Today I ran my very first 6mile race. I reached a plateau with running 10miles a week last week. In fact rather than achieving my health and weight loss goals with running, I was moving in the opposite direction. Apparently this is a common running phenomenon known as train gain. Just when you start ramping your running mileage, you start to gain weight. I love running but setbacks like this can be discouraging. After coming to terms with the fact that running wasn’t working health or weight-loss wise as I had imagined, I gave up running my goal of 10miles a week last week. I only did 4 miles. There was no motivation to run. I didn’t even feel any commitment to my goals.

But this morning, I got up determined to rethink my strategy. For starters it meant that I had to be honest with myself. The reason why I wasn’t achieving my weight loss and health goals despite reaching my running mileage week after week was because I increased eating unhealthy things. Like Andy’s frozen yogurt in the stolen brownie and peacans flavor or red velvet cake from Whole Foods. Honestly any cake from Whole Foods has as soft spot in my heart. Then they are the endless supply of dark chocolate and salted caramel filling or plantain chips, lots and lots of salty plantain chips. My junk food eating habit has increased tremendously since I started to run.

So today I made a new goal. I made a commitment to myself to run 12 miles a week. I also ended my love affair with Whole Foods and their deserts. It had been a wonderful summer. I am recommitting myself to drinking at least half a gallon of water every day and trips to Andy’s frozen yogurts have now ended. I intend to keep running because I actually love it. And for deep change to occur, I am equally committed to living a healthy lifestyle so as to ultimately surpass all your goals.