Do You Need to Stay Lean Year Round?

by | Oct 14, 2022

I’ve gained about 7 pounds over the past 5 months.

And I’m not talking about 7 pounds of muscle, either (although that would’ve been amazing).

And no, it’s not because I “fell off track” or let myself go or stopped doing the things that make me feel my best.

This may sound a little crazy but …

Weight gain happened as a natural result of going through different phases and seasons of life.

In May, I did a photoshoot.

I got pretty lean and I looked pretty damn good.

The part that no one talks about is …

It wasn’t fun.

I didn’t enjoy eating less food.

I didn’t enjoy having crazy mood swings.

I didn’t enjoy being easily irritable.

I didn’t enjoy having less energy.

I didn’t enjoy poor sleep quality.

I didn’t enjoy the brain fog.

But I had a goal and I made it happen.

You know what I didn’t do??

Think to myself …

You know, this is the body I should live in forever.

News flash …

The leanest version of you is probably not the sustainable version of you.

I find this mindset to be incredibly common and incredibly damaging.

Just ask any bikini or body building competitor.

Your lowest weight is not your forever weight.

It’s unreasonable to assume that you’re going to be your leanest year round.

Not only is it unreasonable but it’s also unhealthy.

Maintenance isn’t something you should have to suffer through to maintain.

Currently, my maintenance includes not tracking my food, training 4 days per week, doing zero cardio, and dining out multiple times per week.

I drink when I want to drink. I over indulge on occasion.

And as a result, I naturally gained back about 7 pounds from my leanest.

I’ll take that all day because I can enjoy myself and be happy with where I’m at.

I don’t have to stress about food. I don’t have to ever ask myself … should I eat this or not?

I can truly just live.

Even just typing that makes me realize just how far I’ve come in this area.

It wasn’t that long ago where I believed that I had to always be leaner.

Not only did I think that I should maintain my leanest body composition year round … but I was also never satisfied.

As a point of reference … I’m about 192 right now.

Close to 10 years ago I was 167 lbs. and still wasn’t satisfied.

Crazy.

What’s also crazy is that I look way better at 192 than I did at 167.

It’s amazing what happens when you stop starving yourself and actually fuel appropriately.

Anyway, I want to challenge you as we head into the holiday season.

First of all, when you diet or go through a fat loss phase, just remember that your lowest weight is probably not where you’re going to live forever.

You will go through phases and seasons and it’s perfectly normal.

You may maintain at a slightly higher weight. It’s ok, if you have more fat to lose it’ll happen during your next fat loss phase. Don’t be in such a rush to get there.

Second, it’s ok to have phases where you eat more freely and aren’t as meticulous.

You may find yourself feeling a little fluffy after the holidays … and that’s ok.

Don’t you want to learn how to do this forever? And not just in the gap between New Years and Thanksgiving?

So let’s practice maintenance and enjoying the holiday season.

It’s funny that the perception is often to wait until January to hire a coach.

That’s the mindset that keeps you stuck.

Because it assumes that you can only see progress when there are no interruptions in your normal routine.

And it also assumes that your only goal is to always be losing fat.

My feeling is … let’s have support during a time that is most indicative of real life.

The holiday season is exactly that.

You can focus on navigating things outside of your normal routine without obsessing and stressing about food.

You can focus on moderation and maintenance.

You can focus on being present with your family.

And it makes the rest of the year easier to see progress.

The best part is … once the holidays circle back around the following year … you’ve already got the confidence to keep your results.

Our 1:1 coaching program helps you create sustainable results.

One of the core phases of our 6 month, 1 on 1 coaching program is called Lifestyle Integration.

It’s where we teach our clients how to keep their results while still being able to enjoy the things that are important to them.

Which means navigating social events, alcohol, date nights, holidays, vacations, etc.

We have to have constant conversations about phases and seasons. Times that we are pursuing fat loss and times that we are pursuing other goals like strength, performance, maintenance, moderation, relationship with food, mindset, flexibility, etc.

The nice part about the coaching process is that we can tell our clients how much freedom and flexibility they can enjoy while still seeing results. It looks different for everyone but it’s super helpful to know what that looks like for you.

Often times our clients are pleasantly surprised with how much they can enjoy themselves through the process.

Especially because most of our clients have come from very restrictive ways of dieting or programs that tell them they can’t drink alcohol or they can’t have dinners away from home or they can’t eat certain foods or they have to eat very low calories.

And we flip all of those beliefs on their heads.

They can eat more, enjoy family dinners, drink on occasion, be present during family vacations and holidays, and still get leaner.

The lifestyle integration is probably one of the missing pieces that most people avoid.

They view dieting and nutrition as a short term intervention and don’t consider the long game.

They don’t consider how this can be a forever solution.

And for us, what’s the point if you can’t sustain it and learn how to live it for the rest of your life?

Hope this makes sense.

To bring it full circle …

There are phases and seasons and they’ll look differently depending on your goals and your unique situation.

You’re not going to maintain your leanest year round and you shouldn’t try.

And if you struggle with that mindset, you should probably seek out coaching.

Let me know if this resonates with you.

Interested in 1:1 Coaching?

And let me know that you’re interested in the 1:1 signature coaching program.

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