Wore out!

I am T-I-R-E-D! Exhausted! I think I’m just trying to cram too much in. Work is typically laid back but we are in tradeshow season so I’m extra busy and not sitting at my desk all day. Then at home, I’m trying to make a gazillion cakeballs and that’s a whole different kind of stress. It’s not bad stress but I’m staying up later and I carry all the tension in my upper back and shoulders. They are hurting. On top of the 5 am workouts, I am TIRED!

This morning was extra chilly at the BOOM Box. Where did my 50° mornings go? Seriously back in the 30s. I’m not a happy girl. I had no motivation to do work. I’m really surprised that I didn’t stay home. The workout for the day was 12.3 from last years open!

Before we started we worked on TTB and Box Jumps because that my friends makes up 2/3 of 12.3. I tried working on not reloading once I hit the ground from box jumps. But I still haven’t found those super springy legs yet. I’ll just have to fight through those pesky box jumps. And well I still haven’t found my TTB. Sigh, that’s one more thing I need to get back to working on. So close but they are hiding from me.

2/13/13 WOD

MetCon: 18 minute AMRAP of 15 Box Jumps, 12 Push Press and 9 Toes To Bar. 20″ for box jumps and 75lbs for push press. Coach T wanted us to do a weight for push press that we felt we could do unbroken. Well I didn’t think I could do 75lbs unbroken. So I went with 65lbs even tried to get away with 55lbs but that wasn’t happening. I couldn’t do 65lbs unbroken either! And it hurt. I should have warmed up more because a lot of the hurt went away with more reps so I know it’s not an injury, just tired ass muscles. My Toes to Bar didn’t magically come at 3-2-1 either. It was really a Debbie Downer kind of morning.

OUCHY!

Then I tried to break my shin on the box jumps, which I have never done before. I’ve missed and banged up right below my knee but today I went for all the marbles, drew blood and stained my NEW and AWESOME Reebok compression socks Ernie got for me for Valentine’s day. Womp, Womp.

At least they weren’t the white ones! 20″ isn’t even an issue for me when it comes to box jumps. I was not feeling it today though. Total reps: 166. When I saw Coach G after the workout he asked me how it went and I had nothing positive to report. It was bad. He asked how I did last year and I couldn’t remember. But I did look back in my posts and found this. A little more optimistic version of me who did freaking 75lb push press but only got a score of 96. Ugh. Still just made me more blah for the day! But it also reminded me after reading about Sherry, why I love CrossFit – COMMUNITY! I may be a big baby but I have a great box full of wonderful people that inspire me and challenge me even when I just want to throw a fit.

Can I get a do-over? Pretty Please? I promise I will be awesome the rest of the day! I will not think about my banged up shin anymore. I will knock out a gazallion cake balls tonight and I will eat clean! I will for sure enjoy my REST day tomorrow! Done son! Gotta regain awesome! You GO BE AWESOME as well! Happy WEDNESDAY!

Elizabeth, It WAS…

not a pleasure to meet you! For those of you new to CrossFit or have no clue as to why there are workouts named after people, mostly women or in honor of Heroes, I’ll share what I’ve found:

Many have asked, “Why are the workouts named after Girls?” Since 1953 storms have been assigned female names by the National Weather Service as a quick identification method. It is this convenient and logic approach that inspired Coach Glassman to name the original 6: Angie, Barbara, Chelsea, Diane, Fran and Elizabeth after storms.

Coach Glassman, the founder and President of CrossFit explained it further. “I want to explain the workout once and then give it a name. I thought that anything that left you flat on your back, looking up at the sky asking ‘what just happened to me?’ deserved a females name. Workouts are just like storms, they wreak havoc on towns.”

The workouts named after GIRLS are benchmark workouts. You don’t do them all of the time but each time you do them over months, years, etc, the idea or hope is that you get better. Improved fitness. They are quantifiable and create this shared sense of ~~misery~~ happiness within each and every CrossFit Box.

And today I met Elizabeth. And me no likey! I have mentioned in the past how much I love to Clean! Clean the BAR that is and today I wasn’t feeling the same love.

Elizabeth

21-15-9 of Squat Cleans and Ring Dips (135/95)

I know I can clean the 95lbs but not sure if I can do that for 21-15-9 so I dropped to 85lbs. And I was a big ol baby. More than EVER. I didn’t even want to pick up the bar. I finally did and got through 11 like a champ. And then more BABY showed up. It took for what seemed like forever to get to 21. I moved to the ring dips and used a green band. I knocked out 15 pretty quickly then weakly busted out the last 6. If you thought I was a baby for 21 I was for sure a baby for the 15. I did 3 at a time but was out of energy and slow. I mentally hit every roadblock imaginable. I felt my wrists crying, I felt my back on a sloppy rep, I felt the FOOD, the BAD FOOD and it’s side effects. And that’s all I kept doing is reminding myself of my craptabulous weekend eating and how it was affecting me. I was a headcase. Finally finished 15 and moved to ring dips. For some reason even though my triceps were spent I wasn’t having as hard a time with the ring dips. Granted I’m using a band for assistance but it wasn’t feeling super rough. Finally got to the last round and I knocked them out in in 2 sets of 3 and then in singles! I did 7 ring dips, then 2, TIME: 13:30. Coach said the weight looked easy for me and it was all mental. And I believe that to be true. But I also felt like crap. Don’t F*** up your eating folks. It sucks donkey balls!

2/12/13 WOD

In rebuttal to eating so poorly over the weekend, I was on the push for getting food prepped last night so I had food ready to eat and cook. As soon as we walked in the door from baseball practice I was Johnny on the GO. It did not help however that there was a request for Cake Balls for the boy’s Valentine’s Day parties at school. So there I am baking away and sometimes tasting! I got it out of my system quick though cause when you have a lot of irons in the fire it’s hard to focus on indulging 😀 While cakes baked, I cooked asparagus, and cut up broccoli. I put some pasta sauce to simmer. Browned ground beef. Cut up sweet potatoes and made Paleo Mayo. I was a busy bee and it was well worth it!

2/11/13 Lunch – Sauteed Chicken, Mixed Veggies, Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes and Coconut Flakes

Hope everyone has a SWELL day! It’s rainy and icky here. Perfect for staying inside and finishing those cake balls I am committed to make! But first I have to survive the traffic home that is destined to come later this afternoon! You know the drill… BE AWESOME!

No Plan = FAIL (big time)

We had a non stop weekend ahead of us and I did zero planning for food. What does that mean? A bunch of non Paleo, Whole30 frowned upon crap eating. And it all caught up with me Sunday evening. And left me high and dry in regards to getting up for the BOOM Box this morning. I went to bed late, didn’t get good sleep and knew I wasn’t going to be able to hang at the box. My brain feels like it’s been replaced with cotton balls.

You have to go into your weekends with a PLAN especially if you aren’t going to be home at all to get some good eats cooked up. I still feel really bleh and congested. Some of that has to do with the craptastic (although not even close to the NE) weather we have been having. But mostly it has to do with poor eating. Please KNOW you can’t wing this stuff. Without planning and preparation you will be in my boat and feeling like POO!

Before I fell apart and crumbled, I managed to get some work done at the BOOM Box on Saturday morning. I have a hard time remembering to take a pic on Saturdays and for that I apologize.

Skill/Strength: Kb snatch mechanics
Oh I just don’t like KB Snatch. I always bruise up my forearms. It always hurts sooo bad. But I did much better this time around. I had better control of the KB and felt a lot stronger technique wise. I didn’t do a lot of weight. I think it was just the 1/2 POOD but I really don’t recall. I just know I worked the skill a little better than I have in the past.

MetCon: 10 minutes to find a 1 rm jerk, Rest 2 min, Max wallballs UB, Rest 2 min, 5 minutes max KB snatch
So I did searches in my past posts and could have sworn I had a 1rm Jerk recorded. I could have sworn it was 100 or 105lbs. But I couldn’t find it anywhere. With that said I worked up to 105lbs 1 RM Jerk in the 10 minute time frame. PR? Who the hell knows. But I figured it’s not too bad seeing as that we haven’t really worked on Jerks in a while. I tried getting 110 with 1 minute left but that didn’t happen.

We then got a 2 minute rest before doing Wall Balls Unbroken I suck at wall balls. I was given the 14lb MURDER ball as it’s been nicknamed. When you think of 14lbs, you don’t think it’s that heavy. But when you have to throw it up and catch it repeatedly it gets heavy. I only did 14. I probably would have had 19 or 20 but I had several NO REPS because the ball didn’t hit the WALL! ARGH! It was horrible.

Time for another rest break, thank goodness! But then it was 5 minutes of MAX KB Snatch! Just go, don’t stop, don’t rest, etc. I felt I started off in a good place but I just got spent towards the end. Only managed to get about 82 reps in. I was shooting for 100 but my hand grip got me. Ah well. Do better next time! Right?

That’s all I got for ya cause I’m was in a big ol lake of FAIL this weekend. It does happen. And now how I deal with it is the real test. I do feel bleh but I had a good breakfast and will have a yummo lunch. Marching onward. Have a SUPER Monday and be awesome!

Broad Jumps are EVIL!

Whether it’s a warm up or an actual MetCon, I always find myself dying after Broad Jumps. It doesn’t help that I suck at them either. Man, you suck at everything! I hear your thoughts people. It is true but I get a little better each and every day. One day I may be able to say cause I’m awesome at Pull Ups or I’m awesome at Broad Jumps but today folks is not the day.

Skill/Strength: Deadlift 5 x 4 @ 80% of 1RM
As I have mentioned previously I am in fact feeling stronger in my Deadlifts. See I can be positive! And today was no different, I just wish my hands didn’t hurt so much holding on to that dang bar. 160lbs felt heavy at first but as I went along it was feeling pretty good.

2/8/13 WOD

MetCon: 8 rounds of Broad Jumps for 50yds, Sprint 50yds, REST 1 minute as a group
Good thing about this MetCon is that there wasn’t time or reps to be recorded. But there was plenty of pain to be had! I am not good at the Broad Jump. I don’t cover great distances and I only did decent on the first two rounds. After that it was just silly. 50yds doesn’t seem that far until you are jumping. Deadlifts then broad jumps, then SPRINTING (jogging) I seriously thought my ass was going to fall off of my body. By round 4 I was ready to QUIT CrossFit!

Eats, Ups and Downs.
So here I am telling you I was strong and doing it all right and last night I go eat a sandwich from Chick-fil-a and I’m not going to lie it was good and I savored it. I did. And just like at the Super Bowl party, it’s totally not necessary. I didn’t feel bad or anything but my stomach was not liking me this morning! TMI? Nah, it’s life people. It’s like I just want to have to say I had it. I ate the food, the bad food that tastes oh so good. And then I’m all, eh, it was good but not worth it. SUSHI is worth it though! Anyhow. Sometimes you don’t feel like cooking and Chipotle does not sound good. After much mumbling and grumbling from Ernie trying to will me out of eating the sandwich I still ate it. I don’t have any further plans to go rogue as I like feeling good before, during and after my workouts. I like feeling good all day. At the same time I can’t sit here and say I’m perfect when I am not. I want to be transparent with y’all. I don’t think I’ve ever purposely not shared anything with you all in the first place but I’m just putting it out there. I’m an open book.

See, still eating well! Chicken & broccoli, asparagus, sweet potato, avocado and kiwi!

This week I hope to be more adventurous in cooking foods. I need to mix it up. Try new things. Anyone else mixing it up? Going outside their normal routines? Got some recipes to share?

I do hope everyone has a great weekend! Might rain around here…boooo, but we’ll still make it great! And make it AWESOME!

Mobility Hurts SO Bad errr GOOD!

Wooo, this was supposed to get published yesterday. So I’m playing catch up now, my apologies for the delay!

Yesterday morning at the BOOM Box instead of skill or strength we worked on Shoulder mobility. And it hurt so good! I just wish it didn’t HURT that good! Holy geesh! If you’re familiar with Kelly Starrett over at Mobility WOD then you know he has a knack for wanting to ~~hurt~~ help you! And today we worked on some things I know came from his part of the world.

OUCHY MAMMA INDEED!

MetCon: Team WOD Team WOD (2 person) 200 DU, 120 STOH 75/45, 60 over the box jumps 20 inch
Alright, I can be competitive in this. Right? 3-2-1 Go… Double Unders coming up. My teammate hasn’t quite got DUs down so he had to do 3:1 singles. So I did 50 DUs and he did 150 singles. Got to Push Press/Jerk and started off quick doing 15 each. That got tough really fast so we took a step down to alternating every 10 reps. I was still feeling pretty good by the time we go to the Over the Box jumps and I NO REPPED right off the bat. DOH! I had this itty bitty fear of clearing the box and I messed up. And I took more of a step than a JUMP. I ended up jumping on the box then jumping off for each rep. Something about not making it over really makes my heart race. But we didn’t really slow down. Kept our pace up and finished strong! Time: 10:36

2/6/13 WOD

Other than really trying to push at the Box, I’m still eating relatively strong. Ernie is coming along with eating clean as well. It’s not his first go at it, but it’s been slow getting him back on track. But last night we did decided to go eat sushi because I didn’t feel like cooking. I had a little bit of everything including some rice rolls but also sashimi. I tried to avoid the soy sauce but I didn’t avoid it entirely. In the end, I didn’t feel stuffed or bloated, it is sushi after all! But I did come away with a slight headache. This however is something I can tolerate for a sushi treat 🙂 Slept like a champ still and even woke up before the alarm clock. It’s nice to just wake up and not have the alarm ruin everything.

I’ve been trying to think of something new and fresh to add to my blogging besides daily recaps. Is there anything you readers would like to see/know/etc.? All of your input is welcome. Again, I’m here for support if you need an online cheerleader or just a friend in your adventure called life. This journey of fitness had made me stronger, happier and healthier. I may not have the certified background/education in fitness or nutrition but I have the day to day life experience. I have real life that goes on everyday. I have obstacles, emotions, KIDS and time management issues. I feel I am like a good majority of the people out there and just want to encourage you that it’s possible to live an active and healthy lifestyle!

Well today is my rest day and hopefully I’ll spend some quality time doing mobility work at home. Enjoy your day. Make it great and make it AWESOME!

It’s One of Those Days

You know the ones where you just have nothing in the tank. No more juice. My bones felt heavy today and even though I put in work at the BOOM Box it was just a dragging kind of morning. I blame it on the drizzle and fog. It felt like it infiltrated my body and was weighing me down. Or maybe I just didn’t eat enough carbs or something, who knows. Just felt like I was swimming in molasses!

Skill/Strength: Squat Cleans
I’m a CLEAN kind of girl. Love me some Cleans: Power, Squat, Hang (kind of). I ❤ cleaning the bar. There wasn’t a weight goal, rep scheme. Just work on technique, work up in weight and well have fun. Too bad I felt super heavy today. I still worked up to 95lbs and felt fine. There are so many tiny things to think about. Hips extended, drop under bar, elbows up, etc. Some lifts I get easy breezy, then I turn around and mess everything up. I felt productive though.

MetCon: 5 rounds of max reps on DL,WB; 40 seconds on 20 sec off; DL Axel 200/130, Plank push-ups (do a push-up every 5 seconds), Wall Ball 20/14
The good ol Axel. I love this thing! It’s about an inch thicker than a regular barbell. But I really prefer this over a barbell. Although after a while it’s hard to hold onto it because it is so thick. My hands didn’t hurt near as much either. I know it wasn’t super heavy weight but still it was nice on the hands. So we had to do as many reps as possible in 40 seconds, rest/transition to next movement which was Plank Push Ups for 40 seconds, rest/transition to Wall Balls. 5 freakin rounds! This sucked by round 4, no round 3. It was a beating. It was mostly the wall balls that were a beating. My first couple of throws didn’t even make the cut. So after getting a few NO REPS I knew I had to stop wasting energy but it was so hard today to get that ball up! It didn’t help we were holding a plank position right before the wall balls. On top of that doing a push up every 5 seconds. Yup shoulders still smoked, now they are extra crispy. In the end it was still a fun MetCon. Total reps: 85. If I could have just sucked up Wall Balls a little more I know I could have done way better. Ah well.

2/5/13 WOD

My WAY Better (IMO) Mexi-Cauli Rice
I’ve made Cauli Rice several ways and I have a Mexi version already but I made a new version and I love it. I hope you love it too!

Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower
1 cup chicken broth or water (I prefer the broth)
1 can tomato paste (small can)
1 TBS Chili Powder
Salt/Pepper (to your liking)
Cumin (to your liking)
Cayenne (to your liking)
half an onion (diced)
garlic clove (minced)
2 tsp cooking fat (I prefer GHEE)

Mexi-Cauli Rice – Ernie was kind enough to snap a pic for me, since I forgot to take pictures while I was making this.

Cook it up:
Chop up cauliflower into flowerettes. Then Shred cauliflower in food processor using the pulse function until Cauliflower is shredded to rice consistency.

While you are doing that have GHEE heating up over MED heat in skillet. Add your onion and garlic, saute till Golden. Add Cauliflower. Stir and add all spices. You can toss in whatever to meet your ideal flavor profile. Then add chicken broth. If you are low on chicken broth substitute with water. I only had 1/2 broth so I added a 1/2 cup water. Stir some more. Add tomato paste and Stir once more. Cover and simmer till a desired consistency. 15-20 minutes is what I have found best. If you’re in a hurry like I always am, I don’t turn down the heat right away. I just cover it and let it cook at a higher heat for a few minutes before turning heat to a simmer temp.

Serve with Ground beef, chicken, steak, WHATEVER protein you like. Add some guacamole and maybe a salad. It’s great stuff.

WholeLIFE
Back on track with the Whole30 mindset and boy does it feel good. Food tastes better and I’m full of energy until around 8:30 pm. Then I feel the tired hitting. Which is perfect. Relax a bit, watch some TV and night night! One of my fellow BOOMers, Mel, is taking on the Whole30 and asked me to be her SPONSOR per se. I’m more than happy to be her supporter and help her out along the way! Yay MEL! I know you will kill it and I know you won’t be happy probably this first week but next week you should start feeling awesome.

Superbowl Party Eats – I forgot to add this pic yesterday! doh! Paleo Deviled Eggs and Bacon Wrapped Sweet Potatoes

If anyone else is considering the Whole30, by all means, I’m an OPEN BOOK! I want to help you out!

Woooo, oh wait it’s only TUESDAY?!? That’s no fun! Ah well, make it a great day! Be Awesome!

No More Burpees!

Can I just get a burpee BREAK?!? I know that won’t happen but wouldn’t it be nice? I had a busy weekend, lots of working out and some off road eating. Yikes! But have no fear. Whole30 is here to stay even if it’s on loose terms every now and then! Where should I start? I guess I’ll start with Saturday and work my way up to today! Hopefully I don’t dredge on for too long! I know y’all LOVE me but not sure how much exactly 😀

SATURDAY 2/2
Boom Box morning consisted of Deadlifts and SNATCH. Boy oh Boy. I failed to take a picture but ah well. I’ve been fairing much better in the Deadlift, at least I FEEL good at doing them!

Skill/Stength: DL 4×5@77.5%
Working at 77.5% isn’t so bad. Ended up being 155 for me. I felt good through all the sets. My hamstrings used to be so tight, they would light up like Christmas and hurt like hell. Now I don’t have all of those issues, which is nice.

MetCon: 10 min AMRAP Snatch 30 reps at each weight 75/45 135/75 165/100 210/120 Scaled 35 55 75 90
Argh, 12.2 of last years CF Open. I still don’t SNATCH more than 65lbs out of me being a weirdo. I know I can do the weight, I’m just a scaredy cat. So of course I went with the scaled weights. I managed to get through 35lbs and 55lbs. Had time to get a few in at 75lbs but that wasn’t happening. I still kept trying but I was getting nowhere. Although I don’t care for SNATCH that much, I do like lifting in general. Just one more thing to work on!

Girls Night Out @ CrossFit Pantego
CFP is a box that is in the area and I happen to know the owners. They decided to host a GNO which sounded like fun to mix and mingle with other ladies from the area. Some folks were from that box, others newbies and even others came from other boxes. It was a good mix of novice and experienced women. Since there was such a good turnout the WOD didn’t consist of anything with bars or their pull up rig. It was all body weight movements. And it was a partner WOD to boot.

200m run, push ups, 200m run, air squats, 200m run, burpees, 200m run, lunges, 200m run, sit ups. But wait there’s more. On your run you get a 10lb plate. While one partner ran, the other partner did the movement. Then partners switched. So each person did the run and the movement. Lucky for me and Mel, CrossFit BOOMer, we got the 20lb MED BALL to run with. That ladies and gentlemen is NO JOKE! We were hanging in there in regards to the running but towards the end we both fell apart. I figured if I was gonna suck at the run I better bust out the reps! Mel had the same idea as me and low and behold we score a whopping 528 reps! Wooo go us!

CrossFit Pantego Girl’s Night Out

After the WOD we headed over to a very generous hostess who let us come in and take over her house. We all brought some sort of eats. I myself brought Paleo Deviled Eggs and there was plenty of other goodness there to be had, Paleo and non Paleo but I stuck with the good stuff.

Monday 2/4
Boy oh boy am I sore! It hurt to do the warm up this morning. I was really afraid of not hitting the weight on the Strength portion cause I was sooooo Sore! But amazingly I did!

Skill/Strength: 3 x 2 Back Squat @ 95% of 1RMYup I got the reps in. Only one rep was kind of ugly but other than that, I did just fine. I am always slow at coming back up even though I’m trying to will myself to explode up! It just doesn’t happen. On my last set I kept thinking to myself to PUSH UP on the bar and low and behold I was a little quicker coming up. I know I’ve been told that. I know I’ve heard that on podcasts but today I really focused on that and whaddyaknow! It helped.

2/4/13 WOD

MetCon: 2 rounds 30 Burpees to plate, 400m run, REST 1:1, then 4 rounds 15 burpees to plate, run 200
I bet you were wondering where NO MORE BURPEES came from and well now you know. Burpees last Saturday, Burpees this recent Saturday and Burpees this morning! And of course I’ve set a precedent that I can bust out burpees. This is a curse people, A CURSE! I can’t not do burpees well anymore. It’s a badge that I was proud of but I’m good now! I don’t need it anymore! So I didn’t even look at the clock to see how fast or SLOW I did the 30 burpees but I got back from the run in 4 minutes flat. So I got to rest for 4 minutes. Rinse and Repeat. I did the second round in 4:12. Woo I get an extra 12 seconds of rest! Not the goal I know but hey it’s 12 seconds. Then it was the 4 rounds with NO REST. Since most of you know I suck at running I wasn’t sure how it would all go down. I did my first round like a champ! Rounds 2, 3 and 4 a little hard! I got back from the first run and just went and knocked out 7 burpees, tried not to vomit then finished. After run 2 I only busted out 5 burpees, then dragged ass. It was the same after run 3! By the 4th round I was ready to quit. I got to 12 and I heard someone say just move and I finished the last 3 as if I was fresh out of the gate. Ran as fast as I could which wasn’t much. I finished the 4 rounds in just over 10 minutes with a final time of 27:02. Not too bad I hope. I’ll have to wait to see how the rest of the day pans out via the whiteboard though!

Whole30 – on track. kind of sorta!
So in the middle of Saturday I was tempted with Chick-fil-a, cupcakes, cookies, sweet tea, etc. All my fault as I purchased it all but it’s for a birthday party! I was GOOD! Excellent in fact, NO taste testing! By Saturday night, post GNO though I was tempted by those leftover cupcakes! I thought I’ll just take a bite. So I DID! And I SPIT IT RIGHT OUT! As good as I know they were since they were a hit with the kids, they were TOO SWEET! I would have never thought those words would come out of my mouth but they did! I didn’t swallow one crumb, I spit it out and rinsed my mouth out with water! Whew! It was a bittersweet feeling. Yay, I don’t need sweets and BOOO I don’t need sweets!

Superbowl Sunday hits and I get a little off the path. I savored a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks. It didn’t send me spiraling downward. Did affect my stomach, but not sure if that was coffee in general or the combo of coffee, dairy and caramel? But I was good. Then I was all ready to go and ENJOY my paleo foods at a Superbowl Party. Plus our hosts had Paleo foods as well. BUT of course there were non Paleo foods in my face as well. I started off pretty ok. I had a few chips to go with the Guacamole I made but just 2 or 3. I had brisket and deviled eggs and my favorite treat BACON WRAPPED sweet potato! Those were like candy to me. Then I chose to taste cake batter dip, which was made with Greek Yogurt. YUM, that was good! Then I chose to try TRASH DIP that had cream cheese, chili and some form a melted cheese. YUMMY. But they were just tastes! By the end of the night there were some BRISKET nachos being made. Well, there was my line. And I was going to cross it! And it was good. Chips, queso and Brisket! TRIPLE YUMMY! And won’t you know it within the hour of eating those my face got all itchy, my nose started running and I was a mess! And of course Ernie was right there in my face… THE NACHOS! argh, the probably VELVEETA cheese, although I did not inquire. But most party quesos in a crockpot consist of something along the lines of highly processed cheese such as velveeta. I still slept fine and woke up fine. Maybe a little more bloated feeling that I would have liked. Just a confirmation to stay on the WholeLIFE path! Stick with the clean eating and I’ll be fine. The good news is that YES I want to stay clean (sound like an addict much?) and I didn’t jump off the deep end and go bat shit crazy over junk! I think if I do indulge in treats they will be dark chocolate based or some sort of fruit sweetened muffin made with coconut flour or almond flour. Maybe some almond flour pancakes. But other than that, I don’t see myself diving into a banana split anytime soon.

I was back to eating my Whole30 plan of attack today. Even ventured out a little bit and made some Salmon Cakes! And my oh my they were tasty. I was limited on cooking and prep time so they were basic and they still turned out fabulous! Added some of my HOMEMADE PALEO MAYO that was leftover from the deviled eggs and BOOM I had a lovely lunch! Seriously, I could get crafty with these Salmon Cakes and I mostly likely will start soon!

How’s that for a busy, fun, trial and error weekend? Good times! It’s just Monday but I am a ball of energy! Who says that? MONDAY and ENERGY?!? No freakin way! YES SIR! Go now, enjoy your day and BE FREAKIN AWESOME!

Skills to pay the bills – NOPE

So if I HAD to do Pull Ups to pay bills, I would be broke forever. I have no PULL UP skills! And today was all about SKILLS, no lifting, no MetCon. Yes I know I probably should do some movement homework but I don’t. SO YES it’s my fault. I just want to get that out of the way in case some of you have some smart remarks for me 😀 It’s just defeating mentally. I’m getting better (at least for the most part) at everything else even if it’s in small increments and I’m not practicing those skills outside of the box. So why is it that Pull Ups are such a burden for me? UGH! Pull UP fairy where are you?

Is she only using like 2 fingers to hold herself up? Crazy! I suck!

Today at the BOOM box we only worked on Pull Ups and Muscle Ups. And when I say Muscle Ups I don’t mean I really worked on those but I worked on movements that fall into line with the movement. For Pull Ups, I pretty much only worked on kipping. It hurts to hold on to the bar no matter if I have grips, or just bare hands. I know I can be a baby but come on. IT HURTS my hands. I don’t want to hold on to the bar. Regardless of the pain, I have kipping down. I could be a professional kipper maybe. I just have no UP

After Pull Ups, like I said MUs! UGH. I worked on Ring Dips since that is what I need to get first. And low and behold I went from using the green band to the tiny blue band. I think I will have those pretty soon. My shoulders, rotator cuff is forever sore/tight/etc. But I could manage to get some work in. Once our time was up, I really worked on my shoulder mobility. It is much needed. So I’m glad I got that in. I even worked at home on my shoulders. It’s just hard to make it a priority at home, when I have 7897897 things to do in the evenings. Still taking sponsorships so I can stay at home! I’m scared for what tomorrow brings at the box especially since today wasn’t a beat down. Although Skill work is a beatdown to me when I can’t do the skill!

Getting my Boxing On
Since I missed my WOD this past Wednesday, I decided I needed to make up for it. I can’t make the BOOM Box other than 5 am due to my commute so I hit up a semi-new Boxing franchise that has been popping up in the DFW area. They offer a free class for first time visitors, SCORE for me. Back before my boot camp and CrossFit journey, I took boxing lessons from a local Boxing/MMA club. While this was an awesome thing for me, I wasn’t committing to proper nutrition and it was hitting my pocket book pretty hard, so I took a hiatus and never returned. With that said I love boxing, not real boxing because I don’t want to get hit but boxing against a bag.

What I liked about Title Boxing Club is that the particular instructor I had wasn’t about just having a little aerobics class. He wanted you to really throw punches, real kicks and get a workout in. He worked with everyone in regards to technique and making sure people were not half-assing it. We started with about a 15 minute warm up which consisted of running, push ups, lunges and high knees.. Small 1 minute water breaks were incorporated. 30 minutes of boxing, kick boxing, with drills in the middle. So we might do Jump Squats, Jumping Jacks, Up Downs, etc. in between boxing combinations. For the last 10-15 minutes we did a lot of core work such as sit ups, butterfly kicks, push ups, etc. Overall my boxing endurance SUCKED but it felt good to hit something! This would never be BETTER than CrossFit for me, but definitely something I would consider doing a few times a month.

What I didn’t like is that there isn’t a drop in option. You pay for a month at a time which isn’t incredibly expensive, but with their limited times, my commitment to CrossFit and kids schedules, I’m not sure if it’s worth it for me. It was a good workout, I sweat my butt off and let out some aggression. Lifting weights seems to do the trick as well but again I love boxing and doing something different was fun!

Whole(30)LIFE

Yup I gave you the review yesterday and I am OFFICIALLY through with 30 days. And I still made my Whole30 compliant breakfast today, brought leftovers for lunch and plan on eating just the same as I have been the past 30 days. Not a big deal in my book. I worked hard for this and I’m gonna stick to it. I feel good. I don’t want to go back to feeling icky. And when it’s all said and done, FOOD doesn’t run my world, no matter how delicious, decadent or savory it can be. WholeLIFE folks!

Dinner I almost finished before I remembered to take a pic: Chopped up sirloin, mixed veggies, avocado.

All the positive results have been great and on top of that I LOST 8.2LBS without even trying. I wasn’t counting calories, I was eating till I was satiated. I was eating good grass-fed meats, veggies and healthy fats. 3 times a day. PWO meals if needed.

Happy Friday! It’s FEBRUARY… if you fell apart in January, start over now! Don’t throw in the towel! Be Awesome this weekend!

Day 30 – Whole30

Hooray! My last day of Whole30 has finally arrived! I’m quite confident I’ll finish the day on a good note and just keep going on tomorrow as if I’m still in it. I feel really good. I feel fantastic. Words can not express how GREAT it feels to feel good all day, EVERYDAY!

I just wish I could let everyone have a mental and physical peek into a world where you aren’t drained midday. Where you can get good sleep. Where you aren’t consumed by tired, pain and headaches. Then you could know and then you would just do it! I’ve recapped my joureny so you can read about it but I want you to really FEEL it! Because I KNOW it’s HARD. It’s time consuming. It’s whatever excuse you can possibly dream of that suits your need at the moment. I get it. I’ve been there a BAZILLION times! But rebooting, starting with a CLEAN (food) slate and working the program WORKS! Whole30 gives you the support to make it through.

If you are just joining me, please know, this isn’t my first rodeo as it might have been for some of you readers, or maybe you’re still researching if it’s worth it! I can tell you it’s worth it. But for me, I’ve been eating Paleo for over a year now. I did the 21-Day Sugar Detox back in May which helped me tremendously because although I was Paleo, I was still eating too much fruit, honey and maple syrup because I was trying to Paleo-fy all sorts of desserts. I was a sugar addict. I held strong for a few months but I went off the rails at the end of 2012. I needed a reboot. I needed to reprogram. Whole30 is exactly what I needed. I jumped into the deep end of the pool. I bought their success guide, I subscribed to the emails. I went out and bought It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig (founders of Whole30). You don’t have to do all of that, you can follow everything they have online, on their blog and on the forums. But for me, being armed with as much literature and reference is what I needed. I carried around my success guide for the first 2 weeks along with my ISWF book. Also it helps me tell other people who inquire what it is that I’m doing and most of all WHY I am doing it.

I’ve documented my days, foods and moods in my posts starting January 2. Some days I was detailed and some days I just gave a general outline. In a week I was out of my “fat girl” pants. That’s when I knew I had to change something in the first place. My “fat girl” pants were getting snug. How SAD is that? But it’s true. I was so bloated. So filled with junk that I was just expanding. After the first week, I was feeling pretty fantastic. That’s how quick it happened for me. But remember again, my body already KNEW what this change was like. It just missed it and I think I bounced back much more quickly than others that are new to this kind of change might feel in a week. A lot of is mental as well. You want your wine, your dessert, your fast food. It’s so good and life isn’t worth living if you can’t enjoy those treasures, right? WRONG! Your life isn’t over because you cut out that stuff for 30 days. It’s 30 days folks! The #1 thing that stood out to me in ISWF is that Dallas and Melissa say “CANCER is hard, QUITTING a drug habit is hard, etc.” Giving up some foods for 30 days is not hard. We are all adults. It’s true. Start acting like one.

And let me tell you food doesn’t have to be “bleh”. It can be awesome. Some of the foods I’ve made this past month have been some of my kids favorite meals! Sure you may NOT WANT to cook and you figure a plain piece of baked chicken is fine then great for you. But that plain chicken is going to get old fast! Add some cumin, garlic, FLAVOR. Add some Whole30 approved ingredient salsa. Spice it up. You can still LOVE food while cutting out grains, legumes, dairy and alcohol. I’ve been honest with y’all in my posts. I did lose the motivation to cook and prep day in and day out! I’m not the kind of prep person who does it all on Sunday and then I’m set for the week. I prep 1-2 days ahead because I’m just that way. And it has worked for me! You will have to experiment what will work for you. It can be done.

1/30/13 Lunch – spinach salad with tomatoes and bacon, grassfed chili, strawberries.

Day 30 Breakfast – Chicken Thighs, Sweet Potato Latkes, Asparagus.

Whole30 is strict. They are serious! They want you to have positive results! I WANT YOU TO HAVE POSITIVE results! I know you will if you plan for this. 30 days! I have had ZERO brain fog. My ankles and wrists were hurting every morning and now it’s GONE! I was getting headaches, more specifically MIGRAINES that I hadn’t had in a year and now they are GONE! I’m not bloated all day, every day. I don’t feel bloated after I eat. I have ENERGY. So much energy my kids think I have become crazy. Dancing in the kitchen. Making up songs for me to dance too. Laughing more and enjoying life just a little more. Not everyday is rainbows and unicorns because life does happen but it’s not a result of my body quitting on me. It’s just a result of outside factors. And well that’s just LIFE! Don’t let food run your life. Let you run your life!

As far as working out. Let me tell you, you don’t have to be hardcore. You just need to be active. 80% of losing weight and maintaining weight is in the nutrition. That other 20% just boosts it. Not to mention that you’ll feel better because you’ll have even more energy, even better sleep and just feel like a better person. I do CrossFit. I love CrossFit. I have become stronger than I could have imagined. And I believe although I COMPLAIN alot that I have become better at my workouts with the clean eating. If you’ve recently read, last year we had to do 7 minutes of burpees. I finished with 74 a year ago and I was eating Paleo but pushing the boundaries. Just this past Saturday we did the same workout and I did 112! WTH? It’s almost unbelievable but I had witnesses to the work I was putting in. I was on a happy high the whole weekend. It felt good. It was AWESOME! I PR’d my Strict Press as well. 5lbs. Doesn’t sound like a lot but I’ve been stuck at 70lbs FOREVER!

I give Whole30 credit for all the positive things that have happened this past month. Too bad they can’t help me win the LOTTERY. But I feel like a BADASS, clean eating, Happy person! I took a “before” picture which I’m hesitant to share, and I weighed. I’ll weigh tomorrow since I still have to make it through today and hopefully take an after picture. I’m not perfect by any means, I don’t have ABS of steel. Just lots of pregnancy damage from having 3 kids. I don’t have perfectly toned cellulite free legs but they are thinner than they were 30 days ago. I don’t have GUNS for biceps either. I’m still flawed but I’ve learned slowly over the past year to let go of it. It still creeps in every now and then. But feeling good and feeling strong helps trump those negative “self” feelings.

I really give It Starts With Food credit for the information that I’m armed with to help me to stay on track. The Hartwigs really put the “sciencey” stuff into terms that made sense to me. They give you the info to understand how our body works after we’ve wrecked it with processed, sugary and chemical foods. They break it down. They give you examples that related to me, so I’m sure they would relate to you. They taught me about FOOD with NO BRAKES! They taught me how to balance my eating. They taught me to love healthy fats. They taught me how the food industry is SNEAKY! They gave me the armor to deal with my mental issues and to enjoy cleaning my slate. It’s a book I’ll probably reference forever. I highly suggest you go out and buy it.

Alright, alright. I’m done. If you want to know what I’ve been eating then please peruse my previous posts. I can’t give you all the Whole30 deets. I’m sure the Hartwigs wouldn’t want that. But I’m here if you have questions. I would love to be your support system. I want change for you! I really do! I’m ready to finish Day 30 just to say I did it! But I know Day 31 will be Whole30 and hopefully I can just go until I have that special event or moment where I can enjoy something decadent and sinful. But until that moment comes I’ll stay clean the best I can.

Back to the box tomorrow and for those of you who read yesterday, I did go check out the Boxing place. I’ll report on that tomorrow. Have a beautiful Thursday! Can you believe it’s February tomorrow?!? Wow! Well you know the drill go out and BE AWESOME in all that you do!

Sleep WOD – I WIN!

I win the SLACKER award Yup slept right through ALARM! No CrossFit Boom for me today. After having a great start to my day yesterday, the drive home, the traffic, the rain, the errand running finally got to me. I got home drained, watched some TV, prepped some food, actually did some mobility and went to bed. I seriously could have slept a few more hours if it wasn’t for kids having school and me having a job I have to attend. And now it’s cold outside, AGAIN. Two days of shorts and flip flop weather and now COLD. Bleh.

Whole30 Days 28 & 29
In between my errand running last night, I found some raw trail mix. All good stuff – Raisins, Almonds, Cashews, Pumpkin Seed, Sunflower Seeds. Of course all of those ingredients fall into the eat occassionaly category but it still QUALIFIES for Whole30. As I was waiting at the pharmacy FOREVER, I found myself eating said trail mix. And eating way too much! It was boredom, tired, eating. I wasn’t starving or anything but BAD habits still live, ARGH! I figured I ate enough to not NEED dinner. I still cooked foods and made sure the chicken thighs were acceptable but I didn’t have a full blown sit down and eat meal. So I didn’t hit the perfect mark for dinner but at least I stayed compliant in regards to the foods I ate.

1/29/13 Lunch – Skirt Steak, Kale, Asparagus, Berries

This morning, I had a nice mix of Sweet Potato Latkes, Skirt Steak and Spinach. Besides sleeping extra heavily, I still feel good. The cool weather makes me want to crawl back into bed but that’s just the lazy part of me talking. Tomorrow is my last day of the Whole30. Wooo. Is it sad that all I keep thinking about is “will I or won’t I eat those Chick-fil-a nuggets that we are serving at my son’s birthday party on Sat?” I hope I don’t. I know they won’t kill me but I hope I can rise above that. Not to mention cupcakes and cookies! Hahahah. Y’all will be the first to know of course. Well other than those witnessing me!

That’s it for this SLACKER Wednesday. Maybe I can hit up a kickboxing place at a nearby Boxing place tonight. They are fairly new in the area and I have been interested in checking it out! We’ll see. Other than that, I encourage you to get moving! Walk a little. Do some squats. Has anybody been making changes at all? I hope so! You know the drill BE AWESOME!