Eat Drink Run Woman

At least SOMETHING good came out of the indignities I’ve endured this past week.

Because colon cancer runs in the family, my doctor has been hounding me to get screened ever since I turned 40. I kept pushing for waiting until my 45th birthday (my dad was 55 when he was diagnosed, and I read somewhere they recommend getting screened 10 years before a family member’s diagnosis), but she was adamant. So this year I decided to bite the bullet (or should I say, drink the Fleet).

There’s a week-long preparation involved; seven days out I had to stop taking anti-inflammatories (I could have really used some after pushing myself in the Mt. Si Relay), vitamin E, iron, gingko biloba and ginger. Two days out I eliminated whole grains, nuts, seeds and red and purple foods. The fun really began the day before when I began my liquid diet. Let me tell you, as a chef, that was truly difficult, especially since I had to cook for a client. On top of all that my cold came back with a vengeance.

(If you’re dying to hear how the procedure went, you can read about it here. Don’t worry, it’s not graphic!)

I knew surviving on liquids alone for a day and a half would result in some weight loss, but I assumed it would come back once I could eat again. Fortunately they told me to eat light immediately after the procedure (I had thought about getting a big ol’ plate of fries), so my post-procedure meal was much more sensible. Besides, in my weakened condition, food didn’t hold much appeal.

The result? For the first time in more than a decade, I’m once again below 160 pounds (158.8, to be exact).

This achievement has been almost two years in the making. On May 17, 2005, I hit my heaviest weight ever: 200 pounds. It was a shocking wake-up call that required drastic measures. I stopped drinking for 12 weeks and started running. By September I was down 20 pounds, and by November I weighed 170. However, I was to stay at that plateau for several months. A year ago I started counting calories (something I HATE to do), and the weight-loss kicked in again. By the summer of 2006 I weighed 160.

My original goal was to get down to 150 pounds, ideally by the Mercer Island half marathon. But given my love of food and wine, especially during the holidays, that wasn’t meant to be. Succumbing to holiday temptations pushed my weight back up to 167; although I’ve managed to lose that extra weight, I wasn’t able to break the 160-pound mark, despite once again counting calories.

So, while I realize a liquid diet is not a responsible way to lose weight in the long term, I’m hoping this will be just the nudge I need to jump-start my weight loss. I know my knees will appreciate it!