I’ve been training non-stop since December 2009 for some running event or another…there have been one or two…  Across these last 20 months I’ve improved my fitness level from running nearly a 3 hour half-marathon to a ~2 hour half-marathon and ran my first full-marathon eight months ago.  All great accomplishments. My whole focus besides proving I could do it was to just “get in shape” and lose some weight with an emphasis on weight loss early on. I quit weighing myself as often a few weeks ago and checked in again yesterday afternoon with my friend “The Scales”.

I’ve realized that sometimes you have to just “Keep at It” regardless of what the scales say because your body is going to adapt the way it needs to not necessarily the way you want it to in the end.  You may care about the beach, but your body doesn’t. I had been weighing in consistently for several months at around 180lbs up until yesterday…

On Thursday I weighed 174lbs!  I’m getting so close to my goal weight of 160-165 that I can’t wait, but honestly at this point I’m more interested in my fitness level, body fat percentage and the way I feel more than the actual number on the tell tale scale.

I was beginning to wonder if I’d lost some more because my interval runs and tempo runs had been getting easier for the program I’m on at present (FIRST Program). I kept being able to push it a bit more than what was prescribed.  Then my trainer saw me Thursday morning and asked if I’d lost some more weight.  I actually said, “No”. That I was just looking different because of the weight lifting I’d been implementing twice a week…I’m happy to admit that I was wrong!  Never been so happy to be wrong!

So the message of the week is to keep at it even if the scale isn’t moving for several months.  You have to send your body enough messages telling it that you’d like a change.  Mine has quite a learning curve and seems to be using two tin cans and a string for communication so the message is slower….  🙂

So take a look at your exercise routine, diet, calorie consumption and calorie expenditure.  Are you sending consistent messages or mixed messages? Just something to ponder.

My next run, a full marathon, is 92 days away.  I’m looking forward to running it at 174 pounds or less!

Happy Training!

-Brian