It started a few weeks ago. Ben found a near-scientific calculator that shows you your best possible mile, 5k, half marathon, marathon, etc. race time based on outdoor temperature, body weight, and your current PR in any distance.
Are you familiar with the McMillan pace calculator? You give this calculator your best time, and it tells you with eerie accuracy how you could be performing at other distances given this level of fitness. Since I can't remember what best times I've run for any of these other distances, let's take my Bayshore Marathon as an example...
For Steph...
...I could be running a 3:06:15 marathon if all of my training remained the same and I lost 7 pounds!
...Ben could be running a 16:28 5k if he lost 9 pounds!
What a huge revelation-- and we are all about working smarter, not harder!
Losing weight is so much easier on paper.
We're already a few weeks into this different way of eating, but I'm writing the next part of this blog post with our original perspectives from weeks ago.
By reading this, I hope you don't take this experiment as being for the primary sake of self-image, but instead for running! What if we could be better/more efficient/faster without changing anything else but food and still be healthy?
Ben's take
Ben...
My take
This is kind of hard to put down in writing. Here's me giving it a go.
Are you familiar with the McMillan pace calculator? You give this calculator your best time, and it tells you with eerie accuracy how you could be performing at other distances given this level of fitness. Since I can't remember what best times I've run for any of these other distances, let's take my Bayshore Marathon as an example...
It also shows you the paces to be keeping for different types of workouts to get the maximum benefit. Me? I don't really get that interested in training geekery, times, or paces - to a fault. Ben? He lives for these things. (yay numbers!)
ANYWAY...
Ben stumbled across a calculator that incorporates Jack Daniels Training Tables (similar to McMillan) and other elements that I mentioned - namely, body weight. Check this out. The numbers are more blah blah blah, but I definitely appreciate the Excel dorkery that went into this spreadsheet! It was created by not by a hotshot coach, but some guy who was just interested obsessed with running and numbers (sound familiar?), acknowledging that training's not the only variable in achieving running performance.
Anyway, the important part Ben took out of this spreasheety goodness was this:
For Ben...
For Ben...
For Steph...
...Ben could be running a 16:28 5k if he lost 9 pounds!
What a huge revelation-- and we are all about working smarter, not harder!
Losing weight is so much easier on paper.
We're already a few weeks into this different way of eating, but I'm writing the next part of this blog post with our original perspectives from weeks ago.
By reading this, I hope you don't take this experiment as being for the primary sake of self-image, but instead for running! What if we could be better/more efficient/faster without changing anything else but food and still be healthy?
Ben's take
Ben...
- is at his heaviest weight ever and doesn't want age or slowing metabolism to catch up with him.
- has ignored nutrition, but eats mostly healthy foods. Mostly.
- loves numbers and enjoys tracking food, just like tracking training, finances, and other things.
- has to get a better understanding of portion control and how many calories are in [namethisfood]. It's just a matter of studying labels and learning what's good and what's not to get a handle on dieting and nutrition. Right now, when it comes to food, quantity rules. It's the only way to feel full.
- wants to know if he'll be as fast as he used to be when he weighed less.
- wants to lose lose the fat-face. (below. It only happens when he fake-smiles for a picture... we're our own worst critics!)
My take
This is kind of hard to put down in writing. Here's me giving it a go.
- I think it'd be awesome to run faster without changing my training.
- I wouldn't miss the belly "chub" that I picked up from bad eating/drinking habits in college and never quite lost or changed. I used to weigh 105 in high school, as much as 120-125 in college (photo evidence - looking back at photos, I did not have room to hide these few pounds), and somehow creeped up as high as 115 in recent times.
- My body mass index, BMI, is 20.7 - that puts me in the "healthy" range.
- I have a skewed perception of food (I hate when people say "unhealthy relationship with food" - like, are we dating?!), going on probably 10 years now. I eat when I'm bored. I eat when I accomplish something (Just finished watching a tv show? Finished writing this report at work? Time to eat.). I sneak food often. When I watch tv, I have to will myself to keep my butt in the seat while I count down the minutes until I can run into the kitchen to eat something new. Just finished a run? Now I can eat more!
- I feel like I lack willpower when it comes to food. Some days, it's really hard to stop once I get started (constant need to snack, even if I'm full). Plus, I'm like a dog: if I see food, I get hungry/I want to eat.
- I am a mini-binger. That means eating tons and tons and tons, even when I'm not hungry. I doubt that it's a full-on eating disorder binge, but certainly a less-extreme version of it. Always followed by feeling really bad about it and/or promising myself I'll make up for it later (on the run). When we met, Ben was really impressed that I could keep up with him, eating as much as he ate. Knowing now that he can polish off a row of Oreos in a sitting, that should've been a sign.
- I feel like manically counting calories is extremely stressful (type A personality failure - shouldn't I enjoy tracking every single calorie if I'm so type A?), so am hesitant to add that additional anxiety in my everyday life. Carefully regulating and controlling calories like this seems like a form of deprivation, causing more stress. I enjoy food. Does this mean I have to give up everything I love and enjoy?? Does this mean no more eating out with friends and family??
What is disordered eating?
Well, an eating disorder is (technically a disease) in which a person is controlling their food intake in ways to deal with underlying emotional issues, like depression, anxiety, stress, etc.
Interesting, yes? I don't know how many times I told myself I'd run an extra few miles to work off something I ate. Or felt bad about what I just ate and kicked myself for not having the willpower to stop when I knew I should've stopped. I'm guessing that another sign of disordered eating is a fixation on diet, nutrition, and food in general (or is it just me?). I've gotten to know so many people over the years who seemed to be obsessed with talking about what they ate that day, or how little they ate that day. Yeah, definitely me (except for the eating little part). I scrutinize labels, hunt for recipes, and study every article I read about nutrition. At the end of the day, for me, it's not a matter of knowledge or understanding of my own diet and nutrition; I know what I need to do, but just don't. I can't.
What Next
Ultimately, reading the article on disordered eating made me really excited, because it was finally explaining what I didn't understand for - well, forever. So, I know I have some issues to work out, and just like the vicious running-until-I-get-injured cycle I seem to follow every season, I can't expect a different result if I keep doing the same thing over and over again.
In different ways, change is necessary and Ben, and it's going to take some trial and error to get there.
Next steps? I guess we're about to go head-first into this "diet thing" and see if it gets us back on track.
Disordered eating, on the other hand, is described as "less-severe abnormal behaviors: eliminating food groups from your diet; regularly replacing meals with energy bars or coffee drinks; excessive weighing and calorie-counting; and tacking on extra miles as punishment for, say a cheeseburger the night before. Often, the regimen includes compulsive exercising like hitting the bike after an 18-miler."
I even fit into the demographic. Disordered eating is much more common in female runners vs. male runners. The article even references a study that estimates that as much as 75% of women between ages 25 and 45 could practice disordered eating. Even further, it's relatively common in female college athletes, saying that the more competitive a person is (either with themselves or with others), the more prone he/she is to disordered eating. Part of this relates to body image too: "...In surveys of collegiate athletes, some 55 percent of women tell researchers they experience pressure (both external and self-imposed) to achieve a certain weight, and 43 percent say they're "terrified" of becoming too heavy.... Men who compete in sports where body shape and size are important also are at higher risk for disordered eating." The later part of the article describes a Boston University runner (a sub-4-minute miler!) who practiced disordered eating with great weight-loss success, which later led him to anorexia. As you can see, disordered eating seems to be the gateway drug to a much more dangerous practice. I highly recommend you read the article, "Running on Empty," in its entirety.
What Next
Ultimately, reading the article on disordered eating made me really excited, because it was finally explaining what I didn't understand for - well, forever. So, I know I have some issues to work out, and just like the vicious running-until-I-get-injured cycle I seem to follow every season, I can't expect a different result if I keep doing the same thing over and over again.
In different ways, change is necessary and Ben, and it's going to take some trial and error to get there.
Next steps? I guess we're about to go head-first into this "diet thing" and see if it gets us back on track.
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