Whole30 DAY 9 – Feelin’ Fine!

It’s a rest day for me from the BOOM Box so today will be all about the Whole30. I had planned on reviewing Choice Organic Tea as well but I’m still waiting to hear about possibly doing a giveaway as well. So if you love TEA stay tuned in.

Whole30 Day 9 FEELIN’ FINE!

I’m on my 2nd day of week 2, almost 1/3 of the way there. YAY! And so far it’s been superb. This morning was probably the only day so far where my meal wasn’t so balanced. But it’s still clean. I don’t think there’s a rule that tells me I have to start over based on an unbalanced plate. Please don’t tell me I have to start over!

Last night, we roasted a chicken, put pork shoulder in the crockpot (link to recipe below) and boiled, stir-fried and roasted a slew of veggies. This morning I FINALLY broke down and made some Egg Muffins as well! And they were a WINNER and now probably a staple in our kitchen for quick breakfast solutions. The kids really enjoyed them and they were full of goodness 🙂

1/9/13 Dinner

Now let me get back to that pulled pork. I haven’t tried it yet, but the kids sampled it this morning and their only words were MMMMMM. I know that’s not a word, so their only sounds were MMMMMM. As most of you know I did the 21-Day Sugar Detox last year in May. And I struggled a bit with that but came out with positive results in the end. Recently I saw a facebook post about PULLED PORK. I love pulled pork preferrable drenched in some yummy bbq sauce on a bun with some coleslaw on top and topped off with another bun! Now seeing as that I can’t have a bun and I’m too lazy right now to find a Paleo cole slaw solution, I was just intrigued in general that it was pulled pork and it was fit to be on the 21-Day Sugar Detox. It just so happens it’s in line with Whole30 as well. I really couldn’t imagine why it wouldn’t be as they eliminate the same food groups for the most part. So I clicked the link to the post HERE and found the recipe. It comes from the folks over at PaleoPot whom I had never heard of until now. I am anxious to see what other recipes they have to share. I indeed had all the ingredients except for SMOKEY PAPRIKA so mine probably tastes a little different because I used plain ol paprika. Either way it smelled WONDERFUL in my house this morning. And it did PULL apart pefectly. I’m excited for lunch today so I can know it tastes as good as it smelled.

In the CrockPot, don’t mind the “burned” sides, I’m sure it’s fine, but I didn’t have time to scrub it down. Pulled apart so easily!

Sampler plate for kids to taste 🙂 MMMMM!

As for the egg muffins, I’ve read about them for a while now and although they sound tasty I am an OVER MEDIUM EGG or Hardboiled egg kind of girl. So scrambled and baked eggs aren’t at the top of my list. We have a lot of eggs we need to get through so I figured EGG MUFFINS would help use them up. I have a feeling we’ll be running out of eggs instead of figuring out what to do with them! As I was perusing PALEO EGG MUFFINS I found tons of recipes. One stood out to me mostly because it sounded like my kind of muffin. I added and took away some things but in the end it’s very similar to the recipe over at EASY PALEO, which in turn comes from Paleo Comfort Foods, which I HAVE but haven’t flipped through it in a while, OOOPS! Ah well, I’ve slightly modified the recipe as to how I made them and I’m glad I found Jennie Harrell’s post at Easy Paleo 🙂 I’ve only read her About Me but she seems quite interesting and has a great story. Check her out!

Fresh out of the oven. I should have included my boys hovering around in the pic!

Breakfast Egg Muffins

1 TBS olive oil

1 large sweet onion, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

1 package of Chicken sausage

12 large eggs, whisked

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp sea salt

You can pretty much add any veggie that sounds good to you!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook Chicken Sausage over medium heat in one pan and Saute onions in olive oil over medium-high heat in another pan for 2-3 minutes. Add peppers and mushrooms, and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.

While veggies are cooking, whisk the eggs in a large bowl.

Once veggies are cooked, remove from heat and let them cool for a few minutes. Dump them into the egg mixture, and stir well, sprinking in the salt and pepper.

Coat a large muffin pan with oil. Add some chicken sausage to each muffin cup. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, fill each muffin cup with your egg mixture. For me this was enough for 18 Egg Muffins!

Place in oven for 10-15 minutes. The muffins get fluffy and golden. Remove from oven and eat em up. Store the rest in the fridge or freezer. Heat up when you want some more via microwave!

Ready to serve. One batch browned a littler more on the edges but no concern there because they still tasted yummy!

This was a big winner and easy to eat! Woohooo! As far as breakfast for me I had 2 egg muffins and some pork belly. I was missing out on the veggies but I think I’ll be ok Lunch will be comprised of Pulled Pork, roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower, Asparagus and 1/2 an Avocado. No fruit today in case you all may be wondering if I truly AM eating too much fruit. I’m not! It’s been a downfall in my past but not this time around!

Whole30 Mentality
Mood for today is still GREAT. Loving the energy. According to my Whole30 daily email, I SHOULD BE FEELING this way and I’m glad I’m chugging along with this. Here’s what Whole30 says I should be feeling:

In addition, days 7-11 are generally when people report feeling some of “the magic” kicking in. You might start experiencing these positive side effects:

Your energy is ramping up, and becoming more consistent over the course of your day.

You’re falling asleep easier, and sleeping longer and more soundly.

You’re recovering from your exercise or sport faster.

Symptoms like allergies, skin issues, digestive distress, and stress are gradually improving.

Mood swings, a short attention span, and crankiness are starting to be a thing of the past.

You’re strangely…happy.

YES YES YES YES YES and YES

Looking forward to tomorrow since IT’S FRIDAY! Be AWESOME today and every day from now on. GOT IT? Ok GOOD. Happy Thursday!

Happy, Happy, Happy

So I had this whole post that I had written and of course hadn’t saved and something happened with the interwebs and I lost it all! So it’s taken me a while to get back to it and I’m late in posting.

Other than that ENERGY is still great! I am happy, giddy, and just overall GOOD. Joint pain is greatly reduced, head has not ached and I am into deep sleep mode as soon as my head hits the pillow. I’m still on track and happy to be on it. I’ll get back my Whole30 after I recap my BOOM Box morning.

1/9/13 WOD
It was cold and rainy this morning and although we need the rain, it has been non stop and miserable. The good thing about the rain is that we didn’t have to push the PROWLER this morning as part of our warm up. It’s EVIL I tell you, PURE EVIL! I know my WOD recaps are still a lil Debbie Downer but it is frustrating working my way back to a better place since I was such a slacker.

Skill/Strength: 4×5 Pendlay Rows
This is a new movement to me and it was really awkward at first. I worked up and finished at 75lbs. As I moved up in weight I really lost form because I wanted to JERK the weight but that is NOT how you do it. It should be a continuous movement, back stays in place. I was trying to lift my back up and it was all wrong. I learned and finished out relatively strong. Still awkward feeling but at least I know for the next time.

MetCon: 4 rounds – 10 TTB, 20 KB Swings (1POOD), 30 DUs, Rest 1 minute
HIATUS = SKILL LOSS
It’s been a while since I’ve done TTB and I used to at least string together 3 in a row, but not today. I couldn’t even bust out ONE! Knees to Elbows here I come. That was silly too. I lost my kip! I seriously could not get a rhythm! Ugh. My first two rounds went along rather smoothly but my THIRD round was miserable. My hands were burning. I couldn’t string the KTE together. That’s all that took up time was hanging on the bar. I busted out the KB Swings and DUs pretty well. I finally finished with a time of 11:45. Looking foward to my new rest day THURSDAY!

1/9/13 WOD (sorry for the blur)

Whole30 Day 7 & 8
I left you yesterday with a review on my newer experimental version of Spanish Cauli Rice and my unknown dinner. I will tell you that I mentally patted myself on the back the rest of the day yesterday for my faux rice! I also told a couple of people repeatedly of it’s awesomeness. It was excellent. My last version I used Salsa to get a MEXICAN RICE flavor. This time I used tomato paste and my own seasoning preferences. It was wonderful! I didn’t have enough to share with the kids but they approved the small taste I gave them at dinner time and Ernie said he enjoyed his with his lunch! WIN! Next time I make it I will be better at measuring my ingredients so I can share with you 🙂

Ground beef, YUMMO Spanish FAUX Rice, Broccoli stir fry

As for dinner, Steak was on my brain but when I got home and looked at all the leftovers I knew we had to clean that up and get it eaten. I ran out of broccoli on the kids so I used my now favorite go to SPINACH sauteed with whatever protein I’m warming on on the stove. This time it was the roast in GHEE, my now new favorite cooking fat! Also had those Chicken Thighs I made the other day after I crisped them up with more GHEE! Leftovers got eaten up and all was well in our house.

Leftovers: Roast with spinach, Chicken Thigh, Cauli Rice, 1/2 avocado (ended up being less after kids took bites)

After dinner, I went ahead and prepped more food for the morning and possible dinner tonight. Yes it does take some extra time to stay on track eating clean, but it’s not consuming my life. And it’s not hard manual labor. Just a few extra steps. And like I said earlier I am feeling great. I was telling a friend earlier that I believe I’m quicker to happiness because my body is just happy I’ve returned to clean eating rather than a shocking bolt to my system like it may be to those trying it out for the first time.

SNACKING

I had another friend asking me about writing a post about mindless snacking like when you’re bored or BORED! I told her she probably wouldn’t like the answer. And it’s hard to tell someone when they are still eating SAD (standard american diet). Since I’m on the Whole30, I tell you how my brain translates what they have to say.

DON’T SNACK! If you MUST then make it a 1/2 meal. But try to stick to 3 meals a day. Before Whole30 and my off the wagon stint, I was eating 3 meals a day and 2 snacks a day. So essentially 5 meals a day. Now I’m to 3 meals a day per the rules of Whole30 and a Post Workout Meal because so far I haven’t woken up early enough for the Pre-Workout Meal.

The idea with Whole30 is that if you start off with a great grassfed protein, plenty of veggies and a thumbsize serving of healthy fat for your THREE meals then you should be set. So far this is TRUE. I have no HUNGRY moments in the day and I don’t have any desires to SNACK. I’m on Day 8. NO SNACKING required. I also follow the water intake rule of 1/2 my body weight in ounces. I also have 1-2 cups of hot tea. Mostly to keep me warm at my desk, but I do love me some tea.

In regards to CRAVINGS, I have yet to have any. The only day Ernie was buying chocolate, I could SMELL the candy and it smelled good. Chugalug on some water and I was fine. Cravings are definitely a mental battle though so I know it can be tough. I choose to subscribe to the Whole30 daily emails which are great by the way and worth the $14.99 to me. Well in one of the emails they talk about cravings and they say if you can think about steamed fish and broccoli and that really sounds good when you are having a craving, then eat, but eat a meal or 1/2 meal. If you are just craving sugar then most likely it won’t sound good and you need to occupy your brain with something else and drink water!

On a NON Whole30 perspective, all I got is eat a small serving of protein with a healthy fat because that is what I would do. Carbs will just spike your insulin and make you more HUNGRIES!

Please note I’m not a nutritionist or a professional. I’m just learning as I go, changing things as I go but not before I give something a chance. I’m not changing things daily. It’s a learning process and you learn how your body functions and tolerates certain foods with time. If you recall I did the 21 day Sugar detox because I was eating too much fruit and honey! It was a killer on me! KILLER. But I got through it and lost 7lbs! I’m not ready to eliminate fruit again but I eat a whole lot less fruit at this point. So I feel ok about it. If I need to eliminate fruits again I will but it will be hard on me mentally!

Hope everyone has enjoyed their day so far. REST DAY tomorrow, but hopefully I’ll still be sharing my Whole30 food and mood. I may also have a review of some organic tea that I’ve been trying out. Not sure I’m going there yet, but it’s coming soon. You know the sign off … BE AWESOME.

Get Moving!

Yup if you watched the Biggest Loser last night then you know I straight up took it from there. And Yes I am watching the Biggest Loser! I’ve watched it off and on throughout the years and YES the fact that Bob Harper drinks the KOOL-AID keeps me intrigued to watch it currently. And YES it’s made for TV drama – pulls on your emotions kind of thing and now they’ve pulled in kids to really tug those emotions. I’m not going to make it a point to recap the show regularly or whatever but it’s fresh on my mind right now.

It does make me a lil happy that these people are trying. Judge me, Judge the show, I care not. At least they are making efforts. I don’t know what their lives will be like when they get home and I probably will never know. I can just hope they inspired others to get fit and that they continue to stay fit. One of the best quotes from one of the ladies on the show was “I’m not here to get skinny, I’m here to get STRONG”. Hell ya lady. That’s the right kind of attitude. I loved it! The whole idea of last nights show was to GET MOVING. And it’s so right on.

Another thing that stayed with me (totally rephrasing, not verbatim) was when the Dr. on the show that tells the contestants their results of all the tests they took. He looked at this guy and says if I told you that you had lymphoma then you would dedicate 2 hours a day to chemo or whatever treatment that you had to do right? They guy was like YES SIR. He goes on to explain that he has arteries of an 80 yr old man and that he should know his disease is SERIOUS and to dedicate the time to fixing his disease of being overweight. POINT TAKEN! If you can’t understand how important it is to take your health into your own hands then what’s the point? Again, you aren’t here to be SKINNY. Be here to be STRONG and you don’t have to be muscle builder status, Just BE STRONG. Heart Strong, Mental Strong, I can push this CAR strong, I know I can do anything STRONG.

So with that said folks, take a look at you. Whether you’re at the beginning of your journey… debating to have a start point, or well into your fitness. You know where you are. You know if you’re lying to yourself daily. Maybe you’ve hit the healthy point and you just need to keep yourself in check or maybe you’re the person that says I’ll start next Monday. Why wait? Make one baby step to better living today. Put the sugar and creamer down. Don’t buy that fountain drink today. Drink water today only. Then start tomorrow fresh. Walk around the block. I’m the jump in the deep in kind of girl. I tried the baby steps and well there’s too much room for excuses. So COLD TURKEY is best for me. As I see it, it should be the only option. Leaving room for excuses is a bad deal. I will take full advantage in justifying why something is or isn’t good for me. Oh one slice isn’t gonna hurt me, I’ve would typically eat three slices. That’s not right folks. Get dedicated and disciplined first. Then after a few weeks you can, IF YOU REALLY feel that need to eat something sinful then do it. But learn the ways, learn control, know your limits. Hopefully by then when you take a bite of yummy badness it may be too sweet and you can only tolerate a bite. Maybe if you’re like me, will still inhale it but feel like crapola afterwards and really know it’s not worth it.

Pipe down already. You know I’m a rambler. Moving on to my BOOM Box morning. I was asleep before the WOD posted, thank goodness or I would have forced myself to sleep. I awoke to BAR Muscle Up work and Burpees and Pull Ups. Yay fun!

Bar Muscle UP

Skill/Strength: Bar Muscle Ups
Let me begin by telling you I’m scared of being so high off the ground. And the rig at the box has high bars. There are some that are lower that I can physically jump up and grab but they are not set up to do muscle ups. So the BAR that is is SCARY! I can’t even do a Muscle Up but it’s scary! So this morning we worked on the movement, the kip and well I’m scared. I remember in elementary school I could freaking get up on those bars, and spin in circles. The lack of fear in a child’s eye. Oh how I wish I had that now. But I don’t.

1/8/13 WOD

MetCon: 10-1 Burpees Behind Clap, Pull Ups
Anytime you see 10-1, it means you do 10 of the movement and work your way down to 1. So 10 Burpees, 10 Pull Ups, 9 Burpeed, 9 Pull Ups and so forth. As much as I despise burpees, they beat running and pull ups combined. I already wasn’t so great with the pull ups. After my small hiatus, they are even a little less great. It’s really defeating mentally. At some point last year I was really focused on putting in the extra work but it was short lived. I can’t let another year go by without putting forth the practice. But until this moment it hasn’t even been a second thought. 2013 will be the year of my first strict pull up, hopefully multiple and just being better on the bar in general. Yup I just said that. Now I gotta live up to it. But I digress. As for the MetCon, I did well with burpees and sucked with Pull Ups, giving me a sad time of 12:56.

Whole30 Days 6 & 7
I got home last night and was rather uninspired for dinner. I googled all that I could for unique ground beef recipes that included a majority of ingredients I had in the kitchen. Nothing jumped out at me so I just went with cooking the beef with seasoning I like and use it for later. I cooked a serving side for me in another pan, added spinach and some sweet potato and it turned out being really scrumptious. Nothing fancy but really tasty. While I had been cooking the ground beef I was also baking a few chicken thighs. They were done at the same time I was ready to eat dinner so I threw one on top of my ground beef bowl. It was quite tasty as well. Of course I didn’t take a picture but I promise it was good.

This morning I had what’s become a routine Post Workout Meal of 2 hardboiled eggs and some sweet potato. This hits the spot. For breakfast which I ate an hour later I had 2 slice of Pork Belly, 1 cup of spinach, more sweet potato (I may turn orange soon), and some cherries. I know more cherries, I love cherries and I’m not eating them in excess, I promise. For lunch I brought a Kiwi! On the Whole30 lists, I have so far mostly picked the * items which are the more nutrient dense fruits and vegetables. So I feel good with my fruit selections. Also for lunch I brought the ground beef I cooked last night. I also made a experimental version of cauliflower rice. I sauteed so shallots and garlic in GHEE (which by the way is FABULOUS!), added my shredded cauliflower, let that toast up. I then added Vegetable Stock (I bought this because the ingredients were safe, I was rather surprised that my go to chicken stock had sugar in it 😦 ) I don’t have measurements for the stock as I was just pouring it in a little at a time. After what I felt was enough stock I added a can of tomato paste and stirred it all around. Added a little more stock because the cauliflower got a little thick in my opinion. Seasoned it with Cumin, Chili Powder, Salt and Pepper and let it simmer away. I barely tasted it this morning and it seemed to good. But the real test will be for lunch. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Day 7 Pre Work Out Meal
2 hardboiled eggs
1 cup sweet potato

Day 7 Breakfast
2 slices pork belly
1/2 cup sweet potato
1 cup spinach
6 cherries

Day 7 Lunch
1 cup ground beef (approx)
1-2 cups brocolli
2 cups cauliflower rice
1 kiwi

Day 7 Dinner
Probably steak but TBD

I had a super burst of ENERGY last night and it’s pretty much seeped into today. I feel really really really refreshed. I know Whole30 has a breakdown of the days and how you may be feeling. Well if Day 6/7 is FEELING REALLY GREAT then I’m on track! Too bad my body is sooooo sore from all the squats yesterday cause it hurts to walk!

On another note, there was Karma payback for Ernie yesterday. All that junk food junkie got him good yesterday. He finally showed up to the box, did a little warm up on the rower, and pushed the new EVIL sled a couple of times and low and behold he puked his guts out! Not that I wish that on him or anyone cause it sucks… but ya, he was done and out. Came home early and I thought he’s really done, he’s quit CrossFit. But he was just sickly. Hopefully today is better for him. 2 days of clean eating under his belt should help.

Have a beautiful day. Change something NOW, not tomorrow, or next week, NOW! And Be AWESOME while you’re changing!

STAY FOCUSED!

Short (normal) weekends are NO fun after two 4 day weekends in a row. It’s really Monday! Geesh. I vote for 3 day work weeks year round! It seems like I have so much to report on but I know by the time I’m done, it won’t seem like very much at all. Let me just preview that I did (but barely) make it to the BOOM Box on Saturday and I stayed on point for Whole30 which is a HUGE accomplishment for me (especially since Ernie was not so good)! I guess I’ll recap my WODs first then got through the Whole30, days 3-6.

1/5/13 WOD
I can tell you it took everything in me to show up for this EVIL workout. Seriously! And I set my alarm for 6:30 PM instead of AM so it’s surprising I woke up minutes before I had to leave. Why was it so EVIL, I’ll tell you why. RUNNING, 2 miles of RUNNING!

1/5/13 WOD

MetCon: 1 mile, 150 Double Unders, Red Gate Run (approx 1200m), 100 Double Unders, 400m run, 50 Double Unders
There was not Skill/Strength because this was going to take FOREVER if not longer. I had already joked that I’d probably be dead on the side of the road before we even started. For those of you NEW to my blog, I DESPISE RUNNING! It does nothing for me except make me want to cry. When I first started my fitness journey 2 years ago I went from a 11:47 mile to an 8:08 mile in a about a year but that 8:08 mile is long gone, a faded memory. And although that saddens me a bit, I’m not losing sleep over it. So for my first run, 1 MILE run, I took off with high hopes. Those hopes just dissipated before I hit the half mile mark. The only good thing going for me is that I didn’t STOP at all. Which in the recent past was something I couldn’t do. So if I can take anything positive I can say I ran it without stopping to walk. It wasn’t pretty tough though. I know it took me about 11 minutes to get through it! NOT GOOD AT ALL! Try to do a good string of double unders after you fell like DYING and ~~you’re~~ I’m screwed. I was hoping I would just pass out before I had to take off for the Red Gate Run but I didn’t. So I dragged my not so happy ass out the door and onto the pavement. This run was NOT GOOD, I did more of a TABATA run, 20 seconds run, 10 seconds walk. I would sometimes go for longer in the run but try to keep my walk to around 10 seconds. I didn’t even look at the time when I got back. The 100 DUs were easier for some reason than the 150. Went out for my 400m run and there was Chris ahead of me by 200m. I could catch him in the DUs, I really could. I just had a hard time stringing more than 10-15 together. I made it to 45 and hit a wall, I was having a hard time breathing but realized Chris wasn’t done. So I busted out the 5 reps and we both said TIME at the same time! Go figure, we tied. It was a race/struggle to the end. Time: 34:28

My calves did not love me the rest of the weekend and they are still pretty ridiculously sore But I did survive all that running no matter what my pace was, I’m glad I showed up. Even though I dread running, I do hope I can get back to those 8 minute miles.

1/7/13 WOD
Can someone call up Spring and tell it I’m ready for some warmer weather. I know it’s not dreadfully cold here in Texas but it’s too cold for me. I’m tired of these 20/30° temps. Especially at 5 AM! The BOX thermometer said it was 41° inside but it felt much colder! It seemed to take me longer to warm up this morning.

Skill/Strength: 5 x 5 Back Squat @82.5% of 1RM
Last week we did Back Squat at 80% and that felt good. Just a little more weight for this week and it felt HEAVY. I blame the cold air today cause my body just didn’t want to warm up. I worked up to 120lbs which is my 82.5% and chugged my way through the sets. Not one set felt awesome although I did complete them all. I just didn’t feel power or speed. I didn’t feel strong. Maybe it’s me dragging from Whole30, maybe it really is the COLD, maybe it just was how it was supposed to be today.

1/7/13 WOD

MetCon: 12 minutes on the minute 1 Full Clean + 1 Hang Clean AHAP. Score will be weight x 12 rounds.
This was a nice break to our typical cardio/lift MetCon. With my lack of commitment from last month, it’s been a hard come-back. I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park but I knew I wasn’t going to be on death’s bed either. I haven’t SQUAT Cleaned OR HANG CLEANED in a very long time so I took my time with light weight working the movement. I worked my way up to 85lbs and failed 3 times in a row with the HANG CLEAN. UGH! I’m not a fan of this movement. I’m sure there’s something good and positive about it but I didn’t ask nor am I that intrigued at the moment. Just get the work done. Right?!? Finally 4th time’s a CHARM and I freaking Hang Cleaned 85lbs. I was good with this weight for 24 reps. It was nice to have the rest of the minute to rest, rethink the movement in my head, elbows up, elbows up, drop under the bar, etc. By the last couple of rounds I was dreading picking up the bar but I knew I had no choice but to attack it each time. With that said, I felt GOOD at the end of this MetCon, thank goodness! Total weight 1020lbs. No Failed Reps though! Yay! Getting back to feeling good. Itty Bitty Baby Steps!

Whole30 Days 3-6
So I left off with only documenting part of my Day 3. We had baseball practice so I figured I would probably get home and do something with ground beef. Low and behold my oldest son who is 13 prepared the chicken I had out defrosting. He ROASTED it for us so it would be ready by the time we got home from baseball practice! I was amazed. I have learned that roasting a chicken doesn’t take advanced culinary skills but for him to be so proactive and do all the right things, like rinsing it, cutting the neck off, drying it off, salting it, prepping the pan, preheating the oven and following through… I was quite impressed with him. That was a time-saver indeed! So now all I had to do was come up withe some sides. Wooo! I finished out the meal with some asparagus and some Bacon Fried Cabbage! I’ve never cooked cabbage so I wasn’t sure of the outcome, but it was a winner all around.

Bacon Fried Cabbage: (from Fast Paleo)
Ingredients:

12 ounces bacon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bag prepackaged coleslaw mix (without dressing), or one head chopped cabbage

Cook bacon in a deep skillet over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove bacon from skillet and drain on a paper. Reserve bacon drippings in skillet and add olive oil.
Cook and stir cabbage in olive oil and bacon drippings, over medium heat, until cabbage wilts, 5 to 7 minutes.
Crumble bacon over cabbage. Stir and simmer until bacon is warmed, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with black pepper.

Roasted Chicken, Asparagus, Bacon Fried Cabbage. Not the prettiest pic but it was good and I promise it was good!

Day 4
I was dreading the weekend. Those are the days that you just want to eat whatever/whenever. I started off by not setting my alarm properly as previously mentioned. That means I didn’t get a PRE Workout Meal in. So far I suck at this meal. I knew I had to be quick at getting something good in POST WORKOUT. I had hardboiled eggs prepped so I ate those with some sweet potato. EASY! For breakfast I went ahead and had 2 over medium eggs, with some broccoli stir fried in coconut aminos and some Red Boat Fish Sauce. YUMMO. Add a piece of PORK BELLY and some avocado and BAM! Breakfast is done son!

Breakfast Day 4!

Lunch Day 4

So far I’ve been feeling pretty great about eating and not having cravings. Water intake is great! Time for lunch and by now it’s getting boring if you will cause it’s leftovers after leftovers. That’s not the point right now, the point is to stick to the program. And I’m doing just that! At the last minute we decide to go to a movie. Lunch wasn’t that long ago. But the gap the movie will take up may be too long. Kids were hungry, me not so much so we decide Chipotle. Then everyone sees Smashburger! ARGH! Well I drop everyone off at the burger place and I go to Chipotle with one kid. I got the Carnitas Salad Bowl, after doing a quick google and seeing that it was Whole30 acceptable. NO GUAC cause it looked like death and I was sad for it. It was not the greatest dinner but I got veggies and protein in.

Day 5
Sunday was the hardest day in regard to cravings and boredom and not wanting to cook. I can’t even recall what I ate for breakfast. Ah but I do recall, I had pork belly, hard boiled eggs and some avocado. For lunch we did our normal grocery shopping. I ate a beef frankfurter at Burgandy Pasture Beef after double checking the ingredients on the frankfurters. I had to make sure they didn’t add sugar for some reason. And they don’t so that was good. I ate that bunless and ate the lettuce, tomato and onion that typically goes with the burgers. On our shopping excursions for the day included a couple of stops for Mountain Dew and CHOCOLATE! Ernie got in the car with a Mr. Goodbar??!!?? I looked at him like are you serious? And you’re gonna eat it in front of me. And he did and that chocolate smelled oh so good. The DEVIL I tell you. And I looked at him and said I guess I’ll just chug some water! Stayed Strong! Go ME! But wait there’s more. He proceeded to buy Reese’s Peanut Butter Squares at Target cause he’d never seen them. REALLLY???!!???

And then for dinner he chose McDonald’s SUPERSIZED with Sweet Tea…. OH MY GOODNESS the FRIES… THE FRIES! But I just went home and cooked me up a steak, ate leftover sweet potatoes, leftover cabbage and more avocado!

I also prepped a grass fed chuck roast, acorn squash, hard boiled eggs, and kale chips. I was ready for Monday at least!

Day 6
Had a hard time waking up this AM. So AGAIN no Pre-Workout Meal But came home, threw down some hardboiled eggs and acorn squash. I was full and it wasn’t a lot! I knew I had to eat in 60-90 minutes but wasn’t feeling it. I still got some roast, spinach, kale chips and cherries in easy to eat containers because YES I would be eating this in the car on the way to work. My oven sucks so some of my Kale Chips were pretty tasty and some were NOT SO MUCH. I finished them off though and got through most of my protein and all of my spinach and cherries.

I’m feeling tired today but not sure if that’s WHOLE30 workin on my system or what. Lunch was pretty splendid. I had leftover steak, acorn squash, spinach salad with tomatoes and more pork belly. I should be set till dinner time. Ground beef is the only thing defrosted so we’ll see what happens.

Post Workout Meal
2 hard boiled eggs
1/4 acorn squash

Breakfast
4oz Roast
1/4 cup spinach
Sandwich size baggie full of Kale Chips
6 Cherries

Yes it’s KALE!

Lunch
6 oz Steak
1/4 acorn squash
1/4 cup mushrooms
2 cups spinach
5 cherry tomatoes
1 slice pork belly
Avocado

Again another NOT so pretty pic but it’s what I’m eating and it does have flavor 🙂

Dinner
TBD

All in all I feel good. The bloat is gone but the clothes are still a lil snug. I know this isn’t a WEIGHT LOSS program but I figure eating this clean would have some results quick-like. Patience grasshopper. I know! I know this is to RESTART good eating habits. Just anxious to lose some of this fluff! I’m sure by the end I will have lost a few pounds (I HOPE). Headache hasn’t resurfaced. Aches other than soreness are dissipating! 1/5 of the way there right? Hahah. It seems like forever to go. Will I make it? I sure as hell hope so. I do not want to start over.

I guess that’s it for now. Oh I did go to Barnes & Noble to buy “It Starts with Food” by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig from the Whole30 and it’s sold out! Good for them, booo for me! Ordering it today. I tell so many people to buy it but I have yet to buy it for me! It should be nothing less than AWESOME! I’ll let you know how it is once I get it 🙂 Go forth and be AWESOME on this Monday. See y’all tomorrow.

I should have bought this but in the end I did not

My Head is Gonna Explode, Seriously!

This headache of mine doesn’t want to leave and I’m not one to rely on pain killers so I’m doing my best to suck it up and carry on. I’ve been fighting this head cold, started Whole30 and well it’s that TIME of the month. So it’s like 3 strikes and your out kind of deal but I’m not going down, no sir-ee.

Whole30 Day 1-2
It’s AMAZEBALLS how not bloated one can feel after eating just one perfect day! This was the first time in a couple of weeks that I woke up without swollen hands! Besides my head hurting and my sinus cavities feeling like they are on fire, I’m sure it is also hurting due to wheat and sugar withdrawls (yes withdrawls on day 1 = no bueno). My body in general feels much better already. I’m not saying, it’s magic, I’m just saying there’s a difference to be noticed!

Also noting that I didn’t have HUNGRY moments yesterday. Eating good proportions, keeping up my water intake, eliminating wheat/grains and adding some good fat really does help. Like I mentioned yesterday this isn’t NEW to me but I’m walking this walk armed with knowledge and a plan. Before I just went along with this is PALEO and that’s it, just do it. I didn’t really evaluate how I was feeling or thinking. I hadn’t jumped on the blogging ship at that point and I wasn’t great at keeping a food journal either. I knew things were changing but I wasn’t making the conscious effort to notice what exactly was changing. At that point in time it was probably best that way. I just chugged along. Had I stopped to evaluate, I may have stopped altogether!

Yesterday I was strong, surprisingly NO CRAVINGS! I’m sure it won’t be that easy the whole way through. Our brains are tricky like that. But maybe my brain appreciates my will power to get back on a good path. I’m hoping my waistline appreciates it as well!

Yesterday’s Lunch. Boy oh boy have I missed my grassfed steak!

I detailed yesterday’s meals and I did end up eating those 2 hardboiled eggs. Not because I was hungry but I felt there was going to much of a stretch till dinner. For dinner I had made meat sauce with sweet potato noodles, baked a spaghetti squash and cooked asparagus. The squash was mentally prepared for lunch leftovers but it turned out I didn’t make enough sweet potato noodles for the 5 of us. Womp Womp. So Ernie and I had spaghetti squash while the boys enjoyed the noodles. For my “leftover” lunch I diced up sweet potato. I can dice up sweet potato more quickly than having the patience to make noodles. Meals don’t have to be a masterpiece – just tasty!

Whole30 Day 2 meals
Breakfast:
4 oz leftover steak
1 cup of broccoli
1 slice of pork belly
1/2 avocado

Quick Breakfast. Took my leftover steak, chopped it up, sauteed it with some coconut aminos, added broccoli! BOOM! (sorry for the blur)

Lunch:
1 cup Meat sauce
1 cup diced sweet potato
1/2 cup asparagus
1/2 grapefruit
(I NEED MORE GREENS I KNOW!)

Snack:
1 slice pork belly, 1 hardboiled egg

Dinner:
Skirt Steak
Broccoli
TBD

The Kale I thought I had that was good had already spoiled, I was hoping to have some sort of kale salad. I was wrong. So unless I stop by the store, I’ll have to improvise with whatever veggies I do have. It will be quick and simple but I’ll get the job done!

I’m back at the BOX tomorrow, thank goodness! I need it in a bad way. I’m hoping I can get up just a little earlier to get a PRE-WORKOUT meal in. I’ve never made a big deal about getting food in because I’m up so freakin early! No time to digest. Food doesn’t sound appealing at 4:30 in the morning. But I think it will be crucial for me in regards to staying on top of things and staying on course. PRAY I am able to get up even earlier! That way I can eat and prep my Post Workout meal as well so it’s easy breezy when I walk in the door. Busy Busy! No stopping me now!

If you are interested in going Whole30, Sugar Detox, Paleo, whatever… let me know. Email me at txgrl77@gmail.com, drop me a comment, send me a smoke signal. It’s not easy to go solo and if you need some support I’m more than happy to help you out. If you’re close by and want to check out CrossFit, then CrossFit Boom is the place to be. I want to help whoever wants help. Even if it’s just to say HI, OR KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Happy Thursday folks! You know the drill…. BE AWESOME! See you tomorrow!

Ambassadorship

I wish it was AM-BADASS-ORSHIP but it’s not, haha. Good news to share is that I was chosen to be a Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador. What does this mean and why is it cool or why should you care? Well I guess you don’t have to care at all but here is what it’s all about (from their website):

Girls Gone Sporty – Helping you “Live the Sporty Life!”What is the “sporty life”? It’s more than just fitness and nutrition; it’s an attitude that’s focused on embracing fun and adventure. The sporty woman says, “I can do anything I put my mind to, I just need the resources to do it.” That’s where Girls Gone Sporty comes in. Owned and operated by Laura Williams, a self-proclaimed “sporty girl” and her husband Lance Williams (an equally sporty guy), Girls Gone Sporty is dedicated to sharing the top products, trends and ideas for advancing the fit and adventurous lifestyle.

I applied because fellow blogger Jenn over at winetoweightlifting.com had become an Ambassador and shared what it was all about. After some research I really felt that I was in line with their ideas and thoughts so I applied. Hopefully I can meet even more ladies who blog and grow my little world of spreading health and fitness love. Thank you Girls Gone Sporty for choosing me!

Boom Box 11/6/12
Skill/Strength: 5 Negative Pull Up Hangs with 1 minute rest in between (Boooo, a necessary evil I know but I suck at all things pull up) and Front Rolls
As most of you know, I pretty much feel that I am not capable of doing pull ups. I’m sure I can but mentally I don’t feel that I will ever accomplish this goal. I know it’s in my head and I know I don’t put in the effort that I should but I’m still gonna complain! I felt that I did 3 out of the 5 attempts better than normal. So that must be a good thing RIGHT?!? After that torture we worked on Front Rolls. Believe it or not it hasn’t been since I was a little kid since I’ve done these. I used to go to a Boxing Gym and did workouts there. They’d have us roll around get up throw punches, roll more, throw more punches etc. to simulate getting worn down after a 3 minute round in the ring. It wasn’t so bad then and not so bad now. Just not used to rolling much these days.

11/6/12 WOD

MetCon: 30 seconds of each: HR Push Ups, 1 Front Roll, Burpee, Rest, Jumping Air Squat, 1 Front Roll, Burpees, Rest, Med Ball Situps, 1 Front Roll, Burpees
This was short and sweet. And with that said I was pretty sluggish. I just didn’t have any ounce in my bounce. We counted total reps for our score and I came in miserable with a count of 65.

We had some time left over and worked on skills and mobility that we felt we needed work on. So I chose to work on freestanding Handstands. I am capable but my hold time isn’t that great. After that Josh was working on jump rope skills and looked like he was going to attempt backwards double unders. So I thought I’d give it a go and whaddaya know I can string at least 2 together backwards! Hahah. Not a major feat I know, but it was fun trying.

Foods: Last night I finally got my head on straight in prepping some good foods for the week. Ernie snapped a pic for me. I know, I still need more greens! I have broccoli and kale in the fridge I just have to cook it! What you see in the pic below is grass fed roast, grass fed steak, mash cauli, cubed sweet potatoes, asparagus, acorn squash and spaghetti squash. That should be enough for 2 or 3 lunches.

Happy Election Day folks! There’s free food badness out there if you voted today and have your sticker to prove it, i.e. Taco Bell, Einstein Bros. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream! LOL don’t go there though. I resisted but just in case you’re up for an indulgence. Enjoy your Tuesday and remember to be AWESOME!

Simple Cooking with KALE

Taking notes from fellow bloggers (Martha, Jennifer), I’m making a small attempt at being more HELPFUL than being more about ME! Heheh but you can’t have AWESOME without ME so hopefully I take on this task without the ramble. Ok I ramble that’s a given, you’ll just have to follow along as best you can! It’s my rest day from the good ol’ BOOM Box so why not post a recipe. I haven’t shared a recipe in quite a while because frankly we get busy in our house and food, although delicious, gets boring and repetitive.

For my dedicated readers you know I rarely talk about my work life, maybe not at all now that I think about it. I am a graphic designer for a housewares company, Dexas International. We manufacture/produce all sorts of kitchenware, gadgets, etc. No this isn’t an ad for my company, just giving you some back story. Well this month’s social media topic for us is KALE!

And as most of you no I’m not a CHEF and I’m surely no pro at all things Kale but I do cook it semi-regularly at home. There are different varieties but I usually use the plain ol’ green or red tipped versions. It’s the SUPERGREEN of greens. It’s all sorts of good for you. I’m not going to go into all the details of kale but check it out for yourself. Maybe start HERE and Google away. It’s almost daily that I get poked fun of by my co-workers for my clean eating. Throw out the word Kale and it’s a circus, then I realized that maybe they are just intimidated by it. So I got to thinking that maybe others are too. So I have a super quick recipe for you to use. This is good especially if you are on a time crunch. TIME is what I lack in all aspects of life so having a side dish to go with dinner that can cook super fast is IDEAL in my world!

This is KID APPROVED and hopefully CO-WORKER approved as well. Please NOTE my kids LOVE LOVE LOVE veggies so it’s not hard to please them but they really do like this simple ingredient, super quick side. I’m pretty sure I’ve discussed this dish before in previous posts but I never broke it down or had many pics to share.

Ingredients:
Bunch of Kale
2 slices of Uncured Bacon (nitrate free, no/low sugar)
1/4 cup sliced/diced onion or more to liking
Himalayan Salt (or preferred salt) to desired saltiness
Pepper
Garlic Powder (or real garlic if you have it on hand)
Red Chili Powder (OPTIONAL but if you want a little kick! A+)

Now what?!?
Get your skillet/pan heated up
Cut up bacon into small slices or bits and toss in skillet
After bacon is slightly brown add onion and sautee till bacon starts getting crispy
While bacon and onion are cooking prep/wash kale. I just tear it from the main hard stalk and tear up into smaller pieces. Rinse thoroughly and wait for Bacon to get a little crispy
Add Kale to skillet. It will look like a lot and depending on your skillet size you may save half Kale for later or wait till Kale wilts down before adding more.
Season as desired using above seasonings or whatever flavor profile you prefer
Once all the Kale is wilted down, you are READY TO SERVE!

Kale tore up and ready to be rinsed off.

Kale stalks NOT used for cooking! Not real sure if they are good to cook or not actually but not for this recipe!

YUM BACON!

Brown the Bacon a bit before adding Onion. Then let cook together tiill Bacon starts getting crispy!

Toss in rinsed Kale right on top of bacon and onions. At this point is when I add my seasonings. Let simmer than stir away as it wilts down.

As you can see it goes from A LOT to not A LOT. This was about half a Kale bunch.

Ready to SERVE!

OR READY to PACK up for LUNCH!

I made this in the morning before work and it took me less than 20 minutes to prep and cook. Maybe even 15 minutes. I didn’t look at the clock but you get the gist. It’s quick and easy! Cook it while you’re sauteeing some chicken. Add leftover roasted chicken or serve it with Fajita meat. The options are endless. And it’s a WINNER in our house.

So go forth and be AWESOME! Eat some KALE!

Monday and so much to Talk about!

Here in our little world it’s the first day of school! Yippee and Boohooo. It’s great for the kids to see all their friends and get back into a routine and it’s sad because they are growing up soooo fast! It’s part of it, I know, but sad.

And it’s also back on track for eating clean. Last week I declared it was take a break week and that is what I did. I ate clean most of the time during the week but the dinners and the weekend weren’t the best. But I figure I can give myself that little bit. So I’m back at it and with that said so are the kids. They all asked to pack Paleo lunches instead of buying the cafeteria lunch. I’m really proud of them to make such decisions. I should of course taken pics but I forget to do these things. They took hearty salads and yummy fruit bowls. Maybe tomorrow I’ll snap some pics!

Boom Box
I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. But I knew FRAN was waiting for me at the box and I wasn’t ready for her. I had a week of eating like crap. I haven’t done Fran since January and I’m a big ol baby so ya, I wasn’t ready! I did a few warm up thrusters and that felt fine. Adding the weight was a little much for my right shoulder though. It’s just tender and achy and I decided I would go ahead with the 65lbs. Before I go further let me tell you about FRAN. It’s 21-15-9 of Thrusters and Pull Ups as fast as you can do it. So you do 21 thrusters, 21 pullups, 15 thrusters, 15 pullups, 9 thrusters and 9 pullups. Coach told us we should do 15 unbroken in the first round of thrusters. I managed to do this! Woohooo. I wasn’t sure if I would make it to 15 but I did and then the 6 after that weren’t so bad. Pull ups on the other hand were a pain in the ass. I struggled BAD. Got back to thrusters and did 7 and 8, they weren’t the prettiest but I got the job done. The 15 pull ups got super ugly. I was only managing one at a time. The shoulder was fatigued and I am a baby. Got through my 9 thrusters much better than the 15 rep round. I guess I got more rest in the pull ups. And of course I struggled even more with last round of pull ups. Time 9:48. Those darn pull ups. Argh. I did however PR. I’m not super proud of it because I know I should be better at pull ups by now 😦 But back on New Year’s Day I finished in 10:30. At least I’m getting better and not worse!

8/27/12 WOD

Saturday Community WOD
We had a straight up beat down at our Saturday Fun Day! It was a team WOD of 75 OHS (med ball), 400m run, 150 burpee box jumps, 400m run, 250 push ups, 400m runn, 300 sit ups. We had a good team strategy by breaking everything up into smaller sets per person. Our biggest struggle was the run. I am sad to say that I am one of the weaker links when it comes to running. We had to wait for the whole team to finish the run before we could start the next movements. Our team did really well and we pushed through to the end. We finished around 23 minutes and finished first! Woohooo. It was definitely work!

Oly Class
Class was all about the Split Jerk. Good thing it was from the rack because I was not ready for any type of Cleans after the hell I went through on Friday. I felt pretty good in regards to form and technique. I have some issues with locking my hips but overall I felt good about it. I worked up to 105lbs and failed at 115lbs. I believe I could get 115 but I think with being smoked from the 9am WOD and then working in the Oly class it was plain and simple I had nothing left to give. I’m glad I am putting in the time to the Oly class. Every bit helps!

Beautiful Blogger Award
I don’t get many awards but this weekend I was given a Beautiful Blogger Award by Andy over at Our Life in 3D! Thank you Andy. It is really nice to be acknowledged for my little blog. I mean after all, being told your AWESOME always makes you feel good! He received the same award because he too is a beautiful blogger! He shares his precious daughters with us and adventures of being a Dad. He also shares fun bits of randomness that we all can enjoy whether you’re a parent or not.

With this award I was given some things to do: A) Write ten interesting things about myself, B) Nominate other bloggers who I feel deserve this award, C) Let them know about the nomination!

A) First of all I don’t think I have 10 interesting things to tell you about myself. But I’ll try.
1. You all know this but I’m a mom of 3 boys. That in itself leads to an interesting life and lots of stories.

2. I once owned about a dozen snakes and about a dozen lizards. This was all before kids and it was a big daily chore to tend to all the critters.

3. I have raced in on 2 motocross races. One for a Mother’s day fun race and one that I actually entered like a ding dong head on a Yamaha 250. I didn’t come in last so that made me feel a little better but I was at the bottom. I’m glad I did it though.

4. I used to work at Starbucks and it’s been the best job I have ever had EVER and if I could make more money being a Barista I sooo would do that for a living.

5. I had my own Graphic Design business, more of a freelance thing but I did a handful of jobs before my marriage fell apart. If only I had given it more time then maybe I’d still be doing my own thing. Hard to do though when you are trying to start over in life with 2 kids and one on the way.

6. I dream of taking my kiddos to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro. I saw an IMAX movie about it and saw that it’s a feasible hike for inexperienced hikers and for all ages.

That’s all I can come up with. I’m sure I have more interesting things about me but I don’t know what they are! Now for the folks I keep tabs on and you should too:

Wine to Weightlifting: It’s all about getting stronger with Jennifer. She’s taken on weightlifting and she loves it. She works hard, takes on different programs and kills them.

The Sexi Flexi: This girl probably has got this award more than once. And deservedly so… she shares her food porn, her adventures in life and work and her personal side as well. She’s embraces life and it shows.

CutlFit: I’m sure this blog has this as well but it’s all about sharing here and I check in daily, multiple times a day! It’s all about living life with CultFit. Enjoying it, laughing at it and taking time for the small stuff.

Whatup Chickenbutt: Check this chica out. She’s funny, sarcastic, honest and will tell you how it is! She shares her obsession with lifting heavy shit and proves that you won’t turn all “manly” with weightlifting. She leads a BUSY life and still manages to find the time to get strong.

CjackPlay: If you want food, fitness and fashion then head on over to this blog. She shares her results, recipes and fun hair, makeup, etc tips. Unlike me, you can be girly!

Check all these bloggers out. Tell them I said HI and follow them religiously like I do.

That’s Monday folks! Enjoy it and Be AWESOME!!!

Just read their shirts… They too live in AWESOMENESS!

Rest Day Ramblings

It’s my rest day but I wanted to chit chat via blog rambling to myself and to you the readers if I can hold your interest at all.

Simple Dinners!
I’m just guessing but I would think most people have the excuse of I don’t have time to do everything. Therefore the drive thru it is or even some microwavable turd of a dinner. I’m guilty of it too. I have 3 BOYS! I’m guilty less now more than ever but YES I am a guilty party. I’m tired, I’m over it, blah blah blah, Chif-fil-A here I come. Taco Bell it is. (NOTE: I still eat clean unless I testify otherwise but I force my kids to eat like crap sometimes cause I’m being lazy) And just last night I proved to myself that although the fast food can be fast and easy we all know it’s not healthy and it’s just not worth it!

Kids have practice at 6pm so they only have time to get a snack in them like Almond Butter and Apple Slices and then we don’t get home till 8:45ish. It is a circus in our house. But the past couple of nights I have been Johnny on the spot in getting nutritious, clean meals to my kids bellies. And it only takes a little advanced preparation and some random throwing ~~crap~~ good stuff together. On Sunday I made meatloaf for dinner. Instead of one loaf, I made 2. Voila instant protein for Monday night dinner. I didn’t have enough Mashed Cauliflower to go with it but I had zucchini and made Zucchini Latkes. This is quick and easy and gave my kids enough to fill them up. They each had a KIWI for dessert!

Last week I made meat sauce for zucchini pasta and had an overflow so I froze it up and used it for the kids dinner last night. I shredded up more fresh zucchini and sauteed it a bit in some coconut oil along with some salt, pepper and thyme. Added my heated meat sauce and BAM easy dinner. I didn’t have enough zucchini for Ernie and I but I had Kale! I heated up some pork fat in a pan, did a quick sautee of the kale. All the while I had leftover roasted chicken which I heated up in coconut oil along with mushrooms. Added my kale and BOOM a really yummy dinner for Ernie and I.

Yes it was all leftovers but it didn’t taste like leftovers. With some fresh foods added and the leftover food re-created it was all yummy. And took me 20 minutes to knock out each night. It also helps to be creative with spices!

Also know that if you have chicken to cook but don’t want to bake it FOREVER then just cut it up and sautee it. It cooks in a fraction of the time as baking it or grilling it does. Just don’t over cook it! Add some veggies on the side and you’ll be rockin and a rollin.

Just Do It ALREADY!
In addition to finding simple meals YOU need to start moving. I may scare some of y’all with all the CrossFit terms and the extra workouts but it’s not a scary world out there. I watch Chris Powell’s Extreme Makeover: Weightloss Edition, and if you’ve seen it you know how it goes. He picks a desperate truly OBESE person to help out over the course of a year. He has the same opening routine for them all. He puts them through a FIGHT or FLIGHT workout.

If you’ve never worked out then the stuff he puts them through will hurt. Hell it will hurt those that moderately work out. Picking up weights heavier than 10lbs is gonna hurt. But your body will do so much more than your brain will tell you that you can do. And he shows that person that they will live through it even if they think that they can not. He works with these people on their levels and helps them push through mental and physical barriers for 3 months. He is not always nice but deep down these people know they need the tough love. Then he leaves them to their own where they have to do it on their own for the rest of the year. He checks in on them but he doesn’t have that daily interaction. Some struggle more than others but they all learn and grow.

We all aren’t so morbidly obese as the folks on the show are and we don’t all have that person in our face, in our home and in our lives so we have to take it upon ourselves to do it. And for most of us even if we did have someone telling us what to do we probably wouldn’t listen. Hell so many people ask me HOW I DO IT, or WHY I DO IT and it appears I amp someone up but then I see them in the same ol’ routines or even worse. I can’t make anyone take it on. It takes YOU and only YOU to make the change. I didn’t start out without a support system. I was doing my best to eat right, get up and workout daily and there Ernie was stuffing his face with Sonic, Chic-Fil-A, Braums, etc. It sucked. I smelled all this yummy badness but had to persevere on my own for my own good. I was thinking about my future and my health. A few months later Ernie did come on board and blew my “GOOD HEALTH” out of the water with this Paleo nonsense! I then followed suit and we make a good PALEO team (for the most part).

It’s awesome if you have a support system but not everyone does so you have to make a support system for yourself. Plan rewards for yourself; make new friends with the same goals; write your own blog (wink wink), find a fitness forum; find an online buddy if you need to do so. JUST START DOING IT ALREADY. Don’t let that wedding or upcoming birthday party delay your start. Start now and deal with whatever upcoming social event when you get to it. It’s not going hurt you to start a path to good health.

But Stephanie I’m happy with myself just the way I am! I’m no expert but I find it rare that someone who says they “could/should” lose weight but don’t “care” because they are “happy” just the way they are lying to themselves and everyone else. Also those who aren’t in need of weight loss but are in need of good health saying they are slender already, I’ll be fine, but will you? You may be a kind caring soul with a happy heart but physically are you happy. So I’m talking to all walks of life from the anorexic to the overweight, to the addicts or to the uneducated. Being overweight (unless a real health concern like thyroid issues) is just as much a sickness as anorexia or even addiction to drugs and alcohol. If you saw a frail disappearing girl that’s starving herself to death you might judge her quicker than you would judge someone who is 50lbs overweight. WHY? I have no idea but our society tends to accept that someone who is overweight doesn’t have similar types of body issues as those are wasting away. People with addiction to food, or alcohol or whatever all are similar in some regard. Again I’m no Dr., nor do I claim to be. I just take in what I see, what I grew up with, what I learn and where I see our society going and take it all in. Yes I am making my own assessments but it doesn’t take a super genius to figure it out. We can see that kids are bigger than EVER and more and more people are diagnosed with disease and more and more pills are being shelled out to FIX all these “bad” things that are suddenly plaguing us. It’s the quick fix. It’s the drive through, the magic microwave, the boxed food with all those chemicals and then we top it off with a cocktail of prescription medications to lower all the bad things that are elevated! Are you kidding me people?

Do you break a sweat walking 100 yards? Does it hurt to get out of bed in the morning? Do you have constant health issues? Migraines, High Blood Pressure, Joint Pain, etc? I’m telling you it’s about food intake, exercise and proper sleep. You can still enjoy life. Eating clean isn’t a death sentence. Feeling GOOD is a future. Getting endorphins flowing from exercise is a new way to happiness – A way better happiness than from getting high off of eating really tasty “bad” food that in the end always leaves you down in the dumps.

No I don’t look like this girl, not even close. I don’t know with my age, shape, etc that I could ever look like her BUT I feel pretty awesome none the less! I’m healthier than I’ve ever been, STRONGER than I’ve ever been and I feel great 99% of the time. The other 1% is girly moments, really sore muscle moments and the occasional STREP THROAT infection that I hope never happens again!

Last Night’s Outdoor WOD
Whew, my ramble took it’s own path. So let me close with my evening fun from last night. DEATH by 10 METERS! The DEATH part sounds scary but the 10m well, it doesn’t sound harsh but it gets ya. I had my youngest help me out with the clock since he didn’t have practice last night. He’s a very encouraging kiddo and even though I’m sucking wind and wanting to pass out, he’s totally telling me I’m doing good and getting faster and just being the best. If you don’t know what Death BY anything means then I’m here to tell you. My apologies to those of you who know and have read it 89787687 times. You start your clock and run 10m for the first minute. On the next minute you run 10m x 2. The next minute 10m x 3 and so forth. You keep adding 10m each minute until you can not fit the amount in the 1 minute. So if you are on your 13th round but it takes you longer than 1 minute to complete your score would be 12. Because the last minute you completed was 12. And the 13th round was just bonus work. (You can do this with any movement like squats, burpees, push ups, pull ups, etc.)

It’s such a short distance and it does get old and little bit of dizzy inducing. But it’s not easy! I completed 14 rounds and was so close to 15 but just didn’t have anything in me. Including my not completed 15th round, I sprinted 1190m! It adds up fast.

After some rest and water, I ended up throwing the football around. It’s not intense work but I was still on my feet moving. It was a good evening!

Have you had enough of me already? Or did I spark a fire from within? Either way, I got some of what I feel/think out. I get lost in my own thoughts as you can probably tell just from reading. It’s hard to communicate it all at once but rather than go crazy every post I save it for ever couple of weeks/months. I’ll be back to the regular scheduled programming tomorrow. Have an AWESOME day!

Mondays Suck but the OLYMPICS make it better!

First of all, I think we all should get paid vacation so we can focus on the OLYMPICS… it’s not like it’s every year. We should support our country as a whole ツ I don’t care about doing work, I care more about watching the USA compete even in sports that I know nothing about! I get goosebumps every time I hear some wonderful back story or see the pride on an athlete’s face whether they are on the podium or had a good performance clearing the path for a medal finish. The work, the blood, the tears…. EVERYTHING they put into making the Olympics their time to shine. It’s FANFREAKINGTASTIC!!!!

I was never much into weightlifting but since starting CrossFit and the fact that Olympic Lifts are part of it, I made a point to watch weightlifting. So far I’ve only watched the 48 kilo class and those tiny women are STRONG and make it look easy! It blows my mind. I’m really new to it all and I’m sure that’s the norm if you’ve been training your whole life for such things but it still blows my mind!!

I know, enough already, you’re not a sports writer or anything of the sort. I’m just a blogger, half ass one at that so I’ll move on to what I do regularly bore you with my daily crap! So the eating got a little better over the weekend and this week is going to be 100% back on track. I have 3 weeks till Europa and I need to be at my best. Europa is a Fitness Expo and they are hosting a CrossFit Competition that me and several other Boom Boxers signed up for as an intermediate team. Why oh why would we do such a thing? Mostly for fun! Secondly because this is where I first saw CrossFit in person a year ago. I totally wanted to be these people. I wanted to compete. I wanted to participate. Little did I know HOW HARD THIS SHIT REALLY IS and how hard it STILL is! But we signed up anyways. Win, Lose, FAIL… it will be fun. I just hope we are more on the winning end! So ya, this is why I need to clean up what I eat ASAP! And that process has begun.

GREEN SMOOTHIES
This is a work in progress that I admittedly did not want to be involved in. Ernie was determined to make a Kale Smoothie yesterday and although the flavor wasn’t bad, the thickness and chewability factor was horrid. He ~~drank~~ ate his smoothie and didn’t go for round 2.

This morning we failed at defrosting pork belly, SIGH, what will I have to eat now? Well a wild hair of an idea popped up and I said I’ll make me a green smoothie now! Why not? We have the stuff so I googled Paleo Smoothies and clicked around till I found one that sounded good to try. This smoothie called for a half frozen banana, spinach, cocoa powder, coconut oil, almond butter, cinnamon, almond milk and some ice. I started blending it all up, looked like a green/brown cup of nasty and tasted it… WHOAAAA too much cocoa powder, it’s unsweetened so it’s a really strong taste! Something was off – I FORGOT THE BANANA! DOH! So I threw half of a frozen banana into the food processor, added my green/brown concoction back in and gave it a whirl. This was much better in flavor but still too much cocoa. I know better next time and hopefully will have a better flavor profile. (YES ERNIE I DRANK IT ALL!)

WOD
I seriously considered sleeping in this morning. I just wasn’t feeling but I knew I had to shake my funk off and get to the BOOM BOX. I wasn’t the only sleeping in! I was the ONLY one there for the first 10 minutes. One other person showed up and that was it to our 5 am class. Not sure if folks are on vacation or just being slackers. But I definitely felt better about myself for just showing up!

Skill/Strength: 10 – 40yd sprints. I don’t really consider this skill or strength but only cause I’m a big baby and don’t like running. Although I’d rather sprint than run a damn mile. It is what it is. We didn’t really time anything out, just worked on form and form. I wish I was a better runner but I really don’t enjoy practicing the actual act of running. I’m screwed!

7/30/12 WOD

MetCon: Death by Front Squats – 65lbs. I know I’ve explained the whole Death By more than once but I gotta be fair to any new readers. When you do Death By anything it means you perform the movement you are assigned or the movement you choose on the minute, adding one rep for each minute. Soooooo you start clock, do 1 rep then rest till the start of the next minute. When that minute arrives you do 2 reps. Rest till the start of the next minute then do 3 reps. You keep doing this until you can not complete the amount of reps in the minute. With that said, I completed 11 rounds. I went for the 12th minute but I felt a tightening pain in my back/lat/somewhere in that region and it just hurt. I didn’t want to continue. It didn’t hurt when I “cleaned” the bar just when I would go from standing to squatting. Even if it didn’t hurt I probably wouldn’t have made it past 12. Regardless, including the 5 I completed in the 12th round, I did 71 Front Squats at 65lbs in less than 12 minutes. I was a hot sweaty mess. It was good work! I did some mobility afterwards and the back/shoulder/whatever is much better.

I hope tomorrow doesn’t involve running!!!! It’s only Monday. I’ve put my big girl panties on. Let’s do this! Commit to something good for YOU this week. It doesn’t have to be major but it surely can be ツ Make a goal this week. Eat clean, work out, walk, lay off the booze, meditate, read a book. Just commit to better mind and health. And let me know if you need MOTIVATION! I just wanna help! I want to help YOU, whoever YOU may be… crazy stalker, an old friend, complete stranger, etc. I know I sound CRAZY but I’m not really….uhhhhh depending I suppose on your definition of crazy, hehehe. Ah well. Ask for help if you need it… ENJOY your day! See you all tomorrow! Be AWESOME!