A great many people take up running as a way to get fit, or lose weight, or simply as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Relatively few take up running with the expectation of winning any races and those that do generally take up the sport in their youth.

So most of us have a different focus on running, seeing it more as physical exercise than sport (the distinction being that the latter is generally more competitive).

Given that most of us participate in sport for health reasons, our exercise is often allied to a careful diet regimen. So far so good; almost all research demonstrates that the optimal weight-control plan requires a careful blend of exercise and diet.

Either on their own is not as effective as when the two are optimally combined. And herein lies the problem.

Our bodies require fuel to exercise, and that fuel can only come from the food we consume. Runners quickly learn that the best foods for training fuel are those high in carbohydrate (pasta, pizza, bread) as well as foods providing healthy sources of fat, such as almonds, avocado, and fish.

However, the knowledge that we require lots of fuel to run can often come into conflict with a more urgent desire in some of us to lose weight. This occurs most often in females, who tend to care more about their body composition than males.

Now it's possible that more nonsense has been spouted on the subject of nutritional advice than on any other subject in the history of mankind. Unless you know precisely what you are doing, it is very easy to get confused among the often conflicting advice coming from every side.

Between high-carb/low-fat, and high-protein/low-carb; between Atkins Diet, Blood Type Diet, Food Combining Diet, not to mention Latest-Fad Diet, it's easy to lose your way.

Some methods of weight-control through diet and exercise can be extremely successful at reducing body fat. And some plainly don't work.

The first thing most diets suggest is to create a calorie deficit. In other words, eat less fuel than you burn. In order to do this, (so the advice goes on) you need to restrict your intake of either carbohydrates, or fat, or both.

And yet, as runners, we all know that we need a generous intake of carbs and fat in order to run.

So you see the problem; on one hand we are urged to restrict carbohydrate and fat intake, yet on the other, we need precisely those foods as fuel in order to train.

Unfortunately a number of us err on the side of being too careful with the calories with the expected negative consequences on running performance.

Now trying to convince some people to increase their calorie intake in order to provide extra fuel for running can be a grim task. Finally at a stable weight they are often convinced that eating even one more calorie is going to result in weight-gain, and therefore something they must avoid at all cost.

They fail to understand that they might indeed gain weight, but that the additional pounds are simply fuel (in the sense that a car with a full petrol tank weighs more than the same car with an empty fuel tank). There is nothing to fear from such weight gain; the real fear would be a gain in body fat.

The problem is that long-term calorie restriction doesn't work. Your body goes into starvation/protection mode and gets extremely reluctant to burn off one more pound of body-fat. So it is possible to find yourself on a permanent restricted-calorie diet and yet continuously sluggish and tired with little energy or appetite for exercise.

So here's where the "cheating" comes in. If you are one of those who is, let's say, perhaps a little too careful about what you eat, I want you to relax your eating rules on one special day each week.

I would prefer that you do that every Saturday, and we can refer to that day as a "Cheat Day".

On that day I would like you to eat more carbohydrates and fat than usual without being self-conscious or feeling guilty in any way. Allow yourself that pizza you've often thought of, or that special dessert. Don't go overboard and make a pig of yourself (eating six doughnuts is a no-no), but do relax the rules on this one day each week.

The reasons for making Cheat Day a Saturday is to fully load up your running muscles with tons of fuel for the long Sunday run.

At the same time this will have the added effect of tricking your body into believing that you are no longer in "starvation mode" and should boost your metabolism and may even allow you to burn off your most stubborn body-fat.

Since this is Saturday, try it today. If you suddenly find your running gets a huge boost on tomorrow's run, realise that you have been too calorie-restrictive in the past and make "cheating" once a week a regular part of your training programme.

Always be careful and stay safe to best enjoy your running.

johnwalsh42195@yahoo.it

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