Chelsea
I got back into a fairly consistent Crossfit schedule in February 2018, but even though my strength was increasing I struggled to lose stubborn fat. I went through cycles of eating whatever I wanted then “cleaning it up” which usually meant barely eating anything, or eating what I thought was healthy without regard to reasonable portions until it wasn’t any longer. Rinse & repeat, without results for months. I felt like it barely mattered if I worked out 6 times a week, I just wasn’t seeing the results I wanted.
In June, I signed up for the summer nutrition challenge. I was excited and scared, but slowly started to acknowledge my prior misconceptions about what it meant to eat healthy, and how balancing my nutrition within a caloric deficit would not in fact leave me hungry. I grew to enjoy the challenge of trying to find creative ways to hit my macros, and (being a scientist) I enjoyed how my body composition turned into an sort of personal experiment. The results were most visible in the way my clothes fit, and for the first time in my life I felt strong AND comfortable in my own skin. By the end of the 6 week challenge, I lost 4.5 inches around my waist, was down 4.7% body fat, and lost 10 lbs of fat.