Banana Cakes and Pasta Feasts

When you work out a lot in a day (triathlon day!) you should eat well too. In terms of calories, there's lots of philosophies, but I find that when I'm trying to lose weight, adding back in about half the calories burned in exercise keeps me fueled but still moving forward.

I know the exercise/food balance is intuitive for lots of people, but it's not always easy for me. Summer is coming. I'm trying to lose some inches and feel great in less clothing, a requirement of the 100+ degree summers, so eating more sort of feels counterproductive sometimes. I try to mostly follow my hunger cues, but I know I'm not the only one who sometimes feels my brain is playing tricks on me, whether it's telling me I'm not hungry when I ought to be, or hungry when I don't think I've "earned" the calories. For the most part, the balance works out okay, but hungry/angriness and/or overeating still sometimes get the best of me.

Tonight though, so far I've done all right.

I was getting pretty hungry for a snack around 5, so lightning-fast made a new-to-me recipe:

Microwave Banana Cake

190 calories alone, 260 calories topped

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 mashed banana

3 tbsp soy yogurt

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 pinches baking soda

pinch salt

splash vanilla extract

cinnamon

1. Mash banana, add yogurt then everything else in a microwaveable bowl. Stir to combine.

2. Microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes. 

(If you're not sure how to use this setting on your microwave, it's actually pretty easy. Enter the time - it may even start - and THEN push the "Power Level" button. Usually then you can change it.)

Toppings: 1/2 tbsp of coconut butter and 1 tbsp maple syrup. 

It was like heaven in a (microwaveable) bowl. 

(use half)

A couple hours later, I was browsing recipes for dinner and realized I needed dinner soon, no time for grocery shopping or fancy recipes. 

So: I dry-fried 2 carrots, added 2/3 cup frozen peas and 1/2 cup jarred tomato sauce and heated it up in the pan. Then mixed it with a 2 oz. uncooked/4 oz. cooked serving of whole wheat pasta. Topped with nooch. Salad with cucumber and TJ's Goddess dressing. This is a lovely voluminous dinner. 

What are your thoughts on "intuitive eating" refueling?