Fit but Fat

A few years ago, at the end of one of the U Waterloo soccer training camp sessions the Scottish coach went off on his team. He was angry about the lack of fitness in the veterans. He looked at one of the "rolly-polly" girls on the team, whose name happened to be Alex and said something along the lines of:

"You have all wasted a summer being lazy and come back to camp completely out of shape. All of you but Alex. Look at Alex. She's fit as a fiddle! She may not LOOK fit as a fiddle, but she IS fit as a fiddle."

Fit but fat... more on this later.

Just over 2 years ago while I was still in school, I lost about 12 lbs using Weight Watchers Online and was in the best "looking" shape of my life. I had run my first 10 km run, duathlon and never missed a workout in the weight room. I peeled off weight with the weight training and healthy eating, mostly because my roommates were all sticking to the WW points (except for our one roommate who had an eating disorder and it took all of our effort to help her eat at all).

When I moved here in May 2005 I gained about 7 lbs back. I played soccer a few times a week but I drank too much. The company I joined considered happy hour a daily recurring meeting request and we all know that alcohol is just empty calories. I lived alone at the time and ate really healthy at home, and didn't snack because I didn't keep bad food in the house.

Then I moved in with my roommates. :) And though we cook really healthy, we do have ice cream, peanut butter, wine, cashews and granola in the house. The hardest thing to do is eat dinner and then watch someone go for desert, or more snacks. We tend to get home after a long day, and graze through snacks and wine while making dinner. This is killing my diet. 9-5, I am rock solid... after 5, all hell can break loose. Marathon training has made things much worse, because my carb cravings are insane... I could eat all of the time, not just the day of a long run, but for days afterwards. The problem is, that even though I'm working out 6 days a week, I'm not burning as many calories as I'm taking in.

The result. I am officially 20 lbs heavier than my lightest weight 2 years ago. I can't even say the number, it hurts! I am fit but fat. Alright, maybe not fat but I hate the way I look. Pictures are hell... and I don't fit into my skinny jeans. I can make excuses and say that I have put on muscle, but not 20 lbs of it! And here's something even more scary but true that we all know. Being fit but fat can take years off your life... it's not great to be thin and out of shape either, but at least those people look good. ;-)

So I resolved to eat carbs as long as I was training for the marathon, and the 2 days post marathon. But Wednesday would be D day. Going into base building, I no longer need the amount of carbs and calories that I have over the last few months. That being said, I have some tools to help me get back on track with the weight loss.

1. Knowledge. I feel like I have learned a lot over the years about nutrition, but you can always learn more. 3 books on my to read list:
- The China Study - Recommended by Jodi... a book that contributed to her adopting a vegan lifestyle. I'm hoping this has a similar effect on me, at least help me eliminate some of the junk. I hope it doesn't backfire, Super Size Me made me run out and get a Big Mac, really.
- You: On a Diet (A follow up to You: The Owner's Manual) - As seen on Oprah.
- Binge No More - Recommended by the therapist that I met with for the first time last week.

2. Week 1 of 20/20. 20/20 is a weight loss program at the Pro Club. Week 1 is meant to kill the refined sugar cravings in the body (that's my take). The first week you're drinking mainly shakes with the following nutritional breakdown:

130 cals
1 g fat
17 g carbs
1 g dietary fiber
15 g sugar
14 g protein

And the daily food intake breaks down like this:

Breakfast
20/20 shake with 1 tbsp peanut butter and 1/2 cup berries

Lunch
20/20 shake with 1/2 cup berries
1 serving lean protein

Afternoon Snack
20/20 shake with 1/2 cup berries

Dinner
20/20 shake with 1/2 cup berries
1 serving lean protein

Note - A cup of cashews does not fall within the guidelines of the 20/20 program. Come to think of it, cherry jubilee ice cream with cashews doesn't either. Same for red wine. ;-)

3. The support of my friends!

Of course you can't expect to keep up the level of training that we're used to when you've cut out so many calories and carbs. So after I recover from the marathon, I will resume this schedule. At least until I figure out if I want to stick with the yoga. Also, cardio will be done at a much lower heart rate for a few weeks.

Monday - 60 minutes of cardio, weight training
Tuesday - Yoga
Wednesday - 60 minutes of cardio, weight training
Thursday - Yoga
Friday - Danielle's cycling class, weight training
Saturday - WHATEVER I WANT! Something active but fun!
Sunday - OFF

Wow, that was a long blog post! I promise to keep them lighter in the near future. I should have summed that one up with "I'm sick of no longer having the weight loss motivation, and I have a plan to get it back". Oh, if I seem a little grumpy tomorrow, please blame the sugar detox headaches...

Off to read your blogs... sitting by a nice fire, with one of my last glasses of red wine for a while...