My current journey
For years I went back and forth between what I wanted, but I always wanted to lose weight. I always had thick legs and a large chest. I never really had a belly until I had children. After having kids, I was pressured into losing baby weight fast, as all women are. The truth is, I needed more time to lose weight because I was pregnant for 40+ weeks with each of my children.
Why did I need to feel the pressure to lose weight? Because I wanted to feel good in my own skin.
Over time, after using Beachbody workouts and their container nutrition system, I ventured into macros land. Venturing into macros land lead me to being more mindful of portions that were good for ME, foods that MY body felt good consuming. It led me to finding better programming, as well. While I am grateful to have home workouts as long as I did, a lot of the programs were NOT optimal ways to produce the body I want.
Okay, so as of right now, October 6, I am focusing on a few things.
Consuming more fruit. I am not a fan of fruit, but I know my body needs fruit. I am working on eating 1.5 cups a day. I started at 1/2 cup because again, I do not like fruit.
Be consistent with my protein intake. I am 80 percent good about this. For the last 30 days, however, I have been good except for one day. When this happened, I jumped back on the train the next day.
SLEEP. My God, I have been a horrible sleeper since I was pregnant with my son 10 years ago. The last few months I have taken my sleep more seriously, noticing when I have less sleep in a week than I do other weeks, and adjusting the best way I can to make sure I get midday rest when needed, mental breaks, etc.
Getting as strong as I can. While I am proud of what I do, I want to be able to do more, like pull ups by the end of the year. I was able to do them a couple years ago, but I stopped practicing them, so I need to get back to doing them.
Since I knew what I wanted to accomplish so I can lose some fat, I had to put an EASY plan in place for myself. For each thing, this is what I did.
FRUIT INTAKE - As I mentioned, I started with 1/2 cup of fruit. I put this in my overnight oats, or I ate it with an afternoon snack of yogurt. This made the fruit much easier to consumer. The second week, I added 1/4 cup more. I added it slowly because again, I don’t like fruit all that much. Eating this fruit is curbing any cravings I have on days I function on less sleep.
PROTEIN - I cook a shit ton of protein every few days. I make time to do it during my lunch time. This helps me keep up with my protein. I also purchase non-cook proteins so I have easy things to grab and go. If I don’t have enough protein consumed during the day, I have a shake before bed.
SLEEP - My goal is seven hours a night. I drink tea before my shower, then I shower. I take magnesium before bed. I brush my teeth. I read a book. I stop using my phone by 8:45 pm. I found a SIMPLE bedtime routine so I could optimally function the next day. I’m consuming less coffee during the day and feeling less tired overall. I am SO GLAD I made time to fix my sleep because I no longer feel like shit.
STRENGTH - I noticed I wasn’t progressing in the gym due to lack of sleep (I am sure other factors played a role, but the sleep thing was insanely bad). I couldn’t perform all sets well, and I hated it. I felt weak. Also, I noticed my trainer friends from my mentorship growing and I felt like I wasn’t. So I created a new plan. I used a trainer’s online monthly membership, but I also altered some things such as trying to lift heavier, even if I had to alter the reps appropriate for the weight. It led me to creating my own glute program, actually, which I am in the middle of testing out. I’m starting week 4 of 12 tomorrow!
So you see… my journey may look similar or different from yours. We all have different goals and desires… but ultimately, it comes down to us being consistent as hell and willing to do the work, even on the days we say, “f*ck it.”
If you aren’t sure where to start, you can email me with the subject line COACH INQUIRY and we can set up a 15-minute consultation call to see if I can be a good fit for you.
— Ashley
10/06/2024
