I'm blown away by how important the right macronutrient balance is. Over the weekend I went into a low-carb mode (accidentally) and completely threw off my training schedule not to mention my mood and energy level. After bringing my carbs up to 50% on Monday, I was completely back to normal Tuesday morning.

Fill'er Up
My muscles filled back in and I had energy to spare on the elliptical this morning. I did my usual 45(ish) minutes and 650 calorie burn. I think I'm going to hold off on the 850 step up until I'm sure I am completely back on track. "On Track" to me will be eating 2500 calories (or more) every day, exercising 650 calories (or more) at least on every low day.

The Problem You WANT to Have
Today is a high calorie day for me. This typically means eating maintenance level calories without working out - but I needed a good burn at the gym after the last two pathetic days. Now that I've done it, I have to figure out how in the world I can eat 3150 calories today to hit my 2500 net! Good Lord.

Liquid Breakfast
Protein powder is the easiest way to get a balanced calorie boost on the magnitude that I need today. I had some EAS weight gain powder this morning 4 scoops + 2 cups 2% milk. All together, this makes over 3 cups of liquid - and you have to drink a ton of water with it or it will completely dehydrate you. All told, I drank over 40 oz of liquid this morning... and this is supposed to be IN ADDITION to my normal breakfast meal.

I packed my usual breakfast (Low-carb bread, flax peanut butter and fruit sandwich) and ate it as soon as I got to work.

URF...
I am STUFFED right now, but it's 11am so I'm actually 30 minutes late on my morning snack. Agh. I don't WANT to eat anymore - but I HAVE to... got to keep my metabolism up.

I know you're thinking "Wah-wah-wah" but this is hard to do! It's funny to think that I used to eat 2900-3200 calories every day. It was easy to do when I was eating calorie dense junk food... but on a whole food diet - it is almost impossible. Whole foods really fill you up!

Makin Mah Own Noo Soop
I had to make an extra trip to the store today to buy veggies that I could use to make my own soup. Those of you following along at home know that I'm trying to eliminate processed foods (including canned foods) - partially because I'm trying to reduce sodium, but mostly because I want to burn whole foods as nature intended.

I've got frozen corn, peas and grean beans (soon to be replaced with fresh!), some fresh potatoes and lean chicken breast. I bought these containers of organic "Garden Natural" soups from a company called "Imagine" to use as a base. This is a temporary middle step until I figure out how to make a decent veggie puree to form my own base.

"Imagine" Brand Organic Soups
http://www.imaginefoods.com/

Check out these ingredients:

Ingredients: filtered water, organic sweet corn, organic onions, organic soymilk (filtered water, organic soybeans), organic potatoes, organic celery, organic expeller pressed canola oil and/or safflower oil and/or sunflower oil, sea salt, organic spice. May contain organic rice flour.

Ahhh.... That is so much better than the stuff you see on a can of Progresso soup. Here is a sample:

Enriched egg noodles, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, mononitrate, modified food starch, water, salt, monosodium glutimate (MSG), hydrolized corn protein, egg whites, chicken fat, onion powder, autolyzed yeast extract, garlic powder, soy protein isolate, sodium phosphate...

The imagine soups aren't too expensive either. The three soups that I bought come in large rectangular containers (like liquid chicken broth boxes). 32oz was about $3.39 and it's available at regular grocery stores.

Lunch Today
I'm really looking forward to lunch... well... assuming I have room *laugh*. I'm using 1 cup of soup instead of 2 now and fresh meat instead of canned which has cut sodium for this meal by 85% or more. I added 2 cups of corn instead of 1 today because I wasn't sure if I'd need more calories or not... Turns out the soup I made is 1050 calories! (oops!) By the looks of things, I'll need it today. I think I'll drop the cottage cheese out of my snacks to offset the calories. I've got plenty of protein in the soup today... lean pot-roast! Yum!

------

12pm Update

Sodium/Potassium Shift
Wow. Check this chart out!


Talk about the power of whole foods - Look at that potassium bar!

------

2:45pm Update

What a friggin pile of food. I'm about to explode. Next time I'll split that lunch up into two meals - whoof.