Nutrition

NUTRITION AND FITNESS: THE ULTIMATE FRENEMIES

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17 Aug

Nutrition and fitness are like best friends that don’t get along aka frenemies!!! The two go hand in hand but how many of us struggle with being successful in the gym and the kitchen at the same time?

I know I do!!

What I find most frustrating about leading a healthy lifestyle is the imbalance between the effect that nutrition and fitness have on the body. If I could just choose one to focus on, I would choose fitness. Unfortunately, you really can’t have one without the other and on top of that nutrition holds more influence on weight maintenance.

It feels like my mind and body are never on the same page. I can go hard in the gym but then go home and eat junk OR I can eat clean as a whistle but can’t convince myself to go to the gym. I’ll run a good two miles, do some strength training, be feeling myself, and literally my next thought is… “You deserve some fries!” Like why must I be this way???? LOL. I just want to be healthy AND eat pizza, French fries, and fruit snacks! I basically want to have my cake and eat it too!

That’s honestly why I want to learn more about nutrition. I know I struggle with balance in my diet, but I figure the more knowledge I have and the more research I do, the eazier it will be to form a balanced nutrition plan that I can actually stick with and enjoy!

Keep reading to see the approaches I recommend and use when trying to find an ideal diet.

1. FIND A NUTRITION GUIDE.

Find someone who knows more about nutrition than you do! If you’ve been struggling and you haven’t asked for help, it’s time. There is nothing wrong with getting advice from a professional.

I stumbled upon a Nutrition Coach when I signed up for a meal delivery service. I’m learning that I don’t know what I don’t know and instead of hoping that I’ll figure it out eventually, I’m going to ask!

2. APPROACH TRAINING YOUR MIND THE SAME WAY YOU TRAIN YOUR BODY.

Eating is just as mental as exercise. Working out requires intentionality and intensity and so does eating healthy.

I’ve found it’s a lot easier to stay on track if I set an intention for my nutrition goals and then hype myself up with each meal. What do I mean by “hype myself up?” Take the same phrases you tell yourself at the gym and insert a food/nutrition word. For example: GYM PHRASE – ” You did good sis, that workout was fire!!” FOOD VERSION – “You did good sis, that meal was fire!!” It might sound or feel silly, but it’s really just a way to give yourself positive feedback and make you want to do it again.

3. IDENTIFY HEALTHY FOOD THAT TASTES GOOD.

Some “healthy” food just tastes nasty. It’s literally a fact. It’s like someone made a rule that if it’s super healthy, it has to be bland and disgusting. Fortunately as the market and demand for healthy snacks and meals continues to grow, the recipes and ingredients are improving.

I like going to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods to try the new new snacks and products on the market. I also get cooking ideas from content creators on Instagram and Pinterest.

4. MAINTAIN BALANCE.

The key is finding what works for you! What is the ratio that keeps you happy but doesn’t hinder your healthy lifestyle goals?

I think mine is probably 70:30. I’m definitely not an 80:20 person. I can consistently eat clean Monday through Friday afternoon, but Friday evening through Sunday afternoon I want to eat what I want to eat. The key is not to do it in excess.

If you’re a foodie like I am, the struggle is real trying to balance a healthy diet, your love for food and your dedication to fitness. Trust me, I get it!!!! I’ve said this often and I will say it again. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If you can come up with a plan to help you stay on track it will be that much eazier! If you have any tips or tricks you use, drop them in the comments! Also, if you try my approaches, let me know what you think and stay tuned for my journey with a Nutrition Coach!!

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04 Mar
Fitness

THE RUNNER’S BREAKTHROUGH

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Runner’s block, not writer’s block. You read it right! It’s a mental block directly related to running, and yes it’s a real thing!

Let me say, I am no stranger to running. I ran track in middle, in high school I ran cross country and I was on the varsity track team. Now fast forward to my 30s and I HATE running. I legit get nauseous and/or anxious thinking about it. Yet, if I don’t run, then my other forms of cardio include the elliptical, stair master, row or bike and let’s just face it, there is nothing and I mean nothing like a runner’s high.

So I decided to make running a habit. Every time I walk into the gym I have to run. That’s my habit. I didn’t stipulate how fast or for how long, but every time I workout in a gym, I have demanded (from myself) that I run. This doesn’t seem like too hard of a goal… at least it didn’t until I realized I had runner’s block. I literally felt dread every time I looked at a treadmill. How am I overcoming the block?

Keep Reading to find out!

CREATE A FIRE PLAYLIST

This is self explanatory. Music fuels everything! I literally have a “running” (pun intended) RUN playlist and a MOTIVATION playlist on deck to fuel my mindset during my runs. If a song comes on that I like, it’s that much eazier for me to get lost in the music and even forget that I’m running.

WARM UP

I noticed that if my legs feel stiff and it’s hard to move them, it makes the exercise extremely uncomfortable and therefore unpleasant for me. Doing a proper warm up can not only change how your body feels during the run, but it can also prevent injuries and enhance performance.

PRACTICE MINDFULNESS DURING YOUR RUN

One of the benefits of mindfulness is that it enables you to focus and be present in the moment. If you can learn to be more present for your run, you might learn that there is joy to be found in the movement. Some mindfulness exercises can be counting your inhales and exhales or visualizing yourself running on a path at your ideal destination.

SLOW DOWN INSTEAD OF GIVING UP

For a while my whole focus was on getting faster. Run faster Run faster, but then I realized that my urgency to speed up was actually slowing me down because I would feel blocked during the run and then quit. Instead of pushing myself to the point of quitting, I decided to just slow down and allow my habit to evolve in its own time.

ALTERNATE BETWEEN LONG AND SHORT DISTANCES

Long runs can be boring! I mean how much can you think about for three miles?! And do we even want to be thinking that much?? To eliminate boredom I try to add variety by doing tabata runs or uphill sprints.

FIND A TRIBE

I honestly can’t stress this enough!! Use the people around you to help motivate you! When you have someone who shares a common goal, the journey to the finish line is that much eazier and that much sweeter! Don’t do it by yourself if you don’t have to.

Have you ever dealt with runner’s block? Drop your tips and tricks for breaking through! I’d love to hear from you!

21 Oct
Lifestyle

BODY ANALYSES: The “SMART” way to weigh yourself!

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Traditional scales are a scam!

Ever since the 6th grade  I’ve been the type of person that weighs themself everyday. Literally everyday. I did/do that because it allows me to keep long term track of my weight and I don’t tend to gain more than 5 pounds because I’m so aware of how much I weigh. When I start gaining weight I know immediately and can make the necessary changes. I think we all have different types of relationships with the scale… whether I have a healthy one with it or not well that’s another topic for another blog.

But I’ve been traveling and in transition for the last four months and as a result I haven’t had access to a scale on a daily basis. I recently signed up with a new gym and they offered me two InBody Scale analyses for the FREE! So of course I hopped on that deal! 

Keep reading to see what I experienced and learned during my analysis.

MY EXPERIENCE

So this is how my experience went.

Stepping on the Scale!

A trainer contacted me two days prior to my appointment and gave me basic instructions to track my food and drink lots of water. I went to the InBody website and they have a pre-appt informational video (which I’ve posted below). Some instructions they give are:

-Don’t drink for 45 mins prior to resting

-Don’t eat 2-3 hours prior

-Don’t workout atleast 3 hours prior 

-Stick to your normal eating routine the day before

When I arrived I got on a scale and held these little handles for about a minute. Then from there I filled out a questionnaire that really aimed to identify my existing fitness and nutrition habits, what my current goals are, and how do I prioritize my goals. I was then given my Body Composition Analysis and the trainer proceeded to break down the stats. 

https://inbodyusa.com/general/inbody-test/

WHAT I LEARNED

From the breakdown of my stats, this is what I learned.

-I have inflammation in my body and I need to drink more water.

-I don’t consume enough protein for my lean body mass (LBM). As a general rule we should be consuming 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass in order to maintain. When I tracked my food my average daily protein intake was 90 g, but LBM is 119. 

-My basal metabolic rate is 1550 calories which is the minimum number of calories my body needs to function at rest. So I need to consume that amount of calories to function at a basic level. Based off of my tracking of food for the few days prior to the meeting I wasn’t eating enough calories. Who would’ve thought I’m not eating enough?!!! 

-I haven’t really identified a specific goal. I think I’m really just trying to maintain. She gave me a website (Tdeccalculator.net) that helped me identify my maintenance and cutting calorie consumption and the corresponding macros.

-We talked about my workouts and how I should organize them. She stressed that it’s important to work primary muscles prior to synergistic/secondary muscles because if you work those first, you’re simultaneously working the primary, so when you finally go to work the primary muscles they’re already tired and your form be compromised leading to a greater risk of injury.

INFO

WHAT I LIKE

I really learned about my body. It was like a speed date introduction to my body. I didn’t have to make assumptions. It gave me exact insight on how to adjust my eating habits. My trainer was professional and informative. She knew what she was talking about and I came out of the session with a decent understanding of how I should move forward. I was given tools to help like a list of food options to eat to help meet my macros, a website to help identify and count macros, and the opportunity to sign up for personal training. 

It was a fairly quick process and I left it feeling encouraged which is not often how one feels after being weighed.

MY TAKEAWAY

A traditional scale is pretty much useless. Why? Because it’s not an indicator of health. It gives you a number that doesn’t distinguish between fat, muscle, or water which is what our bodies are made up of. It literally just gives you a number with no background information. 

60 seconds on a high tech scale and 20 minutes with a professional gave me more information about my “weight” than the scale has given me in the past 20 + years.

So here’s some food for thought… or questions to ask yourself (because I asked myself these questions after my experience).

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

(1) What type of scale person are you? 

i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, not at all

(2) Does your method of weighing yourself assist you in your body composition goals?

If you haven’t tried the BCA you definitely should. There are a lot of gyms that offer this service, but maybe you don’t have a gym and you only do home workouts. They have started making at home affordable scales that measure more than just weight. 

I’ve dropped a link to an article that’s identified and rated the top 5 smart scales of 2021. 

Top5smartscales.com 

Throw your scale away! It’s time to weigh ourselves the “SMART”  way!

01 Sep
Lifestyle

AGING GRACEFULLY INTO FITNESS

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I’m turning 35 in a few days and don’t get me wrong… I am ecstatic about it, but also a little wary. Why? Well because I can’t predict exactly how aging will affect my body or my health.

This summer I decided to recommit myself to running. I hate running, but when I was in middle school and high school I could run a 7 minute mile. Now… not so much. On a good day I’m running it in 9:15, but if the distance increases…. my mind literally just shuts my body down. Now I know this isn’t solely because of age and more likely due to my inconsistency with my running habit and my negative mind set towards it, but when I was inconsistent and young, it didn’t matter. I could still run a fast mile regardless of how long it had been since I practiced. As I age, I realize that I have to adjust my habits in order to maintain a certain level of fitness.

Keep reading to see the steps I’m taking to age gracefully into fitness!

1. SELF CARE

Self Care is such a hot social media term these days, but that’s because it holds value. Self Care results in Self Preservation which really is the Goal! In taking care of our bodies and minds we can effectively prolong or even overcome certain unwanted affects that getting older can have. Strictly speaking about fitness, age can be detrimental because our bodies are inching towards the end of their life cycle. Muscles lose mass, strength and elasticity. Bones become brittle and cellular healing capacity declines.

Self Care looks different to everyone but these are my go tos for fitness and self care:

-Flexibility and Mobility Training

-Percussion and Massage Therapy

-The use of props/appropriate safety personal protective equipment when working out (i.e. – wearing good running shoes, using blocks and straps in yoga, wearing waist and knee braces if I’m lifting heavy).

-Knowing WHEN and HOW to rest my body

2. KNOW YOUR LIMITS

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t push or challenge yourself. You absolutely should! Yet there is a fine line between pushing yourself and injury. If we know our body’s ability to heal isn’t 100 percent, why would we intentionally put it in a position where it has to?

By knowing my limits I am effectively listening to my body. Understanding that running a 7 minute mile isn’t impossible, but it might take me some months or years to get my cardio back to that level. While it might hurt my ego, I have to admit that physically I am not where I used to be AND physically it might take me longer to get back to where I once was. It’s about being honest with yourself and then moving forward accordingly.

3. CONTINUE TO SET GOALS

Continue to set goals, even though they may have changed. Goal setting is a motivation and accountability tool. We evolve as we age, so it makes sense that our goals will change. It’s still important to set them so that we can visualize and form a path towards what it is we are trying to achieve.

My fitness goals for this year are to improve my cardiovascular health. I want to be able to make running a daily habit. I also want to continue to grow in my yoga practice and improve my flexibility.

4. CONSISTENCY IS KEY

Like I said earlier, running would probably be easier for me if I had stayed consistent with it. Why is consistency key? It’s key because achieving a fitness goal doesn’t magically happen overnight. It takes hard work and dedication over a long period of time. If you’re always starting and stopping, it takes longer to get to where you want to go and every time you stop it becomes that much harder to start.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m all about finding an eazier solution for the same outcome. So yea…. Consistency!!!

5. APPRECIATION

Appreciate where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going. This is all about offering yourself grace and understanding for where you are in your journey.

I honestly got mad when I realized I wasn’t running as fast or as long as I used to. Like legit mad, but then I paused. I thought to myself… ‘ you formed a healthy habit of running at the age of 11 and 24 years later you can still do that activity, just at a different level.’ Then I thought… ‘imagine what you can do in another 24 years if you’re consistent and intentional with the goal you want to achieve?!’

Taking a moment to give myself grace gave me the time to process the situation in a completely different way. A way that encourages and motivates me to do what I have to do.

A part of me is afraid of getting old. Afraid that I will lose the abilities that I have now. While that might be true, I realize that how I age isn’t something that’s completely out of my control and that I have the power to age with grace. I do not have to be bounded by fear.

I hope these tips are helpful to you all! Let me know what you’re doing to age gracefully into fitness!

29 Mar
Lifestyle

#JuSTReAcT

● BLUF (bottom line up front) : These shoes are ALL about the FOAM!! They are worth the HYPE AND they are all currently on SALE!

●I would consider myself a part time sneaker head. Nothing beats a comfortable shoe that you can wear to work, workout, and go out (depending on the scene). For my first post =) I’ve decided to review some of NIKE’s running react shoes because over the past couple of months they have been in permanent rotation with my fitness attire.

●What exactly is Nike React? Innovative Technology (est. JUN 2017) initially created to meet the needs of basketball players whose high impact, quick movements require their shoes to be comfortable, functional, and long lasting. When runners expressed the need for the same shoe characteristics, NIKE took the REACT technology and customized it for running shoes. What’s impressive is the way they did their research. Taking into consideration what athletes wanted, they used chemistry and high tech such as heat map data to formulate the foam. Once it was created the foam was submitted to over 17,000 miles of running by everyday runners to confirm the success of the design.

● What should you expect? LIGHTWEIGHT. HIGH ENERGY RETURN. DURABILITY. IDEAL CUSHION.

NIKE LEGEND REACT in Wolf Grey/Cool Grey/ Pure Platinum/Black.https://www.nike.com/t/legend-react-womens-running-shoe-b4Zh09/AA1626-003

●PROS: The legend has the best fit of all four shoes and the best cushion in my opinion. My first thought when putting these shoes on was that it felt like I had a cloud saran wrapped to my feet! The best part is that they are selling them for even less than the online price in NIKE Factory Stores.

● CONS: I don’t have any. I literally love these shoes! But after reading other reviews, I would take into consideration foot width. I have a narrow-medium foot width, so the saran wrap feel is perfect for me. If your foot tends to be wider you may want to go up a size as the shoes fit nice and snug.

NIKE EPIC REACT FlyKnit 2 in Black/Sapphire/Lime Blast. https://us.asos.com/prd/11303148?

● PROS: The epics have the best colorways hands down. The knitted material gives it more breathability than the Legends. It’s a well-rounded shoe. I like to wear these shoes not only for sprint intervals and long distance (*for me no more than 3 miles) runs, but also for HIIT training.

● CONS: This shoe has a similar snug fit to the LEGENDS. It’s recommended that if you want a looser fit, look into moving up half a size. If I’m truly looking for a con in the EPIC, I would say it could use just a tad bit more arch support.

NIKE ODYSSEY REACT Flyknit 2 in Triple Black.https://www.nike.com/t/odyssey-react-flyknit-2-womens-running-shoe-nHFzTK/AH1016-001

● PROS: Easy to go sockless. Lightweight and sleek design make it a comfortable esthetically pleasing shoe.

● CONS: Of the four reacts, these are my least favorite to run in. They are the same size as my other reacts but have a smaller fit. I completed some sprint intervals in these and had no issues during the workout, but as soon as I took the shoe off, I experienced painful foot cramps. My preference is to wear these for training and athleisure.

NIKE REACT ELEMENT 55 in Particle Beige/White/Smokey Mauve. https://www.nike.com/t/react-element-55-womens-shoe-HHLDLJ/BQ2728-200

●PROS: Absolutely the lightest of all the reacts with the most unique sole design! The rubber pods seen on the outsole can also be found on the bottom of the shoes. These pods enhance traction but have no effect on the amazing cushion found in all four shoes. SUPER Comfortable!

● CONS: The tongue is annoying! It’s suede and disconnected from the rest of the shoe. Requires adjustments every time you put the shoe on. These aren’t slip on and off shoes.

●SUMMARY: You can always find a drawback if you’re looking for one. With the Nike React running sneakers I really had to look hard. With that being said, these shoes are a must have in your wardrobe. With all of the cute colorways Nike keeps creating, you’ll have to use all your willpower to keep from buying every pair!

● REFERENCES: https://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/innovation/react. https://news.nike.com/news/nike-react-foam-cushioning