It's A Marathon, Not A Sprint

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I finished my first round of the 21 Day Fix this week. I had a one pound loss from last week's weigh in (four pounds total for the three weeks). It doesn't sound like a lot. “One is the loneliest number...” as the song goes. When we think of the number one, we don't get very excited. Especially when you think about how many total pounds we still have to go. But when you really think about it, a pound of fat is pretty significant. The picture above shows what a pound of fat looks like (yuck!). Think about a pound of butter. Think about how big and heavy a pound of butter feels. I burned that off my body! Wow! Of course, I still have a lot of those pounds to go, but it's best if I focus on one pound at a time, one day at a time.

You have to think of it in terms of the title of this post. Anyone who is familiar with running, whether you've done any running or you've watched the Summer Olympics, you know there is a BIG difference between a marathon and a speed race. There is a HUGE difference between running 26.2 miles and running a 100 meter dash. If you're going to lose weight the right way... the healthy way, you need to treat it like a marathon. Sure, you could do it the "speed" way. There are plenty of fad diets, starvation diets, weight loss programs that promise you 5 pounds lost in 2 days, etc., etc. But are you really losing fat? Probably very little. When you follow a fad diet, you usually do something extreme that you can only maintain for a short time. And what you usually lose is A LOT of water and most likely some muscle. So you look skinnier, but you are still a skinny "fat" person.

The last thing you want to lose is muscle. Muscle burns fat. And the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn. That's why exercise is so important to a proper, healthy weight loss program. When you combine strength building exercise with well balanced, healthy eating, you can guarantee that the pounds that you see on the scale are actually fat pounds you are losing. And besides burning fat, strong muscles are going to give you strength and energy to live your life. You'll be able to walk farther, run faster, climb stairs instead of taking the elevator, etc. Plus, you will look AMAZING! Think about how great people look when they have defined, toned muscles as opposed to someone who is skinny, yet kinda flabby. 

That kind of weight loss takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes work. It takes endurance. Like a marathon. I've never run a marathon, nor do I have any desire to do so. Running 26.2 miles all in a row does not appeal to me (thank you very much). I have run 5k's and I hope to some day run a half marathon. Whether you run a marathon or a shorter race, there is always a sense of accomplishment. You feel like all of your hard work and training was worth it. I've heard marathon runners talk about how the last few miles are the hardest and you really have to dig deep and give it all you've got to make it to the end. Weight loss is a lot like that. You don't think you can keep going. You want to give up. You question whether all of the hard work is worth giving up your couch potato/potato chip eating ways. 

I can answer that in one word. Yes. Yes, it is. I've been there. I'm working on getting back there. Because life was so much better when I was on the fit side of it. There was so much more I could do and I just felt better. I felt better about myself. I felt better about life. It's worth it. Keep "running" and don't stop until you cross that finish line.

I will be there cheering for you at the end.