This article originally posted on The Marathon Training Academy.
As an avid marathon runner, Angie came to MetPro with a primary goal of weight loss. While working with her MetPro coach, Angie not only shed over 30 lbs but she increased her energy and even started to see improvements in her marathon times!
Now 18 months later, Angie shares an update to her journey.
My Weight Loss Story Update
As many of you know I’ve been working with a nutrition coach through a company called MetPro.co for the past 18 months. They offer a concierge nutrition coaching program that helps you dial in your specific nutritional needs and reach your body composition goals.
During the first nine months of working with my MetPro coach, I was able to lose 30 pounds of fat. Even better I noticed increased energy, better recovery, and an improvement in my running.
Now that I’ve been eating the “MetPro way” for 18 months I want to give you an update on my journey . . .
Changing to a Performance Goal
During the fall 2019 racing season, I shifted from a fat loss nutrition goal to improving my performance. And it paid off big time. I was able to set a marathon PR at the 2019 Hartford Marathon with a time of 3:29:32 and another marathon PR in January at the 2020 Revel Kulia Marathon in Hawaii. It was very exciting to be able to finish my 50th state marathon with a time of 3:19:55 and get 1st in my age group.
After twelve years of running marathons and at the age of 41 I’m so thankful to still be making improvements. I credit this in large part to being able to work with Coach Natalie at MetPro over an extended period of time.
Switching to a “performance” goal meant that I wouldn’t necessarily see the numbers on the scale continue to drop. It’s important when you are training for a marathon to up adjust the amount of carbs you eat to make sure you have the energy you need for training.
How Long Can I Eat This Way?
Many people wonder if the MetPro way of eating is sustainable. After eating this way for eighteen months I can honestly say yes. It’s not a fad diet. It’s a healthy and sustainable way to eat indefinitely.
It’s not a “grit your teeth and endure” eating plan (those don’t turn out well in the long run). We all know that willpower will only get us so far.
The MetPro plan includes balanced macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) divided into three daily meals and 1-2 snacks. This is specifically designed to support your body composition goals (like fat loss, performance, muscle building, etc).
To give you an idea of what I eat this is what I consumed yesterday. . .
- Athletic Greens
- Oatmeal with chia seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes, chopped walnuts and almonds, and mixed berries
- Egg white omelet with goat cheese and ham, sautéed Brussel sprouts, and an orange
- Banana with almond butter
- Burrito bowl (lean ground beef, black beans, brown rice, sautéed peppers, lettuce, salsa, and guac)
- 2 squares of 90% dark chocolate as a treat
And since we all go “off-plan” occasionally MetPro provides great structure and accountability to get back on plan. The MetPro coaches recognize that any eating plan has to fit into your life and take into account things like races, celebrations, and much more.
More Energy
One of the best results of being on the MetPro eating plan is having more energy. I didn’t previously realize how my sporadic meals and imbalanced macros were affecting the quality of my life. I was unwittingly not refueling well after workouts and this dropped my energy and caused rebound eating later on (like massive sugar cravings).
But when you’re making quality food choices and feeding your body regularly it does amazing things for the metabolism. Having structure and consistency in your eating habits works together to give you more energy for running and life in general.
I’m now running more and training harder than ever. On May 25th I decided to challenge myself by running a 5k on the treadmill every hour for 10 hours. The best part was recovering very quickly afterward.
As I’ve gotten closer to my goal weight it’s been important to focus on non-scale victories. The scale can be helpful but it’s only one metric. The scale doesn’t give the full picture of what’s going on in your body.
My weight can fluctuate anywhere from 5-8 pounds over the course of a month in response to my menstrual cycle, the amount of carbs and sodium I’m eating (they both cause the body to retain water), and post-workout inflammation to name a few variables.
That’s why it’s more important to focus on body composition and not just the number on the scale. I’m actually around 5 pounds heavier right now than I was back in the fall. But I also have more lean muscle mass at this weight due to consistent strength training and a dialed-in eating plan. And being lean and strong is more important to me than achieving an arbitrary number on the scale.
I encourage people who are on their weight loss journey to focus on non-scale victories as you seek to become a healthier version of yourself. Some examples could include: steadier energy throughout the day, seeing your waist size decrease, faster running times, fitting into a smaller clothing size, less joint pain, more restful sleep, muscle definition, better recovery, fewer sugar cravings, and being thankful for your today body.
I’m grateful to MetPro and my amazing Coach Natalie for the help they’ve given me over the last 18 months as I’ve been able to make my fitness goals a reality!
