Food

I like food. I need to eat a lot of food when I'm training in my usual fashion during the summer. Michael Phelps needs to eat a lot of food. It seems some people are pretty incredulous about the types of food he eats. Hey--when you need to eat 8,000 calories a day, it's pretty hard to get that all from fruits, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains. There is not enough time in the day to chew all of that! I mean seriously! When Eskimos used to subsist on a lot of whale blubber, was there someone telling them, "Hey, don't eat all that whale blubber!" Hell no. You eat what you need to eat and sometimes your body tells you to just eat a lot of calorie dense food that's not too bulky. Example: cake, cookies, candy.

So far today, I have biked for 1:40 and ran (brick) for :45 (**NEW** NO BONKING!!!) and here's what I've had to eat/drink:

Breakfast:
4 cups of coffee with non-fat Coffeemate creamer
1 Powerbar Triple Threat

10:00AM snack
2 large bananas

Pre-workout carb loading:
4 fruit slices (candy)
1 can Coke (unknown calorie content!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

During workout:
32 oz. Gatorade

Post-workout Recovery:
Endurox R4

Lunch--Sandwich consisting of:
2 slices bread
1 can albacore tuna packed in water
about 2 tbsp. low-fat mayonnaise
about 2 tsp. pickle relish
1/2 of a medium tomato

Salt Craving:
3 Pringles

How many calories in all that? Off the top of my head, I'd say about 2000? Except for the Coke, fruit slices and Pringles, pretty nutritional stuff. I could use more veggies. How many calories do I need today? About 1250 for the exercise, and about 2000 for my basal rate. So let's call it 3,300. So I need 1300 more. No problemo! Spaghetti and meatballs (homemade meatballs and sauce) tonight and a couple of beers should do it.

I think it's pretty easy to hit 3,500 calories a day of pretty healthy stuff, and that's already a lot of food! I can't imagine needing 5-7,000 more than that!

Back when I mostly just lifted weights, I was a little heavier than now (fatter, too) and could only eat maybe 1600-1800 calories a day to maintain my weight. Fuck that shit! I like food! For a person of my size, I think about 2,500 calories a day lets me eat a lot of different things in moderation (figure 1800 basal rate and then about 1.5 hours of exercise). 1.5 hours of exercise a day is only 10.5 per week, and that's about my winter load. This is why I stay away from pasta unless I'm at 15 hours or more a week--it's just too calorically dense and more of a treat.

But tonight, I'm going to add a bunch of carbs so I'm prepared for about 3 hours of training tomorrow. By the way, last week's little stomach upset I'm chalking up to well, just readjusting to training and introducing more carbs back into my system. Even though I rode for well over 6 hours on Sunday, I did not eat any starch post-workout and felt just fine yesterday. I feel like I need a ton of protein right now, and so I'm going to honor my body's request, and throw in some starch as needed.

If Phelps can win 8 gold medals eating whatever he wants, who are we to tell him he should do differently? Amongst whatever it is he's eating, he's getting what his body needs. Rock on, dude!