Tabata on Crack

So I've fully come to realize that I'm a horrible blogger. It doesn't help that I've put all of my motivation into working out and legitimately forgot that I may have other responsibilities in life. Who'd have thought that would ever come out of my mouth. Honestly, being out of school is all kinds of messing me up. Being in school at least kept me on a semi-regular schedule of homework, class, work, and working out. Once I took the school factor out of the equation and added in a "grown-up" to do list, I just don't know what to do with myself. But I digress. I'll start with last week when I got back from being at home.

I was fortunate enough to get a direct flight that got me back in Rochester at about 10 AM. Win for me. My original plan was to get my butt right off to the gym at my regular noon time. Yeah that didn't go so well. I really just wasn't feeling it mentally. So I went to the vet's office, picked up the puppy and went back to campus to spend the day enjoying the sun. Ended up on an EMS call, go figure. The only bummer moment I had about missing the gym was that I was missing doing the 20 RM back squat for the week. I really wanted to use that day to get over 100 pounds, but I don't know if I actually would have brought myself to do it.

Tuesday I went running with Melissa. We were on Day 2 of the Couch to 5k program so we were still doing a 1 min. jog with a 1 min. walk for 20 minutes. Wasn't too bad. I figured out how to turn the GPS tracker on. We went a total of 2 miles with a 10:03 min/mile pace.

Wednesday I got back to the gym. It was definitely challenging yet somewhat invigorating. Last week we did quarterly baseline workouts so my "warm-up" was a baseline:

500m row
40 air squats
30 sit-ups
20 push-ups
10 pull-ups

In January when I last did this, I was using my knees for the push-ups and the highest assistance band that we have. I finished the entire thing in 7:13. This time round I still used my knees for the push-ups, a more difficult abmat and I used a lower assistance band for the pull-ups. I finished in 6:40. Definitely a major improvement. My goals for next time are going to be to at least get off my knees with the push-ups. I'd also like to bring my 500m row time down a little bit. Right now it's about 1:55. I want to get it down to the 1:40s. I'm still starting off strong but getting tired right around the halfway mark. Either way, it's not like I got a lot of room to complain. We also filled out reflection sheets but I'll get to that later.

Now on to the real work-out:

Strength:
5 x 5 push press, 1 set every 2 min.

MetCon:
"Elizabeth"
21-15-9 
Clean
Ring Dips

I really surprised myself with the push press. My 1 RM back in January was 103 pounds, so I was kind of keeping that in mind when they told me I had to do 5. Well long story short, my 1 RM became my 5 RM in the span of 3 months. Ain't that some shit.

Elizabeth went well too! I forget what weight I used for the cleans. Prescribed for women was 95, but I doubt I was that ambitious when I had 21 of them to do. My ring dips are definitely getting better too in regards to the range of motion I can do now. I usually use an assistance band draped between the two rings, but even then I couldn't get very good range of motion. This time I was getting fairly decent range of motion. They gave us a 10 minute cap and I finished in 8:40. Not too shabby at all. Especially with all the work I did.

Thursday I went back for more torture. My arms and back were already in agony.

Skill:
3 rounds NTE:
10-15 supine ring rows
8-12 knees to elbow
8-10 pistol squats

MetCon:
3 min AMRAP:
7 wall balls
7 kettlebell swings
...rest 2 minutes...
3 min AMRAP:
7 push-ups (hand release)
7 broad jumps

Midline:
4 x 10 GHD sit-ups

The skill work was fairly difficult. I'm not quite at the stage of doing fully supine ring rows, so I just hung myself from the rings while keeping my feet on the floor. Knees to elbow are still very difficult because I have this squishy tummy that likes to get in the way. My flexibility is much better than it used to be but I won't be doing any toes to bar anytime soon. My pistol squats are improving. I can get just a bit lower than I used to without any assistance. I call it a win.

The MetCon was rough. For the wall balls I used the 14 pound ball, which was the one prescribed, and the 35 pound kettlebell. I think for this one I got through 3 full rounds and 10 reps into the next one. For the next AMRAP I did full body push-ups. I don't know how long my jump was, but if I had to guess it was somewhere in the 4-5 foot range. With that one I did 2 full rounds plus 13 reps. I was fairly pissed I couldn't get that last rep in and make it 3 rounds. Oh well.

Friday...you guessed it...I went back for even more! My poor legs up until then had been idly standing by waiting for their moment to shine.

Strength:
5 x 3 hang power snatch, 1 set every 2 min.

MetCon:
12 rounds - for total meters
20 sec max effort row
40 sec recovery row

The strength was a little awkward. My arms were already pretty tired so taking a barbell and lifting it from the ground to over my head in one step was a little bit like being on a teeter totter. I finally maxed out at 73 pounds. Wonder what I could have gotten if I wasn't exhausted.

The MetCon was interesting to say the least. I called it tabata on crack. Instead of doing 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, it was 20 seconds of all-out work and 40 seconds of active rest. My total meters were 2432. I thought it was a low number, but apparently in put me higher up in the class than I thought. I guess that means I'm a pretty decent rower? For my max efforts I kept the pace at about 1:45. For the active rest portions, I started around 2:45 and towards the end I was at about 3:20, which is partially why I don't understand how I got that many meters out of it. I didn't think I was pushing that hard in comparison to the rest of the class. Regardless, my legs got the workout they were asking for.

I was supposed to go Saturday but I was pretty much toast by the end of those 3 days. With my horrible diet lately, I still rocking the workouts but my recovery sucks. I still didn't have it in check last week. I was just so out of control. I would have one good meal and then go to the RITA base and go nuts. I was not feeling good about myself. Thursday was the only day I was good because I was at Henrietta all day and I apparently have a little better self-control there. Otherwise I was just horrible. I felt like crap and not feeling like I could get back on track was just making me feel crappier. I was giving it my all during workouts, but I would just feel awful about myself afterwards. I gained back a little bit of the weight I lost during the challenge. Not going to say how much, but I'm not impressed with myself right now. So, once again, the diet is proving to be an issue. I'm still a food addict.

The one thing I did realize last week was that shoes are everything in CrossFit. I got my first pair of Reebok Nano 2.0's and they're absolutely amazing. I'm getting a lot more power in my lifts, because they're very minimalist shoes so I can actually feel the ground instead of feeling through an overly rubbery sole. Honestly, they're all around a wonderful shoe. Not recommended for running, but for the gym and even walking, they're so much more comfortable than running sneakers. I never thought I'd say that shoes are everything.

Well I'm going to cut this short. My computer's dying and the Catalyst Games are tomorrow! I will be updating with my workouts for this past week, along with the detox I finally put myself through. There will also be my results from tomorrow on there! I'm so nervous, it's crazy. They posted the WODs and there are burpee box jumps. Eek.

Anywho, g'night all!

Paleo Challenge Version 2

I know I said I wasn't going to post until I got back to Rochester, but long story short I've had a lot of time to think these past couple days. I fell off the wagon hardcore. I was starting to get good, and then I got bad news from home that my grandfather had passed away, so in a 24 hour time span I ate an entire salami, a bag of Wavy Lays, a container of mashed potatoes, and some mac n' cheese. Yeah...bad. But, life goes on at some point and wallowing ain't gonna get me ready for this competition.

So to help me get back on the wagon, I've designed my own kind of paleo challenge, based off the one that I just did with some modifications. The "core points" are the same. I get 9 points per day for not cheating essentially. I modified the bonus points a little bit though. I took out the ones that were dedicated towards going to paleo events and such and added in some of my own based off of things that I have difficulty with. So I still get bonus points for exercise and 8+ hours of sleep. On top of that, I get 1 bonus point for only having 1 serving of fruit, and I get a bonus point for having 3 good meals in a day. The fruit is a tough one for me because somedays I convince myself that I can use it as a substitute for my sugar cravings and be guilt free. The 3 meals a day is going to be a big one for me because with my falling off the bandwagon, I stopped sleeping as well. So I'm going to need to get back on the sleeping and eating breakfast schedule.

With this plan, I can get a maximum of 88 points. 63 points come from the "core points". A maximum of 7 points can come from sleeping 8+ hours per night as well as only having 1 serving of fruit and 3 meals. A maximum of 4 points can come from exercise.

My goal for this challenge is going to be to get over 78 points per week, which leaves me with enough leeway for those recipes that may call for cheese or something along those lines. Like I said before, I'm not going as crazy as I did with the real paleo challenge, but I'm just trying to establish guidelines for myself since I clearly still need them to some extent.

So how am I going to reward myself? For every week that I get 78+ points, I'm putting aside $20 to go towards some smaller clothes. There are 6 weeks between now and June. If I'm good, that's a lotta money. I figure doing something like this may teach me some frugality at the same time. And by frugality I mean making my own damn meals. I really don't spend that much money on myself. It's just all from when I go out to eat constantly. Heck, if I do well, I may even make it $40 per week, but $20 of it actually has to go in my savings account. We'll see how it all goes. I don't want to go too crazy right out of the starting gate and get discouraged.

As a form of accountability, I will be posting a picture of my point sheet on here every Sunday. Technically since I'll still be here tomorrow, I'll probably just take the hit and start right on Monday when I have a little more control over what I eat. Haven't exactly explained to my Italian mother that I can't have pasta...

So there's my thought process of today. I think this will work swimmingly. I really need to detox myself before this competition. Somehow I've still been rocking the workouts, but as I've found out in the past, it's not sustainable without a good diet behind it. Plus I still have my eyes set on that weight goal before the summer. I'm not planning any crazy vacations, but I'd still like to chill at the pool and feel comfortable in my own skin. I'd love a vacation, but I wouldn't even know where to go or how I can truly get myself away from life for a week. I sat in the airport yesterday and listened to them announce flights to Bermuda and Barbados and I thought to myself how easy it would be for me to just go. I could just get on the plane, buy myself a bathing suit and a towel once I got there and just hide from everyone for like a week. But alas, I didn't.

Alright, rant off. It's bedtime.

Coming to a MetCon Near You

So as of last post, I'd decided that while I had done a few higher box jumps and some pull-ups with less resistance, I realized that they weren't to the level of being used during a workout yet. I didn't feel ready to be doing a whole ton of them all at once. Well I didn't exactly get that option this week...

Monday's WOD:

Strength:

1 x 20 back squat

MetCon:

21-15-9

Deadlifts

Box Jumps

*Use the remaining time for any mobility/skill work

The back squats went well. I went up in weight again to 98 pounds. I maybe could have done 103, but the 98 was pretty hard in itself. After all this my 1 RM is going to shoot through the roof. Last time I did it, it was 135. Not anymore! 

We got to the MetCon part and we were informed that the deadlifts should be heavy and the box jumps should be high. She told us to go up one interval from what we usually use. Well for me, that's a 20" box. I'd only gotten a couple jumps in last Friday, not 21. And I certainly wasn't going to have my little runway to get a walking head start. The deadlifts I just used the 98 pounds from the squats. I can go heavier in deadlifts, but I have this tendency once I tire out my quads, that I'll start using bad form when doing deadlifts so I didn't want to kill myself.

I ended up using the 20" box. It actually wasn't that bad. I got it so that all I needed was like a two-step headstart. I did use a little hop in one of the steps to get a little extra momentum but once I got the motions down, I ended up getting right through it. I finished in a time of 11:57, which put me about in the middle of the pack. I was happy. 

After the workout was done there were a few minutes left so I decided to add in some midline work and do abmat sit-ups. I did 2 sets of 20 before I called it quits. I wasn't feeling it a whole lot then, but 24 hours later I sure was! So I decided to add in sit-ups at least twice a week.

Tuesday I started running again! I have this app on my phone called couch to 5k so Tuesday was Day 1 for a friend and I. It went really well. Crossfit has helped my cardiorespiratory fitness immensely. Only problem is no amount of box jumps and jump roping could prepare my calves for what pavement felt like. But at least all I gotta worry about is running through a little pain instead of having to worry about breathing at the same time. It actually felt good to run again, minus the fact that I was losing my pants. I've been having fitgirl problems lately...I bought these awesome workout pants and 2 weeks later they don't fit me. Damnitttt. I mean, they're still good for crossfitting, they just don't stay on very well while running. 

Went back to the gym on Wednesday:

Strength:

5 x 5 push press, 1 set every 2 min.

MetCon:

5 min. AMRAP

   - 20 kettlebell swings

   - 10 pullups

...rest 2 min...

3 min. AMRAP

   - 15 kettlebell swings

   - 6 pullups

...rest 2 min...

3 min. AMRAP

   - Max effort pullups

I amazed myself with the push presses. I didn't truly realize how built up my shoulders were getting until I hit 103 pounds with my last set of 5, and it wasn't even that hard! It was heavy, but not impossible. I checked my 1 RM after class since I had my binder there just to see how I compared. Well, my 1RM for push presses is now my 5 RM. Guess that means I'm going to need to re-test my 1 rep again sometime!

The MetCon was tough but I did really well! Remember how I said my green band pull-ups weren't quite ready to be showcased yet? Well I did it anyway. During the 5 minute AMRAP I got 2 + 17 rounds. During the 3 minute I got 1 + 17 rounds, and during the last one I got 10 pull-ups. My pull-ups are really coming along. I know what people say about kipping pull-ups (they're not cheating!) but by doing them I really got to activate my back muscles, which you're supposed to do even during strict pull-ups, but with those I've usually used my shoulders. My back was such an untapped source of power until I really got the hang of kipping. Like I really beasted through those pull-ups and really worked hard at getting that range of motion. Only problem is, I went so hard with the first two rounds, that by the last round I could barely get 2 pull-ups at a time. I don't really see how I can complain though considering I haven't touched a black band since last week. Let me tell you, I'm really feeling it today though. My biceps hurt, my back hurts, even my forearms hurt. I'mma be popping Aleve tomorrow.

I'm not going to be able to go to the gym anymore this week because I'm heading home tomorrow for a quick trip. I think I'm coming back Monday or Tuesday so I won't be missing too too much, but with a competition coming up, I'm worried about missing days. We were told a couple days ago that we would be getting updates soon on movement standards so I'm a little nervous to hear about that. Also have to get back to the running schedule next week too.

The real bummer is that I have this really cute dress and new shoes and nothing to wear them too. Honestly the proudest moment I had yesterday was walking around the store with heels on and all I could notice were my calf muscles. It's been awhile since I've seen those! Oh well, I'll find something to wear them to eventually. 

Yesterday we celebrated my baby boy's 2nd birthday. He got a big rawhide bone, along with 2 new toys and a bullystick. So at least he got to be happy for a bit. 

Heading to bed. Probably won't update until next week since there won't really be anything notable to update on.

How Time Flies...

Didn't I tell you I'd forget something?! Sorry it's been a week without a post. Between having crappy internet and 5 thousand other things to do, I kind of slacked off a bit.

But anywho...

After finishing this paleo thing, I decided to come up with a "bucket list" of Crossfit movements that I want to master in the near future:
1). 20" box jumps
2). Double-unders
3). Pull-ups with a green assistance band
4). Handstands

I feel like I spent the entire challenge adding to this bucket list but these are the 4 that really stick out to me.

Worked out Monday morning. They definitely got us good. Woke up and checked the WOD and nearly had a heart attack. I can officially say that I got April Fools'd.

April Fools WOD:
1 mile run
100 chin to bar pull-ups
200 handstand push-ups
300 pistol squats
1 mile run
...rest 5 min...
Establish 20 rep max back squat

Oh yeah, they got me good. Nawt cool. It took me until the 300 pistol squats to realize I'd been had. So the REAL WOD for Monday was:

Strength:
20 rep max back squat

MetCon:
EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute) for 20 minutes
   - odd minutes: 3 deadlifts
   - even minutes: max effort burpees

I used 93 pounds for the back squats, and 133 pounds for the deadlifts. The MetCon definitely sucked a lot. The most burpees I got in one round was 12, and that was the first round. For the first 6-ish rounds I was averaging about 8 burpees, my final total being 66. Wasn't very impressed but I took it.

The rest of the week was uneventful. Only got to the gym one other time because I got sick again and was working. Well...the jury's still out on whether I was sick or got allergies, because both are fairly likely. What I DID spend my week doing was fatty-ing myself up again on all the foods I've been missing (damn). There was Chinese food, garbage plates, and various other non-paleo items. It was a bad idea, I felt like crap. Part of the problem was not having food in the house that I was interested in eating. Getting back to paleo = work in progress.

Friday was Open WOD 13.5...the last one. They nicknamed it Fran-RAP.

4 Minute AMRAP
15 Thrusters (65 pounds)
15 Chest to Bar pull-ups

*If you complete 3 full rounds within 4 minutes, you get 4 more minutes added to the clock

This was killer but I beasted through it. Well...beasted in my terms which usually means not stopping and just going at it full force. 65 pound thrusters weren't nearly as bad as I thought they'd be. The last time I did thrusters, I used 73 pounds so it was a little lighter this time. I used my usual resistance band for the pull-ups. The tough part about these pull-ups were that they were chest to bar, not chin to bar so you had to pull yourself up even higher than we usually do. I ended up kipping a bit. My final score was 48, which means I got through the full sequence twice and got 3 thrusters done. That's freaking amazing for me.

Since that was the only thing we were doing that day we got a lot of free time at the end of class, so I decided to try some of my "bucket list" movements: 20" box jump, green band pull-ups, and I threw double-unders in there just because everyone else was doing it.

I started with the pull-ups since our coach was going over kipping pull-ups with a lot of people. I tried a couple strict pull-ups with the green band and just barely got my eyes over the bar, so I went with kipping. Kipping with an assistance band must look so comical to the people standing on the ground watching you do it because you feel like a whale that's tied up in elastics. But regardless, I did it. I started with one pull-up, then kept progressing until I could get 5 in a row. I didn't want to go too crazy since I was already kind of tired, so I was happy with the 5 in a row.

After that came the box jumps. I warmed up with the 16" box a little bit, then pulled out the 20" box. I started with some step-ups just to get a feel for the height. A couple of the other guys were hanging around watching me and asked me what I was doing. I told them I just wanted to jump on the damn thing once. After doing a couple step-ups, I stood next to it and did a couple vertical jumps. They told me I was clearing the box with a decent couple of inches so I decided to just go for it. I stepped back from it a few paces so I could get a walking headstart. There were a couple failed attempts but I finally did it! I definitely did a little dance on top of that thing. After that I kept trying it. I still needed a walking head start before I could even contemplate jumping on that thing because it was definitely still fairly intimidating! I knew I was starting to get tired when I was getting more failed attempts than actual jumps so I put that one away for the time being.

Last but not least, double-unders. I honestly don't know what hurts more - whipping yourself with a jumprope or burpees because they're fairly neck and neck with that one. I didn't quite get one because my arms and legs were fairly exhausted by the time I got to trying it out, but I at least left with some good pointers on how to do them.

So after being so productive, I made workout goals for myself. On days that aren't leg intensive, I told myself I'd stay after a little longer to work on the box jumps. On days that aren't arm intensive, I decided I'd work on pull-ups and double-unders. It seemed like a really good plan at the time.

After all that, I was actually kind of feeling better, so I decided to go banquet shopping. I'd cleaned out my closet of a whole ton of things that don't fit any longer and I really wanted to get myself a nice cheap dress that I could feel good in, but also feel good getting rid of at the beginning of the summer when I've lost more weight. Let me tell you, it was SO amazing to be in a dressing room and feeling torn between dresses because you have several that look good on you. I'm still not the size I wanted to be, but it was still a pretty amazing feeling. Now if only I could get myself back on the damn paleo!

In between all of this, I'm still going on long walks about 2 or 3 times per week, Sunday being the longest one at 5 miles. The weekend was beautiful. Sun was shining both days. Sunday was a little warmer though. I spent all day Saturday outside doing a cones course so I was walking around everywhere and even managed to get a sunburn! Sunday we had meetings, and I got to just spend a little time sitting at the picnic table before our walk. Sometimes even the most non-intensive exercise still feels good.

This post is going to end on the weekend because the next one is going to segway into how my plan has worked out for me so far this week.

It's Really Only the Beginning

So Saturday was final measurement day. If I try to tell anyone I wasn't nervous, just smack me, I was losing my goddamn mind. But let's back up here. Hope you've got some coffee because this is going to be a long one!

I ended up going to the gym Thursday evening. I was kind of disappointed because he wanted us doing a box jump height that would allow us to do box jumps unbroken. So it didn't end up being a good day to try a 20" box. What I DID try was jumping on the box without walking up to it or using a lot of momentum before I actually jumped. I just worked on standing in front of the box, and jumping on it. It ended up working pretty well. It's starting to show that I'm getting confident enough with the 16" that I don't need to get practically a running headstart. It may not have been a 20" box, but it's something. The MetCon (4 rounds of 5 axle thrusters and 10 burpees) wasn't that bad at all. It actually really helped with getting me ready for yesterday's baseline WOD. An axle bar is different from a regular barbell. It's lighter and thicker and doesn't have any rotating parts so you really have to make sure that you're getting the rotation from your arms, not the momentum of the actual lift. I did those with 60 pounds. Maybe I could have gone heavier but my muscles were just about ready to give up.

Came home from the gym, made a really simple dinner and was in bed by 11. Slept until 1030 the next morning. I think I was a little tired. I ended up cancelling my reservation for the Friday class because I just really wanted to rest. Instead I ended up gathering a few friends and checking out a walking trail in Rush, which was absolutely beautiful. We probably did between 2.5 and 3 miles.

I did a lot of meal prepping Friday afternoon. I made Sweet Potato Pancakes, Zucchini Pancakes, Sweet Potato Chips, Crockpot Beef Stew, and Meat Candy. I totally reminded myself of my grandmother. I was sitting at the kitchen table peeling sweet potatoes and shredding them while I was watching Glee. I did end up slicing my finger with the mandoline slicer. Nothing too major but I can now saw I shed blood for the sake of paleo.

Sweet Potato Pancakes:
2 medium sweet potatoes
Bacon fat
2 eggs
Salt/pepper

Peel and shred the sweet potatoes, and add to a bowl with the eggs and the salt/pepper. Mix until the eggs get well-distributed. Heat up a skillet with the bacon fat. I used a little 1/4 cup measuring cup to ladle the batter into the pan. Cook the pancake on both sides until browned. 

Sweet Potato Chips:
2 sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Salt/pepper or other seasonings

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slice the sweet potatoes into thin rounds. I placed the slices on a cookie sheet and misted with olive oil, but you can also add the slices to a bowl, drizzle a little olive oil and mix it by hand. Add the desired seasonings. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Crockpot Beef Stew:
1 lb. stew beef
1 bag frozen pearl onions
3 tbsp. almond meal
Salt/pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, cinnamon
3 large carrots cut into small rounds
3/4 tbsp. red wine vinegar (you can also use red wine)
1 1/2 cups beef broth
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces

Mix the stew beef and almond meal together in the crockpot until the beef is well-coated. Add in the seasonings and mix. Add in carrots, onion, red wine vinegar and beef broth. Set the crockpot to low (for a 7 hour cooking time) or high (for a 5 hour cooking time). In the last 45 minutes, add the sweet potatoes and cook until tender. 

Meat Candy:
Dates
Bacon (cut into 1/3's) 
Toothpicks

I didn't put an exact amount of dates and bacon with this one since it all depends how many you want to make. If the dates aren't pitted, pit them. Wrap a piece of bacon around a date and secure with a toothpick. If you want your meat candy to be very meaty, use longer pieces of bacon. Place dates on a cookie sheet and back at 350 for 15 minutes. 

I'm up in the air on how I feel about the beef stew. The recipe usually calls for gnocchi which end up soaking up the last little bit of liquid and making it a nice thick stew. Apparently just putting sweet potatoes in there doesn't do the same so it's still somewhat liquid-like. I'm on the fence about how I feel about it.

The sweet potato pancakes are a little weird. They just have a strange taste to them, I don't know if I should have added more seasonings or what.

Saturday morning came and I was super nervous, on top of being tired from not sleeping a whole lot the night before. Took Mack to the vet really quick and had a quick breakfast of a boiled egg and a couple pieces of bacon with about half a water bottle's worth of water. I didn't feel like being weighed down.

Got to the gym and the first task was to get weighed and measured. Here are my final measurements compared with my beginning measurements that they took:

February 16th:
Shoulders: 20"
Chest: 42 3/4"
Waist: 43"
Hips: 50"
R Arm: 14"
R Thigh: 26 1/2"
R Calf: 17"
% Body Fat: 34.5

March 30th:
Shoulders: 20"
Chest: 43"
Waist: 39"
Hips: 45"
R Arm: 14"
R Thigh: 26"
R Calf: 17"
% Body Fat: 32.7

So, contrary to my belief, I actually lost all of the inches in my waist and hips. I'd like to see more weight come off of those areas as well as my thighs, but for 6 weeks I'd say that's pretty damn good. It added up to 10 inches total lost, 1.8% body fat, and 14 pounds. Not bad at all I'd say.

The numbers are great and all, but wait until you see this baseline WOD. The idea was to use the exact same weights and modifications as the original baseline. If you only did kettlebell swings up to your chin, that's what you did this time around.

Baseline WOD:
Max effort pull-ups (using a black resistance band and strict pull-ups)
12 minute MetCon:
12 - 9 - 6
Kettlebell Swings (26# - modified swing to chin)
Clusters (Squat Clean + Thruster -- 53#)
Burpee Box Jumps (16")

February 16th Results:
10 pull-ups
2 rounds + 7 reps in 12 minutes

March 30th Results:
12 pull-ups
MetCon finished in 11:32

Seriously, if anyone needed any proof that paleo and a little determination works, here's your proof. Yes I did all that eating bacon, steak, and sweet potatoes. My body literally turned itself into a machine. That box is definitely still intimidating when you're exhausted and pairing it with burpees. Nothing is fun when paired with burpees. Either way, I'm still entirely amazed. I still have a lot of work to do. I want to lose 23 more pounds before the summer. Now I could sit here and agonize over what my results would have looked like if I didn't cheat, but if there's anything I've learned, a little cheat here and there wasn't what killed me. My body just wasn't made to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time.  So we're going to see what the next two months have in store for me. I'm still just living on the high that I've had since Saturday.

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning out my closets. I knew there were plenty of clothes that still weren't going to fit me, mostly because I got them back in freshman year, still 20 pounds ago. So I didn't agonize over those. My goal was to find the things that didn't fit because they were too big. I started with the dutyshirts. I found out that I'm no longer a large (men-sized) shirt. I had a couple mediums laying around so the larges definitely came out of the closet. As far as dress sizes go, I'm definitely a 14 now. Both of the dresses I bought for graduation no longer fit.

There is definitely some stuff that I'm in limbo with. My bikini looks a little better on me, while my bathing suit from last summer essentially still fits perfectly. With stuff like denim skirts, I'm kind of in limbo between a 14 and a 16, so I think I'm going to hold off on skirts/jean shopping until I'm at least one or the other, hopefully the smaller one. I find it weird how you can drop a couple sizes in one kind of clothing, but either stay the same or still not fit in another kind of clothing. Regardless, I now have a mini skirt from a couple summers ago hanging on my wall as motivation.

I did end up taking a couple pictures yesterday. I won't put up the bikini pictures just because it's still kind of scary. But I did get these...

That's me in October wearing a pair of new EMT pants that I never got to wear. They're Size 18, which in the real world equates to about a Size 14. Between October and January, my size didn't change that much. Those pants still didn't fit me at the beginning of the challenge.

That's me yesterday wearing those same pants with a medium dutyshirt. Actually I've been wearing those pants for about 2 weeks now, just never got a picture with them until now. I may not be able to detect the little changes while I'm wearing a bikini, but this is where you can really see them.

My current end goal for the beginning of June is to be another 20 pounds down, and hopefully comfortably fitting into Size 14 jeans, if not smaller. As far as performance goals go, I want to be getting on a 20" box as well as going down one resistance band in pull-ups (as in, black to green). I have two months to accomplish those. I get the feeling it'll take me a bit less time, but I figure I shouldn't go too crazy. Also got the Catalyst Games coming up in 26 days!

So what would a diet challenge be without a few post-challenge cheat meals. Yesterday I attacked the chocolate. A couple friends also came over and we made Matzah ball soup for "lunch". For dinner I had chinese food with some hard cider. Tonight I had Salsarita's, and a garbage plate. I can now officially say my bucket list has been fulfilled and I'm ready to hit it again tomorrow! I officially signed up for the Biggest Loser challenge at work so we'll see how far I can go with that! Like I said, I'm going to stay about 90% paleo. If I happen to use butter or maple syrup, or even real milk here and there, I'm not going to curl up in a corner and cry, but I wouldn't use those things for anything other than cooking. I don't plan on drinking glasses of milk per day. This lifestyle has definitely worked for me, but at the same time, I'd go stir crazy if I remained paleo to the extent that I did for the past 6 weeks.

Alright I think I've made this post long enough. I'm sure I'll remember something I forgot, but that's what tomorrow's post is for!

G'night all!