A Lot on My Plate

I want to blog today about food.  So far my blogs in 2013 have been about getting back to Crossfiting and attempting to be a runner again, but there is one thing missing in my efforts.  Food.

I think back to when I was most successful with my health goals.  The answer, The Best Shape of my Life Contest.  Why was that?

1.  I was WODing 3+ times a week
2.  I was eating the cleanest diet I had in my whole life

I quickly learned that you have to do both in order to get the results.  Now in the VERY begining, I only did Crossfit and I saw results, but they started to level off.  When I took my eating more seriously in conjunction with Crossfiting, my body changed more.  When that leveled off, I went even more extreme with my diet by lowering my fruits and replacing with more veggies, and then I added Running to all of that. 

So what's a clean diet?  It's a pretty simple rule to go by.  Only eat things that once have been alive. 

Well, they WERE alive...

Chicken - yes it has been alive.

Cupcake - no, you cannot pick cupcakes from a tree

Or you can basically stick to:  Lean Meats, Fruites, Veggies, and a little bit of good fats.  Not too hard to remember when making food choices.

The only draw back?  Eating that type of diet takes a TON of prep work.  My solution?  I take about an hour on a Sunday and cut, measure, and package my fruit and veggies for the week, prepare what meals I can, and pack them all up into single serving sizes so during the week when I'm extremely busy or pressed for time I have easy grab and go meals and snacks. 

Investing an hour on a Sunday will do wonders for your busy work week.  And look how pretty it looks!

I will admitt, with this being week 2 of me being back on track, I have cheated a little on my eating.  I refuse to throw away perfectly good food, healthy or not, so little by little I'll have a few non alive items simply to get them out of my house.  Once they are gone, they will not be replaced and having only a little per day doesn't completely derail me from my diet.

Between January 1st and January 6th I lost almost 5lbs just by starting back up at the gym and having a 90% clean diet. 

I've been toying around of doing a 30lbs by 30 (yes I'll be turning 30 in April) but as of right now with the new year I am in a friendly "Biggest Loser" competition and already the group of 4 people have lost a total of almost 20lbs. 


Eating right has so many benifts besides the weight loss.  "Eating Clean" will help your body perform at it's best.  They say "You can't piss into your car and then expect it to run."  Translation:  "You can't eat like shit and then expect your body to perform. 

Even after only a few days back to eating clean, I feel so much better just in general.  I've never eaten a Big Mac and said, ya know, I feel really great after that meal! 

I'll also admit that it does take a while to stop drooling over pizza and craving desserts, but as a human being I cannot 100% deprive myself of those cheats.  Once and a while is ok, but it cannot be a daily thing. 

So even though it may seem like a lot to take on, clean eating and working out go hand and hand. 



Friday: Rest

Saturday: Ran 1.50 Miles

Sunday:

400 Run
1 Weighted Lunge
1 Kettlebell Swing
1 Burpee

12 Minute AMRAP - Ladder, increase the Rep each Round

7+16 @ 35lbs