Oh Where, Oh Where has my Metabolism Gone? Oh where,oh Where could it be?

So, on March 21st, I finished the Marathon two days before my birthday! Cool, huh?! It was great! But that meant, no more strenuous training! No more strenuous training!...and no more strenuous training! Hallelujah!! (Though, you know I loved it!) My fifth Marathon! How exciting! But wait a minute! What happened?! This isn't fair! What is this?! I continued to walk/run in the mornings and walk/run further on Saturdays, just not as far as I did when training, but something strange happened almost IMMEDIATELY after the Marathon!!! I stopped training AND had a birthday and within a week I had gained three pounds!!! WAIT A MINUTE....!! ..THIS ISN'T SUPPOSE TO BE HAPPENING....!!!....WHERE DID MY METABOLISM GO??!!!.....NO FAIR!!!!...O.K..O.K...maybe the three pounds wasn't just a result of no more training and my metabolism slowing down...Maybe, just maybe, in the three months of strenuous training, maybe I ate more than I usually do and more of the things I usually don't because I knew I was working out harder and would work it off, and maybe, just maybe, now that the Marathon was over I was still eating like that. Maybe. And, maybe, just maybe, I wasn't keeping a daily food log while I was training because,.. well,... I just didn't, O.K.?! And so now maybe now after the Marathon I am clueless of what I'm really eating because I've gotten out of the habit of writing things down every day and for me NOT keeping a daily food log equals WEIGHT GAIN!...when I'm not training, that is.... But, here it is July 5Th and I'm still struggling! It would be so much easier if I just had my 'before Marathon/during training' metabolism rate back! Oh where, Oh where has my metabolism gone? Oh where Oh where could it be?

"Remember when you could diet for a few days and drop an easy ten pounds? Well, nowadays it's not so easy. Oh sure, you're eating less than you did back in your twenties and making a habit of passing on dessert and that mid-afternoon candy bar, but for some reason your a few dress sizes larger. And the pounds are piling on. Here's what's happening: your metabolism - how your body converts food into energy and then burns that energy as calories - is slowing down. This is a natural process that begins at about age 30. From then on, your body burns energy about 2-4 percent slower every ten years. So fewer calories are burned and more are stored as fat.....Maximize Your Metabolism: 1- Step up the pace. An easy way to burn more calories in the same amount of time is to put a little more speed into your current work out... 2 - Go longer. If you're already working out at your top speed, don't go any faster but try to go longer... 3- Work your arms and legs. Exercises that vigorously work both arms and legs are better fat burners than those that involve only your legs...4 - Don't skip meals....5- Exercise after you eat...eating gives your metabolism a boost...6 - Spice up your life....spicy foods...may shift your metabolism into high gear. 7- Stay away from stimulants...caffeine, alcohol, or other stimulants may raise your metabolic rate but once they're out of your system, your metabolism crashes back to normal or below. 8- Have your thyroid checked. (excerpt from http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/44/44.cfm)

If you too might be wondering where your metabolism went, let's top wondering and get busy!....or busier!