16 Ounces

It has taken me over three years of running, six half marathons, a few duathlons and a commitment to running a marathon but I did it!

I have lost one pound.

One entire pound.

Sixteen ounces.

0.4539 kilograms.

Whew!

I know, I know, being healthy and having a healthy body image means throwing the scale out the window.  It's not about pounds but about how you feel. In my case though, I do think it's kinda funny.  Here's my story.

When I started running, I weighed 170 pounds. My weight was very very steady and I fluctuated between 169 and 171 all the time, no matter what I did, or didn't do.  Like all runners, I started running expecting the pounds to drop off.

As my running increased, my body changed.  I became more toned and muscular.  I actually look like a runner girl now.  But no matter how much I ran, my weight stayed steady, never swinging farther than 169 to 171.

My mother finds it hilarious and will often ask me how much I'm running and whether I've lost any weight yet. We laugh and joke about how big I would get if I were to stop running. The honest answer - I probably wouldn't change very much at all. 

The food I eat is relatively consistent whether I'm running 40 minutes three times a week or training for a marathon.  Sensible breakfast, lunch and dinner with reasonable portion sizes. 

It's all the other food I eat that's the problem. As a person with diabetes, I don't always have a choice about whether or not to eat.  In order to keep my blood sugars in a safe zone, I often have to eat before, during and after runs. I try to keep it to a minimum but it's still calories in versus calories out.  After longer runs, I'll often have low blood sugars later in the day so I need to eat for those too.  Bad lows can take two or three juice boxes followed by bread with Nutella to resolve.  Do the math on the calories and tell me if that sounds like a sensible snack to have an hour after lunch.  It's not and it can be really frustrating to have to eat when you're not hungry.

On the other hand, when I'm not running as much, I don't have as many lows and I don't need to eat before during and after runs. 

The more I run, the more I feed the diabetes gods and the less I run, the less they demand.  It's actually a pretty good weight management tool.

That being said, I got on the scale last week and I saw 168. I stared slack-jawed for a moment. The number looked so foreign that it took a second to register. 

Being the sensible, logical person that I am, I figured I was dehydrated.  So I drank extra water all day, ate my regular stuff and got on with my day.  Next morning - 168.

The morning after that - 168.

It's been steady there for a week now.

I think I've lost a pound.

At my rate of 1 pound every three years, I'll be 49 years old by the time I lose the other four.