I started working with a coach about two weeks ago. My thoughts on personal training haven’t changed, but she’s helping me figure out the safest way to lose the few pounds, so I feel like it’s necessary in this case. It’s a bonus that she gives me a personalized workout plan. She’s my age, and she’s built a successful business as an online coach and bodybuilder. I’ve followed her on various forms of social media for about a year now, and I have huge respect and admiration for her as a person. I’m doing my best to give myself over to her process.
I did great on Nutrisystem because the program told me exactly what to eat and when to eat it. I’m using this coach as an alternative to Nutrisystem, since she still tells me what to do but also incorporates my workouts into her plans. I don’t know how many calories is appropriate for the life of me. There’s so much conflicting information regarding nutrition and fitness. I trust her to do what’s best for me, but even if it wasn’t best, I’m confident that sticking to any plan with a calorie deficit will work with enough consistency. If nothing else, I have to stay motivated or I’ll feel guilty wasting money each month. If all else fails, I’ll go back to Nutrisystem.
The moment I decided to get a coach was right around the time I created my “fail-safe” plan from the last post. I knew that something needed to change, and this seemed like a potential solution. It took us a few weeks to get started, so I was able to make a little bit of progress on my own, but I feel better knowing that the decision making is removed from the equation. I just have to follow through, which is easier said than done anyway.
Her plan for me includes a lift 5 days a week and 15-20 minutes of cardio twice a week. I’ve been lifting 6 days a week for a long time, so it makes me very nervous to lift 5 days a week instead of 6. I also hate cardio. However, she is the expert and I’m only doing myself a disservice if I don’t listen to the plan, so I’m going with it. She gauges progress through progress pictures once every 4 weeks, and doesn’t want me to get on the scale. I know I see myself in a disordered way, so this is challenging for me. I can wake up one day and convince myself I’m skinny and then wake up the next day and think I gained 10lbs, so the number on the scale has been the only way to keep myself grounded. I can’t lie, I’ve still gotten on the scale a few times. Sometimes, it’s good news and other times I want to scream, but I know that I need to follow her rules if I want to give myself the best chance at success.
The number of calories she advised me to eat is more than the number of calories I ate on Nutrisystem, and more than the number of calories I would assign myself. This makes me nervous too, because I have no idea if it’s going to work or not. She answered all my questions about these numbers, and explained that I need this number of calories to maintain my activity level. The best I can do for myself is be patient and see if it works. I haven’t made any of my numbers this week because I’m on vacation. I know this is somewhat of an excuse, but I want to enjoy my time and it’s difficult to know what I’m eating when I don’t have the nutrition information. I’m still motivated and I want to hit the ground running next week.
I’ve never had macro goals before, but I’m going to do my absolute best to meet them. As you can guess, the most difficult part is getting enough protein. I see lots of fitness influencers talk about how they meet their macros, and I always wonder if they truly meet their macros or if they just say that they do for the clout. Meeting a macro goal is a lot more than just eating a certain number of calories. I can’t just eat what I want up to a certain number of calories. It means I have to plan every meal so that I get the right amount of protein and not too many carbs. (There’s nothing wrong with carbs, they’re just in everything I want to eat.) I think I can make a game out of it. I’m going to focus more on the grams of protein than the calories, and trust that the protein will be filling enough I won’t want more food. If you thought I was ridiculous about food before, you haven't seen anything yet.
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