If you’ve been following my fitness journey thus far, you know I’m a geek and I tend to love diving feet first into different plans and systems. Since July, I’ve been doing Ultimate Portion Fix and for the past several months, I’ve been doing timed nutrition. Basically, this means I’ve been carefully measuring my portions and timing my meals around workouts, eating every 2-3 hours.
When Passover came, I came up with a strategy, but I also felt drawn to really simplify things. We were going to be spending a week up at a cabin in the woods and with all the Passover food restrictions, I was already going to be eating very differently than I had been. I decided that it would be a good time to hit a pause button and just see how my body felt. I stopped all my heavy weightlifting workouts and intense cardio sessions as well as letting go of needing to portion out and measure or time when I ate.
Instead, I listened to my body. I ate when I was hungry and ate mostly simple fruits and vegetables and lean protein, but as much as I felt like eating as often as I was hungry. For exercise, I went on hikes with family, did yoga daily, and kayaked for the first time, which was SUPER FUN! I pushed myself as hard as felt good and relaxed. Naps were a regular thing.
When I returned, I expected that I would have gained some weight to lose, but I was pleasantly surprised to see my weight actually went down over the week…by 5lbs! Here I had STOPPED working so hard and I actually saw more results!
This got me to wondering if perhaps I had been overtraining a bit, between yoga teaching and weightlifting and maybe my body needed more than I had been giving it? I have since gone back to eating a more regimented plan, but I base the amounts and timing more on what my body is telling me. I am eating a lot of produce and lean protein, but I’m letting my hunger dictate more when and how much. I know if I start to see the scale creep back up, I can always go back to what I was doing before, but for now…this feels good.
It also feels good to go back to more plant based meals and I’m playing with ayurvedic cooking and noticing a big decrease in my acid reflux symptoms. This time of year, as the grocery stores become packed with fresh, in-season produce, I just feel drawn to eat more of it and less animal products…and I’m honoring that cycle for me.
Where have you been overthinking and could simplify this spring?
Geek Yoga 