I’ve been asked what you eat during Body Back. “So, are you on a diet?” “Are you doing like a Whole 30?” The short answer? Eh, sort of, but not really.

Body Back doesn’t focus on weight and calories as much as whole, healthy foods. Yes, you are weighed each week as a measure of progress, but the scale is not the focus like it is for other programs. There are other measures of progress like actual measurements of your waist, thighs and hips. Fitness assessments at the beginning and end of the 8 weeks also show your progress.

I say the focus is not on calories, but you do track your calories daily in food journals. Our class does it through the My Fitness Pal app. It’s easier for our instructor Christie to check it daily that way. I can update it from my phone. It’s not that hard. Christie emphasizes eating whole, unprocessed foods, but it’s not the end of the world if you have a slice of pizza.

In fact, I’m out-of-town at my sister’s house this weekend and we had Friday night pizza Dude! My sister ordered Mellow Mushroom! Good God, Mellow Mushroom! (She did ask me if it was okay since I’m doing Body Back. I gave her the go-ahead to order.) I had half a slice and salad. The rest of the week I have made dinners of foods like baked fish, steamed vegetables and salads. My Fitness Pal helps you customize your calories based on your weight, calorie burn etc.

One thing that I have issues with is my coffee and how I like it doctored up. Christie pointed out how coffee creamers are very processed sugars. Yep. They are. I joke with a friend that I like “chemical water” in my coffee. Seriously, it’s embarrassing how much of the stuff I drink. I haven’t given it up completely, but I’m cutting back. Here are some texts between Christie and me this week:

So I got Coconut Creamer. It’s not that great tasting. I may or may not have added a dollop of chemical creamer to my coffee with it. I’ve been doing half-and-half with sugar too. Not great, but not bad. Artificial sweeteners are out. I don’t like them anyway. I’m going to snag some non-fat half-and-half if it doesn’t have too many chemical ingredients. I’ve been looking for foods with a small list of easy to pronounce ingredients. Real food. Real ingredients. I can do it.

I must warn you to be careful as you are doing your research at the grocery store, especially if you have your child with you. I was perusing the creamers and texting Christie with my back turned to the cart for one second. This is what Henry did:

It cracked me up that it was called Henry Hotspur’s Hard Pressed for Cider.

Yeah, I was hard pressed for a drink after that, but I didn’t buy (another) one. I worried it wasn’t “whole” enough. Henry agreed.