Drop that weight!

Those who know me, and anyone whose looked at my photos, knows that I am not overweight. While I've got a little bit of a "pot belly", it really isn't much of one. While I would certainly like to flatten my stomach more, what I really need to do is finish dropping approximately 15 pounds from where I was in the days following the Little Rock Marathon last month. All things being equal, and continuing to train to the levels I have been, the theory is that (at least while still maintaining healthy weight and nutrition) a runner will run a little less than 1 minute faster for each pound lighter that they weigh. Intrinsically, this makes sense, since you're carrying less weight with you on the run, you're expending less energy in the process. (Conversely, I used a LOT more energy when I did my (failed) world record attempt dressed as a chef and carrying an extra 3kg (6.6 pounds) was part of the challenge.)

So, if I can drop the 15 pounds -- and that being *pre* race weight -- I should be able to shave about 12-15 minutes worth of time. To date, I have dropped about 7-8 pounds. And my goal is to have the weight loss done *and stabilized* in time for my February race. I have two major obstacles in the way: 1) getting past the holiday season and 2) Disney Marathon Weekend. While the holiday season, so far, has been somewhat manageable (mercifully not too much on the order of snacks, cookies, etc. has been brought into our office, and I've limited my intake during any party setting), Disney -- like any vacation -- is always very difficult, mostly since I am not cooking/preparing the majority of meals for myself. So, sodium intake is skyhigh (water retention, anyone?) and the quantity of what I eat is much larger. Plus, I don't wind up preplanning my caloric intake in advance to know whether I have any "room to spare" or if I'm going over the day's calorie budget.

While achieving the weight loss should be doable, maintaining it will also be particularly challenging. Typically, my long runs are on Sundays. And I always get on the scale after I shower after my workouts. On Sundays, I am typically my lightest, since I'm expending the most energy. And while I do wind up eating more on Sunday, I can also control myself enough to be in a calorie deficit for the day. However, if I winding up doing a "splurge" lunch, it invariably is high salt, so it takes days to lose the additional water weight. And, just in general, with the lower mileage of the other days, it requires being much more disciplined to make sure I can have a reasonable calorie deficit but still keep up my energy and nutrition during the day. As a result, I usually creep up throughout the week, by as much as 5 pounds. Only to lose it again on Sunday and start the cycle over. I want to be able to either flatten out that trend or go even further with the weight loss so that when I start my day on Sundays, I'm at the weight I *want* to maintain, and then lose as much as 5 pounds during the run, which I gradually regain throughout the week, as per normal. Getting to that point? I don't think I've been down quite that low since high school.

Should be interesting to see where things go between now and February 12.