I run. I can eat what I want.

"I run.  I can eat what I want."  Umm ... No.  Guilty as charged.  Just because you run, this does not give you the right to eat anything you want -- and retain the body of a Victoria's Secret model unless 1) you have an insane amount of money giving you the opportunity to spend thousands of dollars on personal training and a personal chef or 2) you were so fortunately blessed with the crazy genes these women have.  Sadly, I was not blessed with the "VS genes" nor do I have the salary of Warren Buffet.  Sorry Ryan.  Once I started picking up the miles I would convince myself if I ran 6+ miles/day I could have that Chick-fil-A combo and not feel guilty about it.  Or I could make that enormous bowl of brownie and vanilla ice cream that I had been craving all day.  Nope.

Since I have committed to running a marathon in September and have been reading one of those marathon training books, I do not have the right to eat what I want because I want to successfully complete that glorious 26 26.2 mile run.  (We must not forget those important last two tenths of a mile.)  I do not know what I was thinking -- perhaps those fries, that chocolate, and the pasta had special powers turning me into a Running She-Ra Princess of Power or something.  Who knows ...

I am not a bad a eater all the time, but I certainly have my moments and my food vices.  For example, I have made the green smoothie as seen in the previous post several times over past few days in hopes of getting on the health train, but I tend to fall off as quick as I get on.  This is no longer allowed starting now.  I will force myself to be more health conscious and incorporating smoothies is a great way to do this.  As for dinner, I am focusing on larger vegetable servings and small portions of protein or pasta.  Additionally, this whole six small meals a day is another thing I am trying, but it is not an easy task.  Because one of my favorite things to do is snack, I would not have thought this would be such a problem but it is.  I think I need to tone down the breakfast and lunch (hence the smoothies) in order to make room for a little snack time.  I tend to go BIG the first two meals of day. 

Again, because I have decided to torture myself on September 22, my eating habits must be altered and this is a struggle for a junk food addict like myself.  I have vowed that once the sweets are out of the house, no more will be allowed in.  I have approximately 10 Peanut Easter M&M's left and a quarter of a jar of Nutella left.  Sigh.  (Honestly, I just threw the M&M's away thinking about this post.)  From now on, my chocolate craving will be alleviated with ONE cup of 1% Horizon Chocolate Milk twice a day.  Thank goodness this milk is phenomenal in both taste and nutrition.  Let's disregard the sugar amount.  I can still have a little, right?  So anyway, veggies, fruits, whole grain, and string cheese are on the rise at Chez Larson -- more so than before.  If I am going to run this marathon in the time I want, I have to get serious about my eating habits.  After all, I did not pay $100+ to finish 26.2 miles in more than 4 hours.

Looking at this post and thinking about my terrible eating, I guess I am fortunate that like to exercise because this has yet to be an issue.  My days are not complete unless I workout for at least an hour doing some sort of cardiovascular or strength training activity.  It could be worse.

For Your Information: You need to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb.