Saturday, April 30, 2011

Day 17.

So much deliciousness last night at Shabbat. And joy and love and friends and fun. So happy.

Erin said something about not remembering what it was like to feel self-conscious all the time about the way you look. I'm rolling that around in my head today.

The weather is perfection, and I'm planning on being outside as much as possible.

The plan for the day is as follows:

1. Clean the house
2. 10am Crossfit Endurance Class (3x1mile, ecchhhhhh)
3. Possibly stop at RTM for some stuff, eat chicken and sweet potato post WOD.
4. Finish cleaning, shower, pick up Mom at the train station
5. Manicure!
6. At the street fair in Center City allllll day.

The theme of today is SUN. And air. And joy and appreciation.

Working up a tentative schedule for the next few weeks now that I've put myself on a metabolic conditioning bias.

Mon - CF
Tues - CF
Wed - Rest and/or yoga
Thurs - CF
Friday - CF
Saturday - CFEndurance/running on my own
Sunday-Rest and mobility work

May switch one of the CF days for gymnastics.

Training:
4/30/11 10am

Endurance Class

Warmup & POSE drills

3x 1 mile runs for pace, 1 minute rest between miles.

I only had time for two and we super failed at timing these - first run our timer got reset, the second time we had to stop for an untied shoe and hand off the beat counter. But stayed at about 96 bpm, definitely finished sub 10:00 each time, and I felt like I had gas in the tank. Rare.

Need to work on midfoot landing, not striding and reaching with my front foot, and relaxing my thumbs. Haha.

Perfect day for running!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Diane.

NOON

*fasted
*never work out at noon
*no coffee today

Metcon: DIANE
21-15-9
deadlifts @ 155#
handstand pushups

I subbed 63-45-27 second handstand holds

= 8:38

The deadlifts were hard but I felt like I recovered from them really fast. No sign of deadlift back so far. HS holds were suprisingly tough. Got through the first one unbroken but had to break up the other two.

Need to try some short ROM HSPUs soon. I feel the power.

Quote:
6/1/10 5:30PM @ the Tribe

"Diane"

21-15-9

Deadlifts @ 60% of max (I used 135)

HSPUs (HAH, I used strict PUs)

11:30something



12.22.09


DIANE


21-15-9

deadlifts @ 115# barbell
HSPU (subbed pushups, blue band looped into a ring lowered 24")

= 7:50

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Tier 2. Day 3.

Sleep:
10:30 - 5:30

Set the alarm for the 6am session, realized this meant I was TECHNICALLY not getting 8 hours, but then I was awake and refreshed and it was light out! So much easier to get out the door when it's light. Still need to work on sleep though.

Training:

Grace (30 clean & jerks @ 95#)
=10:31

Way harder than I thought it would be. Hm. My body feels beat the eff up.

10/17/10
9am @ CFCC

GRACE (30 C&J @ 85#)
4:48

First time attempting this RX'd. Done in sets of 5. I feel great about this. RX's girl/benchmark workout COMPLETE.


3/1/10 6:30 PM

"Grace"
30 power cleans + push jerks [from the floor w/ 75#]
=9:10

This was harder than I thought it would be. So yeah. I also am a little nervous that I lost count and maybe did a few less than 30.

Breakfast Snack (9am): STARVING*. Wanted to fast til lunch but couldn't take it.
2 hardboiled eggs
apple slices
peanut butter
*had to stop at Wawa

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tier 2. Day 2.

Sleep:
10 - 5 (I woke up naturally to light coming in the window and felt very refreshed and alert. Win)

Only 1 very small cup of coffee this morning but I didn't really need it.

Breakfast: Fasted

Lunch: Hibachi salmon, vegetables, soup, a little white rice and a healthy dose of midday sun at Cooper River. Very Good.

Training: 5:30 PM

Isabel. BENCHMARK

30 snatches for time @ 95#

I used 75# and got 8:38.

Dinner: 3 egg omelette, pulled pork inside, some cheese sprinkled on top, baby spinach, cucumber. 3 squares 85% dark chocolate.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Tier 2. Day 1. Attempt 2.

Sleep:
11:45 - 7:30. I'm calling it 8 hours.

Need so much water today. Very dehydrated. Training at 5:30pm. Eating lotsa meat and veggies. Easter was a non-tier day, haha.

First meal at 1:00PM
Pork shoulder and raw green pepper. Pretty sure that peppers are the only vegetable I can stomach raw, and I REALLY like them. Kind of wish I had more.

Eating on the cheap this week. Pork shoulder for the next few meals. Yum. Also playing around with eating times...maybe eating breakfast again if I'm not training in the morning.

Training:
5:30 PM

Lax Ball to hip flexors and posterior shoulder capsule.
8/4/2 dynamic warmup - hip swings, leg swings, heel pressdowns, passthroughs, OHS, pushups


FRAN.
21-15-9
65# thruster
pullup

Pullups on the mini band.

11:01

BENCHMARK.

This is my first real attempt at Fran. And next time, I'm doing it RX'd, no matter how long it takes. That is all.

I lied, I did Faux Fran just about a year ago!

4/12/10

Faux Fran:
15-12-9
65# push press
LB pullups
=6:16
Dinner (eating now) - more pork shoulder (def ate a pound today), baby spinach, 1/4 sweet potato with a tsp of ghee, 2 squares 85% dark chocolate. Yum.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Tier 2. Day 1.

Sleep:
8 hours

Workout:
Sectionals WOD #5 (power cleans, toes to bar, wallballs).
Did this fasted with 10g BCAAs before and after.
Got through 2 full rounds and some change before ripping my hand. Oops.

Black coffee after.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Day 12.

Sleep: 
8 hours, had to get up early to meet the electrician.

Breakfast: 
One of the top ten culinary moments of my life.
Emu egg frittata: emu egg, mozzarella cheese, onion, savory, cayenne, salt, and a relish of tomatoes, basil, vinegar, Tony's EVOO. This was. INCREDIBLE. I ate a lot but not til uncomfortably full.

Also, french press coffee, 1.5 cups

I (heart) days off work.


 Late lunch:
1 cup Americano w/ Rachel (plus manicure) = time with a friend, priceless.
1 piece emu egg frittata

Dinner:
Salmon
Baby spinach, tomato, cucumber salad with relish from earlier. 
Banana with a tsp of sunbutter
Last piece of dark chocolate/sunbutter fudge. Yummm.

All was stellar today except for my lack of water. Oops. So far this has been a winner of a 3 day weekend.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Day 11.

First 10 days (recap) -

Hardest thing EVER...getting 8 hours of sleep per night! I'm having a huge battle within myself here. My mind loves the 6am. My body does NOT. In order to get 8 hours of sleep on training days, I have to be ASLEEP by 9pm, which means I have to be in bed at 8:30. When I don't get home until 5:30 that doesn't leave me much time to cook, chill out with the Husband, and do much around the house that needs doing. Plus, since I read Lights Out I've become much more aware of the potentially negative effects of being awake when it's dark out, so I might change up my training for a little while and try to get there after work and mix things up with some runs along the river when it's not too hot. Experiments!

Easiest thing ever - taking fish oil. Now that I use Carlson's and don't have to swallow a million pills every day, I actually enjoy taking it. I have not been good at remembering my Vitamin D, though, and I need to keep a bottle at work so I don't forget to take it.

Easier than I thought - 
1. 80 oz of water/ day. I just need to fill my Nalgene twice at work and I'm almost there. And my coworker and I are encouraging each other to remember.
2. Eating mindfully (using the 20 box jumps rule). I can't think of a day when I stuffed myself at any meal, but I still want to be better about eating "presently" if that makes sense. I'm very guilty of multitasking (doing it right now, eating while I blog) and I want to make mealtime more of an event rather than just something I do while I do a million other things as much as possible. 
3. I have made really good choices 95% of the time. The two really bad choices I made involved candy at work. So, I'm noting that I did what I did and moving on from it.

No one really cares about this but me, but I have been having very bad "fat attitudes" lately. The days where nothing fits, I have no clothes that I want to wear, I feel like I look awful in pictures, and on and on. I might be premenstrual, but I haven't had strong feelings like this in awhile, and I don't like that they're happening. Need to figure out why and how to fix it, because I have been doing really well in making good decisions. 

Anyway. Onto the next one....

Day 11.


Again, had trouble with sleepiness this morning. 2 cups of coffee as I was getting dressed
80 ounces of water already today and I'm not done.

Lunch:
About 1.25 cups ground turkey w/ sofrito (leftover from last night) and a tbsp of guac on top. Side of 2.5 cups baby spinach with another tbsp or 2 of guac. This tasted really really good today. 

Successfully resisted birthday cake and ice cream at work. Holla!  

Had 1 piece of my fudge at home (about 1 inch by 1 inch). Even better today. And I can't get over how NOT sweet it is, how much I love it, and how much I ONLY need one piece. Major progress.

Workout:
@CFCC - overhead squats and planks. Worked up to 95x5 on OHS. Metcon was really tough, I'll write more about it in my workout log (I'll probably be moving that here soon). 
Did a long warmup. Felt awesome. I like that we did more to get moving, hope it continues. Did some hamstring stretches with a band afterwards, about 5-6 minutes each leg. 
BCAAs before/after. Energy felt good. Strength gave out in the OHS, not wind.

At home, went for a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood with Angel. Wanted to get some sun/fresh air since the weather is gonna be crappy this weekend.

Grocery SCORE:
7 lbs chicken thighs, 7lb pork shoulder, cucumbers, tomatos, garlic, huge sweet potato, about 4 lbs baby spinach, 1 can coconut milk, bananas, avocado, cauliflower, scallions, and green peppers = $40 exactly.  We're trying to be especially budget conscious for the next month or so, as a result I have to buy conventional meat, but I'll make up for it with extra fish oil and stuff. Not letting perfect be the enemy of the good. 

Dinner: 
Coconut chicken curry: 
Chicken thighs, cauliflower, garlic, onion, coconut milk, chili powder, hot curry powder, salt, coconut oil. 
Already smells delicious. 

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Day 10.

Sleep:
10/10:30pm - 7:00am = 8.5 hours

AM Coffee (1 cup)

Lunch:
1pm - ground turkey over about 2 cups spinach, spicy salsa, 1/2 avocado, about 5 chips with salsa

3:00-3:15 A shitton of candy. Sigh.

Drank about 80 ounces water so far and still thirsty.
My desk job is killing me, I do believe. *Had to stay late and work on a project, thus couldn't make the 5:30 CFCC Session after all. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Dinner was pretty good: Ground turkey with sofrito/salsa and about a tbsp of guac, side of kale sauteed in bacon fat.

Dessert? I made fudge, yo - had to test a recipe for Easter Sunday. Super easy a la Elana's Pantry, as always. I used dark chocolate, sunbutter, honey (I don't use xylitol, blech), vanilla, and sea salt. Melted the chocolate, mixed everything in, let it harden in the freezer. Super easy, and tastes like the inside of a gourmet Reese's Peanut Butter Egg, ftw. Not at all sickly sweet, and because of the fat/rich flavors I only needed 3 little cubes (like 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch) before I was satisfied. These were a win.


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Day 9.

Sleep:
1:30am (latelatelate Phils game) - 6:30am. Dying. DYING. Not enough. Early work meeting. Ugh.

Food:
8 oz water before leaving the house
Coffee in the AM during my early seminar
Broke my fast with tuna and an avocado, and about to go kill some water. Feel very dehydrated right now.
I don't think I like canned tuna. Cheap but...not good.

I am a little confused as to what "tier" I'm on since a few things have been less than stellar in Tier 1 but I've taken on other parts of Tiers 2/3/4 and implemented them, so....eh. I'm just going to keep gunning for 100% compliance on everything to the best of my ability and not get tripped up on the little stuff.

Finished 2 Nalgenes of water (64oz)

7:00 PM
2 sunnyside up eggs
asparagus roasted in bacon fat (a lot of asparagus, yummy)
3 squares of 90% dark chocolate


Still feel kinda hungry.

Ate 1 ounce of cheese before taking fish oil/ natural calm for bed.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Day 7 & 8.

Day 7...
was weird. Not sure I was on any kind of tier yesterday. 

I woke up several times during the night with nausea, to the point that I was hypersalivating like I was going to puke. I don't remember how late I slept but I'm not sure I would call it "good sleep." Then my stomach was feeling icky so nothing really sounded appetizing to me, so I spent the morning on the couch trying to get my appetite back. Then had Angel's concert and didn't eat before I left. Had a few bites of banana at intermission but by the time the concert was over, we got back from Manayunk, went to the grocery store, and came home and cooked, I think it was about 7pm and I was having my first meal. It was only 60% good. I was starving in the car (obviously) so I ate a few bites of cheese. We ended up making tacos and I was so hungry I ate four - ground beef, homemade seasoning, salsa, guacamole, a sprinkle of cheese - accompanied by a big pile of sauteed peppers and onions. Tried to catch up on drinking a lot of water.

I did take my fish oil and Natural Calm last night, so that's a plus. 

Went to bed around 11 I think - by the time we cooked, ate, cleaned up, it was late. 

So, I don't think I want to count yesterday as an "on-point" day. I mean, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't very tightened up. 

And now I'm sitting here drinking water and getting ready to go to class and I feel very tired, sluggish, and weak right now. May head back to bed. I hate getting sick. 

Update.

Day 8.

Went back to bed and dozed til 7:30. And now I regret not going to the 6am, because I have an early work seminar tomorrow AND a late conference call that'll prevent me from getting to any of the sessions. Le sigh. 

Didn't eat anything all morning except 2 cups of coffee. 

Broke the fast at 12:30 with lunch - 2 cups baby spinach, about 1.5 cups meatloaf (ground beef, celery, onions, grated carrots, sofrito, a little coconut flour for binding) and 1 sweet potato with a tsp of butter. And I ate one piece of Elena's salmon avocado sushi. 

And now my stomach is jumping around again. Hmm.
About 50 ounces of water so far today. I feel pretty dehydrated.   

Pre-Baseball Game Dinner:
More meatloaf on a big bed of baby spinach, topped with 1 tbsp guacamole and about 3 tbsp salsa. 2 squares 90% dark chocolate.

We're going to dollar dog night at the Phillies. I'll probably have a hot dog and not worry too much about it. Overall carbs have been really low and cals have not been high either today. 

*3 hotdogs at the game. Nothing else except a sip of beer and 1 bite of ice cream. Stood and moved around for almost 5 hours (thanks Phils). When I got home I had pretty significant gastrointestinal distress. Duly noted. 

Today is back to normal/routine, thank god.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Day 6.

Not really sure what "tier" I'm on at this juncture. With the exception of some candy one afternoon this week, I feel really solid about everything I did. I trained hard, I slept a lot, I ate really well but didn't overeat, I drank a ton of water, and most importantly I didn't stress about any of it - I just did it. All that in mind, this was a huge victory for me. 

There were one or two things that could have been tighter - a little less cheese consumption at the two meals that involved cheese, and as always, I could get more sleep and work on mobility more. So I'll keep at it next week and try to do these two things. 

So.

Sleep:
11pm - 10:30am. Woke up naturally, dreamed a lot, hooray. Rainy Saturday morning in bed = good beginning to the day. 

Breakfast:
8oz water
Black coffee (1 cup)
Scramble - 3 eggs, a ton of onions and green peppers, spinach and mushrooms. 

Training:
Sectional WOD #4 (Barbell Burpees/OHS/Muscleup - hah)


Got through the burpees and 5 OHS @ 90#
Drank BCAAs and one coconut water before, and BCAAs after


I'm really hungry right now. Can't wait for dinner. 

8:30PM Girls Night!
-a few of Brandi's appetizers (Paleo crackers, goat cheese, beets, chopped bacon)
-rotisserie chicken (a thigh and a leg)
-roasted broccoli and asparagus
-baked sweet potato "fries"
-3 glasses of wine
-2 scoops of coconut milk ice cream


The Good: I really enjoyed this. Fun with friends + delicious food = winning.
The Bad:  I didn't follow the box jump rule, I was pretty full after the dinner portion.
The Ugly: Weirdly, I was up a few times through the night with SEVERE nausea. I never actually threw up but things did not sit well. And I did experience the opposite of nausea (tmi). Maybe it was all the fat in the ice cream? Can't figure out why I would have gotten nauseated though. Anyway.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Day 5.

Sleep:
9:30PM - 5:30AM 
- 8hrs per the clock, but I remember waking up once in the middle of the night feeling hot. Can't wait for air conditioning season in my bedroom. That's the best way to sleep.

Training:
-BCAAs before/after
-Snatch Grip Deadlifts, weighted glute bridges, and death by 1.5 pood kettlebell swings (165 total reps, went from 10 rounds to 20 rounds). I was really proud that I pushed through to 20 rounds.
My body feels very fatigued today.

Breakfast:
-1 cup coffee after training
-Starving by 9:45 so I ate my lunch of 3 hardboiled eggs, 1/2 avocado, and about 1/4 cup chopped onion all mashed together with salt and pepper. Really delicious, but now I don't know what to do for lunch (Friday, no meat, argh).

Lunch: Emergency Foraging in South Jersey!
@Baja Fresh, can you believe it? 


Naked Burrito (or whatever they call it in a bowl w/o the tortilla)
Line caught (I KNOW!) mahi-mahi, grilled veggies, lettuce, pico de gallo, avocado, and cabbage. Plus hot sauce. 


I forgot to ask for no sour cream so I scraped off as much as I could. 


DELICIOUS. 

Snack into Dinner @ Rachel's
-plantain chips & guacamole
-about 1/3 bar of 88% dark chocolate
-2 glasses red wine
-1/2 crabcake w/ jicama
-about 1/2 cup mozzarella and cherry tomatoes
-whipped sweet potatoes, about 2/3 cup?


More importantly, this was 3 hours of peek-a-boo with Ethan and chilled out time with good friends. Tier 10. :)

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Day 4.

Sleep:

Good news - I fell asleep at 9:30 and woke up at 7:15 without an alarm, so that's almost 10 hours of solid, dreamy, restful sleep.
Bad news - 6am training session is/was at 6am. Oops.
Good news - I woke up, and didn't sleep til forever.
Good news - I drank a cup of coffee because it tasted good, not because I needed the jolt.
Bad news - 6am training session is always at 6am. Bleh. 


7:30 AM 
Coffee, fasted through all morning.
*I am still pretty stiff in my calves, shins and ankles from Tuesday's workout. This is a problem because there's more running on the schedule for tonight. Furiously using the stick today and NOT sitting at my desk. Holler.

 1:30 PM 
Wasn't really starving but thought I should probably eat something, don't really want food sitting in my stomach during Nancy tonight. 
Leftover Italian sausage & kale + 2 hardboiled eggs. DELICIOUS.

3:30PM
Some tootsie rolls. This is embarrassing. But I'm posting it anyway. 

3:45 PM 

Read this article and then really, really regretted those Tootsie Rolls. So, sugar will kill you, probably. I already knew that.


5:30PM
*Forgot my BCAAs at work, so I had a scoop of KD's flavored ones before the workout
Worked up to 85x5 OHS (tough, my legs are still pretty shot - ice bath post run next time?)
Then did 115x5x3 front squat
Then did 33 OHS @ 65# in 2 minutes


7:30 PM
1.5 cup spinach w/ a tsp of EVOO and balsamic
1.5 burgers (about 6oz beef) with onions, diced green chilis, chili powder, cumin, and cilantro (Elana's Pantry recipe), with 1/2 avocado sliced on top


Took measurements tonight.
Weight: 169.6
Waist: 35 (at smallest point)
Navel: 38.75 
Hips: 43 (at widest point)


*I'd like to get back into the 150s if that's possible, I think losing 10-15 would really help my pullups. Also, and this is total vanity, but I've been carrying extra weight in my lower belly like, forever. I would like to see if there's a non-psychotic way to get rid of that and keep it off, like, how lean would I have to be overall to see that go away and is it worth what I'd have to do to stay there? We'll see what happens.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Day 3.

Sleep:
Not enough. Last looked at the clock at 11:24.
Alarm went off at 5:10am, and I woke up very, very tired and very very sore from yesterday, so decided to skip the 6am in favor of some mobility work today. Then Angel's alarm went off at 6:30. We are trying to figure out a solution to having multiple alarms going off, because technically I should feel rested today since I slept til 7:30, but I don't. My alarm went back off in the middle of a dream, and whenever that happens I feel groggy for a long time. My body did not want to wake up yet and I wish I could have let it sleep. Sorry, body.

*I am pretty stiff and sore from yesterday, notably in my hamstrings, core/obliques, upper back and triceps. I should have soaked in epsom salts last night/done more mobility work but didn't get to it yesterday. oops. Will do tonight.

*Oh, I thought I felt a little phlegmy this morning, maybe from the bit of goat cheese I ate last night? It wasn't anything bothersome but I'm trying to be more aware. I guess I should cut the cheese for now (hah, I'm 12). 

8am - about 3/4 cup of coffee (I was running a little late due to above grogginess)

9:30am - ate some breakfast so I could drink tea at work without getting queasy. Breakfast was leftover frittata from yesterday. It was still delicious today :)

12:30ish - starting to be hungry but not uncomfortably so. Brought my lunch to the grocery store to eat with a coworker and buy food for the next few days. Lunch was leftover roasted cauliflower from last night and leftover ground turkey in homemade marinara sauce + mushrooms, plus 1/2 an apple and a packet of almond butter. It was good. I felt full and passed the box jump test.

*32 oz water this morning, working on my second bottle now.
I feel kind of snacky right now (it's 3pm). But will not snack. Damn you coworker-drawer-of-candy.

6:45 Dinner
spicy Italian sausage over a bed of kale, onions, and 1/2 an apple (the produce was sauteed in a little bit of ghee). This. Was. Delicious.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Day 2.

Sleep:
6-7 hours (work in progress)
Also, it was hot in my room. It was almost an air conditioning night last night. Still felt pretty alert when the alarm went off though. It helped that the birds were singing even though it was dark out. Since I've been reading Lights Out I've been kind of bummed at having to wake up in the dark, but otherwise I'll never make it to the gym. Hopefully the sun starts coming up earlier soon.

6am training session:
*10g BCAAs before and after, plus a swallow of coffee before
5/4/3/2/1 loops around the block
alternated with
10/8/6/4/2 split jerks @ 85# from the floor
=29:00 

Jerks = easy. Running = slow death.
Total distance - 4.5K

*Really want to repeat this one in about a month. I think/hope my running will improve a lot over the next few weeks. I'm also really curious about that 5K time now. 

Breakfast:
Fasted, coffee + two hits of BCAAs (10 grams total)
*Was pretty hungry this morning and am hungry now. Probably due to the long workout.

12:30pm lunch:
About 1 cup ground turkey in homemade sauce + mushrooms (leftovers from last night)
About 10 ounces of green beans with butter (1 pat butter for the whole serving of green beans - I was REALLY craving the green, haha)
1/2 apple
2 packets almond butter (190 cals each)

Just finished my first 32 ounces of water, off to refill.
I guess I'm supposed to be training fasted and eating earlier in the day, and making my post workout meal my largest of the whole day? Gah. OK - patience patience patience while this all works out. I definitely have to eat earlier in the day if I'm gonna be this hungry after my 6am.

3:30 PM
*Very sleepy at my desk. Drank another 32 oz water and ate the other 1/2 of my apple.

6:30 PM Dinner
*had like, 3 nuts and 1 spoonful of goat cheese as I was cooking
Made a frittata - a bunch of mushrooms, peppers and onions sauteed in ghee and garlic, baked with 9 eggs and a few bits of goat cheese. I had about a 3x3 slice? And a bunch of roasted cauliflower. 

About to go take Vitamin D, Natural Calm, and Fish Oil, drink a bunch of water, and go to bed.

Abs are feeling kinda tight from this morning.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Day 1.

Sleep: 
10pm-7am (dead tired from the weekend)

Breakfast: 
Fasted + coffee
12pm Lunch (no picture today): 
7 ounces steak (marinated in balsamic, onions/garlic, salt/pepper), 2-3 cups baby spinach + EVOO/balsamic
7pm Dinner:
1 cup homemade sauce: crushed tomatoes, 1 tbsp ghee (in the whole pot so not that much per serving), crushed red pepper, 1 square 90% dark chocolate (in whole pot), salt/pepper, mushrooms
kale chips (about 1 cup, made with EVOO and salt)
*snacked on 2 squares dark chocolate and some spiced nuts that Angel made beforehand. Was REALLY hungry when I got home.

Drank 80 ounces of water today and just hit pretty much everywhere with a lacrosse ball. My whole back feels junked up from driving yesterday and sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, so I worked on that for awhile and also did upper part of my glutes and my calves. Felt really good, but I think I need a massage.

Daily Goal Summary

This is also for my quick reference:

Stage 1 Goals (Mon4/11 -Thurs4/21): 
Train 3 or more times per week (metcon biased + squats)
Supplement BCAAs 15minutes pre-workout and 2x more through the morning.
Fast until 12pm
8 hours sleep per night (bed by 9pm, up at 5am)
Fish oil daily (2g)
80 ounces water/day
Eat mindfully (20 plyometric box jumps!)

Stage 2 Goals (Fri4/22 - Sun5/1):
16 ounces quality protein/day
No gluten grains
No fried/heavily-processed foods
At least 2 kinds of vegetables each day (try new veggies!)

Stage 3 Goals (Mon5/2 - Thurs5/12:
Cut down the fruit (2 servings or less of low sugar fruit/day)
No sugar.
No dairy except butter/cheese as FLAVOR
Only one starchy meal early in the day, sweet potatoes and root veggies are best
No oils when cooking except coconut/grassfed butter
Limit alcohol.

Stage 4 Goals (Fri 5/13 - Mon5/23):
No fast digesting carbs (fruit, rice, white potato, corn, GF grains) except post workout.
Cut out coffee. Only green tea.
Eat ONLY whole foods.
Further limit alcohol.
20 minutes of fun/low stress activity per day.

The CFCC BCCC 2.0 Parameters

This is for my reference. If you're interested in reading the whole post, please go here (you really should visit there anyway, they are pretty awesome people):

Tier 1 (10 days):

1)  Train 3 or more times per week and supplement with BCAAs in water 15m before and 15m after your workout.
*Light physical activity outside of the gym (easy sport, brisk walking, etc) is fine, but no endurance training without our approval.
2)  Be in bed at least 8 hours total per day, preferably at night.
*This means time in bed, without TV or lights on.  You should be at least making an attempt to fall asleep.  Relax.  Take naps to make up any deficits.
3)  Take fish oil every day (3g/2g of combined EPA/DHA) unless you are eating a large serving of fish that day.
*After a meal.  All at once is fine.
4) Drink half your bodyweight in ounces of water per day.
*Any non-alcoholic beverages will count towards your total.  Alcoholic beverages count as a negative serving of water (for our purposes), so make up for it.  Coffee and tea count positively if you are a daily caffeine drinker.
5) Never eat until you are full, and don’t starve yourself.  Learn what the right amount of food is.  Stop eating when you are satisfied.  The right kinds of food will satisfy you much more easily.
*Imagine doing 20 plyometric box jumps immediately after standing up from eating.  If that thought makes you uncomfortable, you ate too much.  Eating less than 1500 calories a day and not losing weight?  You’re probably not eating enough, and for a long time.

Tier 2 (10 days):

1) Eat at least 1.5/1lbs (M/F) of a quality protein source each day.
*Suggestion is pre-cooking weight.  Eat more if you’d like.  I certainly do.  Grass fed and local meat is recommended.   Eggs and fish are great too.  Beans are not a quality protein source, they’re a carb/fiber/phytate source.
2) Remove gluten containing grains entirely. This guide should help.
*You may still continue to drink beer, as it is low in protein (that’s what gluten is), and the brewing process changes the make-up of grains slightly to make it less of a problem.  Keep in mind that beer may be higher in calories, and it may make you feel worse than other drinks.
3) Remove all fried and heavily processed foods from your diet.
*Light sauteeing is fine. Remove anything deep fried.  Fries are fried.  No you don’t need fries.  Most things with a label are going here.  If you can’t separate the ingredients of an item with your hands and identify them, then you probably shouldn’t eat it.
4)  Eat at least 2 different kinds of vegetables every day.
*At least a serving of each.  Eat the good ones.  Potatoes, corn, beans, and peas don’t count, because I’m a jerk (or maybe because they are tubers and legumes).  Don’t eat the same two vegetables every day for 40 days, duh.

Tier 3 (10 days):

1) Eat up to 2 servings of fruit per day.  Remove anything else sweet including natural sugars and artificial sweeteners.  Your 2 pieces of fruit are your sweets.
*You have no physiological need for sweet foods.  Psychological want, yes.  Physiological need, no.  Choose berries for your fruit intake as much as possible.
2) Remove all dairy from diet except for small amounts of butter, cheese, or cream, used only for flavor.
*If you’d eat it with your hands, its a serving of cheese.  If you’ve removed Greek Yogurt from your diet and then added it back in with no symptoms of allergy (congestion, lethargy, digestion issues, etc), then you can have a small serving a few times per week.  Do not rely on dairy as a protein source.
3) Eat only 1 starchy meal per day, other than  your post-workout meal (which can be starchy as well).
*Any non-gluten starches are ok here., but weet potatoes and other root vegetables are best.  If you’d rather not have the starch in this meal, that’s fine.  Try to eat more of your starch earlier on in the day, and move towards fat and protein at the end of the day.
Save things like rice and white potatoes (very fast digesting carbohydrates) for your post workout meal, which should be eaten anywhere from 1-3 hours after your workout, if you have BCAA 15m after you finish training.
4) Limit your use of oils when cooking.  Stick to coconut oil and grass-fed butter when  you can.
*Try not to cook with olive oil.  Avoid most dressings.  Avoid most oils in general, as they are generally high in omega-6 fatty acids (pro-inflammatory).
5)  Limit alcohol consumption to 3/2 (M/F) standard drinks per day.
*Beer is still ok, but not recommended at this point.

Tier 4 (10 days):

1)  Make sure your NON-POST WORKOUT starchy meal comes from only root vegetables such as the sweet potato.
*Again, having this meal as your first of the day is recommended.  NORMAL PORTIONS.
2)  Eat your fruit, gluten free grains, white potato, corn products, or white rice ONLY in your post workout meals.
*This should be your highest carbohydrate meal of the day, if possible.
3)  Drink 2-3 cups of green tea per day instead of coffee, unless you have a caffeine sensitivity issue.
*You do not need to start drinking caffeine if you don’t already.
4)  Eat ONLY whole foods.
*You’ve hopefully removed any food with a label by this point anyway.
5)  Limit alcohol consumption to 1 glass of wine, cider, or drink of spirits per day.
*Gluten is now completely gone.  No sweetened liquors.  Tonic is very sweet.
6)  Engage in 20m of a fun and low stress activity every day.
*This can be meditation, plain sitting, playing with your dog or kids (or dog-kids), playing music or singing, etc.  Just relax, and breathe.

I love acronyms.

It begins.

I like CFCC and I like acronyms and I like thinking about food, so I'm participating in this thing. I've been with CFCC from the beginning, and I've gone through several group challenges in various incarnations. I hated the Zone the first day I tried it, so that didn't happen. I didn't make it through the major macro-counting one. I don't like weighing and measuring obsessively, but I do check in every once in awhile to make sure that what I think is 6 ounces of chicken isn't like, 3 or 12. I get nervous when people start to freak out that they ate 1.5 cups of broccoli instead of 1.

 That being said - I have done literally EVERYTHING when it comes to food. I've done standard American/college student diet. I've done the Zone (for two days before I hated everyone in the world). I've done strict Paleo and loose Paleo and Primal and loose primal. I've done vegetarian and vegan, HAH. What can I say? I like learning and I like experimenting with myself as the test subject. I was pretty thin as a marathon-training vegan, but I was frail.
Senior year of college. This was the don't-eat-anything-then-teach-two-step-aerobics-classes diet (not recommended). Also, prime examples of how you never realize how skinny you are until you see pictures of yourself 5 years later and are like, oh.
 
These legs could run a half marathon, but couldn't deadlift 255.



Rows a 2K in 8:30, socks are 2nd only to Jen's in awesomeness, but Duz Not Have Teh Pullupz.

I've done a few Whole30's and was very happy with the results in my overall good-feeling/wellbeing and performance, but you know. Inevitably there's a creeping back in of less-than-optimal stuff. And I think that you really can't do any better than that and still enjoy life. I mean, I really don't think anyone can subside on perfectly measured tuna, chicken, broccoli, and almonds for the rest of their life. If they can, more power to them, but I think my life is shaping up to be good maintenance, good food, and reeling things in/tightening up when I start to feel like the less-than-optimal is becoming a bigger factor than it should be.

Does that mean I've found peace with food? MAYBE. ALMOST.

What I need to learn now is PATIENCE. That is, nothing happens overnight and when it starts working, for God's sake let it work for more than a few weeks! I know I can complete the challenge, because I can do anything for a month. My personal goal will be to keep this up for a little longer. And since this summer has been affectionately/official coined "The Summer of Pullups"- that is, the summer I work on getting really good at everything not related to a barbell - I think we've found a good thing here.

I'll take measurements and pictures tonight and weight at the gym tomorrow. There are a few things I need to accomplish every day, and yes, I have a chart because I'm slightly insane. And we'll see what happens.