The Actual Marathon

June 2013

I often hear that weight loss is not a race, it is a marathon.  While I agree that I am not competing with anyone other than who I was yesterday, I think this is wrong. I think that the actual marathon is maintenance and the weight loss phase is training for that marathon.

I have never run a marathon.  I have never trained for one.  Actually, unless there are bees or bullets involved, I don't run.  BUT, I would never show up for a marathon without training.   This isn't something we can just go DO.  Like, wake up one morning and think "Hey, I think I'll run a marathon today.  Nothing else going on, why not?"  This would be folly, to say the least.  I would get to the start line and not have any idea how to proceed from there.  Heck, at this point in my life, I don't even know how to run anymore.

So, to be successful at it, I would need to start well in advance of the race and train.  I would need to know how to move, how to breathe, what to do when I fall, etc.  To be a successful marathoner, it needs to become a way of life.  The same goes for my weight loss journey.  In order to successfully maintain, I need to train.  I need to learn how to eat, how to move, when to eat, what to do when I fall and how to get back up before being run over by the others.  I need to make it a way of life.  I need to slowly get in shape, for however long it takes until I am fully ready to run my marathon.  If I run into a set back, I need to practice how to recover from it and keep going.  I need to develop the body awareness it will require to maintain the weight I have trained so hard to lose.

So the next time I find myself off program, wallowing in self pity with chocolate smeared all over my face, I will do my best to see it as a training exercise.  Because it is ALL a training exercise.  The successes AND the failures will all teach us valuable lessons that we will need to understand in order to be successful in our personal marathons.