Balancing Act

I don't know if there is such a thing as a foodaholic, but if there is, then I am one. Believe it or not, losing 124 pounds was fairly easy. I'm extremely goal oriented. Once I've set my sights on achieving something, there's usually not much that can stop me. Now that I've met my goal and am at a healthy weight, I'm finding food to be a challenge again. About a week after reaching my target weight, I found myself bingeing, telling myself that since I'm doing so much distance running, I'll automatically keep the weight off. This is the kind of mindset that reversed my weight loss efforts the last time. I may be running a lot, but it's still a numbers game. No matter how much I run, if I consume more calories than I burn, I'm going to gain weight again. Having learned from past mistakes, I put a stop to the bingeing right away.

I can certainly consume more food than I've been able to eat in the past year, but not so much that my middle starts to expand again. I'm not counting every single calorie anymore, but I'm still mindful of the types of food I eat and my portion sizes. I don't bring junk food into the house, and my cupboard is potato chip free. My will is weakest at night, so I'm maintaining my "don't eat after 6:00" rule as often as practical. In general, if I eat four small meals per day of around 500 calories, I'm in pretty good shape.

While I may always be dealing with food issues, at least I've rekindled my love of running and exercising in general. Running was originally a means of shedding pounds, but now it's a passion nearly on par with my love of music. I'm planning on running two half marathons this year, I want to be able to run 20 miles straight by the end of the year, and next year I'd like to run a marathon. After that, who knows?

I just love food! While I don't have to be as restrictive now as I was when I was in weight loss mode, I still have to be vigilant. The adjustments in my eating will take some experimentation, but I'm confident I'll find the right balance.