You know when you have to do a couple air squats to get those tight pants on? Ladies (and hipster boys) - you know what I'm talking about! Well slowly but surely I needed to add a few extra air squats to my morning regimen.
Thats right...I have gotten bigger, even put on a few pounds. But for the first time in my life, I'm okay with it!
If this happened anytime from age 14 to even just a year ago, I would probably be upset, beating myself up and stepping on the scale everyday just to see if I lost a couple pounds.
So what changed? Simply put, I started looking at food differently. I now eat in order to fuel myself for my daily life and workouts. Since I started this mental shift I have seen some extreme gains, especially in the past couple months!
CrossFit forced me to look at food differently. I no longer look at a meal and think, "Man, this is going to make me feel fat and put on at least a couple pounds!" I look at my meals and think "this is going to help me in my workout today, tomorrow and a month from now."
This isn't to say that you can just eat whatever you want in order to "bulk up." The quality and types of food you choose are still extremely important. When you take an approach of eating as fuel, you will then choose foods that help your performance.
I recently used a calculator on eattoperform.com (great website!). In the end it told me I should be eating close to 2500 calories a day! I was amazed! In high school I probably only ate close to 1200! I used to go by the model "calories in = calories out." However, this thinking is just plain wrong. It doesn't take into account basal metabolic rate (BMR) - which simply put is the amount of calories your body needs to functions on a day to day bases.
I recently used a calculator on eattoperform.com (great website!). In the end it told me I should be eating close to 2500 calories a day! I was amazed! In high school I probably only ate close to 1200! I used to go by the model "calories in = calories out." However, this thinking is just plain wrong. It doesn't take into account basal metabolic rate (BMR) - which simply put is the amount of calories your body needs to functions on a day to day bases.
Now 2500 may sound a bit much for a 5'4 girl, but I have to say it has done nothing but good for me.
Maybe one day I will be able to back squat 300lbs like Camille LeBlanc (maybe...)
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