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!

Gettin After It

This month at the BOOM Box, Tues and Thurs 5 am was eliminated. I get it. We don’t show up regularly. Sigh. Fortunately, our hectic baseball season isn’t in full swing so I can manage to make evening classes on most Tuesdays and some Thursdays. It’s bittersweet, cause the 7pm class is late for me and then I turn around for a 5am class. I definitely feel the fatigue on such a short turnaround. But at the same time it feels good to get to it. And with my pudge self I NEED it.

Mission: Annihilate Chunky Monkey

So yesterday I said I had a plan starting in January to get back on track. Right now it’s not a drawn out plan. But most likely Whole30. It’s good for me whether I like it or not. I know I could start now but I’m mentally beat down still and I’ve already decided I’m just surviving Decemeber and then I will join thousands of other folks in the New Year with the goal of losing weight. It’s a good time to be in a large group of feel gooders. There’s something to be said about group mentality when it’s a positive thing. With my desire and hope to get back on track, I also hope to implement taking my blog to a new level… maybe more organized, maybe more networking, maybe venturing into giveaways. We’ll see. If any of you readers out there have any ideas, please share them with me. Note: this is me putting it out there in hopes that I follow through. I get lots of ideas and they go down the toilet like my clean eating did. So we’ll see. Regardless if I get “better” at blogging or not, I’d like you to join me on getting back in track, if you too have fallen into the deep abyss of fatty, sugary, poor eating. And if you haven’t and you’ve been good then whatever, I still love you. Please be a support system to other readers and myself. We are going to need it.

12/17/13
Strength: Sled Pull 4/3 100 yds max effort for time
So I didn’t realize it was for time when I showed up. The other day I pulled the sled for about 100ft with 3 – 45lb plates. Pulling that for 100yds for time is a whole different story. And it’s not a pretty story but it involved calves wanting to explode and a lazy girl who struggled. I made the mistake of asking Coach what a was a good time for the pull and what is a bad time. Let’s just say I excelled in the bad timing dept. The sled was heavy and I made the dreaded mistake of stopping midway. Once you stop, it’s sooo hard to get moving again. I suck. Period.

12/17/13 WOD

MetCon: 5 rounds of 8 Burpee Pull Ups and 11 GTOH 95/65
I knew this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, but I feel I did alright. Now I didn’t have to do the GTOH cause of the good ol wrist. So Coach told me to do Pendlay Rows. I didn’t realize how fatigued I would get doing 11 rows. I’m not great at them and it’s been a while so it makes sense as to why, I just wasn’t expecting it. As for the Burpee Pull Ups… Well it’s a jumping pullup and this was the first time I’ve only ever used 2 – 45lb plates as a step up. I normally use 3. At a heavier weight I surprised myself that I was pulling myself up. Something good must be happening. Time: 13:40

Pendlay Row

12/18/13
Skill: Muscle Up, Rope Climb
Well I am not skilled at either so how’s that for a fun morning We worked on MU progressions and my wrist held me back some so I only worked on hip action. As for Rope Climbing. I still have the death grip and I’m just hanging there. It’s pathetic. I have nothing more to say. Womp, womp!

12/18/13 WOD

MetCon: 5 rounds of 200m run, 15 HR Push Ups and 1 Rope Climb
My knuckles are dead! From doing push ups with fists. Oh ya and running was a joy! Hahah, I actually got faster on the runs as the rounds went on. We have a newer Boom Boxer, Myrna, and she was killing the runs. I was just trying to keep up. So that was good for me to try and catch her. Although I only caught her once and she ended up passing me cause I stopped. Either way it was a good push for me. Instead of Rope Climbs, we did Rope “walk ups”. You lay on the ground with hands on the rope, then pull yourself up the rope until you are standing upright. Then lower yourself down X 3. As with the running, I felt I moved better as the rounds went on. Time: 3:30, 3:38, 3:41; 3:36; 3:19

That’s all for this HUMP DAY! Start getting ready for 2014. It’s a new year and a time for better versions of ourselves. Let’s do this. Get pumped. Make your plans now. And don’t forget to be awesome!

Move, Move, Movin’ Along

It’s only day 3 of my magnified view of my eating habits as a result of coming across EAT TO PERFORM. So far so good for the most part. I did realize this morning that I was calculating my pork belly all wrong therefore I didn’t hit the recommended fat intake I needed for the past two days. Granted I was probably closer to those levels than I have been in the past. So it’s not a wash or a screw up. I did see my error, fixed it and now moving on. I now know for today that I need to get about 30-40 more grams of FAT in me. Woooo! It’s not hard but it’s not easy either. I do, however, feel confident I will plan this out just fine.

After 2 full days of clean eating and being dialed into this new macronutrient perspective I really have zero cravings for snacks. I’ve been here done that before but it still shocks me how simple it is! No cravings. No bloated feelings. Etc.! It’s crazy that I’m insane enough to stop eating clean. Yet I fall off the grid frequently! Now if I can just stick with it. My true test will be this weekend when we will be gone for a good part of the weekend for baseball. I’m gonna have to step up my own game plan!

Also on a small side note, I’ve been using this site www.nutridiary.com to log my macronutrients. I really haven’t delved into the site as a whole but it shows you a daily analysis of your Carbs, Fats, and Proteins after you’ve entered your foods. If the food you eat is not in their system, there is an option to save your own foods. It’s not the most eye appealing but it’s FREE and so far helps me keep track without having to carry around a notebook. So just that little aspect of the site is helping me out ALOT. I’m sure it offers more but I seriously don’t have time to figure that shit out!

One more note: FRESH HOT OUT OVEN EGGPLANT = AWESOMENESS
but NEXT DAY MICROWAVED is just okay

BOOM BOX
This feel good feeling from eating better even helps move me along to show up for the Boom Box even when I REALLY REALLY don’t want to show up! For instance, this morning = cold and running. My idea of sleeping in sounds so much better.

Skill/Strength: 10 minute Double Under / TRIPLE UNDER work, 3 x 5 Pendlay Rows As Heavy As Possible
If you have DUs down, it’s time to work on Triple Unders. I haven’t checked the CrossFit Main Site but I have read amongst the social media networks that TU’s have shown up so it’s only natural it’s something we should learn. And guess what??!!?? I got ONE! Woooo. I was oh so close 789797 times but I finally busted one out. Now how I get more than one or even string them together is another task.

Pendlay Rows are getting easier as we do them more often. They truly were awkward when they were introduced to us a few months ago but now I feel I’m getting better. 3 x 5 AHAP was 85lbs for me. Not bad and I think next time I will go up in weight.

MetCon: 15 minutes of – 2 minutes MAX Double Unders, 1 mile run, MAX DU’s with left over time.
Well it’s cold outside and drizzly/rainy and miserable. And I don’t like running. AND I’m a horrible runner with NO aspirations to be a better runner. But that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part is a tiny little muscle in the sides of my upper arm fatigued super fast and I was struggling stringing together DUs. UGH. I got 95 in 2 minutes before I headed out the door for the 1 mile run. For a lot of you out there 1 mile is easy. Once upon a time it was much easier for me but not currently with my chunky butt recovering food addict self.

With cold wind and rain blowing in your face, one would think I would run faster to hurry up and get inside but there isn’t a FAST button on me. So there I went … slow and slower. More of a trot actually. It took me well over TOO LONG to finish the run. Got back with less than a minute to get DUs in. I was only able to get 32 in for a total rep count of 127. Sigh. But I did get a TRIPLE UNDER so who cares about running!

It’s HUMP DAY, hope y’all have a good one! Go on now …. BE AWESOME!

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.

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

Pendlay Rows

What a YEAR, come on 2014, Bring IT!

Gettin After It

Move, Move, Movin’ Along

Happy, Happy, Happy

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