I've been reading a lot of blogs and bulletin boards lately and I feel their pain. A lot of people are obsessing over the pounds they've gained over the holidays, and wondering how to lose them.One observation I've made lately is that I weigh the same now as I did when my husband and I were dating. We were in grad school together, eating crappy food and drinking mudslides. (I used to make "heart attack soup": it was a pound of cheese, pound of potatoes, and pound of bacon, undrained, and chicken stock. Delicious but deadly.) It wasn't a healthy 165 pounds, and I wore a size 16. Not long after that I dieted down to 140, it wasn't a healthy weight. I did it by dieting, couldn't exercise my way out of a paper bag, and had dizzy spells. I wore a size 10. I'm pretty sure my body fat composition was fairly high, because I sure didn't have any muscle tone.
I weigh 160 now (I'm 5'6", and fluctuate between 155 and 165) but I wear a size 12. I haven't lost an ounce in nine months, but I have lost a couple dress sizes. I found out that equal volumes of fat and muscle have about a 3-fold difference in weight, meaning that muscle weighs 3 times as much fat of the same volume.
My doctor showed me my weight over the years and told me that this is where my body likes to be, and I'm healthy. I don't know what my body fat composition is at this time, but I think it's within normal limits.
Would I like to lose a few? Sure, if it makes running easier! In the mean time, my quality of life right now is good. I love the pre-race pasta meals. As eating goes, I'm a semi-pro. Our diet is Vegan, so we eat a lot of carbs, which is fuel we need. I'm not going to get upset about a few pounds. As long as my clothes fit, I'm happy.
