What a YEAR, come on 2014, Bring IT!

Goodbye 2013 Welcome 2014 Greetings Card HD Wallpapers Pics

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.

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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.

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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!

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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

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.

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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Gettin After It

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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

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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

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

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

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!

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It’s One of Those Days

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

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

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

2/5/13 WOD

2/5/13 WOD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have never said No to being a source of awesome - craftsnark

No More Burpees!

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

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

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

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

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

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

CrossFit Pantego Girl's Night Out

CrossFit Pantego Girl’s Night Out

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

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

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

2/4/13 WOD

2/4/13 WOD

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

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

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

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

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

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Skills to pay the bills – NOPE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whole(30)LIFE

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

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

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

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

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

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Day 30 – Whole30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Sleep WOD – I WIN!

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

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

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

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

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

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Morning Fitness Motivation

 

FUN Fun FuN

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This morning at the BOOM Box was FUN! I can honestly say that and I’m happy to say that. I love getting a good workout it but I love it more when it’s something new and I didn’t completely suck at it! I also think all this clean eating has cycled it’s way through all the ups and downs and I’m on an UPSWING.

Skill/Strength: Handstand Push Ups
I want to be good at these so bad. And little by little I’m getting there. We started out with just a few handstand holds. When you don’t do handstands often, it takes a while to feel comfortable. I can always pop into one, but over and over, I get dizzy fast. Of course I can’t do a full one YET but getting there. With some stacking of foam, I don’t have to go down as far but eventually I’ll have to do them without modification. The highlight of our working through them is that I got kipping down pretty good. I was one foam pad away from doing it properly but I think by then I was just fatigued.

1/29/13 WOD

1/29/13 WOD

MetCon: 30 AXLE Ground to Overhead
AXLE??!!?? WTH? Big ol fat bars is what that is and I saw them on Saturday but didn’t bother asking because I feared it was insanity. Turns out I kind of liked them… shhhh, don’t tell my Coach! So this is GRACE with a fat bar. NERVES activated. Coach suggested for us to put our thumbs over the bar since it is so fat and hard to get a grip on it. On top of that it doesn’t have the spin that a Barbell has so it’s a much different feeling. So the positive on this is that we should gain grip strength and should really learn to explode from the hips. The bonus about this bar is that it’s smooth and it felt much better in my hands. No need for taping up my thumbs! The video below shows a guy working on Ground To Overhead. His first grip is what we worked on. The second grip that he uses is the Continental grip that I just learned about via the WEBS. It’s awkward and I watched a lot of videos where I think that grip is not fun at all. So I’m glad we stuck with something more simple. Maybe when there’s more weight on the bar it’s necessary? I’m not sure. I’ll cross that bridge (hopefully NEVER) when it gets here.

So I was a little bit nervous. Holding a new bar with a new grip. I like to let fear get into my brain if you haven’t figured that out. Surprisingly with 50lbs it wasn’t so bad. I struggled getting centered at first but I got it down. Jumped up to 70lbs as prescribed for the MetCon and really thought, OH SHIT it’s going to be a brick wall. But it wasn’t. Now it was time to do 30 in a row. I pushed out 6, then 6 more, then the wrists started fading, forearms, I’m exhausted now and I’m not even halfway. Started chipping away 3 at time till I finished. Time: 5:09 I was spent but I was happy I did it. Confidence is that you? Where have you been all this time? Please stay a while!

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HOLY BRUISES BATMAN! Had no idea this happened to my collar bone Cleaning the BAR until I go home, see my reflection. Typically my shoulders might get some bruising with the regular bar. My thighs for sure catching the bar on the way down. But this hurts! OUCHY MAMA!

Whole30 Days 27 & 28
Man… DDay is almost here! I’m so excited for my completion. Not so I can dive off the deep end into a big ol pie but just to say I completed it –100%, although that salmon from PF Changs could make that less but seriously, WILLINGLY 100%. No justifications. No swerving off the path. And not half ass. I worked at eating balanced meals, getting my fat in. Getting in a variety of veggies. Working the plan.

1/28/13 Dinner – Skirt Steak, Mixed Veggies, Coconut Flakes

1/28/13 Dinner – Skirt Steak, Mixed Veggies, Coconut Flakes

You saw lunch yesterday and dinner was some skirt steak with mixed veggies. I had also cooked asparagus but I wasn’t that hungry last night. Which is fine by me. So I saved asparagus for today. I also made some Kale for lunch today to go with my left over skirt steak. I’ve been having trouble getting it to tender up. So I had one of my kids massage it for a good while before I left it overnight to marinate. It turned out a little less tough/chewy so hopefully that was the key.

I’m feeling a little better about getting prepped at least a day ahead. So I guess I was just in a mental(hormonal) funk! Tonight will be Chicken Thighs and maybe a salad. We’ll see.

Happy Tuesday! Despite the cloudy, windy, gloomy day, I FEEL GREAT! I know some of you must think I’m a loon ball but I can’t tell you enough how amazing it feels to FEEL good! All day. Bright eyed. NO brain fog. Wooooooo! Love it! Go now, be awesome!

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Home Stretch

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It’s so close – Day 27 of the WHOLE30 and you know what? This train isn’t stopping! I still wish I had a chef to alleviate some of the burden that goes into it all but I’m not holding my breath on that one. The big challenge will be Birthday Cupcakes at my son’s birthday party this weekend! I think I’ll be fine since at this moment that doesn’t even sound good. But who knows by then. I should be fine.

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Whole30 Days 24-27
The weekends have become easier to manage. In the past I either skipped meals or lived on fruit and junk of some form but I’m managing well with 3 meals a day. It helped that I made chili this weekend. Yesterday was the first day I felt a nap was in order, I think I was just spent from my CrossFit workout the day before but who knows. My hormones are still changing so it’s been all sorts of chaos on my mental state. I wish that would go away ASAP!

Went to PF Changs for my baby boy’s birthday. Risky I know. I googled it of course and partakers of Whole30 suggested the Gluten Free, Steamed Salmon and Ginger. So that’s what I ordered, no sauces on anything. Of course the server looked at me funny and said well the Chicken Lettuce Wraps you ordered weren’t special, I said I know, those are for them, not me 😦 OH how I LOVE the lettuce wraps. They would have been fine if they weren’t cooked in a sauce that has rice wine and sugar :/

I patiently waited for my food as it was the last to come out. Took a few bites and it was delicious! Flavorful and I’m not a huge fan of salmon. All the veggies were steamed as well. I busted out my bottle of Coconut Aminos, YES I DID! and splashed some on my foods. I probably would have been fine without but it was good anyways. Not too bad, even watched the family all get dessert. Although I wish I could had a sample, I powered through. Got home, started prepping my Chili for dinner and I had to rush, RUN to the bathroom. Not sure if there was something in that Salmon or if it was just fish itself but I fear it wasn’t Whole30 compliant. I won’t ever know though and I’m not quitting or starting over based on that. I felt fine the rest of the day.

As you can see or NOT see, I haven’t been taking any GOOD pics of my meals but I’ll share my Chili Pic with you. It’s not impressive but the actual food was good.

Not the best pic, Chili with sweet potato, avocado on top. YUM!

Not the best pic, Chili with sweet potato, avocado on top. YUM!

1/28/13 Lunch – Chili, Spinach Salad, Broccoli, Kiwi

1/28/13 Lunch – Chili, Spinach Salad, Broccoli, Kiwi

Chili Ingredients:
2lbs grassfed ground beef (chili cut, Burgandy Beef has a less ground beef just for chili, good stuff)
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 onion
1 garlic glove
1 sweet potato (cubed)
1 TBS cooking fat
Spices: cumin, salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne, red chili flakes, cinnamon ( I have no measurement as I just pour to my liking. I like heavy on the spice.

Saute onions and garlic in cooking fat, ghee for me, until onions start getting soft. Add ground beef. Add spices. Cook through. All the while I have the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and sweet potato warming up in my crockpot. You could do this all on stove as well. Once the ground beef is browned, dump into crockpot. Cook on high for 1-2 hours, check sweet potatoes. If they are soft, then you are good to go, If not let cook on low for another hour.

I would have added red, green and yellow peppers if I had them but I didn’t. It’s chili, add what you want. Turned out great! And sweet due to those sweet potatoes! Good stuff.

1/26/13 WOD
I was very sore walking into the BOOM Box Saturday morning. REALLY sore. My shoulders were dead, my hamstrings were dead and what was on the board: deadlifts and burpees!

Skill/Strength: 3 x 5 Deadlift @ 75% of 1RM
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve deadlifted. I think the last time is when I PR’d. And that was a while back now. So getting back to this lift was awkward but nice to do. 150lbs is my weight and overall I felt good. Had some small items to work on but didn’t lose all technique, thank goodness.

1/26/13 WOD

1/26/13 WOD

MetCon: 12.1! For those of you who don’t know, that was WOD 1 for the CrossFit Games Open last year. 7 minutes of Burpees! Oh the hell! We looked up our reps from last year and I got 74. Coach went around asking what our goals were for this time around and I said 75! Seriously. I’d be good with that. 3-2-1 GO! I was determined not to burn out too fast like I did last year. So I just went with the goal of “DON’T STOP”. Coaches were yelling out time left but it wasn’t really registering. I just thought this is the longest 7 minutes ever. I finally hit 75 reps and thought well shit I gotta keep going. Then I just said go and went H.A.M till I got to 90.

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Then I thought I was going to die but there was still 2 minutes left. I just kept going up and down, making all kinds of mad noises. Final: 112! WOOOOOO! I don’t know where that came from but I was all sorts of Happy. Made my day indeed! After I stopped rolling on the ground like a flailing weirdo, I sat up and said Whole30! Strict clean eating!

1/28/13 WOD
Still dead from the Burpees. My shoulders are TOAST! Today was nice and HUMID. 62° and HUMID! We aren’t used to this right now. So much better than FREEZING! I fear February will bring us SUPER COLD though. We need it to kill the buggies but I don’t like it!

Skill/Strength: 3 x 3 Back Squat @ 90% of 1RM
Yup that got heavy fast. My shoulder mobility sucked so bad holding on to the bar. UGH! My hips were dead too. I worked on my hip mobility after my first set and Coach noticed a big difference. I could feel it and knew then that I should have done both sides, but my right side is the painful side. Ah well. Got through the lifts ok. I’m not feeling explosive on the way back up. Hopefully that’s just a side effect of being smoked!

1/28/13 WOD

1/28/13 WOD

MetCon: 100 Double Unders, 75 HR Push Ups, 50 TTB, 25 Pull Ups. You have 5 minutes to complete each movement. If you finish early in your 5 minutes of one movement, you get to rest! Record time finished.
So we have 5 minutes to do 100 DUs, 5 minutes to do the Push Ups and so forth. A timed chipper I guess is best to describe it. I was already scare of DUs just because my shoulders are so tight, sore, etc. Shoulders go fast when they are already useless to you. Then PUSH UPS next. Not good! I finished DU’s in a little over 2 minutes, I can’t recall specific times but I know it was 2 something. It was a good rest till HR Push UPs. I struggled but managed to finish in a little over 4 minutes. Enough time to get handguards on for TTB, errr Knees to Elbow for me. I found my kip and got 10 in a row. Went back for another 10, then hit a wall. Only getting 5 at a time, then only 3, then 2. Finished under 4 minutes on this one though! Only 25 Pull Ups but it’s still alot in my book. Did 5, 5, 3, 2, 1, 2 and 1’d and 2’d it till the end. Finished in 4:20 I think, not sure, Final time (added up): 14:25.

There you have it folks. My weekend wrap up! Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. It’s a whole new week. Make that change you are thinking about, stop thinking about it! And be Awesome all the while!

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Pressing On

Yup I’m pressing on. I have been feeling weak. It’s true. But in the end I know I’m getting better. It may not be as huge as others but I know that slowly but surely things are clicking (except for pull ups of course). And this morning in the car I heard an old favorite song of mine by RelientK and it just got me amped that I just have to Press On. Leave all my crap behind. So here goes it. If you’ve stuck around with me long enough you know I have these ups and downs. I realize it. But it’s still gonna happen. I’m pretty sure that’s just a part of being human. 😀

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We’ve had unusual warm temps and it’s been quite nice showing up to the BOOM Box not freezing to death. I definitely think it helps that we are warmed up much more quickly.

Skill/Strength: Press 1,1,1,1,1
With Press my weight is low so there’s not much in regards to jumping through weight. After several rounds of warm up, Leigh and I decided to start at 55lbs for our first 1 rep. The goal was to do 55, 65, 70, 75, 80. Being that 70lbs is my 1RM that I’ve been stuck at that would give me two attempts to PR. When we got to 70lbs we traded out the 10lb and 5lb plates for 15lb plates and 2.5lb plates. Oh but I wasn’t paying attention. And the 5lbs were on there. So I go for my 3rd attempt and think wow this isn’t easy and it’s 70lbs which I tend to do fine. WOW I SUCK! Well I get it up and rack it. Notice the 5lbs and realize I just PR’d! Finally! I broke that damn 70lb wall I’ve been hitting for so long. Of course a PR gets you all excited so you want to see if you can jump even more, but that didn’t happen. 80lbs was not in my cards today. Still happy for my little PR.

1/25/13 WOD

1/25/13 WOD

MetCon: 20 EMOM – Even Minutes 2 MU, 6 CTB, 8 Chin Ups, 10 Ring Rows; Odd minutes 5 Press @65% of your heaviest in the strength portion. If you didn’t go RX then you had a buyout of 40 Ring Dips.
Leave it to me to screw up in the first round! I thought I had to do 2 Pull Ups because I saw the 2 in front of MU and wasn’t using my brain. So I was done really fast not realizing I owed 6 more reps. I moved on to minute 2 clueless and proceeded with Press. Went back to Pull Ups and everyone realized I didn’t do 8, doh! It wasn’t on purpose. I went and finished my 8. It definitely was not on purpose. But that first round was failed :/ because I didn’t finish Pull Ups. As the minutes wound down. I had 3 more failed rounds due to Pull Ups. I finished all my Presses at 50lbs. So I had a total of 6 rounds completed. I still put Pull Up effort in managing about 5 each round I failed at. I proceeded to do my ring dips in sets of 10’s. That gave us enough time to rotate with everyone else. I feel better at those, band assisted of course, but dang my shoulders were DEAD! I’m hoping tomorrow involves Cleans or something I’m good at!

Whole30 Days 23 & 24
Still not excited about cooking but still plugging away at it. I can’t imagine myself eating anything else though. So even though I’m still having a hard time finding the excitement in cooking you still will find me in the kitchen prepping away. And the kids seem to find some fun in helping me every now and then. I think they are more about the sampling than anything but if they are going to be in the kitchen they know they will be put to work. So it’s a WIN/WIN situation!

1/24/13 Lunch - Sauteed Chicken, tomatoes adn spinach, with sweet potato chips and kiwi.

1/24/13 Lunch – Sauteed Chicken, tomatoes adn spinach, with sweet potato chips and kiwi.

Last night, I was really at a loss on what to eat. I did remember to portion out some chicken for me for dinner since I knew Ernie would be gone for the evening. Whew. Saved my day right there, because by the time I got home from work and baseball I forgot. I was seriously stressing over what I was gonna eat. I had a whole chicken defrosted but I like to roast those and I didn’t want to wait the hour for it to cook. So after I got the whole chicken cooking. I got some onions, tomatoes and chicken warming up in a skillet. Added some red chard and dinner was done! My favorite way of eating has become this skillet meal of proteins and leafy greens. It works. Eat some coconut flakes, guac or sunflower butter and I’m good. It’s quick easy and it always tastes good.

1/24/13 Dinner – More sauteed chicken, onions, tomatoes, red chard, guacamole.

1/24/13 Dinner – More sauteed chicken, onions, tomatoes, red chard, guacamole.

Once the whole chicken was done roasting I portioned it out for Ernie, me and extras. Unfortunately before I portioned it out, I ate pretty much all of the skin. It was extra tasty last night and I just couldn’t help myself. How bad am I?

This morning, I ate some of the roast chicken for my PWO meal and a carrot. While I was eating all of that, I had some bone broth heating up and I was adding the rest of the chicken to that along with sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and spinach. My oldest wanted some so I got out more chicken broth, doubled the veggies and we both had lunch cooking away. Now’s the time I wish I would invest in a thermos!

24 Days and I’m killing it! I’m feeling really awesome. Even when I did the 21-Day Sugar Detox I caved for Mother’s Day. I paid for it and fell into a sugar coma. But on Whole30 that 1-2 servings of fruit is good for me. I don’t eat fruit everyday but knowing it’s not restricted I think is better for me mentally. I just found Dare You to Blog yesterday and Meredith wrote about her sugar detox experience. And the one thing that stuck out most was her comment that food will always be there:

Food will always be there.  I am fortunate enough to be in a place where the treats and cheats I may be tempted by, such as the frozen yogurt mentioned above, will always be available to me.  I don’t need to have this froyo now, or those chocolate-covered almonds today.  I don’t need to dig in to the free bagel breakfast or the rice-rolled sushi at this very moment.  When I want it, when I’m ready for it, it will be there waiting for me.  With that in mind…

She’s so right! Why haven’t I implemented this same thought process! I mean it’s not like it’s wiped off the face of the planet. It’s not going ANYWHERE. For me those little words were like a breath of fresh air. A new perspective. Cleaning up is good for you. It’s not gonna hurt you and if you don’t like it, ah well. Go back to your ways of dirty, processed, sugary, chemical eating. I keep telling you I feel great though. I haven’t felt bloated or achy in any regards beside sore muscles. In December I was waking up with pains in my wrists. Now all that pain is gone. I have had one headache but that was on my major cleaning day and I’m pretty sure it was chemical induced from cleaners. There is ZERO brain fog which is great.

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If you’ve ever eaten clean for an extended period of time and then went off the rails then you must be able to relate. It’s almost like you’re hungover or under the influence for sure. It’s bad and so weird how eating one or two meals that aren’t clean can do that to you. No one has any idea that they too are living in brain fog until you clean up your eating! It’s crazy. 6 days to go but I’m in a good groove. Let’s hope the groove keeps on rolling!

Friday! Deep Breath In! Yay for Friday! Have a magnificent weekend! My youngest will be 10 tomorrow! Double Digits. Young men I have, 3 young men! Aaahhhh. I wish they wouldn’t grow up so fast! Anyhoo, BE AWESOME in all that you DO! Press ON!

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