Year in Review: Eat the Gains in 2022  – a look back on 2022 with everything that happened, the most popular recipes, and what’s to come for Eat the Gains!

2022 – where did the time go?! I feel like I say this every year, but this year really flew by. And each year seems to go by faster and faster.

I have done year-end reviews for the last handful of years and enjoy looking back on the year. It helps you realize how far you have come, your progress, and what you have accomplished over the year(s). It’s so easy to just keep pushing forward and trying to get to the next goal or milestone, especially when running a business. I am super guilty of this and missing all the good actually happening in front of me.

Here are the year’s previous reviews —> 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021

So here is what happened on Eat the Gains in 2022 – I’m going to recap some things that happened for me personally, along with some business things, some favorite recipes, and what’s to come.

Life Happenings

1. Trips to Hawaii, Wilmington, New Orleans, Nashville, and Topsail Island. We went to Hawaii for vacation, had weddings in Wilmington and Nashville, I went to a bachelorette party in New Orleans, and we hung with Michael’s family in Topsail for a week. I’ve been to a few islands of Hawaii before, but this was the first time I’ve been to Kauai and it was absolutely amazing. I cannot wait to go back!
2. Cowboy Pool – Michael built an amazing deck around our stocktank pool, and we have loved every second of it since getting it. It makes the summers so much more bearable. You can see the before and after here!
3. Went to our first gala! Such a fun experience and for a great cause supporting Carrying Hope.
4. Another trip back east to see family and friends. We trekked back east for the third year over the summer and spent another 3 months there. We absolutely love the change of scenery, escaping the Texas heat, and having time with family that we don’t get to see that often since we live halfway across the country.
5. JMU reunion – the second year of all our friends getting together for a tailgate at JMU. Always a great time!
6. Started running again. I used to run all the time, but after focusing mostly on strength training for the past 2.5 years, I kind of stopped running. I was getting a little burnt out with just strength training this summer and decided to pick up running again and have loved it! I am not near in the condition I used to be, but it’s nice to see myself improve week after week.

Eat the Gains in 2022 – the content

This year was a little different from the last couple, I focused a decent amount of time creating and sharing recipes! Woot Woot! I scaled back some on nutrition coaching, which gave me more time for recipe creation.

We had a lot of great recipes this year and looking back, it was hard for me to pick some of my favorites!

Let’s get into the most popular post this past year!

Top 5 recipes/posts posted in 2022:

1. Protein Pancakes
2. Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet
3. Grilled Chicken Thigh Marinade
4. How to Count Macros
5. Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry

5 most popular recipes/posts overall for 2022:

1. How to get your Period Back Naturally
2. Burger Salad
3. Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
4. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Protein Muffins
5. Protein Pancakes

The top 3 were also in the top 5 last year!

My top 3 favorite posts of 2022:

1. Chicken Taco Casserole
2. Protein Pancakes
3. Creamy Chicken Tomato Soup

Michael’s top 3 favorite posts of 2022:

1. Cheeseburger Fries
2. Buffalo Chicken Fries
3. Blue Cheese Coleslaw

Eat the Gains in 2022 – growth

One of the best things I did for Eat the Gains this year was hire an operations manager (hi Clara!). She has been absolutely amazing and the number one reason why we were able to put out more content this year. She also has been inspiring me and challenging me to put different forms of content, more educational, and nutritional content.

We also rebranded Eat the Gains!! We worked with Madison over at Grace and Vine and I could not be happier with the outcome. I started this blog for fun in 2015. Now, 7 years later, it is so much more than that.

I have grown, we have grown, and it was time for the site to reflect. The new ETG site is very much reflective of that. It feels very much like me and where I want to be going with this business. It’s also way easier to use and navigate for you guys.

We also had some growth from an analytics standpoint. It wasn’t anything huge, but we have had consistent steady growth over the years.

What is coming in 2023

I am pretty excited about next year! Not only for my business but to see what comes for Michael and me personally. I hope to travel to some cool places, enjoy more time with my family and friends, try something new (hello to the skateboard I’ve had in the garage for years), and just continue to work on a work-life balance.

For Eat the Gains, we are continuing to focus on putting out easy and macro-friendly recipes to help grow and reach more people. I also want to share more nutrition content. I dabbled in it this year, but want to push even more. More video content, more posts on here, and more on social media.

For nutrition coaching, I have been at max capacity and on a waitlist for over a year now. While I would love to help everyone, it’s just not possible. That being said, a goal of mine has been to put out a course on learning how to fuel yourself and I am hoping to do that this year!

And finally, just to continue to share my voice and help to inspire others.

THANK YOU!

Most importantly, I want to thank you for supporting Eat the Gains in 2022.

This community is the best and Eat the Gains would not be here if it wasn’t for you. Whether it’s trying a recipe, engaging on social media, telling friends and family, leaving comments and ratings on recipes, and more. Your continued support does not go unnoticed.

It still blows my mind that this is my job and I get to do what I love and I thank all of you for that.

Cheers to 2023! Ready to CRUSH IT!