Using Dopamine to One's Advantage

Dopamine is a powerful hormone. Some argue it's too powerful and we need to detox. Others suggest manipulating it to one's advantage. I think it's a God give receptor that we can use to motivate healthy habits and enhance life.

What is dopamine exactly? Dopamine is a neurotransmitter located in the brain, and involved in many bodily processes (Cleveland Clinic, 2022). Not only is it involved in memory, mood, movement, and sleep, but also in motivation and pleasure and reward. It is dopamine's engagement in these latter processes that get the most attention. Dopamine increases goal-directed behavior and rewards with feelings of pleasure (Ma, 2025). It enhances mood (Baron, 2024). Dopamine is going to drive people to some extent, irregardless of circumstance. So why not use it to one's advantage?

Use the reward of dopamine to reward (healthy) habits. "Dopamine is the brain's anticipation and reward chemical. It makes people want do stuff. It makes it easier to start things" says Gabriel Villarreal (Mahan, 2021). This can motivate the start of new habits like exercise, or adding new foods to one's diet. It can encourage the development of other healthy habits like mindfulness, scripture reading, or spending time with loved ones (Daugherty, 2022). Dopamine is not everything, but it is powerful, and people can use it to push themselves towards the life they want to live.

Use dopamine to increase enjoyment. "Introducing new and novel experiences can alter our perception of time, making life feel richer and longer" states Liz Moody (2024). It can increase happiness and deepen relationships. People can use the benefits of dopamine to promote memory-making and motivate intentional interactions (Chinyoka, 2026). It can help people slow down time, and relish living.

Recognize sources of "cheap" dopamine. Screen time and audio stimulation, on the other hand, can speed up time, making the brain like a hamster on a wheel (Singer, 2026). Sure, these give "quick fix" dopamine, but they don't last. When I get to the end of my life, I want my life to matter. And that requires some quite time to think, get creative, and think up some better ways to get dopamine (Daugherty, 2022). This is not necessarily about eliminating, but about adding and prioritizing.

--

After a pretty tough season this summer where I lost a lot of my exercise-induced dopamine due to my running injury, I experimented with adding some novelty. I surprised my husband with special snacks in his lunchbox and a few dinners out. We went on a few special outings and trips. We explored more of the parks in our town. Yes, I also sought out cheap dopamine WAY too much via social media, sweets, etc., but I also learned the value of slower dopamine. I learned that my brain craves it, and it's up to me to get in front of that craving. Self-control wanes the longer I wait to do things, and the more tired I get, so I've started planning more novelty into my life to hopefully reduce less of that "quick hit" dopamine seeking. I hope this drives me more towards the life of joy and purpose I want to live, for my good, and God's glory.

References:

Baron, J. (2024, January 26). Friday favorites! Hungry runner girl. https://hungryrunnergirl.com/2024/01/friday-favorites-259.html#

Chinyoka, L. (2026, July 1). Why a monthly "10 list" is the key to unlocking your summer. The everygirl. https://theeverygirl.com/monthly-10-list/

Cleveland Clinic. (2022, March 23). Dopamine. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22581-dopamine

Daugherty, A.K. (2022, January 21) Psychology today. The science of novlety. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/healing-stress-from-the-inside-out/

Ma, L. (2025, November 5). Dopamine. Psychology today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dopamine

Mahan, B. [Host]. (2021, January 30). Exercise as part of the ADHD treatment plan with Gabriel Villarreal, LMHC [Audio podcast episode]. In ADHD essentials. 

Moody, L. (Host). (2024, August 26). The novelty rule: How to use my neuroscience hack that's changing millions of live. (no. 258) [Audio podcast episode]. In The Liz Moody podcast. https://www.lizmoody.com/thelizmoodypodcast-novelty-rule/

Singer, J. (2026, April 19). Why we can't sit alone with our thoughts anymore. Washington post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2026/04/19/excessive-audio-use-addictive-screen-time/

The Importance of Play for Adults

How often do adults tell kids to, "Go play?" And yet, adults struggle to find time to do so themselves. Play is important, for adults, too!

Play is important for an adult's identity. So much of an adult's life focuses around work and productivity. Play is time for fun, and for the sake of fun. "Play is apparently purposeless," writes Brene Brown (2010), and maybe that is part of how it serves its purpose, to help people become more sure and certain of themselves without productivity metrics. “But play is serious. Play is absolute. Play is the complete absorption of something that doesn’t matter to the external world, but which matters completely to you," writes Katherine May (2023). And maybe play is part of the exploration involved in finding the things that really matters.

Play is important for teaching social skills. This holds true for kids and for adults. "Play shapes our brain, helps us foster empathy, helps us navigate complex social groups, and is at the core of creativity and innovation" (Brown, 2010, p. 100). How many friendships form around play, or some type of recreational activity? And how many of us subconsciously learn while engaging in this time of play? Sometimes hard things happen in play, but that teaches us to love, and to love better (Goff). It teaches us humility (Jacobson & Masonheimer, 2021). The world could use of both, I think!

Play relieves stress. The lives of both adults and kids are full of stress. Adults have just lived in the stress longer. Play helps relieve that stress because it requires giving up control. "Play and control cannot coexist," writes author Rebekah Lyons (2019). "Play...breaks us out of our stressful routines and rejuvenates us." It encourages relaxation to kick in (Richo, 2011). And we need play not just some of the time, but at expected times so as to break up our schedules. "While the stressors may not go away, we can develop a rhythm that helps us become more resilient to deal with them."  We need to organize our time such that we make time for play (Levitin, 2015). While we often see play as optional, we really shouldn't.

Play strengthens relationships. Who has heard that men make friends by doing activities side by side? Well this is true, not just for men, but for women, and for partnered individuals. “Play isn’t a luxury or an indulgence, but a necessity for a successful, happy relationship," write marriage researchers (Gottman et al., 2019). “Play don’t just about being with each other, it’s about connecting with each other. When we play together as couples, we’re developing our trust and intimacy.” We attune and connect (van der Kolk, 2015, p. 217). Who doesn't want greater trust, intimacy, and connection in relationships? That is the type of stuff that sustains!

--

And how do kids learn to play? From adults! In an age that increasingly has our faces fixed to our screens, I think we could all do better to play a little more, stress a little less, and maybe face each other a little more. Who knows how future generations might benefit?

References:

Brown, B. (2010). The gifts of imperfection: Let go of who you think you're supposed to be and embrace who you are. Hazelden Books.

Gottman, J., Schwartz Gottman, J., Abrams, D., & Abrams, C. (2019). Eight dates: Essential conversations for a liftetime of love. Workman Publishing Company.

Jacobson, L., & Masonheimer, P. (2021). The flirtation experiment: Putting magic, mystery, and spark back into your everyday marriage. Thomas Nelson.

Levitin, D. J. (2015). The organized mind: Thinking straight in the age of information overload. Dutton.

Lyons, R. (2019). Rhythms of renewal: Trading stress and anxiety for a life of peace and purpose. Zondervan.

May, K. (2023). Enchantment: Awakening wonder in an anxious age. Riverhead Books.

Richo, D. (2011). Daring to trust: Opening ourselves to real love & intimacy. Shambhala.

van der Kolk, B. (2015). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Penguin Books.

Wide Open Spaces Adventure

Back to the Mogollon Rim for us this weekend! This time it was to the town of Heber/Overgaard, with a side quest to look at some property for sale. (No, we’re not in the market to buy land, but we can dream, right?)

We stopped at the Mogollon Rim Visitor Center. 

This time, we could see the views.

And yes, I found my husband out on a rock outcropping again!

We checked out the property (but not too much since we didn’t want to take the car too far down the gravel road). Lots of scrub brush, some free range cattle, and not too many bigger trees. There were wide open spaces, however. It was quiet, and cool (74 when it was going to be over 100 at home).

We passed through the boardwalk at Heber/Overgaard, but it wasn’t like my husband remembered, more hair salons than cool shops. It was too early for lunch, so we headed back down the hill, narrowly missing all the traffic headed back down the hill from the ASU football scrimmage at Camp T. (We didn’t know that as today, but had both worn maroon ASU shirts. Go figure!)

Maybe this wasn’t our greatest adventure, but it gave us some space. (The drive was about two and a half hours each way.) And sometimes we just need that.

*Spoiler alert: After all that driving, we found out the land we were on was actually US forest land, and not for sale. The maps just didn't take us to the right place!

The Sourdough Report:

Originally, I planned to pack breakfast and lunch for us. Then we decided to eat breakfast at home and get lunch out. In the end, we ended up back home with food I’d prepped: 

Sourdough gozleme and red peppers, cheese sticks, chocolate sourdough brownie bites and ginger soda 

And that’s it! Another Arizona adventure in the books!

What We Cooked and Ate (Week 32)

This Week's Eats:

Banana bread protein overnight oats (Fit Mama Real Food)

BBQ chicken foil packs (Budget Bytes)

Best sourdough banana muffins (The Pantry Mama)

Chocolate sourdough brownie bites (The Pantry Mama)

Ginger soda (Acres & Aprons)

Grilled corn on the cob in the husk (Kitchen Treaty)

Sourdough gozleme (The Pantry Mama)

Noteworthy Repeats:

Big-batch Instant Pot white beans (Epicurious)

Egg bake casserole (Food 52)

Sourdough gravy (The Pantry Mama)

Freezer Pull-Outs:

Sourdough chocolate zucchini muffins (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough bread

Sourdough zucchini bread (The Pantry Mama)

Spinach pancakes (Rooted at Heart)

Mesa Parks Adventure

We visited (almost) all the parks in mesa! It started in January 2025 as an excuse to drive our new car around. Then it became a good low cost (but fun!) date activity. And then it became an adventure to get to all 90 parks in our city. As we went along, we changed the confines of our quest, eliminating some of the aquatic and recreation centers, as well as all of the basins. Last week, we concluded our exploration with park number 80. We got to see a great bit of our city, and we learned some things along the way.

Despite being in the desert, our city has done a pretty good job of preserving land. I am not sure how the city manages to keep all the grass mowed, but I didn't see any park that was completely unkempt. (Based on what I see at the park near us, I hypothesize that the city contracts out for park care, but I cannot be sure.) Yes, some of the parks shelter some houseless people, but for the most part, they remain useable to the public. Props to the city for that.

It is easy to see which parks are older and newer, based on the park signs. Some parks still have the ancient Mesa signs. Some have the newer signs. I wonder if they will ever change all of them.

We don't think that aquatic centers and recreation centers should count as parks. Resources, yes. Parks, no. But when the summer relegates us inside, maybe these centers become the equivalent of parks? We did see people out at the parks at many hours of the day and evening.

Many parks do not have restrooms. This probably helps with upkeep. It is good to know when planning things like a picnic, though.

All in all, we enjoyed this pursuit. While the parks were our goal, we benefitted from the time spent together and learning more about our city. And as an aside a little bit of a house snob, I think I enjoyed seeing the homes around the parks almost as much as, or more than, the parks themselves.

--

Readers, what quests have you taken on? Have you completed them yet? Please share in the comments!

--

And if anyone cares, yes, our final park run was fueled by sourdough:

Sourdough zucchini bread (The Pantry Mama) and sourdough zucchini muffins [with cheese + chives] (The Pantry Mama) for breakfast, and a refreshing dinner of sourdough zucchini slice (The Pantry Mama) and a riff on this skinny chicken salad from The Savvy Spoon made with green pepper and onion for the veggies.

Real Life Marriage: What If?

"What if we met sooner?" I grew up hearing my dad ask my mom this question. After my husband and I got married, we started asking it, too.

"What if we had met in high school?" Would we have liked each other? "What if we met in our twenties?" Would it have worked?

Then there are the other, "What if's?" "What if my husband had gone to college in Washington?" Would he have ever moved back to Arizona? "What if I had stayed in Arkansas?" Would we have ever met?

We could, "What if?" all day long, but I am convinced that everything happened as it should. I was very caught up with myself in high school, and was definitely not emotionally, mentally, or spiritually healthy enough to get into a serious relationship. Saving faith in Jesus was a must-have for me, and my husband did not find that until later in life (but before we met, because we met at church!) My husband was not ready to go to college right after high school, and learned a lot of other skills by going straight into the workforce. I wanted and needed to move back to Arizona for some healing in my family relationships, things that needed to heal so I could be in a better position to get married. "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end," the author of Ecclesiastes writes (New Living Bible, 2015, Ecclesiastes 3:11). I could not agree more.

I really and truly believe that God brought my husband I together at the right time. We had pretty much stopped looking for people to date, after all. But God knew. He was preparing us. He was ordered all our steps aright. We trust Him to continue to work, even as we walk forward together into a life full of future, "What if's?"

Reference:

New Living Bible. (2015). Bible gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-Living-Translation-NLT-Bible/

Evening Roosevelt Lake Adventure

What do you do when it's nearly 110 degrees outside? Go to the lake! And not just any lake, the largest lake that exists solely within the Arizona state borders: Roosevelt Lake. I truly had no idea how big this lake was, until we drove, and drove, and drove, and still found more water (and that even with water levels being way down).

We set out from home about 3:30 PM and arrived at the lake around 5:00 PM. First, we went to the Roosevelt Bridge overlook. From the overlook, we saw the bridge (the longest of its kind in North America), a wide view of the lake, and plenty of boats! 

From there, we worked our way around to the dam overlook. (Beware, the road is barely wide enough for two cars). The dam is truly immense, and the buildings beneath it sparked our curiosity. We saw what we are pretty sure was a bald eagle land on one of the sandbars behind the dam.

After driving a bit more, we settled on one of the many recreational sites, Cottonwood Cove Picnic Area, for dinner. We looked out over the water, watched a storm roll in, and even spotted a javelina! On the way home, we drove through Miami, Superior, and Gold Canyon, and even caught up to rain storm (or it caught us)!

Could we have done other things with our evening? Sure! But this was a great way to get away, see some new scenery, and reset and refresh before the week starts again.

Curious about the sourdough? Dinner was elevated PBJs (elevated because I made the raspberry chia seed jam, upped the nutrition with Creamy protein peanut butter and put in all on sourdough sandwich bread). 

What We Cooked and Ate (Week 31)

This Week's Eats:

Banana zucchini overnight oats (Hummusapien)

Carrot cake sourdough muffins (The Pantry Mama)

Creamy dill potato salad (The Country Cook)

Quick raspberry chia seed jam (Food by Mars)

Sourdough sandwich bread (The Pantry Mama)

Southwest egg roll in a bowl (Meal Prep in an Instant)

Vegetable frittata (Meal Prep in an Instant)

Noteworthy Repeats:

Big-batch Instant Pot white beans (Epicurious)

Creamy protein peanut butter (Cheat Day by Design)

Egg bake casserole (Food 52)

Freezer Pull-Outs:

Sourdough blueberry muffins (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough chocolate zucchini muffins (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough bread

Sourdough zucchini bread (The Pantry Mama)

Run to Eat? No! Eat to Run!

I put it off for a while. I did not do it for my 15K. To be fair, I had not really needed to carb load for my 10Ks, since they were under 90 minutes. But then it was time. Time to rip off the bandaid, go against all modern diet advice, discard my usual whole foods, whole grain, high protein, high produce way of eating, and eat all the carbs. I did it for a day, and it worked! Then I did it for three days, and it really worked! And I was off to the races on carb loading, literally.

I carb loaded for all of my recent longer races, including that first half marathon back. The rule is to carb load for any race over 90 minutes (Featherstun, n.d.). This allows the body to max out its glycogen stores (which should also be somewhat replenished by fueling during the race to avoid bonking). More glycogen means more speed! (Burning fat for fuel is possible, but provides much slower results.) Sports medicine science says to carb load with 10 – 12 grams per kilogram of bodyweight for two days, or 8 grams per kilogram for three days (Thomas et al., 2016). (I have aways gone with the latter.) Some say that only one day is needed for the half marathon (Rosner, n.d.). The Featherstone Nutrition Calculator always tells me to carb load for three days, however. I figure, "What could it hurt?"

Another benefit of carb loading for three days is that it simplifies digestion. Things like fiber take 36-48 hours to pass fully through the body, so carb loading with simpler carbs for three days ensures that any potentially irritating foods have already passed through (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2025). It is also easier to eat simpler carbs in larger amounts (T100 Triatholon, n.d.). I told myself while carb loading that it was not forever, and that an extra few days of eating carbs before the half marathon could only stand to help, not hurt my results. And I definitely carb loaded three days before my marathons.

The problem is that just carb loading was not enough. Endurance sports require enhanced overall nutrition. While I increased that somewhat over the past few years, I apparently did not increase it enough. That, the health professional think, is what caused my recent injury. And so, I set out to eat more.

No science is perfect, but the thought is that energy surplus is best for runners. The current number is 45 calories per kilogram of fat free mass per day (Melin, 2019). For the average American woman weighing 170 pounds and being at about 40% body fat, that is about 2,000 calories a day, and that is without exercise (Borrud et al., 2010; National Center for Health Statistics, n.d.)! With increased energy expenditure due to long-distance running, it is easy to see how a person could get behind. So I ate more.

While recovering from my injury, I ate as much or more than while training for my marathon. Yes, I gained weight. It wasn't fun. But I wanted to return to running, and I knew I had no chance of doing so and not getting hurt again, so I ate. While I was not running, I was eating to run, because that is the commitment that the sport requires.

In a society that says eat less, move more, runners have to eat more to move more—and not just junk, because then they feel like junk. They need lots of carbs, lots of fat, lots of protein--all the things. Sure, I eat simple carbs when carb loading, but that is just for three days. The rest of life is a lot of focus on a lot of nutrition, something I am learning even more about as I progress back to running again*. I am learning anew what it means to eat to run, not run to eat. Regardless of what society may say, eating to run is serious business!

*Note: I am not a dietitian, just sharing what I have studied and learned along my running journey, most recently with a lot of professional dietitian support!

References:

Borrud, L.G., Flegal, K.M., Looker A.C., Everhart, J.E., et al. (2010). Body composition data for individuals 8 years of age and older: U.S. population, 1999–2004. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital health stat 11(250). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_250.pdf.

Featherstun, M. (n.d.). Carb loading: What, why, and how-to. Featherstone Nutrition. https://www.featherstonenutrition.com/carb-loading/

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2025, June 6). Digestion: How long does it take? Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/indigestion/expert-answers/digestive-system/faq-20058340

Melin, A. K., Heikura, I. A., Tenforde, A., & Mountjoy, M. (2019). Energy Availability in Athletics: Health, Performance, and Physique. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 29(2), 152-164. Retrieved Jun 27, 2026, from https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2018-0201

National Center for Health Statistics. (n.d.). Body measurements. Center for Disease Control. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/body-measurements.htm

Rosner, J. (n.d.). Carb loading by race distance: Half-marathon and marathon. Science in Sport. https://www.scienceinsport.com/sports-nutrition/carb-loading-by-race-distance/

Thomas, D. T., Erdman, K. A., & Burke, L. M. (2016). American College of Sports Medicine Joint Position Statement. Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 48(3), 543–568. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000852

T100 Triatholon. (n.d.). Fuel up right: Best foods for carb loading before a triatholon. https://t100triathlon.com/articles/nutrition/best-foods-for-carb-loading/

A Case for Not Commenting on People's Outward Appearances

Someone walked into church the other day, and I immediately noticed that he had lost a substantial amount of weight. He seemed healthy and happy, but then I wondered, "Is he really?" While I do believe that each person has bodily autonomy and can do what they want with their own body (without hurting others), I also believe that our culture also focuses way too much on outward appearances. Though a person may look like they are on a journey to get healthier no one really knows what is happening on the inside. I would argue that what is happening on the inside is what really matters.

A lot of people are fighting battles no one knows, battles that don't present with the same "halo effect" of weight loss. What about the woman facing fertility struggles, doing everything in her body and mind to get pregnant? What about the man facing prostrate cancer, getting radioactive treatment that, at least for a while, has no outward signs? What about the person vigilantly monitoring supplement intake in order to overcome a nutrient deficiency? What about people like me trying to gain weight in order to heal a health condition? Does culture complement any of us?

Plato is said to have written, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle." I wish we could take this into account. What if, instead of looking at people, we asked how they were doing? What if instead of complimenting weight loss, we asked how people were feeling? What if we stopped complimenting people on their bodies, and instead affirmed their character? We never know if changes in one's body are intentional, either (Depth Counseling, 2025). The person could be dieting, or they could be sick. Yes, I believe we should steward our bodies and take good care of them, but I also wish our culture would stop focusing so much on them.

There is more to life than the body: mind, soul, spirit; relationships, hopes, dreams, fears. Can we give the body comments a break, and instead focus on the humans inhabiting those bodies? I think our holistic health as a society would be a whole lot better for it!

Reference:

Depth Counseling. (2025, April 8). A case for not commenting on people's weight loss. https://depthcounseling.org/blog/a-case-for-not-commenting-on-peoples-weight-loss

Weeknight Salt River Adventure

Think Dobbins Lookout is the best place in the Phoenix Metropolis to catch an Arizona sunset? Think again! Try the Salt River!

There are Black Canyon of the Gunnison level rocks and cliffs.

Plenty of places to sit and just be (Of course, we would find my husband out on a ledge.) 

Calm and quiet all around

When my husband told me he wanted to go on a weeknight adventure, I was down. It had already been a long week, and I just wanted to get away. Sourdough zucchini pizza and carrots packed well for dinner in the car, and off we went. We stayed until near dark and then drove home at dusk. I seriously couldn't have asked for a better evening!

Weight Gain As A Runner

And it turns out, I need an even bigger body to accomplish my goals. I thought I was fueling well. I thought I was eating enough, given that my weight was stable, if not going up. But it turns out my body needed more, a lot more.

The little bit of weight gain I experienced while marathon training? Well, that was probably due to the training, as a small weight gain is related to higher metabolism, hydration, and training (1HUTTBOLE, 2026). Two to five pounds during a marathon training cycle reflects muscle mass, more glycogen, and more water stored with that glycogen (Gaudette, 2026). It turns out that my body needed more actual weight, though. It needed more weight to feel safe, to protect itself. I was fearing weight gain more than injury, and then the injury happened (Sekely, 2026). I never intended to set out on this journey to build a bigger body, but my stress fracture brought me to it, and I hope nutrition and weight gain will bring me through it.

It turns out that being heavier is actually better for my skeleton. "Being lighter doesn’t necessarily mean you’re putting 'less stress' on your skeleton especially if it means you’re falling into a state of low energy availability" says Registered Dietitian Serena Marie (2026). While I was not intentionally in a state of low energy availability, that was the only cause medical professionals could hypothesize as a cause of my injury. Additionally, my bone density was lower than "normal," and the only way to fix that was to gain weight in order to increase load on the bone (Haver, 2026). Then I had to grow bigger muscles to support that bone. And so I set out to do what the professionals told me: Eat in an energy surplus and then lift heavy.

It was not fun or easy to eat like a marathoner while not running. I guess I thought if I was in an energy deficit, my body would course correct as I ate more. Not so. It turns out that my body, just wanted to gain weight, and that weight gain happened quickly. I wrestled with it greatly. My clothes did not fit the same. I felt gross. I started to not recognize my body. Apparently this period of weight gain is something that happens to a lot of runners as they start to fuel correctly (Alm, 2026). I just started running a lot later in my life, and so the associated weight gain and body changes had to come later, when I already had a long history with a different body.

I will be honest that I initially fought the body changes, but I realized I could not continue living at war with myself every single day. So I had to change my goals. I had to change my goals to be to see how strong I could get, regardless of body size. I had to accept that I might need to buy all new clothes. I had to decide to live for my future self and not just my comfortable now self.

I have hopes that there are more running adventures (and maybe even more personal records?) on the other side of this. I have read stories where this is true (Amy Elizabeth, 2026, Infeld, 2024; Infeld, 2025; Quiet-Painting3, 2025; Run_Fast3r, 2023). But more than anything, I want to be healthy. I want to run longer. And I hope, to learn to accept myself in new ways. To quote Therapist Emily Brazier (2025), "So yeah, my body has changed. But so have I." I hope I get to the point that she did to say, "And I’m really proud of both."

So here's to the weight gain. Here's to the change. Lord help me! 

References:

Alm, M. [Host]. (2026, June 19). Q&A with Maddie - 32. [Audio podcast episode]. In Fueling Forward. https://rss.com/podcasts/fuelingforwardpodcast/2925615/

Amy Elizabeth. [@TinkGoesToArizona]. 2:59 → 2:44 On Monday in Boston, I closed the chapter on every PR I set while underweight.I’m a completely [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DXfIacWgXvS/). 

Brazier, E. (@_healingwithemily_). Let’s be honest, my body has changed… a lot. And I’d be lying if I said I don’t still have [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DX2ZyyUinlj/

Gaudette, J. (2026, April 29). Weight gain during marathon training: 3 causes explained. Runners Connect. https://runnersconnect.net/weight-gain-marathon-training/

Haver, M. C. (2026). The new perimenopause: An evidence-based guide to surviving the zone of chaos and feeling like yourself again. Rodale books.

Infeld, E. [@EmilyInfeld]. (2024, February 21). PSA to runners - skinnier is not faster! I get so sad when younger runners are worried about their weight and [Video]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3oH6lGApVb/

Infeld, E. [@EmilyInfeld]. (2025, November 17)). I didn’t get faster by getting smaller — I got faster by fueling. My running has never been defined by how [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DRLKoDKEoWa/

1HUTTBOLE. (2026). Does anyone else gain weight when running more? [Online forum post.]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultramarathon/comments/1r6fcte/does_anyone_else_gain_weight_when_running_more/

Quiet-Painting3. (2025). I’ve found fueling to be the key for me. It allows me to train and recover better. I haven’t weighed  [Comment on the online forum post Getting faster despite having a heavier scale weight.]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/XXRunning/comments/1kzrewv/getting_faster_despite_having_a_heavier_scale/

Run_Fast3r. (2023). Extra weight won’t slow you down unless you gain too much body fat. Gaining weight by lifting weights and eating [Comment on the online form post Gaining weight as a distance runner]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/trackandfield/comments/12vgq6e/gaining_weight_as_a_distance_runner/

Serena Marie. [@SerenaMarieRD]. (2026, May 1). Being lighter doesn’t necessarily mean you’re putting “less stress” on your skeleton esp if it means you’re falling into a [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DXzAUV6R_rV/)

Sekely, V. (@trainsmartrunstrong). (2026, May 6). Gna hold your hand when I say this… [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DYAGOKekRIk/?img_index=2

What We Cooked and Ate (Week 30)

This Week's Eats:

Butterfinger protein oatmeal (Kinda Healthy Recipes by Mason Woodruff)

Homemade ricotta (The Pantry Mama)

Oven roasted corn on the cob (Simply Happy Foodie)

Meatball and orzo skillet (Budget Bytes)

A riff on this skinny chicken salad from The Savvy Spoon made with green pepper and onion for the veggies

Sourdough zucchini bread (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough zucchini muffins [with cheese + chives] (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough zucchini pizza (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough zucchini slice (The Pantry Mama)

Noteworthy Repeats:

Big-batch Instant Pot white beans (Epicurious)

Egg bake casserole (Food 52)

Homemade pizza sauce (Budget Bytes)

Shredded chicken (365 Days of Crockpot)

Freezer Pull-Outs:

One pot chicken and cabbage (Hungry Happens)

Sourdough blueberry muffins (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough chocolate zucchini muffins (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough bread

Sourdough discard pizza dough (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough gravy (The Pantry Mama)

Sourdough meatballs (The Pantry Mama)