Strength, Endurance, or Weight Loss

At the beginning of this year, I learned that in order to continue to lose weight I had to give up bread.  It just seems to stick to me.  It doesn't matter that I'm working out 5 days a week, 1 hr per day.  If I eat bread, the weight remains and often I gain.   Now, that I'm at goal, this still holds true.  I can indeed eat bread and I do but one too many pieces for the week and up goes the scale.  You've got to know your body and know what your goals are.  I recently came across a wonderful article on the Life Time Fitness web site that discusses this and explains it beautifully.  Below is an excerpt from the article. Well worth the read.   Know your goals: endurance, weight loss, strength...you decide. 

Now that the weather’s been warm for the past couple of months in most of the U.S., running season is in full-swing. The appeal of being active outdoors is almost instinctual after being indoors for much of the winter months. For many people, the enthusiasm for being outdoors, plus the desire to lose weight makes running a common choice of exercise. For those trying to lose significant amounts of weight – 30, 50, or more pounds – is picking up a new pair of shoes and hitting the pavement the best choice of exercise for weight loss? Is it possible to train for an endurance event like a marathon, and lose significant amounts of weight at the same time? Is running the best choice for those who are just starting an exercise program?

It is all too common, people bound and determined to lose significant weight, start a running program (or another intense exercise program) thinking they’ll burn the weight off. Initially, they lose a small initial amount and then the weight loss plateaus. The running gets easier, but that wasn’t really the goal. The goal was to get the weight off. In the end, they assume they just can’t lose weight. After all, they’re doing plenty of exercise and can’t lose weight. “They must just be destined to keep the weight on.” In reality, excessive amounts of exercise can keep individuals from losing the weight they so desperately want to lose. Before you take up a marathon training program, or any exercise program, you must make the decision about what is the greater priority: performance, or weight loss. In trying to do both, it’s possible you won’t succeed at either.  Continue to complete article here...