Sleep - calories at night

SLEEP

I have noticed recently that my sleep habits have once again deteriorated.

For instance, it is currently 1 a.m. and I am up typing this, when I'm due at work tomorrow (by my watch) at 8a -- which means I need to leave by 730a and be up by 645-7a. . . I would like to get up and run, which means I'd need to be out of the house by 6a or so. . .

But because of that eventuality I reworked my schedule and I'll come home tomorrow night and ride and probably run on the treadmill. AGain, I'm pretty shocked at how much I've come to enjoy the treadmill -- particularly since I can watch TV while workout out on it -- essentially killing two birds with one stone.

CALORIES LATER AT NIGHT

I've also noticed more eating after 8p or so. Caloric intake, probably out of boredom (though a bit of hunger). I just caught myself thinking, though my average calories per day is ~1900 calories. . . if I could lower it to 1400 cals (which is pretty low) then I'd have a further deficit (all else being equal) of 3500 cals per week, which is the extra magic pound per week. Said another way, just one step closer to having abs :-). [my newfound joke if you can't already tell. I mean I'd take them if they appeared, but the truth is, they are so far away, it's not even worth worrying about at this point.]

The tri this weekend should be fun. I feel pretty keyed in for one of my better runs in years -- all because I'm lower in weight.

WEIGHT LOSS IN THE EASY WEEKS

I still follow 2-3 hard weeks, followed by an easy week, in an effort to let my body heal up from intense training. This is an easy week. I think there's a natural flow to fewer calories burned, and therefore, less weight loss during these weeks. I should double check for correlations though.

OVERALL PLAN

I think the overall plan remains, and it's actually quite simple:

* eat 4-6 servings of fruit a day (which for me is via smoothies);
* eat 4-6 servings of veggies per day (for me: salad, frozen veggies and soup);
* eat some protein (tuna, chicken, beans, etc.).
* try to maintain caloric intake in the 1800-2200 cal range -- may need to adjust downward if weightloss plateaus or other unanticipated problems);
* try to burn ____ calories (calculated as follows):
* mileages: 5k swim /wk - 60-80 miles per week bike = 15-20 miles per week running;
5k-yards swim = ~1600 calories; 70 miles cycling = ~5600 cals; 15 miles running = 2700 cals; TOTAL CALS/WK = ~10,000 calories, or approximately 1,400 cals per day (way more than I thought it would be. . . but I don't think I'm making these numbers; let's assume that through averages, I'm only able to maintain 1/2 of the idea; so an extra 700 cals per day burned).

Using Discovery's basal metabolic rate calculator, I have 2177 calories per day as a BMR. BAsed on those numbers:

Input - Output = #loss
2000 cals - (bmr + exercise) = #loss
2000 cals - (2177 + 700) = # loss
2000 cals - 2900 cals = (900) cals per day; or ~6,300 calories per week. . . which is right in line with ~2 pounds per week. . . in fact, it's a bit short,

IN LINE WITH 2.5 POUNDS PER WEEK LOSS

1900 cals - (2177 + 1000) = #loss
1900 cals - 3177 = 1277 cals/day ~1300 cals/day

~9100 calories per week -- which is approximately 2.6#s per week. This is probably close to where I am these days. . . the exception, of course is the easy week, where I don't have as much exericse, so the numbers go down or level off a bit. . .

anyhow. . .

k