Year in Review: Eat the Gains in 2023

Year in Review: Eat the Gains in 2023 – a look back on 2023 with everything that happened, the most popular recipes, and what’s to come for Eat the Gains!

And just like that, another year flies by! It feels cliche saying that, but it’s so true. Time feels like it truly speeds up as you get older. It feels like 2015 was just yesterday, yet we are heading into 2024.

I have done year-end reviews for the last handful of years as Eat the Gains has grown. I enjoy looking over the previous year and seeing what I accomplished. Not only is it hard to remember everything that happened in one year, but it helps me realize how far I’ve come, my progress, and what I have accomplished. This is especially helpful for me as I am someone who jumps to the next goal without taking time to celebrate what is in front of me.

Here are the year’s previous reviews —> 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

So here is what happened on Eat the Gains in 2023! I’m going to recap some things that happened for me (personally), along with Eat the Gains, some favorite recipes, and what’s to come!

Life Happenings:

1. We are moving!! This was by far the biggest thing for us this year. We have been searching on and off for the last couple of years and after looking at a bunch of houses, we finally found a house we love in our favorite neighborhood in Austin. It’s currently being renovated right now and we are hoping to move in at the end of January. We will miss our first house that we have made so many memories in, but couldn’t be more excited!
2. We started fostering 🐶 This has been something on my mind for some time now and we finally decided to try it out earlier this year. Over the summer we fostered 5-year-old ZZ for 6 weeks who is now living in Chicago with a family that is obsessed with her. Currently, we have Blizzard who is just 7 months. It has been so rewarding to see these dogs open up and help them in their journey.
3. Another trip back East! Our 4th summer heading back east for a couple of months and it’s always so fun to spend time with family, escape the Texas heat, and have a change of scenery.
4. I started doing yoga. I’ve done yoga before, but have never been consistent with it. Before we went back east, I was doing it once a week for a few months. I fell out of the routine but am planning to start up again since I enjoyed it.
5. We traveled to Cabo. This was our third time to Cabo and like always, it didn’t disappoint! We went to a friend’s wedding and it was so much fun!
6. Experienced F1! While we don’t follow F1, Michael got tickets through work and we couldn’t pass up the experience to check it out. My dad even flew out to go, too – haha! It was fun to watch the race and see what it’s all about.

Eat the Gains in 2023 – the content

We put out a ton of content this year compared to previous years. Two posts every week to be exact! This was a big increase for us and it helped us grow (more on that below). We continued to focus on easy and macro-balanced recipes as I feel like this is where we thrive.

We had a ton of delicious recipes, so it is hard to pick some of my favorites. Let’s get into the most popular posts this past year!

Top 5 recipes/posts posted in 2023:

1. Cottage Cheese Pancakes
2. High Protein Pasta Recipes
3. Chicken Marinated in Pickle Juice
4. How to Make Shredded Chicken
5. Orange Vinaigrette

5 most popular recipes/posts overall for 2023:

1. Protein Pancakes
2. High Protein Meal Prep Recipes
3. Best Macro-Friendly Recipes
4. Yogurt Bowl
5. Chicken Taco Casserole

My top 3 favorite posts of 2023:

1. Cottage Cheese Eggs – I make these almost every morning!
2. Turkey Baked Tacos
3. Carrot Cake Bars

Michael’s top 3 favorite posts of 2023:

1. Beef Tostadas
2. Peanut Butter Chicken
3. Sausage Gnocchi Skillet

Eat the Gains in 2023 – growth

This year was a year of change for Eat the Gains. The last few years I was constantly being torn between my blog and nutrition coaching. I was trying to balance them both and felt pretty overwhelmed. This year I decided to slow down on coaching and we went full speed ahead on focusing on recipe development. This decision was tough as I enjoyed it so much, but I could not keep up with the demand.

While some things changed, we pushed and tried new things. I got out of my comfort zone and we shared more long-form videos on our YouTube channel. We also started our meal prep series called ‘Prep & Repurpose’ which you guys enjoyed.

From an analytics standpoint, this year was a great year for Eat the Gains as we saw great growth from previous years. I believe this was due to the consistent content we put out week after week. This was also our first full year with an operations manager which has helped me tremendously!

What is coming in 2024

I am excited about next year! Mostly to move into our new house, but to see what else the year brings. Honestly, I haven’t thought too much about personal goals but there are a couple of things I know I want to do. One thing I want to do is to try to make more foods from scratch – things like sourdough, sauerkraut, granola, and more.

I also really want to start volunteering at the animal shelters around Austin. And get more organized with work and start time blocking again. I did it for a month last year and it was awesome. Besides that, continuing to prioritize my health, be present with others, travel to some cool places, have quality time with family and friends, and just continue to have a good work-life balance.

For Eat the Gains, we are going to continue to focus on putting out macro-friendly recipes. It seems like easy and high-protein meals and snacks are your jam and I am here for it!

For nutrition coaching, as I mentioned, I scaled back and am no longer taking on new clients. A goal of mine (it was a goal last year too!) has been to put out an online course on learning how to fuel your body and I am planning to do that this year!

Other than that, I don’t have any huge business goals. Of course, I want my business to continue to grow and there are improvements I can make, but after years and years of hustling, I finally feel like I am at a great place right now. I’ve found a good balance between work and life and it just feels good. I hope to continue to share my recipes and voice and help to inspire others.

THANK YOU!

There are lots of things to be thankful for this year, but I am especially thankful for you. Whether you have been here for years or just the last month, your support doesn’t go unnoticed.

Thank you for trying recipes, engaging on social media, sharing my site with friends and family, leaving comments and ratings on my recipes, and more. Eat the Gains would not be here if it wasn’t for you and I am eternally grateful. Thank you for supporting me and allowing me to continue to do this as my job!

Cheers to 2024 and what’s to come!

If you love quick and easy meals and want to learn how to build a balanced plate, check out our FREE How to Build a Balanced Plate Guide!