Comparison in and of itself is not evil.
Comparison is necessary to gauge your level of fitness, how you rank academically, how big or small your child is, etc.
I am in a constant battle trying to not let my mind wander to comparing my abilities (or lack there of), to those in the gym that seem to be flying past me. When comparison turns into a negative mental state and is holding you down, rather than pushing you to do better, you must reevaluate your thought process.
Today “we” did a handstand workout. “We” not including me. I have never been able to handstand walks, but gosh I really want to. Do I put in the work to learn how? Nope. Ain’t nobody (this mama) got time for that. Do I compare myself to others that can do it? Yep.
” ‘She can do it, why can’t I? Is it my core that is weak or do I just not have the balance?’ Were some of the first comments I made after completing the workout, sans handstand walks.”
I see videos of other girls in the gym effortlessly doing handstand walks, squatting twice the weight I can squat, and getting their first muscle-up. Don’t get me wrong I am so excited for these individuals, but not excited for myself and where I am athletically. I have set end-of-year goals for myself, apparently too many, that I don’t even have the time to work on.
As I was completing my GHDs during the workout this morning, I was thinking, the year is more than half way over already and I am barely working on ONE of my end-of-year goals!? Like by the skin of my teeth, getting two sets of back squats in a week…what in the…
Yet, I am still disappointed in myself that I can’t do the muscle up or handstand walk or squat 200 pounds.
On the days the board reads back squats 5 x 3, I cringe. I beat myself up with ‘I can’t’ statements or ‘I’m not good at that’ comments and sure enough I FAIL. Then I watch all the PRs roll in that day and turn green with envy. These negative comments and statements we make to ourselves, reflect in our finished product. If you think you will fail, chances are you are going to.
It is hard to turn comparison into a positive when you are wanting to be at the place that person is at, but can’t seem to put in the work to get there. I think recognizing that you are on different paths is the first step.
I try to tell myself that I am in a different season of life than the single/childless/baby-less/toddler-less/two under three-less girl handstand walking, muscle-upping, 200+ back squating, PR-ing her way through life. I try, but it’s not easy.
A positive outlook will bring a positive outcome. If you are waiting for something bad to happen, like failing at your back squat for the 100th time, you will. If I walk up to the bar thinking it is going to beat me, it will. When I used to practice for muscle-ups (before I got to big on my last pregnancy), I couldn’t envision myself on top of the bar. I envisioned myself doing a glorified chest-to-bar and failing yet again…and that is exactly what I would do.
“Get out of your own way. Build yourself up and do it! No one can make you confident. Only you can change your thought process and make it happen.”
M • E • N • U
Hamburgers
Chicken Stir Fry
Pork Chops + Roasted Cauliflower Chickpea – Quinoa Salad
Sirloin+ Arugula Beet Salad
Chicken Breast + Ginger Roasted Pumpkin Quinoa Salad
Hamburgers
Nothing beats a good hamburger. There is a place in Augusta, Ga that I swear has the BEST hamburgers I have ever eaten. These won’t be like those hamburgers because, you know…trying to support the cut.
Speaking of, Josh has done really well! In 3.5 weeks he has lost 2.1% body fat, which is huge considering he was already at a low number. He has cut his calories, but has not slowed down his working out, actually PRing on his lifts while maintaining a cut in calories!
We used to use breadcrumbs and an egg to hold together the meat, but we don’t do that anymore. Josh has gotten much more precise while doing his cut, so I am going to weigh out the meat and weigh out equal servings for the patties to make tracking these bad boys more accurate.
This is not a meal that has to be meal prepped but I prefer to have this for supper on Sunday night so that we aren’t spending a week night in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up. If you aren’t cooking this on Sunday night, you can weigh out your patties ahead of time and have them ready to go for the next time to cook fresh.
To me, grilling always seems more relaxing than standing over the stove or chopping up a million things, so I don’t mind this as much as a weekday meal.
Chicken Stir Fry
Stir Fry has got to be one of the easiest one pan meals to make. I like to cut the chicken into small chunks so the cook time is quick and every small piece soaks up the juice from the vegetables and sauce.
I like to use red bell peppers, green bell peppers, onion, garlic, broccoli, and chicken.
Chop your vegetables.
Add 1 Tbsp of olive oil to your skillet. Saute’ your garlic, peppers, and onions. Add in the broccoli once the peppers and onions have started to soften. Once the broccoli has turned a bright green, add in the teriyaki marinade, soy sauce, salt, and pepper and allow to simmer on low for 5 minutes.
While the vegetables simmer slice the chicken into thin strips or chunks. Add in the chicken and cook until thoroughly cooked.
Serve over jasmine rice and enjoy!
Pork Chops + Roasted Cauliflower Chickpea – Quinoa Salad
Pork chops are on a constant rotation in this house. There are only so many affordable lean meats to choose from. If you aren’t worried about eating high protein, low fat meats, by all means eat whatever meat your stomach & wallet desires.
This salad is so great. We had a chickpea, cauliflower salad last week with tahini dressing, but it just didn’t hold a candle to this salad. I love tahini but it had a lot of fat, so we were only able to eat a small serving of it without busting our daily intake of fat.
I am going to use very little oil in the dressing and make sure to track the amount of oil I use on the pan to roast the vegetables. I like my dressing to be more lime and jalapenos, so I won’t miss the lack in oil there.
Dressings and cooking food in oil is really where people get off track. If you use 2 Tbsp (28 grams) of oil to saute’ your vegetables but don’t track it, that is roughly 240 calories and 28 grams of fat. Insane!
Sirloin Steak+ Arugula Beet Salad
If we are going to eat a steak, i would normally be a ribeye, but for now it is going to be the leanest steak we can find…sirloin. It isn’t everyone’s choice of meat, but it fits into our macros and if cooked right is tender and delicious. These really only need to be grilled 3 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Lots of preparation getting the grill ready for 6 minutes of cooking, but steak is worth it.
We haven’t had beets in a while, so why not make this super simple tasty beet salad. The original recipe calls for scallops, but I am not a scallop fan so I always skip those and just eat the beets, tomatoes, and goat cheese. This would probably be great with shrimp too. I love shrimp, but they do not have enough protein to justify eating them as my only source of protein in a meal.
I am going to cut the amount of oil in half and increase the amount of vinegar used. Try out golden beets if you have yet to give beets a taste. For the ease of meal prepping, I prefer to boil my beets when I cook them. Simply cut the stems off and boil your beets until you can stick a skewer all the way through them. Once they are cool enough to touch, run them under cold water and rub the skin off.
Chicken Breast + Ginger Roasted Pumpkin Quinoa Salad
I can’t wait for pumpkins to be in season! Until then, butternut squash will have to do. I am going to add some greens to this salad and make it more like a delicious bowl, adding in chicken breast as well to balance it all out.
The recipe calls for maple syrup. I have made it with and without it before. I can’t tell much of a difference to be honest. I mistakenly picked up sugar-free syrup at the grocery store a while back, so I am going to use that instead of full fledged maple syrup and save us some carbs for the quinoa and butternut squash.
Don’t forget the list!
