Progress

I've been doing CrossFit for close to two months now and I'm finally getting my eating down.  I've always known that your "diet" is 80% of your results, but just because you know something doesn't mean you follow it.  Am I right or what?  I wanted to share some pictures because I haven't really been seeing a difference in myself.  I also decided to take my measurements recently and I am:

1. Up 2lbs
2. Down 3% in Body Fat
3. My muscles (biceps, legs, and butt) have all grown at least .5 an inch
4. My chest has gone down an inch (not sure how that was possible)
5. I PR'd in a recent 5K!!

I feel stronger and more confident than ever!!  To prove that sometimes all that matters is a mental change; here are some before and currents.  Why don't I say after?  I always consider myself and under construction and still working to be better than before!  Stole this idea as well from Rachelle, of Bare-To-Bake.  Also, I'm using these pictures to show why nutrition is SO important when it comes to seeing results!  I have no idea where I would be today if I would have nailed nutrition down much sooner, but oh well you can't dwell on the past.  I only learn and move forward :)

This was me two years ago when I first started really getting into fitness after quitting college soccer and started training for my first half marathon.

These were both taken about two weeks ago.  About a month into finally nailing down my nutrition!

Also, what has helped me change my physique and muscle tone has been CrossFit!  My muscles are growing, I notice my biceps and legs are harder, and I'm so much stronger already!!

A picture during a Sunday WOD...WARM-UP= technique practice!!

Do you see those shoulders!!  I've never had that definition before.  Plus, I've never felt confident rocking my 80s inspired PINK top, but now I LOVE it and how it makes my muscles look. :)

Flashdance anyone??

I will leave you with a picture of my "dream board."  It has sayings and pictures to motivate me.  It also has a list/pictures of my long and short term goals, along with steps I have to get to every day in order to complete my goals!

Do you use a dream board??  Have you reached any of your goals??

And On The 7th Day, She Cooked

"If you fail to plan, then plan to fail."  

Such a TRUE statement for anything in life, even your diet.  That's why I am always cooking food in advance if I know that I won't be home for a meal.  Sometimes I have a big cooking day, like Sunday's or I'll cook during my class breaks in the week.  I don't usually cook these massive, amazing concoctions.  Usually it's just ground turkey, chicken, and some sort of meat in the crock pot as well.  I'm a pretty simple kinda girl.  I don't like to put a lot of time or effort into my meals, so it usually ends up being meat and a veggie or salad.  If I can mix it all together into one dish...YIPPIE!

Here's a pretty common example of a meal.

Cooked ground meat, sauteed veggies, mix together, and TADAA..AMAZINGNESS :)

For some reason this week though I was channeling my inner Rachel Ray.  The first two recipes are based on different ones from PaleOMG.  If you haven't checked out her blog...DO IT!  The first one was egg muffins.  I put one whole, beaten egg in a muffin tin and sliced up a piece of bacon inside of it.  You can honestly put anything you want with it- veggies, bacon, cheese, etc.  I just think bacon is the BOMB DIGGITY!  Next, I made a turkey dish.  I baked cooked ground turkey, hot sauce, and sweet potatoes...yummy in my tummy.

Egg Muffins:

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees

Beat one egg and pour into muffin tin

Mix in any other ingredients you want

Cook for 10-15min (or until eggs are no longer gooey)

Turkey Meatza..maybe:

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees

Shred a whole sweet potato

Place in Skillet and cook with Coconut oil for 5min

Add in Ground Turkey and cook until turkey is completely cooked

Add 1/4 cup Hot Sauce

Coat turkey and sweet potatoes evenly

Pour mix into a baking pan and place in oven

Cook for 5min

The next thing I decided to bake is based off of Bare-To-Bake's recipe for peakaboos.  I exchanged some ingredients to make it paleo-acceptable.  

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees

Mix 1/2 cup coconut flour (next time I'll use less), 3 whole eggs, 1tsp of baking soda, 1tsp vanilla extract, cinnamon (to taste)

Place evenly among muffin tins and cook for 10-15min (will still be gooey in center)

Cut in half and place a nut butter (I used cashew) and stick back together

Top with more cinnamon!!

When I went shopping on Sunday, I decided to try something new that I have been seeing on Facebook, Instagram, and LOTS and LOTS of blogs: Kombacha Tea.

I had the mango one.  There is also plain and a chia seed one.  It's pretty good, but it does have a little bite!

So, do you need to make all these meals and spend all this time making meals for the entire week??  No, but make sure every day you know exactly what you are going to eat. Whether you are eating at home or some where else; YOU NEED TO HAVE A PLAN! With that I will leave you with a picture of my scheduled cheat meal this past weekend: FROYO..mmmmm

Primal Blueprint

In my previous post I talked about my trip.  Well, it was a LONG plane ride and I decided to read my free ebook, Primal Blueprint.  It is Mark Wolff’s take on Paleo as a lifestyle, rather than a quick fix diet.  If you want to know the basics of Paleo and the Primal lifestyle, I highly recommend it.  He breaks down the acceptable foods, improvements you’ll see, and what you won’t see.  

I read his take on physical activity first.  I REALLY REALLY liked it.  It wasn’t “spend hours and hours lifting and running each day.”  It was completely opposite actually.  He says to revert back to childhood and play.  Do what you love to do and make it your regular activity.  Mark states his is Ultimate Frisbee, for me it is running and CrossFit.  He doesn’t want you to dread working out, but rather wants you to wake up every day thinking about what game you are going to play before or after work.  I started thinking like that this week and let me tell you it helped!  

On Sunday and Monday, I really had to itch to run, so I did.  Instead of my usual, “well how far should I go?  how fast?” I JUST RAN.  On Sunday, I was feeling a casual run with rolling hills, so before my flight I ran 4.5 miles, not too fast, not too slow.  Then Monday, I was dying to sprint (I know, weird).  I decided I would do sprints 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off; increasing my incline as well.  After I went from 8.0 speed and 2.0 incline to 9.5 and 4.5 (my planned end).  Turned out I wanted more.  I decided to “cool down,”  where I then went back down my speed and incline, until I was back to my starting point.  

Mark also wrote about how people don’t need to lift for hours on end to get the results they want, so I took that into account.  Technically, I have already been doing this with CrossFit, but I still did it while on vacation.  I did lots of Tabata circuits.  I would pick a movement, like the squat, and perform it for 8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off.  Trust me, it burns by the 3rd round.

Next, is his view on the Paleo Diet.  Mark does not mess around with this one!  He does not let anything slide by, like you know how most diets and even a lot of Paleo follower will make their old favorite meals to fit inside the diet rule dimensions?  Well, Mark says that that is a no-no.  He doesn’t want people to think of this as a “diet” that is going to hinder you from enjoying life.  He wants his readers to make their mind think of food differently.  Now he’s not against every once in a while having a paleo cookie or pizza, but for the most part he wants people to follow the basic plate: half meat, half veggies, some fats, and a little fruit (every once in a while and mostly berries).  I like this approach, especially for me.  I’ve always tried to make pizza, cookies, etc. “healthy.”  What did that end up doing to me?  I just kept craving that food and eventually all I wanted was the real deal, not some low-carb or low-fat version.  

After Whole30 and not allowing myself to make any “Paleo *Insert Cheat Food*”  I no longer crave those foods.  I actually see myself craving meats and veggies A LOT more!  Maybe it’s not that I’m craving them more over sweets, but my body is recognizing that I don’t crave the sweet or salty treat.  I’m just HUNGRY.  Whatever it is I like it!

Overall, he pretty much wants to get across that the majority of the population are not professional athletes or models sporting a front cover or a fashion show.  That because of this we should stop worrying about our physique so much and worry more about our health and figuring out what will really make you happy.  Will having that six pack or a football game every Saturday morning with your friends happier?

What am I trying to get across with this post?  That if you’re really serious about Paleo as a lifestyle, not just something that you think will make you look like a bikini model (which Mark states will NOT happen.  You’ll get a better body, but you’ll get the body your biology wants).  CHECK THIS BOOK OUT!  

PS:  Ladies, if you look at ACTUAL pictures of our primal female ancestors they are NOT extremely cut with six packs.  Were they fat?  NO!  They did however have some meat on their bones because back then what was more important than showing off their six packs?  Making sure their species SURVIVED!  Guess what?  Most women can't conceive at 9% body fat!

If you’re wondering, do I have a six pack?  Nope! I’m about 19% body fat at 5’0”, but I can still lift any day I want, run however far I want, and just be a plain bad ass when I please.  Guess what?  I don’t hear any complaints from my boyfriend and I like filling out my jeans!

Whole 30 and Moving Forward

PREFACE:  I’m writing this on my plane ride back from New York, so I’m sorry if I start ramble, but sitting still drives me nuts, so I just keep thinking of things to talk about!  Give me a break, I had 7 hours to kill!

Alright, so I didn’t make it 30 days of the Whole30 Challenge, but I made it further than 21 days.  Which is apparently the magic number; if you can make it at least 21 days you are usually good to go.  Let me tell you, it is SO true!  I honestly have not felt better since taking out the gluten, grains, and cutting way back on fruit.  I went against everything I thought eating a lot more fats and meat, but man do I feel AMAZING!  I feel like I work harder during my workouts because I’m not worrying about stomach pains or bloating I used to get from eating all those supposed “necessary pre- and post-workout carbs.”  Am I saying that carbs are bad? Am I saying that you shouldn’t eat bread or pasta?  Not necessarily, it all depends on what works for YOU!  Personally, I noticed when I started running long distance my stomach became more sensitive and it seemed like NOTHING I did could fix that.  I tried eating “all natural”, “low fat”, “sugar free.”  It wasn’t until this Whole30 that I truly understood what all those cute little categories meant:

All Natural: “everything we put in our food is natural.”  Does NOT mean it is good for you.  If you check some “all natural” foods it will still have hydrogenated oil or those nasty -lose ending ingredients, which are usually fake sugars that make you bloat.

Low Fat: “low-no fat.”  Did you know skittles are technically “low fat,” but would you eat them? 

Sugar Free: MY FAVORITE haha.  They don’t contain sugar, BUT they contain those pesky fake sugars that can reek more havoc on your body then the real deal.  Sometimes your body has a harder time digesting them and that’s why you end up feeling bloated and gassy. 

So why did I cut the 30 short if I am so pro-Whole30?  Well, in case you don’t follow me on Facebook or Twitter, I went to visit my boyfriend this week in New York for his last home series (yes, he’s a baseball player..love my boy of summer).  Monday-Wednesday  he took me out for really nice dinners after his games.  He wanted me to get some really good hearty meals in since he knows I try really hard to eat “clean.”  Now, before you say anything about “he should be supportive of your healthy eating.” BLAH BLAH BLAH.  He is, but every once in a while he likes me to let loose and just enjoy myself.  I did!  I didn’t go hog wild the whole time I was out there.  I would eat really good during the day, workout (workouts below post), go watch him play, and then indulge at night.  

What I learned the most from indulging?  I no longer have an emotional attachment to food, like I used to.  Don’t get me wrong, the food was DELICIOUS, but I wasn’t all giddy or excited when I ate the food and I didn’t kick myself afterwards.  Instead, I ate until I was no longer hungry and then pushed the rest to the side.  Those 21 days really allowed me to just focus and re-teach myself to use food as my fuel.  I learned how to eat around my workouts, so that I was properly fueled and I wasn’t eating things just because I had a craving for it.  

I know you’re next question: where do you go from here?  What do I do now that I’m finished with my Whole30?  Do I go back to eating like I did before?  NO WAY!!  I plan on staying paleo and just adding some things back in, like the occasional piece of gum, almond milk, and coconut flour to bake with (when I get the initiative haha).  I honestly do not miss bread or pasta anymore.  I don’t crave sugary drinks or my energy drinks.  I actually had one of my favorite energy drinks this week to give me a boost one of my boyfriend’s games and for the first time I realized how AWFUL energy drinks taste.  It tasted like metal against my tongue and I was no longer a fan.  I actually was craving my dark roast, black coffee!  The front desk got so used to me coming down for extra coffee that they had it out before I even asked (gotta love good customer service).  

Moving forward my diet is going to look like this because there are somethings I still want to tweak.  I want to try and keep my fruit intake to once a day, maybe two when I have a heavy cardio AND weight day.  I also want to keep my fruit intake mostly from berries and melons.  I also want to start making my plates half protein, half non-starchy veggies.  Have a cheat meal once a week or every other week.  

I have still a little ways until I reach my physique goal, but for once in my life that is no longer my main goal.  It no longer fills my every waking moment.  It finally hit me, “why am I worrying so much about my physique,” this vacation.  My boyfriend never has anything to say about my physique turning him off or wishing I looked different.  Why shouldn’t I give myself the same respect as he does?  

What I gained from all this?  A challenge for September (and I challenge you all to do the same)!!  

1. Love myself every day!  Whether it is replacing every bad comment to myself with a positive or giving myself a break on a stressful day.

2. Eat paleo 90-95% Why only 90-95%?  Well, we’re not all perfect and damnit I want a cheat meal every once in a while ;)  

1. Plan my meals for the week and cook (as much as I can) on Sundays.

3. Drink more water!  At least half a gallon a day.

Well, I think that’s about enough writing for today and I’m sure you’re trying to figure out when my rambling ends, so here you go....THE END.

PS: here’s my hotel workouts!  Also, you may notice that they’re a little easier than usual and you’re exactly right!  I wanted to back off a little from my intensity, focus on my form, and let my body recover a little so I can (hopefully) ROCK my 5K on Friday night!  Don’t think for a second though that if you do these RIGHT you won’t be sore.  I was definitely still sore, but not the sore that makes it hard to roll out of bed.  Rather the sore that keeps me coming back for more!

SUNDAY: Ran 4.5 miles before getting on my plane

MONDAY: 4 rounds:
20 backward lunges Overhead (2 10# dumbbells)
10 pushups
20 Kettlebell Swings (25#)
15 chair dips
TIME- 9min

Sprints: 30secs on, 30secs off increase incline every minute
TIME- 14min

Tabata: 8 rounds (20 sec on, 10sec off)
Squats

TUESDAY: 4 Rounds:
15 burpees
25 squats
35 situps
TIME- 11:45

Tabata: 8 rounds (20sec on, 10sec off) 3x

Burpees
Situps
Pushups

WEDNESDAY: 5 rounds:
30 Kettle bell swings (25#)
25 squats (2 12.5# dumbbells)
20 overhead lunges (2 7.5#)
15 push presses (2 12.5#)
10 burpees

Arc Trainer: 30min