Darren, Welcome to the blog! A couple things I'd like to thrown in about what has already been said.
First, I agree you need to train consistently. I made the move from 4 days a week to 6 days a week after haning out on the blog and being encouraged to do so. 6 days a week forces you into a committment. When you're doing 4 days a week its very easy to find yourself doing only 3 one week, then another, etc. Second, running every day will really do wonders for your metabolism and lean muscle development. Your body will turn into a fat burning machine even when you're not running. HOWEVER, do not make the mistake I made when I jumped from 4 to 6 days/week. I still ran the same number of miles/day at 6 days that I was running at 4. I suddenly went from 40 miles/week to 65 miles/week and after my marathon I started having a foot injury issue that I'm still dealing with 3 months after the marathon. Keep your weekly mileage the same, but divide it up so that you're doing it over 6 days instead of however many days your running currently. Do some research online and find a plan that is right for you (i.e. designed for your goals). The general rule of thumb is not to increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% of your current mileage and then hold that new mileage for about 3 weeks before making another jump. This will keep you injury free.
Second, it sounds to me that while you enjoy running (and the race event, feeling of accomplishment, etc), you're more interested in the results it gives to your body. When you're banging out the miles your body needs sustenance. It needs calories. If you look at some of the serious marathon trainers on the blog you'll find some of them consume insane amounts of calories/day (Superfly claims he's in excess of 5000 cals/day!). Even a modest runner will need to provide fuel for the body. The problem is that when you stop running your body is still sending signals to your brain that it needs those calories. I've put on 5-10 pounds in a month before during a break. You need to be aware of this long term and figure out how to counter it. Each person is a little different, but personally I try to consume a moderate amount of protein after a run, usually in the form of some sort of deli-meat (get some carbs in too if its a long run). I don't snack just for the sake of snacking. I eat only when I'm hungry and I go first to deli-meat, fruits, vegetables and Peanut-butter (this can be a life saver for the serious snacker). If you're a sandwich or toast eater I highly recomment that you look at the ingredients of your bread. Even "Wheat Bread" is not necessarily wheat bread. If enriched flour is one of the first few ingredients, put it back on the shelf! Get the whole grain/whole wheat or something that has more grams of fiber/slice and is actually a multi-grain or whole wheat bread. I'm not that well informed on this aspect, but there are plenty of nutrition books and sites out there. There are also a few nutrition threads on some of the boards, but you may have to search for them. If you read this thread "Food For Thought" on the Running Board (
http://fastrunningblog.com/forum/index.php/topic,239.0.html) you'll get an idea of some of the things our bloggers are eating. The bottom line is that while you're working hard, you need to re-orient your thinking away from seeing food as a reward ("I almost feel as if after my big runs I "deserve" to eat greasy foods and dessert") to seeing food as a fuel source. Greasy foods and such will make your body feel sluggish and if you're running 6 days a week your body will be screaming your consumption mistakes at you when you get out there for the run. Check out Sarah's Cooking Recipes
http://www.asksasha.com/Healthy-Cooking/ and to see what a serious nutrition advocate did to move from a 2:45 marathon to a sub 2:30 marathon look at Sasha's nutrition notes on this page
http://www.asksasha.com/Running/How-do-I-break-2-30-in-a-marathon.html. Good luck to you man, we're all pulling for you!
