"Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best."
~ St. Jerome. (You will also find Tim Duncan of the Spurs as credited with this quote as he apparently taught it to his family.)I remember it from when I was a kid, though I can't pinpoint where I first heard it. For some reason it has been ringing in my ears for the last 24 hours and today I made the connection as to why.
So when I blogged on August 9th, I was sharing how challenging things were for me. How I had hit some stumbling blocks, but then alternately made some huge progress. The week following that post, I made a conscious decision to do some off-roading (some people call it cheating but I refuse to use that word) when I found myself researching a restaurant called Hogs Head in Bluffton (entrance to Hilton Head Island where I was for work). This restaurant is all about farm to table and their menu was nothing short of AMAZING. Before I went to the restaurant I decided cheese in my appetizer would be happening. Because it was brie. And I love love love brie and rarely have it.
Had an amazing dinner, enjoyed the brie/pear/walnut appetizer along with a beet salad appetizer with goat cheese (yes, still trying to like beets - meh). Had some amazing short ribs and homemade lavender cole slaw and a side of roasted brussel sprouts. Still doing really well. Then it was time for dessert.
Normally on a menu, something called "chocolate, chocolate, chocolate" would just be ok to me, but not super tempting as even though I love chocolate, at a steakhouse this would just be an overly chocolatey loaded cake of some sort and I don't care about cake.
But this. This was different. It was made from scratch amazingness - a chocolate creme brulee bottom, topped with chocolate ganache and creme de fresh. The rest of the meal was so amazing I was certain this was calorie worthy.
Oh wow, was it ever.
My tummy was a little ick from it all, but not terrible. The next day I definitely was fighting some sugar cravings and found myself eating dried mango when I got home from that trip. Thank goodness that is out of my house now...
I reigned myself back in and did great the ENTIRE following week. I'm talking eating out 3 meals a day from Sunday through Thursday night. Dessert was offered EVERY NIGHT but nothing was really something I either hadn't tried or really wanted. I worked out EVERY day. I slept well. I was killing it! Then on the last day I had some cheese on my eggs at breakfast...and a cheesecake parfait (which was pretty good but not the best thing I've ever had) at lunch. Dinner was some chicken fingers and fried brussels (though they really seemed more like roasted, there was no breading). And a milkshake. Me and the freaking milkshakes.
It still totally amazes me how quickly I can lose control like that, but I need to stop being surprised and just DO BETTER.
So while those two weeks were MUCH BETTER than the weeks prior to that when I had milkshakes MULTIPLE times during the week and crap all the time, it wasn't my BEST.
And I deserve my BEST.
I started another Whole 30 this past Monday. I'm really excited about it. Almost a week in and I feel incredible. Amazing how food can do that for you. I feel my BEST on Whole 30. Doesn't mean I will always be 100% compliant. But I have to be careful with my treats, and I know that doing my BEST means going about a month without sugar, THEN maybe having a pre-planned treat in a controlled environment.
It was a little sad not making my Saturday almond flour pancakes this morning, but the eggs, leftover roasted sweet potato and US wellness bacon made up for it.
I'm also stepping up my workouts a little bit. I've decided to add a small amount of running back in - it's just good for my brain. I'm not going to replace my strength training, but will add to it. Not distances, just intervals and a 5k every now and then. Also kicking my kettlebell training up a notch. I love feeling strong and know that the stronger I am the leaner I will be.
For fun, I ordered a fitbit again. Now that I have a phone it can sync with, it makes more sense to have one, remember last year I sent mine back as I couldn't sync it with my phone. My only beef with the device is it doesn't count my strength training as activity. I guess I can add it in, but crap, I was heart pounding pouring with sweat earlier after my kettlebell session and it said I had zero minutes of activity. But I knew that going into it and still think it will help me focus more. I'm going to try to track my food for a few weeks and make sure I'm logging a deficit as well.
Sometimes it's just back to basics for me. And what I've proven throughout the last 18 months of this journey is that I have my BEST results when I'm consistently doing things (duh, right?). And those "things" will look different for every person, but for me, Whole 30 helps me stay accountable and true to the right way to eat for me, and training 6 days a week in one way or another helps me push harder and makes it easier to eat right.
Don't settle my friends! While Good is Good, and Better is Better than Good, YOU DESERVE YOUR BEST!
Find it.
Peace,
Clara
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