Denouement

I just saw your post about your weight loss since April. Congrats on your hard work!

From what I've gathered, your running performance is much better now than then. I want your opinion on how much of the improvement is due to 1) weight loss or 2) focused training. Purely subjective, of course...

I think you really can't have have focused training without dropping pounds, at least not if you start out heavier than you should be, as I did. I do not lose well running 5-6 miles a day. That is where I plateau, under that daily mileage I tend to gain (I just love food!). By increasing miles, I get the benefit of improving my running and I lose. The best way to improve your training and to lose weight is through increasing mileage, unless your mileage is already high.

I noticed you are tracking your weight. Can I ask what your height is? My hubby has been losing weight as well since spring, and he only runs 5-6 most days. He doesn't snack like I do. I could share some tips about what worked for us dietarily if you care to know what we do. It's not a puritanical diet like Sasha's-maybe I'll have the restraint to do that later, but for now it's more of a compromise diet.

It looks like you should be training with us in SF if you lived in UT county but it looks like you live in the Salt Lake Valley somewhere. Tom and I are both looking for 2:50's next St. George.

Where the heck did that 'Clydedale' thing come from?

JK. Anyway, I'm 6'0"

My average miles for this year has been right about 5.4 per day and I was hovering around 200 lbs for most of the year.

I'd like to hear about your diet. I've been improving that lately too, as well as stepping up my mileage.

Tom - 2:50's means below 3 hour, but hopefully closer to 2:50 than 3 hour. Tom, did you think I would be content with a 40 second PR next year? And you know you're going to be 10 seconds ahead of me when we cross the line, right?

Cal - Here's a rather rambling summary of my current diet:

1) I try to keep good food in the house, and bad food out of the house. The only cookies in my house are generally the nasty, cheapest cookies you can buy at the store, so my kids can have a cookie but they are not appealing to me. No ice cream in the home (generally) - otherwise I would fill a bowl with it.

2)I try not to eat after dinner, other than a fudgsicle (so portion controlled), a piece of fruit, or now that it is getting colder, some hot chocolate as my dessert (less than 200 cal).

3) I have whole grains for breakfast (anything from wheaties to grapenuts or oatmeal), and lowfat choices for lunch and dinner. My dinners still have alot of processed foods (fat free hot dogs and baked french fries-which can have as few as 4 g. of fat per serving- are sometimes on the menu). I just make sure the processed foods have what I am generally looking for -- carbs and lean meat. I serve a salad almost every dinner and Paul and I start with 1-1.5 c. and lowfat or fat free dressing (the Kraft Sesame Ginger is the best low fat dressing I have ever had).

4) The real key, though, is in the eating out. We go on dates every weekend, and for years our eating out would wipe out half if not all of our weight loss (or control) efforts for the year. Now I choose the restaurant I would like to go to and find their nutritional information online (or email them and yes they have emailed me back) to determine if we can go to that restaurant and what we can eat. Some restaurants you can eat at: Rumbi Island Grill, Old Spaghetti Factory, Village Inn, Chili's, Applebees.

5) Treats - If it is chocolate (my bad food of choice, as I like to say "I take my fat in chocolate") and I can get it for free, I can have it, but I don't stock chocolate in the house or generally buy it. We go to the movies quite often and I do get a candy bar-any kind I want- but now I only get the small size. And I try not to have candy bars on the other days of the weeks. I cut out all soda, even diet, about 3-4 months ago.

So, probably more information than you wanted to know, but I have lost 25 pounds now over 6 months and yet I can still have some bad things occasionally and I can still deal with the hectic schedule of being a mom, a cpa and a runner.

Thanks for the reply. That does help me out quite a bit!