Drumroll please……… DAY 30!

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You know it. Although my Day THIRTY is not complete, it soon will be! I made it! I am crossing the FINISH LINE!

30 days

It wasn’t the smoothest ride but I fared pretty well. I ate compliant foods the whole way and although some of my weekends were a little off on proportions, I still hit this one out of the park. I was mentally prepared for the challenges I knew I would face and by the end of this journey, the temptations and cravings were no more. I know I will not be 100% from here on out but I hope to be 90-95%. I hope to continue with my food prep and staying on task but if I go rogue once a week on dinner, it won’t be the end of my world. I have no plan post Whole30. I just want to be better than I was for a majority of 2013. I don’t think that will be hard because I feel so darn good. I like where I’m at. And I don’t want to go back!

I learned that no matter how good you are at clean eating or how disciplined, there will be pitfalls. I know there will be struggles. I know, because I fell into the abyss around April of 2013 and it took me 9 months to find the light. I’ve learned that if my body and brain feel better then I’m not as harsh on my physical self that I see in the mirror. We are our worst critics and I’m super bad! But when I feel good because I’m eating good, I’m less likely to nitpick at myself. I’ve RE-learned that just because we are busy that I can always make time to get GOOD CLEAN food and I can’t use TIME as an excuse. I’m not saying it’s easy but it’s true.

Superbowl Sunday baked drumsticks with a mango glaze and tossed in Ghee and Franks Red Hot Sauce. YUMMO!

Superbowl Sunday baked drumsticks with a mango glaze and tossed in Ghee and Franks Red Hot Sauce. YUMMO!

Whole30 and Beyond
I do plan on trying new Paleo recipes so I will try and share those as I go along. Honey and some pastured dairy are all I really plan to add occasionally back into my kitchen. If I eat anything non-compliant it will because of a social outing. And of course, I’ll let you know when my off-road eating gets the best of me!

I’m here to cheer you on, be your support system, or answer any questions if you choose to do your own Whole30. There are also many supportive folks in the forums at Whole30.com. So don’t be afraid to see what’s going on over there.

CrossFit Boom
As always, I will continue to post my workouts here so that’s never going away! I did end up making it to the Friday morning workout, so yay for that. Then there was the Community WOD and Yoga on Saturday, both of which are fun.

1/31/14
Test Day BOOM Total: Snatch, Squat Clean Thruster,  Back Squat ADD Total weight!

Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing! So even with the wrist not 100% I was still able to hit my 1RM on Snatch. That’s not great since I feel I could do more weight, but I a scaredy cat :/ As for Squat Clean Thrusters it’s a NO GO. I could clean the bar by itself but to Squat and then do a Thruster was too much. Coach T asked if I wanted to do something funky in regards to Cleaning the weight so I said SURE!  Let’s Clean like Kelly Starrett!

Yay, that was fun! And I can actually do my favorite lift now! I didn’t start out doing the Mixed Grip, which probably would have helped with heavier weight. But I did get to 105lbs which isn’t bad for my first go round at this new Chicken Wing method. Moving on to Back Squat, I feared I wasn’t going to get close to 175lbs which is my 1RM but I managed to hit 165lbs. I’ll take that for now. I know you can’t always max out or hit new PRs. It’s been a hard lesson learned over they years but I finally found my peace with it! Totals: 75, 105, 165 = 345lbs

1/31/14 Test Day

1/31/14 Test Day

2/3/14 Chicken Wing Pt. 2

Midline: 30 T2B
Have no fear T2B are still here! Woot Woot! Now if I could just string them together!

Strength: Back Squat 5×5 @75%
Mondays and Squats. Just wasn’t feeling it today. So 5 sets of 5 at 135lbs felt HEAVY. I was ready to go home after that! My hips are smoked!

MetCon: 4 min AMRAP of 10 HrPU  and 5 Cleans 115/75 rest 3 min then 4 min AMRAP of 10 HrPU and 5 Cleans 115/75
I was so excited to actually be able to do Cleans in a MetCon again! Granted, they will be slower than normal because I can not touch and go with a chicken wing but I can do them! This time, I started off with the Mixed Grip and felt that my hand was less likely to try and revert to a normal Clean movement which was good on the wrist. Since the weight was not heavy I tried to catch the weight at the bottom so I could have a little more fluidity. This only worked half of the time though. Push Ups are what got me. I only got 4 Push Ups in and my wrist felt tight and achy, so I moved back to fist Push Ups. This was no fun and I really dragged ass. Final: 8 rounds RX

2/3/14 WOD

2/3/14 WOD

That’s a Wrap!
Thank you all in general for being faithful readers. And an Extra BIG Thank You for your support during my Whole30. I would hug you all if I could! Having something to blog about other than my workouts is definitely nice but now that Whole30 is over, I hope you continue to stick around. I’m still planning on getting involved in more giveaways and what not so stay tuned.

Remember it’s not about being perfect, it’s about making progress! Every meal is a new meal, every day is a new day. If I were to pick one thing to eliminate for good that would be WHEAT. I know what it does to my body when I reintroduce it and it’s not good. So just pick one thing to ADD or ELIMINATE from your life for at least 30 days. See if anything changes. Then change something else for the next 30 days. No one said you had to go cold turkey! But it sure is helpful if you do!  Don’t forget Paleo Parents has a handy dandy e-book, 3 Phase Paleo that will help you make the transition. You can find the link to the book in the menu bar, top right!

Have a beautiful Tuesday and Whole30 ON!

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Found!

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At the corner of Clean Eating and Consistency, I FOUND my Toes To Bar! What! What! This my friends is a big deal. Back in early 2013 I still had them but as time went on, the LBS packed on and my Boom Box attendance floundered. I slowly but surely lost them. I wasn’t beastly at them in the first place but how sad it was to know how easy T2B can just disappear. Now boys and girls they are back! I was so excited, you have no idea. Whole30 will not do you wrong! I can’t promise it will always be rainbows and unicorns but eventually you find that happy place and it feels good.

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So it’s Day TWENTY THREE and Day THIRTY is out there in the shadows. So much of me wants to just keep on keepin on, but so much of me wants a little break too. This is such a hard mental battle. I’m determined to stay on the right track but I’m already making up excuses in my head for days I have to offroad a bit. I’m hoping when push comes to shove, that I just stick it out and stay strong. WholeLife it on.

1/27/14 Lunch

1/27/14 Lunch

Food and the work that comes with it!
A lot of people moan and groan on how much work it takes to prep and cook when they start off on the Whole30. It’s true, it is work but it does get easier. For a lot of people, this is completely new and it can be a little bit overwhelming. You aren’t just picking up your normal items in the grocery store. You aren’t buying processed, full of badness, boxed food where you just add a protein. You have to hunt down specific things and maybe even venture into other grocery stores, which in itself could be a confusing adventure. It can also be very defeating because there a lot of staples out there that just aren’t Whole30 compliant and you’ve probably been buying them your whole life. At this point, I’m hoping you’re determined enough to at least start. But as with any new endeavor, once you learn the ropes, it all starts becoming easier. You learn and make new kitchen habits. You will try to find ways to be more efficient and soon enough it will be second hand. I would say that halfway through Whole30 is when you probably will find ease in your prepping. You’ll know what works for you.

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What worked for me most, is that I keep all of my free Whole30 downloads with me, along with a copy of It Starts With Food. I keep my phone linked to Whole30 forums so I can do quick and easy searches. On my first Whole30, I tagged all the important pages and I constantly referenced them. This time around, I mostly just keep them with me so I have ZERO excuse when I want to give up. I literally carry a bag with me with all of the literature. It’s with me at work, it’s with me in the car, it’s with me at home. All of the time. I know with technology you can have your smartphones or iPads, but there’s something about me physically carrying the paper and books that keeps me focused.

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Even though I’ve made Paleo Mayo a lot, I still bust out the Whole30 recipe and put it on my counter. I’m in a hurry most everyday so I’m liable to screw it up. I make sure I read the recipe every time even though I have it memorized. It’s not work anymore. It’s just what I do. I’ve made new habits. You will too. And remember it’s only 30 days. You can push yourself outside your comfort zone for one month out of a year!

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1/27/14 Boom Box
Midline: 50 Hollow Rocks
What can I say? I still don’t like Hollow Rocks. Same as it ever was.

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Strength: Back Squats 3×10 @65%
Who doesn’t love Squat time? But it’s been a while since I’ve worked on Back Squats. We were doing a lot of Front Squats and my wrist was holding me back so the weight wasn’t as heavy. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel. But 65% of 175 isn’t so bad. My first set wasn’t weak but it was slow. I picked up the pace for the other two sets and felt much better about everything.

1/27/14 WOD

1/27/14 WOD

MetCon: 8 min AMRAP of 8 T2B and 5 DL 225/135
Well you already had the spoiler at the beginning of this post, but I wasn’t sure I’d do Toes to Bar. I really had the mindset coming in that I would do Knees to Elbow. But Coach had us warm up a little bit with Knees to Elbow before we started and I realized how close I was to T2B so I went for it and FAILED. But I was so close. So I went for it again and I failed! I probably did that for 4 or 5 times and finally my TOES hit the FREAKIN BAR! Well I done did it. Now I have to do it in the workout! Doh! So even though I hit the bar, I wasn’t sure I’d do it for 8 reps or MORE!

Even though I couldn’t string them together it turns out FOR MY STATUS, I was killing it! I only had 2 No Reps, and I probably did rest a little more than I should have but I kept chipping away. Deadlifts were relatively light but again. I rested a little too long before picking up the bar. Final: 4 rounds + 3 T2B RX! Small victory for me 🙂

That’s a Wrap!
It’s cold down here in Texas and I’d love nothing more than some comfort foods. So I’ll probably have Steak and Cauli Mash for dinner! But a lot can happen between now and then. So we’ll see. I do hope you all are making things happen. I’d love nothing more than to see and hear happy reports of progress and change! Stop waffling and get on board if you haven’t committed yet. Do something NOW!

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