It's been almost a year since I stopped logging all food...ALL food (except carbs for a week or so to make sure I was at a decent level for myself).I had to take a break! I logged for so many years, learning about it in college when learning how to calculate nutrition, and then doing it for muscle building and fat loss over many different phases. A few competitions of calculating and weighing and stressing and playing Tetris with my food (which I actually really found fun most of the time, yes, I'm weird)...I was done.
I logged for a few weeks post-competition because I had accountability to my coach and I didn't want to blow up (...see below!) but over 3 weeks I began to relax, and my mind wasn't there anymore. I had a 4 year old and a 10 month old, I was traveling for a few weeks, I had 2 holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas no less!) and I just needed to take time off of weighing food and myself. I could feel my body going nuts, my hormones were going out of whack.. I had night sweats, my hair was falling out and my skin was so dry...among other things. I was still nursing but that didn't have anything to do with it because I was fine the rest of the time. It was my cortisol and thyroid, I thought, turned out it was low by blood test, but really I had adrenal fatigue. I've written about that before... many people who live high stress, busy lives with kids and jobs and friends and family and... (you get the point!) can have it. It's fairly common, and fixable.
I took my doc's advice and paired it with the knowledge I had from my education in nutrition and fitness and got to work. BAM! #StressLessFatLoss was born and 1 year later, I still haven't logged food and I'm in a better place mentally and so much better physically.
** The final picture below is after a 12 week round and then round 2 which incorporates heavy lifting days again..woo hoo!)
Counting macros was so helpful when I was "bulking" and putting on muscle, and it was great for "cutting" rapidly...but for me, a busy mom, I needed to do something different and just be happy with who I am, where my body is and my health.
If you're a regular person, and not a bodybuilder/competitor, then you get this. It's about health first, then looks, or at least it should be. If you work on health first, the fat loss comes SO much EASIER.
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| 1 year of not weighing a morsel The best part: not sucking in in the last picture, sucking in the middle one (see: face) |
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| Went from this to THAT ---> in 2 months |
StressLess Fat Loss is a style of fitness and health that I've used with many clients, those with goals that it is similar to. Most of my clients still log food (IIFYM) because it's a WONDERFUL tool to help you learn what to eat, how much and a good balance. Because, let's be honest, many people don't really know WHAT they eat on a weekly basis. But when something that is supposed to be helpful, isn't...there's your sign.
Check out the StressLess FatLoss Program I have online, it's a revolving door so you can start when you can and follow the video workouts in order, using the calendar and the nutrition advice e-book and video and our FB group. It's all about balancing time, energy and hormones. So Protein and Veggies are the main focus for most of the program with the theory that you will learn to eat the right foods that are NUTRIENT DENSE and you'll fill up. Then over time, cravings for sugary/starchy things will subside and you can go back to eating Protein and veggies while mixing in fun foods on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. But i'm honest here, it takes TIME. Look at how long it took me, and I'm in nutrition and fitness for life.
YOU CAN DO IT. I'D LOVE TO HELP.
