Excitement, and a little bit of math.

Cereal makes me sooooo happy. Carbs make me so happy. Especially high GI carbs. Wow, I don't ever think I've looked this forward to eating cereal ever. Oh and skim milk. I would die without milk. But unfortunately that delicious box of peanut butter crunch comes at a hefty price. I have to pay the cost/ "pay to play" as my posing instructor likes to call it.

Basically, carbs = cardio. I have to earn every gram of carb I consume. Roughly, that box has 15 servings, and 21 grams of carbs in every serving, so if my math skills are sharp, 21x15 = 315 grams of carbs. But that's just the cereal alone. Let's not forget the skim milk, which has about 13 grams of carbs per 8 fl. oz (240 mL) serving. Let's theoretically say I have half a gallon of milk with a whole box of peanut butter crunch. Half a gallon = 64 fl. oz = 8 servings x 13 grams of carbs  = 104 grams of carbs. In total, 315 + 104 = 419 grams of carbs x 4 calories/gram of carb = 1676 calories. I burn about 330 calories/hour on the elliptical, so 1676/330 = 5.08 hours on the elliptical to make that cereal and milk disappear. But thank goodness I will not be spending that much time on cardio :)

To maintain my muscle, I'd also have to eat about 120 grams of protein x 4 calories/gram of protein = 480 calories. Overall, my maintenance calories come out to 1725 calories - 480 calories for protein = 1245 calories for carbs (if I don't eat any fat) / 4 calories per gram of carb = 311.25 grams of carbs I'm allowed for tomorrow. Enter the "pay to play" scenario. Since I want to eat 350 grams of carbs tomorrow (yes I know I'm greedy) I hit the elliptical. If I do 90 minutes in the morning and 35 minutes at night, and I burn about 4 calories per minute, 125x4 = 500 calories. That puts my maintenance calories to 2225 calories - 480 calories = 1745 calories/4 calories per gram of carb = 436.25 grams of carbs. But I'll limit myself to 350 grams because I'm still trying to cut fat and drop weight while having my carbs at the same time too :) So it all works out, I just have to pay the price of a long cardio session first thing in the morning :( Always remember, if you want carbs, it's gonna cost you time on the elliptical :(