I am not sure what the total calories were on my serving of cheerios but I did have it with a protein and flax shake so I actually took in more calories. I know it is not considered a carb up or even a mini carb up, but let me tell you, I did notice a difference. I usually went into my workout feeling depleted of everything and really struggled to get through it. Another issue was that I did not take my usual Hydroxycut pill before the workout, just didnt feel I needed it after the carb intake. I was also able to do my cardio separately in the AM so when it came to my afternoon workout, all I did was a 5 min. warm up then went right into weights. I like the separate cardio and weight training workouts, but I can only do that on my days off of work. I was also happy with my ability to do cardio on an empty stomach.