My best diet advice, and a trip to New York City!

You can be confident and not have to lose 10lb. You can lose 10lb and still not be confident. However, you can be confident while intentionally working towards building a body you love. Side note: **muscle on a woman is an acquired taste- that I just happen to personally love** I know from experience, being lean does not give you confidence. That shit starts with loving yourself now...not later.

You can't hate yourself into a lean, healthy, fit body in my opinion. A healthy, fit body is a result of loving yourself and who you are. You deserve it.

So how do you do this? How do you eat when you love food, but also want to have a body that is lean, fit and healthy?

Well, it takes practice, mindfulness and a lot of fuck ups. I had to stop dieting and following a meal plan that was written out for me by someone else, and I became my own diet detective. I learned to incorporate all foods in moderation and allowed myself to eat until I was satisfied, but NOT stuffed. What do I mean?

Eating until satisfied NOT stuffed:

Putting my best fork forward means eating when I’m hungry, choosing the foods that work best for my body in terms of likes, dislikes, and energy needs. ( leg and back days..I eat a little more starchy carbs, rest days, I eat a little more fat and less carbs)

It also means using my fingers to eat my favorite salty fatty olives, nuts, or berries, and my fav buffer food/drink- a small glass of wine to sip in between... It is also knowing when to put my fork down because I’m nearly full. This takes mindfulness. You know like, hmmmmm is this next bite is going to put me over that satisfied mark? Will one more bite make me feel uncomfortable? Introspection.

This is exactly how I ate when I went to New York City last weekend to celebrate my 40th birthday. I tasted the foods that I wanted to, ate only until I was satisfied, and saved my calories for my beloved wine. I ate some protein bars in between to make sure to hit my protein numbers and didn't stress over the rest. I enjoyed my time and food wasn't controlling me. It felt so liberating!!

Notice I am not counting a single calorie here?

( note: yes some clients need to count calories if they have performance goals, but I’m talking about sane eating habits here!)

This takes practice. When you are used to eating everything in front of you, you will need to stop, and think...how hungry am I? Could I wait a few minutes before eating again?

This is how I coach my clients to get off the diet roller coaster.

But Deanna...what about CHEAT MEALS?

AHHH the old cheat meal, which was in my opinion was made super popular to the general population by a diet called Body For Life back in the 90's. This is where you had to eat super clean and calculated for 6 days a week, which then you were told to eat as much crap as possible on the 7th day. UGH. I also had cheat days when I was dieting for figure competitions..BUT only when my coach told me I had earned one. So, again, I was controlled by someone else. ** Bodybuilding is a sport that requires refeeds ect. This is NOT my audience.

So "cheat meals" may work for some but, there are many reasons I don't suggest them to clients:

1) They create an idea that you are doing something bad (cheating) 2) Cheat meals often snowball into full on cheat days..ugh- not a fan 3) They can lead to a binge/restrict cycle. You are now back to being on or off a diet. That starting over every Monday mentality is exactly what I am coaching women/men off of.

What I do stand for? Moderation of all foods 365 days a year Satisfaction bites of foods Teaching to eat to 80% fullness ( this shit takes time) And as I wrote above, you can eat anything, but not EVERYTHING.

I coach clients to practice eating only when hungry...not just because food is in front of us.

They way we eat to lose fat has to be a way we can eat to sustain the fat loss...otherwise, your diet did NOT work.

It seems that everyone wants "rules" around food to follow, when we humans are sort of rebellious by nature. Those sexy diet rules sell. They sell again and again to those looking for easy solutions. These diets do not take into account that you have a full time job, a family, a sick parent, a travelling schedule, allergies, sleep deprivation, binge eating disorder, going through a separation or a career change, a move, wicked bad stress or depression!!!

By the way, my eating disorder counselling has taught me that if you’re struggling with binge eating, fat loss should be the last thing on your mind.

Another diet is NOT what you need.

What diets have you tried and failed?

Are you ready to get off the diet roller coaster?

Hit reply and let me know. I am here to help.

XFitbabe

Does wine have a place in a fat loss plan?

Hello everyone. I have always loved to drink wine. It has become part of my brand so much so that I even used wine in my photoshoot to show that I firmly believe in a #Moderation365 way of eating and drinking. #Moderation 365 means there are no diets to get lean in 12 weeks, there are no foods off limits and how one eats on Tuesday is how one should eat on Saturday. This concept was shown to me by a mentor and fellow fitness professional Jill Coleman.  Jill Coleman is the owner of Jillfit.com http://jillfit.com/about/ and has helped me adapt this moderation approach vs an all or nothing mindset when it comes to how I eat and train. But, this wasn't always how I lived my life. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I used to compete in Figure Shows. I did this for almost 10 years between the age of 26 and 36. During this decade of my life there was no such thing as moderation. I would stick to a strict meal plan all year, and an even more strict meal plan 12 weeks out from a contest. When you are dieting for a physique contest every morsel of food had to be accounted for. I diligently weighed, measured and tracked every thing I put in my mouth. If I wasn't prepping for a contest, I was still obsessed with my food. I would have wine on the weekends and count that as my "cheat"meal. I viewed food as good and bad, and wine was bad because it had empty calories and could contribute to fat gain. GASP..oh no!

I could go on and on about that decade, but I am not going down that rabbit hole. Today I want to focus on the transition I have made since my last show. Since 2014 I started trusting myself around food and slowly backed off my obsessive training and yes, I gained weight in the process. But after time my body weight leveled out and I am able to stay relatively lean while progressing in my strength goals. It has been 3 years since I stepped on stage and my weight jumped up from 114lb to 129lb, and now 3 years later I am stable at 120lb, right in the middle. I now eat foods I love daily including my beloved Red wine and it feels so liberating. It took patience, dedication and trust. ** and a lot of fuck ups along the way..trust me. I was a HOT mess**

I booked a photoshoot at the end of Sept 2016 as I felt it was time to re brand my fitness message from a ripped figure competitor to a curvier, sexier and healthier look which portrays how I believe a fit woman in her late 30's should be. I even included wine in my photoshoot as I had a vision. What would attract me to a trainer? Someone who had an unrealistic diet and crazy exercise programs or someone who allows a little freedom in their plans to create sane and sustainable results? Well, you know the answer to this one.

So how did I do it? How did I give up strict dieting and still get lean for a photoshoot?

I am writing this as if you and I are sitting in Starbucks having coffee by the way! Here are the steps that gave me success.

1. I created a calorie deficit by setting my calories slightly below maintenance. Once I had my calories and protein goals in check, I was able to just eat food that fit into these numbers. I had a coach to help me with this too! (I firmly believe even coaches need coaches too!)

2. I trained with heavy weights 4 days a week. Even though I was in a slight calorie deficit, I was training as heavy as I could, and I even got stronger throughout the 6 weeks I was preparing for my photoshoot.

3. I did metabolic conditioning 2 days a week. I love metabolic conditioning using dumbbell density circuits. I would do 4-6 compound exercises in a row for 15 min only resting when I had to. These were Short, Intense and Effective workouts.

4. I made sure to get a ton of sleep and I watched my stress levels. I had a bed time ritual. I would always shut down social media an hour before bed and make sure my body and mind were relaxed. If you're stressed out and not sleeping you will have trouble sticking to your calorie goal. Stress can increase your hunger and cravings, and when you are dieting on lower calories, you want to do your best to decrease hunger not increase it.

5. Once all of the above 4 steps are in place, THEN AND ONLY THEN I would add in wine. I would sub out 150 calories or 36 grams of carbs for a 6 oz glass of wine. ONLY if I got my workouts in, had been getting adequate sleep and if my stress was in check. I found sipping a glass of wine took the edge off my cravings and it helped me relax around food. I am not saying that wine is a magical fat loss food by any means, and for some people it is a trigger food. I am saying FOR ME, wine allowed me to chill the fuck out and enable me to stick to my lower calorie plan. For others they need a single serving of chocolate, a bit of bacon on their salad, or a few bites of a brownie.

There are no absolutes when it comes to fat loss. Every single one of you will have a different blue print. Every single one of you will have a formula that you need to find out on your own or with the guidance of a coach like myself who knows how to get you started. You see fat loss is really fucking simple. The diet industry likes to make it complicated to sell you the next shiny new plan to get you skinny in 30 days. DO NOT BUY INTO THE HYPE. There is a better way if you are willing to put in some work and do it right.

Here are some pics to show you the 6 week progress. Picture 1, August 15- 6 weeks out of my shoot. Picture 2, October 1 after my photoshoot. I tightened up a lot in my opinion. Pictures 3 and 4, well..the finished product as seen on this website..weights to wine!

So what am I doing now? Since October, I have raised my calories and am calorie cycling in order for me to still maintain a lean physique. My body weight is still stable at around 120lb. I train heavy, I sprint or do density circuits often, and I still allow myself to drink wine on most nights of the week.

I write this from a place of honesty and compassion. I have struggled with my body image and food anxiety for over 20 years. I finally have come into a place of moderation and balance. This didn't happen overnight but it is worth the time and effort I promise you.

Do you want to get off the diet roller coaster? Have you had similar experiences with how you view food and exercise? I am here for you. Leave a comment below or email me and lets talk!

Love, Fitbabe

#moderation365 #sustainability #likehowyoueat #weightstowine #actionoveranxiety