My last few posts are leading up to a request for a post called "Five Thieves of Progress", and these posts cover the basics. One of the first of the basics was "No Time to Exercise," yet all of my posts here will contain as least a little message to build a mindset of making your fitness level and weight management a sustainable lifestyle. In the previous post I told a story about free food, and how it's not really free!

All of these things are important building blocks for making this a sustainable lifestyle. The other day I was talking to a friend in the 1P App on the phone, and he said, "You've built the habit of logging your food, all the time!" Yes, I have, and it certainly helps. Although it's not enough to log your food every day if we can't learn from it, or document our best meal plans into something we can use for life. It only takes a few minutes every week to create these. Tell, me, have any of you started doing that? All of these things require an investment in yourself.

Even if we have a season where we gain a bit, often surprisingly, if we are patient and apply all of our previous investments, we can get back to where we want to be. There isn't anything magical about it. You don't have to have special willpower. You just have to not give up and keep applying the basic building blocks every day. Over time, it becomes a habit like my logging my food every day, and then USING that data and answering questions like those I posted in "No Time to Exercise" in order to actually CHANGE SOMETHING instead of doing the same thing day after day. I've seen people log their food for years on end, yet never change. Change requires more action, and that action is not going to be easy.

I've made some hard changes the last two months. I've been keeping my calorie totals on a grease board each day. I haven't got on the body weight scale, but I know I'm making progress. It's HARD. I find myself often reminding myself "No don't need to eat. You don't need to eat." I know that sounds weird, as I eat plenty in the meals I do eat. I don't believe in eating too low or depriving, but the fact is we need to spend more time doing other things; more time during the 24 hours NOT EATING, as opposed to eating whenever we feel like it. The reason we gained weight, is because we ate too much, not hormone problems or whatever else society wants us to use as an excuse. Not to say hormone problems don't exist, but the calories don't get stored in your fat cells unless you eat them. If your metabolism slowed down as mine has, it means you don't need to eat so much. It means what you do eat must be full of nutrients and not so much white flour and sugar, and extra calories and so much processed foods. That's just the facts. It's hard. I know! Me too!

I eat extremely healthy food, get my protein and fiber in, and usually keep a small deficit even though it's never as good a deficit as I wish I could. It's okay, I give myself grace as I wrote about in yesterday's post. I look at the numbers for each day on the grease board and I know that more days than not I do get in a deficit. I rarely go over TDEE and when I do it's only a few calories. I'm only getting on the scale once a month or so to make sure I'm really heading in the right direction. It's SLOW, but I'm doing it in a sustainable manner. 

It's motivating when I can see the change in how my clothes fit and slowly my arms and shoulder definition is coming back. It's not that I worked out anymore, or any harder, it's because of my very slight calorie deficit over time. Remember, even if you can't work out, you can still lose body fat slowly if you manage your calories! Don't let a few missed workouts be an excuse!

Tonight, I get to wear a Sheriff uniform that didn't fit a couple months ago. I like the uniform better than the style I've been stuck with because of my weight gain over the last holiday season. I'm making progress, and I keep thinking about how my life changes like this as I make progress, and it motivates me to keep going with the hard choices with "Saying No to extra food."

How to Build your Plate 101 & Water

I know when I first started working towards my fitness goals, he number one thing I struggled with was knowing what to eat! I thought that if every meal wasn't chicken and broccoli that I would get fat.

And this discouraged me from ever really attempting to be consistent. If we deprive ourselves of what we really like all the time, we will end up binging. That is why it is important to create your own meal plan! The tips below are to help you do that, but if you need help that’s what I do in the 1st Phorm App, just ask for help over there. If you are not in the App with me, you are welcome to ask others and get support here in the private blog comments. I 

It wasn't until I understood how much flexibility I actually had with my meals, that I was able to not only get better results, but also enjoy great food in the process!

Your meals in a good meal plan needs these four things:

1. A complete Source of Protein. A complete Protein source will stimulate the body to preserve/build muscle and burn carbs/fats for fuel, which is key to living a healthy lifestyle!

Ideally, we want to shoot for:

• Men 30-40g per meal
• Woman 20-30g per meal 

Compete sources include:

• Beef
• Poultry
• Fish
• Pork
• Yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Eggs
• Egg whites
• Jerky
• Level-1

2. A serving of veggies! Veggies are key in helping to provide our body with both micronutrients and fiber! Micronutrients play a major role in helping support our natural energy levels, metabolism and immune system! Along with fiber, they also play a key role in our overall digestion! Which helps us to get and maintain the best results possible!

3. A serving of our primary fuel source Carbs or Fats! We want to make sure we are providing our body with fuel it can use to have energy throughout the day (fats primarily help here) as well as perform in the gym (carbs primarily help here)

Here are some examples of carbs:

• Apple
• Banana
• Whole grains; bread, bagels, pasta
• Rice
• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Beans, Legumes 

Examples of fats:

• Avocados
• Almonds, nuts, seeds
• Grass fed butter
• Olive oil
• Peanut Butter, Nut Butter
• Omega-3's
• Coconut oil

 

4. WATER

Why do we focus on 100-120oz of water daily?

• Aid in digestion.
• Lubricate joints. 
• Reduce bloat and inflammation.
• Boost natural energy levels.
• Flush toxins
• Hydrate 
• Aid muscle recovery. 
• AND SO MUCH MORE….

 

If you guys ever have any questions about how to structure meals, just let me know!

Or if you have cool meal prep recipes send them my way and I can shout you out on my blog! 👊🏼

RUN THE PLAY:

• - Track Your Food 🍽
• - Hit Calories and Protein 🔥
• - Drink Your Water 💦
• - Move your body/weight resistance train🏋️
• 🚶🏽Walk for 45 minutes- 1 hour, 7 days a week
• - Prioritize sleep💤

Randy and I are getting ready to go out on our Friday night Patrol shift. I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

Do the hard things, enjoy the balance of time off, and live life to its fullest! Each day is precious. I remind myself of this every day that I get to walk and do things. I GET to do the things! That is a blessing. 

I always welcome messages and comments. Let me know what you think!

Roberta