Wedding season is upon us. Well some of us.
I️ get it, weddings can put a HUGE cramp in your diet but you can’t avoid social settings for the rest of your life!

Believe it or not this wonderful occasion is in fact not about YOU! If you must stick to your diet,here are some keys to keep your cool and stay on track during someone else’s special day.

1. EAT before the wedding.
This will save your sanity. Weddings typically last at least 5 hours. The ceremony takes about an hour and that’s assuming it begins on time. Once the processional is over, the couple is going to take pictures. By the time dinner is served it’s been at least 3 hours and you are probably gnawing on your purse.

2. Indulge in a small piece of cake
It won’t kill you. It won’t make you fat. The cake is presliced so you couldn’t over do it even if you tried. Eat the cake Anna Mae.

3. Focus on enjoying the moment
You are here to celebrate love not guilt trip over going off your diet. Enjoy the happy couple and revel in the atmosphere of love.

4. Tear up the dance floor
If you are seriously concerned about calories then DANCE!

Now normally I️ don’t do this but ahh

Ok no R. Kelly lyrics.

Seriously, I️ usually ONLY speak to women through my blog because well, I️ am a woman and I’m here to look out for the Ladies.

But this week is all about the fellas and making sure they know the best ways to stay in shape, for the ladies 😉

Tip 1. No Roids
If you are not a bodybuilder, do not use steroids. They were not designed to be used for any other gym pursuits and women will not find roid rage attractive.

Tip 2. Lotion is key
Ripped abs and ashy elbows are a sad combination. Please be sure to moisturize.

Tip 3. Matching socks
If you can’t tell by now these tips are a joke. But seriously, mate your socks please, at the very least by color…

Tip 4. Deodorant saves lives
Feeling fresh is a confidence boost. Use deodorant please.

Tip 5. Smile sometimes ok?
I️ know it’s hard to be taken seriously unless you frown all day but women want to make sure all of your teeth are accounted for. Smiles make you more approachable and combine that with fresh breath and you can not lose!

Honestly, when it comes to fitness, men and women really need the same basic things:

Healthy nutrition
Regular exercise
Sleep
Hydration

Not very sexy – although sex does count as exercise!

Welp you did it. Your diet went to hell in a hand basket.

Now what?

Pick up where you left off and keep going. That was easy. Post complete.

What? Still lost? Fine fine. Here are 3 ways to get back on track after a long break from your diet.

Numero uno
Drink a lot of water.

You knew that was coming. Water does amazing things for your body like HYDRATION. Your body is mostly water. You have heard that a million times but it’s true. Drink 60 oz per day and start feeling better.

Numero dos
Get some sleep.

You thought I️ was going to say run 10 miles didn’t you? Nope. The last thing you need is more stress on your body. Focus on getting your sleep schedule somewhat back to normal! Your tummy is probably all out of whack so sip some ginger tea before bed to help you relax.

Numero tres
Get in a LIGHT workout to get back into a rhythm.

Stay away from the treadmill. It is not your friend. Go grab some lighter weights and jump back into whatever workouts you were completing before the holiday. Torturing yourself after taking a break creates a negative feedback loop and there’s enough of those in our lives without creating new ones.

Stay hydrated, get some Z’s, and a light workout in to jumpstart your fitness journey post holiday!

Seriously, no treadmills!

6. Deadline? Add cardio

This is the only reason to kill yourself with cardio. You have completed ALL of the previous steps and just want to be a little tighter before your vacation (cause you know there will be Facebook albums from this trip).

Other than a 30-60 walk, running for 30 minutes on a treadmill is not an OPTIMAL way to lose weight.

It is great for your heart but there are WAY more fun ways to get cardio in without compromising your hips and knees. Try team sports like softball, basketball, kickball, or even dodgeball!

You could take tennis lessons if you’re not a team player and wanted to become the next Serena in your spare time.

Cardio classes like spin and Zumba are also less torturous options than slowly dying on a treadmill alone. GET CREATIVE. You’re doing this to live a better, healthier life (mental and physical). No one will comment on your abs at your funeral, trust me.

5. Reduce calories slightly

Alright, we are finally at the part you all have been dying to try.

Lower your caloric intake.

This should be about three months from the time you started lifting weights. Ninety days is also enough time to develop better sleeping habits.

If you skipped all of the above steps and just slashed calories, you will continue to look how you ALWAYS look when you diet.

In fact, leave this blog.

Everything I’m going to say from here won’t apply to you.

For those that remain, congratulations!

This is the icing on the cake. You should already feel stronger, and leaner from the consistent weight training.

Now that you know your average daily caloric intake, take off about 200-300 calories for two days per week for 8 to 12 weeks then reset to your original calories.

Did I️ mention this was an experiment? No one will ever know your body as well as YOU!

From this point you will reassess and decide if you need to cut for more days (three/four) per week to reach the desired level of leanness while still maintaining athletic ability in the gym.

In other words, continue the diet without turning into a carb depleted zombie that ends up binging on the weekend.

4. Figure out how to relax

No this is NOT the same as step 3.

*insert face smack emoji

Ok let’s go ahead and discuss the elephant in the room

CORTISOL

This innocent little hormone has gotten a dead beat rep in the media and is always the excuse causing your “stubborn belly fat”.

FYI if you do end up buying whatever pill they are selling, your belly fat will be the least of your worries once the heart palpitations start.

Back to cortisol, what is this hormone and why does it “make you” fat?

Cortisol is created when you are in a stressful situation to regulate your body UNTIL things are “safe” again.

This hormone was more useful when food was scarce and we needed to evade being eaten ourselves.

The issue with cortisol now is its outdated response to modern stressors. In the past we were scared intensely for 5 to 10 minutes then returned to a somewhat normal state again.

Now we are LITERALLY stressed all day. So the issue is not cortisol. The issue is the catalyst kick-starting that cortisol in the first place – daily limitless stress.

Your job. Your spouse. Your lack of spouse. Your laundry. Your commute. Your children. Your lack of children. Your neighbor. Your mom. Your expectations.

Stress.

So where do we go from here?

1. Meditation – try guided meditation if you’re unsure where to begin. There are countless apps available.
2. Soak in a bath – this can be combined with meditation
3. Take a vacation/staycation – when was the last time you went somewhere new? Played hooky from work? Take a day off for the love of God.
4. Take up a hobby/class – when your brain is learning something new, it has less time to stress about what to cook for dinner.
5. Spend time with a loved one.

Try one or all of these things once a month bare minimum to reap the benefits of a less stressful life.

3. Sleep 6-9 hours consistently

Alright this one is HUGE and you do it everyday anyway!

Beauty rest is real ladies. This is when your body has time to repair all of the damage it has endured during the day.

If you were unaware, almost everything you physically do puts stress on the body, and this includes your workout.

The workout to gains process is incomplete without recovery. If you only workout and never rest, the breakdown process will continue without the all too important BUILDING process.

As you lift weights, you are literally tearing your muscles apart. The growth occurs when the damaged muscles are rebuilt and additional tissue is produced to repair the muscle.

This repair only happens when you sleep.

Working out is important, but if you never rest, your body will stall and stagnate.

So how much sleep do you need?

At least 6-9 hours every night!

Yes, you don’t have time I get it, but if you don’t have time to sleep, you don’t have time for gains.

So here are a few tips to make sleeping easier:
1. Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed
2. Relax BEFORE getting into bed (warm bath, read, etc)
3. Set a schedule or bedtime and wake time.
4. Call a doctor if you still cannot sleep

2. Strength train consistently (cut cardio)

So there is a mini half step between one and two that I don’t want to forget…

1.5. Decide on your ideal self.

What?

Sounds airy fairy but hold on.

Think about how bodybuilders look versus marathon runners or swimmers or gymnasts or volleyball players.

Some may say it’s genetics, but to some degree you have control over the amount of muscle you attempt to retain or build.

Think about what general shape you want to achieve.

Do you want to be strong and explosive like Serena (with amazing muscle tone)?

Do you want to be slim and lean like Zoe Saldana?

Do you want to be flexible and nimble?

Determining what you want the outcome to be first, will remove a lot of questioning and guessing from step 2.

Ok on to step 2: strength training and removing cardio.

Wait what? No cardio?

Yes, no cardio.

But I’ll get fat.

No you won’t, we are going to focus on building muscle instead of reducing fat.

BUT I’LL GET FAT.

Ok let’s go ahead and explain how effective body recomposition works…

I am 99% sure that you do not possess enough muscle tone to strictly lose fat and achieve the “body goals” you currently desire.

How do you know, Keeli?

Well, let me tell you!

This is not your first rodeo. You have lost weight in the past (10-30 lbs) and still did not look how you thought you would after you lost weight correct?

You starved and ran for 2-12 weeks, and finally squeezed into that dress you knew was too small when you bought it.

But how did you look naked?

Exactly.

So my point is, you will need to build (some muscle) before you cut (fat) in order to reach the look you are aiming to achieve.

Based on the body type you chose in the mini half step above, choose a sustainable exercise regimen.

Seriously just google one – ANY ONE – and follow it precisely for the amount of time it dictates or a minimum of 6 weeks before changing.

*
To be honest, you will inadvertently still lose fat due to an increase in the calories your body will need to maintain homeostasis with the new muscle you’re building. That was a mouthful but in short, newbie gains = lose fat and build muscle simultaneously.

1. Assess current calories/water intake

Where do you start?!

Right where you are.

The first step is the easiest because nothing will change. Eat how you normally eat (but track your calories). Lift how you have currently been lifting or not lifting. Cardio as you currently cardio. Sleep as little or as much as you do right now.

Don’t change a thing.

Remember in science class when you did an experiment and the only way to measure the results or figure out how something changed, was by comparing it to the “control group”?

No, you skipped science too?

Ok ok. How will you know WHAT is working, if you change every aspect of your fitness life all at once?

Start right here. Today. Change nothing. Track consistently for one week minimum.

I believe you will be shocked at what I suggest for step 2… unless you were shocked by step 1. In that case, you will be REALLY shocked by step 2.

I’ve decided to just work off of a list of related points to help me focus on you instead of myself – trust me it takes effort.

I’ll dive into the first topic tomorrow but just know that you are the first to read my ultimate guide to completing a successful body recomposition.