New progress pics and a new eating plan: Eat to Perform: Day 1 Control Day

I can't believe that it's almost been a year since I started this journey. I'm so proud of how far I've come - I feel so much better, I'm so much stronger, and I never would have thought I'd be wearing medium tops/dresses, and size 10 pants (still having a blast shopping for a brand new summer wardrobe)! What's even more amazing is how EASY it's been to maintain my progress so far instead of sliding back into old habits and regressing after a few months like I've done EVERY TIME in the past that I've had some success. I'm finding it so easy to avoid dairy and gluten and limit most other refined stuff - just knowing how crappy it makes me feel makes it easier not to crave it. Not gonna lie though - pizza still smells amazing, and it kills me a little not to dig in to my kids' pie!!!

I finally took some updated progress photos. I can see a little change between my last 2 sets of pics - I think there's a little more definition in my arms and back, and a little less muffin top. I have to say that I do love seeing some definition in my arms - for the first time in my life, my wardrobe consists of LOTS of sleeveless tops instead of hiding my arms under 3/4 sleeves all summer.

  

However, I feel like I've plateaued lately. For the first few months, I saw such amazing changes in my body so quickly. However, for the past 8 months, I've only averaged about a pound/month of weight loss. Although I know that my body composition has still slowly been changing for the better (definitely been packing on some lean muscle mass), it's still frustrating to see such slow results now. I try not to weight myself too often since I know that the scale isn't a true reflection of health. But I also feel like my progress at CrossFit has been plateauing. I've tried twice over the past few months to hit a new PR for my power clean and missed (came so close to 145#, but just not there yet). And I'm frustrated that I haven't been able to do any heavy squatting due to the knee pain I've been battling (which is slowly getting better too - seems like time is the answer more than physical therapy). 

So, after trying to Zone my meals for the last couple months without much success (too much work to figure out every meal in the exact macro ratio, and I feel like I've been eating less protein), I've decided to change up my diet a little. I'm going to try a program called "Eat to Perform" which basically theorizes that you need to properly fuel your body to gain lean muscle mass, which in turn will burn more calories, causing you to lean out. For almost a year now, I've been trying to keep under 2000 calories and 100 grams/day of carbs, but according to ETP, I need almost a third more calories and at least twice the carbs to have enough energy to perform fully and make gains. They also want you to eat your body weight in ounces of protein. Based on those factors, you fill the rest in with fats and try to maintain a specific macro ratio within your calories as calculated by your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) (but throughout the day, not Zoning each meal). So, I signed up for a month-long trial in their "science lab" which gave me access to a forum with coaches, research, and a community of people doing the same thing. For me, they suggested the following:

• 2500 calories (which is slightly less than my TDEE/Total Daily Energy Expenditure of 2780, but I'll work my way up to it)
• 225g carbs on the days I do WODs, and drop to 100-125g on rest (control) days
• 185g protein
• 95g fat

So, it's a small leap of faith to eat more calories and carbs after seeing such success with the low-carb way I have been eating for a year, but I'm going to give it a try for a few months. I think the tricky part will be getting all that protein in each day, and to get into the practice of leaving out those extra 100g of carbs on my "control" days once I get accustomed to eating them again (especially since they encourage "white" carbs like cereal, rice, white potatoes, and even rice krispie treats - all things I've considered off limits for so long!). I'm going to try to stick to the program really well this week so that I have lots of fuel in the tank for my No Baby, Leave the Socks On throw down on Sat 7/12. After much debate (specifically dreading of the 2nd WOD), I finally signed up for the scaled version since I just haven't been feeling very RX-y lately. Hoping to really kill the scaled division! Also focusing on drinking a full 3 liters of water/day (half my bodyweight in oz).

Here's my first day on ETP, which is a "control" day since I didn't WOD today. However, I'm supposed to load up on some carbs for dinner and right before bed so that I'll have enough fuel to WOD at 5:30 am in a fasted state to maximize fat burning.

Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled with spinach, green pepper, and onions (the line cook added a little butter - hope that doesn't wreck my stomach!) sausage patty    topped with hot sauce 1/2 grapefruit
Lunch: 6 oz pulled pork tenderloin topped with BBQ sauce 1 cup broccoli
Snack 1: 4 oz Boar's Head Cajun turkey/chicken with 1/2 T coconut oil 1 cup strawberries & blueberries
Dinner: 6 oz London Broil Grilled asparagus 1 sweet potato (as oven baked fries with coconut oil)
Snack 2: Healthy & Fit Chocolate egg-based protein shake 4 oz lite coconut milk 1 frozen banana

Totals	2,077	122	96	192	24	4,631
Your Daily Goal	2,500	219	97	188	15	2,500
Remaining	423	97	1	-4	-9	-2,131
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium