Well! The numbers are in!

I always joke around how I'm the ONLY female in the weights area almost every time at the gym. I laugh at how there are about 30 males and me! So last night just for laughs (during my rest break) I counted the males and guess what?!? 29 males in there and then me, the only girl!!! I chuckled to myself and got on with my workout! Hahaha! My workout last night was just fantastic. I'm coming back! I feel stronger and leaner already and I've really only been doing my plan for about 15 days. So good job me! LOVE it!

In the meantime my food continues to please me and I look forward to my meals and making some new things. It's all very exciting.I haven't had a good connection with food for a little while and it feels good to be able to make a happy connection with no guilt or shame. I know I can't eat ALL that I want WHENEVER I want and I'm okay with that. As long as I get to eat some things I want then I'm okay with it all.

What I have found that works for me so far:
1) Have a plan but keep it FLEXIBLE. So I have a plan with portions, amounts and all the macros laid out. This is working well for me. However my shake is my last meal of the day. And sometimes I just feel like having it as my first meal of the day. Guess what? I can. Works perfectly fine. Other times I want something like Greek yogurt with honey and some nuts. That was exactly what I wanted last night and it fit into my plan perfectly and was the best way to end my day! It takes me back to Greece! That was a fun time.

2) Don't worry about not eating correctly for a meal or two. It's not going to kill you. As I wrote before, plan on being 95% on. That works well. For me with 35 meals a week, 95% on would be 33 meals. I can do that. That means I can mess up on 2 meals and be just fine. Takes a LOT of the stress out of eating each meal perfectly. Who can and will do that and still enjoy life? Maybe some of you but definitely NOT me! If you have 7 meals a day that's 46 out of the 49 so 3 meals you can mess up on and be fine. So stress less, enjoy more!

3) I don't supplement anymore except for fish oil and protein powder. I dropped all my other vitamins and I feel better for it. The reason I added the fish oil back in is because my hair, skin and nails felt super dry. So I added it back in. Supplement with the minimum amount you need to. It's a lot for your body to process all those "extras" and really can overload your system. So unless you're taxing your body with competing or some extreme sport then probably just a daily vitamin, maybe some fish oil, or whatever your particular body needs will be just fine. This article written by Scott Abel got me thinking maybe I didn't need it all: http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-hypervitaminosis-leads-to-false.html

4) Enjoy the process. If something feels way too forced and it doesn't jive with you and your life, drop it or change it. I had to do this with not only my workouts but also my sleeping patterns. So now I go to sleep probably about the same time I did before but I have an extra couple of hours of sleep in the morning. My workouts changed from  morning to night. Again that's more enjoyable for me. I don't feel this rush and that I have to get out of the gym and get home so I can shower, eat breakfast and get off to work. Now I finish my workout when I finish my workout and I'm not stressed about the time it's taking me. The funny thing is that my workouts actually seem more efficient without that "time worrying" I was doing.

5) If your goal is to change your body (and for most of us that is exactly it!) then you need to know what you're eating. If you say you're trying to lose weight but you're not even aware of your calorie intake then you aren't really trying because I can guarantee you that you're either over or under eating. So track your food for a week or two and see where you are and then make a plan based on that. If you're eating too many calories then cut them down and cycle your calories. If you're eating too few add in some more and again cycle your calories.

6) And as far as cycling your calories. Most people will cycle carbs and that's fine if it works for you and you like it. However, for me, I've started cycling fat and I LOVE it. I have no scientific anything to back it up but it gives me great variety and actually I have had some great workouts the next day. It's very different and it's fun. So now I cycle both fat and carbs alternately. It's GREAT!

These are just some things that are helping me stay on track. I don't beat myself up and I still enjoy life. I make it work on my plan. That's all. Hope these tips help you out. I'm really enjoying my life now and MY plan is working fantastically for me!!!