Fitness + Diet Update

Good morning + Happy Friday! It has bee a minute since I updated you all on my fitness life. I thought today would be a great time to do so and share what I've been doing in the gym and what I have been putting in my body! If you know me, you know I enjoy fitness and have been striving to become better for a few years. However, I know that this kind of post isn't the most interesting to read all the time, so I try to limit them unless I am sharing helpful + practical tips with you all. I kind of view this space as a sort of fitness journal that helps encourage me and keep me accountable. That is why I will continue to post fitness updates, if not for you, for me. As difficult as it is, I try to be real and honest and not pretend like I am some perfect human who sticks to everything she says she is going to do. Do I wish I was? Most definitely! We are all human with cravings (did someone say mini reese's peanut butter cups & popcorn?!) and weaknesses. Today I will be sharing a few of those weaknesses with you as well as my current workout split and what I plan on doing next.

To be honest, it has been a really struggle recently. I feel like every time I talk about fitness, it is the same old struggle with energy and cravings and that nothing changes. I have to remind myself that progress is slow. In a few months I will see the changes and know that it was not all in vain. It simply takes patience and determination. And, if I am not seeing changes, I need to start makin them (like cutting something out of my diet!) Here we go, pals.

/Diet/

At the beginning of August I committed to a dairy free life-style for 60 days. It will end on September 19th. However, I have seen a few major changes that have encouraged me to adapt to a full-time dairy-less life. No matter how difficult it is, I think it is the avenue down which I will see the most progress and change. It is a very challenging adaptation since so much food contains dairy and my husband has not felt the need to commit with me (totally understandable!). However, I have found some tasty alternatives to dairy products I love! I am also getting more and more used to the different flavors of Almond Milk.

Changes I have seen:

Weight Loss: When I first began, I saw major weight-loss in the first two weeks. I lost 5 pounds and got past my plateau. I have not weighed myself in a few weeks, but I know that cutting our dairy is a great aid in reaching my physical goals. I felt less bloated and weighed down. My stomach was flatter simply because it wasn't full of the hard-to-digest-dairy. However, week 4 (or 5, the days blur) I got sick and tired and overwhelmed. I was extremely drained. Because of this, I became week and fell into my dairy cravings. This resulted in what I am sure is regain of the weight lost (hopefully not all of it!) and bloating. While this is super duper discouraging (imagine me saying this like Chris Trager, with a tone of positivity) I know that it will be easily changed as I dedicate myself to cutting dairy and adding in a 10 minute cardio session on my off-days.

Clear skin: The first month of going dairy free, my skin became the clearest it has been in a year and a half! I was so encouraged. Even during PMS, when I break out the most, I only had one zit. Now, the same week I cheated the heck out of my diet, has caught up with my skin. My pores have been very clogged and I have had a major, major break out. While it is so discouraging and frustrating, I now know the solution: stop. eating. dairy! (Come on Kaydee, seriously pull yourself together!)

During that cheat week, I not only ate dairy, but threw eating smart + healthy out the window completely with a few sodas, Hot Cheetos, and sweet treats. This all I regret, although sometimes you can't blame yourself. Difficult weeks result in weakness and lack of determination. While I am deeply disappointed in myself and though myself esteem is lower, I am also filled with a greater determination to make healthier choices and stick closely to my diet. Failures will make us feel worthless, but I am choosing to use my failure as a fuel to do better. I will try to stay more accountable with the people I have around me, supporting me. Perhaps I will do a more in-depth dairy free post with suggestions and alternatives. The key to being successful in your diet is preparing ahead of time and having options. I am more prone to choose a dairy-filled option when I don't bring an alternative with me. For instance: making sure I have a buttery spread that does not contain dairy for when we are baking and making mashed potatoes. Ensuring that I check labels when I shop and buy good snack options for when I am craving a sweet. It is a process + an adjustment (as dairy-free coffee creamer does not quite taste the same. However I am slowly weaning myself off of creamer all together). Dedication + preparation will make for a successful journey!

/Exercise/

Exercise has always been an indecisive area for me. I want to be strong strong strong but I also know I should lose a few pounds (I have this goal of being a certain weight before I have a baby so the bounce back is less difficult!). I want to workout every day of the week and be that awesome, but at the same time I know my body cannot handle more than 5 days a week, and even that is a struggle. These two areas of struggle lead to inconsistency. With much thought and many workouts, I think I have found a way to get the best of both worlds. Obviously you can't get much stronger when you are losing weight, but you can still get stronger. The solution is in my new work-out split (and all the diet stuff I talked about up there).

A work out split is a line-up of what days you will workout on + what areas you will be focusing on in the gym. You can't work all of your muscles everyday (unless your a freakin' super hero, but even Mr. Incredible splits up his workouts). In power lifting training (which is how I prefer to train) you have 3 major lifts: Bench Press, Squat, and Dead lift, + Overhead Shoulder Press (not everyone includes this and if you compete, you don't usually compete in this). On top of the major lifts, you have accessories which aid in your main lift. In order to effectively train and get stronger, you have to accomplish each of these every week. The Big 3 + accessories. The "Big 3" use basically every muscle (compound movements) but they usually use 2-3 main muscles (like pectorals + shoulders in bench press).

I have been fighting to find a good workout split that works with what my body can handle while still attaining my weight-loss and strength goals. I think that I have found something that will work for me. I will keep tweaking it as I go, but at this point I will continue with the split below! I will probably include some full workouts in October!

Monday: Dead lifts // Back // Biceps

Dead lifts are such a challenging lift for me so I am choosing to do it on Mondays when I have the most energy during the week! With dead lifts, you use a lot of your back so it is important to do accessory work with back movements! (I do sumo dead lifts which use a lot of legs too, but I get those accessories with leg day) I like to do super sets (2 main movements one right after the other with no breaks) during accessory so I will be mixing in some arm workouts to tackle biceps! They are a secondary muscle with back movements and adding curls in will be KILLER.

Tuesday: Active Rest Day

An active rest day is one where I will not be weight lifting/strength training but I will be exercising! Tuesdays will be a cardio/body weight day. I will be focusing on cardio workouts (I prefer intervals on stair master or the tread mill!) as well as getting good at pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and handstands! I would do abs, but I prefer to do those miserable things in between my accessories on main lifting days! The best thing about these days is that they will be OPTIONAL! If I am feeling exceptionally energetic, I will tackle the gym again. However, if I am feeling super drained, I will just go home and walk my dogs because ya girl needs her rest! I am going to try and do a bare minimum of 20 minutes cardio, though.

Wednesday: Bench Press // Chest // Shoulders // Triceps

This is a very full day of workouts. It is almost too full! But on Wednesdays I will be doing bench press! I will be accessorizing with chest, shoulders AND TRICEPS! This is because those three areas (pectorals, deltoids, and triceps) are the muscles most worked during a bench press. Strengthening these muscles will aid in my over all bench press so I will be working hard on Wednesdays. Hopefully that active rest day will make this a little better.

Thursday: Active Rest Day

Another active rest day, where I do cardio/body weight if I want, but also rest if I want! Yeas, that is what I have been needing! I honestly feel like these active rest days will take so much pressure, guilt, and stress off of me and make the days I workout much more enjoyable and effective!

Friday: Squats // Over Head Press / Legs

Fridays are such a good day and days in which I feel no rush in the gym. Legs are my favorite muscle to work + I will not be likely to skip leg day! Legs+Fridays=perfect. Also, no one is ever at the gym on Fridays which will mean that I won't be frustrated waiting for a rack. Clearly, squats are using your legs for the main muscles. Doing accessory work with legs will totally improve my squat numbers (aka how strong my thunderous thighs will be) as well as my deadlift numbers! But why overhead press? Doesn't that work shoulders?! Yes it does! However I will be testing out muscle confusion with this and see if doing overhead press before squats will cause me to be better at squatting! Even if it doesn't work, it is a good time to work on this lift because it will work on my stabilization + get those boulder shoulders, nahimsayin?

Saturday: Active/Rest Day

Saturdays are days I absolutely need to rest. I feel so so so tired on Saturdays from the week and need to just sit and chill out with Netflix. It is also a day where I tackle house work and spend quality time with my husband. However, with Fall coming (YES YES YES) and the cooler temps we've been having + the changing colors I will want to be going on walks and hikes more over the weekend! That means active rest. I am not working out but I am not being stagnant either! (I honestly am so excited to go on a nature hike with my love!).

Sunday: Rest Day

Sunday is a rest day, guys. Let's be real. Sunday imma be nappin'. I honestly don't even have time on Sunday to workout even if I wanted to!

So there it is, my struggle and plan. As I wrote it out, the more + more I felt it was the right split for me! I have been experience guilt and frustration for not having the energy to lift even when I want to. However, this schedule is more flexible and gives me a simple goal of three days with rests between each one. Now that I've figured out my split, I think the motivation will flow in and I will see some real progress being made. I am the type of person who needs to have a plan to feel motivated. Now I do and I can accomplish all the things I want to! I am feeling so much better about my workouts now and I am super excited to see where it takes me. Hopefully my next fitness update is full of progress. No, not hopefully. It WILL BE.

Thank you for your patience + letting my write about working out. It really does help me stay accountable and helps me work through my stress and guilt, It clears my mind and motivates me! Thanks for sticking around, and I will be back next Friday with post about FALL!