Living Without the Cream - Why I Had to Learn to Drink Black Coffee
Part I – Knowing When It Is Time to Let Go
Part I – Knowing When It Is Time to Let Go
If you have started on your path of living the fitness lifestyle and even achieved some level of body transformation success and you are looking to bump things up a notch and discover what you can accomplish if you gave it your best shot, I challenge you to learn to live “without the cream”. Before you stop reading and decide that I have absolutely lost my mind, let me share my personal experience of learning to drink black coffee to provide some insight into what I mean.
A few weeks ago I decided that I was getting a little bored with my personal fitness and wanted to switch gears a bit from being mostly a coach to being more of a player on “team fitness”. I started thinking about a challenge that would light my fitness fire and get me excited about my training. In preparation for that goal, I decided that I was going to train to fit the smallest jean size I have ever worn as an adult (although my current size is the smallest size I’ve worn outside of competitive figure training season) as a short term goal . I wanted to prove to myself that I could achieve the goal while still maintaining a lifestyle approach to fitness (without twice daily workouts and eating chicken breast and broccoli all the time). With a goal in mind and an understanding of my underlying motivation, it was time to construct a plan.
It was easy to identify the training tweaks I could make to get closer to the goal but, as I always tell my clients, nutrition is most important so I took a look at my diet to see what I needed to change. I confirmed that I was already following the “Metabolic 10” (basic nutrition guidelines) but I discovered… THE CREAM. “The cream” can be any crutch that you use to get you through the hard work of being consistently disciplined with your diet. For me “the cream” was literally the cream in my coffee. I am very good about avoiding juice, soda, artificial sweeteners, and the like but I had come to rely on the cream in my coffee for my sweet fix. With time, my frequency and amount (of course I had stopped measuring) had grown and I estimated that I was getting an extra 100-200 calories daily in cream. Now this may not seem like a big deal to you and if I were just starting my fitness journey, staying in shape, or continuing to slowly tighten up, it wouldn’t be a big deal to me either. However, I had an aggressive goal and other boundaries that I was putting on my fitness program (remember I didn’t want to spend lots of time training) so I knew it was time to let go of the cream both to hit my short term goal of getting in those jeans and to sharpen the mental toughness and resolve that I would need to take on my next goal. So it was obvious to me that the cream had to go- it was no longer an option to let it stay.
It has been almost two weeks now since I gave up the cream. I would be lying if I said it was easy or that I hadn’t contemplated going back. The justifications have run through my mind. I had hit similar goals before without giving up the cream- why should I give it up? I had just given up artificial sweeteners a few months ago- wasn’t it too soon to be changing something else? There were many more thoughts that I had to work through to become solid in my commitment to live without the cream. I’ve even opened my hubby’s cream ready to give in during times of weakness and talked myself off the ledge because for me hitting my goal and proving something to myself is worth it. If you have an aggressive goal (or aggressive time frame) or even if you are just tired of always getting close but never quite "there" and you think you are worthy to experience the success of achievement, it is time to let go of the cream. So I challenge you to take a close look at your diet and be honest with yourself… what is your cream?
In part II, I’ll tell you why giving up the cream was so important and give you some practical instructions to discover and get rid of the cream in your life when you want to kick things up a notch to hit your goals. You don’t have to give it up forever and once you hit your goals you can decide if and when you’ll put it back. I’m sure I’ll enjoy a cup of caramel color coffee again in my lifetime… just not in the next couple of weeks.
A few weeks ago I decided that I was getting a little bored with my personal fitness and wanted to switch gears a bit from being mostly a coach to being more of a player on “team fitness”. I started thinking about a challenge that would light my fitness fire and get me excited about my training. In preparation for that goal, I decided that I was going to train to fit the smallest jean size I have ever worn as an adult (although my current size is the smallest size I’ve worn outside of competitive figure training season) as a short term goal . I wanted to prove to myself that I could achieve the goal while still maintaining a lifestyle approach to fitness (without twice daily workouts and eating chicken breast and broccoli all the time). With a goal in mind and an understanding of my underlying motivation, it was time to construct a plan.
It was easy to identify the training tweaks I could make to get closer to the goal but, as I always tell my clients, nutrition is most important so I took a look at my diet to see what I needed to change. I confirmed that I was already following the “Metabolic 10” (basic nutrition guidelines) but I discovered… THE CREAM. “The cream” can be any crutch that you use to get you through the hard work of being consistently disciplined with your diet. For me “the cream” was literally the cream in my coffee. I am very good about avoiding juice, soda, artificial sweeteners, and the like but I had come to rely on the cream in my coffee for my sweet fix. With time, my frequency and amount (of course I had stopped measuring) had grown and I estimated that I was getting an extra 100-200 calories daily in cream. Now this may not seem like a big deal to you and if I were just starting my fitness journey, staying in shape, or continuing to slowly tighten up, it wouldn’t be a big deal to me either. However, I had an aggressive goal and other boundaries that I was putting on my fitness program (remember I didn’t want to spend lots of time training) so I knew it was time to let go of the cream both to hit my short term goal of getting in those jeans and to sharpen the mental toughness and resolve that I would need to take on my next goal. So it was obvious to me that the cream had to go- it was no longer an option to let it stay.
It has been almost two weeks now since I gave up the cream. I would be lying if I said it was easy or that I hadn’t contemplated going back. The justifications have run through my mind. I had hit similar goals before without giving up the cream- why should I give it up? I had just given up artificial sweeteners a few months ago- wasn’t it too soon to be changing something else? There were many more thoughts that I had to work through to become solid in my commitment to live without the cream. I’ve even opened my hubby’s cream ready to give in during times of weakness and talked myself off the ledge because for me hitting my goal and proving something to myself is worth it. If you have an aggressive goal (or aggressive time frame) or even if you are just tired of always getting close but never quite "there" and you think you are worthy to experience the success of achievement, it is time to let go of the cream. So I challenge you to take a close look at your diet and be honest with yourself… what is your cream?
In part II, I’ll tell you why giving up the cream was so important and give you some practical instructions to discover and get rid of the cream in your life when you want to kick things up a notch to hit your goals. You don’t have to give it up forever and once you hit your goals you can decide if and when you’ll put it back. I’m sure I’ll enjoy a cup of caramel color coffee again in my lifetime… just not in the next couple of weeks.
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