Don't throw away your hard work!
Last week, a friend came down to North Carolina and spent the week with me. I haven’t seen any friends or family since moving to NC back in August, so it was nice to have some familiarity with me for a week and a half.
I’m a horrible tourist, I haven’t done much here and honestly didn’t even hit many tourist things when I lived in New England…and I was there for 24 years. Anyways, we did all of the tourist-y things together which was great!
The week before they came down, I had started back on a carb cycling routine. I had done carb cycling last year around this time. There are 3 reasons why I chose to start CC again:
- I want to do a photoshoot.
- Summer is approaching very fast…I mean it’s basically already here in NC.
- I want to challenge myself and do a little bit of body recomposition since I haven’t really done any “dieting”/shredding since my last show in 2019.
Working Through Obstacles
Having my friend here kind of threw a little bit of a curve ball into the diet & nutrition for the week, as my normal schedule wasn’t exactly happening. Originally I had planned to stick to my meal plan, like 100% but in reality, it was not plausible AND it wasn’t going to be enjoyable for myself or my friend whenever we went out to eat…which we did basically every day for at least dinner.
Knowing the goals that I had just set and began working towards, I didn’t want to throw everything out the window and totally start over after they left. So, I decided that I would follow my meal plan for about 60% of the day – pretty much while I was at work. Then allow myself freedom for the other 40% of the days meals.
I kept to my training schedule throughout the week as well, and with us going to the beach, Airlie Gardens, museums, etc. we were getting quite a bit of walking in which helped offset any “bad” food choices I may have made.
What my schedule looked like during that week:
- Work 5:30am – 10am — this was where I had my 1st two meals that I had prepped. I eat every 3 hours, so these were at 6:30am and 9:30am.
- Train 10:30-12pm — followed by my post-workout meal around 12:30pm.
- Adventures 1pm – whenever — maybe have a snack or late lunch while we were out and then aim for a decent dinner.
Even though I was eating out and some things weren’t exactly on my meal plan, I was still maintaining a caloric deficit between my meals, training, and all the walking that we did. Majority of my meals that I had pre-prepped were low carb, allowing for that extra freedom for dinner.
How to Survive the Week
Having friends/family in town can be stressful. Your normalcy is thrown off, you feel like you have to cater to them, etc. But not all has to be stressful and anxiety inducing. Here are a few ways to NOT sabotage your progress. — these apply to not only when you have visitors or are on vacation, but also to every day life & when a wrench is thrown into your normal life.
- Have some sort of plan. Doesn’t have to be rock solid, but something so you aren’t totally caught off guard
What I did – meal prepped, but kept it to a minimum. I only prepared the meals that I knew I’d be having while at work in the mornings. And didn’t bother with the afternoon meals because I knew we’d be going out for dinner or making dinner at home.
- Don’t stress / obsess about it.
I’m someone that unnecessarily creates stress for myself and obsesses over the details (I’m working on it). Best thing you can do is: have some meals prepped so you have the option of them as a meal when needed (i.e. my meals were when I was at work & while my friend was out doing their training). Other than that, relax, have fun with whatever you’re doing/spending time with and just go with the flow.
- Make smart choices.
When eating out at a restaurant, keep your goals in mind and order something that still aligns with your goals. Just because you’re eating out, does NOT mean everything goes out the window with your nutrition. Yes, it’s extremely tempting to get the loaded nachos or the giant burger, but those won’t get you to where you want to be mind, body, and spirit.
Probably the biggest piece of advice for avoiding sabotage is just to ENJOY your time with your friends and family. Especially considering what the last year has been.
What do you do when your schedule is out of whack but want to stay on track?
