Your body is a furnace so fuel the fire

Follow me on IG: tricia_ann0714

Check out my FB album, Reaching Goals

     Today marked 6 weeks in the Fall Transformation Challenge. 6 weeks down. 4 weeks to go. I couldn't wait to get to the gym today to see how all my work was going to translate in weight loss since today was a 2 week check in for me. In the first two weeks I had lost 7 lbs (and believe me I was excited!) but at week four I had only lost an additional 2 lbs. So today I was hoping for a bigger loss. We had been training 4 days a week and I was following the meal plan and doing cardio. Although, I did have a cheat meal each week which was something I hadn't done in the first two weeks of the challenge. So when I stepped on the scale and saw I only lost another 2 lbs I was disappointed to say the least. Six weeks into the challenge and I've only lost 11 lbs. That's a good loss but I thought it would be more. I mean since June I've lost a total of 26 lbs which is amazing but once the challenge started we stepped everything up and I expected the weight to come off faster. Two weeks ago Brandon said I was building muscle which would affect my weight loss. But I couldn't keep saying it was muscle gain that was affecting my weight loss.

     So just like any other time that I am disappointed or don't understand something about the workout or my nutrition, Brandon and I sat down after the workout and talked. We talked about my nutrition. He looked over my meal plan and decided he didn't want to make any changes but asked me if I was eating every meal. I told him there were a few nights where I wasn't really hungry and didn't get in all 5 meals. He then tells me I HAVE to get all the meals in to fuel my body. He explained that it may sound strange but the more I eat the more I'll lose. I was like huh?? How is that possible?? It was in that moment he gave me an explanation that totally made sense to me.

     Brandon explained that the body is like a furnace and the food we eat is the fuel for our furnace. Okaaay. When you fuel the furnace with a meal it keeps the fire burning and your metabolism stays up and burns fat. As long as the furnace has fuel the fire keeps burning and the metabolism stays up. Makes sense. If you miss a meal the fire doesn't burn as well or may go out completely and the metabolism slows down. Okay. So every time I miss a meal my metabolism slows down. Great. Not doing that anymore. And so by eating all five meals throughout the day I keep my metabolism fueled. Makes perfect sense. Now. This was the first time I felt like I really understood what role nutrition plays in my weight loss. All my life I have been told that I needed to eat less fat and calories or eat less in general. But everything I have learned about eating clean and nutrition while training is the opposite. Eat healthy fats, protein and veggies and eat five meals throughout the day rather than just three. And now with this analogy from Brandon I totally understood why he tells me that nutrition comes first, then rest and working out.

     So today when I got home from the gym I spent a few hours doing meal prep for every meal for the work week. 5 days, 5 meals each day. I will not miss a meal this week. No excuses. I will fuel my metabolism and lose more weight this week. Can't wait to see the results!