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

Running Effort of 2013

If you followed my blog in 2012, it was supposed to be my year of running.  My ultimate goal for running is to do a series of races within a year.  5k, 10k, 10 Mile, Half, and then if I'm up to it a Marathon.  I was well on my way last year by completing a 5k, 10k, and then a 10 miler.  

Then I got pregnant.  (No worries it was planned)

With my body rapidly changing, I couldn't keep up with the amount of running training required and so sadly I put away my running shoes until further notice.  

The reason why running was a huge goal for me last year was that I was really indulging in Crossfit and I loved it.  I loved it oh so much and I was getting decent at it, I looked forward to going to WODs and I LOVED what it was doing for my body and mind.  It's easy to do something you love right?  So for a personal challenge, I wanted to get good at something I hated.  Which was running.  As much as I kicked and screamed about the training, I was true to my programs, and towards the end I was really kicking ass.  

But truth be told, I didn't make my goal of completing the cycle of races.  So guess what 2013.  

With great hesitation on January 1st and January 3rd I got my out of shape, overweight self out and running.  I use the term "running" lightly because I know some people who could walk faster than I ran.  Bottom line, I got out there, got the miles in, and I know the more I get out there, the better/fast I will be.

This is almost embarrassing to post!

Oddly enough I did better on my first run, which I walked most of, so not sure what happened on the second run.  BUT the second run felt better than the first and I'm going to chalk that up as a win.  

Obviously these are horrible times, but looking back at my running journal from last year, I started off pretty slow and by the end my pace was pretty decent.  So there is hope.

I really hope I can make my running goal this year even though now having a baby to fit into all my scheduling, I'm REALLY in for a challenge.  

Fran

It had been a long time since my last WOD and out of habit, the night before my first day back at Crossfit, I checked the website to see if the WOD for tomorrow was posted.  And it was.  And the first thing out of my mouth was mother f*cker.  Dennis then responded with, I was hoping you weren't going to check that. 

To my dismay the WOD for the next day was Fran.  

I'm going to need all of those 4 spaces for my time :/

For those of you non Crossfitters, Crossfit has a handful of Bench Mark WODs, all with girl names, and Fran just so happens to be the most infamous because it's a full out sprint and just plan out sucks. 

the workout consists of 21 Thrusters, 21 Pull ups, 15 Thrusters, 15 Pull ups, 9 Thrusters, 9 Pull ups and then you lay on the floor for about 5 minutes catching your breath and wishing you were dead. 

However, being determined, I packed my 1,000 bags to get me through the day the night before and at 5:30am I was sitting in the Crossfit SoMo's parking lot waiting for the doors to open.  

I had forgotten how cold and quiet Crossfit Boxes were in the early morning and when KC flipped on the industrial lights, a year's worth of memories flooded back to me of 610.  And even though in a new box, I felt like I was home.  

Class started with warm up (and a nice little "welcome back Karen" announcement) and then on to strength.  I told myself with the strength I would start with the bar and go from there. I struggled and was well below my "normal" weights, but that was all to be expected. 

Once strength was finished that awful feeling in my stomach hit.  I set my bar at 45lbs and set a goal to at least finish the WOD with in the time cap of 15 minutes. 

That awful awful awful count down clock went and off we went.  I was spent after about 10 Thrusters.  I did the work out as I could, and rested when I needed to rest.  I was going slow, but steady, and I was already afraid that I wasn't going to finish in the allotted time.  

Before I knew it, I was the last person in the class working, but people were cheering and supporting me, pushing me to finish.  

And then I was done.  Finally.  And Day 1 was behind me and in the books. 

Strength:

2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 Front Squat

70lbs

WOD:

"Fran"

21-15-9

Thrusters - 45lbs

Pull Ups - Green Band

14:12

Cash Out:

2 Minute Hand Stand

2 Minute AMRAP Wall Ball Sit Ups