Jeff and Barbara Galloway
As you may know, I ran my first half marathon this past February. I started my training in December 2010 and worked my way through until the race on February 27, 2011. During that time I had what I affectionately termed "Operation 20" where between November 2010 and February 2011 I would lose 20 pounds. It was doable and I really felt that those 20 pounds would come off so easily with me training for a half marathon. I mean, come on! I'm running mileages higher than I've ever run before every week! How could I fail to lose weight? Well, "Operation 20" was a failure. Did not lose 20 pounds during that time period. I basically stayed the same. Why? Because your body wants you to compensate for all the calories you burn while exercising and it takes a pretty strong person to stand up and say NO!
I am now training for my second half marathon (Philadelphia Half Marathon - Best Time of Your Life!) and I'm trying to go into this more educated. So, I hit my local Borders to grab a book on half marathon training and came across Running and Fat Burning for Women by Jeff and Barbara Galloway. I was intrigued by the title as I will be running, I am a woman, and I want to burn some fat. I also noticed it was written by Jeff Galloway and his wife. The same Jeff Galloway of the Galloway Marathon Training Program, 1972 Olympian, author of numerous books, monthly columnist for Runner's World, and organizer of the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, GA. He kinda has credentials. So, I grabbed that (along with a half marathon training book) and proceeded to the check out.
The first thing I will say about this book is it is exceedingly readable. Written very conversationally, lots of white space, large type, and pull-outs, it is easy to get through and a quick read. The book is broken up into six segments: Women's Issues, Eating With a Purpose, Exercise is Fun! If You Stay in the Fat-Burn Zone, Motivation, Tips & Techniques, and Troubleshooting. Each segment is broken up into sections and each section has bolded subsections, photos, and personal stories of people the Galloways have worked with. This set-up keeps the book moving, I was able to read the close to 200 page book in just a couple of hours.
What I'm taking away from their theory on fat burning and running is two-fold:
1. Food is fuel for the body. It is not a reward for getting through a bad day, reaching a goal, or celebrating with family and friends. The purpose of eating is to fuel your body to do what it needs to do. If you're running, you need to ingest the right combination of foods and liquids to keep your body in condition to do what you're asking it to do. I've known this, but never really had a plan laid out that explains exactly what your body needs and how often you should be fueling it. They do a good job of laying it out for you, rather than just vaguely saying food is fuel and assuming you can figure out what to do about it.
2. Exercise does not have to be push til you drop. Many times, adding in smaller activities can help with your overall fitness and weight loss.
Several short exercise sessions a week can burn fat every day. The secret is to have a series of gentle exercises which you can do throughout the day. You want to enjoy these activities, and they must be easy to insert into your lifestyle.
Walking for example, offers an almost unlimited opportunity for burning fat, while allowing you to feel better the rest of the day. Instead of sitting down while you are watching kids, waiting for a meeting or appointment, WALK! The steps add up. (Galloway, 23)
I took this piece of advice to heart, and while I haven't fully implemented all they propose, I started adding a bit more walking into my average day. I have a half mile walking commute three days a week. I decided to show up a tad bit early (15 minutes) and add some distance to this. I then try to get out at lunch for about a 20 minute walk. After work, I add on additional distance as I walk back to my car. These simple three things added 1.5-2 miles a day to my commute. They didn't cost me anything, I never got out of breath, and had it not been 90+ degrees these days, I wouldn't have gotten hot. At the end of the week, I had 7.5 miles of walking in rather than 3 miles and it didn't take me much to get in that extra 4.5 miles.
I enjoyed this book and I have a feeling it's going to be one I refer back to throughout the next few months as I incorporate more and more of their suggestions. Some of their suggestions are big changes for me and will take time to work in, but I see the logic behind what they propose and I believe that even working in a few of their suggestions will help me in the long run.
I wish more women accessed information like this; I can run 40 miles/ week and not lose a pound- even when I still keep track of calories and macro nutrients. If I walk 30 min/day 4 days a week and strength train 3x a week, I lose at least a pound a week.
ReplyDeleteI know! I am very surprised at how little changes (literally) make a bigger difference than those big ones. I really think my loss last week was based on the extra walking I did throughout the week. And while it wasn't a couple runs or a long bike ride, it's the little things.
ReplyDeleteThey also talk about eating carbs and protein together and have a small snack before running and something afterwards. I need to get better at this. There are a few other things that I think make sense and it'll be a work in progress to change my habits, but hopefully doing them slowly will make them last.