“Because I’m Happy….” – Read on to find out why?

May 2012 was a turning point in my journey – I’d finally  had enough with trying to figure out why I just couldn’t lose any weight (and in fact I was continuing to gain) – I was eating right and working out.  Nothing was working. I was at the end of my rope and along came a suggestion from one of my trainers to see a nutritionist.

I’ve made steady progress over the 2 years – about 2 lbs ever 6 weeks – I kept at it even though I’m an impatient person.  I knew I was doing this to get healthy, feel better about myself and lets be honest look better on the outside.

Since December 2013 – I’ve been struggling with making real progress – so much so that I gained (and went over my magic number – the one I didn’t want to see again).  I was frustrated with the process and with myself.  Rewind to 6 weeks ago – I knew I had gotten down below that magic number and I was frustrated.

The conversation with John, my nutritionist went something like this – “John, I love seeing you every 6 weeks but this losing only 2 lbs every 6 weeks is killing me – we need to do something different.”

We spent time talking about accountability – stressing that I say I’m doing all the right things but something wasn’t clicking (I wasn’t being completely accountable).  We talked about how many meals I eat per day (3) and at what times.  We focused on when I eat breakfast.  Normally it is late morning but there are some mornings I’m just famished.  We honed in on that – discussed using a food journal – that doesn’t work for me – so we agreed if I woke up famished – I needed to send John a text with what I ate the night before to see what was causing my sugar to drop.  We also discussed – do I really need 3 meals a day?   At this point, I was willing to experiment to see what would work.  Now please note, I am under the care of a Doctor of Nutrition (what works / doesn’t work for me – may not work for you) (and I probably woudn’t have tried this without his suggestion).  With this decision to go with 2 meals a day was to see how I feel and MAKE sure I wasn’t depriving myself (one of the things John has always stressed – I need to enjoy my food and what I’m eating and deprivation isn’t part of the formula).  Over the past 6 weeks I’ve experimented with the food I’m eating and the timing of what I was eating.  Here is what I discovered:

1. Workout days I need 3 meals a day plus my pre workout protein shake (4 ozs water, 4 ozs of almond mike and 1 serving of organic whey protein powder)
2. On non-workout days  I only need 2 meals a day- Breakfast around 10 – 11 am and Dinner around 6 – 7 pm.  There are some days I need a snack.  The recommendation was for me to have a hard boiled egg.  My go to snack has been hummus and rice chips – the crunch helps with satisfaction.
3. On weekends I seem to have / need 3 meals per day (although this past weekend I only had 2 meals per day – but I ate out both days – relatively large meals too)
4. Drinking over 64 ozs per day – trying to get to 80 ozs per day
5. Workouts that worked over the last 6 weeks weren’t the typical HardBody (intense circuit training) workouts I was doing – but more along the lines of spin (and this has been sporadic), TRX, Yoga, Strictly Strength (more weights than cardio) and walking (having my fitbit with a 10K step goal has been an added incentive)

So what did I learn over this last 6 weeks?  I’m listening to my body and eating when I’m hungry.  And in reality – everyone is different.  Some people may need 6 small meals, 3 meals / 2 snacks, etc – I think you get the picture.

For the past 2 years – I’ve learned a lot about myself – what makes me tick – if I don’t work out or get some sort of activity in (walking counts) – I truly miss it.  I can tell you prior to that I knew I had to workout but it wasn’t part of who I am.  I may have mis-steps and not do what I want to do on a weekly basis but I always come back to getting some sort of exercise.  It helps me manage my stress and just makes me HAPPY (may not be while doing it but in the end I’m in a good mood after)!  As far as what I’m eating – I’m eating when I’m hungry (most times – there are times when I stress eat) -but those times are less and less.

We are finally up to today and I’m on CLOUD 9 and HAPPY!  I’m officially down 7 lbs from my last appointment – the most I’ve ever had at one of my appointments!  I knew going into the appointment how much I was down – it was great seeing it on the ‘OFFICIAL’ scale – something about making it more real (and I think John was a little shocked at how muh I had lost since it has been such a struggle for me).  And even better I’m down 31 lbs in 2 years!  For me this is not a Sprint but a Marathon as these are life long changes I’m making – ‘Slow and Steady Wins the Race’!

Thought I’d share a little before and after photos too – you can always see the changes first in the face!

 

So what am I doing or changing in the next 6 weeks – not a thing – going to keep doing what is working (and continue to learn about myself and adjust as needed)!  Have a HAPPY DAY!!