Saturday, March 29, 2014

Healthy Body Weight and Fitness

I am definitely no expert when it comes to the BEST way to eat while training.  I have learned over the years that there are definitely things to not put in my mouth, especially while training.  However, I am not an extremist when it comes to healthy eating.  I don't follow any of the fads of dieting or eliminate things out of my diet as a vegetarian or vegan might do.  There is a lot of misleading information out there concerning dieting and eating healthy.  I find it interesting how so many people I know have fallen into the trap of following a certain diet based off of certain studies that may or may not be flawed. I have found that the best way to approach life and healthy eating is to eat in moderation.  While some people may only take this approach with eating I have noticed that moderation really needs to be applied to all aspects of life including exercise.  I like to run and be fit but it doesn't consume my every thought.  It's good to have goals, work towards them, and achieve them.  The moment those goals overrun our lives to the point of excess is the point we need to stop and reevaluate where our priorities need to be.  

In thinking about how I can become healthier and more fit for my upcoming race I have to think about what I put in my body and not just the workouts I am doing.  Of course I look at my weight and know that I need to lose the few pounds I gained over the last few weeks while on vacation.  As a runner you hear a lot about your ideal racing weight.  What does that really mean?  I read a great article that made sense to me about how to go about thinking about weight and performance.  The author made a great point in saying that body weight is important, but performance is more important.  He says, "A key implication of the functionally defined nature of racing weight is that you can't just pick a number and aim for it.  That number may or may not represent your true racing weight.  What you must do instead is focus on the process of maximizing your fitness through smart training and appropriate nutrition.  Wherever your body weight and body composition end up after an extended period of smart training and healthy eating is where they are supposed to end up, even when it's not where you thought they would end up...It's more important to track performance, because performance is the true goal.  A 2:59 marathon at 175 pounds is better than a 3:11 marathon at 168 pounds...In the proper approach to racing weight, training and eating right and improving performance are primary, losing weight is secondary."  There is no need to starve oneself in order to attain "ideal" racing weight. Proper training and healthy eating, hand in hand, will help to achieve ideal racing weight.  I don't believe in starving myself, eliminating meat or dairy out of my diet, or following some ridiculous fad of dieting.  I believe in moderation in all things.



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