Before I start, you have one day left to enter the giveaway from Milestones Sports Jewelry! Get over there and enter!
Some of you mentioned you’d be interested in hearing more about this new eating I’ve been doing and I’m happy to share what I’ve been working on thus far.
A few weeks ago, an email went out to the training group I’m now working with from the nutrition coach. He made a lot of good points on eating as an athlete and I reached out to him for some help with my every day food selections.
He and I set up a lunch and discussed what a typical day was like for me. As it turns out, with no surprise to anyone really, I was barely eating any vegetables. In addition, my previous low carb dieting was mixing in with old, bad habits and I was avoiding fruit, eating too much fat, and still sugar binging. It was not pretty.
I’ve gained weight since the ironman and I know I’m more than a number on the scale, but in order to perform my best as an athlete, I know I need to change a lot about how I eat and view food. Part of what Nick (nutrition coach) is helping me with is planning ahead and celebrating the small victories. He is great about focusing on the positive and pointing out that even if it’s a small change, it’s worth it. On top of all that, he understands emotional eating and I don’t feel weird telling him that I was stressed or upset so I ate “random junky convenient food.”
I’ve only been working with Nick for two weeks now and he’s given me a meal plan that I’m adjusting to. He really stresses real, whole foods and a mix of healthy fats, carbs, and protein. I eat most of my carbs at the start of the day and have become really aware of eating vegetables at as many meals as I can. I’m still counting calories even though he doesn’t really recommend it. (It’s amazing how much more food you can eat when it’s green!) I’m NEVER hungry eating with his plan since it includes snacks that I can eat or not eat as I see fit.
Yes, all of the above is pretty straight forward. Some of it I know, and some I don’t. It really helps having it written down and having someone I can contact immediately when I have questions or need a little motivation to order the salad instead of the cheeseburger. Eating healthy is something that I think I’ll always have to work on, just like training for a race. It’s never easy, but the results are worth it.
I’ll leave you with a few recipes I’ve made so far and have really enjoyed:
Well, damn. I was really hoping to read the Donuts as a Diet plan 😉
yay! glad to see you are jumping on board the vegetable train! i have some easy-peasey recipes if you need more ideas. even my super-picky husband will eat the food!
Cool! I gained 20 lbs in the first 2 weeks after my first ironman. it was insane. gotta keep it in check.
I started a weight loss phase on monday too, the winter fluff was just too much. Sounds like Nick has you on a really good plan! I'm just using MyFitnessPal to track calories and workouts. Get it under control!
I need to get back to paleo-ish eating. Been way too "ish" lately.
Veggies FTW! Aren't they delicious?! So cool you're working with a nutrition coach! I've been more or less paleo-ish for the past four years (minus nuts because large quantities don't sit well with me)… it's great to not count calories! Keep us updated with your progress!