Hi ,

Today I am in Naples for a few days with my family, a continuation of the #tetatrek, and still have another 2 weeks in Italy. As you may have read in my recent Instagram post, I’ve been loving and hating being completely submerged in my #discomfortzone for the last 6 weeks.

Also, it’s also been the most magical experience of my life. Walking 160 miles through Portugal and Spain, experiencing other cultures, sitting in the discomfort and awkwardness of it all. As much as I want a HUGE FREAKING COFFEE, I am doing my best to enjoy and appreciate the many different tiny coffees I’ve experienced around Europe. HAHAHA.

Anyway, sitting at breakfast this morning with Jade, we were served … surprise, surprise, tiny coffees with a variety of pastries. You know, the usual. Anyway, I’ve gotten into the habit of taking a bite or two of various pastries to try them and then enjoy my coffee and the surrounding environment, people watching and trying to pick up on various Italian conversations amongst locals. It’s become an enjoyable morning ritual.

But it struck me then that years ago, when I was at my most neurotic about food, I would had had only 2 speeds when it came to this scenario:

I would either completely abstain from any carbs/sugar/treats because I was “being good” and white-knuckle my way from meal to meal, trying to hang on to a sliver of willpower for as long as possible. OR, I would deem myself “off” and in “vacation mode” and I’d devour every last bite of pastry. “Get your own, Jade!”

I had no in-between speeds.

I’d consider moderation to be some kind of failure, and I’d scoff if someone told me to have a couple bites and leave the rest. Are they insane??

We hear people in the fitness industry say things like “go back to basics” and “just eat simply” and “intuitive eating.” And for me, right now where I am in my journey, I get that. It makes sense. I can see the utility of a balanced “simple” approach.

But had you told me to “go back to basics” when I was in the middle of my nutrition neuroses, scouring the web for every last tidbit of nutrition information I could find, asking what programs and plans the pros were following, reading all the latest diet books and watching every little thing my favorite fitness model or competitor did, I would have laughed in your face. I would not have been able to hear it. Back to basics? What is that?!

I would have considered that too soft, or weak, or not good enough.

See, I believe the fitness and nutrition journey is a bell-shaped curve of information and complication.

When you first start out, you know nothing and don’t even really care to know much. I remember I couldn’t have cared less about nutrition before I trained for my first competition. I just lived to exercise, loved it. And did it precisely so I could eat anything I wanted.

But then, something happens and you get a taste.

You start seeing that with food, you can literally change your body. How empowering! What see that you put in your mouth matters. And you start getting more and more interested, you can’t get your hands on enough information! You get certified, you read blog after blog, you dive into biochemistry and learn about the metabolism. You see that there are infinite ways to eat and you just want to find THE PERFECT WAY to eat and exercise. It’s like a puzzle that needs to be solved. So you read more and more. You can’t get enough.

This represents the top of the bell-shaped curve of information. You need it. You crave it. You love it! I don’t blame you. A thirst for information is always an amazing, empowering thing.

But over time, something starts to happen.

Information overload. And you start to see that you are having a hard time implementing all that you are learning. For a while, you are trying new plan after new plan. You experiment with new diets and coaches and programs. And while it’s exciting and novel … at some point, you realize you are spinning your wheels. Sure, you’ve had some wins and you’ve acquired a shitload of knowledge but you finally start to see that it’s all just too complicated.

You get so worried you’re going to mess up, do the wrong thing. Every nutrition and exercise choice seems huge and important. Every decision feels like it will have this huge impact, everything gets magnified.

This can become a mental prison.

I know it did for me. You may have been there in the past, too, like me. You might currently be there.

Either way, eventually, in my experience, you reach a point that the idea of “back to basics” and “balance” and “moderation” becomes appealing because honestly, it’s just too mentally draining to try to do it all, do it all perfectly, and the remorse hangover you experience for when you inevitably can’t do it all perfectly becomes too great.

This is the other side of the bell-shaped curve.

It’s this weird place where you are actually further along in your journey, but you are okay with it all being a little less complicated, kind of how it was in the beginning. You start to search out simplicity. You want to throw yourself a bone.

You want every decision to not be such a big deal. You want easy. You want to be able to have a couple bites of a pastry and not feel like you are going to gain 50 lbs.

And so, in a way, you really are back to basics. But the key here is that you’ve had the experience.

I get women asking me all the time if they should do a competition. They say, “I’ve always wanted to do one! It’s on my bucket list!” And I tell them they should do it. Why?

Whatever that looks like.

I could certainly sit back and feel bad for all the crazy things I’ve been through in my fitness and nutrition journey and wish it were different and have a ton of regrets and make it my mission in life to make sure no woman ever goes through what I did. But other people’s experiences are not my business. I can certainly share what I did, what happened, the lessons I learned, and I do all the time.

But I would never deny someone her own experience. Each woman deserves to earn her own set of lessons. That’s the magic of doing. Of taking action. You get the good with the bad. It’s transformative, it’s perfect.

And so. Where are you on your journey? Give a Reply and let me know.

Remember, as always, there is no “good” or “bad” to any of this. The journey is amazing, and I would never judge another for the way she does things. I have my own set of experiences and I treasure them. And I wish the same for you ;)

Okay, before I wrap up, two quickies for you:

As always, I love hearing where you are on your journey and what you are up to! Feel free to drop me a line, or check in on Facebook or Instagram.

Until next time …

Xo,

Jill