Maddy V.

I’ve never been able to maintain a healthy weight in normal everyday life before Team SUF and do flexible dieting with macros. I used to be pretty heavy, weighing 150 lbs. I’m 128 lbs now and have been able to maintain this weight. I could lose a couple more lbs but overall I’m healthy and feel good in my skin. I’ve always been a food lover. My mom is Italian and I grew up eating a lot of food and really good food. I love to eat and love food. Who doesn’t? I used to do meal plans and would end up feeling deprived, so then I’d go overboard with eating. Restrict then binge was the cycle. I was put on the keto diet a couple of times. At one point in my offseason, my weight got out of control and I was 154 lbs at my heaviest. When I did competition preps I had no choice but to stay on the meal plan, so I was miserable the entire time. When I finished competing I struggled with binge eating and I gained a ton of weight back super quickly.  I decided to make the change I needed and joined Team SUF in 2019 and eventually lost over 20 lbs with flexible dieting.  Since I started with the macros, I’ve never once felt deprived. I can eat the foods I want when I want. I choose to eat nutritious foods for my health but when I want to eat pasta, candy, wine, a burger, etc, I fit them into the plan without any guilt and still make progress in my fitness journey. I don’t have crazy amounts of protein levels I have to meet like I used to. I eat a ton of carbs every day and love it. I want to be healthy and fit for the long haul and this way of eating is sustainable for the long term. Doing meal plans, keto, diet plans … those are not practical for the long haul. They don’t teach you how to eat and you can’t maintain them for a long period of time. Diets don’t work, they’re not sustainable. I go out to eat a lot all the time and sometimes my weight fluctuates a little bit but overall I stay at a healthy weight because I’ve learned how to eat and manage my eating. I know when I start competition prep, this time with Team SUF it’s going to be a lot different. Still super hard, but a lot better. So grateful for flexible dieting and guidance from Team SUF. I’d recommend flexible dieting to anyone, competitor or not.