Day 19: To be: Healthy? Skinny? Both?

So yesterday, in my post about Greg, I talked/ranted about how great it is to eat well, detox, and have fitness goals so that I can make being healthy a lifestyle.  But then I started thinking a little more about food and weight and bodies.  A pretty huge part of me started questioning one thing: if I could eat whatever I wanted and still keep a decent body, would I still go the gym?  Eat spinach like it's my j-o-b?  Measure out protein, crabs, and fruit?  If I say no does that make me a bad fitness competitor?  I mean, aren't I supposed to love eating clean, exercising, and detoxing my body from all processed foods?  Because a pretty huge part of me doesn't.  While I love the results from doing all of this, and while all of this is becoming more normal to me, it is all still a chore.  It's a chore to get up at 4:45am and haul my (hopefully thinning) butt to the gym.  It's a chore to spend a decent portion of my night preparing my food for the next day.  It's all just a...chore.  Would I do it all if I knew I wouldn't gain weight?...... I'm not sure.  I know I wouldn't do it (eating healthy, exercising, etc.) to this extreme.

But another part of me feels so proud and so accomplished after finishing each of my workouts that I'm not sure I could (now) ever give this up.  Of course I'm already planning out my first few gluttonous meals post-competition, but this whole exercising thing is becoming kind of addictive.  When I don't exercise I honestly don't feel as well, overall, as I do when I exercise.  Just tonight I went to the gym and did abs and about 45 minutes of cardio and I felt great.  It was the perfect end to a hectic day.  Then I came home and ate a big spinach salad and I just feel great.  Part of me does think that even if I had a bangin' body and didn't have to count calories, protein, carbs, fat etc., I would still want to keep my body healthy by exercising and eating well.  Growing up an athlete, loving sports, and eating healthy meals made by Mama McDonald has given me the healthy bug.  I couldn't go too long without some kind of exercise and some kind of healthy meal to cleanse my insides.

So,  I guess the bottom line is...if I could eat what I wanted without gaining much weight, I would exercise and eat healthy but not to this extreme.  I probably wouldn't measure as many things.  I probably wouldn't resist as many delicious sweet treats (you know, like ice cream, cheesecake, fudge, anything with peanut butter).  I probably wouldn't workout a total of 6 or 8 times (some double days) a week.  But I probably would balance out my treats with some salads and exercise...I think Trainer Greg would make sure of this.  He is a huge spinach fan (it helps prevent breast cancer)!

While this training program doesn't allow for treats (not even baked Lays om nom nom) I think that after this competition I'm going to try and balance my newly found healthy lifestyle with some sweet treats to keep me going :)  I couldn't live more than these 14 weeks without my mint chocolate chip ice cream.  For now, I'll keep focusing on the healthy benefits of all of this and dream of my chicken enchiladas that I will eat (in moderation) when the competition is over.

Until next time!
xoxo