Please, I beg of thee. Learn from my mistakes during this past 1UP Nutrition Transformation Challenge…

DON’T go in too large of a deficit: I totally understand you need to be in a deficit to lose weight. If I wasn’t trying to win $10,000 dollars I wouldn’t have gone down to 1,400 calories. I would have right off the bat started at 1,600 and honestly maybe even 1,700. My body did not respond well to being in a 400-600 calorie deficit (remember I mentioned in a previous post that I was calculating 1,800-2,200 calories on any given day before this challenge). I ended up being extremely fatigued and exhausted. Hungry to the point that I could not fall asleep. I literally was up one night with my stomach growling for an hour and a half before I got up and said, “Alright God, I feel like you’re telling me to eat!” It’s crazy because I was so tired I didn’t feel like it, but yeah just take my advice and start off with a 200-calorie deficit.

STOP comparing yourself amongst yourselves….for this is not wise! (2 Corinthians 10:12) Okay so maybe you are that rare person that gets super motivated and competitive when they see sister so-and-so that lost 5 pounds during her first week. If you are that person you can skip this step, but for the others that are not like that don’t look! 1Up Nutrition has a facebook group page that they have for contestants to ask questions and post their progress etc, but I was getting so upset about these people dropping so much weight in a short amount of time. My husband reminded me about that verse. This is your journey and it is not going to look like everyone else’s. It’s not wise to do that. Stay focused on you and what you feel God is telling you to do. It won’t be perfect, but it will be your journey and your journey only.

DON’T over do it on your rest days: Please learn from me. PLEASE just take your rest day! Seriously, I don’t care if you do or do not live an active lifestyle already, just take the rest day and do whatever you want. Don’t be like me and walk 6 miles still trying to close your move ring and get your 12,000 steps. I understand making sure getting your steps in helps because that means you’re more active BUT I seriously screwed up a lot of weeks with walking so much on my rest day or doing cardio. That particular “rest” day I went and did a leg workout the day after and could barely finish because I was so weak and shaky. I was dehydrated and had to go home to lay on the couch for a good bit till I felt better again. Just take the rest day and if you feel you need another, do it.

Take supplements IF you need them: I needed to take more supplements. Primarily digestive enzymes and things that would support me while being on a deficit. I am sure this would have alleviated some of my fatigue and symptoms I was experiencing. Next round that will definitely be a priority. Tbh I felt that I would’ve been “cheating” during the challenge if I took as many as others did, but I know that supplements are not the enemy, they are there to support your goals when you’re trying to achieve them. Before you come at me yes I know that you don’t need all of them, but I am done looking at them in a bad light.

BE CAREFUL if you have hormonal issues! PCOS, AMENORRHEA, THYROID sufferers beware! Guysss after the challenge was all said and done, I am still waiting to get my menstrual cycle. I took a pregnancy test (I just had to just in case) and it was negative. It absolutely messed my hormones up by going in too large of a deficit. Us ladies with hormonal issues are going to react differently. If you feel that cutting too much is effecting your hormones, I would advise re-visiting your caloric goals.

Make sure you are including cardio for fat loss: This was my biggest mistake. I enjoy weight lifting so much that even though I was getting my steps in and doing some cardio, I probably should have been doing LISS or MISS cardio for at least 30 minutes everyday. I was doing workout splits anyway, but next time I will make sure to do that. Cardio can mess with my menstrual cycle so I do have to watch it, but I don’t think 30 min a day will effect it too much.

I hope these tips help you. I wish I would’ve done things differently, but now I know what to do this upcoming challenge. The challenge starts October 17th, so wish me luck!

Blessings,

Alexis