Sustainable Goals

I've gained and lost 20 lbs several times. I'm really good at all or nothing, and my methods for weight loss were unsustainable. My workouts were long, high rep, low weight, and extremely cardio-focused. I am surprised I managed to function on what I was eating, now that I know more about nutrition. I am not surprised that I wrecked my metabolism. I've gotten some comments and I want to clarify - I do not think I am fat. I am working with a nutrition coach to lose body fat. For the amount that I workout, I think that I should have an athletic amount of body fat, 16-18%, opposed to the 20%+ I've got going on. This is both an aesthetic and performance goal. I want some visibly defined abs. It's also easier to pull up less body weight if you maintain your strength.

If your goal is not to have visibly defined abs, do you. If you think women should look soft and find a muscular physique to be manly, keep it to yourself. Luckily for you, you will probably never wake up and accidentally find yourself with abs. If you do, I'd like a detailed log of everything you did the day before.

Goals are not bad. Goals are not just for fat people, or slow people, or unsuccessful people. Successful people, in all aspects of life, have goals and work to attain them. A major reason that my weight yo-yo'd so much was that I didn't properly understand goals. I would work so incredibly hard to lose the weight, cut out food groups, panic at the thought of restaurants, and spend hours at the gym (no joke, I used to take 3-4 hour-long workout classes in a row), but then I'd be down 20 lbs and I wouldn't know what to do. Just because you reach a goal weight, you step off the scale and revert back to whatever terrible eating habits you had? No! By that point I was usually so exhausted, I would just crash and burn. Long-term and short-term goals are great. Having a plan to transition from one long-term goal to another will help you from feeling lost like I felt when I finally found my holy grail number staring back at me.

Fitbit emailed me this badge to congratulate me on losing 5 lbs. It's 7 lbs. Fitbit. It's 7.

Right now I'm focused on staying motivated and taking my progress to the next level. I've gotten to 143 lbs a few times in the past 3 years, but this is usually where I start losing interest and the weight starts creeping back up to 150. Also, what blows my mind is that I look leaner at 143 lbs than I did at 130 lbs. I know that muscle is denser than fat, but it's pretty cool to see the difference on my own body. It is really important for me to find a sustainable way to reach and maintain my aesthetic and performance goals through nutrition. Fortunately, the boyfriend has been very supportive of my macro counting. Last night he made us dinner - panko-crusted chicken breast, yellow rice, and broccoli, and I NAILED my macros. 

Then we watched some Team Ninja Warrior. Have you seen this show? I like it even better than the original because the competitors take to the course at the same time. This team is the Golden Hearts. Their fantastic outfits had something to do with how well they performed. New episodes are on Tuesdays at 8 PM ET.