Trying to Return to Pre-injury Weight

After I stopped running due to an ankle injury - in November 2013 - I gained between 15 and 20 pounds. Finally feeling a lot better a year later, I returned to running - albeit, nowhere near as much or as fast as I had been running the previous year.  Despite my increased physical tolerance for exercise and intensity of my fitness regimen, I have not yet been able to maintain a single pound of weight loss for more than a day or two.

To those elite runners out there who are burning at least a thousand calories a day training, I would not encourage you to shed pounds. Instead I would suggest you read three-time Olympic Trials qualifier Sarah Crouch's Active.com article, which explains why such runners may want to avoid focusing on weight loss. But for many other runners out there, including myself, slimming down can lead to faster times and healthier running.

I  want to get lighter, because running was so much easier for me when I weighed less than 135 pounds. At 5'4" with a fairly thick frame for a long-distance runner, I felt much smoother running with  just 118 pounds on me.

Upon reflecting on my diet, I have come up with a few suspects responsible for my lack of success at reducing my waist size.

#1. Nature Valley way-too-delicious Sweet and Salty Nut granola bars (150 calories each) and Protein chewy bars (180 calories each)

#2. Cheese! (I find myself snacking on this when I get home around dinner-time but feel too tired to start cooking.)

#3. Sweet Potato Fries

#4. Pretzels

#5. Cookies

It's not that I think it's wrong to ever eat such treats. Why I have listed these foods as problematic is because they are high in calories, salt and/or sugar; and I find them addictive. Surely, munching on a large quantity of one of these snacks, in addition to eating three meals, explains why weight loss has been challenging for me.

My current plan of attack is to limit my consumption of these foods and other guilty pleasures like salt-rimmed margaritas. To prevent myself from cheating, I am going to write down everything I eat, starting tomorrow.

I promise to share my progress at shedding pounds, in case anybody is interested. As I mentioned earlier, I am currently weighing in at 135.