Don’t want to be a pig

First I should appologize to anybody who actually follows this blog. My paleo efforts were definitely better when I was able to keep up with this, so I now understand I need work hard to at least do small updates. I have been very busy with work and obviously slacked it this last week. But here’s the recap…..

Week 3 is over. This third week was not the best. I was a backslider. Dangit! I mean I wasnt completely terrible but definitely not as strict as I was the first 2 weeks. After my last post of pizza, hamburgers and coke, it was much harder to keep focus. I was probably about 70% good. Not the percentage that I committed to. The good news… I do feel better and I think I look better. (I will reluctantly post pics next week as it will be the 4th week)

However, I have been back on the bandwagon this week. AND guess who’s with…. Amy. Finally she has come back to the Paleo side. Welcome, Amy, welcome.

Regarding WODs, my back has been a bit touchy lately so Ive been taking it easier on the weight.

Lastly, I loved the above picture when I found it on the web.  I mean, that is just about our destination as an American society at this point.  Apathy, and the almighty dollar has changed our eating habits.  We have relied on our government and corporate America for help and they have failed miserably.    Luckily there have recently been bold disagreements with the “norm” that have been voiced.  People like Dr Loren Cordain, Art Devany, Mark Sisson, and Robb Wolf have done a great job of shedding some light on something we should have know or at least been told about since the beginning. The natural/paleo/primal revival has begun.   Hallelujah!

Have a great weekend!

Back on the wagon

Im in the middle of my third week. I havent been perfect but I can tell you “I feel good!” I have much more energy, especially at night. Ive noticed that Ive been getting pretty good sleep too. HOWEVER, I can start to feel it when I have big cheast. The next day drags a bit, and I dont feel strong in gym. Monday and Tuesday were testaments to that. I did Fran by myself, alone in the gym. 5:33. My fastest has been 4:17. Although there is no excuses I do have one opinion….never do Fran by yourself. That is one WOD that takes a ton of motivation to really push through quickly. Not having even 1 person watching gave me an excuse to pause and talk myself out of a few more consecutive reps. I was talking with Ernesto about this and we both agreed… Fran is a workout that should leave you gasping on the floor for at least a few minutes if you really push it. If you walk away and recover almost immediately, its probably a sign you didnt go as hard as you should’ve.

ANYWAY….
Dinner yesterday:
Pre-Roasted chicken (kind that they sell under heat lamp at store) shredded with avacado and tea.
Dessert was Amy’s delicious squash pie. So good and not heavy on the sweeteners at all. I believe that is her next Paleo in Pink recipe, btw. At least it should be.

No Breakfast today. (I gotta stop skipping that meal)

Lunch: Tortilla Soup with Chicken. I tried to eat as little amount of tortillas and stick with the broth, cheese, avocado, and chicken.

Slip and Slide

As I mentioned in my last post, when you slip, you start to slide. Thats exactly what happened yesterday… again! Dang it! Burger and pizza. We were late (Amy and I) to play some v-ball with friends and I was starving. We slipped into Charcoaler, my favorite burger joint, I know…. I know… why even put myself in that situation?! Of course, I had to have the #1, no onions, with Fries, and their crushed ice is sooo good I had a cherry coke to top it off. Then during volleyball, my CROSSFITTING friends decide to order 6 boxes of Dominos pizza!! If you read my very first post, you know that I reference the new dominos recipe as heaven in a cardboard box. I held out for about 2 hours then after we stopped playing, I couldnt help it. I was hungry and went for 2 slices. Amy glared at me and quietly slipped two fingers up just to let me know she was counting. AHHHH. I know, but its my favorite. Oh well. Best thing to do is continue at it. If you start to beat yourself up, you’ll never get to that point where its easy. So my goal is to not cheat this weekend due to my give-ins Sunday and yesterday night.

I always tell my athletes, its easy to follow paleo. AND I mean it. The biggest thing is make it part of your life. If life throws you some curves or temptations, just keep moving. Just dont make it a habit of bad decisions. Keep away from slipping and sliding.

Nutrition:
Lunch – Ham and strawberries with nuts (almonds, cashew, hazelnut, sea salt mix from Sam’s)
Dinner – Hamburger, Fries, coke, and 2 slices pizza. waaaa waaaa.

WOD
Lynn – Max rep bodyweight bench press & Max rep pullups. 5 Rounds.
Supps: None. Forgot my Progenex.

Pizza, Wings and Whataburger

Phwew!
This weekend was tough. Found myself in a few situations hungry and with friends and family. What happened?… Well I gave in. For 3 diffferent meals I had Pizza (dominos of course) Wings and Whataburger (with soda). Could I have opted for no pizza, naked wings, and burger with no bun….. sure, but I felt it wasnt necessary at the time. haha. In fact, what probably threw me off the wagon was that first pizza give in. It made the subsequent choices much easier to give in. That’s the thing about cheating. Its not going to hurt you doing it once. Its the relapse effect. Its getting that craving again.

The consequence….. stomach ache!!! Yep, I was eating so well that my stomach reacted to all the grains and sugars I fed it this weekend. In my mind, thats proof of paleo’s nutritional benefits. If your stomach reacts badly to what you eat, you probably shouldnt eat it. My stomach never gives me problems while on diet, so there it is. I shouldnt be eating that crap! Or the crap will be very crappy when it is time to crap!! (Yeah, I went there)

HOWEVER, its back on. Its the beginning of my third week, and the weekend is behind me. By the way, I just found out its Fran today… now I really regret the weekend. Oh well. Lets do this!

Weekend supps: Random Fish oil (about 7g Omega 3), and Vit D
Progenex after the Saturday Tabata WOD.

Day 8

Breakfast was non existent just coffee as usual. Hazelnut dreamer w dash of cinnamon powder…. yes I still have not taken out the sugar creamer. That will probably be my last tweek. Lunch was a date at a new downtown restaurant, Kipps cheesesteak, on mills and mesa. The food was pretty good. Cheesesteak no bun with fries (I know, I know, I promised to lay off fries…ugh). The company, of course, was even better. Ha! Dinner turned out to be a little late. The WOD was killer so Amy, Roby and I stayed and talked while our bodies recovered. Then it was decided we were getting snow cones. I gave in but ordered bahama bucks thin ice. Sugar free. If anybody decides with sugar free bahama bucks, do the mini size. It’s harder to eat more of the sugar free than the regular. However it does taste good. We stopped on our way back at taco cabana for some faith meat and guacamole. Ok so not the best nutrition day. But very modern paleo none the less. Supps Progenex more muscle with Progenex recovery directly after WOD.

WEEK 2!!

Ok. So the second week of my challenge has come.

Update…. so far so good. I can start to feel a difference, but just slightly. I can definitely notice my energy levels are starting to pick up. I dont quite know about changes in my body yet. That will probably have to wait till the 3rd week. I didnt weigh myself at the beginning cuz Im not too concerned with weight, nor do I think weight is a good indicator of fitness level. BUT After this week, I plan to take more pics and document every 2 weeks.
Regarding the “ramp up period”… I havent really felt lethargic from the change in my diet. I remember the first time I went hard paleo there was about a week or 2 that I felt really tired as my body got used to the new fuel. Not this time around it seems.

NUTRITION NOTES: After taking a look back there are a couple of things I need to dial in better.
1. More Water. – Ive been drinking a lot of tea and diet sodas. Water is definitely the way to go, so I am going to try and drink MORE.
2. Fish Oil – I have not been consistent in taking them. So I will. Going to also look into krill oil. Supposedly the same omega 3 benefit as fish oil but maybe more potent.
3. Vitamin D – Gotta start. It will help with calcium absorption.

SUPPLEMENT NOTES:
Ok. So every day I was able to work out I took my Progenex. Both the Recovery and the More Muscle product mixed in together. I mainly took with water which was less heavy than with milk.
I havent been able to make a definite distinction of its benefit yet. I think that will come as I am able to experience more WODs. Especially WODs that I had been familiar with in past. HOWEVER, I can say that I feel pretty good everday to WOD and I havent been too beat down to say I need a break. I did get a bit sick on Thurs and Fri so I decided not to WOD for that reason only. This week will be a better test on Progenex’s ability to help me recover. Particularly cuz this weeks is set to be a heck of a week at Crossfit El Paso!

Yesterday:
Heavy Deck Snatch : Worked Up to 155. Felt good. Stopped cuz my catch was a little sloppy. Worked on form.
10,9,8….1 Handstand Pushups & pullups

Today:
Short Eva:
3 ROUNDS
800m Run
30 Swings @ 2 pood (70lbs)
30 Pullups

Tomorrow:
A big chipper with Thrusters, DU’s, Lunges, and burpees.

Phewww….. Here we go!

Day 5 & 6

Friday seemed a lot like Thursday. I was running around all day and had the same thing for breakfast. Had applebees for lunch. Chicken with cheese and veggies. Pic attached. I started to feel a bit under the weather so dinner was light. Roast beef cheese and fruit.

I didn’t WOD these days. Started to come down with some cold symptoms so taking a rest.

Didn’t take any supps either.

Day 4

Nutrition
Breakfast consisted of Anaheim Scrambler from Corner Bakery.  One of my favorite paleo breakfast meal in El Paso.  Nix the bread and order with Fruit instead of potatoes.  Add some salsa and you are golden! By the way, Corner Bakery is a great place to work from. Free Wifi, good food, quiet enough to take a phone call, and the service is excellent. Its actually a Ghostlight Creative (my day job) favorite.

Lunch was a bit harder. Again I was running around so I found a Big 8 went in and bought a few things to heat up. Broccoli, turkey, and avocado. All for $5.33. Heated up the broccoli in a microwave that I had access to and ate some of the turkey. This combo was actually very good. A very good choice for an impromptu lunch or a planned sack lunch for that matter. Carbs, Fat and Protein. Satisfied.
Cant wait for dinner. Amy texted me that I am invited and there will be chicken and dessert involved. (hands to mouth) Oh my gooooodness…. I just love surprises…. LOL!!!

WOD:
Annie “on the rag” (its a Crossfit El Paso thing)
50-40-30-20-10
Double unders
burpees
sit ups
Result: 24:47. That one was nasty. First time doing lateral burpees for more than 5 in a row. DANG.

Side note: I am completely inspired by the athletes at CFEP! The dedication and the will is so much fun to see. What is even more fun to watch is the transformation. I love coaching!!

Supps:
I forgot my Progenex today. Dang it. May try to stop by store for some musclemilk.

Paleo-ish

Yesterday was tough.  Not a lot of time to eat today.  Coached the west side 6am and stuck around to do the WOD after.  Had the Progenex shake at the end of the workout.  THEN it was off to the races.  Had meetings for my day job all day.  I found myself with starving for lunch at 2:30pm.  I was on my way to another meeting and had very little time.  As I drove by a Whataburger I gave in…. BUT I did do a paleo-ish option.  Ordered a double meat burger, fries and a diet coke.  I took off that yummy buttery bun and ate the rest.  The fries are actually considered modern paleo.  Starchy?  yes.  Salty?  yes.   Potatoes fried in vegetable oil…. paleo-ish.    However, it got the job done.  Satisfied and kept on the wagon.  I thought about taking a picture of this meal, but uhhh, it didn’t really look very pretty.

Later that night I found myself at the grand opening of Commonwealth pub in downtown.  5:30 turned to 8:30.  Hungry.  Resisted all the breaded and fried stuff and went with some delicious rotisserie chicken and brisket.  By the way, I did have 1 beer. haha.  It was the grand opening…

WOD:
Front Squat
Worked up to 3reps of 205. Definitely not a PR but back felt good.

Helen
400m Run
21 swings (1.5p)
12 pullups
3 rounds.
Time: 10:03. I was very excited in the fact it was not too far off my last noted time of 9:53 before my injury.

Supps:
Forgot fish oil.
Progenex Recover & More Muscle directly after WOD.

It’s what’s inside that counts….

Ok. So I debated whether I should put before and after photos. Is it vain? Is it necessary? Well, I came to the conclusion that ultimately its how you look, feel, and perform. This is the look part. We all want to look good naked, right? Although performance and how I feel throughout the day is probably more important, I would also like to chronicle changes in my body. I was leaner and a bit more muscular before I got hurt (~195lb 8% Body Fat) and would like to get even past there!  So here we are… week 1. The starting point. The proverbial “before” pic.