Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
“Yesterday,” she mumbled. “I walked for half an hour and skipped strength training and swimming.”
“What about work?” I pressed. “Do you work every day? Do you take weekends off?”
She sighed heavily and straightened. “It’s possible I work too much.”
Shocker. As business owners, we tended to stress ourselves out.
“In that case, we’ll meet up in my office on Monday to hammer out a better routine for you,” I replied. “Getting your health back is much more than sweating and rebuilding muscle mass. You need proper sleep and recovery. Insulin resistance can sneak up on you at an earlier stage if you’re under a lot of pressure too. Not everything is about what you eat.”
“Ugh. Can you stop being nice after I insulted you to your face?” She grimaced and climbed off the treadmill to grab her stuff. “I’m just gonna go home and throw a pity party on the couch. And eat some fucking carrot sticks.”
I winced, torn between amusement and annoyance and…yeah, it wasn’t a good day for me either. Clearly. But my job came first when she was around, and she needed to chill sometimes.
“Natalie, you can also buy something you actually want,” I said pointedly. That sure as fuck gave me her attention, and she looked over at me. “Based on your height, age, and activity level, we estimated that your maintenance level sits at around 1800 calories a day, and you’re on a significant deficit now. Nothing bad’s gonna happen if you add a few extra hundred calories on your worst days. What’re you craving?”
“A big fat burger,” she whispered.
I chuckled. “So, go get your big fat burger. And next month, you’ll be more prepared. The week before your period, we’ll crank up your workouts.” I paused. “It’s not the best analogy, but I think you’ll get what I’m saying. It’s better to do the time before you do the crime. Then you can indulge without feeling guilty—and without postponing what will balance out the indulgences.” I said that to clients all the time, especially to the rush of new members who came in after New Year’s. Health wasn’t about what you ate at Christmas. It was about what you ate the rest of the year. I nodded toward the exit. “I’ll walk you out. Take it easy this weekend, okay?”
“I’ll do my best. Thank you. I…” She sighed again and kept her head down as we walked through the gym. “Be honest. Are you judging me? Because I am.”
I shook my head. “I judge people for a lot of things, but not for hitting the pause button when they have too much going on.” Our time was up, so a ridiculously long speech had to wait—but trust, I could talk about this forever. “You have no reason to be hard on yourself for this, Natalie. Decades of marketing fast carbs and sugar as rewards and pick-me-ups have left one hell of a mark on the human race. Our brains light up when we see pizza, burgers, cake, and sweets.” I opened the door for her and stepped outside. “On the other hand, I know how addictions work, and once your body’s gotten used to receiving less of all that processed shit, you won’t want as much of it either. But you gotta be patient. Forming new habits and getting rid of old ones takes time.”
“Makes sense,” she murmured. She stepped out too, and she peered up at me with a rueful smile. “What do you judge people for?”
I cracked a smirk and scratched my arm absently. “In the spirit of honesty, I don’t waste time on judging people, but I’ll admit to being bothered by those who don’t even try. Those who believe in quick fixes and magic pills. And those who rely entirely too much on weak excuses.”
She grinned a little. “What’s a weak excuse?”
I laughed through my nose. “Skipping exercise because of bad weather.”
That made her laugh too, thankfully. “I hear you. If I really don’t wanna go out in the rain, I can work out at home or something.”
Exactly. She got it. “There you go. But it’s also about balance, you know? If I work out five days a week, and I look out the window on Sunday to see it pouring down, maybe I’ll say fuck it—and that’s fine. It’s when you find an excuse every day that it becomes a problem.”
“Agreed. You make a lot of sense most of the time.”
I liked her cheekiness a bit too much. It made me wanna stand here all day and keep talking to her.
“Most of the time,” I echoed with a laugh.
The sass faded, and she nudged me with her elbow as she shouldered her bag. “Thanks for today.”
“You got it. I’ll text you tonight. Rest up and enjoy that burger.”
“Oh my God, I will.” She beamed and looked both ways before crossing the street.