thread on which to be factitiously Mentally Normal (NOS)

[Mitchy1nge]

nobody was wondering but not only am I still alive, the horribleness of my back pain has completely stopped is all a bit tender and traumatised but hooray for me

and partial hooray for the weirdness that is tramadol I suppose

House sitting, babysitting, home alone, yes any opportunity.

Totally normal and completely IN CONTROL.
Right. Soup.

Caulk, I'm so sorry. Too many people die far too young :(

Soup is good, I made soup today, butternut squash and sweet potato
That is all I managed to do today, but it was yummy!

Rounding off today with a Zubrowka and tonic. I think I need one.

I'm calorie counting (1200 kcal because I'm v sedentary), wondering whether to replace my 2 yoghurts a day with a slim fast shake.

I'm trying for 1290kcal a day (what MFP says I need to eat to lose a pound a week) but it's really hard

I'm pretty sedentary too but I log some of my exercise. Not that I did any today - was planning to run back from town but lungs had other ideas

Is that 1200 to maintain, Snowy?

am eating (or aiming close to) almost double that, it feels really really really horrible

am distracting self with marathon training plans and chat as it's such a powerful incentive to stay on track

no is more than double

am shit at maths as well as everything else

1200 is to lose 1lb a week, I've only just restarted today. I agree it's very hard to keep to.

What marathon are you planning for, mitch?

the halstead marathon (everyone always goes 'where?' but is top 3 of all uk marathons as voted by runners world readers!) it's not too far from me and I can run with my brother (well not with him all the way, he is a really fast runner) and some friends from my club

I had so many overuse injuries last time and there is a constant battle of what I want to do v what am physically up to and I know nobody will support me unless I use it (running) in a healthy way by eating a lot and getting plenty of rest etc everyone says it won't be possible to get fat just by gaining some weight but it's not always a very rational thing is it

Just asked the housemate who is training for an ultra marathon and she says yes halsted is lovely, very nice, great and is definitely not possible to get fat whilst training and if you stay the same weight is dangerous and will damage bones, need to gain more muscle etc. she says whilst training she has 3000 calories normally and 5000 when running more than ten miles.

Meanwhile, in the real world, not the fantasy world where I eat all the right foods in the right quantities every day. I have stuffed down over 1900kcal and am still hungry

DP looked at me mournfully when i asked him to bring the bourbon, asked if i had enough calories left, and then said, "but I thought you wanted me to help you". Yes, by keeping an eye on portion sizes in meals you cook and not eating an entire packet of abernethy biscuits in front of me, preferably.

Ah well.

if my goal was 1200 calories a day I'd probably go for

breakfast: 25g porridge (made with water) plus cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe vanilla extract, maybe stevia (89 cals, say 100) with green tea or black coffee

snack: apple (50-75? depending) I really really like to quarter them and microwave for a minute with cinnamon and nutmeg, or those 'fruit factory' mini boxes of sultanas with other dried fruits (39 calories)

lunch: The Omelette obviously - 5g olive oil (45 cal) 2 medium eggs (say 200, is prob less) spinach (prob no need to count this but say 25cal per 100g) and feta, the apetina classic light that is already cubed is under 100 calories for 50g - that's well under 500 calories

afternoon snack: options hot chocolate? 40 cals

supper: maybe about 200 calories worth of roast mixed mediterranean vegetables (don't add oil, or just spray once with the 1 cal spray thing)? those frozen salmon fillets are about 120 cals

should leave you enough for a bedtime snack of: 170g pot of fage 0% total greek yoghurt which is about 100 cals

fuck

is no wonder so many bits of me broke down in the summer

am working up to 3000 but I don't, obviously, eat anything like that usually - even my 'unrestrained eating sprees' don't come close and regularly run more than ten miles

but that's good to know

I think

my 1200 cal plan looks like something from a pro ana manifesto

She does one or two marathons a year, and 3 halfs. She is a big fan of carbs, and has no problem eating that much, so I didn't think she would know how much it is that she does have. She is also a cancer scientist so I am happy she eats that amount as keeps her good at her job too.

I do need to eat carbs

that meal plan is basically my everyday life except I don't always have breakfast (but sometimes add a sugary seed shot to it, extra 98 cals, if am going to run for more than an hour) and I don't usually have two meals, so is just The Omelette and snacks (although sometimes skip those) unless there is some kind of special occasion happening

no wonder am such a slow runner

Last Tuesday I managed 1285 kcal, with less than 25% calories from carbs, on the following:

Breakfast: nothing

Lunch: mini houmous pot and carrot sticks

Dinner: fried pork loin steak with tomato salsa topping and boiled carrots

Snacks: 2 pecans, 2 Brazil nuts, 6 hazelnuts, and one hot chocolate made with 100% chocolate, semi-skimmed milk, and erythritol, whisked to a froth.

New I just need to do that every day

(is she definitely not fat?)

Would prefer to keep carbs under 15% but it's almost impossible on 1300kcal if you want to keep eating dairy and a range of veg.

Definitely. Clothes between 8 and 10. Want me to ask what she eats? Bare in mind my 15 years of food stuff and that I wouldn't say she wasn't if she was.

She has muscles, but defiantly not fat.

if she doesn't mind? runners usually v happy to share chat about food in my experience

I guess I still want to get away with the bare minimum necessary to train without injury, and to get there and get round. My last half went really well and I observed everything to the letter in the last few weeks before the race - I ate carbs, I tapered, I finished incredibly strong and could have done another 10k at race pace. I don't know how much harder it will be preparing for the double the distance though.

I won't be doing heroic weekly mileage though, if I can help it (see also: all those overuse injuries) I'm just going to build my long run up from 13 to about 20/22 over next 17 weeks and try to only run on three other days (usually run five days a week, twice on one of those days) but I want to give everything time to repair itself.

Ok.

Breakfast- large tea (sports direct mug). She has milk in it. Cereal (cornflakes or granola) with milk and a banana. Sometimes toast too. Three digestives.

Snacks mid morning- digestives, a twix, sometimes fruit too.

Lunch - crisps, beans on toast or sandwich or left overs or costa panini. Two bits of fruit or salad. Cake or fruit loaf with butter.

Snack - twix or digestives. Banana or fruit loaf. Sometimes toast.

About 6 teas so far.

At home- snack of toast/cake/an orange/biscuit depending on how hungry she is.

Dinner - pasta/potatoes/rice/meat/veg. She aims for 800-1000 calories in this meal, will have more if she has done a class as well.

Snack- yoghurt, cereal, toast.

She said it depends, and eats more when hungry, so can't give more than that. Evening meal is usually jacket pot, macaroni cheese, curry, pizza etc. Her only "rule" is one twix per day.

Runs at 9 min miles if less than ten miles, and up to 11 minutes for a half marathon.

I mean can't give more detail than that.

wow! thank you for typing all that out, that's awe inspiring. It is very much like the diet of my ultra running friend, which have discounted on grounds of him being A Man who is over a foot taller than me and who runs really really fast compared to me

her half marathon pace sounds pretty close to mine too, about 10- 10:30

this is really helpful, I appreciate it, food is medicine and more importantly marathon fuel!