Am I the only one who is tired of hearing/saying/reading about running so you can eat whatever you want during the holidays? With yesterday being Thanksgiving, and the Festival of All-You-Can-Eat Turkey continuing through the weekend, all I can think about is getting up tomorrow morning and going for my longest run since the marathon. While it'll probably only be four miles or so, it'll help my mind, and it'll help my body get into calorie-burning mode. But I'm getting tired of eating whatever I want to during the holidays and then thinking running makes it OK. I feel fat and bloated and sick just thinking about it.
For those who ran a turkey trot yesterday, that 5k or 10k or whatever distance doesn't give you free reign on a 500-plus calorie piece of pecan pie (please, click on the link) or six slices of ham. But we do it anyway, don't we? Sure, running helps and we're certainly entitled to dive in a little more than some people should, but why do we go so crazy? (If anyone can figure out how to make pecan pie still taste the same at half the calories, please post a link to the recipe.)
I've heard that a local YMCA is doing a campaign of "Maintain, Don't Gain" this holiday season. What a great idea -- instead of packing on a few winter pounds, maybe we should focus on being happy with what we have and focus on not over-indulging. A few extra cookies along the way won't hurt, but an extra piece of pie probably will. Make tomorrow your weigh-in day and challenge yourself to not gain weight between now and Jan. 2. It's likely from all this eating since yesterday that you'll have a few pounds that haven't worked their way out of your body, so that'll make the challenge even easier.
I feel like maybe I should apologize for this mini-rant, but after losing 40 pounds a few years ago, I am tired of gaining a few pounds during the holiday season. Each year it gets harder and harder to shed it off. It's time for me to stop it, and it's time for many others out there to stop it too.
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3 comments:
Good words man. The sad thing is that while true gratitude (thankfulness) encourages moderation not excess, Thanksgiving is the day of over-indulgence. Good words man!
Holy moly! I did click on the link, and as much as I love pecan pie (really just the filling..I could eat a jar of it alone), I'm glad I didn't have any this year, and that I exercized moderation.
We experimented this year by making healthier versions of Thanksgiving favorites. For example, we had fresh green beans with minced garlic and pepper instead of the standard green bean casserole. It's amazing how much natural flavor there is in food when it's not drenched in crap.
Well, no apology needed. It was a HEALTHY rant, just the kind more people need. I didn't even have pie (it does nothing for me) and I still feel like a toad. I'm also not kidding myself, there is no way my little measly running offset what went in the pie hole. Well, it really isn't the pie hole in my case, but you know what I mean.... :D
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