My Butt, She Is Not So Aero

I am tired of losing the same freaking five pounds! Up, down, up, down. My scale is doing more reps than I am. Grrrrr. I am getting stronger. I am making gains in my base fitness (which is good really, because I can't afford any losses in that arena if I'm to have any hopes of finishing the oly!) Muscle weighs more than fat, blah, blah, blah - I DON'T CARE! (That is such cold comfort for this pudgy girl.) Seven months seemed like plenty of time to whittle away thirty pounds. And it was! But the race is now four months away (as of yesterday) and those thirty pounds? They are still hanging around my hips. They have officially overstayed their welcome. Out, out damn spots fat cells! Be gone and stay gone! I have a proven mastery of the general concept of "spending more than you bring in will leave you in deficit" (just ask my bank!), so why, why, why have I had difficulty applying this knowledge to calories?

One thing I recently discovered is that there is a difference between what I consider a tablespoon of peanut butter and what the diet world considers a tablespoon of peanut butter. "Heaping" is, perhaps, not an adjective conducive to weight loss.



Another thing I'm beginning to realize is being "bike hungry" (Cindy's wonderful term for that hollow, gnawing hunger that starts in your toes and claws its way up your body) is not an excuse to eat Krispy Kremes - even the whole wheat kind.

I've spent hours over the last couple of days trying to figure out intake, output, electrolytes and nutrients in order to come up with a healthy training/racing fuel plan for myself. I've come to realize (exactly as I did when I was pregnant, dammit - why didn't the lesson stick?) that there is no room for empty (or even only moderately full) calories if I'm to get all my nutrition in. Efficiency, that's what I need! Every bite (or splashy gulp) is sacred! I like fuel better than food anyway so this isn't a problem for me - except it's taking a lot of brain power. A lot. If thinking about all this stuff were an endurance sport, I'd have finished a half-iron by now. I'm just saying.