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!!!