Weight, Body Fat and New Challenge

Too much to blog about and not enough time. I meant to post this blog last week as I ended the magnesium challenge but time once again alluded me. I am still tracking my weight and body fat each and every week. I was reminded to blog about this when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw my weight down significantly (though it is not reflected in the weekly totals).

Yesterday marks the beginning of a new challenge. The timing couldn't be any better for this one as I moved from the base to the build and eventually the peak periods of my training. Training is going up therefore my caloric need is going up. As I mentioned in the past, I frequently track my calories. I am on a good roll right now with nearly 2 months worth of data.

Aside: Tracking your calories is really not that difficult. Most people shy away from it for two reasons. First, they think it is time consuming. The reality is that most of us eat the same foods over and over again. That makes logging it very easy. It takes me approximately 5 minutes each morning to log the previous days food. Second, it forces people to face the reality that their diet is crap. Very true.

One thing that I frequently ponder is if I am fueling my body properly. I never really question if my diet is 'good.' I think I have a moderately healthy diet and don't splurge on snacks. Junk food is very sparse. You won't find it in my home, minus a few remaining girl scout cookies. If anything, my diet isn't diverse enough.

More importantly, I often wonder if I eat enough. Given that I have a very consistent diet, my caloric intake is relatively stable. I wonder if it is too LOW. So this month, I am revisiting the challenge from last summer...to eat more. My goal is to consume close to 3000 calories a day. Gulp. That should put me nearly 21,000 calories for the week. In the past seven weeks, I have only achieved 21,000 calories a week....once. And that was a week of major eating out. That means I need to eat about 2000 calories MORE a week than I typically do.

My hypothesis is that by keeping my caloric intake low, 2000-2300 cal/day, I am starving my body. This prevents it from recovering after a long workout. It also prevents it from preparing for the next workout. If my glycogen stores are not topped off, then my body goes through the fat and carbs as fuel sources too quickly. It then turns to the muscle for fuel...not good. My hope is that by not 'starving' my body, I will actually lose a bit more weight because the body isn't trying to hoard the calories. Counter intuitive? Maybe, but I don't suspect that will be the case.

I actually think this will be a real challenge for me because I like to eat healthy. Most dinners consist of chicken or fish...both great sources of protein but low calorie options. I also don't want the calories to be empty. They need to be natural foods that I would select in ideal situations. That means not splurging on wings and beer. I suspect there will be five staples in this challenge: nuts, cheese, milk, ice cream and peanut butter. I also don't want to cheat by eating out more often.

As a subset of this goal will be my attempt to ingest 140 grams of protein a day. I seriously slack off in this area and often only get about 110 g/day. The adjustments to the diet should aid the protein goal. They will also raise my fat intake which should help will the weight loss challenge.

The timing, as mentioned, is perfect. I will try this for four weeks and see how I feel. That puts me right into my taper for Rev3...an ideal time to cut back the diet. So can someone pass me a smoothie and protein bar?