Today’s topic is a little bit different. I want to talk a little bit about the importance of getting sufficient calories.
I’m still navigating my new style of eating, and overall it’s going really well. One interesting change is that I don’t seem to get crazy sugar cravings anymore. I also have to be really vigilant about not overeating all at once, or my stomach will revolt. Due to both these factors, for the first time I’m having to worry about eating ENOUGH calories. I’ve had a few days where I simply didn’t get enough in, and the next day felt it a lot. I’m a very active person, and I definitely need fuel to teach my spin classes! Yesterday I felt like I didn’t have enough fuel in my body when I was teaching spin, and definitely was feeling it at the end of class. I taught spin again today, and really tried to plan my day to build in more calories.
To complicate matters, my stomach has been flaring a bit this week, so it’s actually difficult to eat enough! With all these moving parts, I also have to balance my attempt to get calories, the foods that my stomach tolerates, and appropriate nutrition (AKA vegetables). Vegetables actually have been a bit of a struggle for me lately. When I’m eaten half meals, I usually have to do a half portion of veggies, and vegetables are difficult for me to do as snacks/second meals.
I have instated a minimum calorie amount that I absolutely have to hit, otherwise I’ll feel awful/starving the next day, and today I just about got there but it took some work and a lot of planning. And a lot of crackers. I’m going to go through the little things I did today to try and get the calories in!
First thing this morning, I had about a half serving of crackers prior to a short track workout. I woke up not feeling great (flare+hunger) but the food helped! After my little run, I had a moderately portioned yogurt bowl. 1 tablespoon sunbutter+banana+plain yogurt.
And another couple of crackers.
Mid morning, half an hour before my first class I was hungry (thankfully) and was able to eat a few more crackers. GF crackers=my life currently.
For lunch, I has some quinoa salad with feta and craisins+a small portion of broccoli salad. For the afternoon, I packed about half a serving of crackers with the goal of eating them before I had to teach to meet my calorie goal, so I had a couple at lunch.
After my next class, I had my main snack for the afternoon, a Raaw Macaw bar. This was is slightly denser than my other because it has a sun butter base.
I had another couple of crackers, bringing me closer to my cracker goal.
My final class let out about an hour before I had to teach, so I finished my last several crackers.
Days like today are frustrating because I had a stomachache after eating each time, and could definitely not have eaten more at once, but by the time I finished my spin class, I was STARVING. But there’s nothing much I could have done to ameliorated the issue. I did take it easier in spin today given I wasn’t feeling 100% though. I tend to go especially hard when I’m teaching because I feel no pain, and then step off the bike and wonder what I did to myself!
Upon arriving at my dorm I had another 2 crackers, and then a basic dinner of chicken+veggies.
I could only have about 2/3 a serving of the chicken. About an hour later, I had another half piece of chicken (trying to eat something other than just carbs) and a big rice crispy treat. These past 2 days, this giant rice crispy treat pan has been great for sneaking in some extra food!
Dealing with my stomach condition has definitely been a learning experience, and is definitely frustrating on days like today when I did everything right, but the calories that I absolutely need to eat leave me with a stomachache.
Do you ever have days where you’re so active you need extra food?
Yep, sometimes I have days wiith extra food! It is usually a banana or handful of nuts – for my workout!
I do have days where I’m so active that I need extra food, like double workout days! Yesterday, I did an 8 x 400m workout with 100m jogging recovery in between sets and 1 mile warmup/cooldown, which was bad enough. Then my friend just started a bootcamp workout class, so I decided on the spur of the moment to attend that in the evening. I wasn’t very hungry but I kind of just shoveled food in my mouth. But I have a hard time getting in enough food in general, particularly if I REALLY eat healthy. I have to throw in lattes and snacks to make sure I eat enough.
That sounds like an intense day! Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get that food in!
I totally agree! Your days sound just as intense as mine, though. I don’t know if I could manage spin + CrossFit in one day, for example. I might just keel over.