Courthouse Nutrition Plan - Week Four Summary

Still on 2,300 calories a day.  For what it's worth...

Meal Plan:

Meal 1 - Shake of whey protein, berries, banana and milk.   I made something similar to this before the plan, which I prefer, but it's okay.  The only thing is I feel this is more effective as a post-workout recovery snack and it doesn't give me enough energy on it's own to plow through my vigorous workouts.  So...I supplement with a Zone Perfect bar too.  So sue me. 

Meal 2 - apple and 2 string cheese  Tasty but I have a volume problem here, especially coming off of the light-feeling shake.

Meal 3 - Pita with clean chicken salad mixture and some carrots.  Tasty recipe but not enough food.

Meal 4 - Clean trail mix recipe and a peach.

Meal 5 - Turkey Meat Loaf burger and Sweet Potato fries and a salad.  Tasty and good volume.

Meal 6 - Egg/veggie/feta cheese omelet

The food is good.  It's not enough and I will just forego this week's posts with a blanket statement that having to fill in all of the blanks in my hunger is leading to basically no days where I am 100% on the plan and then I end up overeating and eating perhaps the wrong things and it's miserable.

By Tuesday, I started an experiment, because my weight was creeping a pound over where I started and I panicked.  I decided that abandoning the plan is not the answer.  Instead, I will take 3 days and eat only clean food, but eat whenever I am hungry just to the point that I feel satisfied.  My reason was to figure out how many calories are realistic, because I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I eat 2,300 calories on a "diet" and that I am now living a dual lifestyle as a rabid cheetah in my offtime.  I know that in order to request more calories, especially after my bloated weigh-in debacle last week with my NT, I need to have something concrete to back me up.  Also, I've heard that excessive exercising, namely cardio, can create insatiable hunger in people and I know that my NT is wondering about that with me and I am too.  So I need to find out some things about myself.  And at this point, I don't have anything to lose.  The downward spiral I've been on isn't taking me toward my goal.  And I desperately want to have a version of the Courthouse Nutrition Plan that works for me, that I can stick to and see what it can do for me.  But I refuse to starve myself anymore.  For anything.  I've been on a continual yo-yo diet since I was 13 and the buck stops here.  No more starving.  I am fit and my food is FUEL.  And right now, I'm out of gas, plain and simple. 

For three days, I ate when I was hungry a variety of foods all three days, but all clean foods.  All 3 days I magically ate 2,850 calories.  And for 3 days, I maintained my weight to the ounce.  I felt justified and happy as a clam.  This means my exercise is not masking my hunger.  I'm hungry when I'm hungry and that's that.  Also, if I can eat 2,850 and maintain my present situation, requesting more calories shouldn't be an issue, because I exercise on top of all that.

Thursday I emailed my NT with renewed zest.  I told her I am a rabid cheetah and explained the findings of my experiment.  She said she would increase me to 2,600 calories and that we could go from there.  She said she envied my metabolism.  If you saw the ridiculous level of fitness and health my NT exudes, you would brush by this comment like it was nothing (with a huge grin on your face) just as I did.  Hey, if this chick envies me for any reason whatsoever, it's a victory in life. 

I'm looking forward to a fresh start.