Blowing Out With Food Means Blowing Out On The Scales

Have you ever reached your weight goal, done a comp or taken a selfie or 2 then started mindlessly eating again because now you have reached your goal?!

The work has been done and your goal has been reached so why can't you eat what you want now?

I recently look at a photo of me that was taken some years ago and represents somewhere 1/2 way. After I was super lean and before I 'blew out'.

I never reached 'overweight' or 'obese' but to go from 53 kg to 63 kg in a short space of time...

... to go from random people stopping me in the gym asking for photos to people ignoring me....

... to feel like superwoman to uncomfortable in my clothes....

... and have people ask me what I've done to myself...

This can shatter even the most grounded of people.

I should have stopped the weight gain here... I should have had some goals after my initial goal of becoming a muscular skeleton (that I always knew wasn't maintainable), I should have given myself guidelines and most importantly a plan.

Well.... actually my 'guru' of a coach (at the time) should have set my guidelines and goals after my initial goal was reached.

Truth be told, most coaches don't understand long-term sustainability and post-goal maintenance or reverse plans.

Most coaches don't understand reverse diets and how to deal with the challenges of post-comp prep.

Most coaches will get you to your goal at the cost of your health, social life, happiness and sanity.

Most coaches can get you there, give you a gold star sticker at the finish line then drop you on your ass.

One of my main goals as a coach is to teach people:

• how to maintain results long-term

• how to reverse diet out of a severe caloric deficit

• how to reach goals while still having a social life

• how to reach goals while still eating foods they enjoy

• how to love the process

It took me many years of reflection, education and application to understand where I went wrong and how to mend the relationship I had with food and the psychological issues that were caused.

And now that I am a coach, I want to do the same for my clients. I more than want to, I am. I’ve even managed to enjoy the process and lifestyle, make some progress and being okay with defining health and ‘the ideal’ body for myself, even when all others don’t agree.

If your coach isn't allowing you to set your goals for yourself and not pushing their idea of health and beauty onto you… and pushing the importance of goal maintenance

... even a reverse diet if your goal is extreme (e.g. - a bodybuilding comp)...

... or asking you to follow very restrictive unhealthy and socially damaging 'rules'...

... or you're left hungry and moody a lot of the time...

... then maybe it's time to rethink your coach!

Of course, dealing with some hunger and the associated effects on things like mood and energy can’t be entirely avoided BUT minimising this through smart dieting practices is, of course, the goal. We want to ‘diet’ enough to get the results we are after, but not diet so hard that the negative effects of dieting are unnecessarily amplified. Dieting harder than you need to usually just results in less compliance to the plan and of course a negative relationship with food where the dieter ‘snaps’ and creates binge eating habits.

And of course, this is why we….

Diet Smart. Not Hard.

I would like to believe that most coaches who implement silly and harmful approaches with their clients have the very best of intentions, but unfortunately, their ignorance can have lasting negative impacts on those who put their trust in their coach.

Seek a coach who understands how the body works. One who understands goal setting (short, medium and long-term), how to measure progress along the way to those goals, and knows exactly how to get you there….. Not just dieting and training you into the ground and crossing their fingers for results.

Diet Smart. Not Hard. 

Coach Lizzy.