3 Week Update – Coach Clark’s Nutrition Journey

*4/14/2017 – Day 21 – 211 pounds – and a bad hair day* 

Three Weeks Into Stronger U

Today was my three week check in with my coach, Josh, for my Stronger U nutrition program. It’s been three weeks of weigh this, measure that, plan your day, hit your numbers, go to bed early… and guess what?

I’m down 14 pounds in three weeks. Pretty cool! Granted, a lot of that was probably fluids. I won’t be losing 14 every three weeks, but it’s a cool start! 

Now, here’s the thing about me. If I really want to lose weight, that’s not a problem (it’s pretty easy for us guys). I just don’t eat as much, and I can lose numbers on the scale pretty quickly. BUT, when I go about it that way, I always feel TERRIBLE. I’m cranky, I’m not productive, and my performance in my workouts suffer badly. Losing weight is easy, but it’s doing it the right way that has always alluded me.

It’s still a little too early to tell how this weight loss will boost my performance, but I can for sure tell you it has not negatively affected anything. In fact, I feel lighter when I’m running, I’m stringing together bigger sets of gymnastics movements more easily, and I don’t feel weaker than when I started. THAT’S a big one for me. I hate feeling weak. I like feeling strong (who doesn’t?). My productivity levels haven’t been affected in the slightest. Good thing too, because we’re getting a record number of people in here at Yellow Rose! 

In the initial blog post, I said I was nervous about the accountability, as well as preparing and planning out every meal each day. Planning and preparing is not as difficult as I thought it would be, and I feel pretty silly for worrying about that in the first place. This program is like a really delicious game of Tetris. I’m told how much protein, carbohydrates, and fats I need to eat each day, and it’s up to me to make them work. Here’s a look at what I’m eating on an average day.

I make breakfast tacos EVERY morning.

Lunch is usually some form of sandwich. The bread makes it a little easier to get in all my carbs!

Tacos again? Yes. I’m from Texas.

I’ll always save a little bit of carbs for a bit of a cereal nightcap!

As you can see, it’s nothing fancy, but I’m also not leaving out entire food groups or demonizing anything. I eat a lot of tortillas (EVERY day is taco Tuesday if you believe in yourself), lean meats, cheeses, and breads. These are all really delicious and satisfying for me, so any feelings that I have to cheat are very mild. I know it’s still early on, so that might become an issue… but as long as I can continue to eat tacos and frosted flakes, I think I’ll be alright!

My meals are spaced out REALLY far due to the schedule at the gym, so I like to eat some pretty big meals rather than eat a bunch of smaller ones throughout the day. I eat breakfast at 4AM, lunch around noon, and dinner around 7-8PM depending on the day. It’s about 8 hours in between meals. I’ve learned that proper hydration is a huge aid in helping stave off hunger, but also really embracing the following sentence…

“It’s OK to be hungry.”

Sounds silly, but I always felt that if I was hungry, I was wasting away to nothing! Now when I get hungry, I acknowledge the hunger, look at what delicious meal I’m going to eat later, chug some water, and get on with my day. I’m convinced that this mindset has really helped me continue to hit my numbers with consistency.

All in all, it’s been an awesome 3 weeks so far, and I’m really looking forward to the journey and progress as I continue to go along. The next time I’ll update it’ll be at the 6 week mark. I plan on doing a side by side with my week one picture to see how the progress is coming along from a visual standpoint!

Thanks for reading, and if I can be of any help to you, don’t hesitate to reach out!

-Clark Hibbs

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