I Don't Have All Figured Out

My last post was written several days after my fourth bodybuilding contest...feeling happy and proud and ridiculously relieved that the event wasn't canceled due to COVID! I never thought I'd be in the best of shape of my life at around the 50 year mark (God that sounds old!). The encouraging and positive comments from friends and family were sincerely appreciated as were the personal stories of others who have challenged themselves to continue learning and accomplishing things that they may not have thought possible. 

Contest Day - I made it!

That being said, I want to be 100% clear that how I looked on contest day is not sustainable - it was by all accounts the total "highlight reel". I shared my story because I am proud of all the hard work and discipline that was required to step on stage that day, and I do hope it might inspire others to push themselves to try something new or set an aggressive, yet achievable goal. I did also want to prove to myself and others that muscles can be built on a plant-based diet!

Fast forward five weeks. I sit here in my workout clothes, considerably less tan and sparkly, eating some cookie dough... thinking way too much about what I should eat and how much I should weigh now that the competition is over. The old thoughts and struggles about "food rules" have returned. Ugh!

Cookies? Kale? Ham sandwich?

During competition prep (similar to diets many of us have tried before), there is a lot of structure, so I didn't have to think much about what I was eating. I simply had to meet the calorie and macronutrient requirements set by my coach. When contest day - and the teeny bedazzled bikini- is on the horizon, it's relatively easy to stick to the program. However, contest weight is pretty much a "one day only" special...it's not a long term situation if I want to enjoy my life.

Motivation to stay on track!

My challenge now is to healthfully regain some weight (not all at once!) and figure out what is "normal" for me. I know WHAT to do. I know that eating more high fiber fruits, veggies and grains and fewer processed foods makes me feel better and wards off chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. Eating like this also helps my performance in the gym, which is still very important to me. In addition, I want to partake in food and drinks that I didn't enjoy frequently during the latter part my training-  a slice of birthday cake, really good pizza, a glass or two of wine, etc.

The long and short of it is- eating well and finding a happy place of nourishing our bodies while enjoying some food "just for fun" can be a challenge. And a lot of people (raising my hand here) struggle with these things even when it might look like they have their s&#t together. My near term goal is to follow my own advice- eat a variety of foods with some nutritional benefit while also enjoying and savoring "treats" without guilt. I also want to pay closer attention to actual hunger cues and step away from the table before I feel stuffed and bloated. And to be honest, I haven't done awesome at that since the competition e.g. eating tortilla chips straight out of the bag and continuing to chomp away even when I was getting full, cookie dough for lunch at least once...you get the idea.

My hope for me (and you, if you struggle with food choices or yo-yo dieting) is that we will take it easy on ourselves, incorporate one behavior at a time and start listening more to our bodies. Easy? Not always. Can we do it? Yes we can!