Increase your protein!!!!!!!
A good friend of mine went to umpteen nutrition appointments as part of her pre-transplant routine with University of Washington Medical Center, and apparently it's well known that when your body is crying out for protein it disguises it in the form of sugar cravings. You need energy, and sugar is quick energy. But you NEED longer-term energy.
So increase your protein.
And...there are reasons my weight loss slowed/stalled/went in reverse the moment I started going beyond 10K. The cravings got too difficult.
I am one of those people for whom weight change in a challenge ESP to lose. I gain muscle, lose inches much much easier than watching the evil thing called the scale move in a favorable direction. That said, I was really going bonkers this week because all I wanted was chocolate chocolate chocolate. And I resisted as much as I could until last night, where I gave in and ate fudge brownie flavored goldfish. I wrote that post as I was shoving them in by the dozen. There's still more than half a bag left, thank the lord, but I really wasn't satisfied with them. And I didn't want actual chocolate like a candy bar. I wanted a rich warm gooey chocolate brownie or a piece of cake. Double Chocolate; of course. lol With homemade frosting. None of that over sugary stuff out of a jar.
The other thing I seem to go bonkers for is nut butter. Peanut is my fave, but I'll do almond and cashew too. When I was still making it up to 5k distance, I had to hide the jars of nut butter because the cravings would be so bad that I literally worried I'd just stick one to my face and trough it like I was a horse or pig. lol
As I got up to 10k distance, starch became my thing. Now, I'm not super clean in my diet, but honestly, I'm not a junk food sugar potato person either. All of a sudden all I wanted was bread. Drug reps would come to the office to meet with me and they'd bring lunch for me and the staff. Screw the food, I wanted the fresh French bread. I dreamed about going to buffets and eating.
Now, it's chocolate. Could care less about the previous things (ok, maybe not the nut butter lol) if I could just get some damn chocolate.
And all this is actually disturbing for me. I have never in my life been this obsessed with food. I feel like I should be eating CONSTANTLY. I weigh 172 pounds. I'm five foot 8. I wear a size 8. Clearly, I do not have the luxury of eating as much as my mind seems to be begging me (literally, I feel like that) to do.
I'm doing a scoop of carnivor (it's a meat based protein powder) in my morning smoothie. I'm trying to include protein options when I sit down to eat. When I log my food, I make it to only 60ish (no more than 75) grams in a day. How else can I get more protein and not pack on the calories? Protein powders average 100 (isopure) to 200 (pretty much all else) calories a serving.
Could this be why I'm not losing weight? Man, could my body be actually breaking down it's muscle to feed itself? Does that happen when we train like this?
I did it for January Half in 2014, because I was still working out my nutrition, was running and ending the race alone, and I needed to look human and be able to speak clearly when I got back to my hotel room where my aunt (who disapproves of me running long distances) was taking care of my son. The food was good for me. The place to pull off my compression socks was good (and where I discovered I was wearing my socks on the wrong feet). The coffee was goooooood.
It's not worth the money it costs, but it's worth *something*.
Does your husband have a hard time post-races? Does he cramp up? Can he wait outside in the cold or the heat without an issue? Would he need a tented area that will be warmer than freezing and I don't know how it would be if it were hot outside...? Does he need food, or can he wait for you? If he might have problems it might be worth getting him the retreat. If you only got it for him, you can't be there with him at all before or after the race, though. And he can't take food out of the tent.
can we add the retreat later, or did we have to do it when we registered? If the latter, I'd probably do it. Esp if my DH was running because he'll finish close to 45 mins or an hour before me. And his metabolism would not allow him to wait an hour to eat or get a beer. He'd probably go into a coma or something. lmao. Well, not that the coma is literally funny, but it's amusing to me how much food he can put away and not gain an ounce. It's literally like his body burns it before he's ingested it. Man, men are lucky. lol
I agree with bumbershoot, you probably need protein....but there is this wonderful flavor of island boost called valor that is chocolate flavored. Oh yum!! It is so good and I use it instead of Gu b/c Gu is just so thick and stomach upsetting to me.
island boost? Never heard of it. Will be hitting the google on that one....
I did my favorite 4 mile loop around a basin and then onto a rail trail for the last 2 miles. The Avengers half has a trail portion so I'm prepping for that part. My pace stayed relatively even, 9:45 - 10:45, and I felt light on my feet instead of so heavy as I had been feeling. Although I hate having bad runs where I feel like I'm struggling the whole way, it does make me appreciate the good runs more!
I say it's for him, because he's taking 4 ballet classes a week right now, but I don't think he's ever been the only one to walk out of there with something.
