Running While Being Overweight

Did I ever tell you that I love reading your comments, and getting emails from my readers. It’s simply the best! My day was brightened because I received an email from a reader this morning. She told me about how she is also trying to lose 100 pounds. She and I seem a lot alike. She spoke about how she had been waiting for her “ah ha” moment to come to start her weight-loss journey.

I remember a time when I was waiting for my "ah ha" moment. I would read blogs of people who had this life changing moment when everything came together and they lost all their weight. I would think, "When is that going to happen for me?" 

There was never a single event that made me start working toward losing weight. My "ah ha" moment wasn't really an "ah ha" moment as much as it was a moment when I realized "Oh hey, I've been doing well for a while and I'm seeing progress!" Sometimes I'd slip up, but the important thing was that I got back on track.

Photo of me from this summer; ready to run!

The reader who emailed me also decided to stop waiting for her “ah ha” moment, and instead just started working toward her goals. She went on to tell me about how she found her love for running about 4 years ago. I learned that this woman had some serious determination when it came to running. Her first race was actually a ½ marathon! After her first race, she gained some weight. She went on to say that because of all of the extra weight that she put on, it made running extremely difficult for her.

It’s completely true. Running is hard. Running while being overweight is harder. We can’t, however, let that fact intimidate us; rather let it motivate you. It motivates me to know that I'm doing something that takes courage. I also like a challenge, and running at any weight can definitely be a challenge.

I use to be intimidated to run in public, which is why I never thought I would run in a race at my current weight. Then, the way I thought changed. It wasn't easy, and it doesn't happen all the time, but I constantly try to make myself think more positively. Instead of wondering if people are thinking bad things about me when I'm running at this weight, I choose to believe otherwise. While I'm running in a race with some very athletic people, I now wonder to myself, "Would they be courageous enough to be running in this same race if they were at my weight?" 

I feel like I'm doing more than others might have the courage to do. It takes courage to run and not worry about what your weight looks like while you're running. It takes courage to work on something that seems to be so much easier for people who aren't at your weight. It motivates me to know that what I doing takes courage. 

Tonight, I was scheduled to run a mile. Julie, another reader, recently suggested that I change up my runs a bit to help my weight loss efforts. So, instead of running my normal mile, I ran two miles in intervals with some slight hills. I was ready to pass out by the time that I finished, but I finished.

Wanting to pass out after my run was not an exaggeration, either.

I accidentally forgot to eat lunch today (who forgets to eat, seriously?). I ate my breakfast late (155 calorie egg white omelet with spinach and cheese), I had a grande skinny vanilla latte from Starbucks (130 calories) and a string cheese this afternoon for my snack (60 calories). I meant to eat my lunch around 1:00 p.m. but I got busy with work and completely forgot. When I grabbed my string cheese around 3:00 p.m., I wished that I had more to eat; not realizing my lunch was still sitting there in the fridge.

I realized that I didn't eat my lunch today once I was finished running. I couldn't figure out why I felt so dizzy. Reason being, I burned 372 calories during my run but had only consumed 345 calories for the day. Don't ever do that. It took me about 30 full minutes to recover. The entire world was spinning around me. I will not make this mistake, again.

The status of my love-hate relationship with running, as of today: maybe we should just try to be friends.