Eating To Lose

Before my trainer brutally murdered my quads last night, we sat down and discussed my nutrition.

I get SO MANY questions on what I eat. What's the best way to lose weight? How many calories do I eat, etc.

Honestly, this is always changing, and I'm not a nutritionist, so it's difficult to answer these.

I've told you here a million times, DO NOT TAKE WHAT I DO HERE TO HEART.
This is a bit extreme, even for me. My nutrition is tricky. I am training for a bikini competition. Not everyone is, or WANTS to do that.

Totally fine. But to do so, I have to go to extremes here.

Okay, disclaimers out of the way.

A few weeks ago my trainer put me on a carb detox. Basically I told him that I ate ALL THE FOODS over the holidays.

All the fudge, cookies, pastas, and junk I wanted to.

Until my little heart was content and my big belly was full.

I felt bad. I felt lethargic. I had no energy. And I felt bloated.

So he carb detoxed me. Meaning I cut out ALL CARBS out of my diet for nearly 2 weeks.

It sucked and I wanted to stab forks in my eyes. 

But when it was all over, I felt amazing. I didn't keep track of my weight during that time, because that isn't really my focus.

But I didn't feel bloated. I didn't feel tired. And I had energy. LOTS OF IT. And my pants fit again.

So I introduced carbs back in, slowly. 

I've been sticking to a pretty low-carb diet since then. I'll have my cheat meals (I had CiCi's pizza last weekend) and then get right back to it. 

RIGHT NOW, a cheat meal isn't going to make or break me. 12 weeks out of a competition? It will.

But I'm not there yet. 

So I continue to eat a pretty clean diet with a cheat here and there.
Because.. YOLO right?? (ew)

Travis and I talked about upping my calories.

Currently, (up until yesterday) I was struggling to hit 1800 calories a day. He wanted me to eat that many a day, and I was finding it hard to do so. Because 1800 calories of CLEAN, WHOLE foods feels A LOT different than 1800 calories of fast food or junk.

You are fuller longer, you are satisfied. 1800 calories of clean food is WAYYY more food than 1800 calories of Taco Bell.

Buhlee dat. I know.

Ultimately, Travis wants me to get up to 2,000 calories a day. To speed up my metabolism where I can eat that much food a day and STILL drop weight.

Sounds crazy, right??

When I started losing weight in 2009 I ate 1200 calories a day. 

I DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER! And yes, I lost weight by doing that, but I also hit very long, frustrating plateaus. Because my body was holding on to that fat for dear life! I wasn't feeding it properly. Every time I got down to around 175 lbs., and then again to around 150 lbs., my body stalled out. I stopped losing weight and had to re-think things.

EVERY TIME I upped my calories, the weight started to come off again.

It was such a simple concept, yet it still felt so wrong. 

WHAT AM I EATING??

Well, this is a tough one.

Yesterday this is exactly what I had:

BREAKFAST:

2 hard boiled eggs. 2 Jennie-O turkey sausage links

Spark/Rehydrate mixture

SNACK:

3 pieces of Proscuitto (don't judge me)

LUNCH:

grilled chicken breast 

steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

Sriracha

SNACK:

Quest Bar Double Chocolate Chunk

Spark

DINNER:

steak (8 oz)

green beans

I also get asked about what supplements I use daily. ( Before the meals )

Here is what I use :

So, moving forward, I will be eating 1800 calories a day, until we have to bump it up again. This will be a slow increase, but will ultimately cause me to burn fat more efficiently and drop my body fat percentage. 

THEN, in 3 months, we will start thinking about scheduling a photoshoot.

Insert panic mode.

Like a for real photoshoot. Not with an iPhone. 

A fitness photoshoot. With a professional photographer.

I am so nervous and excited about that, that I think the photoshoot alone, and knowing I'll be sharing those pictures with y'all will keep me motivated.

I'm not sure what competition I'll be doing yet. Or even if it will be this year. I'm not sure I'll be ready by December to step on stage. We will have to see.

It may be the beginning of 2015. I'm okay with that. I don't want to rush it and not feel prepared. 

I trust my trainer and know he'll get me to where I need to be.

Right now, I'm still dangling around 140 lbs. I've been this same weight for nearly 2 years (give or take 5 lbs). It has been SO HARD to get below that. But I've also never fueled my body like I am currently doing, so hopefully this will work in lowering my body fat. 

The weight, I'm not really concerned with. If I happen to lose a few pounds, cool. If not, no big deal. The only weight I'm worried with now is how much I'm lifting.