I had a relatively organized and productive day yesterday, which resulted in very well organized eating habits. I came close to reaching all my diet goals – almost exactly 1800 calories, the right proportions of protein to carbs to fat, and about 25g of fibre. Bit low on fruits and vegetables, unless you count the bits of mushroom in the risotto and the dried fruit in the slice of fruit cake I had after dinner, which is probably why I only just made 25g of fibre. I also made it to the gym right when I wanted to, so I was exercising 2 hours after lunch and having my snack 3 and a half hours after lunch. Of course, what I forgot to take into account is that 4pm to 6pm is right after school and prime swimming lesson time. There was only one pool lane open for adult laps (with 5 people trying to use it) and it was right next to the open ‘family splash’ area full of screaming kids. I may need to re-think when I head to the gym on the days I want to swim as well!
I have had a reader question about why I want my diet to be so high in fat when I am trying to lose weight. The reason has everything to do with the training plan I am following. I am currently in the stage of my program when I am doing a lot of endurance training, which means very slow runs at a lower heart-rate, gradually adding a couple of minutes to each run each week. During a long, slow run your body gets a higher proportion of its energy from your fat stores, unless you give it carbohydrates (by having a sports drink for instance). What I want to do is teach my body to rely on my fat stores for fuel rather than on carbohydrates, so I am giving it fewer carbohydrates. This not only reduces body fat, but it also helps in a race situation where you might have 1500 calories of stored carbohydrate energy in your muscles but have over 50,000 calories of energy in the form of fat. In essence, the more your body uses fat for fuel at all speeds, the more efficient a runner you are. It’s just one of those counterintuitive things about weight loss and training – eating fat can help you lose fat!
The Score:
| Calories: | Protein: | Carbs: | Fat: | Alcohol: | Fibre: |
| 1809.29 | 117.16g | 199.51g | 59.21g | 0 | 24.52g |
| 26% | 44% | 30% | | ||
| Calories burned through exercise: | 400 | | |||
What I ate:
| Time | Item | Amount |
| 07:45 | Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate | 1 each |
| Cold water | 200mL | |
| Mattesson's Turkey rashers | 3 rashers | |
| Mesa Sunrise cereal | 60g | |
| Alpro Soy milk | 120mL | |
| Sainsbury's pressed apple and cherry juice | 200mL | |
| 09:30 | Black Tea | 500mL |
| 11:00 | Total Greek yoghurt | 125g |
| Sainsbury's frozen mixed blueberries and strawberries | 100g | |
| Brazil nuts | 6g | |
| Cashews | 10g | |
| Raspberry and Echinacea tea | 250mL | |
| 12:00 | Camomile, honey and vanilla tea | 250mL |
| 14:00 | Home-made chicken risotto | 300g |
| Spinach | 25g | |
| Tomato | 90g | |
| The English Provender Balsamic Italian Dressing | 10g | |
| Mini Crunchie chocolate bar | 18g | |
| 16:00 | Workout - resistance training + 25 min swim | |
| TriBerry Nuun electrolyte tablet in water | 750mL | |
| 17:45 | Sponser Protein Snack bar | 1 bar |
| 19:30 | Cook Catalan Chicken (with skin removed) | about 320g |
| Sainsbury's Freefrom iced rich fruit cake slice | 1 slice | |
| 20:00 | Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew | 1 chew |
| 500mg Glucosamine sulphate | 1 pill |
Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.
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