Eating and heavy exercise

Yesterday was a great day of exercise for me. I power walked to my son's school and back when I went to volunteer (adds up to just under a mile). I rode the monster bike to school pick-up (all uphill) and then coasted home with my son's help. And then last night I did 45 minutes of BodyPump which is Resistance training and 45 minutes of BodyStep which is step aerobics with some resistance training thrown in. All in all I did about 2 hours of exercise yesterday when you count in cleaning up the garage a bit too.

I also ate a bit more yesterday. My caloric intake and exercise habits for the last two weeks has looked like this:

January 19th: 1559 (with one hour of exercise)
January 20th: 1323 (with 1.5 hours of exercise)
January 21st: 1456
January 22nd: 1207
January 23rd: 1402
January 24th: 1226 (with one hour of exercise)
January 25th: 1420 (with 1.5 hours of exercise)
January 26th: 1402 (with one hour of exercise)
January 27th: 1423
January 28th: 1508 (with one hour of exercise)
January 29th: 1609
January 30th: 1802
January 31st: 1178 (with one hour of exercise)
February 1st: 1684 (with two hours of exercise)

As you can see, my eating has been all over the place, but exercise has been fairly consistent. But, my eating hasn't been out of control. Some days I'm just hungrier than other days. Yesterday was one of those days, so I ate more.

But you know what else? I felt stronger yesterday and I wonder if it has to do with eating more. The days preceding that workout, I had, on average, been eating more than normally with the exception of the day before yesterday where I just wasn't hungry. I aim for 1450 for calories, this past week it's been more like 1515 for the week. The previous week averaged 1371. So, an average of 200 more calories per day this past week. Now to figure out if that was a fluke, or if I need more fuel.

Yesterday at bodypump I increased my weights for every single muscle group and didn't need to skip a single rep. It was time to up the weights as last time I didn't feel sore afterward and I felt I could do a bit more, but usually when I up weights, I really struggle getting through the song and have to skip a few reps. Not this time.

Then, I followed that tough new resistance routine with those added weights with a step workout and I did much more power stuff than I have ever done before. I added in jumps I've never added in before. I kept my riser in a song that I most often want to take it out. And I felt great. And I did all that after already exercising a bit earlier in the day. I can't even say I was better rested or something, because I wasn't.

It's very interesting and I'm going to watch more carefully about how I feel with workout out and the amount of calories I'm eating. around November some time I was feeling like I was exercising through mud and it felt sooooo hard. Maybe I was eating too little? But at that time too is when my thyroid was getting pretty low again. Huh...

It's something to keep observing, for sure.

Stats for 2/2/12:

Highest weight: 275  Now: 176.2
Total hours worked out in 2012: 22/250