Overtraining is a topic near and dear to my heart because I have been guilty of falling into the overtraining trap more than just a few times! The problem is, I never realize when it’s happening. It just sneaks up on me. One week I’ll be eating like a champ, nailing my workouts and sleeping like a baby. A week later I’ll be frustrated because I’ve gained 2 pounds even though-hello-I’m eating like a champ and nailing my workouts. And two weeks later I’m frustrated because I can’t sleep, my joints hurt, my legs feel like lead and I’m 3 pounds heavier which doesn’t make sense because not only am I eating like a champ-I’m not even hungry! And not being hungry makes me cranky, because I like food!

And then I ask my husband, “Do you think I’m overtraining?” To which he always gives me a sideways grin and says, “maaaaaaaaybe.”

Dang. It got me again!

It’s simple logic though! Some exercise is good so more exercise must be better, right?! And the same for diet. If cutting calories leads to weight loss, cutting more calories must lead to more and faster weight loss, right?!

Nope, sorry.

Unfortunately, training progress does NOT look like this:

Although that sure would be nice! In real life though, training is all over the place and it depends on all sorts of stuff so it can take any shape or form, more like this (although really it can look like anything, this is just a chart I made).

Think about professional athletes. They work super hard and then they have an off season where they do other stuff! But thanks to marketing and social media the rest of us are afraid we will blow up like a balloon if we don’t “go hard or go home” every. single. day.

I see tons of people in the gym hitting it hard day after day and they’re frustrated because no matter how little they eat and how much they exercise they just can’t lose those stubborn 10 pounds. Sound familiar?

Let’s take a look at the signs and symptoms of overtraining, shall we?!

1. Decreased physical performance
2. Elevated resting heart rate
3. Loss of appetite
4. Weight gain (increase in fat stores for people trying to lose weight)
5. Weight loss (loss of lean mass for people trying to gain weight)
6. Sleep disturbances/inability to sleep
7. Frequent colds or sore throats
8. Irritability, restlessness, depression and/or anxiousness
9. Overuse injuries
10. Menstrual cycle disturbances
11. Excessive thirst
12. Constant muscle soreness (legs feel heavy)
13. Bloating/water retention

If you have symptoms of overtraining, take a day off, will ya?! Better yet, swap 1 (or 4) of your intense sweat sessions for a light walk and re-evaluate your training plan.

Here are some things to keep in mind when you are making your training schedule.

1. Workouts don’t need to be a full hour. I’m not sure where this 1 hour thing came from but I’m trying to change it. If you are working HARD (and you should be a few times a week), 20-30 minutes is all you need.
2. You should be excited for your hard workout. If you are dreading your Friday workout already, that’s not a good sign.
3. You should be able to go all out during your workouts. If you are still sore from your last workout then you shouldn’t be doing another hard workout.
4. Don’t do HIIT workouts or other max effort workouts every day.
5. Obey hunger signals. When you feel hungry, EAT. Don’t ignore it until it goes away. It’s like my acupuncturist says, “body doesn’t lie, brain does”.
6. Always, always, always listen to your body. I’ve ignored my body many times before and 100% of the time it gets me in trouble with injuries. I can’t say this enough: If you are starting to experience pain from overuse, take a break.
7. And last, stop feeling guilty for having a light workout every now and then!

Happy Training!

Laura

Ok, before I bore you with the details of yet another one of my cleanses I have to tell a funny story. Shortly after I started dating my now husband, he came over to my house and met Lilly for the first time. So, he came over to my house and when he sat down on the sofa, Lilly promptly hopped on the sofa, climbed to the back of it and got right up next to him and put her ARM on his shoulder and then rested her chin on his shoulder!

She totally put the moves on my man! She had never done that before in her life and she has never done it since! She was like, ‘thanks for bringing me a boyfriend, mom!’
Anyway, it was too funny and I just came across that picture and had to tell that story.

Ok, if you want to know what I’m eating these days, read on…

When we were in Maui it’s safe to say I overindulged a bit. I don’t regret it even a little by the way. It was a vacation after all! Plus I love trying different foods when I’m in a new place.

We brought our magic bullet with us along with some vanilla vega sport. Once we got to the island we hit up Costco and whole foods (I LOVE going to grocery stores in new places, are you with me on that or is that weird?). It saved us hundreds of dollars making our own breakfast and lunch. But, then we would go out to dinner every night. Date night! I usually just had salad, but restaurant salads can be huge and it’s still easy to over eat. We also got on a French fry kick and I’m pretty sure we had French fries every day. We do love fries. We also found this incredible coffee/gelato place that served vegan chocolate gelato! We probably went there 7 times. Too good! They made this iced macadamia nut, dark chocolate latte…pure heaven in a cup I tell you. And then there were all the chocolate covered macadamia nuts! We felt it was our personal responsibility to try every variety and every brand. Tough job but someone has to do it :). Don’t you love how all my plant-based-ness goes out the window as soon as chocolate arrives on the scene?

Anyway, all that was a long way of saying, by the end of the trip I was feeling really excited about getting home and getting back on track! I just felt like it was time to do a cleanse since its been a while. The cleanse I do isn’t hard core at all. It’s more like being grounded from sugar and wheat for 3 weeks. I started two weeks ago and I feel really good! The first week I was 100% good. This last week I fell off the wagon a few times because I got into the chocolate covered macadamia nuts. :). But I just pick up and move on. The point is, do the cleanse, don’t expect to be 100% perfect. Any improvement is an improvement.

So here’s what I’m eating on this cleanse:
Breakfast: Tropical paradise protein shake
Lunch: Brown rice, tofu, stir fry veggies (from the frozen food section at the grocery store) drizzled in this peanut sauce
Snack: 1 scoop of vega sport but sometimes I’m not hungry and don’t eat it. Or sometimes I eat a Lara Bar.
Dinner: A big salad. Lots of greens, guacamole for a dressing, throw a Dr. Praeggers veggie burger on there or some quinoa salad.

Furthermore, I’m really trying to drink more water these days! I have this 800ml water bottle and my goal is to drink 3 of those a day. Also, I’m not shying away from fat. I’m eating my share of almond butter, peanut sauce and guacamole. Eating fat really makes you feel full and therefore crave less sugar!

Thanks for hanging in through this post! I’ll have more recipes coming next week. Enjoy the hot weather this weekend!

Clean eating and working out regularly is hard so it’s no wonder so many people turn to “quick fix” diets and expensive programs that claim they can help people lose 10 pounds in a week.
Hey, my wedding is in 2.5 weeks…I GET IT!!

On a side note, I often think that if I had to eat every meal while wearing a bikini I would probably eat less…can that be my miracle diet idea? I think I’m on to something here…

Anyway, I’ve been seeing so many of these miracle diets, miracle cleanses and fat-sucking-body-wrap advertisements lately I wanted to give some straightforward, no nonsense, FREE and EASY advice that anyone can do and it won’t cost a thing (other than a few groceries). No pills or expensive juicers needed!

When it comes to making dietary changes I encourage people to ADD healthy foods to their diet, rather than thinking about REMOVING foods. Over time the healthy foods will crowd out the unhealthy.

Breakfast: Try adding a grapefruit to your morning meal. If you remember grapefruit being bitter and inedible, try again! The less sugar you consume the sweeter grapefruit will taste. Also, grapefruit might aid in fat burning!

Mid-morning munchies: Try this fancy water and you will feel refreshed and like you are at a spa. It will also help you drink more water.
Fill a pitcher up with 8 cups of water (filtered is best) and then add:
1/2 a cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 lemon, peeled and thinly sliced (not squeeqed)
10-15 mint leaves
Refrigerate overnight. I can get 2 “fills” out of those ingrediets but by the third refill it isn’t very good.

Another option is:
8 cups filtered water
1 lime, peeled and thinly sliced
10-15 mint leaves
8-10 strawberries, tops removed and thinly sliced

There is nothing magical about the amounts used for that water or the ingredients. So feel free to adjust anything as you wish!

Lunch: Lunch should be a hearty meal to give you energy through the afternoon so you don’t go forraging for an afternoon junk food binge. Try adding some vegetables to your lunch, any vegetable will do!

Afternoon munchies: Many times when we feel hungry we are really just thirsty and/or bored or looking for a distraction. Try drinking a cup of decaffeinated tea in the afternoon. You might find you aren’t hungry after all. Or you might really be hungry and need a snack, which is fine.

Dinner: This should be the lightest meal of the day since we sleep all night. I know that’s the opposite of what most people are used to since big dinners are the American way. Try eating a salad before the main course, even if it’s a very small salad. I used to eat exactly ZERO vegetables in a day. Then I started having a tiny salad before dinner and after while I enjoyed the light feeling of a salad so much it is now all I eat for dinner (I load it up with good stuff of course, I don’t just eat a bowl of lettuce. That’s crazy.)

Dessert: Sometimes you just really crave something sweet after dinner. I do anyway. Now that it’s summer, put out a plate of fresh strawberries or rasberries. They are far more delicous than any dessert and they won’t make you feel weighed down.

And last, here is a picture of Lilly having lunch at Chipotle! I know normal people don’t let their dog sit in a chair at the lunch table. But I did. I know that’s naughty, I know. But she was so good, she just sat in her seat the whole time and didn’t beg. A stranger took her picture because she is so beautiful (or ridiculous).

Good luck and happy eating!!