Calories

1766.

That's the magic number.

At least according to The Daily Plate. If I want to lose 2 pounds per week, this is the total number of calories I should be consuming on any given day.

Since January 2010, when I first began counting and losing, this has worked out just fine. There were some bumps in the road as I re-educated myself about nutrition and re-shaped the size of my stomach, changing habits doesn't happen over night after all. But seeing as how I've lost nearly 50 pounds since then, I must be doing something right!

So here I am 4 months later, coasting along, feeling like I have found my stride, like I have figured it all out when suddenly I run smack dab into triathlon training, and everything I've learned about calories seems to fly out the window, because here's the deal, it's no longer just a DIET to lose weight. What started as a short term "let's lose weight to look good in a wedding dress" goal has evolved into a "let's train and push our body to it's limits".

On Wednesday I burned 1500 calories while training, yesterday it was 1000. Obviously, my magic number of 1766 needs some tweaking on these types of days, since my body can't survive on 266 calories, or even 766 for that matter. Plus, I have to take into account the fact that I am still nursing Saoirse and need enough for her as well. At this point she's eating plenty of solids and so it's not as serious as if she was still using me as her primary source of nutrition, but on the other hand, she still hasn't started drinking cow's milk and so I am her only milk supply.

After reading a lot about this, and asking around, the bottom line is this, my magic number will remain the same, but my burned calories will need to be replaced. So on a day like Wednesday when I worked out 1500 calories my daily intake should have included my base 1766 PLUS an additional 1500, making for a whopping 3266 calories!!!

This is of course where it starts to get a little scary, I mean, I have spent the last 4 months learning how to eat 1700 calories and feel good and full and happy. I have worked very hard to accomplish this, and for a food addict like me this was not an easy task! There is definitely some fear creeping into all of this as I transition from eating like I am on a diet, to eating like I am training for a triathlon. I definitely have some more learning to do.

I will say this: On Wednesday as I attempted to replace some of my calories, I got to have peanut butter for the first time in nearly 3 months! PEANUT BUTTER!!! Oh, man was it ever delicious and if training for a triathlon means eating peanut butter on a regular basis then maybe I should do this more often.