The Hunger

    I have been increasing my workouts incrementally. Adding intensity and duration, and doing double workouts at least 4 days a week, one before work, one in the evening. One side effect of this it The Hunger. That is how I think of it. It is an insatiable appetite. I am hungry all the time. All. The. Time. I eat huge amounts of food, and am hungry an hour later. This is one reason I only keep healthy food in my house, this way I know that when I go rummaging through the cupboard, cramming anything into my mouth that comes into my hand, at least it has nutritious benefits. I eat at least 5 times a day, and not little snacks. On work days I eat two breakfasts, the first is usually a 2 egg breakfast burrito, the second is a Clif Bar and banana. Then I have a pre-lunch snack of raw almonds and a banana, or maybe my homemade pumpkin bread with peanut butter. Lunch is a pint jar full of my wild grains/quinoa blend, and another pint jar of roasted winter vegetables, plus a banana, and maybe a slice of pumpkin bread, or another Clif Bar, depending on what workout I have planned for later in the day. When I get home from work I usually have a handful of almonds and maybe another banana before my workout. Dinner, post-workout, is usually a smoothie made with spinach, banana, juice, rice protein, hemp protein, and maybe a raw egg, alongside a more normal dinner item like vegan, spinach tacos, or eggs over roasted potatoes. Bedtime snack is rosemary tea, and a handful of dark chocolate chips. So you see, I do not shirk when it comes to stuffing my face. The problem is, that is my "normal" daily intake of food, but lately, as I ramp up my workouts, that is not enough food. I have been having mega carb cravings, and satisfying them with massive amounts of food. Today was potato day. I have been craving taters, so my lunch was a heaping plate of rosemary roasted Yukon Golds topped with two over easy eggs, followed by 1/4 pan of black bean brownies (which are delicious, by the way... high protein, low sugar, low fat, and gluten free). I was hungry less than an hour later. Post-workout dinner was a bowl full of potato salad made with leftover roasted potatoes (I cooked 6 medium potatoes, and ate all of them in two meals), and 1/4 pan of brownies. I keep thinking my appetite will taper off, but it doesn't seem to be. Oddly, my weight has stayed a consistent 158-ish since late summer. So I guess I am okay eating mass quantities of healthy food, as long as I am working out enough to compensate for my lumberjack appetite. I guess I have the fear that I will step on the scale and will suddenly see it jump up 20 pounds or so. But honestly, I eat rocket fuel, I don't put crap in my body, I don't eat empty calories. So, I know that as I steadily increase my workouts, and winter slips into spring, even if I were to put on a few off-season pounds, they won't stick around. But it is frustrating, this hunger, as if I am an empty void, a black hole, a bottomless pit. As long as I am training, I can assuage The Hunger.