n many ways, setting health and fitness goals is the ‘easy’ bit; keeping going is often where it becomes difficult. Life, as many of us are fond of saying, has a habit of getting in the way. And it does get in the way, which is why planning and prioritising are vital – as Sarah Mackay, known as @liftwsarah online, discovered when she set herself a 60-day body recomposition challenge.
From the nutrition tweaks she used to fuel without restriction to the exercise that kept her motivated, below are the 10 lessons Sarah learnt while working towards her goals.
- Routine is key
It might sound like we’re stating the obvious here, but as Sarah explained in the video documenting her progress, having a routine is crucial. ‘I always find the most success on my diets when I have a solid routine in place because you don’t really have to think about what you’re doing. You kind of just set it and then go into autopilot,’ she added.
- Prioritise meal prep
So, what did that routine look like? It started, said Sarah, with logging and prepping her meals. While calorie tracking might not be for everyone, it gave Sarah a useful insight into her portion sizes and what she could feasibly change going forward. ‘Getting back into calorie tracking is tedious but it is unbelievably effective for understanding your portion sizes and seeing real results,’ she added.
‘After week one, I got really serious with my meal prepping and also started planning my meals for the next day the night before in MyFitnessPal,’ she said. ‘This way, everything was already pre-logged and all I had to do was follow it.’
- Keep food simple and repeatable
And on the topic of meals, for Sarah, simplicity was key. ‘For my meal prep, I like to keep things super simple. I’m personally not someone who likes to spend hours in the kitchen, and instead, I simply choose one protein and one carb for the week.
‘For example, right now, I’m on my mince and squash hype, but this can be anything from chicken and rice to chicken and potatoes, salmon, tuna, or any other carb that I’m really feeling that week.’
Sarah added variety by using different fat sources and condiments and changing how she cooked her carbs and protein, making it feel like she was ‘having different meals every single day’ despite using the same core ingredients.
- Eat more
To manage her hunger levels and resist the urge to snack, Sarah also ate five smaller whole-food meals throughout the day. ‘Focusing on whole, single-ingredient foods allowed me to stay fuller for longer and more than fuelled enough to get through my entire day,’ she explained.
- (Temporarily) cut out sugar
And while she acknowledged that this isn’t necessarily the right approach for everyone, Sarah also decided to temporarily cut out sugar. After a summer of eating lots of sugary foods, she found the cravings so intense that it felt easier to stop sugar completely for a period of time.
‘For me personally, sugar is super addictive and the less I eat, the less I crave it,’ she explained, adding that temporarily cutting it helped her to avoid the energy peaks and crashes which had previously led to her eating more sugar.
Combined with her whole-food approach, Sarah added that ‘It also completely changed the way that I look at food. I now no longer look at what I’m restricting from my diet in order to reach a certain goal, but how I can prioritise certain foods that make me feel my best while reaching my goal – sometimes that’ll be fruit and veg and sometimes that’ll be a piece of cake.’
- Volume eating
Being in a calorie deficit can, naturally, make you hungry, which can be difficult to deal with energy and motivation-wise. Sarah used volume eating – consuming large portions of low-calorie but nutrient-dense foods – to help her manage her hunger and feel satisfied. ‘I really focused on getting in more protein in order to feel more satiated after my meals,’ she added, alongside high-fibre foods like fruits and vegetables. - Reframing cardio as something enjoyable
Having previously seen cardio as somewhat of a chore, Sarah decided to switch up her cardio routine by trying something new: running. ‘Looking back, it was the best decision I ever made during this entire challenge,’ she said. ‘In the past, cardio has been such a chore for me but with running I felt like it was something that I just wanted to push myself further on and burning calories was more like a positive byproduct of that.’
- Adjust rather than panic
Rather than panicking when her progress plateaued mid-challenge and scrapping her plan altogether, Sarah simply adjusted her routine. ‘All I did was decrease my calories by around another 200 a day and increased my cardio by one more 25-minute session a week,’ she said - Expect fluctuations
And on the topic of progress not being linear, Sarah also flagged that it’s important to expect fluctuations, particularly relating to your menstrual cycle, largely thanks to temporary water retention.
It’s why she also advised not focusing on one marker of progress, aka the scales, and considering other factors such as how your clothes are fitting and your energy levels in the gym.
- Know when to rest
Being flexible with rest days also helped Sarah stay on track and avoid burnout. On days she felt tired, for example, she might swap two workouts for a nice long run – or rest entirely.
The verdict
The biggest takeaway from all of this? ‘That consistency beats perfection every time,’ when it comes to body recomposition, said Sarah. ‘You have to stop viewing your diet as something that is all or nothing.’
In other words, sustainable lifestyle changes also require you to be kind to yourself.
