For the Love of You Coaching by Rachel

Today’s workout came with rain, wind, muddy trails, and good company. 🥾🌧️

15.5 km at Cape Split, and I took care of a whole lot more than my step count.

My physical health, with a long hike that put my endurance to work.
My balance and stability, navigating uneven ground and watching my footing.
My mental health, spending hours outside, away from my usual routine.
And my social connections, sharing an adventure and plenty of laughs with friends. ❤️

This is a big part of why I train. To be able to get out there, explore, and enjoy days like this.

We finished wet and proud. And my cup feels a little fuller tonight.

💪

Today, I was able to do a little more during my workout. I’m still getting back to normal after being sick last week, but wow… it feels like I missed a month, not just one week!

I’m not sure if I lost that much strength or if my body simply isn’t fully recovered yet. Most likely, it’s still asking for a little more time.

Either way, I’m not rushing it.

I increased what felt right today, stopped short of pushing too hard, and accepted that rebuilding may take a little patience.

It felt good to do more. And for today, that’s enough.

First day back to weight training in a week, and it felt so good! 💪

I didn’t push too hard, but I didn’t pick up the smallest weights either. 😂

I can’t wait to get back to my usual workouts, but for now, I’m listening to my body and taking it one workout at a time. ❤️

If you’ve noticed I’ve been a little quiet since Thursday… this is why. 🤒

I’ve been sick and, for once, my body made it VERY clear that rest was the only thing on the agenda.

Today is the first day I’ve felt good enough to add a little VERY light movement and stretching. Nothing intense. Nothing to prove. Just moving my body a bit and seeing how it responds.

And it felt ok. ❤️

Still not 100%, but I’m getting there… one day at a time.

Making the best of it!

As I walk on my lunch break today, I can’t help but reflect on the words I used on previous post about my last job…

I keep saying that changing jobs was a turning point for me.

And it absolutely was.

But for some reason, I’ve been feeling the need to clarify what I mean when I say that, because I would never want it to sound like I’m blaming the job I left.

Quite the opposite.

I am incredibly grateful that I had the opportunity to do that job.

It challenged me, stretched me, taught me more than I can probably put into words, and gave me experiences that will stay with me forever. I grew as a leader, as a professional, and as a person.

That chapter will always be engraved in me as a great experience, and I’m genuinely proud that I had the opportunity to live it.

The job wasn’t bad.

It was simply no longer the right fit for where I was in my life.

At that point, I needed something different. I needed more space, less intensity, and the capacity to take care of myself in a way that I just couldn’t seem to get ahead of before.

So yes, changing jobs was a major turning point for me.

But not because I was escaping something terrible.

Sometimes a chapter can be incredibly valuable, help shape you in ways you’ll carry forever, AND still come to an end.

I can be deeply grateful for what that job gave me while also recognizing that moving on was exactly what I needed.

Both can be true. ❤️

I lost 7 lbs while eating pasta, rice and sweet potatoes almost every single day. 👀

Yep.

And considering how many years I spent thinking carbs were something I needed to limit to lose weight, that has been a pretty big eye-opener.

For the past 3 months, I’ve been ordering most of my weekday lunches and suppers from NuTrinity, and most of those meals are NOT low carb.

Chickpea pasta.
Lentil pasta.
Rice.
Sweet potatoes.
Sometimes more than one in the same meal.

Yet I’ve lost 7 lbs.

So what changed?

Not the carbs.

My stress came down. I changed jobs.

My random snacking decreased. These meals are high in protein and actually keep me full.

My portions became more consistent. NuTrinity includes the full macros right on every container, so I know exactly what I’m eating. Once I add my breakfast and snacks, I know pretty much where I’m sitting for the day.

And something else happened that I wasn’t expecting.

My energy has been incredibly steady.

Turns out, giving an active body enough fuel can actually feel pretty darn good. 😂

This experience has changed the way I look at carbs.

Maybe the question shouldn’t always be:

“How many carbs am I eating?”

Maybe it should be:

“What KIND of carbs am I eating, what am I eating them with, and what does the rest of my day look like?”

There’s a big difference between chickpea pasta, lentil pasta, rice, sweet potatoes and other quality carb sources, and constantly snacking on ultra-processed food.

So if you’ve been trained to fear carbs like I was, you might want to rethink that.

Stop automatically blaming the carbs. Look at the whole picture.

Food quality matters.
Protein matters.
Portions matter.
Stress matters.
And yes, carbs can absolutely have a place on your plate. ❤️

And shoutout to NuTrinity for making it ridiculously easy to know exactly what I’m eating without having to calculate everything myself. 🙌

Make the best of it!!

This weekend was definitely NOT part of the plan. 😂

Restaurant food all weekend.
A drink here and there.
Not enough sleep.
Two cancelled flights.
And at one point, we had no idea when we were getting home.

But here’s what surprised me…

I didn’t panic. I didn’t let myself spiral.

Why?

Because none of it was in my control.

So we literally made the best of it.

We laughed. We found little moments to enjoy. We used the extra food vouchers. We dealt with each next step as it came instead of stressing about all the things we couldn’t change.

And lately, I’ve become pretty protective of that mindset.

I refuse to let things that are completely out of my control take more from me than they already have to.

Today I was back to work, and despite the weekend, I felt amazing.

So good that I went for an extra little walk this evening AND did the workout I didn’t get done this morning.

During my high-stress job, I still worked out. I still ate well. I still showed up.

But I couldn’t seem to get ahead.

And I’m realizing more and more just how big a piece stress was.

Good nutrition 80% of the time matters.
Movement matters.
Mindset matters.
And managing what you allow to steal your peace REALLY matters.

You can’t control everything that happens around you.

But you can get a whole lot better at deciding how much power you give it.

Make the best of it. Literally. ❤️

Well… I guess I’m officially an earplug-at-concerts person now.

I’ll admit it… I was skeptical about Loop earplugs. 😂

I originally bought them for Chris because he often gets ringing in his ears after concerts. Since I was ordering some for him, I figured I’d try them too… mostly to protect my hearing long term. Not because I thought I needed them. 🙃

When I first put them in, I didn’t love them. But I kept them in because I noticed they took away that harsh/static-y sound when the music gets REALLY loud.

Then halfway through the concert, I took them out just to compare.

NOPE. 😂

I put them back in pretty quickly.

That’s when I realized how much they were actually doing. The music was still clear, but without that aggressive loudness hitting my ears.

I went in thinking, “I probably don’t need these.”

I came out thinking I’ll probably never go to another concert without them. 😂

And yes, I now have a friend referral link for Loop if anyone has been thinking about trying them. I’ll put it in the comments. 👂🎶

Not the exact representation but still …