles and convert that into time (kinda). So if she wrote 5 miles easy that means I will run for about 50 minutes now. Running 50 minutes in extreme weather will not give me 5 miles but that's ok. It's all about the effort.

So this week is nice and easy. I am swimming on my off days just because I like it. Easy does it though!

Now on to good news. I lost 25 pounds since last May. That's right, slowly but surely. Anybody who wants to know what I did, I finally learned to be wise and went to a dietician. I have been losing and gaining pounds all my life but always thought I could do it myself. With the result that I went from one way of extreme eating to the other. Sure I made my own food, ate mostly healthy but generally too much. I actually never really learned what worked for me. This time around I simply listened what Jess told me and did it without thinking I know better. She gave me great dietary advice for the marathon as well which has also worked very well for me. I had a metabolism test as well as a sweat test from which I learned a great deal.

Now the interesting thing is that I lost a large amount of that weight during the winter months. Usually I gain weight during the winter, especially here because it's so flippin' cold. That makes me hungry all day and because of the cold I really think I deserve some extra goodies. This winter I was determined to stick with my servings/amounts (It's a simple system but I won't go into it here). I am making a lot of soups and stews that are not high in calories, have a shipload of veggies and fill me up to satisfaction. This works great for me, especially in the extreme cold! I actually got really good at it, the combinations are endless.

I feel great! I have less intestinal issues. Running is obviously easier but what I like about it the most is that I feel at ease. I mean at ease with eating, at easy with stepping on the scale (which I hardly do but when I do I don't freak out because I know it's ok) But most of all at ease with feeling relatively full after a meal. I know what I ate was good, not too much and is fuelling my body the way it should. No panic feelings like OMG I ate too much so now I am going to starve myself tomorrow morning and workout more etc etc. I know this sounds psychotic but that's how I usually reacted. I realize that even more now that I don't have that response anymore.

Also I feel bones where I have never felt them before. Especially when I sit on a hard surface. First I thought I had a growth on my tailbone or something like that but now I realize my buttcheeks just don't cushen things up that much anymore.
Problems problems.....:)

Anyway, I could go on and on about this but I won't. Ask me if you want to know more. I'm sure I can fill a few hours of your time.