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Mindful Eating Without Tracking

*Note: picture above is to show no dramatic change. My weight is the same in both and any slight differences could just be to angle/pose. Picture is from last week and I’ve been working on writing this post all week 😉

So something kind of crazy happened that I kind of just fell into what I’m calling Mindful Eating Without Tracking (as in I haven’t tracked a full day of macros in My Fitness Pal) and I am now officially 6 weeks in, and I have to say I’m pretty ecstatic! But what is Mindful Eating Without Tracking? Let me explain.

Let me side track a little to talk about the term and concept of Intuitive Eating. Intuitive Eating has become more popularized over the past year with it’s basis being for individuals to eat intuitively (meaning to fully listen to their bodies wants/needs) and in doing so giving up the desire to want to have any control on changing their body and accepting their body for how it is or how it becomes based on their intuitive food choices. And while I think body acceptance and love is fantastic and necessary for us to have so that we feel our best, I do also think that having physique and fitness goals and working hard to feel strong and more confident is something that is also extremely important. And from my research and experience with myself and clients, I think that the best way to reach any fitness goal is through tracking macros or following a balanced macro based nutrition plan that allows all foods to be enjoyed within a moderation that helps you feel balanced and not restricted. But what about after reaching your fitness goal and you want to maintain your body composition, should you still continue to track macros?

Being at Peace with my Body and Food

I tracked my macros for a solid year and a half, and in doing so completely healed my relationship with food as I completely accepted that there are NO “good” or “bad” foods! There are just foods that fuel me and my life better (nutrient dense whole foods like lean protein, fruits, veggies, etc.) and foods that fuel my soul and memories (“fun foods” like pizza, cookies, wine, etc). All of these foods are important and necessary for us to fully thrive both mentally and physically! Throughout that year and a half I tracked macros to maintain my 30 lb weight loss while build muscle and burning fat and decreasing my body fat % (which you can read more about here).

I recently finished my last mini cut and was happy with my results (which you can read about here) and directly following the cut I went to Vegas and didn’t track (I typically hadn’t when traveling) and on that trip I enjoyed a lot of fun foods and drinks, and when I came back from Vegas I was SO busy with work that I just said “Well I had a lot of fun foods in Vegas, I’ll just focus on nutrient dense foods for the next couple of days and then get back to tracking” and then all of the sudden I was a week down without tracking a full day in MFP and nothing changed in my body composition. So then I just kept it going and now it’s 6 weeks later that I haven’t tracked a full day and my weight and physique is still relatively the same.

So am I giving up Macros?

No. For me to give up macros I would essentially be giving up on eating as a whole, and that’s not what I’m doing! lol And what I mean by that is that macros are protein, carbs, and fats, meaning that they’re in EVERYTHING we consume! So whether someone is paying attention to their macro ratio or not, they’re still consuming macros. Whenever anyone says that a meal is “well rounded” they mean that it has a balanced protein, carb, and fat macronutrient ratio as well as probably a balance micronutrient ratio because it will have veggies and/or fruit. Throughout the year and a half I was tracking I learned what meals that make me feel fueled and satisfied look like. I know that not having a good amount of protein at a meal won’t keep me satiated, and I feel more energized for my workouts when I have a good amount of carbs before them. And I know that having healthy fats is good for my hormones so I want to be conscious of getting those in. So in knowing all of this, I am still mentally tracking what I’m eating in a given day. I’m just not adding it all in to an app to try to get down to an exact gram/ratio for me to follow. But I know what 30g of protein, 30-50g of carbs, and 10-15g of fat looks like, and I know that for me to maintain my weight I need to have those portions 3-4 times a day (Please note, this is what fuels ME so it may not be fueling for YOU).

I should note that I have tracked meals that I share on Instagram, as I know that people find those helpful and I like to share meals with clients to follow that fit their macros so they don’t have to always figure it out themselves. And in doing that, I have typically been tracking one meal every other day which I think has made the transition to not tracking everything easier as I can be more thoughtful on my other meals by having the idea of what my one tracked meal macros were. But my nutrition approach will ALWAYS be macro based because I believe that it is the best and more sustainable way to build muscle and burn fat without feeling like you’re deprived or on a diet.

(If you’re confused on what macros are click here to read an article about them 🙂 )

Changing Priorities

What’s been the biggest thing I’ve noticed since adapting this approach? My time and energy towards food has decreased. Not having to double check that everything fits my exact macros in the app just saves me time. And when I’m just maintaining my weight, I just don’t find it necessary to be thinking about the exact grams when my body can self regulate. Somedays I’m eating more fun foods and other days more veggies. Somedays I’m eating more and other days I’m eating less, but I am still mentally tracking so (like I mentioned above) I wouldn’t call this Intuitive Eating at all.

The main things I find myself tracking comes down to also more food groups based, meaning that I’m getting in a serving of protein at each meal, 4-5 cups of veggies a day, 1-2 servings of whole grains/complex carbs, 2-3 servings of healthy fats, and a serving of fruit everyday. This all doesn’t necessarily add up to my maintenance calories which I why they will fluctuate and then I can fit in with some “fun foods”. This has been really helpful to me in feeling my best and most balanced, and like I mentioned less food focused. While I have “goals” for those groups, I don’t approach them with an “all or nothing” mentality that I stress out about if one day I didn’t get in some fruit. It’s more like “Hmm, I’m hungry what should I eat? Well I have’t had fruit today and I love fruit with yogurt and pb so I think I’ll have that!” The conversation I have with myself and food is way more relaxed, and I think it should be as my goals are more relaxed!

What’s my main goal with food?

Finding complete satisfaction from my meals has been one of my main priorities and goals! Like I mentioned I’m being really mindful of having my veggies or fruit and protein at all my meals and then paying attention to what’s going to make that meal whole and satisfying to me. This is important because I want to leave the meal completely satisfied instead of wanting more or feeling like something is missing which can then leave me to be just thinking about food until my next meal. I want to leave my thoughts on my food/meal as soon as I get up from the table so that I can get back to my life. I know with macros it can become a thing that we track all of our meals for the day (which is what I DO recommend for those tracking to reach a specific goal because it helps with consistency) but it can become a thing that as soon as we finish breakfast we’re just waiting for lunch, and I don’t think it should always be that way. And I’ve challenged clients with this concept by trying to have bigger and more satisfying meals and less snacks even as their in a calorie deficit and they have said it helps with being less food focused all the time.

Some examples I’ve found with myself and clients in making meals more satisfying tends to be from the carb and fat side, meaning having actual pita, naan, tacos/tortillas, or bread that you love (doesn’t always need to be whole wheat or whole grain! My Favorite is Sour Dough!), having actual rice or pasta instead of just having volume “rice” or “pasta” made from veggies, having fattier meats instead of just lean cuts, or having full fat cheese. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in make our meals have too voluminous so that it’s filling that we get lost in if it was satisfying. And while I am still having what could be considered volume meals because they are full plates with a lot of veggies and greens, I’m also making sure to add in that satisfying element. And sometimes that satisfying element has been to have something sweet after my meal whether it’s a couple spoonfuls or ice cream, a small chocolate candy, or 1/2 cup of berries. Making my meals well rounded and satisfying lets me leave my food thoughts at the meal and then really be able to pay attention to when I’m actually hungry again vs just thinking/craving food.

What about eating out at restaurants?

Eating out at restaurants has changed for me because I’m not finding myself looking up menus ahead of time to see what will fit my macros or to pre-track my meal and then fit my day around it. BUT (like I stated above) this is was I DO recommend clients to do in reaching their fitness goals, but again my current fitness goal is to just maintain my physique. And (like I stated above) I know what meals that fuel me and that goal look like. I know that I don’t need to eat my entire meal if I’m not hungry for it or feel like the portion is too large for me. I know how to have balance without overindulging. One of the reasons I suggest clients to look up meals ahead of time for restaurants is that they can decide ahead of time what they want to get without being stressed at the restaurant on what they should eat. And if you are making a fitness goal a priority then dedicating time to tracking your food is I think just necessary and the most optimal way to reach that goal, but like I’ve stated being in maintenance shouldn’t require this much extra thought. The time I spent on that I can now spend on helping clients progress to their goals and then hopefully also get to a place of mindful eating without tracking so that they can maintain their hard work.

Why did I track for so long?

The main reason why I tracked for quite a while even when I was just maintaining my weight loss, was that I was scared that if I didn’t track that I would just gain back all of the weight I lost. But I’m now 6 weeks in without tracking exact macro grams and I’ve maintained my physique, and also possibly even feel a little leaner though my weight is the same. Being less food focus just gives me one less thing to think about and relieving that stress, and just focusing on fueling my body, has just left me feeling completely balanced and satisfied! And the best part is that gives me more time to focus on my business and clients, and also time spent with friends and family.

Should you stop tracking?

If you’re in a place of your fitness journey where you want to maintain your weight (relatively within a few lbs) because you’ve reached your weight loss goal or want to take a break from being in a calorie deficit so that you can pursue further weight loss effectively in the future, then taking a break from tracking everything could be a good option for you. I would suggest that if you have been in a calorie deficit and want to maintain the weight you lost to first reverse your calories back up to maintenance so that you can track what your maintenance calories/food looks like for a few weeks before stopping tracking in My Fitness Pal or whatever app you may be using. This is so you can see what meals look like and satisfy you for you to maintain your body composition. As opposed to trying to just Mindfully Eat Without Tracking right after being in a calorie deficit, you have been used to smaller meals so you may continue to under eat or may unknowingly jump up calories too high and overeat.

How to ease your way into not tracking

Some steps you can take to slowly let go of tracking or get more relaxed with tracking if you’re not feeling ready to stop using a tracking app completely are:

Continue to track your macros but don’t use a food scale or measuring cups. Instead eyeball everything and track it, example: 4 oz chicken breast, 1 cup rice, 1/3 avocado. Then check in with the scale occasionally to see if there’s any big changes. If it seems to be going down while you’re trying to maintain weight then you may be over estimating portions, and if it’s going up then you may be underestimating portions and need to adjust.
Slowly stop tracking all of your meals. Depending on what’s comfortable for you, try to just not track one meal a week, then try not tracking one meal a day, and then get to maybe only tracking one meal a day. I would encourage you to not make the meals you don’t track as “clean as possible” because that makes them “safe”. Challenge yourself. If you’ve been following flexible dieting then you know that you have a slice of pizza or a scoop of ice cream and won’t gain fat just from that. Everything is about mindful moderation and doing what fuels you best!
If you want to be maintaining muscle/lean body mass, then you need be paying attention to protein intake. Making sure you’re getting in a serving of protein 3-4 times a day should be enough to enough to be able to maintain muscle mass. Lean Protein Examples: Chicken Breast, Lean Cut Steak, Pork Tenderloin, Turkey Breast, White Fish, Canned Tuna in Water, Egg Whites, Nonfat Greek Yogurt, Nonfat Cottage Cheese, Protein Powder. Vegan Options: Lentils, Edamame, Tofu, Chickpeas, Vegan Protein Powder. (A serving of protein is typically 20-30g, check the nutrition facts for these proteins to see how much you should be having at each meal. I also find it help to make sure I’m getting in a serving of complex carbs (30-50g would be an average recommendation) along with protein and veggies pre and post workout to help with fueling my workout and then muscle recovery. 40g of complex carbs can be any of the following in whole grain or wheat versions: 1 cup of rice, quinoa, beans, potato, or pasta, or 3/4 cup oats, a large tortilla, pita pocket, 1/2 large naan, 2 slices of bread, or 4 cups butternut squash.
Continue to weigh in. While I’m not tracking my food everyday I am still checking my weight. I suggest this though if you can view the scale as a form of data and that’s it. I know that there are many people who can have the scale negatively affect their attitude/day depending on what it says and if that’s you then I wouldn’t suggest to weigh in everyday. But the reason I suggest to weigh in (if you can view it objectively) is that it will let you know if you’re eating the right amount for your maintenance goal. Your weight will fluctuate up or down a few lbs depending on what you ate the day before but like I suggested above, if it’s swinging too low or high then you may need to adjust what your average intake is looking like.

These are the steps I’ve taken/am taking to keep me feeling fueled and balance while maintaining my physique. I’ll continue to share recipes on my page with macros because I know that it’s helpful and also tips on tracking macros because that’s my job as a Macro Coach. BUT I will also share more and talk more on how I’m Mindfully Eating Without Tracking as this can be helpful for those looking to make that next step 🙂 And I’ve actually been showing on my instagram stories my Mindful Eating Without Tracking as I’ve been showing what I’ve been ordering to eat when out at restaurants but no longer showing how to track it. Though if you check this Instagram Highlight of “Eating Well While Eating Out” then you can see a lot of info on how I tracked certain meals at certain restaurants.

Did you find this post helpful? Comment below or contact me 🙂

Struggling to meet your fitness goals and want guidance with macros/nutrition and/or personal training from me, a Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Nutrition Specialist? Check out my coaching services which range from me just setting up macros and training programs to macros with meal ideas to more in-depth one-on-one coaching that involves weekly check-ins with optional phone calls.

*This post was created by Ashley Cates who is not a Registered Dietician or a Medical Professional, nothing said should be taken as medical advice or replace any advice given by a Physician. This information does not in any way intend to diagnose or treat any health condition/disorder. The information provided is based on Ashley’s education and experience.

5 Tips on How to Feel Your Best After Too Much Indulgence

Whether it’s a party, a dinner, or maybe a weekend trip; we all have times that we felt we just maybe indulged too much. If you’re tracking macros then maybe you went over your calorie goal or had your ratio be off with maybe too much carbs and fats and not enough protein. It can sometimes be even more extreme than that if it was something that felt more like an out of control binge that may even happen while at home. And while I think the big difference in these is mindset (with feeling like you overindulged at an event may leave us uncomfortably full but is expected, while overindulging at home can feel more personal and upsetting) In either situation I would recommend the same 5 tips to getting back to feeling your best.

1. Don’t Beat Yourself Up

If you’re feeling full from an event or special dinner, then it’s probably because there was a ton of delicious food! Take a moment to recognize what you enjoyed about the event and the food and savor it! You were probably celebrating and/or around foods you don’t normally have, so it’s natural to want to try them and because foods at events and restaurants are typically more palatable, then they are very easy to consume in large amounts so it’s very easy to feel like you overindulged on them. Just know this is normal and ok! Not all progress is ruined from one night/weekend of indulgence, it’s what you do consistently that will ultimately decide on how you feel and progress you towards reaching a fitness goal!

And if it was something that happened in a private setting that feels more personal than just enjoying party food, then maybe ask yourself what seems to be the cause of late night indulging or maybe over snacking that gets you to a point of feeling overly full and uncomfortable. When I went through my own binge and restrict cycle, I would find myself making loaves of banana bread because it was “healthy” and restricting myself from regular bread. But instead of enjoying a mindful portion of the banana bread I would eat the whole thing in one night making myself sick 🙁 Other examples in which I ate too much also involved desserts, I would eat “clean” all the time and then say I was being “balanced” by eating 4 slices of cake or ton of candy because I normally never had it, so I wanted to have as much of it as I could, this would lead to horrible stomach aches. It took me a while to realize that the reason for my behaviors stemmed from me being too strict with the foods I ate everyday. Eventually I learned about tracking macros and learned that there were no good or bad foods, and that I could enjoy any food in moderation without ruining my fitness goals! This is was the game changer that lead to my binge episodes completely stopping. You can learn more about my journey to balance here.

2. Drink A Lot of Water

No detox tea is needed! Help your body naturally digest the food it ate by drinking a lot of water! Your liver is an incredible organ that wants to digest all the food you consume and can do so more efficiently with water! A basic recommendation on daily water intake is to take your weight in lbs and divide it by 2 and that’s how many oz of water you should have daily. Ex: 150 lb person would drink 75 oz of water per day.

3.Get in a Strength Training Session

While the popular strategy of combatting going over calories is to do cardio to “burn them off” this can actually do more harm then good. Our bodies don’t want extremes but balance. Indulging too much and then doing too much cardio after to try to make up for it can have a negative impact on our metabolisms and also our mentality towards fitness and food. Instead, I’d recommend to get in a strength training session the day after an overindulgence so that you can feel like you are putting those calories to use. Using extra calories as fuel for training and muscle building will also help increase your metabolic rate.

4. Get In Some Nutrient Dense Foods

The overindulgence was probably from less nutrient dense “fun foods” so focus the following day on getting in nutrient dense foods that help fuel your body best. Lean protein, fruit, veggies, healthy fats, and complex carbs, will help with getting your body back to feeling fueled and the nutrients (especially fiber) in some of these foods will help digesting anything from the day before.

5. Pay Attention to How Your Body is Feeling

If you typically have breakfast everyday, but wake up the next day after a big event just not feeling hungry then don’t feel the need to force yourself eat. Pay attention to how you’re feeling and know it’s ok to fast. But at the same time, don’t think that fasting is necessary as it can easily lead into a restrict and then binge cycle which never makes anyone feel their best. The day after an event I’ll always drink 16 oz of water and a cup of coffee and then start getting ready for my day. If I feel myself getting hungry during that process then I will typically make a large egg white and veggie scramble/omelette to get in some lean protein and veggies, but if I don’t then I will just continue with my day until I feel hungry which could be later in the day. And if I had the scramble and was still hungry then I would have maybe a slice of avocado on multigrain toast to get in some healthy fats and complex carbs.

Here’s an example day I have on my page about flexible dieting and what I ate before and after a big meal out 🙂

I know this concept of trying to listen to if your body food needs the following day can be tricky but I think implementing these strategies especially of drinking a lot of water and getting back to nutrient dense foods will make it easier. Foods that are higher in nutrients like slow digesting fiber (as opposed to quick digesting sugar) and satiating like lean protein and healthy fats will help with feeling properly fueled with balanced energy levels. And having more balanced energy levels I’ve makes it easier to listen to hunger and fullness cues.

And last thing to remember after a day of indulgence is this popular quote: “No one got fat from one doughnut, and no one got skinny from one salad” it’s what you do consistently that will ultimately decide if you will reach your fitness goals! So don’t dwell on the past but focus on the future of taking the steps necessary to get you back on track towards your goals 🙂

Did you find this post helpful? Comment below or contact me 🙂

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How to Build a Macro Balanced Meal Prep

When it comes to counting macros (or even just wanting to be more healthy and balanced by eating more nutrient dense foods) meal prep is KEY to staying on track towards your fitness and health goals! But “meal prep” can be seen as something that is extremely time consuming or something can only be done by the most organized or creative cooks! But I’m happy to tell you that does NOT have to be the case!

Having readily accessible food in your fridge to fuel your fitness and health goals is ALL ABOUT just doing what you can with what you have!

Meal prep only needs to be as timely or creative as you want it to be! I’m serious! I have many “Little to No Prep Meal Preps”(which I have the links for at the bottom of this page) and I’ve also gotten extremely creative by meal prepping Bahn Mis & Tacos, Turkey Meatballs with Spaghetti Squash & Cauliflower Sushi, Fish Burgers & Stuffed Peppers, Tuna Cakes & Shrimp with a Quinoa Casserole, and Chicken Mushroom Risotto & Shrimp Burritos.

But no matter which route I take (and it can vary from week to week) You will notice a trend in my meal preps which comes down to these key food essentials that I make sure are always in my fridge and pantry from my preps because they keep me fueled and focused on my fitness and health goals! My Key Food Essentials are: lean protein, vegetables, greens, fruit, healthy fats, and complex carbs. And let me explain why these are key and how you can make sure you have them in your fridge or pantry!

Protein:

Protein can be the hardest macro for most to eat but it has the important job of helping to build and maintain cell structure and muscle mass, because of this it makes it very hard to be put onto the body as fat. It is also the most satiating macro which is why it can be the most important when dieting or just wanting to have stable energy levels. Because of these important roles, I’ve found it best to try to have at least 30g of protein at each meal. And in order to keep that consistent, I need always have some type of readily easy accessible protein in my fridge or pantry, here are my go-tos:

Chicken breast, turkey breast, lean ground meat(turkey, beef, or chicken), lean cut steak, canned tuna, white fish, egg whites, greek yogurt, edamame, lentils, tofu, tempeh, protein powder, and protein bars.

How to Prep Protein when you have time:

An easy way to prep a lot of protein for the week is buy 16 oz of your desired protein and marinate it with lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and maybe cayenne powder if you want a little spice!(Marinating protein with Frank’s Red Hot and a little lemon juice is an easy low calorie way to add a lot of flavor too!)
After it’s done marinating, an easy way to cook proteins is in the oven OR on the BBQ! In the oven you can just lay meat out on a foil lined sheet tray with 0 calorie cooking spray and bake (cook times vary but can be easily found online or you can contact me for a suggestion 🙂 ) OR grilling protein can add A LOT of smoky flavor for no calories!
16 oz will give you four 4 oz servings of protein which is equals to 20-26g of protein depending on the cut of meat, this is a solid protein foundation for any meal!

How to Get Protein when you DON’T have time:

Pre-cooked proteins can be your best friend when you’re in a time crunch (though they will be more expensive. Here are some of my go-to’s that require either no reheating or can just be heated in a microwave: Foster Farms Chicken, Market Pantry Frozen Shrimp, Walmart Lean Cut Steak Fajitas, Starkist Tuna Packets, and Smoked Salmon (Aldi has best price I’ve seen).
Also protein options that don’t require cooking: protein bars, protein powder (mix with water), Nonfat Greek Yogurt, Nonfat Cottage Cheese, Low Fat Cheese, and shelled edamame (Trader Joe’s sells them!) are some of my favorites.

Vegetables:

Packed with micronutrients and fiber, vegetables are another key essential to making us feel our best! And because they’re typically SO LOW in calories, then we can have a large amount of them without overdoing it on the calories 🙂 When just looking at the overview of my meal preps, you will see that volume wise there is more vegetables than anything else! This is because I aim to have about 6 servings a day so I want to make sure I have A LOT on hand! I aim for this amount for my health AND because they can add so much more volume to a meal which can make it more filling and satisfying.

How to Prep Vegetables when you have time:

Similar to protein, an easy way to prep a lot of vegetables for the week is to buy YOUR favorite veggies (This is important to making sure you will WANT to eat them!) chopping and marinating them with lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and maybe cayenne powder if you want a little spice!
An easy way to cook vegetables is in the oven OR on the BBQ! In the oven you can just lay them out on a foil lined sheet tray with 0 calorie cooking spray and bake (cook times vary but can be easily found online or you can contact me for a suggestion:) ) OR grilling vegetables you can either chop and place on kabobs, roast whole, and slice so that they don’t fall through the grill! BBQing can add A LOT of smoky flavor for no calories! Here’s also a handy tool for BBQing veggies!

How to Get Vegetables when you DON’T have time:

Getting Veggies in when you don’t have time to prep them comes down to either buying options that are Fresh and Pre-Cut and can be steamed in the bag or in a bowl with water to cook OR Pre-cooked and frozen so they just need to be reheated.
- Here are some of my Pre-Cut go-to’s: Green Giant Veggies and Mann’s Veggies(these are at most grocery stores!) Trader Joe’s also has a ton of similar Fresh Pre-Cut Veggies with their Butternut Squash Zig Zags being one of the most fun and my favorite :).
- For Frozen Veggies, my go-to is pretty much ANYTHING Birdseye! They have a lot of basic and seasoned options!
And veggie options that don’t necessarily require cooking: carrots, grape tomatoes, cucumber, snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and chopped bell pepper. Some of these just need a great dip to make a great snack! Check out my low calorie dip options which can make these veggies more enjoyable 🙂

Greens:

Greens are another type of vegetable but since it can play a different role in meal prep I have it placed separately. I typically have 4-6 cups of greens a day with low calorie dressing which is why each week I will always either buy a small salad bag for each day of the week OR buy a HUGE bag and have about 1/4 a day.

Here’s more info about why a salad a day is great for keeping on track with your fitness and health goals 🙂

My favorite bagged greens are: Ready Pac, Fresh Express, Little Salad Bar(from Aldi), and Trader Joe’s has a great variety too!

And if you go for the smaller bag a day option then try out this tip on enjoying it with less mess 🙂

Fruit:

Packed with different kinds of micronutrients than vegetables means that getting in a serving of fruit daily is great for your health and a delicious way to fill your carb macros 🙂 I will typically buy mine frozen to make protein smoothie bowls with OR fresh and have banana protein oats or a sweet yogurt dip with sliced apples or strawberries! Fruits don’t really need prep, but I will suggest if you think they are doing to go bad more quickly than you will be able to eat them (like a browning banana) then throw them in the freezer to preserve them and use for a smoothie later on!

Healthy Fats:

Fats have the role of balancing hormones and other bodily functions, which is why it’s recommended that at least 20% of anyone’s calories be made up of fats. I typically like to stick with at least 25% to aid in that hormone balance and fat is also satiating so it helps with staying full and having balanced energy levels throughout the day. Besides complementary fats (like fats that are in more fatty proteins or fats we cook with like oils) most fats don’t need to be prepped. Fat rich foods: oils, nuts, nut butters, butter, avocado, egg yolks, cheeses. Besides avocado, fats can typically have a little bit longer shelf life so they can be purchased every other week (like eggs and cheese) or can last much longer than that (like nut butters and oils). I’ll typically also have peanut butter and EVOO in my cupboard and cheese in my fridge to have fats readily available, and alternate getting avocado or whole eggs instead of egg whites if I want something different for the week.

Carbohydrates:

Carbohydrates have the main job of supplying fuel for the body to move and recover. This is why I suggest to have a large amount of daily carb intake around my workouts so that I eat a good amount before the workout to have fuel for the workout, and then eat a good amount after to help with muscle recovery.

Carbohydrates are also broken up into two categories: simple and complex. And the easiest way to determine if a carb is simple or complex comes down to if it is higher in sugar then it is a considered a simple carb, this is because it can be simply broken down by the body to be used for fuel. This is why after having something with a lot of sugar, you may get a “Sugar crash” later because your body quickly metabolizes the carbs for energy and then quickly feels drained and wants more.

Complex carbs are carbohydrates that are higher in nutrients and have more fiber in them. They are complex because it takes the body longer to metabolize and digest them which helps us in feeling fuller longer. This is why it’s best to have complex carbs be a majority of your diet as it helps with keeping fullness and hunger levels balanced.

Complex Carb rich foods: oats, potatoes, grains, legumes, fruit, whole wheat or multigrain pasta, bread, wraps, or tortillas. Simple Carb rich foods: candy, cake, chips, refined grains and flour products like white rice, white bread, wraps, tortillas.

And BOTH Simple AND Complex carbs can be in a Macro Balanced Meal Prep! While complex carbs are more nutrient dense, simple carbs can just be more fun! And sometimes having too many complex carbs when you’re having a lot of fruit and veggies can cause GI discomfort from having too much fiber (you can read about that here)

How to Prep Carbs when you have time:

The same lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and maybe cayenne powder if you want a little spice flavoring for protein and veggies can totally be used for carbs like rice, beans, quinoa, and potatoes! And cooking them stove top OR in the oven (pototoes) on a foil lined sheet tray with 0 calorie cooking spray and baked are great easy ways to cook them! (cook times vary but can be easily found or you can contact me for a suggestion 🙂 )
Pasta salad can be a fun carb meal prep idea too! Here’s a Macro Friendly Pasta Salad recipe I’ve made before 🙂
Overnight oats can be great to prep for the week too! Check out my Salted Caramel Apple Protein Oats and Strawberry Short Cake Protein Oats recipes!

How to Get Carbs when you DON’T have time:

There are plenty of “Heat & Eat” Carb options that I have been finding myself reaching for more lately. Here are some of them: Seeds of Change 90 second Grains, Better Bean Co Beans, Hormel Potatoes, Barilla Ready Pasta, and Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice.
Carb options that don’t really require any prep: tortillas, wraps, bread, pita, naan, rolls…ice cream, candy, chips 🙂 It’s ALL about balance!

How to have a Successful (and not wasteful) Grocery Haul!

Now that you’ve read about the key essentials to a Macro Balanced Meal Prep, you may be feeling motivated but also maybe a little overwhelmed on how to get everything you need. Below you’ll see a “Macro Balanced Grocery List” of the foods discussed which you can either print and circle what you want to pick up the next time you go to the store OR write your own list by picking a few from each category.

Here’s Suggestion on what to get from each category that should last for at least 4 days of meals:

2-3 forms of protein (maybe one to prep and a few not to) ex: chicken breast, nonfat greek yogurt, and protein powder
2 forms of carbohydrates (maybe one to prep and one not to) ex: rice and pita bread
2 forms of fats (one with a shorter shelf life and one with a longer one) ex: avocado and nut butter
4-5 types of vegetables (can vary from needing to prep or not) ex: asparagus, zucchini, and cauliflower could be prepped, grape tomatoes and cucumber don’t need prep
A couple small bags or 1 large bag of greens
1-2 types of fruit (depending on portion size 1 type of fruit good be good) ex: A couple bananas or apples or 8 oz berries
Extras/Fun Foods: Here you can add seasonings, lemons/limes, salad dressings, ice cream, cookies, and anything else you may need for the week 😉

Here’s a great example of what I mentioned above can look like! Click here to see the original post.

Macro Balanced Grocery List

I hope you find this helpful in being able to grocery shop with confidence and set up your fridge and pantry to hold foods that fuel your fitness and health goals best!

“Little to No Prep Meal Preps” with pre-prepared proteins, veggies, and carbs:

Pork & Chicken with Cauliflower & Butternut Squash

Pre-Cooked Chicken with Frozen Veggies & Turkey Wrap with Salads (1)

Pre-Cooked Chicken with Frozen Veggies & Turkey Wrap with Salads (2) (Different Types)

20 Minute Meal Prep: Turkey Burgers with Zig Zags & Chicken, Veggies, and Rice Bowls

Still feeling overwhelmed with how to properly shop or what macros are best for your fitness and health goals? Check out my Macro Calculation with Optional Meal Ideas services in which I’ll calculate your macros and give optional meal ideas with food quantities that fit YOUR macros! I’ll have you fill out a “Food Faves” List (which this Macro Balanced Grocery List was adapted from) which lets me know all the type of foods YOU enjoy so that I can make 50+ Meal Ideas for you! This can mean not even needing to track macros at all, since you will be given a complete list of multiple options for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snack(s)! Please feel free to message me below if you have any questions or if you’re interested in receiving Nutrition and/or Personal Training Guidance!

Stay fit!

YouTube Workouts (60 FREE Exercises!)

Want to see FREE workout videos?! Tap the links below to head to my YouTube Channel where I currently have 60 FREE exercise videos up! (Lunge with Rotation shown above)

🍑Lower Body Workouts🍑

Weighted Frog Glute Bridge

Kettlebell Lunge Pass Through

Ball Back Extension

Weighted Back Extension

Abdcutor Machine

Cable Good Mornings

Barbell Good Mornings

Romanian Deadlifts

Stiff Legged Deadlift

Seated Back Extension

Dumbbell Step Ups

Bicycle Plate Twists

KB Sumo Squat

Side Steps

Mountain Climbers

Barbell Squat

Ball Twist Throws

Seated Calf Raise

Seated Leg Press

Lying Leg Curl

Leg Extension

Leg Curl

Cable Pull Throughs

Hip Thrusts

Adductor Machine

💪Upper Body Workouts💪

Dumbbell Curl to Press

Assisted Tricep Dips

Assisted Pull Ups

Hammer Curl

Bent Over Barbell Row

Military Press

Barbell Curl

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Bent Over Y-T-A’s

1 Arm Tricep Extension

Bent Over Dumbbell Row

Bent Over Lateral Raise

Machine Chest Press

Rear Delt and Pec Fly

Machine Lateral Raise

Ball Chest Press

Straight Arm Pulldown

Overhead rope Tricep Extension

Seated Cable Row

Lat Pulldown

Tricep Push Down to Bicep Curl

Ball Slams

Machine Shoulder Press

Ball Tricep Extension

🏋️‍♀️Full Body Workouts🏋️‍♀️

Sumo Squat with High Pull

Floor Press with Leg Raise

Side Lunge with Hammer Curl

Romanian Deadlift with Row

Cable Squat to Press

Underhand Cable Pulldown to Squat

Lunge with Rotation

Ball Squat to Throw

Low Cable Row to Squat

Sumo Squat to Shoulder Press

Cable Row to Squat

Floor Press with Leg Raise

Floor Press with Leg Raise (Tricep and Abdominal Exercise)

1) Start with laying with your back on the floor with legs straight out in front of you with a dumbbell in each hand on the side of your body with elbows close to your body and wrists facing in

2) Press arms up until they are fully extended

3) Bring Arms back down to the starting position (make sure to keep elbows in)

4) Twist your wrists to be facing out as you raise your legs up (note: this is an ab exercise you should feel your abs raising your lower body up)

5) Once legs fully extended above you, and parallel with your arms, lower both back down to the ground to get in the starting position

6) Repeat the exercise for the desired number of sets and reps

Check out my youtube channel for the full video of this exercise

and subscribe to getting more FREE Workouts!

Need help in knowing what exercises you should be doing and how often you should be doing them in order to reach your fitness goals? Check out my Coaching Packages which can include 6 Week Personal Training Programs created entirely on what will be the most optimal way you can reach your goal AND what you’re comfortable with based on training experience and equipment availability!

Why the First Week of a Cut is the Most Exciting….And Deceiving??

Typical diet/calorie deficit/cut scenario:

You’re 1 week into your weight loss phase, you’ve been consistent with your nutrition and exercise, you step on the scale, and you’ve lost weight! Most people can find themselves down 3-4 lbs after their first week in a calorie deficit. You’re ecstatic! You’ve stuck with it for a full week and the results on the scale are showing! You think, “If I stick to this then I’ll lose 3-4 lbs a week and be at my goal in no time!” You’re consistent for the next week and you excitedly step on the scale two weeks into your weight loss journey and you see it’s only gone down maybe a lb. You may ask yourself, “WTH? I did everything the same as before? Why hasn’t it moved more???” You find yourself frustrated and questioning what you did wrong. You decide that you need to just get more aggressive so you either eat less or exercise more to help the scale budge more quickly, but eventually find that eating that little or doing that much exercise is just not sustainable. You burn yourself out and think that if this is what it takes to lose weight then it just isn’t for you and you give up completely.

How do I know this scenario so well? Because besides hearing it from clients, family, and friends, it was a scenario that I myself was constantly in before I became educated in nutrition and exercise. But through my education through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and experience with myself and clients, I’ve learned what is actually happening during the first week to the weeks after being in a calorie deficit and what actual FAT loss (not just WEIGHT loss) looks like. So let me break it down.

Weight Loss vs Fat Loss

First of all, I think it’s important to note that I think no matter the person, when someone says that they want to lose “weight” they mean that they want to lose “fat”. Our body’s weight is made up of bone, muscle, fat, water, and all of our organs/blood/etc., and just looking at these I think it’s easy to point out which one can most easily fluctuate. Have you ever weighed yourself before or after using the bathroom? You may see the scale drop! Why? Because water plays a big role in our “weight”. So what’s the point in bringing this up? When we are eating more we, by default, are going to be consuming more calories and more sodium. Consuming both of these causes us to retain a certain amount of water. When we go in a calorie deficit (meaning eating less than we were previously, which is what needs to happen to initiate fat loss) we are by default consuming LESS calories and sodium, which causes us to retain LESS water than previously. Retaining less water means less water weight which means less weight on the scale, this is why the first week of a weight loss phase can have a drastic drop on the scale. So while the scale may go down 3-4 lbs the first week, in reality only .5-2 lbs (depending on the deficit) may be from fat. This can be confirmed if over the next weeks of your weight loss phase you are losing on average .5-2 lbs per week, and I want to state that that is AMAZING progress! This is what healthy and sustainable weight loss looks like! And let me explain why!

What does healthy weight loss look like?

No matter if you’re looking to lose 10 lbs or 100, you need to seriously ask yourself how you got in a position that you want to lose weight in the first place. And what I mean by that, is that for most the reality is that you did not gain 10 lbs in a week, so why does it seem to some that losing 10 lbs in a week is realistic? True weight/fat gain has been shown to be something that gradually happens over time, so true weight/fat loss also needs to be something that gradually happens over time. Healthy weight loss is typically losing 1% of overall body weight per week on average, which typically looks like .5-2 lbs lost per week for most. This is the reality in how to lose weight without putting your health at risk from eating too low calorie which can mean not getting in enough nutrients. This means needing to make a calorie deficit one that is sustainable and manageable for longer periods of time so that you can reach your weight/fat loss goal.

How to know if you’re actually losing fat?

As I’ve discussed, water can play an important role in determining what the scale will say. When weighing yourself to check for progress I suggest doing it in the morning when you wake up, after using the bathroom, and before eating anything; this set up is one that can be consistent in actually measuring progress because all other factors are the same. As soon as we start eating or drinking anything, then we will obviously have more inside of us so the scale weight can go up quite a bit later in the day compared to when we weighed ourselves in the morning on an empty stomach. So using the scale with a consistent set up to measure weight is one way to see if you’re actually losing weight. But to check if you’re losing fat there are quite a few other ways: measurements with measuring tape, body fat devices/tests (calipers, handheld devices, BF scales, bodpod, dexa, inbody test, etc.), and (my favorite!) the way clothes fit and also progress photos! Seeing changes in the mirror and in how clothes fit can 1000% outweigh (pun intended?) whatever the scale says! Your weight on the scale is a number; it’s a measurement of data. How you feel when you look in the mirror and in your clothes and the confidence you can exude from that should be the number one goal in any fitness phase!

Remembering the Water Weight Factor after a calorie deficit

When the diet/calorie deficit/cut is over because you’ve reached your goal or you want to take a break, you most likely want to relatively maintain the weight/fat you’ve lost. And I put the term “relatively” because like I talked about earlier, water plays a huge factor in if the scale fluctuates. And when you’re coming out of a calorie deficit that means you are bringing your calories back up to maintenance (meaning that you are taking in the same amount of calories that you’re burning), which means more food and sodium which means holding onto more water. This can freak some people out because they maybe have lost 10 lbs and then “gained back 2 lbs” after bringing their calories back up to maintainance. But this DOES NOT mean that 2 lbs of fat was gained! Again remember the scale is not everything! You can check with those other forms of measurements I mentioned earlier see what type of “weight gain” is happening. If your weight goes up 2 lbs but your measurements are pretty much the same, then it’s just water weight fluctuation and not necessarily fat gain.

Special Note: Other times the scale could be fluctuating that doesn’t mean fat gain

Even if you keep your weigh-in set up the same (meaning weighing yourself in the morning after using the bathroom and before eating or drinking anything) there are other factors that can contribute to your weight fluctuating on the scale.

Eating In vs Eating Out: One of them comes back to sodium intake which can cary day to day even if your macros are still the same. If you’re hitting your calorie and macro goal from eating whole foods you cooked at home vs foods that are maybe processed or eating meals at restaurants the salt/sodium level in foods that are processed or used at restaurants is just typically a lot higher than what the average person uses at home. This means holding onto more water weight which can affect the scale the following day.

Irregular Eating and/or Sleeping Patterns: Another factor that can affect the scale weight fluctuating has to do with if you have less sleep then normal and/or your last meal of the day is later than usual. If you’re typically weighing in after 8 hours of sleep and your last meal being 2 hours before you slept, then you are normally weighing yourself after fasting for 10 hours. If you end up only sleeping 5 hours one night and then you weigh yourself you may see that the scale has gone up. This can be due to that shorter fasting time which also has given your body less time to metabolize and digest the food from the previous day. This leads into the next factor..

You Need to Poop: Depending on how you relieve yourself each morning before you weigh in, this can have a big factor on weight fluctuation. And if you’re having issues regularly going #2 then you can read about the benefits of fiber here.

That Time of the Month: If you’re a female, then your menstrual cycle can have a big impact on water retention also. If you’re a female who measures themselves regularly then you will see that during your period it is most noticeably your hips and waist that are bloated and holding onto water, which can show on the scale and in measurements. This can lead to a few days of the scale being up and dropping off by the end of the period

What do I want you to take away from this?

When going into any diet/calorie deficit/cut/weight loss phase, know that the first week will probably have a big drop in weight but that the drop is mostly water weight so it won’t be like that every week. Healthy weight loss is losing .5-2 lbs or 1% of overall weight depending on how much weight needs to be lost. True weight/fat gain has been shown to be something that gradually happens over time, so true weight/fat loss also needs to be something that gradually happens over time.This is the reality in how to lose weight without putting your health at risk from eating too low calorie which can mean not getting in enough nutrients. This means needing to make a calorie deficit one that is sustainable and manageable for longer periods of time so that you can reach your weight/fat loss goal.

Need guidance in how to set up your calories/macros and/or workouts to support fat loss? Want to have a coach to keep you accountable and make adjustments that will keep fat loss progressing? Check out my coaching services or contact me about your goals! I want to help you be your strongest, healthiest, and fittest self!

My Body Recomposition: Mini-Cut Phase

Before I get into the specifics of what’s going with my personal fitness journey, I feel the need to clarify some fitness/weight loss terminology which is mostly by my personal definition in regards to this post:

Diet: food and drink regularly provided or consumed(1)
Calorie Deficit: Something that is created when more calories are burned by an individual than consumed
Calorie Surplus: Something that is created when more calories are consumed by an individual than burned
Calorie Maintenance: What happens when a person is burning the same amount of calories that they are consuming
Weight Maintenance Phase: Relatively staying around the same weight (fluctuating within a few pounds)
Lean Gaining Phase: When an individual purposely puts themselves in a moderate calorie surplus with a strategic progressive overload strength training program in order to gain weight that is mostly muscle and minimal fat.
Weight Loss Phase: When an individual purposely puts themselves in a calorie deficit in order to lose weight
Fat Loss Phase: When an individual purposely puts themselves in a calorie deficit with a strategic exercise program in order to lose weight that is mostly fat and minimal muscle
Weight Loss Journey: The time an individual who is at an unhealthy BMI and/or Body Fat % spends to get to a healthy BMI and/or Body Fat %. This can involve several Weight Loss/Fat Loss and Weight Maintenance Phases in an effort to reach their healthy BMI and/or Body Fat %.
Mini-Cut: When an individual who is at a healthy BMI and/or Body Fat % goes into a brief (4-6 weeks) calorie deficit with a strategic exercise program in order to lose weight that is mostly fat and minimal muscle.
Body Recomposition: The effort someone puts in to build muscle and lose fat so that they appear leaner and/or have a lower body fat % at their healthy BMI. This can involve several Lean Gaining, Weight Maintenance, and Mini-Cut Phases.
Reverse Diet: The time an individual spends after being in a calorie deficit to raise their calories back up to their calorie maintenance. It is typically done slowly in an effort to reduce any unwanted weight gain after an individual lost weight in their calorie deficit

Like I said previously, these are mostly MY definitions that I’ve gathered from my education and experience, and what I mean when I’m using these terms to what I directly relate to what I talk about below. The only one I included from the dictionary is for the term “diet” as this is the definition I use to this word for, it is simply what someone consumes. Ok, now on to my mini-cut details

Why I’m doing a Mini-Cut

In 2016, I had a weight loss phase and lost 40 lbs, since then I have been going through different phases in an effort to do a Body Recomposition so that I can build muscle and lose fat to look leaner, and also build my metabolism as the more muscle I have the more calories my body will constantly be burning to maintain that muscle which will allow me to eat more than if I had less muscle. I use my specific weight through those times as a reference for my body and MY goals, those weights shouldn’t be seen as what anyone else “should” or “shouldn’t” weigh. Some may see my weight as high while others see it as low or even some may see a certain weight as “ideal”, but this is a space that I’m sharing about my Body Recomposition experience and not for anyone to compare their body to mine. Weight is just a form of measurement of progress BUT it is not the only OR most important one. I like to challenge myself and this is a space for body positivity, love, and confidence, and I’m sharing this with the intent that it could be useful to some.

My Body Recomposition Journey

After a solid 7 months of being in a Weight Maintenance and Lean Gaining Phases I have decided to do a mini-cut. I did a Mini-Cut last summer after doing a Reverse Diet/Maintenance Phase and ended it at 125 lbs in early September 2017. I then went into a Weight Maintenance phase for 2 months and stayed around 127 lbs, I then did a Lean Gaining Phase in an effort to put on more muscle with emphasis on my booty and got to 129 lbs (shown above). I then did another maintenance phase with a lot less tracking and more fun food living which got to me to sitting at my recent highest 135 lbs(shown below).

I’m not going to lie that being up 10 lbs from my last low in September was a little shocking, but I also had to take a step back and think what else has happened over the last 7 months besides the scale going up?

I’ve gained some solid muscle (I’m really happy with the booty growth!)
I’ve gained some solid strength (I can do 4 body weight chin ups in a row!)
I’ve become less food focused (I’m a foodie at heart and I love to cook, but I’ve become less stressed about needing to hit my macros to the gram and I’ve paid more attention to how food fuels my body and my happiness)
I traveled without tracking and ate mindfully and I didn’t binge (this was huge for me!)

So besides having the scale go up, I have definitely become so much more mindful about food and my experiences revolving food without stressing that I am completely ruining all my progress by having my fat to carb macro ratio be off. And I was willing to accept all of that because I knew that I could do a mini-cut when I thought the time was right. Being up 10 lbs from my lowest does NOT mean that I will get back to a place of being 30 lbs over weight. Some may think that losing 40 lbs and then gaining back 10 is just such a step backward of progress, and that maybe I was careless for having some of that weight come back. But 135 lbs and 20% body fat is still a healthy BMI and Body Fat % for me, and of course the weight on the scale is NOT everything! My body fat % and measurements have not gone up much except for my booty almost half an inch which I was thrilled about! And all of my clothes still fit fine. My abs have pretty much disappeared (though actually still more in tack than in July last year even though I weigh more now than then as I have more muscle now) but I was ok with being a little more fluffy in the tummy for winter.

This is 1000% my body, and I have complete control on how I want to fuel it and what goals I have for it. So with that said my goals for the past 7 months have been to have more balance with food and myself and to build muscle and strength, and going through all of that is giving me more knowledge to tackle my now highly aesthetic goal of my wanting my new muscle to pop and abs to show. Is having aesthetic goals bad? Nope. Not as long as they don’t compromise your health, which is ALWAYS my number one goal!

Mini-Cut Set Up

The way to set up any type of calorie deficit is NOT to look at someone who has body that you think you want or seems to have the perfect program and then copying what THEY do to get you to YOUR fitness goals. This is NOT the way to reach a fitness goal because EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT! So with that, I am sharing my mini-cut details not give out a plan that may work for anyone but just as a way to generally talk about the process and obstacles that can occur in a mini-cut. Because the BEST way to set up a cut is to look at what YOU have been previously doing fitness and nutrition wise and adjust those in an effort to reach YOUR goal.

(Side note: You can get a free “Macros Explained” and “How to Track & Use My Fitness Pal” guides if you want to learn how to set up your own macros for whatever your fitness goal may be, the please contact me and I will add you to my email list so that you can get these guides)

So in regards to looking directly what I have been doing for the past 7 months, here’s how I set up my MIni-Cut: for the past 7 months I have been strength training 4 days a week with no extra cardio (I will hike, walk, and try to be active but I haven’t done any type of extra cardio in the gym or running outside or anything like that since my last cut). I specifically haven’t done any extra cardio because I push myself and my cardiovascular health by getting my heart rate up through challenging progressive overload strength movements. And I just don’t like extra cardio, so I focus on doing workouts that I enjoy, this keeps me consistent in the gym. During my “Lean Gaining” phase, I had my calories up to around 2000 a day to help build muscle. After that I have been more moderately tracking being at my body’s maintenance calories for the past few months which was 1864 calories with 130g protein, 210g carbohydrates, and 56g fat.

A pound of fat is 3500 calories, so in order to lose a pound of fat a week I have to be burning 3500 calories more each week than I am consuming. This comes down to needing an average of burning 500 calories more than I am consuming in a day, this means that I need to make a daily average deficit of 500 calories, which can happen in 1 of 3 ways:

Keep my activity the same and consume 500 calories less than my maintenance calories (this is the most easily accurate way to create a deficit)
Keep my calories the same and increase my activity by 500 calories (this can be the most hard to be accurate as the body can adjust to activity output)
A mixture of lowering my calories and increasing my activity to create a 500 calorie deficit (this can be hard to be accurate as the body can adjust to activity output)

I’m starting my Mini-Cut with what will be the most easy to be accurate with which is to decrease my daily calorie intake by 500 calories. I’m also a huge advocate for volume eating (eating a lot of low calorie foods so that I am feeling full and satisfied most of the time even while in a calorie deficit) so eating low calorie for a couple of weeks is something I know how to manage. So my calories will be 1366 and 1370, as I am going to be doing carb cycling for this Mini-Cut which means that on training days my macro % will be higher in carbs and less in fat and on non-training days I’ll be lower in carb % than fat.

The reason I’m doing this is to have more carbohydrates available around my workouts so that I am able to use them for energy to fuel my workouts and also be able to have quite a bit after my workouts to help with muscle recovery. My training day macros are: 130P/153C/26F. My non-training macros are 130P/100C/50F. This set up is not necessarily “better” than if I were to have the same consistent macros everyday because when it comes to weight loss all that matters is that the calorie deficit is in place. But after being a week and a half in to this carb-cycling mini-cut, I have to say that I am enjoying being able to focus on getting in more complex carbs and fruit around my workouts, and then being able to have quite a bit of avocado, peanut butter, and fatty proteins like salmon on non-training days. I’ve been keeping my veggie intake high on either day which has led me to feeling fueled even while in this deficit.

Like I stated earlier, I am keeping my training the same at just strength training 4 days a week but this will change if I hit a plateau. What’s a plateau? It’s when the scale stops budging, this will happen as my body starts to get adjusted to the calorie deficit which may happen around the 3rd or 4th week. It is at this time that I will then add in more activity/cardio in an effort to increase my calorie deficit and get the scale to keep moving. I will do this because 1366 is the lowest I ever will want to take my calories, so increasing activity will be a must. I should also note that (like the definition I gave above) this is a Mini-Cut, so these calories I will only be at for 4-6 weeks, it would be unhealthy for my metabolism to be at them any longer than that.

Mini-Cut Update: Week 3

5/8/2018: I’m three weeks into my cut and I’m down 6 lbs, 2 inches on the smallest part of my waist, 2 inches at my belly button, 1 inch at my widest part of my hips/butt, 1 cm on my arms, and 1 cm on my thighs. Week 1 I was down 3.5 lbs, week 2 down 1.5 lbs, and week 3 down 1 lb, you can read about why I lost so much the first week here.

So far this cut has been going as planned, I have built and developed a lot of muscle on my overall body (which is why my arms and thighs have not gone down much) but I hold most of my fat/water retention in my belly and hips which shows though the bigger drop in those areas. I definitely feel leaner and it’s showing with my abs still being visible most of the day (insert laughing emoji) please remember this is a purely aesthetic cut so even though it’s kind of awkward for me to just be talking abs…it’s kind of the point? haha

My nutrition has been the same with me being consistent in having 3 higher fat days/non-training days at 130P/100C/50F and 4 higher carb/training days at 130P/153C/26F. I have definitely been more loose with my macros this time for this cut, I remember previously weighing any prepackaged good like wraps/bread/tortillas/protein bars I ate and cutting off part of the ends if it was a few grams over the serving size on the package…this is NOT that important. This is the type of behavior that can make macros way to neurotic in my opinion now. Now I will just have a wrap or bar and enter it in MFP but I’m not weighing them. What matters most in weight loss is consistency and as long as I’m in a calorie deficit consistently then weigh loss will occur. Getting too neurotic with macros can make it way more stressful than it needs to be which can lead to feeling restricted which can lead to downward spiral of having a unhleathy relationship with food and even binging (I know because I’ve been there =( ).

I’ve also actually I’ve been eating out more than previous cuts, which I think I’m able to successfully do this because of my experience with macros and knowing how to pretty accurately estimate what I’m eating without scale or restaurant nutrition information. And if I went over my macros, I made sure to listen to my body the next day by maybe skipping breakfast if I still felt full (it’s OK to fast if you’re not hungry in the morning) or just getting back to my planned macros if I WAS hungry for them the following day. With that said, I have felt good enough at these numbers because I’ve been sticking to having mostly whole foods which keep me full and satiated, but I’ve also had a glass of wine or beer as well as dessert on a few occasions. I’m feeling really positive with this progress as I don’t feel like it’s affected any part of my work or social life 🙂

Training has been the same with me 4 days of strength training and NO additional cardio besides just trying to be active. Week 4 of my last cut is when I added in cardio, but I have been seeing great results without it so I’m now debating if I will even need to add any in…maybe next week if progress stalls. I’ll never change a plan until there’s a stall. But maybe it would be cool to see what a cut can look like with no extra cardio? I think whether I do it or not, it’s awesome to see just how much nutrition plays the more important role in weight loss!

Excited to see how these last 3 weeks of this cut look like and what my overall progress turns out to be 🙂 I’ll keep you guys updated!

Mini-Cut Update: Cut is Over & Now Time to Reverse

5/24/2018: My mini-cut is over and here are my results: I’m down 6 lbs, down 2% in body fat, 2 inches on the smallest part of my waist, 2.3 inches at my belly button, 1.3 inch at my widest part of my hips/butt, 1 cm on my arms, and 1/2 an inch on my thighs.

These measurements are actually not that different from when I checked in 2 weeks ago…and I’m ok with that! Maintaining fat loss isn’t bad! It gets a bad rap because seeing the scale go down just automatically makes us think that we are progressing, and if it’s not going down then we feel like we’re doing something wrong! This is NOT true! We have to remember that maintaining fat loss is actually the ULTIMATE GOAL…I mean…Right?! We can’t seriously expect the scale to always be going down? For me, losing 6 lbs and maintaining that for 2 weeks is great progress as I’m hoping to maintain most of that fat loss for summer/ever? LOL. Though, I do have to admit that I had remembered my last mini-cut in September 2017 with my lowest weight being 125 lbs and I kind of thought that maybe I would get to that weight this time around…but the I remembered how I had put in so much work during the winter to put on muscle and build up my booty! When I look at my picture from the end of my last cut to now, I actually look a little curvier in my hips and I’m totally fine with feeling like I have a more accentuated hour glass figure. If I tried to chase the scale back down to that number, then I could jeopardize losing that hard work I put in to look more fit but curvy. And I’ve been on the downward spiral of chasing the scale before because I thought it would make me happier and learned that it did absolutely nothing more me mentally or physically (you can read about that really messed up part of my life here 🙁 )

And if anyone wants to hate on the fact that maybe my waist isn’t as small as back in September then that’s fine. I’m not here to please anyone but myself but I do feel like my current physique is something that I’m very happy with and can also maintain more easily 🙂 and remember lasting maintenance is a GREAT goal!

After my last check in I had stated that I was debating on not doing any additional cardio, but since I decided was ending my cut a week early (read below) I decided I might as well as some in to see if I could get any additional progress. So I added in 15 minutes of steady state elliptical cardio at the end of my strength training sessions to give me an extra 150 calorie burn for a total of an extra 600 calories burned that last week of my cut. I will continue keep in this cardio and my strength training for my reverse as I think it’s best to only have one variable change at a time when it comes to nutrition and exercise.

Reverse Diet Set Up

I had been planning to do my mini-cut for 6 weeks, but then I realized that Memorial Day was coming and my friends wanted to go to Vegas and how could I say no?! This meant finishing my cut at least a week out from this trip so that I could get my reverse diet started especially since I don’t plan to track while I’m traveling.

Why do I think it’s important to NOT be in a calorie deficit when you’re going on a trip and you’re not planning to track? For one, it can be really easy to overindulge/binge if you’re going from a calorie deficit to all of the sudden just trying to enjoy yourself. When you’re in a calorie deficit your fullness and hunger signals will be off (that’s just how it is when you are eating less than your body is burning) and this can make it hard to be mindful if you have at all been feeling deprived from the deficit. And jumping from lower calories in a deficit to maybe very indulgent “vacation calories” can have your metabolism unprepared to burn all those extra calories so they will be more easily stored as body fat. This is the reason I wanted to end my cut a week before my trip, I want to get my calories back up to almost my maintenance (I don’t have enough time to do a full reverse) but I will be close enough to my maintenance that I will be feeling good and able to enjoy myself without feeling the need to overdo it. I won’t feel like I need to eat or indulge in certain foods when I’m on a vacation or out of town, because the reality is that I can enjoy them anytime I want and they won’t get in the way of my fitness goals if I’m just mindful of my portions.

Also with Reverse Dieting, raising calories slowly after being in a deficit gives your metabolism a kickstart to get ready to start eating more again and going into a trip with a revved up metabolism is a good strategy because it will help lead to less fat gain if I do go over my maintenance calories. Below is how I’m reversing into my trip with my starting calories being 1366 with 130P/153C/26F (this is what I was at 4 days a week for my carb-cycling).

You’ll see I’ve been adding in carbs and fats daily with Friday being the last day of this week that I’ll track as I leave for my trip on Saturday-Monday, though my Friday macros are not at what I believe my new maintenance is (and maintenance DOES change when fat loss and muscle gain occurs) I am at least getting high enough to it to get my metabolism revved up for this weekend.

And speaking of a revved up metabolism, I should note that reverse dieting can tend to actually make your feel hungrier than when regular dieting! You might be thinking “Wait what? How does eating more cause more hunger?” I think the best way to describe it is after being in a deficit for 5 weeks my body had adapted and gotten used to the lower calories that now that it knows it’s going to be getting more it is excited to get back to maintenance and be in a place of homeostasis in which I’m eating as much as I’m burning. This can send out more hunger signals because my body wants to already be back to maintenance. But I will hold off a little bit longer and reintroduce calories more slowly to minimize any fat gain after my cut 🙂

After my trip I will play by ear to see if I’ll go directly back to maintenance based on how I’m feeling on how much I consumed on the trip. And I don’t mean this in a way that I plan to starve myself because I ate too much but instead just listening to how my body is feeling because if I do end up going above my maintenance calories when traveling then I may come back and just not be as hungry. And this can even do with not just calories but food choices, after eating out a lot on a trip I tend to comes back and want to just nourish my body with lean protein, fruits, and veggies which are lower calorie than most restaurant foods. But if not right when I come back then sometime next week I will then jump back my reverse diet until I can figure out my body’s new maintenance. And just to note that while I liked carb-cycling for my cut (and I liked it for my lean bulk) I’m much happier at having consistent macros everyday.

My next fitness goals are to maintain my current physique for summer (notice I said physique and not weight as weight can easily vary day to day which I’ve written about here), work on building some strength, eat all the foods that nourish and satisfy me within my maintenance numbers, and have fun!

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