Well if you know me, or have at least read my blog bio you know how obsessed I am about McDonalds. Despite my love for the double arches, I have always appeared to be pretty in shape and “fit.” A lot of this could be attributed to the fact that I have been playing competitive sports since the age of 7. Besides my casual ice hockey participation, this year was my first year not playing a sport. My eating habits have stayed the same as they were when I was playing a sport, but now my physical activity is very different…which is the problem.
To be honest, the transition from being a competitive athlete to being a normal gym-goer is tough (maybe I’ll write a separate post about this one day). It is hard to get the same type of workout in the gym that you would get while practicing for your sport. The atmosphere is different, the motivation is different, and sometimes it just feels like it is not good enough. Personally, my motivation to continue working out was decreasing to the point that after hockey season ended in February, I rarely workout out at all. As expected, I gained weight. A part of me was happy because I was back to the weight I was before I started rowing in college, so my clothes started to fit again. But it didn’t stop there, I kept gaining weight, and here I am now heavier than I have ever been.
Let me back up, I have always been very very satisfied with my body. Like stare at myself in the mirror mouthing “dang girl!” satisfied. Don’t get me wrong, I still feel like that to some degree. Though I think I want to be back to where I was before I started rowing, or maybe when I was rowing. So this is where Operation De-Fluff comes into play.
This summer I am trying to be intentional about my workouts and mindful of my food. I think the most important step for a successful workout is having a plan. Every night I write out in my little pink moleskin the workout I will be doing the next day. How many reps, sets, and the weight I plan to use. I promise this makes executing in the gym so much easier! To get inspired for the various exercises intended for whatever muscle group day it is, I refer to the following youtube channels: Brittany Lesser, Nikki Blackletter, and my favorite, Heidi Somers.
In addition, I’m being mindful of my meals. Which is actually hard for me to admit because I am so pro do what you want: eat the Chipotle burrito and the McDonalds fry, and the cookies..all at the same time (my friday night meals during rowing season), I cringe at people worrying about calories, and never have I “felt” better when eating healthier. Honestly, a part of this is because it is forcing me to be organized about my meals which I enjoy (Alysse and organized go hand in hand) and it is saving me a lot of money too!
From my last few posts you can see I’ve been doing a lot of shopping at Whole Foods, which has forced me to buy healthier foods and also not waste it because hello $$$. This in itself has helped encouraged me to cook, and as long as I don’t indulge in too much snacking, my meals are generally healthy. This is not some serious diet, the occasional Big Mac will occur, but I am paying a little bit more attention to my food and the portion size. So yay for growth!
Updates to come!
xoxo,
‘Lysse
Leave a Reply