Calories Trending Upwards!

OK, so this was not my most controlled week. I was shooting for 2000 calories a day really! But somehow I never managed to get less than 2150 on any day last week and I averaged over 2470 per day.  And most of those extra calories came from carbohydrates (or alcohol!) at the expense of protein. Despite trying to get 25% of my calories from protein, I had 3 days last week where I got 19% or less from protein – all towards the end of the week. This might explain why I was having such trouble recovering from my workouts later in the week. I know I was working hard, especially during my interval run on Thursday, but I really was tired and sore for days.

To be fair, I have not been averaging 2000 calories a day since I made it my goal at the start of the month. In fact, I seem to have subconsciously taken to heart the body composition analysis at the gym which said I could eat over 2500 calories a day and maintain my weight. The first week of March I averaged 2260 calories a day, the second week 2390, and this third week 2470. The biggest problem I have with these averages is that they are clearly trending upwards! Even if I believe I can eat 2500 calories a day without putting on any weight, I am already almost there. Not to mention that all these extra calories are not coming from healthy sources!

This week is a rest week so I’ll be burning far fewer calories through exercise anyways, so I think it’s time I got back on track and tried to keep the calories down around 1800 per day. The logic being, if I shoot for 1800, I just might make 2000!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
2496.34	130.60g	372.14g	55.76g	0	35.33
	21%	60%	20%
Calories burned through exercise:		852

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
09:30	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
	Gluten Free fruit muesli	70g
	Alpro Soy milk	120mL
	Sainsbury's Orange juice with juicy bits	200mL
10:00	Black tea with milk and sugar	500mL
10:30	Black tea with milk and sugar	350mL
11:15	Easy long run - 90 min
	500mL Sponser Isotonic, fruit mix	38g
13:00	Lemon Tea Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
13:45	Sponser Vanilla Recovery Shake	30g
	in Skim milk	225mL
	Poached eggs	2 eggs
	Genius brown bread toast	2 slices
	with Flora Light	8g
	and Waitrose Lemon Curd on one slice	15g
	Raw Tomato	85g
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill
17:00	Waitrose Love Life free from fruit scones	1 scone
	with Flora Light	2g
	St Dalfour Blackcurrant jam	16g
	Irish Yoghurts Diet Apricot and Nectarine	125g
	Fresh Pineapple	160g
	Caffeine free Black tea with milk and sugar	500mL
19:45	Quick cook Turkey Steak	107g
	Merchant Gourmet tinned puy lentils	100g
	Boiled carrots	125g
	Frozen peas	80g
	Sainsbury's Bramley apple sauce	30g
	Lindt Excellence 70% cocoa dark chocolate	20g
22:00	Galaxy Minstrels	42g
22:30	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.