Introduction

Mekenzie Riley is about as OG as it gets around the M2 Performance Nutrition scene, as she contacted me back in October of 2015 where she told me the following with some concerning information about her current nutrition:

“I train an average of 3-4 hours any given day… FYI, I do high volume training as I’m a Regionals level athlete, so I’m sure you understand. As far as nutrition I am currently on about 1650 calories a day training days 180g p, 128g c, 38 f and rest days 1350 170 p, 80 c, 38F. I go to bed around 10 or so each night and wake up around 630 or seven each morning. I need a solid eight hours if not more a night, and I make sure I get that. I wake up like 2-3 times to pee :) I get thirsty and drink water all night “

I have literally written blog posts here and here and here about athletes with nearly the exact same symptoms, massively under-eating. I increased their food intake by ~1000 cals a day and VOILA, they got leaner. Shit, we just highlighted a post from Sara Sigmundsdottir talking about the same phenomenon. These posts are literally THE reason that you’ve probably heard about M2 Performance Nutrition.

So, what happened to Mekenzie when we increased her calories?

• She had more energy
• She slept better
• She gained a ton of strength in all aspects of her fitness
• She made the CrossFit Games FOUR times
• She restored her female hormone health

But… did she get significantly leaner? NOPE.

Did she remind me all about it? YEP.

Here’s Mekenzie Telling Her Story in Her Own Words

“When I was approached to write a blogpost talking about people that don’t have magical transformations, my immediate response was "For sure. I'm the poster child for lack luster progress photos"- jokingly, but also, it's kind of the truth. Being honest, it’s been hard to not feel like I don’t look like I think I should in my head. I’ve come to accept this over the 4 years/seasons that I've had the support and guidance of Mike, but somedays it’s still hard.

Fitting the Mold

The truth is, the pronounced change progress pictures are what make "the journey" sexy. We all see them, they are great for marketing, they reel us in and we sign up because WE WANT THAT. We want to look "lean"- we might even have a "goal weight" we harbor in the back of our minds that we correlate with this look.

As a competitor, this was me. I had big goals to become a perennial CrossFit Games athlete; a household name that stood alongside her idols - Becca, Stacie, Chyna, The Dottirs...

So, to be amongst them, I started training like them… AKA high ass volume. In my head I also thought, if I trained like them, this means I should look like them and weight the same as them, right? The average Games female is 5'5' and 140 lbs...this is a mold I believed I had to get close to, otherwise, I didn't belong.

My Journey

I came to Mike at 5'5", 155-160 lbs eating 1650 calories, training 3+ hours a day 5 days a week. I had a decade of disordered eating under my belt including anorexia, bulimia, and a serious restrict/binge/guilt cycle.

Underneath my textbook knowledge of nutrition and hard work ethic in the gym, I had a horrible relationship with food and serious body dysmorphia.

Over the course of our work, I transformed as an athlete that achieved and exceeded the goals I had set for myself as an athlete, both in terms of physical ability and status/achievement.

The Bigger Picture

It's no surprise that the increase of 1,000 calories in my diet lead to multiple PRs and personal accomplishments within my sport.

However, the BIGGER victories came with my relationship with food and with myself. It turns out when you aren't starving, you don't have uncontrollable urges to binge or "stress eat." Deprivation is no longer something I subscribe to.

When you properly fuel yourself, you gain the self-control and ditch the anxiety that most of us feel around "bad" foods. I stopped labeling food with moral codes like "good" and "bad" - maybe the most liberating move I've made in my diet life.

"Sexy" Transformations

My relationship with food is forever changed, which is a transformation that can't be captured in a mirror selfie and will last a HELL of a lot longer.

Over 4 years, I sent Mike countless progress pictures where I would swear looked all the same and get discouraged I wasn't lean enough or complain about how I’m not lean enough and want to feel fitter when I stand next to the field.

He is amazing at enduring this broken record and would always encourage me that we were doing what was right, because at the end of the day, there isn't an event for best six pack at The CrossFit Games.

It doesn't matter how you look; if you are crushing fitness, what else matters? The goal was to be a world class athlete, and I was achieving that.

Different Kind of Mold

Over time, I began to transform my perspective from “I need to look like the Standard” to "How I look is a standard as well. I am a different kind of mold that still fits the mold."

And if we really want to get down to the “sexiness” of it all, side by side by side (2015, 2016, 2018,) there IS change...it just doesn't always look as obvious as we want OR ever as quickly as we want. BUT if you play the long game and are committed to the BIGGER goals, that can’t be captured in a bathroom mirror selfie (food relationship, health, and athletic pursuits,) the "sexy" progress will come.