Category: Blog

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

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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:

  1. 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)
  2. 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)
  3. 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!

Did you find this helpful? Please let me know! Be sure to check back here as I continue to share about my experiences about my fitness journey or my Instagram or be signed up for my email list 🙂

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Vegan Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Banana Pancakes & Waffles

Chocolate, peanut butter, and banana pancakes and waffles…that are vegan?! 😳😍🤤👌

 I used this vegan protein smoothie powder from Vega mixed with banana, peanut butter, and almond milk to make them!

2 Scoops
60g Banana
20g Peanut Butter mixed with 3/4 cup almond milk and 1/2 tsp of baking power
Cooked mini pancakes in a skillet and mine waffles in my mini waffle iron.

Macros: 365 calories 36P/29C/12F for the whole plate!

Peanut Butter Protein Toast

2 tablespoons of Trader Joe’s Crunchy Peanut Butter with Flax and Chia Seeds spread on 2 slices of P28 bread 😋🙌🥜

P28 foods are packed with protein (28g for 2 slices of bread) so it makes it easy to enjoy well balanced toast without having to add on any other type of protein 👍 their bread is a lot more dense though so I like to toast it to make it super crunchy instead of chewy👌

Protein French Toast with Crunchy Peanut Butter

Seriously OBSESSED with egg white French toast with crunchy peanut butter 🤤🍞🥜🍞🥜🍞🥜🍞🥜🍞🥜🍞🥜

This can also essentially just be made into peanut butter sandwiches with French toast bread 😛

Either way this combo is bomb 💣 so I thought I would share 👌

First, white bread is not the enemy 🙅🏼 as long as you’re getting fiber and other nutrients throughout the day. The reason multigrain or wheat bread is “better” is because it is higher in nutrients and fiber, but since my fiber goal will be hit with my other meals (and also getting 3g of fiber from the pb) then I’m actually wanting to enjoy foods with less fiber so I can avoid stomach discomfort. 👍 With that being said, you can totally enjoy this recipe with multigrain, wheat, or any kind of bread also😃😉

So you guys know I LOVE to preach about volume eating, so cutting off the crusts of bread (which is the denser part) allows me to get 6 pieces of French toast for the same amount of grams as 3 slices of bread with crust 👌 and since this bread was only $.85 (from Aldi) I don’t mind tossing the crusts.

The rest of the process is pretty simple by just pouring egg whites and mixing with cinnamon in a flat bowl, dipping bread in the mixture, and then cooking it on a medium heat flat pan. Then I just spread what comes out to 2 tbsp of PB on each slice and enjoy 😋😋 The reason I love to use egg whites for this recipe instead of regular eggs is because not using the yolks saves so many fat macros for peanut butter! 🙌

And I loveeee the crunchy pb with flax and chia seeds I used from Trader Joe’s🙌 adds such a great texture 😛

Strawberries with Peanut Butter Yogurt

A pound of strawberries with peanut butter Greek yogurt 🤤🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🥜🥜

One of my absolute FAVORITE ways to end my macros for the day 😋 such a big volume dessert for under 500 calories 🙌 .

If you didn’t know that a pound of strawberries was only 145 kcal…well now you do 🙌👏strawberries are made up of mostly water so this helps with keeping it low cal and helps keep you feeling full👌

I paired my pound with 19g of Nuttzo Peanut Pro mixed with a cup of 2% plain Greek yogurt from Trader Joe’s 😋

I’ve also had this meal with nonfat Greek yogurt and PB2 which brings the fat down to practically nothing and lowers the calories by about 120👌 but I had some fats to fill so went with the 2% fat yogurt and real pb 😋🥜

Macro Friendly Pasta Salad

Macro Friendly Pasta Salad that only requires 4 ingredients! Perfect side dish to bring to any party or super simple dish to make for a meal prep! Shown above is a serving of the pasta salad which comes out to 128g in weight and 162 calories 6P/27C/3F. The big thing that can make pasta salad have not the friendliest macros is that they can be high in fat from a large amount of oil based dressings or high fat additions like cheese, avocado, and olives. Since pasta salad is typically a party food/side and since most parties will already have foods/treats that are higher in fats then I thought having a lighter and easy pasta salad could be a great recipe to have!

I kept this pasta salad super simple, but you can definitely add in more veggies to make it MORE nutrient dense! I added sautéed spinach to it here and loved it! And since this recipe is so low in fat you can have the easy option to add in those other fats without worrying about overdoing it on the fat macros for this dish 🤗

I LOVE these Wacky Mac Veggie Spirals! Easy to make and packed with nutrient dense ingredients!

I also added a 10 oz container of grape tomatoes which I sliced with this cool trick I saw on the Food Network! You simply put a bunch of your tomatoes between two plates and then slide a knife between the plates to cut the tomatoes!

Saves A BUNCH OF TIME as opposed to slicing them individually!

Remember how I was mentioning that a lot of pasta salads are higher in fat because of their dressings? Well here’s my solution! I still used a delicious high fat Roasted Tomato, Parmesan, & Basil Dressing BUT I kept it in moderation by only using 4 tbsp(60g) (while most pasta salad recipes say to use an entire bottle of Italian dressing) and mixed it with 75g Nonfat Greek Yogurt, salt, and a bit of water. This let me have that great taste without overdoing it on the calories!

I added in teaspoons of water as I whisked it to check that I was getting a good dressing consistency. It ended up being probably 1.5 tbsp of water but this can vary depending on the greek yogurt and salad dressing you mix it with.

Last step is to toss the pasta and tomatoes in the sauce and enjoy!

I figured out that a serving was 128g by weighing my container before adding anything (500g) and then weighing it again after I added everything (1785g) and subtracting those amounts to make the total weight of the pasta salad 1285g. Then I just divided that by 10 to say that it makes 10 servings at 128g each.

Macros per serving:

Ingredient List: