The Pursuit of Happiness

Been thinking a lot recently about certain Lifestyle Factors and the role they play in Fitness Goals and Overall Health. Things like Social Events, Friends, Food and Sleep Quality. I think I finally had a breakthrough..

 For the past few years I've been sort of stuck in a hole. I've done so much research about food, training, sleep, etc that I have actually hurt my chances of making any gains - Paralysis by Analysis.. In fact, I've seen myself go backwards with every new thing I learned.. I over analyzed everything to the point where I couldn't do or eat anything without thinking about how it would get in the way of my training goals.. So I would go weeks without having any rewarding food, months without going out to a party or having a few drinks with friends, and thinking up new excuses not to go out to dinner with friends or clients.. And when I wasn't doing those social things I actually got depressed and ended up spiralling out of control into multiple pints of ice cream and almond butter until I was sick in the stomach, the whole time feeling horrible because I was throwing away all my hard work. This just turned into a nasty cycle that would repeat its self for a few years. I would go a month or so on track but I had to stay busy with work. If I had any down time it was like I had two devils on each shoulder whispering in my ear to head to the nearest grocery store and go crazy.

It wasn't until recently I figured out I need to stop thinking!! When I looked back at my first few months in Crossfit, I really just had the basic info on food and training, did the work, had fun on the side and got the results.. So with that in mind I've stopped weighing and measuring my food and now I'm only focusing on food quality and that is it! I'm making an effort to be more social and go out more and meet new people, try new things and not thinking about how this might negatively effect my workouts. I'm happier now than I've been in years and I think people who are around me and know me can see the difference and even hear the difference in my voice and attitude..

YOU HAVE TO BE BALANCED.. just to sum this post up, I've found that Balance is my key. Instead of having a certain fitness goal, my goal is to be more balanced in Life not worrying about my Deadlift numbers or how many calories I'm eating today. I need to party more, have fun outside of the gym, train hard, eat smart, and get some rest. In doing so, I have seen great changes in myself just in these past few days - body comp is getting better, I have a great relationship with my food, and I just feel Happy with my Life. Like I finally filled in the missing puzzle piece I needed to complete the picture. Its great to have all the information I have, its another thing entirely to use it wisely and apply just the right amounts of everything to my daily routine.