Paddling the Old Canoe

I still haven't really found my way with what I am eating with two more overeating episodes this week. After the curry on Wednesday night, I was so sick, I had a "sickie" from work on Thursday.

Thursday night, Mr Katie wanted to go out for a real anniversary dinner (not takeaway curry on the lounge room floor) so I ate out again. This time I made better choices (chicken and sweet potato) but it was Italian and smothered in olive oil. I also had some white bread and a pear, cheese and walnut salad.

Of course "I've eaten way too much and have to get back on my diet tomorrow" brain told me to have some chocolate on the way home for dessert and there was shitloads of some buttered toast in there somewhere too.

I am finding this difficult I think because I appear to be getting away with it. I have gained some body fat (my BF% on the scales is in the 12's rather than the 11's) but I still look skinny and maybe even better than I did at a lower weight. My muscles are full and pumped and I see my veins pop in the gym. I am strong and energetic and still fit in my pre-comp clothes. The scale is all over the place but before the last two days of stuffing my face, I was still high 55s low 56s.

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Because there is no proper supermarket near our new house, I did some online grocery shopping to get the staples. They threw in a few free samples and I got a packet of weetbix curios. I just had some for my morning snack and YUM!

They are highish protein, low fat, wholegrain and high fibre. Like a better rice cracker. The only problem I foresee is that they are sweet flavours (wild berry, pancake, apple cinnamon) so they might not taste so great with tuna!

They come in individual bags (always a help for the portion challenged) and each bag (35g) has
126 calories : 7.7 protein : 18.6 carbs : 1.5 fat : 3.2 fibre : 89 sodium. A new diet junk food!

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Next week I am going to engage a trainer at my old gym to work with me to make the changes to my body shape I need. I want to work on broadening my shoulders and back to balance out my naturally muscular legs. I am thinking that I will do a PT session with her on the weekend and then two weight/cardio sessions and two RPM sessions during the week. I am hoping I can cut back to 5 days training as I am perhaps overdoing it in the gym? If I can have 2 days off (or one day off and a walk or yoga) then I can avoid Day Sixitis. I can definitely keep my appetite under control a lot more when I don't burn massive amounts of calories every morning.

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I am no nearer to finding the perfect calorie level for maintenance. Probably because there is no such thing!

I have come up with a new plan (I know, I know, what is she on about this time? Can't she just pick something and stick to it already?)

My basic calorie allowance will now be 1700 which is 300 above what I was losing on. I will weigh myself every morning. If I am under 56.5 in the morning I can add +200 calories to that day. If I am under 56.0, I can add +300 calories or have a cheat meal. If I am over 57.5 I deduct -200 and eat only 1500 calories on that day. Hopefully this will allow for some fluctuations without things getting out of control.

For example, if I was 55.8 kg in the morning, and had a cheat meal that day, I could expect a spike of around 1.5kg taking me up to 57.3kg the following morning. Then I just eat 1700 as usual. If I overdo the cheat and blow up more, then I cut back the next day. I have a 1 kg window of creepage.

This is my practical application of Liz's "paddling a canoe" theory. In order to stay in the same place I will have to paddle slower or faster depending on the current.

If the river is smooth (training hard) I can paddle less (eat more) to stay in the same place. If I ease off paddling too much or the current gets stronger (training at less intensity), I will end up down river and I will need to paddle more (eat less) to get back to where I was. If I then paddle too hard and overshoot the mark I just ease off a little again. There is no fixed paddling rate (calorie allowance) that will guarantee I remain in place and the conditions on the river (training and incidental exercise expenditure) are always changing so constant adjustments must be made according to what the scales say.

Has my extended metaphor completely confused you - here's the short version - fat = eat less, in danger of snapping in half = eat more, just right = eat 1700 calories! Otherwise you'll be up sh*t creek without a paddle!