Left: January 31, 2017
Right:May 7, 2017
I am leaner today than I was 3 months ago AND I am seeing consistent improvements in my strength and athletic performance.
You may be wondering if I've been working out more or doing more cardio? Or eating fewer calories? Or cutting carbs? No, no and no.
The frequency and duration of my workouts has not changed. And I'm actually eating MORE now than I was three months ago! Crazy, right?! Keep reading.
1) KEEPING A FOOD LOG
I have used and will continue to use MyFitness Pal to track my food intake. I believe that if you are going to figure out what is and isn’t working for you it is of the utmost importance that you be completely honest about what your current diet looks like. The best way to do that is to keep a detailed food log of everything that you eat (what AND how much). Nutrition has always been important to me. As a Personal Trainer and former Ms. Figure competitor, I was no stranger to weighing and measuring, food timing, etc. But there was a time when my eating was strictly centered around aesthetics and looking a certain way. Today I eat to fuel performance.... but it took me some time to get to there.
2) TRACKING MACROS
I got into the Zone Diet about 8 years ago, even before I started CrossFitting. I like having an accurate and precise prescription to go on because it allows me to figure out my baseline and then assess what is and isn’t working. I initially committed to strict adherence to the Zone parameters in combination with the paleo way of eating and I benefited greatly. That is, I observed measurable improvements in athletic performance and body composition. I believe the suggested ratio of 30% protein, 40% carbs and 30% fat is a good place to start. But it's a continuing process of trial and error and self-experimentation to figure out what works best for me. As an example I discovered that when I increase the amount of fat that I add to my meals by up to two times I am able to sustain my energy levels and athletic performance while still maintaining a level of leanness that I am happy with.
I started hearing about "Macros" and "Flexible Dieting" and knew some people who had had good results with it. I was doing pretty well but was curious enough to give it a try. I used this macro calculator to find out what "my" macros should be. There are a lot of macro calculators out there but I like this one because it takes your body composition into account (body fat %), which is really important.
Since, at the time, I was trying to lean out I chose "Lose 10%" as my goal and here is what I was prescribed with:
Carb: 200 g (46%)
Protein: 125 g (29%)
Fat: 48 g (25%)
1734 calories
The prescribed calories freaked me out a little since it was 100-200 calories more than what I was used to. And, from experience I knew that I responded well to a higher fat intake. So I used this macro calculator to tweak the percentage slightly to bring the carbs down to 30-35% and the fat up to 35-40%. I was really concerned about increasing my calories and gaining fat. But I took a leap of faith and decided to try it for a month. Boy was I in for a surprise!!
3) EATING MORE
Three months ago I was eating about 1600 calories per day and was following low-carb high-fat (moderate protein) diet. The chart below shows my macro nutrient breakdown on a typical day in January. I was pretty much always hungry and/or thinking about food.
In March I increased my calorie, carbohydrate and protein intake. I lowered my fat intake slightly but as you can see in the chart below, my diet is still relatively high in fat...AND I'm consistently eating up to 200 calories MORE per day (1700-1800)! To my surprise I did not gain fat!! I am now at a point where I'm happy with my level of leanness. So I went back to the original macro calculator and chose "Maintain" as my goal which increased my calorie intake to 1800-1900 per day! As you can see I'm back to eating a modified version of the Zone (higher fat) but with more calories than my original Zone Block prescription.
4) CLEAN EATING
This is not really new for me. As a general rule I try to avoid processed foods and center my diet around real food: lean meats, fruits, nuts, healthy fats and lots of vegetables. Until recently I got most of my carbohydrates from vegetables (including sweet potatoes) and fruit and I do still try to emphasize those... but I have also reintroduced small amounts of oatmeal and white rice back into my diet. For years I had been avoiding these grains because they were on the "do not eat" list in the Paleo world. But after reintroducing them with no problems I am comfortable with my decision. I am obviously not 100% Paleo but I still try to avoid bread, pasta and other gluten-containing grains because these do upset my system.
Here is a typical day for me:
Breakfast / Pre-Workout
- 2 c coffee w/ 2 T lactose-free half and half
- 1 traceybar bomb
- 1 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- banana or sweet potato (50-100 g depending on my training that day)
- 1/4 c pure dried egg whites
- 1/2 scoop greens powder
Post-Workout Meal
- 8 oz egg whites scrambled w/
- 2 handfuls of spinach
- 14 g jack cheese (sometimes)
- a few sliced jalapenos
- 1 c oatmeal (cooked)
- with 1 T cashew butter mixed in (YUM!)
Mid-Afternoon
- 1 traceybar
- 1 c coffee w/ 1 T lactose-free half and half
Dinner
- usually a small good clean eats meal (lean protein + a green vegetable + 1/2 c white rice or sweet potato)
- square of dark chocolate or chocolate chip cookie dough traceybar truffle
5) WORKOUTS - CONSISTENCY & INTENSITY
Here's a typical week:
- CrossFit 4-5 times per week
- Heavy Lifting (at CrossFit) 2-3 times per week
- Run (or Row) 3-4 times per week (usually short intervals focusing on high intensity/max effort typically lasting no more than 20-30 minutes total).
As I mentioned earlier, the frequency and duration of my workouts has not changed. What has changed however is my workout intensity. I pretty much always walk away from a workout feeling like I worked as hard and as fast as I could with sound technique. But the level of intensity I have been able to sustain has gone up dramatically in recent weeks. I feel like I'm able to work harder and "embrace the suck" for just a little bit longer. I attribute this to the increase in calories and carbohydrates. In hindsight, I was not eating enough before to fuel my workouts or my recovery. Lately I have been achieving PRs on all major lifts and Benchmark workouts!
6) "CHEATING"
People ask me if I ever "cheat" and the answer is YES. But I don't call it a "cheat." I call it a "treat." The word cheat has a negative connotation. Saying you cheated implies that you have done something bad. A treat is something that you allow yourself to indulge in from time to time without guilt because it’s delicious and pleasurable. As a general rule I try to:
- make my treats special (as opposed to just eating something because it's in front of me),
- stay mindful while I'm eating the treat so I REALLY enjoy it (i.e. no texting or responding to emails while I'm eating)
- avoid my triggers - Certain foods (i.e. pizza) have the potential to trigger an all-out binge for me. These are the treats I try to avoid.
- record it in MyFP - I record my treats just as I would any other food. Sometimes I take it one step further and record what I plan to eat before I eat it. That way I can "back into" my macro goals. When I do this I usually find that I'm satisfied with less than I want.
Of course I go off the rails every now and then. I'm human. But I try to pick myself up and get right back on track with the next meal.
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I'm sure there will be more nutrition related posts coming up so please check back soon. Also feel free to post any questions to "comments" below.
xo
T
