Setting New Goals

If the goal is to eat a lot on my hard workout days, then yesterday was a roaring success! Once again it was the mince pie, one sherry and 9 chocolates that did me in. Good thing I burned over 550 calories in my workout yesterday!

It does bring up an issue I’ve touched on briefly though. A lot of people make the mistake of replacing their healthier food choices with low nutrient treats during the holidays, rather than eating as normal but adding a few special extras. The thought is that a calorie is a calorie no matter where it comes from so all that matters is the total number of calories eaten. While that is generally true for weight loss, you have to be careful to ensure you’re still getting enough nutrients, particularly protein and vitamins. In fact, one of things doctors are seeing more of are overweight people who are at the same time malnourished because they get so few vitamins and minerals from the foods they eat. Of course the other problem with eating like that is just how difficult it becomes to stick to 1800 calories a day, because treats tend to be so calorically dense. For example, my 300g of pea and ham soup had almost the same number of calories as 3 chocolates and was far more filling.

I try to eat normally most of the time and just add the treats (and extra calories) on top of it. Yes, I will probably put on a couple pounds eating this way but I will still have enough nutrients to fuel my workouts and recover properly, which means that once I give up the Christmas extras I’ll get back into shape quickly. Over the past few days, despite all chocolates and alcohol, I’ve still managed to get at least 100g of protein a day, 25g of fibre and 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. I don’t see the calories staying below 2000 much in the next three weeks, but getting plenty of fruits and vegetables, that I can do!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
2417.86g	103.26g	301.50g	81.00g	7.8g	24.77g
	17%	50%	30%	2%
Calories burned through exercise:		579

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:30	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Sainsbury's Be Good to Yourself smoked bacon medallions	89g
	Gluten Free fruit muesli	70g
	Alpro Soy milk	120mL
	Sainsbury's orange, mango and passionfruit juice	200mL
09:00	Black Tea	500mL
10:15	Brazil nuts	6g
	Cashews	17g
	Red Apple	about 100g
	Raspberry and Echinacea tea	250mL
13:00	Homemade chicken and butternut squash risotto	305g
	Tomato	135g
	Sainsbury's Freefrom mince pies	1 pie
14:00	Resistance workout + 30 min bike
	Lemon Lime Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
15:30	Sponser Chocolate Recovery Shake	30g
	in Skim milk	225mL
19:15	New Covent Garden Pea and Ham soup	300g
	Waitrose Cornish Quartz Cheddar	40g
	on Genius brown bread toast	1 slices
	Orange, mango and cinnamon tea	250mL
19:45	Quality Street chocolates	9 pieces
20:15	Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry	50g
22:00	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.