Kill Some of the Things

Rockin’ Day FIVE here on the Whole30 and they (Whole30) say that days FOUR and FIVE is the KILL ALL THE THINGS phase. Yesterday I was slightly agitated and today slightly more irritable on all fronts. Not necessarily wanting to kill all the things but I can tell I’m off a little bit. Patience is thin. Energy wise, I feel good.

So far, so good on eating, cravings, and what not. I seriously am not salivating at the thought of dessert which is my weakness. I’m doing good by not indulging on too much fruit. I think the last time I did this, I didn’t enough veggies. Now I’m not saying I’m the veggie queen now, but I’m making an effort to eat at least 2 cups of something veggie related for at least 2 of my meals. Breakfast is still hard to eat after a PWO meal, so I probably only choke down 1 cup of veggies, mostly spinach.

Day 4 Lunch. Leftover Asian Five Spice Chicken with Matchstick Salad. Cucumbers, Cherry Tomatoes, Blackberries, Coconut Flakes, Bone Broth. I seriously am addicted to BONE BROTH now. It’s soooo yummy!

I can honestly say I’ve never hit a “starving” point or had a craving meltdown. And yes I know it’s only Day FIVE. So much can still happen. But overall everything is going great. I tend to be a sucker for boredom grazing. But those thoughts aren’t even creeping in and I’m loving it. Last week, I would eat anything just to eat it. Chocolate? Sure give me the whole package. Chips? Why yes, can I have a coke too? Beer? No make it a whiskey. You get the idea. If it was edible or drinkable I was consuming it.

And BONUS, I have FAT KID jeans. You know that pair or pairs of pants that are your LIMIT. Like I’m not buying a bigger size jeans/pants. So I have those and well they were at their limits of containing me without busting at the seams. In just 5 days, these FAT KID jeans are no longer busting at the seams. Granted, they still are THOSE jeans that I’d rather not be wearing but at least I’m at DEFCON 4 instead of 5. So yay for a little progress!

BOOM Box Recap
Although I’m awake and not groggy or flat out so sore I can’t move, I’m still struggling getting out of bed and on my feet. I’ve been running a few minutes late to the box for the 5 a.m. class. I gotta fix that ASAP!

1/10/14
Strength: 200 ft KB farmers carry x 3 (heavy)
Thank goodness it’s not cold outside. It was pretty humid and probably 60° out. But that didn’t make the KB’s any lighter! I had two 53lb KBs and they were heavy and my shoulders and forearms were not happy. I was pretty much a big ol baby the whole time but I still carried the damn weight.

1/10/14 WOD

MetCon: 3 person team WOD with running clock – 20 minutes 3 rm Back Squat for each member 0 rest 10 minutes Row Max Calories. Add all the lbs and all the cals for score.
We ended up with a 4 person team cause that’s how many of us that were there so we went with it. I wasn’t really sure what my 3RM Back Squat would be. We’ve been doing a lot of Front Squats and because of my wrist, I haven’t been going as heavy as I would like. So Back Squat was a mystery. There were two of working together so we got ample rest in between sets and I was surprising working my way up nicely. My hips were good, my mind was clear, I was chugging along. Worked my way up 160lbs for 3 reps. My 1RM is 175lbs. And I figured I’d lost some strength in general since I’ve been such a slacker but I felt pretty good at 160, so I went up to 165 with like 2 minutes left and I failed on the first rep. I think the time limit got in my head and I was trying to rush. Ah well. I’ll take 160 for 3 reps.

As for the Row, we just were going to go hard then switch until the 10 minutes was up. I went first for 1:50 and only got 25 calories. But the rest of the team was getting after it. I got back on near the end for a minute but didn’t pay attention to how many calories I rowed then. Probably 5, lol. Who knows. Rowing is not easy for my short self. But I’m trying! Final: 855lbs total for Back Squat + 173 Calories = 1028.

An afterthought pic of my PWO meal. I only had roasted Sweet Potatoes for this morning. I do prefer pureed so I will make sure next week I’m covered. Also a little lean grass fed ground beef with tomatoes and onions.

That’s a Wrap!
I fear the weekend will my hardest days of this Whole30. With a work/school schedule, I have structure. With the weekend it’s all loosey goosey. We are still busy, but weekends are the times where drive thru’s are the best. Oh, we are all hungry? Ok, where shall we eat? It sucks. I just need to focus on packing up food I need and food I can eat in the midst of all our driving around. Or if we are home being lazy, then I need to stay focused and do something productive. That won’t hurt either I suppose. Just gotta stay focused!

Anyone else out there on the Whole30 or some other journey to better health? Chime in. Let me know how you’re doing. And it’s never too late to start if you’re still going back and forth. It’s doable. It’s worth it. Don’t neglect YOU anymore. It’s time to take time for yourself, for your family and get things rolling! Don’t sit there and sigh and tell me “it’s easy for you to say” or “I’m just not ready”. You just have to do it. Make the decision and do it!

Happy FRIDAY! Make the weekend SHINE!

Not so drained, but a little agitated

With the right mindset all things are possible. That is for sure. Over the past year I’ve tried getting back to it with the 21 Day Sugar Detox, Advocare, Weightloss Comp at work and whatever other promises I made to myself. But not one was fruitful. Now that I’m determined and willing, this is a walk in the park. Ok, it’s not like a lackadaisical stroll through some fairy tale wonderland but it’s definitely easier than my previous attempts at being good. Those before pics I took were really really motivating. Maybe one day I’ll share them with you. MAYBE!

Day FOUR! I’ve made it. I know it doesn’t sound like a big triumph. You might be saying “You’re only 4 days in. That’s nothing.” But seriously, 4 days of super clean eating. Proper eating. Getting in all the right portions, that’s no joke.

As for how I’m feeling, well, I was a little slow moving this morning but I’m not feeling anything negative physically at the moment. A little more on edge, irritable but in general I’m feeling fine. I thought I was getting a sore throat so I drank some water with apple cider vinegar. I’m becoming a firm believer in this stuff. And I’m not one for much of the “home remedy” type stuff. But everyday I’m becoming more and more of that person. I woke up and there is no sign of sore throat!

As far as eating is concerned, I had my Day THREE lunch of leftovers. A hot mess of the Carnitas tower sans the avocado cause I forgot it, but had leftover asparagus to go with the pork and cole slaw. Threw in some coconut flakes with blackberries and that keeps me satiated through to dinner. No cravings. No daydreams of chocolate running into my mouth.

Lunch 1/7/14

For Day THREE dinner, I had the Salmon I made on Tuesday night. I never tasted it when it was fresh because I was too busy creating my leaning tower of carnitas. Well it was fantastic! It melted in my mouth, full of flavor and oh so good. I heated up the asparagus in a little bit of avocado oil and added a little bit of the butter lemon sauce that my other recipe was cooking in and it was to die for!

My attempt at making it more presentable.

Just in case you forgot how delicious the salmon looked!

I like being in the kitchen so prepping, slicing, dicing, cooking are not chores. Except for making things matchsticks. That sucks and I do not want to do that again. I’m sure there’s a fancy thingamajig that will do it for me, but I had a knife and a cutting board. And the recipe I was following from Weeknight Paleo called for veggies and fruits to be cut into matchsticks. Little did I know I am not good at this and it’s time consuming! It’s not hours of work but more work than I’d like to do regularly. I’m definitely finding the thingamajig that will make it easier.

But doesn’t it look so pretty?!? Asian Five-Spice Chicken with Matchstix Salad, Weeknight Paleo

I only cooked ahead for tonight because we will be busy and I won’t have time to “make” anything. Reheat I can do and that’s easy. And that’s where the Matchsticks came in. It called for radishes, jicama, fuji apple, bosc pear and carrots to all be cut into matchsticks. Ay ay ay! While I was cutting that up, I was heating up a modified schezuan sauce. The recipe called for things that I could not find without sugar and honey which is not Whole30. So I just eliminated and hoped for the best! After my sauce cooled, I tossed it in with the matchstick salad. As that was all marinating, I heated up a skillet with Coconut Oil. I took chicken tenderloins and coated them in Chines Five Spice (which I’ve never used and wasn’t sure I’d like by the smell of it) and a few other spices. And off to the skillet they went. After a few minutes of cooking I added grassfed butter and lemon juice and let the tenderloins finish cooking. Plated the matchstick salad and topped with the chicken and it was fabulous. I ate half a serving of that and half a serving of my salmon. Turns out I was right about the smell of the Chinese Five Spice because it had anise, fennel and cloves, bleh. Not my favorite spices, but all together with the butter lemon sauce it turned out rather tasty. And maybe in my past experiences the flavors were too potent for my tastebuds back in the day. Ugh I’m getting old!

I GOT THIS

Even though I have felt drained, irritable and still may have not seen the worst of withdrawals, my optimism is high! I can already feel the bloating going away. I don’t know about everyone else but when I’m eating poorly, I feel like the stay puff marshmallow at all time. Today, I can sit, stand etc and not feel like I’m busting at the seams. It’s a nice feeling. And helps keep my attitude in a good direction. I’m not hungry in between meals and I’m not CRAVING in between meals. It’s the cravings that get me. Cause I can have those any old time and not even be hungry.

You can do this too!
If you’re reading and are on the fence about doing the Whole30 or any other program for that matter just know you can do it. It is possible. For me it’s 30 DAYS. I just had to put on my big girl panties and stop with all the whining. I put my game face on and I’m going to destroy this little chunky monkey that I’ve become. You may or may not have weight to lose. You may need to get rid of those migraines that are bugging you. You may have allergies. Or maybe your joints just hurt and you’re on 17389 medications. Eat clean! Get moving! Cut out all the crap. 30 days isn’t FOREVER.

So I don’t eat grains, but you should get the idea!

That’s a wrap!
It’s my REST day so BOOM Box recaps today. Back to it tomorrow and maybe trying out a Yoga class on Saturday. It’s at CrossFit Boom, so you know that’s my second home. We’ll see. In regards to food, it will be a lot of reheating over the next two days. If you have questions, need a cheerleader, or someone to vent to about making that change for better health, then I’m your girl! Have a fab Thursday!

You may be asking…. What is Whole30?

So I’ll break it down for you. They do it quite nicely over at Whole30 but I know sometimes you just want to know what other people say. Sometimes you just might think that it’s too much or too hard or IMPOSSIBLE. I’m no one special. I don’t have anything that sets me above and beyond. I’m just a regular person with too much to do and too little time. I have faults and I have awesomeness but I am nowhere near perfect. I struggle with life’s curve balls and the little things that creep up daily. We all have our downfalls, struggles, success, wins, etc. It’s how we deal with them that either makes us or breaks us.

But to me at the end of the day, if I’m not aiming to be healthy in all aspects of my life then I’m letting myself down and my children down too. This blog is aimed at Fitness and Health. More specifically CrossFit and Clean Eating. And if you know me, I can totally kick ass but as you may have learned I can let it all slip away in the blink of an eye. I’m HUMAN! It happens.

So I’m back at focusing on CLEAN EATING. I’m true to my CrossFit but I’ve let the eating get in the way of performance and progress. I was at my best last January-April when I was following Whole30. And to me Whole30 is PERFECT. But even after success, I just flushed it all down the toilet shortly after. Yup, you can feel good and KNOW how good to be but it’s still so easy to fall down, dig a hole and stay in the hole.

There is a science to it all with Whole30. The Hartwigs are good about backing up their statements. They have the research behind them, but they don’t BORE you with it all. Some folks NEED that science but it’s not necessary. It’s not exact to each person. There are days you have to experiment to what makes you feel good. Do you need more fat in your day? Are you eating enough carb dense veggies? There are days you will feel exhausted and days you are full of energy. For a lot of folks this is NEW. Clean eating is NEW. There are so many “easy to eat” processed products out there, some folks forget what REAL FOOD is. But in the end, hopefully, you are learning what makes you tick on the inside. What foods are best for you, ratios, portions, etc. Whole30 is a reboot for your health – the brain, the gut, and your immune system.

Whole30 is an elimination program. Cut out all the junk. Eat only real foods. Follow their guidelines on eating proteins, veggies and fats. FOLLOW THEM WELL. You will see results. You will feel better. You should lose weight. You should learn to appreciate and like new REAL FOODS.

You CANNOT half ass the program. If you do – You will fail. You will give up. You will quit. You can’t say “it’s just this one meal I’m cheating on day ___, I’ll be back to it tomorrow.” You NEED to commit to the full 30 days. Sometimes even longer. NO CHEATING. But LESS than 30 days is not going to do it. Below are their foods to cut out. You can find them HERE as well with more details. The idea is to keep processed, sugary junk out for good. For some folks it’s easy to do, for folks like me…. well it can be hard. I’m a glutton for punishment. My body will tell me the food is not good for me but my brain is stubborn.

Do not consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, stevia, etc. Read your labels, because companies sneak sugar into products in ways you might not recognize.

Do not consume alcohol in any form, not even for cooking. (And it should go without saying, but no tobacco products of any sort, either.)

Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa. This also includes all the ways we add wheat, corn and rice into our foods in the form of bran, germ, starch and so on. Again, read your labels.

Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. No peanut butter, either. This also includes all forms of soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).

Do not eat dairy. This includes cow, goat or sheep’s milk products such as cream, cheese (hard or soft), kefir, yogurt (even Greek), and sour cream… with the exception of clarified butter or ghee. (See below for details.)

Do not eat white potatoes. This is somewhat arbitrary, but if we are trying to change your habits (chips and fries) and improve the hormonal impact of your food choices, it’s best to leave white, red, purple, Yukon gold, and fingerling potatoes off your plate.

Do not consume carrageenan, MSG or sulfites. If these ingredients appear in any form on the label of your processed food or beverage, it’s out for the Whole30.

No Paleo-ifying baked goods, desserts, or junk foods. Trying to shove your old, unhealthy diet into a shiny new Whole30 mold will ruin your program faster than you can say “Paleo Pop-Tarts.” This means no desserts or junk food made with “approved” ingredients—no banana-egg pancakes, almond-flour muffins, flourless brownies, or coconut milk ice cream. Don’t try to replicate junk food during your 30 days! That misses the point of the Whole30 entirely.

Are you running away now? I know it’s a lot to think about but it’s totally worth it! I promise. If you feel after 30 days you just can’t LIVE without something, reintroduce it, see how you feel. You experiment from there. If you just can’t let go of the fact that WHEAT is bad then bring it back in. Do you turn into a hot sniffling mess? Get bloated and achy? Maybe that wheat wasn’t such a good idea. The same goes for sugars, dairy and other grains. Just cut them out though for the 30 days and see what happens before you decide to go back to your old ways.

I started yesterday and had a SUCCESSFUL DAY ONE! I planned/prepped/cooked over the weekend. It took time. It is work. It’s not a snap of your fingers but it’s not draining either. You don’t have to be a chef to be successful, you just have to make a plan. KNOW what you will eat for at least one week at a time. Where there’s a will there’s a way.

If and when you commit to the program, you will find that there is a good community in the forums. Find folks you can relate too. There are numerous websites and blogs out there that share meal plans, ideas, tips, etc. But if the interwebs aren’t for you then SHARE the program with friends and family. Challenge your family to do this. Make it fun. Learn together!

If your still not sure then check out It Starts With Food. Last year the Hartwigs published this book. For me this was what I needed to read. It gave me enough explanation on how our body works, because truthfully, I HAD NO CLUE. I don’t know how my innards work but they tell you. I had many “aha” moments while I was reading the book. It was definitely helpful in me committing to the program.

I hope this was enough to spur your interest. You can start any day that ends in Y. I advise not to just JUMP in without any support. Research and plan. Then do it. It’s so easy to fail but if you are prepared then you will do great!

Day ONE and DAY TWO Whole30 RECAP
Yesterday I went over my Post Workout Meal and that it was easy to take in in such a short amount of time after working out. REAL FOOD. Chicken and pureed sweet potato. But breakfast 2 hours later was a little more challenging to get down. But I survived and wasn’t let with any cravings. I wasn’t even STARVING when lunch came around but I knew I had to stick to the schedule of eating.

Lunch consisted of Roasted Chicken, Sweet Potatoes and a Spinach Salad (2cups spinach, olive oil, cherry tomatoes, coconut flakes, cucumber, green onions, mini sweet peppers). I really had all the workings of a Whole30 recommended meal. It was nice and held me over till I ate dinner at 7pm.

Dinner was already premade thanks to Weeknight Paleo by Amber Beam. I made her Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork with Stellar Sweet Potato Home Fries on Sunday and all I had to do is a little reheat and I was done. Granted Sweet Potato Home Fries are much better right out of the oven, but they are still tasty as a leftover. I added some Kim-Chi to my pork and I was set.

Bedtime
I went to bed at 10pm. I rarely have problems falling asleep in general but I felt better overall, mentally. I’d done GOOD! hehe. I woke up thinking I would be seriously dead in the ABS and Legs with all the work we did at the BOOM Box and surprisingly NO PAIN! One day of clean eating and I’m already recovering that quickly? Not entirely sure but I’ll keep you posted if the DOMS hits me later today!

Day TWO
Breakfast
I wasn’t really hungry and I’m really not much of an early breakfast kind of girl but I have to plug away and do this right. I made two eggs over medium using Avocado Oil (delicious). After those were done, I plated them, then threw in 2 cups spinach to same pan with a little more oil added along with some green onions (precut on sunday). Had a small handful of raw trail mix and breakfast is down for the count!

Lunch
I had a choice of Pulled Pork or more Roast Chicken (made on Sunday as well) so I went with chicken. Last night as I was reheating my food, I did a quick boil of water, threw in Asparagus for 4 minutes, drained, added olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper and there you have it, green food for lunch today! I still have some sweet potatoes left over as well. Throw in some Coconut Flakes for that healthy fat and a few blackberries and my LUNCH is legit!

That’s a wrap!
My workouts will be pretty much back to back. One class this evening and then another at 5am. I should be able to still get plenty of sleep and still have PWO and healthy dinner. The plan for the left over Pulled Pork is to make Carnitas–Style Taco Tower. I don’t have the tool to make it look fancy but I’m sure it will be tasty all the same! I’m so excited that I’m finally committing to this again. I feel good and positive about everything. I’m not dreading the days to come. I will conquer this! You can too! Don’t be scared! Have a Happy Tuesday!

It has begun – Whole30

Happy Monday folks. If you’ve been following along most of you know, I put off my New Year’s resolution till today. This has worked out just fine. I had plenty of time to prepare mentally and get my ducks in order food wise. So this past weekend, consisted of eating mucho food and then shopping to get my health back to goodness. I know, I could have just made any day D-Day, but today seemed logical. I’m ready to do this. And I really don’t want to be back to this OOMPA LOOMPA state again, EVER. I already thought I was past this and would never return, especially to the extreme I’m at now. Sadly I did return and now it’s time to ANNIHILATE this chunky monkey.

The day before Day ONE – PREP and COOK
I mentioned last week that I purchased Weeknight Paleo, by Amber Beam over at www.paleosavvy.com. The decision to buy this cookbook was spurred by the fact that it had some interesting recipes that were a little bit outside my comfort zone but not completely way out there. I tend to get stuck in “food” ruts, which leads to boredom, which leads to laziness, which leads to me swimming in the abyss of junk food. The book lays out shopping lists, when to cook/prep things and how long I have to use the foods.

So off we went to Whole Foods. I told Ernie to be patient with me as I was buying specific items and not our “normal” veggie and protein stash. We had our shopping trip down to a science. A very boring science. So now I’m shopping for Jicama, specific fruits, and stuff off my normal radar. I’m also shopping for cuts of meat I’m not accustomed to asking for at the meat counter. To be safe, I still got some of our go to staples. This made my overall total bill a lot more than I’m used to but the meats are easily frozen to be used for another day.

Some of the foods already packed up and ready to go!

My first step in prepping was to get my PORK SHOULDER ROAST going. Then I was on to chopping up veggies for salads during the week. I also roasted a chicken and split it up into portions for post workout meals. Pureed some sweet potato to go with my PWO meal. Roasted sweet potato for meal 1 of the Weeknight Paleo. And I also boiled some eggs for quick breakfast when I don’t have time for much else. This took me a couple of hours but I think it’s well worth it to be prepared.

Day ONE
Well it’s only the beginning of Day ONE but my PWO meal went down easily. My breakfast on the other hand was much more of a chore. I just am not a big eater in the morning. Like I told Ernie, had I been sipping on a nice coffee drink and a sweet pastry, it would have been gone in 3 seconds. But 3 EGGS with veggies, however tasty they were was just a beating to get it down. I had to keep telling myself that I was resetting my gut, rewiring my brain, etc. Mostly rewiring my brain. I’m such a baby. But I ate it all and I survived. And I’m pretty satiated at the moment. My lunch is packed to the specifications of the Whole30 guidelines and dinner is pretty much ready to go. Just gotta heat it up. Woohooo. Day ONE should be successful… let’s just hope Day TWO and beyond reach the same success.

BOOM BOX recap
1/3/14
MetCon: (running clock) 3 minutes Elbow Plank, rest 2 min, 5 minutes max Wall Balls, rest 5 min, 5 min AMRAP of 20 Double Unders and 10 snatches 75/45. Score Wall Balls + reps from AMRAP

How’s that for a Friday workout. Doesn’t seem to daunting right? First off the Elbow Plank. Ya I suck at this. Barely made it a minute in without having to drop. Then was barely getting 15 seconds at a time after that. The rest following the plank was much needed. Because Wall Balls were about to destroy me. It’s been at least 3 or 4 months since I’ve done a Wall Ball. Doesn’t help I’ve been injured. I started slow with a 10lb ball and seemed ok, then moved to the 14lb ball. HOW IS THIS SO MUCH HEAVIER?!?!? I could get it up there but I was scared as I fatigued that catching it would put too much stress on the wrist. So Coach ALLOWED me to let it just drop and catch on the rebound! WHAT? I loved this idea! Cause I’m a bum. But that fun left pretty quickly. I only managed 50 Wall Balls in 5 minutes.

1/3/14 WOD

Then it was time for the 5 minute AMRAP of DUs and Snatches. How does 5 minutes in Wall Balls last forever and 5 minutes of this AMRAP finish in a minute. Oh my rebellious brain. Before we started I wanted to test out my Snatch. So I got the 15lb techniqe bar and threw it up and NO PAIN. So I moved to the 25lb bar and NO PAIN. I was scared moving up to the 35lb bar but I picked it up and BAM, NO PAIN. Coach had me stay at 35lbs which was fine by me. And it was so much more fine once the AMRAP started and my shoulders were DYING! I got through 3 full rounds, 20 DUs and 4 Snatches. Final: 164 reps.

1/4/13 Track WOD
Oh why oh why did I show up for this misery. Because I need to get back to it and start being a mini beast. That’s why. But it sure does suck at this moment. I also got my kids up for this crap. Good thing for them is they are good at running!

Warm up: Leg swings, 400m jog, dynamic movements
Let’s just say the 400m JOG was practically a crawl. More sucking at life.

Conditioning
A: 50 yrd sprint x 6 (walk back for rest)
Uh, ya, no fun. And I typically like sprinting. This was hurting my shins and my right hip, lower back.

B: Team WOD 400 m run, 100 yd Buddy Carry, 400m run
I was done as far as running was concerned. TOO. MUCH. PAIN! So I teamed up with my kiddos. Only one person working at a time but since I was barely hanging in there Coach let me walk one 400m while the other two ran. I barely finished the walk to keep up with them. Then it was my job to buddy carry them. So I carried one kid halfway, then swapped out for the way back. At the end of that I was DUNZO, so they ran the 400m and I cheered them on! So proud of those boys! They worked hard.

C: 50 yd Lunge, 50 yd sprint for time
And here I thought we were done after those 400’s. NOPE. I had a 50 yd lunge and then a 50 yd hobble. At least I showed up!

1/6/13
HOLY SCHMOLY, it’s cold outside. I’m talking in the teens here. We haven’t seen sub 20° in a long time! And I almost snoozed right through the 5am class!

Midline: 30 hollow rocks
Getting slightly better at this misery. But still struggling.

Strength: Front Squats @ temp 102X1 (10 sec neg, 2 sec hold, fast up, 1 sec at top) 3×5 then 20 reps AFAP (w/ doable weight)
Uh yaaa. I should have slept in! Taking 10 seconds to hit bottom is HARD. By the 3rd round, at a measley 60lbs, I finally had it figured out but I could only do 3 consecutive. My hip/lower back was dying. Like a permanent cramp. I still did the work, but I was not liking it at all. Then it came time to do 20 reps As Fast As Possible. I did 12. Then racked it. Hip/lower back was on fire. Plus, I’m Frankensteining it and that sucks even more. Finished my 8 reps then laid on a foam roller for a long time.

1/6/14 WOD

MetCon: 3 Rounds For time of 20 Sit Ups, 10 Push Ups, 10 T2B, 5 HSPU
Today was all about the core. I probably won’t be able to roll out of bed tomorrow. Sit Ups and Push Ups, I got. T2B and HSPU, not so much. So it was Knees to Elbows and Overhead presses with the Multi-Grip Bar which I was kind of excited about. I need to work on that overhead strength. I felt I did well with everything but KTE. So frustrating. Hanging onto the bar hurts SO bad! Time: 8:26

That’s A Wrap!
I worked out 6 days! Wooooo! It’s been a while since that has happened. With school and baseball picking back up I fear that it won’t be a common occurrence but I’m shooting for 5 days. I’m all prepped for the week to SUCCEED at the Whole30. And I sadly took “before” pics of myself. It’s funny how one (me) can live in denial about where one is at until one sees pictures of oneself. That’s a slap in the face. Big time. Bleh. I’m definintely determined for those “before” pictures to NEVER BE AGAIN! I’m up MANY pounds over where I’d ideally like to be. And when I say many, I’m mean 40-50lbs over. That’s the icing on the cake for me. So no more icing and no more cake. Gotta shed this weight and get back to the leaner version of me.

I hope you all have a fabulous day and if you’re rebooting, starting something new or making a change today then BE STRONG! BE A ROCKSTAR! I’m here to cheer you on and send you virtual high fives! Whole30 on!

My tshirt that I ordered from Savage Life Apparel! So cute!

What a YEAR, come on 2014, Bring IT!

Hello faithful and new readers. It’s the last day of 2013 and I’m ready to get on to a New Year! I can’t say 2013 was horrible but I’m really hopeful that 2014 has better things in store for me. I know it’s ME who has to make it be the year that I need it to be but I believe that sometimes there are driving forces out there testing my will and faith constantly. And I believe I was tested a little more than I’d like! Ah well.

As far as health and fitness go… I “shipped” my pants! If any of you have seen the Kmart commercial, you should be giggling. If not, google it! But for real, I started the year off STRONG by killing the Whole30. I was feeling the best I’d felt in a long time. Then I let the excuses slip in. I let baseball travels and schedules overrule proper food planning. I let my consistency at the Boom Box drop to some lows. And then I let the mindset of “well I screwed that up, let’s eat!” come into play. After many failed attempts on getting back on track, I just decided to give in completely. In this last part of the year, I am still struggling with food but am trying my best to be at the box to get my workouts in. It’s been a process with having a bum wrist. But it’s getting better and I’m not gonna let it slow me down.

I’ve decided to Kick 2014 in the bootay! Seriously! I tossed around going balls to the wall tomorrow or Thursday, but I’m not prepared in my kitchen for such things, and I haven’t had the time to get prepared. So this weekend, I’m gonna clean everything out of my pantry and fridge. Go grocery shopping and get to clean eating on January 6th! I need to get my ass back into gear and get these extra layers of chubalub off! Join me if you will, whether it’s Whole30, Advocare 24 Day Challenge, or just cleaning up your eating in general. I love to cheer folks on. I love to be a support system. I can do that for you if you let me know. It’s time for:

MISSION: ANNIHILATE CHUNKY MONKEY!

12/30/13
After a week off, I knew showing up to the BOOM Box was going to be brutal. And it was.

Midline: 30 Hollow Rocks
Don’t like these, never will. My ribs feel like they are broken

Skill: 7 minutes practice strict Muscle Ups or Pistols
Oh MUs are laughable and Pistols are too. Although I have a better chance at getting Pistols. But the one legged squat has not become easier for me as I’ve gained the weight. It sucks. I make it a goal to get Pistols in 2014.

Strength: 5×5 Pendlay Rows by feel
I’m finally not feeling so awkward with this movement. I worked at 85 lbs. It took me 3 sets before I got into a groove.

12/30/13 WOD

MetCon: For time: 30 lat burpees, 30 clean and jerks 135/95. Split work up however you like!
I tried cleaning the bar and although Do-able…. still some wrist pain. And I’m not going to take steps backwards by hurting myself. So for me it was 6 rounds of 5 Burpees (with fists), 5 Deadlifts, and 5 Overhead Press with the Multigrip Bar.

Holy Schmoly… it’s been a while since I’ve done overhead work. The bar is 65lbs. But because I can grip it where I can lock out my wrist, this is perfect to get some work in. But boy oh boy have I lost some strength. 65lbs used to be easy, now it’s a struggle. I’m so happy to be lifting heavy things overhead though 🙂

Even though I was only doing 5 burpees at a time, they got me. All that good homecooked Mexican food I had in El Paso over the weekend was weighing me down! So worth the pain though! Besides so extra laying around from not wanting to get up from a Burpee, I felt I pushed hard enough on the Deadlifts and the Overhad Press. Time: 8:25

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I can’t thank y’all enough for sticking with me yet another year! I quietly passed through my 2nd year blogiversary but I’m looking forward to a more productive 3rd year. For those of you I follow regularly, forgive me for being a poor reader, I’ve slacked on all fronts, but you all know I still love you and you all inspire me daily (even if I’m reading a week or two at a time, doh!). I look forward to your new success in this new year!

I’m feeling hopeful, as most people probably do with new beginnings. I know I can be strong through March, it’s when the boys baseball picks up that I know there will be tough times. I have the next 3 months to mentally prepare. Also hopefully purchase products like thermos type containers to keep food warm, cold, etc. So if you any of you have any suggestions or ideas of how to keep me sane through a weekend at the fields let me know!

Like I said, this year I plan to be more productive. I’m going to try and boost my blog, but I’m not making any major promises or goals. I just want to give y’all more than my rambling brain! Try to do more product reviews, more recipes, maybe even venture into giveaways. We’ll see!

So that’s a wrap for this last day of 2013. I plan to hit up the Boom Box this evening and if I’m brave, I’ll show up for FRAN NIGHT. This will be CrossFit Boom’s 3rd year to ring in the new year with FRAN. I may just go to cheer folks on. Thrusters aren’t for me with the wrist in bad shape and I still can’t do pull ups. I WILL GET PULLUPS in 2014! I WILL!

I hope all you have a safe night and I wish you all the best for a great year! And you can not forget, must not forget …. to go out and BE AWESOME!

Grrrrr, WALL BALLS

Oh if you know me at all you know I have a great dislike for those darn wall balls, but I’ll get to those in a bit. Right now, I’m on Day 9 of my Work Weight Loss Challenge. I’m probably gonna try to stay off the scale until Day 30 and that will just to kind of gauge where one month has brought me. Overall I’ve done marvelous. I had one poor showing for dinner on Saturday but really that’s the worst I got and it wasn’t that bad! But boy was I craving SUGAR. I’m still having those sugar cravings but I keep telling myself it’s not worth it. So far that’s working just fine. Just STAY THE COURSE. 51 days to go!

I can already feel the snugness in my clothes slowly disappearing. Thank goodness, because I really didn’t want to have to buy BIGGER clothes because of my expanding waistline. I know for a lot of us that’s where the line gets drawn. But some of us just go out and buy those new clothes and just throw your hands up. The battle of the bulge wins! It doesn’t have to be that way. Clean eating and a little bit of movement will do wonders. All you have to do is take the steps to a better healthier you. For me I pretty much go cold turkey. But I know that’s not something everyone can do. So take those steps. Big or small! Below I’ve listed some things you can do to start the process. Please NOTE, I am not a Dr. or professional. And also know these are just baby steps which are better than NO STEPS at all!

1. Cut out sugary and diet drinks – sodas, sweet tea, diet sodas, other diet beverages. Boy I know that’s a hard one for some folks. Why the diet? There’s no calories. Well my friends, those diet drinks are still made of chemicals that are NO GOOD for your body. And to top it off the “fake” sugar still triggers the same response to your body and brain as if there is real sugar in your system. But in fact there is not SUGAR in your system. This starts a whole new bad reaction in your body.

After about a week of letting go of those drinks, you should be feeling ok about the whole situation. Please note that FRUIT JUICE is alright but only once a day or better yet, once a week.

2. Cut out Fried Foods. Let go of those deep fried yummies. Replace them with baked versions. I know it’s not the same but it’s not about being the same. It’s about taking changes to be a better you. Eventually, your taste buds change and you will appreciate food differently.

3. Try new vegetables. Have you ever had Cauliflower Mash? Or roasted Broccoli? How about Spaghetti Squash? These are all foods that you may not have tried, but should at least give them a whirl. These veggies cooked different ways provide nutrients you wouldn’t get from french fries or deep fried veggies.

4. Get moving. Take short walks around your block if you’re new to being active. Or try a new sport if you’ve just become complacent in your everyday activities. It’s important to get that blood flowing and those muscles working. Although I do enjoy CrossFit, you can find that NO EQUIPMENT is necessary to get fit. Body movements such as squats, lunges, push ups will do wonders.

5. Sleep. Proper rest is KEY to becoming healthier. Hopefully with eliminating foods and getting some exercise sleep will come more quickly but it may take some time. Make it a priority to get proper rest. This gives your body time to take care of it’s self.

Those are just 5 simple things. There a plenty more tips and suggestions but I don’t want to overwhelm you. If you’re starting from ground zero or trying to nudge that friend or family member into better health, just do something positive. You can see it’s not that hard. Remember we are grown. We make these choices. Make choices to feel good about you.

Since I mixed up the blog today, I’ll be short and sweet with my recaps.

9/20/13 WOD
MOBILITY: Calves, IT bands
Hurts so good! I never do enough mobility. So it’s nice to dedicate during class time.

Sprints: 3×400 m sprints (record times) If it’s raining we will row.
So thankful for RAIN. Rowing is much better and I need the practice. Unfortunately I only rowed well for the first 200m of each 400m, then I fell apart. I started of with great 500m pacing around 1:50 but by 250m I would be at 2:06, 2:19 and who knows. I think I averaged around a 1:40 400m. For some reason I left that out of the picture on the whiteboard

9/20/13 WOD

MetCon: 10 Rounds of 20 Sit Ups, 20 DU
Cakewalk! WRONG! After 5 rounds, I’m pretty sure I was somewhere right past the 5 minute mark. I’m thinking WOOOO, I got this. But right after 5 rounds, I started slowing down on those Sit Ups and messing up on DUs. Oh how it pained me to mess on DUs so much. It’s only 20. But fatigue does set in. Time: 12:36

9/23/13 WOD
I didn’t get any good sleep Sunday night so I totally missed the 5 a.m. My guilty conscience got to me so I HAD to show up to one of the evening classes.

Warm-up: 400 m run and 30 TTB
Run. Meh. Toes To Bar for 30. Double Meh. For me, it was 30 GHD sit ups.

Strength: in 12 minutes find 1RM Front Squat
I had just PR’d my Front Squat not too long ago, so I wasn’t sure if it was in the cards today. And 12 minutes is not long at all! WTH? Let the work begin. I was feeling extraordinarily good doing these. Front Squat is not by best lift. But today everything was feeling good. By the end everything was tired. And that was in just 12 short minutes. Good news is that I got a 10lb PR. 155lbs suckas! Wooooo! I’m a PR MACHINE, well lately I am. Not always!

9/23/13 WOD

MetCon: TEAM 15 min AMRAP 3 Rope Climbs 12 Push-press (185, 125) no rack Teams of 3. One person going at a time.
Rope Climbs are a NO GO for me. So 6 ring rows were in my future. We decided to each do 1 rope climb/6 ring rows and then move onto 4 Push Press each. This worked out really nicely. And when Darrin, our only team member doing rope climbs just couldn’t go anymore he moved on to Ring Rows. The only down time we really had was the transition between our two guys, Andy and Darrin, on the Push Press. Even though this workout was intense we each got a little break since only one person could do the work. I worked at 85lbs because I just barely 3RM at 95lbs the other day. Final: 10 rounds, 18 ring rows + 1 Push Press. 15 minutes flew by!

9/24/13 WOD
Warm-up: 100 ft yoke push, 50 hollow rocks
Nothing like a yoke push to wake you up in the morning. That gets the blood rushing and really widens those eyes. The Hollow Rocks are miserable since I’m still sore from all those Sit Ups on Friday.

Skill: 3 Snatch positions top down
I am always in need of good mechanics. And as long as it’s not Squat Snatching I’m GREAT! Add the squat and I’m a mess. So frustrating!

MetCon: 60 Wall Balls in the black (20/14), 50 Pullups, 40 Barbell Burpess, 30 Snatch (75,45)
I’ve said this before and I’m more than happy to say it again: WALL BALLS CAN SUCK IT! Oh my goodness, it’s been a while since we have done these ugly lil monsters. And my butt was not ready for them. There was just sadness all around me when I was only 10 in and ready to die. 50 to go. It was slow and miserable. I just don’t know when or how I will ever find peace with this movement. I knew I moved slow but I didn’t look at the clock to see when I finished. Probably for the best. 50 Pull Ups. Now this is where I typically drag ass. I can rest for minutes before getting on that bar. Maybe my anger from the Wall Balls helped fuel me me to knock out 50 reps. There weren’t awesome but I chipped away better than I have known myself to do. Then came the burpees and right around 10 something cramped in my back BUT only when I was jumping left over the barbell. It finally went away but it slowed me down mentally, because I’m a big baby, for a little bit. It was like I was in molasses doing those damn burpees. Finally to snatch. I thought I will do 5 sets of 6. It was a good idea for the first 2 sets. Then I dropped to sets of 3. I just didn’t have any PUSH in me to fight through so I was taking a lot of time between sets. Ah well. Time: 21:16

9/24/13 WOD

Barbells For Boobs
Y’all know the drill. I love B4B. I have met the people B4B helps. I have met the community that comes out to help. They are a non-profit organization that provides funding to pay for breast cancer detection services as a last resort for thousands of people who don’t qualify for assistance elsewhere. Their aim is to help anyone that needs it, anywhere, whether they are male or female, no matter what their age or situation in life.

It’s a good cause and I’m participating in BOOM for BOOBS at my CrossFit Box, CrossFit BOOM. I have set up my fundraising page over at B4B and am asking for you to donate to the cause. It doesn’t have to be much. $1 would help just as much as $20 would. If you are unable to help out this year, I get it. There’s lots of people asking for money for all sorts of things. But do know, this is an organization that works for those who get left out. They work hard and bring a great time on their Pink Bra Tour. So donate if you can or share me to friends and companies that are looking to help out. I have a $100 goal, but more than happy to go above and beyond. You can go here: HELP SAVE BOOBIES! Thanks!

The End!
Ya, that was a doozy today folks. It’s only Tuesday too! Argghhh! Well chip away at the day. Make a change in your life. Drink more water, get active, eat clean. But above all BE AWESOME!

Rope Climbs Scare Me

Before I started writing this I thought I’d find some witty way leading into my scaredy cat fear. But there’s not a really good way for me to do that except to just say I have some unnatural fear of climbing a rope. It’s ridiculous when I think about it, yet I have no answer for myself or anyone else when it comes to actually doing it. It’s the same fear when trying to jump on a 30″ box. I get all ready to go. I’m determined, but once I take that step, I stop. Only thing with the rope climb is that my hands don’t want to let go of the rope. At all.

We worked on rope climbs the other day and I had some crazy death grip on the rope. My hands were sore for days! And I never got more than like 3 feet off the ground. So it’s not like I was going to plummet to my death. I know this. Today, we worked again on said rope climbs and the rope I was using didn’t have a lot of slack on it. I had to climb onto a box so when I grabbed the rope I had slack. Mind you I’m only standing on a 24″ box. Not scary. But scary when I reach for the rope. HOLY GEESH my insides freeze up.

Of course I googled “fear of rope climbs” and “scared of rope climbs” and I get nothing. I’m the only person in the world that is scared. Confidence level -10.

Coach is patient with me, THANK GOODNESS, but I’m sure he thinks I’m a loonball. Believe me, I feel silly about the whole situation too. I shouldn’t be scared. But in the end I’m a girl baby who freezes up! The one thing Coach helped me with that I will have to practice (in all my free time) is to start up higher and practice coming down. It took me a few moments of telling myself I can jump onto this rope off of this now 30″ box. I’ll be ok. I even said outloud I’m scared to just get it out of me. I finally grabbed onto the rope and worked on coming down, but it was a sloppy mess. I have convinced myself that’s it not the actual climbing up that’s scary, it’s the coming down. So hopefully this will help in the end. Again, in my head I know I would NEVER willingly let myself fall but it’s like I don’t trust me at all. When and if I get up there I don’t know that I will be able to come down without breaking my neck. I guess the best thing is that I still tried. But really, can someone hypnotize me to not be scared? Thanks!

8/20/13 WOD
Skill: ROPE CLIMB
Scaredy Cat

MetCon: 9 MU, 400m run, 7MU, 400m run, 5MU, 400m run
For us non Muscle Uppers, and not Chest to Bar folks. Just us ol Pull Uppers (with bands for me of course), we had to do 15, 12 and 9. So far today is a day of suck. Rope Climbs, Pull Ups and Running. My top weaknesses all in one day. How fun. But I didn’t sleep in. I showed up cause no matter how scared or how crappy I am at all the above, I knew sleeping in wasn’t going to help me get better! I moved as fast as I could on the Pull Ups. Only to move slow on my runs. Halfway through my first run, my right calf and hip were on fire. By the end of that run my shin was about to spontaneously combust. I’m sure of it. For the rest of the runs, it was just misery. I’d run/walk/run. I’ve never had shin pain like that until today. A combo of being completely stress on the rope. My right leg being my lead leg maybe was traumatized, lol. Who knows. I rolled it out the best I could post-WOD but I’m it will probably be achy for a day or two. Time: 14:23

8/20/13 WOD

Food note: I know it’s been a long time since I shared any food with you but I did make Avocado Deviled Eggs yesterday. I didn’t follow anyone’s recipe, just kind of winged it.

I used:
4 hardboiled eggs
1/2 avocado
splash of olive oil
mustard (although I don’t recommend, after taste test)
bacon

I’m a fan of deviled eggs and I prefer to use paleo mayo but I didn’t have that on hand. I did, however, have avocados. I’ve seen links and posts and always thought it sounded weird, but I was about to give it a try anyways.

Just like regular deviled eggs, you scoop out the yolk into a bowl and mash it all up. I then added avocado and continued mashing. The consistency was too thick for my liking so I added a little olive oil. This was helping but I still felt like it wasn’t enough. So even though avocado and mustard don’t sound great, I thought the mustard would help. I love the tang of mustard and it’s what I use in a normal deviled egg mixture but I wasn’t sure what would come of it. Stirred it all together and spooned it out into my egg halves. Topped with chopped up bacon. They looked pretty at least! And they tasted alright too. The mustard addition probably wasn’t the best idea though. I will definitely give it another try with the mustard.

So that’s all folks for this beautiful Tuesday. Let me know how you deal with silly fears. And don’t forget to be awesome!

Back Squats FOREVER!

First off, let me say HI to all the new followers! HI! I don’t know how you found me but I appreciate the likes and the follows ツ

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! It’s been a busy past couple of days and with the holiday weekend, I did not have time to get to any blogging in. But I did get some workouts in. I did get some good and not so good food in me and we FINALLY did a proper grocery shopping trip! Wooooo. High Five!

And Ernie is finally back to getting his ass in gear! Thank goodness for me because it’s so much easier when you have your support system back! For so long I’ve caved to his non Paleo, non CrossFitting ways! But now that we are both back on the same track I hope the failures will be less and less as time goes on! We’ll be back to our old selves in no time!

7/3/13 Boom Box
This was a “BEAR” of a work out and just an overall butt whoopin. It’s been a while since I’ve done bear crawls and lets just say my hips and shoulders were not happy!

7/3/13WOD

WarmUp: 400m Run, 30/30 GHD

Skill/Strength: Max Effort Ring Dips, Work Up to 50
My rotator cuffs are dead to me. They don’t support me in the bottom of a ring dip and it seems as if I will never master this movement. Does anyone have some fresh shoulders that I could borrow?

Not me in this pick but this is what I look like doing modified dips with bands.

MetCon: 2 minutes at each station of Max Distance Bear Crawl, Max KBS 1.5/1 POOD, Max Burpees, Max Bear Crawl. 30 seconds of rest between stations.

30 seconds is NOT enough time for rest! Holy geesh. On my first round of bear crawls I probably got 6 lengths of the box. Not great in my mind but battling hip failure, burnt out shoulders and a touch of dizzy was NO Fun. Moved onto Kettle Bell Swings and hot damn, my right hip was ready to explode. FIRE! I was pretty much done for by the time Burpees came along. I don’t even remember what I got but it was far less than what the healthier version of me would have completed! One more Bear Crawl to finish it off and I only got 4 lengths in. UGH! Total: 66 but I did it RX. Hahahah It counts!

7/4/13 Boom Box

It was Murph Day and I was going to show up but wasn’t sure if I was going to workout! In the end I was just a spectator. I had no want or drive to do the beast of a workout. But it was inspiring to watch everyone else. In the past on big hero WODs people tend to pair up and work together. This time around everyone went SOLO. It was amazing and I was super impressed by everyone’s determination!

Post Murph we had a little came of Wiffle Ball which turned out to be really fun. I wish more folks had stuck around to play. Maybe another time. So I did get a little sweat and fun in after all!

Food Note: I found some Kale Chips at Eatzi’s that turned out to be pretty tasty. The ingredients were clean and organic. The only downside to hardcore Paleo eaters was that there were Chickpeas in the ingredients. Other than that they were great. A little spendy but a great snack and beats junk food alternatives!

7/5/13 Boom Box
Friday was pretty much a day of lazy for us so I was suprised when Ernie was all let’s go up to Boom and workout! I was definitely ready to go but at the same time secretly wishing we’d just stay home!! Of course working out always feels great when it’s done so I’m glad we went.

7/5/13 – Had to steal this off instagram so it's not the best quality

7/5/13 WOD – Had to steal this off instagram so it’s not the best quality

Skill/Strength: Front squats; 5@60%; 3×5@70%
It seems that Front Squats don’t come around much and if they do I miss out on those days. They aren’t my favorite squat either but I felt good working. My last tested 1RM from who knows how long ago is 135lbs. So 80lbs and 95lbs didn’t sound heavy. By the last set, 95lbs felt heavy.

MetCon: 7 rounds of 2 minute AMRAP 30 situps, ME DU, Rest 1 min
Situps and Double Unders. Should be a win/win right here. I started off strong with the situps but the DU’s weren’t really working in my favor for the first round. I was tripping up a lot on the darn rope. After the 3rd round, I just was stuck at a slower pace for the situps. No matter how hard I tried to bust them out I was finishing around 50-58 seconds. Leaving me a minute to get max DUs! I stayed pretty consistent with the my DU count having only one really off round. All said and done I completed 333 DUs and was smoked! My calves were JELL-O on Saturday.

7/8/13
We took the weekend off so it was nice to have a little break but I definitely need to be putting in the work. Unfortunately my mindset for the Monday workout was not liking all the Back Squats that were about to go down!

7/8/13

Skill/Strength: Squat – 10@60%; 8@65%; 6@70%; 6@75%; 6@80%
WoooWeeeee. That’s a lot of squats on order. And everything just felt so HEAVY! Coach wants us to get STRONG!!!! Of course it’s what I need but just seeing it on the board makes me want to go home and sleep. I started at 100lbs and worked my way up to 130lbs. Even though all the reps can be intimidating it felt really great to finish strong.

MetCon: 10 minute AMRAP of 6 Deadlifts (225,155) and 6 HSPU or 3 Wall walks
Coach had us work up to a weight we were comfortable with for Deadlifts. My 1RM is 225 but multiple reps for time after all of those back squats was going to have to be less than 155lbs.I got to 135lbs and that seemed to suit me just fine. It was Wall Walks that I feared. I don’t have Handstand Push Ups down so I had to default to the Wall Walks. I have only ever had to do this movement one time before and it made me nauseous and dizzy. We only had to do 3 so I figured I’d survive but I wasn’t looking forward to it.

I moved the weight pretty nicely, and I thought I should have done RX but after a few rounds I was grateful I stuck with a slightly lower weight. The Wall Walks took the life out of me. My recovery time was slow. I couldn’t get to the bar fast and it took me forever to pick up the bar. Final: 6 rounds + 1 Deadlift.

Grocery Field Trip
It’s been so long since we’ve headed out to have a proper grocery trip so we decided to go big and drive to the ginormous WHOLE FOODS in Dallas. The one in Arlington is sufficient but it’s tiny and part of our regular routine. Going the Park Lane location was a fun little field trip. We didn’t spend hours strolling around but they seem to have a better selection of produce and meats. We stocked up for the week excited to be back on it.

So far so good. We’ve been cooking, eating our cooked food and feeling good. As I’ve mentioned before it’s amazing what a couple of days of all goodness will do to your body. My achy IT Band/Knee are no longer achy. My sore tight wrists are no longer sore and tight! It just feels good to feel good. Now I wish my muscles would just bounce back faster. With time I know they will. I’m just a big baby!

It’s Tuesday folks! What have you done to make a healthier you? Eat healthy fats? Drink more water? Get that body a movin? Let’s go.

Have a super day and don’t forget to be AWeSOMe!

Trying

So my gung ho declaration of getting back on track went strong for 2 days. Then my car died and I missed a work out. Then I had a mental breakdown due to my car dying and there went another missed day at the BOX. And then (think Dude, Where’s my Car, Chinese restaurant lady) baseball took over friday and saturday. And then and then and then and then! UGH.

So we cycle back to a new week and I’m pulling myself out of the pit of my depression and yesterday began Day 1 of eating clean. It wasn’t a perfect clean but it was 95% on point. Which is 95% better than what Wednesday through Sunday! This morning as part of breakfast I go with two tablespoons of Almond Butter and what do I read on the label? SUGAR! NOOOOO. Ok Sugar is not going to kill me instantly but it’s not CLEAN eating. I was surprised that this particular brand that I’ve purchased before has sugar in it! I figured all of this brand was sugar free. Doh! I just grabbed it off the shelf thinking it was good to go. That’s Wal-mart for you! It was a small jar and it’s so much better than what I’ve been eating so I’ll get through it and be more mindful for the future.

Now if I can just get past 2 days and even through a whole weekend! Then I know I’m getting somewhere. At least I haven’t completely fallen off the CrossFit train. Showing up, although sucking at life, is still better than not showing up. Keeps me connected and definitely shows me how hard it is to eat like crap and perform well. Cause I’m not performing well at all! In 9 days I’ve worked out 3 times. Out of those three times I forgot to take pictures for 2 of the workouts. One more thing to add to the list of eating like crap. The brain fog takes over and I forget everything! SMH!

Nice salad full of protein and fat!

6/3/13 CrossFit Total
Yikes! My first dedicated day to getting back to it and it’s CFT! I haven’t worked on anything consistently. I’m not even sure I’ll hit my 1RM on these movements. What’s CFT you ask? It’s comprised of 3 lifts. Back Squat, Overhead Press and Deadlift. You do 1 Rep Max of Back Squat, Press and Deadlift. You get 3 attempts at each movement to get the biggest lift. You also get a time frame of 15 minutes per lift. Then you add up your lifts to get your CFT. Like I mentioned and as you all know due to my lack of blogging, I have barely been showing up. I have been eating like crap and there is no consistency in any of the mentioned lifts! Sigh! I have to just relax and let it be. It is what it is and I can’t change that.

6/3/13 CrossFit Total

15 minutes goes by really quickly to warm up and get those 3 lifts in. In my warming up for my Squat the bar felt heavy and I just couldn’t picture myself hitting my 1RM and guess what I didn’t! I got to 155lbs which is 10lbs off. Booooo! Next up Press. I was looking for a PR because I’ve been stuck at 75lbs for what seems like forever but NOPE, NO SIR, NOT GONNA HAPPEN. At least I made the 75lbs or else I probably would have cried. Deadlift, last but not least and the only lift I had any confidence in for the day. There was quite of a few of us in class so I had to wait around for plates. Which ate up a lot of my time. So I only got 2 lifts in but guess what? I finally PR’d a lift! 225lbs. That’s a 10lb PR and I’ll take what I can get!

As for the last time I did CFT back in August…I went from 400 for my total to 455. It’s a PR which is nice but I know it should have been much bigger than that!

6/4/13 WOD
Warm Up: 30 GHD Hip-ext, 30 GHD sit-ups, Shoulder mobility
Missed this as I drove up right as class was starting

Skill/Strength: Hand Stand Walk Practice
This was so easy in my former life. I can hold a handstand but not for long so walking is out of the question. I will have it back one day I know it!

METCON: 3 rounds for time of – 12 Burpee Pull-ups, 7 Power cleans 185/115
Seriously? 3 rounds is quick is what I kept telling myself when the voice in my head was telling me to stay home. And I love me some Cleans and it’s been so long. So there I was trying to figure out how I was going to scale Burpee Pull Ups. After the burpee, I had to jump up onto stacked plates and do a jumping pull up. Those were pretty miserable but even more so after heavy Power Cleans. I went with 95lbs which again is HEAVY when you’ve been a slacker. And doing burpees after that was a butt whoopin. I made it with a time of 9:41. I survived!

6/10/13 WOD
Skill/Strength: Front Squat work up to a heavy 3
Now I really haven’t done any Front Squat work in months so I was scared what HEAVY would be for me. Turns out my heavy was 125lbs. Which is 10lbs less than my 1RM. So that’s not too bad. I haven’t had too much strength loss there.

METCON: 8 min AMRAP of Run 200m, 20 HR PU, 10 Push Jerks 145/100#
-then (no rest)- 3 min ME Lateral Burpees (over bar)
I can not tell you enough times how poor eating can ruin everything. I struggled running 200m! That’s just crazy talk! But it’s true. I was so beat down after running the measly 200m I just wanted to lie there and not do the Push Ups. As for the Push Jerks, I went with 85lbs and although they felt good I had my umph in my try. So I did 2 or 3 at a time. Physically it felt good to get the weight up, mentally I was in a haze. I only managed to get 1 full round in with a run, 20 HRPU and 3 Push Jerks into the 2nd round. As for burpees. I went as slow as I could without just completely quitting. I managed to get 24 in 3 minutes. HORRIBLE!

So that’s it for now. Day 2 of clean eating (sort of)! At least I’m making the efforts I suppose. If I can figure out kiddo scheduling tonight I should be hitting up the Boom Box tonight. I guess that’s it for now. I’m trying my hardest to find my way back to AWESOME. So go ahead and be AwEsOmE for the both of us! Thanks and Happy Tuesday!

My hands hurt :/

Just recently my hands have been really sore. Not just sore on my callouses from hanging on the bar but sore in my palms, sore in my grip, etc. After talking with coach he suggested getting a rubber band and wrap it around my fingers and work with opening and closing my hand. I’m gonna give that a try for the rest of the week and see if it helps out. I know with time the pain will go away eventually but I’m hoping this helps work out the little muscles in my hand.

In other news, I did pretty well hitting my Eat To Perform targets and I had a sense of relief that I can do this. I CAN eat all this dang food and all the fat pretty easily. What was hard to eat was my Post Workout Meal this morning as it’s about double of what I’m used to eating and lately I have slipped off the PWO Meal anyways. They do suggest Sweet Potato Recovery powder from Simply Pure Nutrients that I may look into because I don’t know that I can always shove that much food down or that I even have the time too regularly. Just add water and I can drink some of those carbs! If anyone has tried it, let me know what you think about it.

Food Front
So with all this eating and adding FAT I finally got in the kitchen to get ahead at least a day so I wasn’t stressing out about what to eat. I also finally bit the bullet and purchased a digital scale. I’ve had an old fashion cheapo one and I never felt like it was accurate but I wasn’t really ever concerned about getting exact breakdowns of my food. With the digital I can easily track grams, ounces, ml which helps me a lot in trying to get an accurate count of my Carbs, Proteins and Fats.

So I cooked up chicken and beef, measured and portioned it all out. I also quick boiled some aparagus, broiled some eggplant, baked more sweet potato and got some kale prepped for salad. I’m also going to share with you how I cooked up my eggplant and a couple of chicken strips. I didn’t originally plan on this so I don’t have pictures of the food in the making. But if I wait to do that properly I may never post about it.

Broiled Eggplant
Super simple to cook and a vegetable I’ve only cooked once. For some reason I’m not drawn to eggplant so I rarely buy it and if I do buy it, it sits in the fridge till it’s bad. So this time when I saw two perfectly purple eggplants and bought them, I was determined to cook them up. And I’m not in the moment of life where I can take time to experiment a whole lot. Turns out this veggie is really easy to cook. Found this on NomNom Paleo. http://nomnompaleo.com/post/4739682522/broiled-zucchini-or-eggplant. She used Zucchini and Globe Eggplant. I’m not quite sure what GLOBE eggplants are but I just bought your typical eggplant that’s purple and odd shaped. I’m not as food savvy as MRS. NOM NOM but I can figure some things out on my own, haha.

Easy Breezy Eggplant

Really easy! I promise. Preheat oven to BROIL. Grab a cookie sheet. Line it with foil. Drizzle oil on to cookie sheet. Add salt and pepper to your oil. Cut your eggplant into even slices. Place on oil coated cookie sheet THEN flip eggplant so you can get oil and seasoning on both sides. Broil for 8 -10 minutes, flip halfway through. Once you remove the eggplant from oven you can add a little vinegar or lemon OR BOTH and you have scrumptious eggplant. We even tried coconut aminos and that was wonderful too! I’m hoping it holds up after sitting in the fridge all night.

Fried Chicken Strips
If you have ever fried anything you should be pretty capable to concoct something and season it to your likings. If you’re not a cook or scared of stepping out of step by step instructions, let me tell you, it’s easy to just do whatever. And that’s what I did with some chicken strips that I had.

I took the chicken strips and rubbed chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and lemon pepper all over (use your favorite seasonings). I then took some egg white and put in one dish. And set up another dish with coconut flour, pepper and salt. I made sure the flour and seasonings were mixed well. Take your seasoned chicken, dip and coat it in the egg whites, then dip and coat in your coconut flour. I went ahead and took coated strip and double coated it. While I was prepping everything I had a pan heating up at Medium Heat with 2TBS Coconut Oil. By the time I was done coating my chicken strips the oil was hot enough. Place the chicken in the pan and let cook a couple of minutes (no touching) then flip after 2-3 minutes and let cook through on other side for 2-3 minutes. Really tasty fresh, not as tasty microwaved next day. But a quick and simple protein with some “cheat meal” flare.

Not the prettiest shot. I’m no photographer but it tasted yummy!

So now that I have my kitchen in work mode, I’m hoping I can just keep things rolling along! But now it’s time for the BOOM Box Recap. It’s short and sweet today.

Skill/Strength: 5, 5, 5+ @ 65%, 75% and 85% of 1RM Push PressLast week we found our 1RM Push Press and sadly even though I felt like I could have got more weight up, I only got 95lbs. So using that I was going for 60lbs, 70lbs and 80lbs. My warm up sets and my first round weren’t hard but everything was hurting in an achey kind of way. Finally at 70lbs it felt much better. Got to 80lbs and busted out 10 reps! I went for 11 and failed. Now my arms were really dead! It felt good though to get those 10 reps.

4/9/13 WOD

MetCon: 3X – 3 min AMRAP of 5 Burpees and 5 Knees to Elbows, 1 minute rest
3 rounds of that. UGH. It might not be so bad if I was good at KTE. But I am not. I did start off strong in regards to getting my knees up but by the end it was just get knees as high as possible. I dropped after each rep of KTE because my hands were on fire! Burpees are burpees. You just gotta do them. I ended up with a total of 9 rounds + 1 for all the rounds. So that’s averaging 3 rounds per round! Makes sense right?

It’s TUESDAY folks. And I’m already ready for Friday! That’s a problem 😀 Ah well, I’ll just have to chug on through. Hope y’all have a great day and of course BE AWESOME!

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

Clean eating

Kill Some of the Things

Not so drained, but a little agitated

You may be asking…. What is Whole30?

It has begun – Whole30

What a YEAR, come on 2014, Bring IT!

Grrrrr, WALL BALLS

Rope Climbs Scare Me

Back Squats FOREVER!

Trying

My hands hurt :/

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