Kickboxing

About three months ago, I went on a Groupon shopping spree (well, let's be real, this happens every month) and picked up a 10 class pass for this Boston kickboxing studio. Considering how expensive classes can be, it was a good deal price-per-class wise that I didn't want to pass up. However, I was pretty skeptical at first. Just look at this website.

SLIM! LEAN! SEXY! GUARANTEED.

Best kept secrets? Sexy in 90 days? What is this, Dr. Oz?

Also, can we just zoom in on these people in corner?

Chick is like, let me lift up my tank to show my rock hard abs. Dude is like, yo I'm just creepin, I got this chick a blue birthday balloon. Chick is like, holla, it's mah birthday! I work out with my hair down.

Their website also doesn't give you any easily-found information about a schedule or what kind of classes they offer. The only way you can find out is by calling. Huge pet peeve of mine.

I was pretty skeptical. So I kept putting it off and putting it off, until finally I said, alright. Do it. So I called, scheduled a class, and went on my way.

When I initially got there, I was pleasantly surprised. I met with this 60+ year old woman (who later kicked my butt in class like she was 25, more on that in a bit) who sat down with me and went over my fitness goals, what I wanted to get out of the class, all that stuff. I've actually never been asked any of those questions in any classes I've done, so it was pretty cool. I know that they eventually want to get me off the Groupon and pay for a full membership, so it might just be a ploy to that end, but it was still neat. I also got free boxing gloves!

kangaroo!!!

So the actual class. Things I found out: 1. punching things continuously is really hard. If I was ever in a fist fight with someone, I would be like "OK I need a water break" within about 45 seconds. 2. 60 year old women can be way more spry than they initially look. 3. I now know how to roundhouse kick someone! Those are my favorite. 4. Kickboxing is a really, really intense workout. I was pretty much dying after the first class. I chalked it up to the fact that I donated blood the previous afternoon, but I think it has more to do with the fact that I'm a bit more out of shape that I used to be, and it was reeeally intense.

As a total aside, you all should watch this and get jacked up, because Kacy Catanzaro is a godlike freak of nature. These are the kind of people who will survive the zombie apocalypse.

Willpower points

Goals from last week:

1. Track all my food.
2. Get back on the workout train
3. Lots of fruits, vegetables, and protein.
4. Take it one day at a time.

It took me a few more days after setting these goals to actually get in the swing of things, but this past week has been pretty great. Lots of good fruits and vegetables, except for that one day I drove out of my way to get strawberries from Whole Foods, and then two days later they were moldy. Worst day ever. Also, first world problems. "But I paid 4.99 for these strawberries?! My life is ruined!"

eheheheheh

This week, it's been pretty easy to stay on track. Doing yoga, lifting some weights, I went on a really long walk with a friend, and I've been eating really well. 

Why has this week been so much easier than other weeks? What is motivation? Where does it come from? How do I get more of it? Why is it that some days I think, "I don't want to work out" and then I say "Don't be a pansy, get out there! You can do it!" and other days I think "I don't want to work out" and then I say "Right?! Go get that block of cheese and start gnawing, stat, much better way to spend your time IMO."

They say willpower and motivation are finite resources ("they" being Pinterest, obviously). You have to let it build back up so you don't blow through it all too fast and then eat a block of cheese. I think Tough Mudder blew through my willpower like it was nothin. It really has been hell trying to get motivated since then, so I'm glad that I finally got my mojo back.

How you keep that mojo going? I read this article on Nerd Fitness about motivation and willpower, and I love it. I love Nerd Fitness because they frame everything in a video-game, level up context, so as a nerd I can totally relate. They also have cute lego pictures:

Darth Vader would be the worst fitness trainer. "98.... *kchhhhh-whhhhhah* 99..... *kchhhhh-whhhhhah* 100"

Essentially, they frame willpower in the context of points. You get a certain amount of points, and if you use up too many too fast, your willpower tank is running on empty.

• The more willpower we use up on certain tasks, the less we’ll have to go around for other tasks.
• The more difficult the habit to change, the more willpower is used, and the less we’ll have to spend elsewhere.
• If we try to do too many changes at one, our willpower gets depleted faster and we’re more likely to give up sooner. (source)

Also, this:

"How about this study on number memorization? [side note: it's a pretty fascinating article, go read] Students were split into two groups: One was tasked with memorizing a two digit number, and the other tasked with memorizing a seven digit number.  Afterward, both groups were encouraged to walk down the hall to grab a snack, either fruit or a piece of cake.  Those students tasked with memorizing seven digits were TWICE as likely to pick cake over fruit than the students who had to memorize only two numbers."

So no wonder when I have a difficult work week, I'm more tempted to bag my Friday workout and eat cookies instead of fruit.

I get you, kid. I get you.

And when I decide to jump back into working out hardcore, eating perfectly healthy, drinking lots of water, getting enough sleep, cleaning the whole apartment, etc etc etc, I always want to go full throttle - I'm motivated!! Let's do EVERYTHING while I'm motivated! Hurry before it runs out and I go rogue on that cheese! When in reality, maybe that full throttle approach is actually depleting my willpower points faster than I can build them back up, and making things backfire eventually.

Interesting to think about. At the very least, knowing this might help me not feel as guilty about eating a block of cheese, right? It's all good, guys. I'm just replenishing my willpower points.

Resetting

Since tough mudder, I haven't done much of anything fitness-wise or health-wise. In fact, over the past week and a half, I've been laying on the couch, eating potato chips and ice cream sandwiches. This is not an exaggeration, this has been my actual life. WHOOPS.

Me.

MY ONLY FRIEND

It's like I went through the five stages:

1. Denial: There's nothing wrong with me laying on the couch forever. I'm fine and I love being lazy. I met my entire life's quota of exercise with tough mudder.

2. Anger: Why do I feel so gross!? This is DUMB. I hate everything!! More potato chips.

3. Bargaining: Ok, just one more day of being gross and lazy and then I'll start being healthy again. (repeat this step for several days).

4. Depression: I feel so gross. This is dumb. I hate everything.

5. Acceptance: FINE I WILL GO WORK OUT.

The good news is that today, finally, I went grocery shopping, stocked the fridge with healthy food, ate a healthy dinner, went to the track for a mini workout, and planned out healthy meals for the weekend. Hooray! I know that working out and eating right make me feel better, but sometimes getting on that bandwagon takes a bit more effort than I think.

The week leading up to tough mudder was similar. I took my job of fueling up for the race VERY seriously.

And if we're extremely honest with ourselves here, the whole MONTH before tough mudder wasn't that great food-wise. I threw caution to the wind on the weekends, and that combined with all the darn potato chips that magically kept making their way into my mouth the past two weeks, well, dang. The excuse of "BUT I RAN A TOUGH MUDDER, give me all the ice cream" only holds up for about 1 day after the race.

So with that being said, it's back on the proverbial horse, and I feel much better for it.

Goals for this week, because goals are good:

1. Track all my food. This helps me stay accountable and I think I need that right now.
2. Get back on the workout train! Track again tomorrow, yoga on Saturday. After that I'm looking to get back into lifting heavy. My real goal is to move for an hour every day, even if it's just a walk.
3. Lots of fruits, vegetables, and protein. Nom.
4. Take it one day at a time. 

What's coming up? Well, we've got the spartan race in August with some friends from CT and NY, so that's my next major milestone. And potentially another mud/obstacle course with my good biddies in PA and VT, date tbd! Other than that, not much on the race front, but I'm probably going to search around for some 5ks or 10ks in the area. Oh and, kickboxing! Still need to sign up for that. Once school is done next week, I'm calling for REALZ.

Any tips for getting out of a rut? Ideas for staying motivated? My pinterest quotes will only get me so far!

Tough mudder recap

So, I'm officially a Tough Mudder finisher. I am sore beyond belief but I managed to try every obstacle (and complete almost all of them) and cross the finish line with a smile.

Overall, the course was HARD. Walking (not running, no one was running) up a ski slope is brutal. Sliding down a ski slope and trying to keep your balance in the mud is also brutal. It took us over 5 hours to complete the whole course because the going was so slow. Every step up the hill was like doing lunges rather than walking. There were people who just pulled over to the side and sat down. A bunch of us tried turning around and baby stepping up the hill backwards to give our calves a break. I tried stepping up it sideways. Nothing doing. Total elevation was almost 3,500 feet. Which sort of means nothing to me because I don't know elevation but trust me, it was a lot of steep hills.

The course was also LONG. I mean, duh, yes, it is 10+ miles, but at one point I figured we were at mile 5 or 6 and we hadn't even hit mile 3 yet. And then 800 years later we hit mile 5. Not even halfway there. Ouch.

Thankfully the weather was perfect. 60 and a mix of sun and clouds. No rain!

Also want to take a quick moment to shout out to my support team - Jansky, who ran it with me and helped me over pretty much all the hard obstacles, and our significant others, Jay and Jackie who cheered their hearts out for us, ran through mud, got lost in the woods, and fought a bear to get to the obstacles on time. One of those things is not true. <3

Obstacles I'm most proud of:

1. Monkey bars

I quote from my last post: "Also, my dream goal was to rock the monkey bars and that is definitely not happening." As we made our way up to the monkey bars, I thought, why I am even trying this; I'm just going to fall immediately into the water. But I figured, I might as well at least pretend to try, right? So I reach up to the first bar, and hang, and I'm like, alright, I GUESS I'll make an effort. So I make a grab at the second bar, and make it. And then the third bar, and make it. And then the fourth bar. And then the fifth bar. I'm almost halfway and I look over to my right and yell over to Jay, "OH MY GOD I'M DOING IT!!!" and then of course right at that moment I lose all of my rhythm. I make the mistake of looking down. And I'm reeeeeeally high up. At that point my choices were either drop, or drop. But I really didn't want to drop.

I'm in white. Contemplating just chilling here for the rest of my life because dropping isn't an option.

So I hung there like a moron for about 15 seconds, and thankfully there was no one behind me that I was holding up, and finally dropped. Once I was in the water, it was all about dodging the people above me to make sure I wasn't doing to get crushed by other falling humans. But I made it out and was SO psyched I had made it as far as I did!

2. Walk the plank

I knew this obstacle would suck because I'm not a fan of heights and I hate the feeling of dropping. But I had no idea it would be so.... traumatic. Sounds dramatic but it's true. I climb my way up to the top, and then it's my turn to jump, and I take one look down and there is NO way I am jumping off this plank. I'm LITERALLY a MILLION feet in the air. And the woman keeps counting down "3, 2 1!" and everyone in the lines next to me jumps except for me. And then again "3, 2, 1!" and I'm definitely not jumping.

Holding onto both bars, as far away from the edge as possible. The volunteer lady in orange was really nice. Thanks, volunteer lady!

I'm almost in tears (yeah, it was bad) and everyone behind me is being super helpful and I keep apologizing to them. The woman up there volunteering was really nice too, and everyone is cheering for me (like, the entire crowd of spectators, it was pretty awesome in retrospect), but I'm pretty certain there is no way I'll be able to jump. But I know I'm going to be really ticked off if I skip it.

Sitting down, trying to become one with the water below me. Sitting down takes about 2 feet off how far up it looks; totally logical.

Then the official at the bottom is screaming up at me "LAST CHANCE" because I'm definitely holding up the line, so.... I jumped. And the entire crowd just erupts in cheers. Glad I managed to do that one, but dang it was hard.

Out of the water, alive. You can kind of see behind me how high the jump is. It doesn't look high but I promise you it was ONE MILLION FEET

Other mentionable obstacles:

1. The electroshocks....

...weren't bad at all. The announcer told us at the beginning that the zaps were primed to be really bad, and to expect some faceplants. So I was scared beyond scared going through, but it was the last obstacle standing between me and an orange headband, so off we went.

Maybe I didn't get hit by the worst of them but it felt like a really big rubber band snapped at you and that was it. I had originally envisioned getting the wires wrapped around me and just shaking uncontrollably until I fell in an unconscious heap on the ground. Definitely not like that. Really the zaps were just a millisecond long.

2. Ice bath

The ice bath also wasn't so bad. I know, I know, I said I wouldn't do it. I really shouldn't have but I got caught up in the moment. Stupid, maybe, but there wasn't even floating ice in there. It was a lot warmer than it could have been. I hopped in and popped over the edge to yell to Jay "It's not that bad!!!" and the guy next to me just mutters "shut up," so maybe it was pretty cold. Either way, I ended up being fine, which was good.

Refreshing!

3. Rope wall and berlin walls

The rope wall was definitely one I wanted to do, and I got up and over, but not without help. The footholds were so tiny and were so muddy that I couldn't get a good grip with my feet and had to rely pretty much all on my arms. I was happy to have a hand at the top to get me up it.

The berlin walls, despite being ridiculously tall, were pretty easy since I had three strong men hoisting me over each one and two more men helping me down on the other side. Thanks, dudes!

4. Pyramid scheme

Lots of fun and lots of teamwork. More dudes helping me on this one. There was no way you could get up this one by yourself, so teamwork was required.

Almost to the top! Reach! Hold!

We stopped and helped some other people behind us up too, which was fun.

Afterwards

After the electroshock, they added insult to injury by making you take a sharp right to go UP another hill, and then turn right back around and go back down it to the finish. Oy. But once we crossed the finish line, I was so. so. happy. I actually got wicked emotional at the end because it hit me that I had actually finished and had that dang orange headband. AND I had done pretty much every obstacle that I could. I was so proud of myself.

In the two days after my entire body was one big ball of sore. Owwww. Advil and light stretching and hobbling around were my three best friends. 

Will I do it again? Yes, because we all signed up afterwards for a discounted voucher for a 2015 race. And you better believe I will finish those monkey bars. 

WOOO

Guys. I did it!!!

Full recap to follow!

Here we go

When I signed up back in October, the Tough Mudder date of May 31 seemed to be light years away. Now it's less than a week away. What.

How prepared do I feel?

Ehhhh. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd say maybe a 6.

My two major goals before TM were losing some weight/fat%, and being able to do a pull up, and I didn't meet either of these goals. My weight is holding steady right in the low 150s and has been for the past month or so. This is entirely due to weekends. I keep having too much fun on the weekends and it seems to always involve some sort (read: lots) of calories. That said, I suppose having too much fun is a good problem to have, yeah? On the flip side, I DO have more muscles. I got definition in my arms and legs, so that's pretty cool.

As for the pull up, I have made progress - I can now jump up, hold myself up for a while and sloooowly lower myself down easily, whereas before I would jump up and immediately come back down again. I could barely even just hang there for any length of time. But I'm nowhere close to an actual pull up. Also, my dream goal was to rock the monkey bars and that is definitely not happening. I tried some kiddie monkey bars at the playground down the street last week and literally could not get from one bar to the second bar. I just can't support my whole weight with only one hand.

You look so deceivingly simple.

My running has been going well - I can fairly easily do over 6 miles at this point, which I think will be enough endurance to get me through.

My goals for TM:

1. Finish. Get orange headband. ???.  Profit.

2. Don't die or get horribly injured. 

3. Don't bail out on any obstacles without trying them just cause you're too scared (with the exception of the ice water one, no can do). I'm looking at you, Walk the Plank. And the electric wire ones. I want to finish feeling like I tried everything that I could. Even if I can't do some of the obstacles (monkey bars) at least I can say I tried them.

One obstacle I definitely want to complete is this one:

Basically a wall with tiny footholds and a rope to climb up. When I did the warrior dash last year, I couldn't get up this one. So if I can't do the monkey bars, I'm hoping to at least manage this one.

So there you have it. I'm anxious, excited, terrified. Recap coming in a week :) Wish me luck!

Breaking the comfort zone: yoga

So going along with the theme of smashing comfort zones, I did something this weekend that I haven't done in literally a decade - yoga! I realize that everyone and their mother is already on the yoga bandwagon, but better late than never, right?

To be honest, I've never been too drawn to yoga. I did one class in college and wasn't too impressed. I remember laying there on my back breathing in, breathing out, and all I could think about was how the college gymnasium floor was kinda gross and that it was really hot and smelled like sweat. So much for letting your thoughts go, right? At the end I was like, what is this, I feel no different! I demand enlightenment! All my anxiety should be gone! or something along those lines. I always thought of yoga to be used as one of three things - 1. to gain or enhance your spirituality, 2. to reduce anxiety and relax, or 3. to stretch out your muscles. I'm not a very spiritual person, I can handle any anxiety I have pretty well, and I can stretch for free in my own home. So, why do yoga?

Another misconception I had is that yoga is easy. You just sort of flow from movement to movement right? Hahahaha. I would see pictures on Instagram like, tree pose and whatever that one is where you stand on one leg and snake your leg around the other one and your arms too and balance? NBD right?

Just smiling, chillin in eagle pose. FALSE ADVERTISING, ACTUALLY VERY DIFFICULT

Cut to: Saturday morning, yoga studio (HOT yoga mind you), with my friend Jackie. I was pretty nervous because I am such a noob when it comes to yoga. Like, nooby enough to ask if you wear sneakers during yoga class. I did go in knowing a few basic poses (1.downward dog which I am terrible at due to tight hamstrings that I rarely stretch, whoops, 2. warrior pose, 3. sitting indian style? does that count? 4. the sun thing where you stand and sweep your hands up to the sky? or something) but I was praying that the teacher wouldn't just be like "Ok class, now we will sweep into shavanuyuyasunana pose" and the whole class would contort into like, a literal flower, transformer style, and I'd be like WHAT ARE YOU.

And so, with my trepidations in tow, off to yoga we went. Ninety minutes later, I was almost literally a puddle of sweat on a borrowed mat and I felt freaking awesome.

There were some great things right off the bat about this yoga class. It was a small class - only seven of us total I think - and the instructor was excellent at welcoming all levels. If I was struggling to stay up in a certain pose, she would gently remind the class that we could put our back knee down for more support if needed (boom, knee to the ground). Or she'd remind us we could use a block, or just revert into child's pose. But she'd also say things to challenge the advanced people, like, "if you have a warrior level 18 pose you like to take here, feel free to challenge yourself" (obviously I just made that up), and then basically people would turn into ACTUAL warriors. Level 18 is crazy. I also just made that up.

"Saturday morning: a level 18 yoga class leaves the studio."

 Things I learned:

1. Yoga is hard. Like, really hard. It's a serious workout. So much for "just stretching," lol. My legs were on fire and I thought a number of times that I wouldn't be able to make it through the whole 90 minutes. There were people there who were at the same level as myself I'd say, and then there were people who were like, handstanding and practically break dancing (at a much slower pace than actual break dancing. Slow-break-dancing). This dude next to me was doing some crazy poses and barely broke a sweat.

This was happening 6 feet to my left. I don't even.

2. Speaking of sweat, I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my entire life. We'd be in downward dog and every 5 seconds I'd have another drop come off my nose onto my mat. Drop. Drop. Drop.

3. My balancing skills need a lot of work. Every time we did something where we balanced on one foot I felt like one of those inflatable air dancing things.

WHOOOAAAAAA

4. I felt really good afterwards. Not in some crazy enlightenment way, and I'm not about to change my whole mindset and start following Buddha or anything. But I felt really relaxed and refreshed and overall, really good.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I would love to make progress with this and get better at some of these poses. I'm actually pretty excited to try it again. I see a new yoga mat in my future....

Against all grain

So recently, my dear friend over at The White Whale gave me a little birthday present of the cookbook Against All Grain.

Isn't Danielle Walker just the cutest? She's like, hey y'all. I got some paleo goodness up in here. I don't know why I picture her as a southern belle. More likely she's from the Bronx or something (edit - she's from San Fransisco, which makes a lot of sense). But that hair! The red dress!

Check her out on her soon-to-be-published second book here:

 

Oh, you know, just washing my organic romaine and greeting my gorgeous husband with a smile as he walks through the door with two puppies and a dairy-free chai latte in hand. Alright, I think I might be extrapolating a bit here. Safe to say Danielle Walker is pretty great.

I digress. I love cookbooks, and I was super stoked to get this one. Yes, I know I'm off the strict paleo bandwagon, but I still want to be eating lots of healthy foods full of veggies and protein, and these recipes deliver.

First up: slow cooker beef chuck chili. I was psyched cause I got to use my roommate's slow cooker (thanks Jansky!) and basically just threw everything in there and let it stew in its own awesomeness. I made some adjustments, like using ground beef and bison (what I had on hand) and throwing in a boatload of spinach at the end.

Sort of close, right?! I don't even think I'm being sarcastic this time!

Next up is banana bread. I've got some bananas that are knocking on death's door and deserve a eulogy in the form of nomtastic baked goods.

My new goals are:

1. Cook more recipes from cookbooks. I've got Ellie Krieger's floating around somewhere from a while ago which has a lot of awesome healthy recipes, too.

2. Eat leftovers from said recipes before moving on to other recipes.

3. Make sure to not cook anything with shellfish. I had a horrid reaction last week where my entire body, head to toe, was on FIRE with hives. It was miserable. Got a prescription for some major anti-inflammatories and antihistamines and they slowly went away after about 5 days. The only thing I can think is that I ate shrimp right before it happened. Then ate calamari the next day (yeah, I'm dumb and didn't connect the dots) and that just threw it through the roof. I have an allergy appointment in July but until then I'm avoiding everything shrimpy. But I keep forgetting. I'm like, OH this SHRIMP RECIPE with SHRIMP PUREE and SHRIMP SAUCE SHRIMP WRAP sure sounds good! Shellfish smoothie on the side, yeah! Yum! And then I have to stop myself and be like, HIVES.

4. Get back into the workout swing. The hives threw me WAY off. I couldn't work out, let alone move without being utterly miserable. Itch itch itch. I went to bootcamp on Thursday, which was the first day I had no hives at all, but then still had trouble getting into workout mode this weekend. Today I ran 3ish miles though, so I'm getting back into the groove.

What recipe books do you own? Any recommendations?

Bootcamp: the review

So remember when I wrote this post about breaking the comfort zone?

Consider it broken. One month of bootcamp completed! And it was so good, I signed up for another month.

The first day I went back in the beginning of April, I had no idea what to expect. Would there be some steroid-crazed instructor with 0% body fat screaming spittle into my face to GIVE ME TWENTY MORE? Would I be surrounded by perfect gazelle like women who sparkle instead of sweat? Would everyone know exactly what to do and I'd be like, wait, I forget what mountain climbers are? Would I even be able to find the dang place?

AHHHHHH

None of the above anxiety-riddled anticipations came true. I found the place just fine. The instructor is pretty chill - he expects us to do everything he tells us to, but he's ready to modify for people if need be. There are all different levels of fitness there, so I definitely don't feel out of place. And I'm always sore the day after bootcamp, so I know it's working!

We do something different each session - any mix of wall sits, planks, burpees, arm work with bands, squats, army crawls, step ups, pushups, etc, all mixed in with high intensity cardio. One time we played tag and if you were "it" you had to do 5 burpees before running after someone else. And we use whatever is available in the park - benches, basketball courts, picnic tables, steps, whatever. Once we did a bunch of ab work, planks, leg raises, flutters, and I couldn't cough or laugh without dying for about three days. Grow, ab muscles, grow! This month will be my last, since I really can't afford it without the groupon. But I'd definitely recommend it.

Next stop on my comfort busting bandwagon: kickboxing class. Not even kidding. What can I say, these groupons just sucker me right in. I haven't called to schedule my first 40 minute one-on-one training session because, well, I'm preeeeetty terrified. But judging by my bootcamp experience, I think I'll be okay. And you get a free pair of boxing gloves!

Definitely going to feel like a chuck norris-esque kangaroo.

THREE gloves. THREE!

Inspiration

Happy Marathon Monday, people! I love watching the Boston marathon. What a roller coaster of emotions. We cheered around mile 16 and then made our way to mile 24ish. At mile 16 most of them are cruising along, feeling strong. And then mile 24, you see their faces. They barely hear you cheering. Their strides are more haggard. We're talking deep in the pain zone. Doesn't matter if you're an elite runner or a 5 hour marathoner. It hurts all the same. (Unless you're Meb, in which case you're more of a god than a mortal man). Whenever I'm cheering for marathon runners, I always get a smidgen choked up. Add onto it the history of last year and I'm just beside myself.

I also get insanely inspired and start thinking crazy things. Things like, maybe I could do a marathon in the fall. I often think this but never have actually gone through with it. I want redemption for my NYC marathon where I bonked at mile 19 (I finished, but it wasn't pretty), but I've never been able to pull the trigger and commit to a full training plan. Maybe this is the year? I'm going to tuck my crazy thoughts away for now. We'll see.

Inspiration has struck in other ways as well. It's time to get back on the weight loss train. If I'm completely honest, I've fallen off the wagon a bit when it comes to healthy eating. Sure, I ate paleo for 30 days, but I kind of ate whatever I wanted within those guidelines (and sometimes outside of those guidelines). Between birthdays, Easter, and family/friend visits, I've become lax.

I've been avoiding the scale. I know I'm up over 150 but how bad is the damage? Regardless, I'm weighing in tomorrow to face the music and recommit.

Good news is, I'm pretty okay on the workout front. I'm still slacking on consistent planks, but I've been going to bootcamp twice a week and I'm still rocking the weights. I also ran a 10k road race last weekend with a friend and we killed it with a 9:25 pace. Yay!

My tentative goal is back under 150 by May 4. Don't know how feasible this is but I think it could be possible.

My other goal is sticking with my training plan, and keep upping my mileage without bugging my knee. TM is in 40 days and it ain't gonna run itself.

What do you think about marathons? Am I crazy? I'm crazy. It's ok, you can tell me. Talk me out of this madness! Or, on the flip side, anyone want to run one with me?

Paleo, the Unabridged Edition

Forgive me as I navel gaze into my diet for the past 30 days. If you don't want the ridiculously long day-by-day version, feel free to jump to the bottom for an overall recap. 

Day 1: Keep asking myself about almost every food, is this paleo? Are pita chips paleo? Is mustard paleo? Is oatmeal paleo? Are cupcakes paleo? Is wine paleo? Is the baked goods section as a whole in Hannaford's paleo? I am driving myself a little insane. Some answers are more obvious than others, and the answer 95% of the time is no. Which means I can't eat it. Bummer. No chips for me.

Day 2: Still transitioning. The things that weren't paleo yesterday, still aren't today. Still a bummer.

Day 3: Currently craving: a bagel. Ate this for breakfast instead (yum). Baked this banana bread recipe in the afternoon, which was a major paleo fail-eo (HA!! *knee slap*). Mainly because I added in almond butter and maple syrup (why? I don't remember) and figured that it would just, you know, work. But baking is science, and I am no chemist.

No idea.

Result: majorly soggy bread despite cooking 10+ extra minutes. I ate a slice of it anyway out of sheer spite. It was bad.

I'm finding that I get much fuller much quicker than usual on paleo. I still get a bit hungry throughout the day per usual (before lunch, after a run, etc), but after eating a meal I'm like daaaang, really full stomach. So far this is the only noticeable difference.

Day 4: The discovery of Larabars. Complete game changer.

Day 5: I went to a lunch event for work, and elected for the turkey instead of stuffed shells (+1). But then they served chocolate cake and I ate half a slice (-1, but +1 for self-restraint to not eat it all). It was delicious (+1). Overall, a positive experience.

Day 6: Down to 145.4. I've been stuck at 147 for two weeks, so it's nice to see the scale move. I don't know if this is a result of eating paleo, or just because I've been pretty on track the past week. Time will tell. Currently craving: quesadillas.

Day 7: Didn't sleep much the previous night due to feeling nauseous. Not a fun combo. Today I went pretty far off paleo in an attempt to settle my stomach - ate some pasta, had a buffalo chicken quesadilla and some fro-yo. Sounds random, but it was what my stomach was craving and I thought it would make it feel better, but it definitely didn't... but meat/veggies/nuts/fruit sounded horrible at the time, so there you have it.

Day 8: 25% of the way there! Still nauseous but feeling better. Stayed paleo today.

Day 9: Stomach is back to normal and I'm currently not craving anything significant. Cool.

Day 10: Decided that Hershey's dark chocolate is paleo. Right?

Day 11: Made meatballs. I'd give em an 8 out of 10.

Day 12: Had a completely random and very inconvenient gum infection that required some minor emergency surgery. What the heck, body. I won't go into details because believe me, you don't want them. Smoothies galore. Also, the antibiotics they gave me can cause an overgrowth of C. diff (wonderful), and my dentist basically told me in no uncertain terms to eat yogurt for the live cultures. Choosing between staying paleo and warding off rampant terrible bacteria is a pretty easy decision. So, yogurt every day for a while. Also, ate some pasta salad using one side of my mouth because I was feeling bad for myself. Boohoo.

Day 13: More smoothies. More yogurt. So I guess I'm eating "Primal" now, not paleo? What's next, Feral? Savage? The Bloodthirsty diet? Let's get on that wagon, why don't we. Whatever we want to call it, I'm eating paleo plus dairy. Take that, C. diff!!

Day 14: The before: my sister-in-law and brother had stomach bugs this weekend. Of course I thought it would be a great time to visit. The after: I threw up 5 times overnight. You see day 12? Add in day 14 on top of that and YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME.

I am also sick to death of stomach bugs. I've had three this winter season. RIDICULOUS. That means I'm immune for life, right?

Day 15: Recovery. Ate a little of this, little of that. Mostly water, yogurt, bananas.

Day 16: Feeling 100% better. FINALLY. Made cauliflower crust pizza, and it came out much better than I thought it would! Mainly because I used a lot of cheese, as toppings and in the crust. I don't think I would have been as enthused if there was a lack of cheese.

Also, decided that Hershey's milk chocolate is paleo. .....right? (wrong) 

Day 17: Chaperoned a field trip for work. Free lunch = Boloco chicken burritos: high on deliciousness, low on paleo. Also went to my first bootcamp today! I was completely starving after so I threw together the quickest, strangest paleo dinner: sauteed mushrooms, a sausage link, and avocado. Inhaled it.

Day 18: I went out with some friends who were asking me how paleo was going. My response was 1. it's pretty alright, 2. I've noticed no earth-shattering changes, and 3. I really miss pizza/pasta/gluten/cookies/etc. I'm going to stick it out for the next 12 days but as of right now, I don't forsee myself continuing with it (at least as I have) after 30 days.

Speaking of hardcore, I'm actually not, since I had some tostitos & salsa and a piece of oreo peanut butter pie with ice cream when I got home. WHOOPS!

Day 19: A continuation of non-paleo foods. I had a pretty epic hill workout today, followed by a burger + fries/onion rings, and some fro-yo and a beer or two. Decidedly NOT paleo.

Day 20: Back on the caveman wagon. Steak + potatoes + broccoli for dinner.

Day 21: Meatloaf! Very proud of myself because I threw this together with no recipe. Ground bison meat, ground chicken sausage, 1 egg and 1 egg white, onions, worcestershire sauce, garlic, tomato paste, almond flour, and some bbq sauce and seasoning. It came out really good - better than expected. Dust ya shoulders off.

Day 22: Small run-in with a bit of chicken pot pie, but otherwise a mostly paleo day. Leftover meatloaf. Yum.

Day 23: ONE WEEK TO GO. Currently craving: a sandwich.

This sandwich. Droooooooool

Days 24, 25, 26, 27: Pretty much the most epic long weekend ever. Highlights included PAX East (home of some major quality cosplay, although alas I did not dress up), karaoke (sang some country), sushi dinner (terrified our server by bringing almost twice the number of people we had originally reserved for), having both our cell phones die and then realizing my car was towed (NOT FUN), hanging out with good friends (old and new), drinking champagne (yum), and eating pretty much whatever I wanted (chocolate covered almonds, chips and hummus, pizza!, and sour patch kid popsicles, of all things). And I didn't work out once.

This is completely the opposite of what I had originally anticipated my weekend being:

But I had an absolute blast and life goes on, as it always does.

Day 28: Back to healthy eating and paleo!

Day 29: Aaaand I'm pretty over it. I went grocery shopping today and in anticipation of The Final Day of Paleo I was so excited to buy things I couldn't buy before. Hummus! Veggie burgers! Sandwich bread! Granola bars!

Day 30: Last day! I celebrated by eating a sandwich for lunch. Whoops.

OVERALL: My impression of the paleo diet is "not bad, but not impressed."

Ehhhhh? Ehhhh...

I would say I was about 70% paleo, 30% not. Even that may be a generous estimate. This wasn't my original intent, but it's how it happened. Days 7-15 were rough all around due to random illness. I've met my sick quota for the year and it's only April, thank you very much. Throughout the month I ate a lot of things that weren't strictly paleo: chocolate, froyo, pasta, red wine, cheese, yogurt, protein powder, etc. And towards the end I really started to get lax about sticking with it.

Will I continue with paleo? The short answer is no. There were days that I was just fed up with it and didn't want to think about getting a burger sans bun, or struggling over whether or not to have one tortilla chip (just have it already). And sometimes you just gotta have some fro-yo.

FROYO, YOLO

I also wasn't a fan of labeling some foods as off-limits or bad, or on a certain "can't-have" or "can-have" list. I felt like my cravings were even more extreme once I put them on the bad list, which sort of backfired for me. And I felt no major differences eating paleo. Granted, I didn't stick with it 100% by a long shot, but that's life.

However, I will take some things from it - for instance, I loved that I minimized my processed food intake. Not one lean cuisine to be seen! It made me search for alternate, healthier snacks and dinner ideas. I also liked eating more veggies and protein, along with a LOT more healthy fats. I don't think I'm going to give up eating avocado most days, and I'm willing to sacrifice some grains for that to not throw my calorie count through the roof. Paleo showed me that fat is not necessarily a bad thing. Yay! That being said, there were a more than a couple days in there where I logged over 50% of my calories coming from fat. Whoops.

It might help if I stop eating almond butter straight from the jar.

Weight change: Negligible, probably due to an excessive amount of the two above pics. In fact, I'm pretty much the same as I started, if not even a bit higher. Color me (un)surprised: looking back on the days, this makes sense considering how many weekends I went a bit overboard. And I didn't go into this thinking it was a weight loss plan (calories are calories whether you eat meat and veggies, or pasta and cookies), although it would have been nice to see the scale move a bit more. That said, there are a number of factors at play: I've been gaining muscle (yay), and I was sick a lot this month (boo), I ate everything this past weekend (yum), and other weekends as well. All things to consider. Also: froyo. Have I mentioned froyo? Definitely a major player this month.


And so. Paleo experiment: 100% complete. Verdict: Meh. I will wonder no more!

And now I'm off to eat another sandwich.

April

Another progress/goals post! This one is less numbers-ey and more general, but I think I have some pretty cool stuff to share.

The scale has been a bit nudgey recently. I dropped down to 145.2 last week, which felt pretty nice. Since then, I've been bouncing around closer to 150. Gonna keep on keeping on and hope for some downward progress. This weekend didn't help - definitely ate above and beyond my normal cal intake with a bacon cheeseburger (with the bun) and some fro-yo (with caramel and reeses, nom). It's back to healthy eating and paleo this week.

I'll admit, it is frustrating to look back and see that almost a full two months ago, I was at 149. I haven't had a ton of significant weight loss since then. A stark difference from 5 years ago when I was losing 2 pounds a week like clockwork. Granted, that didn't stick so what good was it? I know it sounds silly, but I really wanted to be under 140 for Tough Mudder - for the sole purpose of having less weight to pull over walls/up ropes/over fire. Granted, it still could happen (I have 8 weeks until TM and losing a pound a week isn't out of the question), but I feel like the way things have been going, it will be difficult.

But since we all know the scale is only one small metric worth following in this whole process, there's been other things worth noting....

1. ...Like the fact that I can do pushups now. Real ones! And not just two of them before I collapse onto the ground in a huff. I can do 10 in a row without a problem. And I can get down more than halfway (not ALL the way but close), so they actually look like real, legit pushups. Pretty cool.

2. I can do bicep curls with a 15 pound weight. A month+ ago I couldn't even do one with 15lbs, and I was using 8lbs weights. But now I can do five or six with a 15er! So that's cool too. I've also got more definition in my arms and triceps. Beast mode!

3. I have a lot more endurance running-wise. I did a hill workout on Saturday followed by a 6-miler on Sunday, and felt pretty good. Back in early February, I was ecstatic for running a whole three miles at one time. So the fact that I can do almost 5 miles of hills plus a 6 miler the next day is definitely progress.

4. I'm making a little bit of progress with my pullups. I'm not entirely where I want to be but I'm working on it. I can get myself up just a few more inches than before.

Goals for April:

1. Clean up my weekends. I love the routine of the weekdays because it's easy to stick to the plan, but when Friday comes around I just want to let loose a bit and not worry so much about counting calories, eating strictly paleo, etc etc.

And I think letting loose a bit is a good thing, but I know if I can contain myself at least a little bit on Friday and Saturday, I'll see more progress on the scale. And I still haven't given up my goal of  <140 for TM. This coming weekend will be tough (but also insanely fun) with PAX, get togethers with friends, and not a ton of time for workouts. But, perseverance! And planning.

2. Keep on track with my new workout plan (gettin right for the summer, holla at Kanye!). I've got a good thing going and want to step up to the challenge and make it happen. So far so good this April. Planning out what I'm doing each day has helped tremendously. And of course it would. When you don't have a workout plan for the day it's far too easy to either skip out entirely or convince yourself to push less than you could have.

3. Clean the apartment. Like, major spring cleaning. Dusting, organizing, purging, sanitizing, cleaning. When I have a clean, uncluttered living space, I always feel better in general, which helps me out on a lot of fronts.

What goals do you all have for April? I think a collective goal should be to enjoy the warmer weather. Who is psyched for spring?!

NO MORE!!!

Planning

So far this whole eating paleo thing has gone pretty well. I'll be recapping after the 30 days are up so you can look out for that. Currently I'm 10 days in, and other than a brief run-in with a deep cup of froyo and a buffalo chicken quesadilla, it's been smooth sailing.

Things I've learned / changes I've noticed:
1. Everything I ever loved in life has grains and/or dairy. You have no idea how good that froyo and buff-chix-ques was. So good. Understatement.
2. After froyo and BCQ was consumed, I felt pretty awful. Intestines all like, say whaaaat? Lesson learned. Sigh.
3. My skin is a bit clearer on this diet. Rosacea be damned!
4. I get more full more quickly, which is pretty cool.
5. Planning is key.

Out of all these, number five has been most noticeable. Straight from the beginning, I noticed that all of my go-to snack items were very much not paleo. Crackers, yogurt, granola bars, oatmeal, diet soda, cereal and milk, etc. There were a number of times where I just stood in the kitchen in front of a full pantry for about 8 minutes straight, unmoving.

And I have nothing to eat. With our powers combined....

 And as such, I've done a lot more planning. Improvising is tough on paleo. I can't just scarf down a stale bagel from the back conference room if I forget my lunch. I can't pop into a gas station for a coffee and a granola bar before work. And when I'm starving and looking for comfort food and options are limited, I tend to opt for froyo and quesadillas, apparently. So, plans were made. I've made a number of trips to the grocery store, planned out more meals than I have in the past, and experimented in the kitchen with things like almond flour, medjool dates, and spaghetti squash. Later this week I'm actually making one of those pizzas with the cauliflower crust that only the crazies on Pinterest whisper about.

My head tells me it looks kinda delicious, but my heart tells me the crust is a lie

Planning my meals has definitely helped. It's not like I'm making a meal plan for every meal for an entire week straight, but at least having some recipes on hand to work with, along with some snacks makes things a lot easier.

With the success of planning meals, I decided to take this planning thing to the next level. I keep saying I'm going to up my game with the workouts. And it keeps not happening. I've been going along each week and sometimes making it to the gym, sometimes making my workouts count, sometimes going on runs. "Sometimes" ain't cutting it.

SO, I've made a plan from now until the end of May for each and every day stating what I'm supposed to be doing. It allows for minimal days off a week - one at most. I've got a variety of things - hill workouts, bootcamp sessions, planks every day, long runs on Sundays, biking, upper body weights and lower body weights every three days, track workouts for speed, etc etc. It's a pretty tight ship I'm running here. Future Me is all like you kidding me? And I'm all like, go read this post and get on board.

Let's do work.