It’s almost October. I’m feeling more like I’m in a routine again after a crazy busy summer of fun and travel and impromptu dinners and happy hours and dates and good times. I’m not going to sugar coat this – my diet has seen much better days. It’s been something I’ve been thinking about a lot as my mindset about food has transitioned so much over the last year into thinking about food as fuel for my body. Thinking about it doesn’t necessarily equate to doing it, and I’m a prime example of this.
Over the last year, I’ve lost 45 lbs and I’ve stayed at this plateau for the last 3 months. Being stagnant isn’t enough anymore because I know I’ve got more weight to lose. Not because I want to be skinnier – I just want to be the healthiest version of myself. I work out at least 5-6x a week. I’m conscious with my sleep (s/o to last Saturday when I went to bed at 9:30pm and slept for 12 hours!). But my eating? Well, that has relaxed a bit these last few months, and I can tell the difference.
So, this week, I made a gentle deal with myself with no regrets as I continue on this journey and have moved back into the habit of consciously cooking for myself with more frequency. This allows me to be more responsible for the food I put into my body. For example, I won’t be hungry for a sugar laden blueberry muffin if I’m satisfied from a good breakfast of 2 protein muffins and a banana, right? And my favorite post workout dinner has become a mixture and combination of protein (ground beef, chicken, or eggs), vegetables, and white rice. Toss on a little Cholula and you are GOOD TO GO. Simple. Basic. Clean. Healthy.
I’ve also taken to weighing myself every day again. This is not because I’m obsessing about the number on the scale – at all. Seriously, it’s not. It’s mostly because I know our weights can fluctuate so much over the course of a week – sleep, eating habits, water retention, menstruation (omg I SAID IT) can all affect the scale to some degree. Tracking my weight in this #2 JENN’S WEIGHT TRACKER 2015 allows me to see the data 10 days projected out, which actually helps me understand that I’m getting leaner over time despite the ups and downs of the scale. And that’s just a little bit of the motivation I need to see on a daily basis. To me it’s honestly just a number. I feel great about my body and my accomplishments in the gym – I just want to step it up a notch. I have not tested my body fat lately, though this is on my short list of things I’d like to do. Honestly, I wish this would have been something I would have done 68 weeks ago so I could have something to reference when I get these results back.
In addtion, I’ve re-upped with Origin Meals so my lunches can get back on track, too. This is super convenient for someone like me with a pretty demanding day job (re: important business lady YEAH I JUST CALLED CHINA OK?!) who often gets trapped at the desk over the lunch hour and doesn’t tend to eat until 3pm or later. NOT GOOD. NOT GOOD AT ALL. Our bodies need food. There will always be work. One cannot hinder the other. Origin Meals is great because they are a team of talented chefs that prepare and deliver meals to local gyms, Solcana being one of them. Their philsophy is simple – they believe a healthy diet should be full of real food, packed with nutrients, and free of potentially irritating ingredients that don’t serve the functions of your body. And, their meals are made using responsibly sourced proteins, antioxidant-rich fruits and veggies, and healthy fats and oils. And they never sacrifice flavor. And all of this loveliness gets delivered directly to my gym twice a week for me to pick up and NOT HAVE TO PREPARE! It’s a win. And another win. Or, really just a win-win.
And, lastly, I’ve jumped back onto MyFitnessPal to enter my food every day again, too. It makes such a difference when you can SEE and NOT JUST TRY TO REMEMBER all of the things you’ve put into your body each day. With so many pals on MyFitnessPal already, this is going to help me immensely. Find me if you’re one the app – I mean, I put this stuff out there because I want to be accountable. I want to continue to cut weight while keeping my strength so that as I can improve as an CrossFit athlete and as a powerlifter as I train in preparation for my next meet in February 2016. I’ve got a lot of work to do and it helps to have an eye on the prize. And you’re support means everything to me.
It’s a journey, people. And we’re on it together.