8-Week Nutrition Challenge!

My CrossFit box is having a nutrition challenge for the next 8 weeks and I was crazy enough to join!!  It was a $50 buy-in, but I have an opportunity to win it all back!!  Here's the rules, as written by one of the coaches:

Okay, if you're not as skilled in reading messy handwriting (I've had life-long practice with my dad's atrocious writing..you'd think he was a doctor); I'll explain here:

1. It's a combination of zone and paleo (don't worry I'm not done explaining).
2. For the paleo aspect: 
1. Eat all meats, nuts (NO peanuts are not nuts), seeds, and veggies
2. Some fruit is allowed (eat it with breakfast or post workout; try and avoid it later at night, unless you workout at night).
3. Little starch (a little is allowed around workouts and morning)
4. NO SUGAR! (fake sugars are included in this, so dump that crap down the drain!)
5. Keep alcohol VERY limited
3. For the zone aspect: 
1. He took our measurements (weight, body fat %, butt, waist, and arm)
2. Based off all these he gave us our "blocks" (instead of using calories, zone uses blocks, so that you eat more balanced- carbs, fats, and protein)
3. I was given 12 blocks a day 
4. We have to break that into 5 meals a day, so I chose: 3 2 3 1 3
1. This means that at a given meal I will eat that many "blocks" of EACH macro- carb, fat, protein
5. Then we went over what constitutes as a "block"
1. In general, most lean meats are 1oz=1block
2. Eggs: 1egg=1block
3. It varies with veggies and fruits, but if you google "zone diet" there's really good documents that have how much amount of food= a block
4. Every night we have to fill out our charts that give us points, or take away, for everything we've ingested and our workouts.
5. We are also suggested to start taking fish oil (or eat fish) and multivitamins
1. I choose a fish oil (I HATE fish) and it has a special coating, so it doesn't taste funky
2. I have a multivitamin from HyVee based on GNC's women's mega (for WAY cheaper)
6. We also are told to pick 3 meals a week and not worry about zone or paleo.  This does NOT mean to let loose and go crazy; still try and stay healthy, but don't get caught up on staying within the exact blocks.

Okay, so that was a pretty simplified explanation, so if you have any questions: comment below or ask me on my Facebook or Twitter!  Of course, I will still be eating my ENERGYBits before workouts because they fit within my guidelines and they've improved my performance SOOO much!!

Now, why am I doing this?!  Well, recently at CrossFit we've been talking about our weaknesses and nutrition is definitely one of them!  I mean I eat pretty healthy, but I could do so much better!!  Also, it really hit me when one of the girls, that I usually try and keep up with during workouts, said, "I just want to do it to show off all the hard work I put in here."  It's SOOO true; I work my ass off and only eat "pretty" healthy?!  Does that make sense..yeah doesn't to me either!  My sister-in-law tells her friends/coworkers that I'm a "shit, brick house."  Well, I'm pretty small and built, but I'd like anyone on the street who saw me to say that about me!

Also, I decided it was time to make a change and hold myself accountable after the coach took our measurements...yikes!  Now they're not horrible, but NO WHERE near where I would like them.  Here goes..don't judge:

1. Weight: 125#
2. Body Fat %: 22.5%
3. Waist: 29.5"
4. Butt: 35.5"
5. Arm: 10.5"

I'd like my BF% in the teens (not low teens though) and my waist closer to 27-26."

I'll leave you with a picture from my breakfast this AM: 1/4 cantaloupe, 3/4 cup egg whites, and 2.25 cup kale sauteed in olive oil.

Do you follow any special diets?  If so, which one?  

Tales of a Carb Junkie and Overtrainer

Hey!  This is going to be a little shorter posting, but I think it is very important information I recently came upon.  These past couple of weeks I was feeling lathargic and unmotivated.  I was having trouble even eating the necessary calories each day.  Then last week I got a nasty cold that had taken residence in both my head, nose, throat, and lungs.  I decided this weekend to figure out what was going on, so I asked my trainer to help me out.  When we met last night, after she looked at my nutrition, workouts, and cardio she said I most likely had "overtraining syndrome." 

Overtraining syndrome is a side effect of, well training too much and not resting enough.  Some basic symptoms are: lose in motivation, lose in appetite, and irritability (sound familiar??).  I was overdoing and sending my body into over drive and my body was finally fed up with it.  My body was like a toddler that no longer wants to play along, sitting in the corner, crossing their arms, and saying, "NO."  So after much discussion we changed my training schedule: Mon: Swim, Tues: Spin AM Strength PM, Wed: Run, Thurs: Swim AM Strength PM, Fri: REST, Sat: Spin & Strength, Sun: REST

Okay, that seemed easy enough. It actually took a lot of pressure off me because I no longer felt the need to be lifting and doing cardio everyday, except Sunday.  Then, we moved onto nutrition (a word that sometimes makes me cringe and makes me nervous).  I had started reverting back to eating the same things all the time (meat, veggies, protein shakes), so my trainer said I need to add more "color" back into my nutrition (which I was doing good for a while).  I need to have more veggie diversity in my diet and less protein drinks.  So my goal is to eventually take out all the unprocessed foods, like protein drinks and protein bars (Clif are okay if I'm in a pinch for time) and replace them with more "meals," like chicken, tuna steaks, vegetables, fruit, peanut butter, etc.  Another thing I needed to add back: CARBS!  Not bad carbs, like processed buns or fried food, but good ones, like Ezekiel bread or oatmeal. 

Carbs have always been a "dirty" word in my vocabulary (I'm sure a lot more people think this way too).  They've been given a bad name by the media and fitness industries.  They have become known as the brown item that gives you that spare tire around your waist.  When I started training for marathons, about four years ago, I fell in love with carbs.  They are what fueled me to start my runs and helped me heal after my marathons.  It was a main staple in my marathon life- I had become a carb and cardio junkie.  Then when I decided to take time off of marathons after Chicago this year I didn't need all those carbs.  I started trying to slowly cut down on them (outside of vegetables).  I always found it very difficult and mentally almost harder than completing a marathon!  Then, a few weeks ago I tried to cut out any carb, besides ones that came from veggies and fruit and a few I'd allow myself to have every week (BAD IDEA).  This did NOT help combined with my overtraining.  I started becoming worndown, irritable, and didn't even want to get out of bed because I was so tired.  After, talking with my trainer I realized that I am not one of those girls that is going to be able to have some ripped six-pack AND I'm TOTALLY okay with that.  I cannot physically or emotionally survive on a low carb diet (anything under 100grams per day and I'm shot).  It doesn't mean that I'm not just as healthy or healthier than those people (I wonder if they completed 4 marathons and 2 half marathons while still in college with 2 part-time jobs?), I just don't have the all elusive six-pack (I have more of a four pack- which I love just as much). 

The last thing I learned last night from my trainer that sums up all this is: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.  The more we know the better off and stronger we become.  Previously, I had thought I only needed extra carbs from bread and oatmeal if I was training for a marathon and I only thought an overtraining injury could be physical, like a twisted ankle..but now I know better.

So what I am getting at is learn from my mistakes (because trust me before all this my trainer told me NOT to do these things, but I had to find them out on my own).

1. Take time OFF- watch the slippery slope
2. ADD color into your diet
3. Take out all the processed foods and protein drinks
4. Eat CARBS (good carbs)
5. Most importantly LOVE yourself- no matter what your body type, your body has done some awesome things

For more info about "overtraining syndrome": http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/overtraining.html
For more info about my trainer: http://kendallpersonalfitness.blogspot.com/