Week 7 | Last Week of a Calorie Deficit and Final Thoughts

Damn, what a ride the past 7 weeks have been, friends. 

And I can say with my full chest that I am not sure I have ever learned more about nutrition and myself as I did during this timeframe. 

I told you all that my plan was to do this over 6-8 weeks, and in the back of my mind, I knew I would stop once I hit the 120s, which I did this past week (129.9 to be exact)... 

So, that was my cue to tap out. 

Let's talk stats first...

So let's start off with the obvious here... 

I didn't have a whole lot of extra weight to lose, and because of that, my numbers are not going to be huge or shocking.

BUT let's also be clear about something... 

The less you have to lose, the harder it can be lose fat. 

So I am proud as hell of these numbers. 

0.8 average weight loss per week is beautiful. 

I usually say that 0.5-1lb per week is the perfect range to be in (could be more if you have a significant amount to lose) as that sustainable. 

Over the course of 7 weeks I lost a total of 5.5 lbs, which again, doesn't seem like a lot, but was truly the max amount of weight I wanted to lose. 

Plus I lost this while attending  bachelorette parties, birthday parties, concerts, lake weekends, etc. 

I drank alcohol, I ate at restaurants, and ate snacks while I hung out with friends. 

So when I say this is doable, I mean this is DOABLE...

BUT this is going to come with some big asterisks*

Let talk about them... 

There are several prerequisites that need to be completed before I believe someone could be successful with this type of strategy... 

1) There needs to be a very good understanding of what foods are a pure protein, what foods are a protein + fat, and what foods are a protein + carb. 

This is important it significantly impacts the knowledge of foods that are high protein but also high in calories vs a food that is high protein and low in calories. 

2) There needs to be a really deep understanding of nutrition in general. Including the ability to be able to eyeball about how much food is on a plate... and this can ONLY be achieved by measuring out and tracking your food for a significant amount of time. I know, I know... this is what you are wanting to avoid... but there is no way around it. You have to be able to understand portion sizes from hand measurements and eye balling, and that takes practice.  

3) You have to understand your menstrual cycle. You have to understand what is happening with your body. Period. (Pun intended... lol) 

4) You have to be able to read hunger cues... and a step beyond that... You have to be willing to be a little hungry at times. Not starving. Not ravenous. But you have to understand that there may be times you want to eat more, because you could, but you choose not to. 

Let's talk about the best strategy I used: 

Over the course of the 7 weeks I used a few different strategies to try to stay in a calorie deficit. 

The best one that I used BY FAR was the 3 meal strategy I created. 

So this means that every day I had one of each of these meals: 

Staple Protein: A meal that I have the same high protein food every day. For me it is a protein coffee. I have it every single day. It's 30g of protein, and keeps me full through the morning. I also usually paired it with some eggs, yogurt or protein cereal. 

BAS: You all know I am going to push this Big Ass Salad. Make it high protein and high volume and it will keep you FULL for not a ton of calories. 

Balanced Plate: A meal that is 1/2 veggies. 1/4 carb, 1/4 protein... Again this meal should be high volume you keep you full. 

Snacks: Snacks were typically a fruit and protein (greek yogurt) or a veggie, dip and protein. If I was on the road, I used protein bars, chips, etc. 

Sticking to this format made it easy to know what I should order at restaurants and snack on at parties.

What about alcohol? 

 Alcohol is tricky, because it is no secret that alcohol makes it more difficult to lose fat, not only because it adds calories, but also because it slows down the muscle building and fat loss process. 

So here's what I did...

1) I set an amount of drinks for the weekend if I had multiple events. I could split the drinks however I wanted, but I tried to not go over the total. 

2) If I was celebrating something (example: bachelorette party) I would have one "fun" higher calorie drink, like a margarita or a tropical mixed drink, and then switched to something low calorie like a vodka water or a seltzer. 

3) I drank water with my alcohol. I had a great time at every event I attended, but I stayed in control... and led to me having 1-4 drinks as opposed to 12... lol

What Now? 

For me? It's time to BUILD. 

 If you have followed me for any amount of time, you know that I typically go into a building (bulking) phase after labor day, and I plan on doing that again. I am starting a couple weeks later, but that's no biggie... I am however going to try to do this a little differently than years past. 

Look, I do NOT put on muscle easily. So, not tracking anything during this time, doesn't seem super beneficial to me. I need to have some idea of what is going on. 

So, I am going to track my protein... but that's it. 

I am not going to track it in MFP as I feel like I want to try to keep this as simple as possible.

So I will just track how much protein I consume throughout the day in my notes app...

Nothing crazy or complicated. 

I'll see how that goes for a month or two and then make adjustments as needed. 

I am not going to do a blog for this as it is a much longer phase for me (Like 5 1/2 months) and I don't think I will have that much to report... BUT I will check in from time to time in the stories or a post. 

I want to thank you all so much for coming along with me on this journey. 

This is something that not that long ago, would not have been a possibility for me. 

I would have not been able to trust myself to do this. 

I probably would have not even tried this because I would have assumed that I was going to fail. 

You all have allowed me the space to heal my relationship with food and with my confidence in myself... 

You have given me the space to talk about my struggles, my disordered habits, and all the bullshit I am (still) actively overcoming in my head. 

And in return, I hope I will be able to help you do the same. 

Thank you again, friends. 

I can't wait to see what the future holds. 

Ash B

"Shame dies when stories are told in safe spaces"  - Ann Voskamp