This is the last  FULL week of My second Whole30 and I ended up miscalculating the days so I am not done on Saturday like I thought.  I will be done on Feb 7 which is a Wednesday.

I am kind of bummed that I won’t be able to do Super Bowl Sunday like I wanted to. I can do chicken wings and such but I was looking forward to Turkey Bacon and a Quesadilla.  Ah well..I’ll survive!

Get off the Scale

The Whole30 is not supposed to be about weight loss.  Will you lose weight?  More than likely you will but that’s not the point.  The diet industry has us trained that any time we start any type of new nutritional program that we are supposed to use the scale, measurements, or photos as gauge for progress.

Not many coaches or clients point to improvements in skin tone, less cramps during their menstrual cycle, less PMS, better digestion, etc. as gauges of progress  As a coach these are things clients have shared with me over the past few weeks.

To me,  these are more exciting gauges of progress than just scale weight or cosmetics because they show the internal shift that’s happening.  The internal shift will inevitably lead to an external shift in cosmetics.

Just cause the scale moves…

I can remember weighing/measuring myself bi-weekly and taking pictures.  I was making progress because I felt like crap and I was becoming obsessed with the scale and it never felt like it was enough.

Just cause the scale moves doesn’t mean that there’s good progress happening.

These days I actually forget to weigh myself and I measure myself like every 6 months.  My big barometer has been to see if my pants fit.  LOL.

I have been determined not to push that type of weigh/measure/take photos  lifestyle onto my clients because I think it teaches people to look to the wrong things for progress.

I remember being involved with a program last year where they wanted people to do this and I gave it as an option.  I ultimately abandoned ship on that program because it was too fixated on cosmetics.

I thought this may be a little unorthodox until I came across this post from Coach Scott Abel.  Coach Abel has been a pioneer of diet psychology and metabolism.  Once I read this, I felt encouraged and I know that I am doing the right thing.

I will never have client send me photos each week, and especially NEVER have them send measurements. This all sets a very bad precedent and invites things like stress, pressure to perform, body-shaming, self-judgement and physique obsession. I don’t work that way and never will. People who claim that that stuff works – are usually all about the short-term. Remember what “appears” to be working short-term, may have very SERIOUS long-term consequences. “Fitness” is as much from the neck-up, as it is from the neck down. – Scott Abel

I couldn’t agree more.  Fitness is about much more than a “look”.  Many times people are doing some unhealthy things to look “fit”.  I know I was.

Not Limiting myself to home workouts

Last week I went to the gym for two days and it was what I needed.  Yes, home workouts are convenient but I don’t have a squat rack at home and I do enjoy lifting heavy on occasion.

I think it’s important to mix things up and that’s what I’m doing…so I’m not limiting myself to just home workouts and one of my colleagues encouraged me to join a new gym close to the studio where I work so that may provide some new motivation.

New Recipe this week

This past week I tried Sweet Potato Toast.  It isn’t bad.  It’s actually quite interesting.  You can put the Sweet Potato slices in the toaster but I just put ghee on the slices of Sweet Potato and baked for about 25 minutes.  I will try it again.  I just think it’s important to LIVEN THINGS UP.