Name: Allie
Age: 26
Height: 5’2″

Allie’s Nutrition Program

Allie is one of the athletes I trained at Solace New York. When I organized a Nutrition Challenge in May of 2017 to reach a larger section of the Solace membership, Allie signed up. Nutrition Challenges aren’t for everyone. They require a great deal of dedication in a short period of time to reap the most benefit, but Allie was more than up to the task. She had attempted many diets in the past, but these approaches didn’t yield consistent and stable results. So, she was eager to find out what my approach had to offer. My challenege focused on weekly adherence to healthy habits such as eating whole food meals, minimizing alcohol and refined carbohydrate consumption, and getting 8 or more hours of sleep each night.

Duration of Program

One 8-Week Nutrition Challenge.

Before & After Statistics

In Her Own Words

Before starting Hayden’s nutrition challenge I had attempted and failed at many diet fads: ketogenic, Whole30, etc. I wanted a nutrition challenge that was manageable and realistic. As a PA in Cardiothoracic surgery, there are periods of times when I am unable to eat for greater than six hours. After those six hours, I would quickly run to grab a protein bar. I would snack on anything but “whole foods,” and never understood why I couldn’t lose the extra body fat, or failed to maintain energy throughout the day.

The first couple weeks on the challenge were the hardest, since my body had to get used to less sugar and refined carbs. It was hard to make sure that I packed enough whole foods so I wouldn’t succumb to protein bars. The easier challenges were staying away from alcohol, and drinking water first thing in the morning. Drinking water first thing in the morning (instead of coffee) was a simple, yet effective change. Each week brought a new challenge. A surprise was how much dairy affected me. Once I introduced it back after the week cleanse, it was horrible, to say the least. Ironically, I also noticed that I had MORE energy during the week we cut out foods high on the glycemic index. In addition, the days that I did give in to refined carbs were also the days that I did not get a full eight hours of sleep.

Positively, I lost 3 lbs. total, which does not sound like a lot, but I can physically notice less fat on my body. Over time I had more energy to train. I was able to set a personal record on the Murph CrossFit workout, finishing in 54 minutes (my first time completing the workout as prescribed with the weight vest). In addition, I noticed that functional and gymnastic movements were easier, since I was carrying around less body fat. Most importantly, though, I learned a lifetime lesson about looking at ingredients and thinking about the big picture when it comes to nutrition (cranberries, egg whites, bacon, almond milk –can all have hidden deadly ingredients). Last but not least, I learned how important pickles are as a snack.