It’s all about balance

Trying to find balance after competing takes time, and at times it feels like I will never feel like a normal person when it comes to exercising, eating, and how I think I look. At the end of the last competition prep I did I was doing six hours of cardio a week, five weight training sessions, and my carb intake consisted of 1/4 cup of oatmeal day. Sure following this got me lean, but it also had long-term ramifications. For example in the back of the my mind I think that in order to ever get any leaner than I am right now I would have to be super strict with my diet and follow that type of diet protocol while doing an hour of cardio a day six days a week. 

I’m currently going through a phase where I feel like I’m huge, even though all my clothes still fit and this makes me at times feel like I eat too much, but when I track my food, I’m not eating nearly as much as I should be for doing the amount of activity of I do. If I’m running four days a week (30-40 km) and doing four to five Crossfit classes I need to eat, healthy nutritious foods in adequate amounts to fuel for those activities and keep my body healthy.

The thing I dislike most is how I worked with a trainer who promotes their team as all healthy, natural and doesn’t do excessive cardio, or cut carbs too much, but what do you call what I did? I think 1/4 cup of oatmeal and six hours of cardio is a little on the extreme side. 

Now I’m focusing on loving my body the way it is. Because truthfully I’m lucky to have the body I do. It’s strong and healthy and allows me to do so many things that I should be grateful for and second of all there’s way more to me than the size of clothes I wear.