I'll have what he's having...

A few weeks ago I posted about THE MAN and his resolve to sample the 5:2 diet.

At around the same time, he saw an exercise / muscular-skeletal therapist who gave him a stack of exercises to strengthen his areas of weakness and increase flexibility.  As very seldom happens with anyone who receives a plan, he has stuck to it.  With incredible results.  And combined with the 5:2 fast diet, I'm pretty amazed at the changes.

Three weeks in and he's dropped around 2 kilos from the one place that weight goes on - his middle.

And combined with the stretches, he has abs.  Visible abs.

So what's a girl to do but join in?

My first fast day was Saturday.  I had a good breakfast post-parkrun.  An omelette with mushrooms, tomato and spinach.  Plus a coffee of course.

I didn't feel like eating again until around 2pm, but I diverted the pangs with more water.  And then even more water.  By 4 O'Clock, it was getting harder to distract myself, so I hit the floor for 15 minutes of core work.  It's impossible to feel hungry when you're working your core.  Water.  Water again.  And before I knew it, 6pm had come around and it was legitimately time for dinner.  It was almost a shame to break the fast.

We went easy for dinner.  Steamed flathead tails with salad.  Light and delish.  It was enough.

At bed time I was a little shocked to discover a 1.5kg loss for the day.  I was also shocked at how self-satisfied I felt at conquering the hunger pains and remaining in control.  Like a test that I had passed or something.

Will I do it again?  Absolutely.  But it'll have to wait now until next week.  I've got a half marathon to run on the weekend ;)

A diet balanced

It's a delicate balance this running / diet thing.

Ideally, I'd still like to drop a few kilos.  Like, five to be exact.  But I also need to fuel my longer runs and strength sessions.  I am hungry ALL THE TIME and the weight isn't really shifting.  A kilo lost, a kilo gained, a kilo lost, then found again.

Three years of calorie counting, activity monitoring, deficit creating has left me with a fair idea of what it takes to maintain an even weight.  This running caper has tipped the scales - pun intended.

So it makes me wonder... Are running and weight loss at odds with each other?  

You see plenty of very lean runners.  But... are they former fatties?  Does that history of obesity have a permanent impact on the way our bodies process energy?

More questions than answers, so for the next few weeks I'm hooking up with an old mate - My Fitness Pal.  Together we'll sort through the ins and outs, we'll track and we'll analyse. We'll systematically work it out and strategise a plan to find balance.

Let's see if it's that simple, eh?