My Body Blueprint

THE METHOD

PRIORITIZE PROTEIN

In my experience, one of the biggest keys to weight loss has been prioritizing protein. Not only does protein help satiate us- thereby enabling us to keep our calorie intake low, but the body also doesn’t metabolize much of it for energy. Instead of being used for energy, it is broken down into amino acids by the body to be used for building muscle, bones, skin, hormones and enzymes. This is great news if you are wanting to simultaneously lose body while also lifting weights to build muscle. But keep in mind that any protein that the body doesn’t need will be used for fuel. The body will just always choose to use carbohydrates and fats for energy first.

So although the body uses carbohydrates and fats for energy first, any excess calories from protein will also be used for fuel. In addition, eating excessive protein places a metabolic burden on the body - so like most things, I recommend being moderate, intuitive and wise. For me, I aim to consume at least 100g of protein each day.

REGULATE INSULIN

Another key to weight loss is regulating your insulin. Insulin is the hormone that enables tissue growth and fat storage. When it is low, the body is able to tap into our stored energy, and when it is high our body is unable to use up our energy stores. We primarily lower insulin by lowering our carbohydrate intake, but pairing carbohydrates with fats, proteins and fiber will also help. And like most things, too much of a good thing can be a problem, so too low of insulin is not ideal either. For me, making sure to eat a sufficient amount of carbohydrates (about 100g each day) keeps my hormones in check and ensures that I have enough energy for my daily activities.

I recommend checking out levels.com for more on this topic.

CONSUME FATS

Due to their high energy concentration (9 calories/gram) we humans were feared for way too long time about eating fat, but I am here to say, FEAR NOT! Fats are crucial for proper hormone production and functioning, including insulin as previously mentioned. They also are important for maintaining healthy skin and hair, lubricating our joints, and for building and maintaining cell membranes. I aim to get at least 50g per day of dietary fat and from a variety of sources including dairy, red meat, poultry, fish, nuts, seeds, and fatty fruits (like olives, coconut and avocados). Similar to protein, fats also help with satiety ensuring that you feel full and satisfied between meals.

ADEQUATE FIBER

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025, women ages 19-50 are recommended to eat 25 g of fiber per day while women 50+ are recommended to eat 21g. In a calorie deficit 25g can be difficult to reach, especially while aiming to keep carbohydrate consumption low, but my following 1400 calories meal plan provides about 21 grams of fiber and I think that is pretty great! Fiber provides bulk to meals, promotes a feelings of fullness and as mentioned above, it also helps regulate insulin. There are two main types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Both types are beneficial for digestion can be found within fruits, vegetable, nuts, seeds, legumes and whole grains.

CALORIC DEFICIT

Although weight loss can be complicated and nuanced when it comes to macronutrients balance, hormones, metabolism etc. Ultimately, weight loss still boils down to the simple and classic notion of “calories in versus calories out”. Basically, no weight loss can ever be achieved unless there is a calorie deficit and the points I mentioned above are important when it comes to developing a sustainable strategy for achieving that deficit.

MOVE

A great way to increase the caloric deficit is to use up energy with movement. I choose to exercise daily, and vary my activities from day to day to ensure that I am maintaining all core aspects of physical fitness. I enjoy pilates for core strength, weight lifting for muscle growth, yoga for flexibility and balance, and HIIT workouts for cardiovascular strength and functional mobility. I also really enjoy walking in the outdoors with friends. :) Ultimately, I believe that exercise should be personally enjoyable. When just starting out it may not feel this way, but don’t give up! If you keep going, your body will get stronger and it’ll eventually be something that you look forward to each day.

THE MEAL PLAN

1400 Calories

A: WORKDAY NUTRITION (Monday-Saturday)

*food is weighed and measured

**do not include grains or sugar

9am Breakfast: Creami Bowl - 350 calories

1/2 cup fruit (apple, berries, cherries, banana)

1 cup 2% milk

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 tbsp nut butter

1/2 tsp chia seeds

1/2 tsp hemp seeds

pinch of salt

12pm Lunch: Salad - 350 calories

2 cups lettuce

3 ounces meat (salmon, ground beef, ground turkey)

1/4 cup beans

1/4 cup corn

3 ounces tomato

3 ounces pickles

1 tbsp homemade ranch dressing (greek yogurt + mayo)

1 tsp pepitas

onion & herbs

salt & pepper

3pm Snack: Yogurt Bowl - 350 calories

3/4 cup greek yogurt

1/4 cup cottage cheese

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

1/2 cup fruit (berries, mango, banana, apples)

1/2 ounce nuts, salted, roasted (about 10 nuts)

1/2 tsp chia seeds

1/2 tsp hemp seeds

6pm Dinner: Meat, Potato, Veggies - 350 calories

1/2 cup potato

1 cup steamed veggies

3 ounces meat (pork, fish, poultry, beef, or two eggs)

1 tbsp fat (butter, oil, mayonnaise)

generous salt & pepper

B: REST DAY NUTRITION (Sundays)

*food is weighed and measured

**includes whole grains & natural sugars (honey or maple syrup)

10am Brunch: sweet potato toast + eggs - 400 calories

2pm Dinner: bounty bowl - 600 calories

6pm Dessert: baked oats - 400 calories

C: HOLIDAY NUTRITION

*food is eaten intuitively

**includes processed grains and sugars

10am Brunch: savory or sweet :)

2pm Dinner: a traditional & balanced meal

6pm Dessert: keep it rich in fiber/protein/fat to offset the sugar

** if 1400 calories is too low and you wish to add calories, I recommend increasing carbohydrates (fruit, beans, corn, potato) if you feel a lack of energy, protein (meat, dairy) if you feel hangry, and fats (nuts, seeds, butter) if you feel ordinary hunger**

**Make sure to be generous with the salt as this is crucial for maintaining your electrolyte balance. ESPECIALLY when lowering the carbohydrates in your diet as you will initially loose a lot of water weight due to your body using up its stored glycogen. If you at first get a headache or feel lethargic, give it a couple of days for your body to balance itself back out.

** Oh, and I also advise drinking two cups of water with each meal. :) **

THE MINDSET

FIND LIFE PURPOSE

Life without a strong purpose feels very chaotic. This inner chaos makes life feel terrible, and its effects often manifest in unideal behaviors (like overeating) which negatively affect our body, mind and soul. Having a life purpose means having a personal focus, something that all other areas of life revolve around, including health. If you don’t have a strong life purpose, I recommend first exploring what you enjoy and value. Then, once you have a better sense of who you uniquely are, make a commitment to develop your talents and share them with the others. Becoming great, especially at something you value brings meaning, motivation, and self esteem to life. It also protects us from codependency or enmeshment, where we lose ourselves in another person’s needs. So start with finding a strong life purpose! And if you don’t have one, make it your purpose to find it.

GRANT PERMISSION

Grant yourself total permission to do the things that make you happy. This is crucial because we all need a certain amount of what I call “feel goods” in our day; if food is our only “feel good” we have permission for, it’s pretty much inevitable we will take in more energy than our body needs.

I believe in filling our life and time with as many diverse “feel goods” as we can, for me I enjoy things like nature, family time, exercise, community engagement, decorating, shopping, reading a good book, dancing, taking a warm shower or spending time with friends. When food is the only permittable source of excitement and comfort then the thought of eating less can feel very depressing. It’s crucial to our health that we fill our “feel good” quota each day with a variety of things that enrich our life- lest we turn to the easy things that only end up hurting us.

Finally, I have found that one of the best “feel goods” is setting my eye on a goal, doing the work and getting results. A mindset of hope and enthusiasm over where you are going and how far you have come is a potent “feel good” that can offset the pain required to get where you want to go.

CATCH A VISION

In order to get emotionally enthused about the future, we need a vision. Punitive thoughts like “I need to lose weight” as if your self acceptance depends on it, are not effective, often only motivating us for a short period of time. Positive thoughts like, “I want to feel, sexy, strong and free!”, however, not only feel better, but have more longevity to them. And in the game of health, we definitely need longevity on our side.

Also, it’s important that we define what health and beauty looks like to us. What feels like “home” in my body will look and feel different than what “home’ is for you. It’s important that we all define for ourselves how we want to look and feel in our own skin- never allowing society or others to define it for us- including how we choose to eat!

Our vision of our future is also important because we are going to need to go back to it often. It’s not a one and done thing. If we lose sight of our desire, then whatever game plan we set up for ourselves will quickly morph into a soulless taskmaster. The minute you start to feel the inner tyrant take over, this is your sign to go back to your original vision- empowering the real you in taking back the wheel. Every day should feel like a love-me party!

SET THE PACE

Now that you have a vision, it’s time to set a pace. All goals, especially long term ones, require that we set a sustainable pace. We don’t sprint marathons, for example, and in terms of weight loss this means finding a caloric amount that you can maintain for an extended period of time.

Pacing is about learning the difference between haste and hustle- with hustle being desirable and haste- not so much. In my experience, haste, which is essentially being overeager, always eventually leads to failure. Hustle, on the other hand, ensures that we are making progress without burning out. Avoid haste by accepting who you are today; pursue goals out of self-love and joy as opposed to desperation and fear.

You might also judge between haste and hustle by learning to be intuitive with pain, for some pain calls us to stop and some pain calls us to push through. For example, if you are doing squats and feel a burn in your thighs, pushing through might be a good idea, but if your muscle feels like it’s tearing, this is your signal to stop. Sometimes it takes experience to know the difference between these pain thresholds; a litmus test that I use to keep my pacing in check, is to ask myself if I am wearing an inner smile. If the answer is no, then chances are I am going too hard (or have lost sight of my vision).

Finally, I always make sure that my goals are set and fueled by a desire for my own happiness, not by my own feelings of inadequacy or out of attempting to control how other perceive me as these motivations never bring happiness or lead anywhere good.

STAY IN REALITY

Cookie crumbs are calories too. Personally, this has been my achilles heal. It has taken me years to break out of the silly illusion that mindless picking at food somehow doesn’t count. Just because we check out mentally, doesn’t mean our body is checking out too. The body is science and will always be truthful to the reality, so the more we can keep our mind there too, the more we empower ourselves to get results.

Ultimately, I believe in making decisions. For example, CHOOSE to eat the cookie crumbs, if you wish, but try to not let the body make decisions for you. In some ways I see my body like my child: it’s going to want a whole lot of things that are NOT good for it, but it’s also going to want a whole lot of things that ARE good for it. My job is to be loving enough to say YES at times, but also loving enough to say NO when necessary. And Above all, the more we keep our minds aligned with reality, the better off we will be.

I also resisted tracking my food intake for a long time and was determined to prove that this wasn’t necessary in order to reach my wellness goals. I was wrong and see now that tracking my food, even loosely, is crucial to my success. It’s not something that needs to be perfect or obsessed about, but especially in this world of abundance, we are wise to have some degree of awareness around what we are putting in our bodies if we desire optimal health. A major key for me is to striking a balance between focus and surrender: a psychological space where I am aware of the details, but never so focussed in on them that I cannot see other important areas of my life. As the adage goes, perfect is the enemy of progress, so do your best and accept that this is enough.

FIND SUPPORT

Having people in our life who are aware of our goals and encouraging us along the way is helpful in keeping us focussed and motivated. Additionally, finding others on a similar journey as us might also foster a sense of community and serve to keep us accountable.

The word “accountability” was also once triggering for me because it felt too much like something outside of me that was coercing me into action. In my view, accountability is healthy when it feels light- like a gentle reminder to stay on track. The minute we feel ourselves over relying on accountability measures to coerce us, this is our signal to go back and reconnect with our vision as previously mentioned. Any plan, structure, accountability person or community are here to serve us. They do not own us. We are and will always be our own authority getting out of life what we want from it.

CONCLUSION

Finally, I truly believe that wellness is found in making EVERY DAY A LOVE ME PARTY. Life can be deeply joyful when we learn how to love ourselves in this way, for we all deserve to be living a life that is healthy, happy, authentic and free. :)

Monday, February 10th, 2025:

I have a new plan. 20 weeks, starting tomorrow. I left my people almost a decade ago, and I move back in 20 weeks from tomorrow. ( July 1st) I’ve done the inner healing, and then I did the hard work of trying to figure out my unique body, its needs and how to fit them into a lifesytle that allows me to achieve my other goals too.

So this is going to be a lifestyle diet. :) Meaning, I have figured out a lifestyle that works for me, and I am going to do it diligently for a good length of time while charting my progress. I have figured this pattern out after many frustrating MONTHS of trial and error. It works for me. I feel the way I like to feel. Satiated, but also slightly hungry. Never over hungry and never over full. I FEEL GOOD. Even after days of following it. I sleep well, my mood is level and my hormones feel in check. Lets go!

WORKDAY NUTRITION - Monday-Saturday

***food is weighed and measured.

Breakfast: Apple Creami Bowl

4 ounces apple

1 cup 2% milk

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 tbsp nut butter

1/2 tsp chia seeds

1/2 tsp hemp seeds

Lunch: Salmon Salad or Taco Salad

2 cups lettuce

3 ounces salmon/ground beef

1/4 cup beans

3 ounces of tomato

3 ounces cucumber/pickles

1 tbsp greek yogurt

1/2 tbsp mayo

1 tsp pepitas

onion/herbs

salt/pepper

Snack: Berry Yogurt Bowl

3/4 cup greek yogurt

1/4 cup cottage cheese

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

4 ounces frozen berries

1/2 ounce nuts, salted, roasted (about 10 nuts)

Dinner: Potato, Meat, Veggies

4 ounces potato

1 tbsp butter

1 cup steamed veggies

3 ounces of lean meat

REST DAY NUTRITION - Sundays & Holidays

***food is eaten intuitively

Brunch: eggs + potato + veggies

Dinner: hearty, traditional, balanced meal

Dessert: rich & balanced

TRAINING SCHEDULE

Mondays: AM 10 min walk, 20 min yoga, 30 min HIIT + PM full body weights

Tuesdays: AM 10 min walk, 20 min yoga, 30 min pilates + PM 30 min cardio

Wednesdays: AM 10 min walk, 20 min yoga, 30 min HIIT + PM full body weights

Thursdays: AM 10 min walk, 20 min yoga, 30 min pilates + PM 30 min cardio

Fridays: AM 10 min walk, 20 min yoga, 30 min HIIT

Saturdays: AM 10 min walk, 20 min yoga, 30 min pilates + PM 30 min cardio

Sundays: AM 2 hours chillhop

This is a mindset that I have developed over years of struggling without complete ownership over my own life and body.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and it’s accompanying teachings made me feel like being a good person meant turning my will, my life, my mind, and even my body over to the Church- disguised as God.

I believe that the epicenter of wellness is having total autonomy over our minds and bodies, for this is where all good things begin.

I hope that some of what I share here will resonate and be of benefit on your personal journey.

May we all continue to reclaim our life and our body!