Trying to Lose Five Kilograms
When I first started running about five years ago, I was pushing eighty kilograms and had a middle-age tire. Dropping ten kilograms was a breeze. I didn't do anything special. I just kept running further each week, and let the weight take care of itself. I didn't make any conscious changes, and the weight just fell off. But I reached a plateau at seventy kilograms, where I remained for about a year. That's when I got serious about my running and started to cut out a lot of the junk in my diet. Admittedly, I cheated with frequent snacks and occasional visits to Starbuck's, but most of the really bad food (i.e. American fast food) was completely eliminated. Those changes, along with my increased amount of running, brought me down to about sixty-five kilograms, a plateau I've been stuck at for the past two years.

Now it's really tough. I haven't had any candy, cake, soda, or pizza for nearly a year. I rarely eat fried foods and often eat vegetables. The only improvement left to make was to eliminate the frequent evening snacks and the occasional afternoon snacks. The snacks were always healthy ones, such as a piece of fruit or bread, so I didn't think they were so bad.

Over the past two months, I've even eliminated all snacks and have been eating as healthily as I can. Although I've managed to lose a couple more kilograms, I've been shocked to discover that some days, I actually gain weight—even though I'm eating so little and running so much. My standard meals for a weekday are as follows:

Breakfast—granola and milk, yogurt, a banana, and vegetable juice
Lunch—a small "obento," usually consisting of rice, vegetables, and meat
Dinner—the same as lunch, but a different assortment

I feel certain that I can—and should—lose a bit more weight, but I'm beginning to think that I've reached my limit.


|