Longest post ever...

This is going to be a long one so tuck in grab a beverage and hang on tight. Crazy busy weekend with lots of activities and such. It is Sunday and I still have yet to sit down and map out a whole 30 menu & list for my friend. I have carried my materials and note book around all weekend and have still been unable to get it together. Today I am cleaning and painting my house getting ready for our annual Halloween Chili dinner on Wednesday and I am taking a short mental health break to start this post. Shhhh...

So let's get to the fun stuff first. I actually got to WOD Saturday which I didn't think was going to happen because we were going to the theater and I thought we had to be there early...but alas! Saturday WOD

Grace

30 reps for time

clean & jerks

55#

5:09

Cherry

Tabata rows - 8 rounds

distance - 710

I really love Grace, because I really like clean and jerks. They are hard without being a thruster or back squat which makes you want to jump off of a crossfit cliff. I was also pretty excited to do them with 55#. Last time I did Grace I finished in 3:00+ minutes with a 35# barbell. I was happy to have some decent weight and still have a decent time. I really could have pushed faster in this wod because half way through I was taking breaks I didn't need, like I mentally thought I needed them but physically I was fine. Apparently my mental fitness has not caught up with my physical fitness. I gotta work on that. 

The tabata hit me fore another revelation. I am getting fit, I hadn't rowed yet, not even in our beginner class so this was my first time, I waited until the last heat to do mine because I was sure I would die...it really wasn't bad at all!! Like I could have rowed more, it is mostly legs and I am getting some strong legs. After rowing I was sitting there thinking, wow...this is amazing...CROSSFIT RULES! Plus Coach Kari rowed with me so I wasn't alone and nothing better than to have an elite athlete next to you to motivate your butt!

See I have been having this mental pity party. Pre-children I could sit on the couch for a few months and then decide to get back into the fit swing of things and run 5 miles right off of the bat. No problem. I could hit the gym, lift, yoga whatever. However after a good 5 years of nothing but child play it has been really hard to get it back. I had convinced myself that I had lost it and it would never come back because I was running 3-5 days a week and was still struggling. The problem was I was going about it wrong. First off as a teenager I went to a high school that had a "health related fitness" program I was in. we spent 2 days in the gym working out, 3 days in the classroom leaning basics of fitness and nutrition. Besides that I ran track and was basically active most of the time. In college I hit the gym at my university and ran as well. I had a good foundation and even if I had months of being inactive, that foundation was still there. I could get back into shape and lose weight quickly. After having kids...OY! So while I was hammering out miles and miles trying to get fit again, my definition of fit being running long distances, I was losing momentum and staying completely frustrated with my lack of progress. I was so focused on my aerobic conditioning I didn't give much thought to my strength. 

Fast forward to 8 weeks of CrossFit, I am a completely different person. I am so much stronger, leaner, happier, healthier. It has very little to do with age, my genes are still the same, athletic...it is just the years of inactivity has caused me to lose the muscle mass and strength I had. I kept thinking if I ran and ran and ran I would lose the weight and then I could work on strength...all wrong. So wrong, and while I have always loved weight training I never really looked at the prospect of heavy lifting until CrossFit. Now I want a 200# dead lift, #95, 3:00 min Grace! I have barely run since I started, but when I do it isn't this long droning painful activity, I am powerful, strong and I enjoy it more. And while the scale doesn't move much I am shrinking everywhere. I am fine with this because I would rather be fit than skinny fat.

So lots of fun stuff this weekend. This week is officially the last week of the nutrition challenge, I have lost 4 lbs total but I know I have lost a ton of fat because even my underwear don't fit anymore. Since I am starting the whole 30 I will be keeping things really tight to work harder on leaning out. I had planned on starting the whole 30 today but life passed me by and I made the mistake of eating a Reese cup at my mother in laws last night...not sure why chocolate or peanut butter needs wheat but apparently it does, I spent last night sick as a dog and even went into migraine mode. I have not had a migraine in a couple of months. In my opinion based on observation, my migraines are caused by a) foods b) hormones. Since I avoid allergy food & my hormones are starting to behave I have been not only migraine free but headache free...I forgot how bad those suckers hurt. Totally not worth the candy, even though I love my some peanut butter and chocolate.

Yesterday we had pizza night, we deem Saturdays Family Fun Day because our weekdays are always so busy we don't get a lot of quality family time. We love to hang out, the four of us and play or watch movies and as the kids get older even play games. So last night we decided on Pizza night where everyone makes their own pizza or as my kids call it "decorate" their own pizza. Daddy-O had bought us some gluten free pizza crust but I decided to make my first Meatza.

She loves to cook

Pizza artist

Daddy-O getting instruction from Firecracker

MEATZA!!!

1 lb ground beef

marinara sauce (sugar free)

pizza toppings of choice

cheese

Preheat over to 400 degrees.  I seasoned my beef with Penzeys pizza seasoning, garlic powder, salt & pepper. place the beef on a baking sheet and start working it into a circle. I worked it until it was about a half an inch thick. 

Bake in the oven about 15 min. When you get it out drain the fat that has accumulated. I patted the top dry with a paper towel. Then I took the marinara added it, topped with some great stuff and then cheese. I put it back in the oven for another 15 min until my cheese was melted and bubbly. YUM!

.....

Today I made some pumpkin cranberry muffins from Practical Paleo and added some dark chocolate chips for fun. This is by far my favorite recipe in the book. My kids eat them up. They are super tasty and hard to resist.

Mmmm these are so good!

While these were cooking I had Daddy-O start me some sauerkraut also from Practical Paleo, this isn't our first fermented kraut but the first time using her recipe. It was so easy because Trader Joe's sells shredded cabbage so there was less work. I can't wait for this! We have this great contraption Daddy-O came up with to keep the fermenting process neat and tidy. There are benefits to knowing a brewmaster. haha.

Outside of my morning muffin with coffee I didn't eat well today. I am still feeling the after effects of the wheat and I was on a mission to clean my house. I used to be someone who didn't sit still much and really had a clean house. Every month or so I would wipe my kitchen down from head to toe and I was on a steady rotation of spring & fall cleaning. Then I had kids, and got sick and blah blah. The old me is slowly coming back, I have so much more energy and just basic strength to do stuff. I have also regained my balance that had left me after having my son. I was my nimble catty self climbing all over my counters and stools  to wipe down my kitchen again. I was a sweaty pig when I was done so I count it as a pretty good workout.

I was so into my cleaning I just grabbed stuff throughout the day and didn't cook dinner. I am paying for it now because I need to good day of clean eating to recover from wheat, I haven't done that so I get prolonged symptoms...yay me!

As I mentioned we have an annual chili dinner at our house on Halloween for family. We started this tradition when my son was born as a way for everyone to get together, see the kids costumes and enjoy Halloween. I had thought about going all out on a paleo menu but life is insane at the moment so I am going with a paleo chili and then just some regular sides. I won't have much posting going on this week until after the party because I will be on a cleaning frenzy and my kids tear up my house faster than I can clean.

I will try to check in with some menus & wods but after Halloween I will for sure have a list up for you and a menu for a week of Whole30 meals. 

The CrossFit Walk

Why does morning come so early sometimes? It is even harder to get out of bed when it is dark out and one of your kiddos is snuggled up next to you...but alas I must get up! I can't wait for the time change, I hate waking up in the dark, it just isn't natural...I mean roosters do not crow until the sun is coming out.

So I reluctantly got up and started cooking some sausage bites. Tomorrow is grocery day and today it is slim pickings at our house. We have what we call a Friday kitchen, you know one thing and not the other. I didn't really want eggs so I just ate a couple of sausage bites and an apple. I drank a coffee with some milk and a pinch of sugar, and water. Not my best breakfast ever but I was really tired. 

So I sucked it up and went to CrossFit today fearing the worst. Show up...it is never as bad as your mind makes it. On paper the WOD looked horrendous, in practice, with scaling it wasn't bad at all. Today's workout.

25 sit ups

1 muscle-up

20 sit ups

2 MU

15 sit ups

3 MU

10 sit ups

4 MU

5 sit ups

5 MU

Time 4:59

Cherry

Hold arms out with weights for time

35 seconds 10 lbs weights

I love muscle ups, ask any crossfitter and they will tell you that is their goal. They are bad a** and anyone telling you they don't want to be able to do a muscle up and talk about it, is fibbing. This is a goal for me and the prospect of them is far off in the future and will involve lots of work but the progression I did today was fun and felt really good. I just need to get my arms stronger. I enjoyed doing them so much I want to go rig up a pseudo ring kit in my garage to practice ha. I am a mess.

At CrossFit today we were talking about spotting a crossfitter out in public and Charlie mentioned the "walk". I totally know what he is talking about because I try hard to not have the walk. I mean just because I feel massively badda** doesn't mean I should walk around like I am one. It is hard to resist. I mean seriously, ask yourself how you would feel after doing 100 pull ups in Angie? I wanted to tell anyone who would listen because hey...it was tough and I survived. I love when people bring up crossfit, although if you see me and mention it you may want to run away because it is my favorite topic these days. It is pretty consuming, I do it, I like to talk about it, I read about it ever day, I mean I burn up my phone battery watching you tube at night. Nothing like watching really hard WODs to get you to sleep ha. There is just something about it once you start doing it. I totally get why there are things floating around pinterst that say it is a cult, I am sure people around me feel like I am recruiting. I just love to see people happy and healthy and man CrossFit makes you happy and the healthy part comes along. Not only do you get the biggest endorphin high ever, you feel like you are a superhero because you have done this insane workout and lived and...want to do it again. I am consumed and I completely understand the CrossFit walk.

Let's also not forget that it makes your body strong and look good. I mean have you seen these athletes...hot stuff. I was working what I thought was really hard to lose weight and get somewhat back in shape. In the 8 weeks of crossfit my entire body has changed. I have been looking for my old measurements to compare because today I put on a shirt that I used to completely fill in the belly area and it was HUGE on me. Not to mention the fact that I do not own a single pair of underwear that fit me, as in the fall off as I walk (or ahem workout). Even my workout pants are getting too big and when I try to run in them they just slide down...score! Ladies, hear me now if you want a way to lose fat fast, CrossFit. The scale doesn't move much but I am like the incredible shrinking woman!

Okay I told you, it is my favorite topic outside of my kids and Daddy-O :D. So I am not going to post tomorrow for the 2 of you who wait with bated breath for a new post. I am going to work on a menu and meal plan for a friend who is going to whole30 with me. I will also not start this until Sunday because of plans we have this weekend which will leave me with little allergy free options much less Whole30. But...starting Sunday, whole30...more pictures, more recipes and good stuff. Stay tuned 46ers!

Girl on Fire...

Okay, I will be honest when I woke up this morning there was a fair amount of pain involved in any movement. I was both proud and kind of a weenie about it. Proud because I worked hard for this pain and a weenie because all day I have felt like the girl on fire. I have been popping Omega 3 and chowing protein all day.

Today started with me literally rolling out of bed into a hot shower to get ready for a field trip with Geeps. While I crammed in an hour of work Daddy-O cooked me up some eggs and red potatoes, typically I don't eat potatoes but since the are glucose I thought my muscles might like the treat. I gobbled it down with some coffee with milk. I was starving. Daddy-O also made me some chicken to take on the field trip. We went to a local farm that is a mecca of activity this time of year. We got to ride on a tractor...I had to hang on tight and was bounced around...ouch. Then we walked through a corn maze...ouch. After that some pumpkin picking...owww and capped it off with more tractor riding...ugh. While the moving around and everything was good at keeping me more fluid any quick movements that involved using my muscles was a bit annoying.

After the hustle bustle we sat down with the kids for some country cooking which equals large quantities of wheat so I brought my lunch. This was interesting and when the director of the farm field trip division was asking parents to pay for their meals I told her that due to food allergies I brought mine. Dinner was $12...she made me pay $9. Not sure what I paid for but I am going with a $9 pumpkin. Anyway I had a chicken breast, whole avocado and some coconut water. I was again starving and it hit the spot and sustained me for a bit.

Around 3:30 I hit a hunger like no other and I wanted meat like a vampire wants blood. I tried a cheese stick but it wasn't enough so I ... gulped a protein shake. I had sworn these off, but there I was no precooked meat anywhere in my house, I was needing protein and there was that big barrel staring me down. So I drank it and it satisfied me while I sat outside to work enjoying the beautiful fall weather and watched the kids wear themselves out.

Better than a corner office

For dinner Daddy-O cooked up some bacon wrapped chicken on the grill and I made some paleo fried apples and chard. It was a great fall meal and my kids gobbled it down like it was Halloween candy. What can I say my kids love bacon...you should have seen them with the chocolate bar that had bacon in it. Crazy!

So here it is the end of the night and I am getting ready to plop on the couch and work my day job, I have seen the WOD for tomorrow and what does it have...sit ups and muscle ups. I can't do a muscle up yet but I am sure there is some version of a pull up or ring dip I will be doing...regardless the workout will require all of the muscles that are on fire at the moment, including the muscle in my back I didn't even know existed. Ha!

The running dead...

Today I woke up fairly excited for the WOD...Angie. Another benchmark workout for me to write down only to visit it again down the road and try to beat my time/weight/scales. I got up did the whole hurried school morning thing and cooked me some chicken breasts to eat post wod. I had my same breakfast as last Thursday...

Breakfast - 2 eggs, scrambled. apple with almond butter, coffee with some milk & a spoon of sugar.

This is a breakfast I read on a couple of sites for a good pre wod fuel, Chris Spealler also eats something similar to this and I value his advice. In hindsight I should have eaten a second apple, even though I had  a spoon of sugar in my coffee, because I felt my muscles completely gassed of fuel today. But of course they were...here is what I did.

Angie

100 pull ups

100 push ups

100 sit ups

100 squats

Time 37:11

Cherry

800m run

5:14

I went into this workout positive and hoping I could do it in less than 2 hours so I could pick up Firecracker on time. I think it took me like 15 min just to finish the pull ups. I did each move in sets of 10 (not unbroken 10, just groups of 10) The push ups were a bit faster, I rocked the sit ups quickly and the squats too. I will be honest I didn't try to do these as fast as possible, I didn't beat myself up over breaks and resting I wanted to get the reps in, I can speed it up later. See you can scale Angie, so 100 is rx then you have 75 & 50. I showed up not knowing that and since I had mentally prepared all night for 400 total reps, I wasn't going to scale them. Do not think, however that at 50 pull ups I wasn't thinking hey I can stop right now if I want, I didn't want to go out like that. I wanted to do every last rep if it took me 2 hours. 

After I was done and feeling amazing I looked at the Cherry and sort of went "hell no thank you" but then I saw one of the guys from the group coming in from doing it and he was not dead so why the heck not! He was so awesome he even set the clock for me and stood outside while I ran...like a zombie. See you never really realize how much you use your arms to run until you can't use you arms. My right arm is pretty weak (leftie) and I literally could not bend my arm up in a normal running stance. SO I was running one arm bent on strainght on 100 squat legs...when I turned to run back with the sun behind me my shadow looked like a zombie trying to run. I am sure people though I was delirious because I got a fit of giggles at my shadow. Let's just say Rick would have shot me without thinking about it with this run. But I did it and it wasn't bad. 

 

Post WOD I grabbed my chicken, I won't lie it was really hard to swallow, literally. I took two bites and then immediately felt I might hurl. I stopped eating, drank some water, sat down and tried again. I picked at about half of one breast and decided no one wanted to see me yack. At least I got some in. When I finally got home from picking up Firecracker and I was numb from head to toe I walked into my house to find a dog s**t storm. I kid you not my dog exploded all over my house. It looked like someone was murdered in poo. So here I am exhausted, starving and trying to calm my gagging 3 yr old and now I have to clean up poo. Fun times...can you say a lesson in mental toughness. After an hour of mess cleaning I was finally able to disinfect myself and make lunch. 

Lunch - taco soup with leftover post wod chicken added in. water. 

I thought I would eat more and the fact that I inhaled dog poo for an hour may have lightened my appetite so I only had a small bowl. Right now I can tell you if I make it past 8pm tonight it will be a bleeping miracle. This was a hard wod, something that screams recovery nap!!

After I fought through an afternoon of work it was taekwando time. Luckily Daddy-O gets dinner duty on Tuesdays so I walked in the door a hungry beast and chowed...

Dinner - roast beef, blue potatoes and chard...yum!

After dinner I got to plop on the couch with my ultra exhausted self and work. Sometimes the best thing about working from home is I have an excuse to sit on the couch from time to time. I don't get to sit much when I am at home. So I chose tonight to sit and chill and crunch some reports. While I am really tired and my body feels fatigued, I ultimately feel amazing. My head is very clear and I feel energized, it is hard to explain the feeling of being energized and worn out at the same time.

I also feel a pretty decent sense of pride with myself, today was a hard workout, one of the hardest so far. In a day in the life of a CrossFitter however this is just  day, a benchmark to beat. For me who is at the bottom it was a moment to prove to myself just how tough I can be and how bad I want to have that extreme wellness. It was hard, it took a long time and I am sure I will be in pain tomorrow, but today I will sit back, feel proud and pray there are no pull ups Thursday! 

Confirmation & gearing up for a Whole 30-ish

Happy Monday Y'all. This weekend was a total beast of activity hence the lack of posting anything. Business started Friday night and essentially went non-stop until Saturday night, there was a brief 7 hours of sleep in there somewhere. I was so exhausted Sunday I didn't do anything. I folded one load of laundry...that is it. Otherwise I was the poster girl for a couch potato.

One of the events of the weekend was attending my husband's fraternity alumni dinner. We went to a couple of these when we were dating and kind of didn't again until this year. It was good times, seeing old friends and even ate a nice paleo meal! One of the organizers of this event actually eats paleo and crossfits, he and his wife both do and I wanted to totally spend the night geeking out about it but there was too much catching up going on. One friend I did get to geek with is a guy who is a health and fitness guru. I was dying to pick his brain and we ended up having a pretty detailed conversation about me, my hormones and the fibroid living rent free in my uterus. He is a lot like me when it comes to medicine and medical interventions (and GMO, and food industries) so I value his opinion. Essentially in our talk he confirmed I am estrogen dominant and gave some pointers on what I can do, most of which I am already rocking out. There are a couple of things I am going to start implementing. 

See I have already hit a major change this month **warning girlie hormone talk* I ended up having mild PMS...a whole 24 hours before my monthly friend showed up instead of 2 weeks before and had a very uneventful ovulation ( I will leave out the ugly details of months past) he said this was huge (which I personally knew lol) and so I am ready to ramp it up. I am going to spend this week planning out my grocery list for the next 30 days starting Friday as I complete another whole30. This will be really easy to transition to because I am already off of so many things for the nutritional challenge. I am also going to start some new supplements that focus on detoxing estrogen. The whole 30 will help me lean out and get rid of the fat that keeps the estrogen happily nestled in my body. Cushion be gone! Estrogen be gone too!

I have the world's BEST timing ever for doing this don't I? I could easily say "oh I will start after the holidays" but haven't I been this way long enough? I want to go see both of my doctors in January and floor them with my changes. I want to be better now and there is no amount of holiday fare that is worth living this way one more day. I have come so far in just 6 weeks, further than I have in almost an entire year of trying to change and detox this estrogen. Besides...I can make some paleo treats if it gets too bad. I am already planning a chocolate bacon bark from Practical Paleo as my party food contribution. Yum!

I am hoping by tightening things up with the whole30, I can lean out, regulate my insulin levels and further heal my system. I am going through some crazies right now while things regulate. For example, I have been having strange random anxiety attacks. They remind of ones I had as a teenager when I had a test, or a date. I am aware of them and I try to calm myself but they just have to wear themselves out. Luckily I can keep myself in check until it is gone. I have also noticed my mind feels more clear at times, then catatonic others. I have felt like a total ding bat since I had kids but this catatonic state makes me feel a bit like rainman. I am having this same pendulum swing with energy as well, one minute I am cleaning my entire house, the next minute I can barely stay awake. These new fun times let me know I am really changing and things are working out.

So here is a quick list of what I ate today.

Breakfast - 1 egg, 2 sl bacon, pickle, & coffee
Snack - cheese stick, applesauce
Lunch - 2 chicken breasts, brussels sprouts
Dinner - Taco soup with cheese & sour cream
Snack - handful macadamias

I have been chatting with a friend about paleo and CrossFit, I have also had a couple of people hit me up about paleo and resources. So if you are interested in doing the whole 30 with me leave a comment or hit me up on facebook (search minus the 46). I am going to do a post of my grocery list and menu plan for each week. I will begin this Friday and have that post up then. Since the 30 days will go into Thanksgiving, I will have some posts on Thanksgiving food choices as well. I personally think that everyone should get a free day since it will be close to the end of the challenge but I am plan on sticking to the plan, mainly because well I am allergic to everything else. haha.

Well I am going to bed now because tomorrow I am going to be doing "Angie" it is a benchmark workout and consists of 100 pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and squats. BAM...so I am going to bed because I need to get up early enough for a huge breakfast and to make me some chicken boobies to take for some post workout recovery. I am just hoping I can get it done in the 2 hour window I have before I have to pick up Firecracker! Wish me luck!!

Happy Thor's Day

Or Thursday for the lay person. Ha

So last night I spent about an hour researching pre and post WOD eats. Tuesday left me so exhausted and tanked I could barely function so I need to step up my game and plan better for nutrition. I am going to try out what I read today.

There are a million different opinions out there as to what and when of eating around working out. I was doing what Coach Kari had recommended with great results so that was my main focus while researching. While I pretty much had the what, it was the when I wanted the nitty gritty on. The whole Glycogen window is pretty much in agreement in anything you read. This is why so many people rely on shakes and powders. Since those try to kill me, I have to avoid them...so what to do. I read a great post by a competitive crossfitter and am going to try his method today.

I know I am not a competitive athlete, there were 100 pages on what to eat as competitive and what to eat if you aren't, I don't think there should be a difference except possibly quantity. I mean I want the same recovery as any athlete and while I may not be working out at their level I am maxing out my level, so give me the elite examples!

Here is what I did this morning before starting the crazy day!

Meal #1 (7:00)
2 eggs cooked in grassfed butter topped with 1 tbsp parm cheese
apple with almond butter
Coffee with half & half and a pinch of sugar
water

While I ate this and got everyone ready for their day I cooked 2 chicken breasts in the oven. I read that if your goal is to lean out limit post WOD starches. I will add these back in after my jiggle is gone. Today I planned on 2 3oz chicken breasts and some celery. Most things I read said to avoid fruit because glucose and fructose are different and by eating starches like yams it is direct muscle food. I won't be eating an because I am trying to lean out.

Meal #2 (10:30-ish)
chicken breast
celery
water

So after we were done and rolled out I went out to grab my chicken and started eating it. I felt really goofy until I pulled it out and everyone thought it was a good idea. I had brought 2 chicken breasts but found I could only eat one and gave the other to Charlie.

Meal #3 (12:30)
un-breadwich sandwich stack (extra meat)
tomato soup
steamed vegetables

I was starving, something I read last night said that the post workout snack was just that a snack and that within 2 hours you should eat a full meal. Well you ain't just whistling dixie, I was starving. So much so I decided to hit Jason's deli because going home would mean it would be at least another 30 min before I ate. I got my favorite sandwich stacked with added meat, because I was a beast for some protein. It looks so pretty I had to take a picture of it. I also wolfed down my soup and half of my steamed veggies. I was extremely hungry. Today was a hefty WOD and I had the appetite to prove it. Speaking of...

Today's WOD

5x5 front squats 55#

8 rounds for time

5 squat cleans (scaled 35#)

5 box jumps RX 20"

15 ring push ups, scaled

19:05

This was a doozey, this was one of those workouts that have me a nervous wreck before I reach the box. I really need to stop looking at the WODs ahead of time, I get myself all worked up. I am not sure why, I am funny with crossfit. I get super anxious on the way there, doubt myself while doing the workout, and them feel like a champ after. My crossfit emotional roller coaster. I also want to say that I have gone on about Charlie being a great coach, well his wife Kari has been coaching the morning classes I have been to. These two are a perfect match because she is just as good. I can't even put in to words how they coach but you just know you can do it when they say you can. I have been really scared of box jumps (and the threat of 50 burpees for crashing your shin doesn't help) they intimidate more than anything else. I have been using the 12 inch box basically out of fear. Well today I tried one on the 20 " box and Kari was like oh you got that. Now I have done them on the 20 before but I just never really believed I could do that in the workout. I mean today I even did my first round on the 20", chickened out to the 12' on the second, realized I was being a pansy and did the rest on the 20". However, that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been encouraged by Kari. They are some good coaching stock I tell ya. 

Meal #4 (4:00)

Cheese stick

apple

Kind of hungry just needed something to tide me over until dinner. 

Meal #5 (6:00)

pork steak (trimmed)

roasted vegetables with sweet potatoes

Quick fast dinner so we could go to open house and Firecracker's school. I am going to be coming home, watching vampire diaries and going to bed...

Wordless Wednesday

Helen of Troy...technical difficulties...

Let me start by saying I am having some serious technical difficulties on this blog. I am not changing any coding, lay out...anything and something is janked on my blog daily. My ever the tech geek Daddy-O is going to work on it and I am probably going to move to word press since it is easier to follow there. Until then

This morning after getting Geeps off to school, Daddy-O off to work and got Firecracker ready I grabbed some leftover PaleO'Bryan and some hot pumpkin tea. Gobbled it down while I ran through some work accounts then got dressed, took Firecracker to school and headed to the box. I got to spend this morning with Helen. 

Today's WOD

Press 7x1 - PR @ 65#

then

Helen

3 rounds for time

400m run

21 kettlebell swings - 26#

12 pull ups with band

Time 15:42

I scaled this WOD, in all honesty I could have probably started with the RX 35# KB but would have had to scale back on the second or third round. The pull ups are getting better but I think my core keeps them from being great where I can scale down bands. I think I am going to try to do 5-10 pull ups everyday I am there and there isn't a pull up in the work out, thinking about doing knees to elbows too. I am ready to start doing these sans band. I feel like I could kip better. The running portion of this wasn't near as bad as the one I did here at home Sunday. I mean I had to walk on 3 of the 4 rounds but today kept it steady and constant. Best part...no rips!!

For lunch I grabbed some leftover paleo Shepherd's Pie from this weekend. Honestly I prefer mashed cauliflower to potatoes. My kids really liked it on Saturday as well so a kid pleaser is always good.

3:30
Okay I am starving and nothing I eat seems to satiate me. After a cup of cottage cheese, an apple and 2 pumpkin almond flour pancakes I was still super hungry. I finally grabbed about 3 oz of leftover steak and was able to chill. I should have grabbed more vegetables but I just wanted protein.

For dinner tonight Geeps asked to get Qdoba, I am completely tanked from this morning's workout and have a house that looks like a frat house it is so messy. Dinner out it was so I could get home, clean and then relax. I grabbed some beef tacos it is the only thing there that doesn't make me sick because almost everything else on the menu has wheat or possible wheat contamination. The tacos were delish! Beef!!!

I swear I am so tanked by this morning's workout, probably largely because I didn't really plan for this workout food wise. Typically when I do a wod I have dinner shortly after which is high in protein. These morning workouts are different cats all together and I am going to have to find my right combo to keep from feeling like a ravenous beast all day.

I don't have much else for you today. I read an interesting blurb about leaky gut I might post about but today my mind and body is exhausted...it is hard training to be bad ass. 

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

It is that time of year, when I turn into a monster pumpkin eater. My insane affinity for pumpkin wasn't helped at all when I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and they were baking pumpkin bread. The entire place smelled divine. I lurve me some pumpkin. Fall is my absolute favorite season, even though they all have their pluses, I got engaged and married in the Fall. Everything about it is so great...especially the pumpkins. When it comes to recipes if it has pumpkin in it I want it. This year there will probably not be the pumpkin roll or pumpkin bread of years past but I am also racking up my own paleo pumpkin recipes. 

This morning I started my day with making pumpkin pancakes for the kids. I made me one about 1 inch in diameter and topped with pumpkin butter, they were amazing. No pictures yet but look for a recipe post coming up. I also woke up to an email from PaleOMG of which was packed with links to pumpkin recipes, including a chicken dish I think is in our very near dinner future. I drooled over them and am sure I will make most of them soon. 

It isn't just pumpkins which catch my attention this time of year, there is also butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, beets and turnips. I love seeing how and when I want things because I try to figure what it is I need in that season and why those foods are there. I have said before that God provides foods at different times for a reason. I am talking about real food, natural food not man made or industrial foods. I am sure a lot of these heavier foods are there to beef us up for the winter when food was scarce just like spring foods are there to detox us from a rich winter. But enough about that...what did I eat today!

Meal #1 (7:30)

1.5 cups leftover PaleO'bryan

1 inch round pumpkin pancake with 1/2 tsp pumpkin butter

Coffee with milk

Meal #2(10:00)
1/2 cup buffalo chicken dip (roast chicken, franks hot sauce, lowfat cream cheese)
celery

I was pretty hungry for this meal. I haven't been eating a morning snack but I did a pretty hefty WOD yesterday so I am hungrier today. This recipe is really easy and fits the lower fat diagram. The only difference between this and what I typically make is the blue cheese dressing but I didn't even miss it. I tried this dip with celery at a party once and I was hooked, I prefer it to chips or crackers.

Meal #3 (12:30)
Leftover chicken tortilla soup
1/4 cup cheese

Meal #4 (6:30)
3 oz steak
lemon artichokes
roasted broccoli (um almost 2 heads *blush*)

I didn't eat an afternoon snack and honestly think I would have if I hadn't taken a sudafed but I can't stand this hijacking of my sinuses. So since the drugs had worn off I was pretty hungry. Steak...even lean is still steak! Add some Penzeys Chicago Steak Seasoning and there are no words...let's put it this way, I will never buy a steak out again because they just don't compare. Packed the rest of my plate with a ton of veggies and got my grub on.

Quick recipe...Roasted broccoli
bunch of broccoli cut into florets
olive oil
lemon pepper

place broccoli on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with lemon pepper. Mix with hands until covered. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 min. Ignore the dark parts, I got distracted and let it roast too long. Yum

Snack attack
1/3 cup sipping chocolate

Years ago Starbucks came out with a drink called a Chantico based on European sipping chocolate. I was always fascinated with "un chocolat" as a drink in french class. I am a hot cocoa girl. I am not talking about your nestle instant pouch I am talking real hot cocoa. SO when this drink came out I tried it and it was bad. I was drinking one almost every day, sometimes two. mmmm so good. Well at Trader Joe's the other day a can of sipping chocolate caught my eye...90 calories, score. I grabbed some and tonight, and am sipping it as I type. Not paleo, had to pay points for it, didn't care! Pure pleasure.

So all of that chocolate talk out of the way...


If you are a man and don't want to read about hormones female things etc, turn back now...

So I had mentioned before about wanting try to detox my estrogen dominance. Well get this my peeps...I think it is actually working. This is the first month in a long time I don't have some signs of PMS. I am not even retaining my 5-10 lbs of water. I am not wanting to eat mass amounts of food for no reason and while I am having food cravings (would kill for a Coke right now) I am able to say Hey Hey no way. I do feel a little bloated but I am not actually bloating, pants are still big on me. The most epic change...I am not in kill mode. Actually I am the polar opposite feeling all lovey and sentimental. Now I don't want to jinx myself because I still have a solid week to go south fast, but typically I have 2 full weeks of hellish PMS. Fatigue, harsh cravings, needing to eat like I am a bear, moodiness, restlessness, sleepless nights, you name it. I have the creme de la creme of pms. This month it is all but not here. (oh and the pregnant thing is out of the question)

entering PMS land...

So what is it? I am going with CrossFit, the heavy lifting and higher levels of lactic acid and testosterone. I am still riding myself of sugar, milk and eating high protein and lots of greens and vegetables. I am keeping the junk out (except my chocolate tonight ;) ) and it is starting to pay off. I have had an epic month so far. Now the other alternative is that I am just hitting a hormonal change. I pray for menopause because the fibroid tumor will die and no surgery. Can you say yay!!

Since I started this post with a Halloween picture I have to end with one. Look at this scary monster hanging out in my fridge...

Big Ole bowl of dirt cake...happy to be allergic to it! nom nom nom

WOD on the fly...

Ain't that the truth. 

Today while looking through the schedule at CrossFit Regenration I realized I wouldn't be able to get there until Tuesday. Whoa I haven't had a workout since Thursday...no bueno. So even though I had not intended on doing anything other than a light run I decided I wanted to do a good CrossFit workout. I perused the endless sea of workouts online until hit one that had everything I wanted. Today's WOD. 

4 rounds for time

5x

deadlift

squat clean

push press

400 m run

Time 13:46

Cherry on top

2:00 min amrap

sit-ups

52

I didn't really want to do anything involving squats because I have this odd spot on my upper thigh that kind of aches. I can't tell if it is an injury or just sore, it is really odd and rather than push it, I kind of baby it. Once I found this workout though I was like disco, this is what I want! I decided to use my warm up bar (11lb) for the squat cleans and Belle (the 35#) for the rest. First I want to say I think some bumper plates are in my future as I already need some more weight. Second I am a really bad runner, 400s used to me my thing in track now they are brutal. Lastly I got 3 more sit-ups than the last time I did this cherry picker. 

Like I said I had only planned on going out and phoning it in doing a light run. Kids woke me up at 6 am, I am still feeling ugh from being sick and 100 other excuses I told myself. Then my stronger, new fit self was like...

I so I got up off of my tukus and worked out...I loved it, I feel great and I know I will sleep better tonight haha. I will say for a looong time I have been very insecure about doing a fa real workout at home involving me going out of my garage because of neighbors. So because I am just lucky just so happened that almost all of my neighbors were out to watch me run up the street and back then disappear into my garage only to watch me do it 3 more times. One I finally waved to me and one, I am pretty sure, was coming out to see if I needed CPR as I was gasping through my last 400. I think I actually heard his kid ask what I was doing...something like Daddy what is that crazy lady doing. My answer...being a beast young one ;)

Here is where I found this workout...

I was lucky I a nice breeze and cool air this guy is in the dessert it looks like!!

Walking Dead and PaleO'Bryan

Today is the season premiere of The Walking Dead. It is bittersweet for me because I love this show but have unsettled dreams the entire season. Give me werewolves, vampires, rabid hyenas I don't care they do not scare me, but a zombie...eff that.

For the next few months I will be afraid of the dark and take my 80lb German Shepherd with me outside at night. Haha I know, it is ridiculous but they freak me out. I am also guessing I will workout even harder because I will think if I kill this WOD I can kill a zombie. Think I am kidding, I had been running about 11:30-12 min mile on average and one night when I ran later than usual and it was getting darker earlier I ran 2 miles with an average pace of 10:27...yep I was trying to get home before the zombies came out, true story. So why don't I just not watch it you ask? Because I am bat s**t crazy I guess and it is a great show!!

Well the last two days I have spent most of me time not in the land of the living, I have walked my house like the walking dead. I have been passed out on the couch or bed in a nyquil coma after succumbing to my second illness of the year. The only good thing about this is I am praying this is making my immune system grow stronger. I have all but gone belly up on the challenge mainly due to a seriously lack of appetite and doing anything but sleep. I have also not been to a class or even exercised since Thursday. I have kept a tally of what food I have eaten and the small amount of points I have obtained (I know I was getting at least 8 hours of sleep haha) but other wise it has been oh I need to eat grab and eat.

Today I feel more rejuvenated and better, not 100% but better. Last night we took our little goblins to the zoo for some sugar laden, character sprinkled chaos, aka our Zoo's Halloween party. It was INsane, I might need therapy. So today I am going to spend all day cleaning and prepping for the week. Getting my emergency proteins cooked and in the fridge. I am even going to make some homemade mayo to go with my homemade chicken salad. I am thinking about squeezing in a run as well. We have a busy week coming up!

Snake Eyes & Spider Girl

I am really going to return to this challenge with new vigor and better organization. See the thing is I have been pretty critical of/harsh on this challenge. Every CrossFit box I have seen or explored online/social media/pinterest has had a Paleo seminar/potluck/challenge and to be honest I was disappointed. However, instead of being a big girl (good Christian) I have been the opposite. Besides bacon and butter most everything else was what I typically eat (- the starch category) and I should have just gone with that, losing points for not eating 6 times a day. I didn't...I found CrossFit through paleo (actually Robb Wolf to be specific) and it was one of the reasons I was attracted to it (there are lots) but the main reason I was into it, is the opposite of how I have been acting lately. I love my paleo lifestyle, for CrossFit athletes it is obviously a great diet because the CrossFit world promotes it, and we even had a lesson on their food philosophy which highly mimics paleo. So to have a challenge that is very close to the diet I was prescribed, the one and only time I had a consult with a personal trainer at a globo gym, was kind of a let down.

 

CrossFit Guidlines

I am not saying this because I think that my diet is better than others, honestly it was going to be a chance for 1. people to see how amazing this diet is 2. me to have a local community I could talk to about being a cave woman. Everywhere I go people go on about "how hard this must be, I could never give up bread, oh that is awfu"l yada yada, or I get comments like I am an elitist, "I eat bread and I am fine, I don't see anything wrong with beans". I was looking forward to being able to talk to people who (after that first week) would be like "man I feel amazing". But alas...I have my online community of people who can relate to me. And in case you are wondering, there are other CrossFit boxes out there locally who promote paleo lifestyles/pot lucks/seminars, but they aren't CrossFit Regeneration. While I have no doubt that they are all great places my box has what I need. It isn't perfect but it is perfect for me.

So enough about that...who wants a recipe!! You, alright here you go.

I have dubbed this recipe PaleO'Bryan. When it was just Daddy-O and me I would make potatoes O'Bryan all of the time, they are so tasty. It is basically diced potatoes, onions & green peppers. I have been seeing tons of sweet potato hashes out there in the Paleo Blogosphere but not one that really made me go mmm yummy!! Then I found this recipe from Undressed Skeleton and my mouth was watering. I love this blog, this young girl overcame so much and literally changed her life. She always has amazing recipes, most of which I can convert to my way of eating, just like this recipe. She is extremely upbeat and cute as hell.

Plan for this it takes some time!!!

PaleO'Bryan

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 lb breakfast sausage (use the sausage of your liking, turkey, vegetarian whatever, I used pork)

1 bell pepper, rough chop

1/2 large onion, rough chop (I used 9 pearl onions because I was out of onions...gasp!)

4 eggs, beat like a zombie trying to eat you

salt

pepper

garlic powder

olive oil

In a large pan start browning your sausage, while it is cooking peel and cube sweet potatoes...this should be listed as a WOD because this was a workout. Sharp knife is essential here, but even then prepare to work that arm muscle. Go ahead and also dice the onion and pepper. 

Brown Sausage

Peel and dice potatoes

Once your sweet potatoes are all cut up and you have worked you arm to fatigue...place them in a large glass microwave safe bowl (sorry got lost in the moment no pic). Drizzle olive oil over top then salt and pepper them. Toss to coat evenly and put in the microwave for 5-8 min. I started at 5:30 and had to nuke and additional 2 min and they were still a bit crunchy. I recommend taking it out in intervals and mixing up to get a more even cook. 

When your sausage is finished use a slotted spoon to remove and put in a bowl with a paper towel to drain excess fat. If you have more than say a tbsp of fat left in your pan drain that out as well. Add onions & peppers and cook stirring occasionally until soft. About half way through add a bit of garlic powder and pepper, you don't really need salt because the sausage has plenty. 

Onions & pepper...wish this was smellovision

Once your peppers are soft and your potatoes are too, add everything back to the pot and mix to combine, turn to low and let it all hang out and get to know each other. 

Social hour...

Take your eggs and beat like you mean business with a whisk so they will be yummy and frothy. Add to a separate pan and scramble until cooked through. 

Sorry got lost in the moment again and didn't get a pic of my frothy eggs

After your eggs are done add them to the pot and gently fold in. Serve yourself up a plate with some coffe, juice, breakfast beverage of choice. 

Good Eats right there!!!

This dish does take some time but makes a huge batch. It is also extremely filling, this is about 1.5 cups in my bowl and I almost couldn't eat the entire thing. Daddy-O ate about 2.5 cups because he said it was so good. Kids didn't eat any because a 40 min breakfast is too long for them, they are starving monkeys in the morning. Even though we ate about 4 cups of this mix there is still about another 4 or so leftover. It makes a lot, so I have breakfast for a couple of days. While this is a great mix of protein, carbs and veggies it is also a tasty party. You get the salty flavor of the sausage, the bitter of the peppers and then a pow of sweet with the potatoes. Potatoes O'Bryan is typically made with white potatoes but it is dang tasty with sweet ones. This is also a great post WOD meal. 

Just because I love this guy...

Tv time, home WOD & Challenge Day 10 eats

Oh yeah it is that kind of morning. I have been limiting myself to one cup of coffee a day but I might try to stretch it today. Last night after we dealt with poor Robot fish's demise Geeps woke up in a full on asthma attack. It was pretty scary but he stopped being in distress after his first treatment even though he was still wheezing, so we did the second treatment praying it worked because after 2 treatments it is ER. Luckily by the end of the second one he was asleep and breathing better. Fun times I tell ya! We kept him in bed with us just in case and for whatever reason he seemed to relax better and breathe better in our bed. So up late worrying with treatments plus 3rd wheel in the bed makes for tired momma.

So I was asked to go to this morning's WOD of which I declined. I was just too tired and needed to get work done for my day job. I did want to get a workout in today because I won't be able to tomorrow and I want to go to class on Saturday. So I decided to do Grace since I have been reading so much about Barbells for Boobs an event I would love to do but I am chicken so I will save it for next year. I used to do the Komen every year so this is a good transition.

Grace

30 clean & jerks (35# barbell)

3:34

I don't have any bumpers at the moment so I am working with a 35# barbell, which is really enough for me. It wasn't killer with 35# but it wasn't like using a pvc pipe. I really felt like I should have done more because it was so quick. Soooo....

My friend Fitchick sent me a link to a vampire diaries workout game where you workout during the show. Kind of like a drinking game but you burn calories instead of drinking them. So while I was preparing for my night with the Salvators I tweaked the workout to have CrossFit like exercises. The rules are, as people do items on the list mark it down, then complete exercises during the commercials...time cap. So example, I had every time Elena says "Stefan" 10 squats, Bonnie casts a spell, 5 burpees ( I know burpees and that hooch did 2 spells), so I counted how many times this happened and then completed the "workout" during the commercials. So here is what I did.

Vampire Diaries WOD totals

20 squats

10 burpees

5 hollow body rockers

40 dips

These were divided between 4 commercial breaks, some breaks I had 3 different things to do, one break I had 1. It was kind of fun, Daddy-O thinks I am nuts...the episode was awesome!! I am going to tweak it based on what I noticed they did more because I want to do more exercises. 

So here is what I ate today...it isn't much. I had zero appetite after breakfast. I think my belly is just too full of the gunk coming from my head. I also have no sense of taste or smell so today was a hot mess food wise. 

Meal #1 (8:00)

2 eggs scrambled

1 cup marinara sauce

2 tbsp parmesan cheese

Coffee...and more coffee...black

This morning I was pretty hungry but my belly feels amazing. I blame the kombucha and my raw veggie dinner. I just kind of grabbed and made a hodge podge breakfast and honestly ate it so fast it was like I didn't even make breakfast.

Meal #2ish...

This was a strange and busy day from noon until 4 I snacked on macadamias, deli turkey, cheese stick and a banana and coffee, I am just really tired and not in the mood to eat.

Meal #3 (6:00)
Spaghetti Squash
Meat sauce
Parmesan cheese

Tonight was garbage night on the home front. This is where I don't see a point in cooking when we are full of leftovers. Unfortunately my plan didn't work because the kids wanted sammys and Daddy-O didn't even eat and I didn't have an appetite. I didn't get one leftover container out of the fridge. I hate to throw out food and a couple of things are reaching the end of being safe to eat. Maybe I will be a bear tomorrow after 2 workouts and eat all day.

Welp that is it boring post, now time for bed!

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

So before I get into the meat of this post here is tonight's WOD...

200 m sprint

15-12-9

Squats

Push-ups

Sit-ups

Time 5:30

Does this look familiar? It should it is our first WOD ever, tonight's goal...beat your last time. Do you remember my original time? It was 8:09...tonight I crushed it in 5:30. Do you like apples? How 'bout them apples. It was very exhilarating repeating this workout. I mean obviously you know you are stronger, you feel it in your daily life you see it (skinny jeans anyone) so you know it, but you don't know how. I am exactly 2 min 39 seconds stronger, faster, mentally tougher. Not only that, but while I was gasping for air afterward my recovery was quick. Killer workout. 

So now to the sad part...Tonight was our last beginner class. We started as a group, fighting through our first WOD, getting to know each other, cheering each other on, high fiving after workouts, sharing hand holes & bruises. Ah...but alas this is only a 6 week course. Now we go our separate ways picking classes best suited for our individual schedules. Tonight's class was amazing, the best ending ever. People had their humor on, we were cutting up & laughing. We all aced our snatches and killed the WOD. Afterward the mood was light we were still laughing, sharing, chatting. We went as a group to dinner and still talked about missing one another, it was epic.

See the thing that sold me, the thing that totally got me sucked in to the idea of crossfit was during the 2012 games, it was the women's Fran, I think heat 3. This heat was fast with Annie Thorisdottier, Julie Foucher, Kristen Clever and Taylana Fortunato all whipping out killer Fran times. Well after everyone was done the camera was focused on Taylana, you see her look up and start walking and you can hear the crowd. The camera pans over and the entire group of women are cheering on the last competitor who is fighting those last 9 pull ups. The crowd even starts counting in unison and at that moment you realize this isn't just a competition, just a workout, it is a community. You do that first WOD, you get that first real taste of a truly hard workout where you might die or barf, and you are in. That is it, you are part of that community. Our first class we were separate but after that first WOD, when we all collapsed on the floor and heaved and wheezed, we became one and it just built from there. We became a team.

If you don't want to watch the whole thing go to about 15:26

So before I get anymore emotional, Anna, Genevieve, Kristen, Laura, Jeff, Irena, Jennifer, Mike, Travis & Chris it was a pure pleasure being in this class with you and learning to be bad ass. I hope we keep in touch and run into each other in future classes! And not to be forgotten is Coach Charlie, great coach...great coach. 

So now on to the eats...

Meal #1 (7:00)

Lemon thyme, goat cheese eggs - 2 eggs, goat cheese, lemon thyme

asparagus

coffee, plain

I took my time and made a nice breakfast this morning. I love eggs and lemon thyme, it is one of those culinary matches, add goat cheese and it is near perfection. I sauteed some asparagus in olive oil and called it eats. I am taking this day different so try to tweak my high maintenance system.  

Meal #2 (11:30)
sandwich stack (aka sandwich with no bread) turkey, lettuce & avocado
1 cup steamed veggies
1 cup tomato soup

Fircracker and I took an impromptu trip to Jason's Deli today, Wednesday is the day I try to get us out of the house since there is no school and I can tend to push through work all day and she is left hanging. So we decided on lunch and open gym time. I was really hungry for this meal and very happy to have my sense of hunger back. I was hungry earlier than usual but I also ate an hour earlier. I ate all of my unwich & veggies and a bit of soup it was a lot of food. About an hour after lunch it dawned on me that my belly wasn't hurting. Score, I don't know it if was the break or lack or dairy. I did get to thinking that maybe it was this protein powder I am using. Remember the part where I said it had soy lecithin in it? Yeah good because I had kind of just forgot about, I know having kids was like a lobotomy. So there is that.

Pre workout
Kombucha

So I didn't intend on skipping this snack/meal but ended up not wanting to eat. I went and grabbed a kombucha and drank half of it before class. That stuff is like magic to your belly. Like ahhhhhhhh.

Meal #3 (7:30ish)
Chopped vegetable salad topped with 2 eggs, sunflower seeds & vinaigrette
kombucha

This was our celebration dinner, I got my old usual since I had the unwich earlier. I will say that my eco system is feeling better. More calm, it is hard to explain unless you have been there. I really think the protein powder was my problem and maybe the straight milk. So no more milk, absolutely no more protein powder and I should be golden. I am not sure about the snacks and where I got from there. I have no doubt I will need these after I start hitting regular CF classes but I am not there yet.

I mean I am getting too tied up in the points game and not realizing that the point of this is to reach optimal nutrition and performance and hey fit into skinny jeans...that are a size smaller. I really should say that they are 2 sizes smaller because last winter I was busting out of the size I had and these are a size smaller than that and they are juniors haha. They are however big booty jeans, because baby got back. Crossfit won't do much for that HA. But I digress, I really need to focus on optimal nutrition and try to change my body composition. I have been hung up in the numbers trying to get a perfect score daily and I think it comes down to I doubt that I can lose much body fat and to win it is either points or fat. I think I have a better chance with points...but we will see.

I haven't done this in a while but I wanted to look back, me at my heaviest (and on a beach no less) and me now. I was only able to get a side photo because my camera wouldn't focus on the front view...not sure what that was about. My hotness kept fogging up the lens HAHA, I am on a roll tonight.

Big change...

So tonight with newly found vigor I had planned on having an impromptu prep night and try to whip up some more protein for quick grabs to replace the shakes but alas...tragedy befell us. My son's fish Robot died. We have had Robot for 2 years, he was a fun fish, responsive and active. This is also Geep's first experience with having to understand death. He started out okay asking what happened and then like a veil you saw him begin to understand. It broke my heart and was so hard not to cry while I hugged him. I hate having to be strong sometimes, I don't mind my kids seeing me cry, it let's them see you are human. Tonight however it needed to be about his sadness so I kept my eyes as dry as I could, I swear for a moment I saw a glint of something in Daddy-Os eye as well. It was just sad all around. So we gave him the big ole flush and tried to turn talk to Geeps picking out new fish. So sad...RIP Robot, you were a good fish!

So there is that, I have been released into the wilds of the CrossFit class and ended a great class on an even better note. Life is good, God is great and I need to go to bed!

Rose Colored Glasses

Know when to hold'em, know when to fold 'em

So I realize last night's post was very ho hum. I don't want to be that way but I said the good, the bad and the ugly. With that being said and some chitter with FitGirl I am trying to look at things through rose colored glasses. She said to me that if I eliminate most of the dairy I will essentially be eating as I did before, yes correct...I myself said that it was making me eat more veggies...yes yes and something about silver lining yada. (thanks chick ;) )

So this morning after thinking about my gripe fest last night I tried to think about how I could tweak this challenge without losing points and still feel good. I decided I am going to drop some dairy, it is the one thing I am eating much more of than I used to (that and the protein shake) I am also dropping my morning snack, I will lose 25 points but I don't want to win a challenge just to win and not improve from it. When I was thinking about this last night I went back to something Coach Charlie had talked to us about called smart failure or something like that and he mentioned the Olympic weightlifter who snapped his arm trying to go with some crazy weight. He sacrificed everything to try to win but at what cost. My health & wellness is very important to me, within 24 hours I had my wellness taken away from me completely. I have spent that last year + trying to get it back, is it worth having my name on a winning board if I am losing what I have gained? Also please know I am not saying this challenge makes you sick or feel bad, I am a special case. According to the CDC there was a reported 49 cases of salmonella in July 2011 related to the handling of contaminated dog food items in the entire country. There was 1 in Kentucky...me, see special case. My internal eco system isn't the same as everyone else's so I need to follow what my system thrives on.

So today, cutting down the dairy, no morning snack. The dairy won't hurt my points but not eating 5-6 times a day will, I may also get points taken away if I don't hit all of my servings, it is a lot of food. I can't eat it all, down the road when I am pulling 6-7 days workouts at high intensity I am sure I will be begging for more food, but not now. We were sent a link to Mark's daily apple at the beginning of this challenge. I love this site and Mark Sisson is amazing. After reading up last night I decided to make these changes. I mean obviously fruit and veges and lean meat isn't the culprit because I have been eating that for months. So this is my next step...we will see how it does.

I will be honest, I am seeing results. I have this bad habit of weighing myself every morning (I know I know) and the scale is dropping daily even with weight training, I feel like I am leaning out and I can see more muscle definition. I just don't feel good in the belly region...special case. So you gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em and I think this is no time for folding and a perfect time to hold. So I think with a bit of tweaking maybe the sacrificing of some points this could be a good thing. Everything I already eat is there (except bacon), I have been focusing on adding in the wrong things. Refocus, regroup and I just upped the pot...because I am holding!