Whole30 day 3

Sleep (last night): 6.5 hrs.
I started watching a documentary on PBS? called "my big fat diet" that kept me up past my bedtime. I finally dvr'd the rest and went to bed. It was about Native American people in Canada and the prevalence of obesity, diabetes, etc since European influence and a doctor who recommended that they return to their native diet to reduce these diseases. He started a yearlong study with about 60 of them. I'll fill you in on the results when i finish it. What did their diet sound a lot like? I'll give you one guess...

Exercise: 5:30 am crossfit. I scaled the shit out of the WOD, but felt waaaaay better.
Took Kina for a 2.4 mile walk

Meal 1 + postWOD bonus meal:
Eggs scrambled with broccoli slaw, tomato and onion (becoming my default brekkie)
Leftover lemon dill salmon
Leftover butternut squash purée
1/2 avocado
Coffee, black

Meal 2:
chicken cacciatore (it is very sour, and too much liquid! Need to modify that for next time)
braised green beans
kabocha squash mash (it's green because I actually mashed the rind into it too. I used ghee and a little chicken stock. H'oh man, it's YUMMY)

Meal 3: happened at 9 pm (that's when I got home from work), so it was leftovers I had prepared this weekend. I am so thankful that I prepped ahead of time and made this, because the last thing I wanted to do when I got home is make dinner.

Cauliflower "fried rice," modified from Everyday Paleo and Nomnompaleo:

As I was pulling this out of the fridge, I realized that I only have enough protein prepped for lunch tomorrow (another long/late day). I wanted to punch myself in the face. So... even though I'm pretty tired (and very sore from yesterday and this morning's WODs), I put pork tenderloin in the slow cooker. I'm attempting Kalua Pig a la Nomnompaleo. I'm a little apprehensive because lately everything I've thrown into the slow cooker has turned out dry. 

It's about 10 pm and I am just sitting down to rest for the first time today. According to Whole9, I should have worked another meal into my day, but the patient schedule was just too tight this evening and I wasn't able to take a snack break. I ended up going from meal 2 at 12 pm to meal 3 at 9 pm. My hunger level wasn't too bad when I got home, though, so I'm hoping I might already be fat-adapted!

Nike fuel points: 3894! Phew! I knew I was tired!

Day 3 is done! I'm off to bed. I've managed to acquire a few more readers, which actually really helps with accountability (knowing I have to blog/photo everything I put in my piehole makes me think twice before putting it in, heh). Thanks for reading!

Whole30 day 2

Sleep (last night): 7 hrs total. Woke up 3 times (drank too much water before bed I guess), once for kina
Exercise: crossfit (5:30 am). Felt HORRIBLE. I've never come this close to throwing up after a WOD

Supplements: fish oil, D3

Meal 1 + post WOD bonus meal in one:
2 eggs scrambled with tomato, onion and broccoli slaw (I bought it and then discovered I didn't know what to do with it... So into my eggs it goes!)
boiled Kabocha squash
Chicken cacciatore (modified from nomnompaleo's recipe)
1/2 avocado
Coffee, black

Meal 2:
Spaghetti squash and homemade spaghetti sauce (tomatoes, tomato paste, peppers, onions, broccoli)
(it tasted a lot better than it looks)

Meal 3:
Chicken cacciatore
Kabocha squash mash (yum!)
Braised green beans

Thus far have not felt hungry at all. Had a little mid-afternoon craving for something to snack on, but was able to distract myself with work. If my clothes don't start feeling looser I may have to cut back on the portions. 

Small headache this afternoon and this evening. Probably the carb hangover that Whole9 describes here. I can't wait for the Kill All the Things phase (had a small urge to snap at one of my coworkers this afternoon already, heh).

It's about 8 pm, and my nikeplus fuel points total is 2968. I've set a goal for 3000 each day. Phew... Day 2 in the books!

Whole30 Day 1

Starting another Whole30 after holiday debauchery and just letting myself slide over a few months.

It didn't occur to me until I'd finished dinner that I could post pics of my meals here. I will try to keep this as interesting as possible with photos, but I mainly want to keep myself accountable and share my struggles experience here.

Day 1:

Meal 1 (breakfast):
2 eggs scrambled with broccoli/cauliflower slaw from trader joe's, tomato, onion. Used olive oil.

Meal 2 (lunch):
cauliflower fried rice (cauliflower, egg, diced chicken, onion)

Meal 3 (dinner):
lemon dill salmon (baked with olive oil)
baby broccoli (sauteed with garlic in olive oil)
butternut squash puree (butternut squash, ghee, chicken stock)


Off to a good start! Made chicken cacciatore from nomnompaleo's slow cooker recipe for tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Just Keep Swimming

You know that part in "Finding Nemo" when Nemo's dad gets really depressed and wants to give up? Dory comes along and pulls him out of his funk. here's the video clip if you can't remember

I feel like Nemo's dad. The past couple of weeks have been pretty rough (back-to-back 12 hour days), and I'm starting to lose the mental toughness that I need just to get through. My energy level has been pretty low, and I haven't been sleeping as much as I would like to because I have a hard time going straight to bed when I get home from a long day at work. I end up spending a few hours farting around on the internet or watching something mindless on TV to unwind, which probably keeps me up later than I should be considering I have to turn around and do it all again the next day. It's a downward spiral.

I need a Dory to come tug me along. Since I don't have a personal Dory (aside from Kina) to keep that happy "Just Keep Swimming" attitude alive, I've been focusing on automating work outs. Giving myself the opportunity to even consider not working out is opening up Pandora's box, which will ultimately lead to fatness and guilt at letting myself go. Signing up for classes ahead of time each week has really helped a lot. Knowing that Coach Rob is getting up at the butt-crack of dawn (when he has a baby at home who is less than a year old and probably isn't getting much sleep himself) just to coach me because I said I would be there keeps me showing up.

The Crossfit Irvine website used to have little sayings like "because I want my name on the board" posted, explaining why people not only do Crossfit, but why they push as hard as they do. My "why do I Crossfit?" lately has been "because Coach is waiting for me."

I haven't necessarily been kicking ass in the WODs, but I'm giving myself points for just showing up. I'm hoping ass-kicking will come later. I'm also learning to be ok with that. I'm used to giving my all, and expect to kick ass each time I work out, but sometimes you just gotta keep swimming.

getting back in the swing of things

I'm counting this week as my first official week back at crossfit, even though I went twice last week and once the week before. It's always tough coming back from any sort of hiatus, and my 3 month hiatus REALLY set me back. My strength and range of motion is still not all there, but I'm slowly working back up to it.

I'm back down to the green band for kipping pullups. No jumping, running or explosive movements. Coach Rob bought an airdyne for the box, just for me to to work in some cardio during the WODs when everybody else is running. It is just as painful as I remember it to be, but I'm not complaining. It's just good to be moving again!

Mainly it's the mental benefits that I missed the most. Just getting through each workout has been a great boost for my self esteem. My muscles have been sore almost every day this week. Sore muscles, I'm finding, are a great reminder for what my body used to do. They remind me to stand a little taller, move a little more -- they just make me feel better in general. Is that crazy? Probably, but whatever works, right? I'm a little sad that I've had to modify and scale down every movement so much, but reminding myself that it took time for me to build up to where I was pre-surgery helps a little. This morning when I woke up, I felt slimmer than I have in a long while. Who knows if I really am slimmer (I didn't take measurements because I just knew it would be too depressing), but seeing my waistline peek through that extra fat roll that came along with sitting on my butt for 3 months was encouraging. It's a great feeling to finally be moving in the right direction for once!

I've upped my nike fuelband goal to 3000 fuel points each day. That meant that last night I took Kina out for a walk before going to bed to make up the last 900 points. It's working! The diet hasn't been perfect, but I've been tracking my intake on myfitnesspal. I'm making sure that I keep my carb intake below 100 g each day (it doesn't always happen, but like I said before, each day is a fresh start).

I watched part 2 of an HBO documentary called "Weight of the Nation" the other night. It was about how Americans are becoming more and more obese, and touched on various methods of weight loss. I was really hoping there would be some analysis of diets (ie paleo vs weight watchers etc), but there wasn't. They did provide some interesting facts, however:

1. given 2 people with the same body weight and height, where one achieved that weight by dieting and exercising and the other just naturally weighs that much and didn't have to lose weight to attain a healthy BMI, the person who started out overweight needs to consume 20% fewer calories a day than the naturally not overweight person just to maintain the same body weight. Translation: if I go out with a friend with the same body makeup as I do, but she didn't have to train to get to this weight and eat the same amount of food, I've overeaten by 20%, but she hasn't! it just doesn't seem fair, but it's good information to have.

2. people who are most successful at long term weight loss keep records (often meticulous records) of what they eat, weigh themselves often (sometimes even every day), and exercise at least an hour a day.

3. look at caloric intake each day as a budget.

4. start with one small change. Master it, then add another. Repeat until you have the behavior you want.

My first small change? Going to crossfit 3x/week. I'm still counting calories and tracking carbs, but if I slip a little, I'm not gonna worry too much about it until diet becomes my "small change."

here and there

Man, have I been all over the place!

I have been officially cleared to resume life as "normal," according to my podiatrist. My foot feels just... okay, but I'm hoping with more physical therapy and time, I will be good as new. It still throbs and swells quite a bit by the end of the day, so I am taking it slow getting back into crossfit and exercise (read: I am only going to crossfit once a week, and trying to not eat too many fat bastards).

Fall quarter starts next Monday, and I am in charge of two classes. I've been frantically trying to prepare, but I know that there will still be horrible deadlines ahead of me this quarter, along with 10+ hour days and weekends at work to catch up on all the stuff I wasn't able to accomplish during the week. I've been trying to psych myself up for fall quarter by breaking it down week-by-week with a plan of when I will go to crossfit, but my plans are usually too optimistic to really happen (ie, go to crossfit at 5:30 AM when I haven't been able to get up earlier than 7 AM all summer, or go to crossfit at 7:30 PM after a 10 hr day at work with no time to eat lunch). Need to find something that works and just stick to the plan. 

I'm also taking the diet day-by-day. Was talking to a friend the other day about how easy it is to get railroaded (my will power has been next to nothing lately), and how, once you're railroaded, it's even harder to get started back up again. 30 days? I'm having a hard time lasting 30 minutes on paleo these days.

My approach has been this: every day is a new day, with no mistakes in it. If I make a mistake, then tomorrow is a new day! Each time I have a successful day, I count that as the beginning of a streak. Keep going to make the streak longer. Let's see how long I can go with paleo (ultimate goal to 30 days). Thus far? My streak is 1 day (yesterday, haha).

What helped me stay accountable last time? Blogging. So here goes for yesterday:
Food: paleo (with dairy and soy sauce). Fewer than 50 g of carbs.
Exercise: none, but reached 2000 on the fuel band

I'll get more detailed if I need to, but I'm hoping that knowing I will be posting how I did will help keep me in check.

This is the shit. Wake up and smell the...

Poop.

I'm 2 days shy of 2 months post-op for hallux varus correction on my right foot. This is the first week I've been completely without the walking boot, and my foot is tender and swollen. I had been planning for this week to be my debut return to crossfit, but my foot says otherwise.

I managed to go for a swim on Sunday, which is better than nothing, but swimming also managed to cause some swelling (believe it or not). Have decided to take it a little easier on the activity in favor of proper healing.

I'm pretty disappointed, though, because I'm feeling more fat than ever (I saw my profile in the mirror on Monday at physical therapy and noticed a new fat roll on my side -- ew). Not being able to do anything about it has been rough. I'm not looking forward to all the hard work of getting back into shape, but I am itching (literally) to feel better.

My eating hasn't been very on-point lately. I've been giving in to the temptation of rice and Chinese breakfast yummies that my mom keeps in constant supply at my house. For the first time in my life, though, I'm starting to feel how my diet affects my body. I have actually spent a few days feeling straight out nauseous. Part of me wonders if I think I'm nauseous because I've been reading so much about paleo/gluten and inflammation, or if what I'm feeling is true-blue physiological response to the crap that I'm putting into my body. If it is, how come I didn't notice this feeling when I was eating all this crap before?

So after reading all this, you might wonder, why the title of this post?

to remind me that this is life. There will be roadblocks. There will be parties, yummies, injuries, and fatness. I can pretend the backsliding isn't happening. I can get mad about it (which is really what I've been doing the past couple of weeks). I can even give up. But at the end of the day (or 10 years from now), I want to be able to look back and tell an awesome story (who wants to hear: she was fat. She lost a lot of weight once, had surgery, gained it all back, and then gave up?). Here's to smelling the poop and figuring out how to get rid of it!