So I'm just going to do a post now since I know I'll be way too tired tonight to do it. Getting up at 530 two days in a row is rough and I'm definitely feeling it today. I don't quite feel like I've been hit by a bus, but I'm definitely sluggish and not feelin it today. It's pretty much taking all my willpower not to drink the entire pot of coffee we've got in the kitchen. I'm allowed to have coffee, but obviously I would have to drink it black or with almond milk. Yuck.
Went on another walk last night although it was shorter - probably between 1 and a half miles and 2. Got about half of the RIT loop done. I was tired, and it was cold, but it was nice to get a little exercise into the day. Had breakfast for dinner because I was way too lazy and tired to do anything else. I may as well just not even bothered since I was in bed 10 minutes later.
Today is another one of those days at work. I'm really not feeling the gym tonight but after the past two days, I get the feeling it's going to be pretty cathartic. My body's not feeling it, but we'll see what I can muster. I was seriously contemplating cancelling my reservation tonight but then I checked out the WOD and got super conflicted.
Skill:
3 rounds not for time
5-8 muscle ups or pull-ups
10-15 box jumps
8-10 Glute-ham raises
MetCon:
4 rounds
5 axle thrusters
10 burpees
Midline:
3 x 8 kettlebell windmills
So this is why I'm super conflicted - box jumps and pull-ups in one WOD and no time entered. Would be a perfect time to try and tackle that 20" box and I could really take some time to work on pull-ups. The MetCon doesn't even look that god awful. I've never done a windmill before so I can't exactly comment on that. The part that's making me hesitant right now is that: A). I'm freaking exhausted so I don't even know how well I would do. B). the Open WOD is tomorrow and it actually looks like fun so I want to do it and C). the final results are on Saturday so I don't want to tire myself out for that. By now I'm past the time that I can unregister myself for the class without having to call one of the coaches so I guess my fate has kind of been decided but I don't know what I'll do about Friday and Saturday now. Ugh! Other option is that I could suck it up, go to the gym tonight, go to sleep right after and sleep for like 12 hours or something. I feel like that is a totally doable goal right there. Ok I guess I can be ok with this gym plan. I really do need to food prep tomorrow though....eesh.
I think the plan for tomorrow will be to get up around 8-ish, which will work swimmingly if I go to bed nice and early. I'll throw the beef stew in the crockpot to cook while I'm at the gym. Then when I come home I'll get to work on the baking type stuff like some sweet potato/zucchini chips and the meat candy. I might do the stuff that needs to be fried but we'll see with that one. I still have to make my spaghetti squash dish, which I just may do quickly tonight. Was going to just mix it together in a bowl with some tomato sauce and clams. Seemed like something simple and quick to do.
Now that I've finally gotten the paleo on a budget thing down, now I have to worry about my electricity bill. My stove is electric and I never really realized how much energy that damn appliance uses. I really wish I had a gas stove. I'll just have to start paying attention to how long I have the oven running when there's nothing cooking in it, and same goes for the stove. I use my toaster oven a lot for baking small things, but I don't know how much energy that sucks up compared to the stovetop.
I know I just really need to sleep. As soon as there's a good night's sleep on board, a lot of things will start looking up. Maybe not all, but a lot. Hopefully.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
3 More Days!
So I officially have 3 more days left in the Paleo Challenge. Oof. I'm probably going to meet my original goal that I made at the beginning, but most likely not the "new" one I made. I'm ok with it. 5 pounds in a week and a half was a bit of a tall order since I'm now packing on muscle. As long as I get to my goal by the beginning of the summer I'm perfectly fine with whatever happens in between.
The weekend was rough. A friend came back into town (not due to the best circumstances), so there was alcohol had...and bad food. But I'm back in the game! Went food shopping yesterday so there's food in my house again (recipes/grocery list to follow). I just really need to make sure that I'm keeping my metabolism up this week since I think I started undereating again.
Monday was back to the gym day. They took it easy on us again which was highly confusing.
Strength:
20 rep back squat, increasing weight from last week
Midline:
3 rounds not for time
10 barbell good mornings
15 GHD sit-ups
1-2 min. front plank hold
Mobility/Recovery:
8-10 min. easy row
Last week I did 75 pounds with the back squat, so this week I did 85. It hurt a bit, but not too bad. He said we needed to be struggling by the end of it, which I was, so I guess I did it right. I almost want to do my 1 RM again just to see what it's at now, because it's definitely no longer 135.
I am so happy they've been doing more midline work lately. I used 65 pounds for the barbell good mornings. Little heavy but not bad. The GHD sit-ups were a little nerve-wracking just because you're suspending your body off this little contraption and hoping it doesn't tip over. I can't extend all the way back just yet but I'm at least able to go a little past parallel. Planks I did in two 30 second intervals just because a minute is a bit of a tall order. My midline is actually a lot stronger than I've been giving it credit for. I think having to use my abs to stabilize myself with the powerful lifts definitely helped. Abs of steel comin right up!
Spent the rest of Monday at base just chilling before Rothberg asked me if I'd like to go on a walk when he got out of work. He's gotta walk like 10,000 steps a day or something. Well I soon figured out that 7,000 steps is 3.5 miles. I was so tired by the end of it, yet Mack thought it was the best thing in the world. I swear, I'm just going to tie that dog to a sled and make him pull me around. Would save so much money on gas.
Tuesday I went back to the gym. I think Mack is getting used to these early morning routines: Get up, go out, eat food, then wait for mommy to crawl home from the gym.
Skill:
3 rounds not for time
8-10 handstand push-ups
10-15 pull ups
10-15 GHD hip extension
Metcon
30-25-20-15-10-5
Kettlebell swings
Double Unders (4x singles)
Midline
2 x 50 abmat sit-ups
Yesterday was another skill intensive day. Honestly I'm not going to complain about it because it gave me the chance to actually work on some stuff. I can't do handstand push-ups just yet because I can't do a handstand, so I worked on getting myself as vertical as possible on the wall and holding it for 20-30 seconds. I finally got it so my hands were only about 6" from the wall, which means I was just shy of fully vertical. The only problem with doing something like that is I'm facing the wall so I can't just let my legs drop. Maybe next time we do them I'll try and get a handstand the normal way. I really gotta work on those pull-ups though. Jack wagons.
The MetCon kind of sucked. Now that I've started using the 35# kettlebell, I've been trying to stick with it, so it got really tiring fast. Not to mention if you weren't doing double unders, you had to multiply by 4 for the number of singles you had to do. Didn't help that I think I used a jump rope that was too short for me. Those sit-ups were killer. I didn't realize how sore my abs were until I started getting the sit-ups done. I started out with sets of 20 and then knocked it down to sets of 10. 100 sit-ups later and I'm finally feeling it today.
I've been feeling kinda sluggish these past couple days. Getting up in the morning has been a little rough (to be fair, I've been going to bed too late), and I usually don't wake up until about halfway through the work-out. It even feels like my muscles are still asleep. Once I'm awake though, I'm up for the day beasting through work like I normally have been. It's weird.
Alright, so, my grocery shopping list. This week I'm keeping it super simple. I've really been feeling hearty "comfort-type" foods. I'll be making my favorite crockpot beef stew recipe, except instead of potato gnocchi, I'll just use cut up sweet potatoes. I'd love to figure out how to make paleo sweet potato gnocchi, but it's very ingredient/labor intensive. I love a thick creamy stew so the gnocchi usually serve to absorb any excess beef broth, so I'm hoping the sweet potatoes can accomplish that. I haven't used my crockpot in so long! I'm so excited. I'm also going to make another batch or two of the zucchini fritters. To add on to that, I'm going to make sweet potato pancakes as well. I like having foods that are versatile - meaning I can eat them with anything. They can be a quick side to a dinner entree or can be eaten with breakfast. I'm going to make shrimp cakes, which I'm very excited about. There's also a simple zucchini and ground beef recipe, which is just zucchini and ground beef sauteed together. Seems very simple and filling. I also found a bag of mixed frozen shrimp, calamari and scallops. They say you can just cook it in a pan and do whatever with it. I'll be very psyched to try it out. I'll post recipes as I'm doing them since I'm sure I've forgotten a few that I wanted to try. I also threw together a quick frittata last night to have for work this week.
I'm not going to the gym today since I've been working all day. I definitely got my exercise this morning doing CPR, so I'm not complaining. The plan is that I'll go for a walk around the RIT loop once I get out so that'll be some easy exercise. Provided the weather holds up. I'm working again tomorrow so I'll be going to the gym later in the day.
I'm still feeling pretty good overall. I know part of the sluggishness is the fact that I'm now demanding even more from my body on a weekly basis so I know it'll take a little getting used to. Especially since I was dumb and spent this entire challenge only going to the gym twice a week. Sometimes it wasn't my fault, but damn. I have to say I've totally become that awkward person that pokes myself where I can feel new muscles. My arms are seriously toning up. Like woah. My legs are a little more toned as well but I know those will take some time. My tummy area I will always be overly critical of, but I'm sure it looks different too.
I'm very thrilled about my overall experience with this challenge. I will be continuing it (although Sunday will for sure be a celebration day), but like I say to anyone who asks me, I'm not going to go crazy over it. I'm not going to go buying pounds of pasta at a time, but if I happen to go out with friends or whatever, I'm not going to stress. I'm very excited about this new lifestyle. I went from eating boxes of pasta all by myself to eating entire zucchinis. Kind of reminds me of this gem:
Anywho, I'm going home soon so I'mma go count the minutes. Seems like a worthy thing to do.
G'night all!
The weekend was rough. A friend came back into town (not due to the best circumstances), so there was alcohol had...and bad food. But I'm back in the game! Went food shopping yesterday so there's food in my house again (recipes/grocery list to follow). I just really need to make sure that I'm keeping my metabolism up this week since I think I started undereating again.
Monday was back to the gym day. They took it easy on us again which was highly confusing.
Strength:
20 rep back squat, increasing weight from last week
Midline:
3 rounds not for time
10 barbell good mornings
15 GHD sit-ups
1-2 min. front plank hold
Mobility/Recovery:
8-10 min. easy row
Last week I did 75 pounds with the back squat, so this week I did 85. It hurt a bit, but not too bad. He said we needed to be struggling by the end of it, which I was, so I guess I did it right. I almost want to do my 1 RM again just to see what it's at now, because it's definitely no longer 135.
I am so happy they've been doing more midline work lately. I used 65 pounds for the barbell good mornings. Little heavy but not bad. The GHD sit-ups were a little nerve-wracking just because you're suspending your body off this little contraption and hoping it doesn't tip over. I can't extend all the way back just yet but I'm at least able to go a little past parallel. Planks I did in two 30 second intervals just because a minute is a bit of a tall order. My midline is actually a lot stronger than I've been giving it credit for. I think having to use my abs to stabilize myself with the powerful lifts definitely helped. Abs of steel comin right up!
Spent the rest of Monday at base just chilling before Rothberg asked me if I'd like to go on a walk when he got out of work. He's gotta walk like 10,000 steps a day or something. Well I soon figured out that 7,000 steps is 3.5 miles. I was so tired by the end of it, yet Mack thought it was the best thing in the world. I swear, I'm just going to tie that dog to a sled and make him pull me around. Would save so much money on gas.
Tuesday I went back to the gym. I think Mack is getting used to these early morning routines: Get up, go out, eat food, then wait for mommy to crawl home from the gym.
Skill:
3 rounds not for time
8-10 handstand push-ups
10-15 pull ups
10-15 GHD hip extension
Metcon
30-25-20-15-10-5
Kettlebell swings
Double Unders (4x singles)
Midline
2 x 50 abmat sit-ups
Yesterday was another skill intensive day. Honestly I'm not going to complain about it because it gave me the chance to actually work on some stuff. I can't do handstand push-ups just yet because I can't do a handstand, so I worked on getting myself as vertical as possible on the wall and holding it for 20-30 seconds. I finally got it so my hands were only about 6" from the wall, which means I was just shy of fully vertical. The only problem with doing something like that is I'm facing the wall so I can't just let my legs drop. Maybe next time we do them I'll try and get a handstand the normal way. I really gotta work on those pull-ups though. Jack wagons.
The MetCon kind of sucked. Now that I've started using the 35# kettlebell, I've been trying to stick with it, so it got really tiring fast. Not to mention if you weren't doing double unders, you had to multiply by 4 for the number of singles you had to do. Didn't help that I think I used a jump rope that was too short for me. Those sit-ups were killer. I didn't realize how sore my abs were until I started getting the sit-ups done. I started out with sets of 20 and then knocked it down to sets of 10. 100 sit-ups later and I'm finally feeling it today.
I've been feeling kinda sluggish these past couple days. Getting up in the morning has been a little rough (to be fair, I've been going to bed too late), and I usually don't wake up until about halfway through the work-out. It even feels like my muscles are still asleep. Once I'm awake though, I'm up for the day beasting through work like I normally have been. It's weird.
Alright, so, my grocery shopping list. This week I'm keeping it super simple. I've really been feeling hearty "comfort-type" foods. I'll be making my favorite crockpot beef stew recipe, except instead of potato gnocchi, I'll just use cut up sweet potatoes. I'd love to figure out how to make paleo sweet potato gnocchi, but it's very ingredient/labor intensive. I love a thick creamy stew so the gnocchi usually serve to absorb any excess beef broth, so I'm hoping the sweet potatoes can accomplish that. I haven't used my crockpot in so long! I'm so excited. I'm also going to make another batch or two of the zucchini fritters. To add on to that, I'm going to make sweet potato pancakes as well. I like having foods that are versatile - meaning I can eat them with anything. They can be a quick side to a dinner entree or can be eaten with breakfast. I'm going to make shrimp cakes, which I'm very excited about. There's also a simple zucchini and ground beef recipe, which is just zucchini and ground beef sauteed together. Seems very simple and filling. I also found a bag of mixed frozen shrimp, calamari and scallops. They say you can just cook it in a pan and do whatever with it. I'll be very psyched to try it out. I'll post recipes as I'm doing them since I'm sure I've forgotten a few that I wanted to try. I also threw together a quick frittata last night to have for work this week.
I'm not going to the gym today since I've been working all day. I definitely got my exercise this morning doing CPR, so I'm not complaining. The plan is that I'll go for a walk around the RIT loop once I get out so that'll be some easy exercise. Provided the weather holds up. I'm working again tomorrow so I'll be going to the gym later in the day.
I'm still feeling pretty good overall. I know part of the sluggishness is the fact that I'm now demanding even more from my body on a weekly basis so I know it'll take a little getting used to. Especially since I was dumb and spent this entire challenge only going to the gym twice a week. Sometimes it wasn't my fault, but damn. I have to say I've totally become that awkward person that pokes myself where I can feel new muscles. My arms are seriously toning up. Like woah. My legs are a little more toned as well but I know those will take some time. My tummy area I will always be overly critical of, but I'm sure it looks different too.
I'm very thrilled about my overall experience with this challenge. I will be continuing it (although Sunday will for sure be a celebration day), but like I say to anyone who asks me, I'm not going to go crazy over it. I'm not going to go buying pounds of pasta at a time, but if I happen to go out with friends or whatever, I'm not going to stress. I'm very excited about this new lifestyle. I went from eating boxes of pasta all by myself to eating entire zucchinis. Kind of reminds me of this gem:
G'night all!
Friday, March 22, 2013
I Just Don't Even Know
Well I'm laying in bed here at base knowing I'm not getting more than 5 hours of sleep tonight. Literally I went from relaxing at home all day to becoming the angel of death.
Spent most of the day at home. I decided against going to the gym and tackling Open WOD 13.3, mostly because I plan on going tomorrow morning.
Open WOD 13.3:
12 minutes
150 wall balls (14#)
90 Double Unders
30 Muscle-Ups
If I'd actually done this one, I was going to be very impressed if I got past the wall balls. Even if I had I would have been at a loss of what to do considering I've never gotten a double under and have done minimal work on getting one. Muscle ups - forget about it. Honestly, I'm ok with not going. My legs needed the break.
Went to work the evening at Henrietta and was asked to stay an extra hour. No biggie. Left there and came to RIT for the overnight and the world blew up. Trauma everywhere. So in celebration of a job well done, I assisted in celebrating a friend's birthday with some cake. Yep, I had cake. It was chocolate too! And now I feel like a cow. Well, I don't know if it's the cake or the fact that I've managed to drink my entire body weight in fluid ounces today. I don't know what it was but I just kept refilling that water bottle. I'm back to that bloated feeling I had back when I started drinking half my weight. For some reason that water was just wonderful today. Otherwise I've been eating really well today!
Tomorrow morning is Challenge WOD #3, our last one. I didn't get to #2 because I was working that day. Don't really know what to expect other than I may feel like dying afterwards. I'm sure I can handle whatever they've got coming at us (hopefully).
One week left in the Paleo Challenge. After having that cake I don't know how those last 5 pounds are going to go, but luckily the next time I'll have to step foot in an ambulance base is next Tuesday so I'll have no excuses on why I can't be good after tonight. Nothing but clean eating. The fruit supply in my house is almost gone too so that will no longer be a temptation either, although I've been really good about that aspect lately.
I have to say, I'm nervous as shit about doing that baseline workout again. I've made huge strides as far as endurance and power, but those squat cleans into thrusters are doing a tapdance on my nerves. The burpee box jumps come in close second. Realistically, I just want to be able to finish it. I'll definitely be using a heavier kettlebell and the same height for my box jump. I will most likely also use the same weight for the clusters. I don't want to go too overboard since the end goal is to just finish it this time, but I also don't want to hold myself back and not challenge myself. It's going to be something I'll definitely put a lot of thought into this week. Just freaking out is all. I don't want to end up disappointing myself because I'm getting one measurement, but the measurements I got were pretty different than the ones they got at the gym. So I get psyched over seeing that I took an inch off my hips and arms, but then I think about what my results as far as the coaches go. I've been feeling so good that I'm not really ready for a setback just yet. Mentally I've grown a lot in these past 2 months so I'd like to keep that runner's high as long as possible. I know the changes are there. I wouldn't be wearing smaller pants if they weren't, but my anxiety will always exist regardless of how well I'm doing at any one time. Just something I need to work around.
And it's bedtime. I get a lot of my weekend off again! Can't wait to just relax!
Spent most of the day at home. I decided against going to the gym and tackling Open WOD 13.3, mostly because I plan on going tomorrow morning.
Open WOD 13.3:
12 minutes
150 wall balls (14#)
90 Double Unders
30 Muscle-Ups
If I'd actually done this one, I was going to be very impressed if I got past the wall balls. Even if I had I would have been at a loss of what to do considering I've never gotten a double under and have done minimal work on getting one. Muscle ups - forget about it. Honestly, I'm ok with not going. My legs needed the break.
Went to work the evening at Henrietta and was asked to stay an extra hour. No biggie. Left there and came to RIT for the overnight and the world blew up. Trauma everywhere. So in celebration of a job well done, I assisted in celebrating a friend's birthday with some cake. Yep, I had cake. It was chocolate too! And now I feel like a cow. Well, I don't know if it's the cake or the fact that I've managed to drink my entire body weight in fluid ounces today. I don't know what it was but I just kept refilling that water bottle. I'm back to that bloated feeling I had back when I started drinking half my weight. For some reason that water was just wonderful today. Otherwise I've been eating really well today!
Tomorrow morning is Challenge WOD #3, our last one. I didn't get to #2 because I was working that day. Don't really know what to expect other than I may feel like dying afterwards. I'm sure I can handle whatever they've got coming at us (hopefully).
One week left in the Paleo Challenge. After having that cake I don't know how those last 5 pounds are going to go, but luckily the next time I'll have to step foot in an ambulance base is next Tuesday so I'll have no excuses on why I can't be good after tonight. Nothing but clean eating. The fruit supply in my house is almost gone too so that will no longer be a temptation either, although I've been really good about that aspect lately.
I have to say, I'm nervous as shit about doing that baseline workout again. I've made huge strides as far as endurance and power, but those squat cleans into thrusters are doing a tapdance on my nerves. The burpee box jumps come in close second. Realistically, I just want to be able to finish it. I'll definitely be using a heavier kettlebell and the same height for my box jump. I will most likely also use the same weight for the clusters. I don't want to go too overboard since the end goal is to just finish it this time, but I also don't want to hold myself back and not challenge myself. It's going to be something I'll definitely put a lot of thought into this week. Just freaking out is all. I don't want to end up disappointing myself because I'm getting one measurement, but the measurements I got were pretty different than the ones they got at the gym. So I get psyched over seeing that I took an inch off my hips and arms, but then I think about what my results as far as the coaches go. I've been feeling so good that I'm not really ready for a setback just yet. Mentally I've grown a lot in these past 2 months so I'd like to keep that runner's high as long as possible. I know the changes are there. I wouldn't be wearing smaller pants if they weren't, but my anxiety will always exist regardless of how well I'm doing at any one time. Just something I need to work around.
And it's bedtime. I get a lot of my weekend off again! Can't wait to just relax!
Thursday, March 21, 2013
The Only Thing Holding You Back is You
So today I went through a temporary uplift in my mood...only to be crashed right back down to the floor.
Been feeling great these past few days. I'm fairly sore and I can tell my muscles are tired, but we're still going strong and I know I'll be acclimated to the extra workouts in no time.
Yesterday I went to the gym to find another grueling workout.
Strength
5 x 5 weighted pull-ups (or just working on strict pull-ups)
AMRAP (20 min.)
300 m row
30 box jumps
30 Kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls
Obviously I can't do unassisted pull-ups yet so I grabbed my usual assistance band and worked on form. I noticed about the 3rd set in that I wasn't struggling nearly as horribly as usual, so on the last set I used a smaller assistance band. I couldn't do the full pull-up, but I could get myself past halfway, which is huge for me. The AMRAP...don't even get me started. The rowing and the deadlifts weren't bad, but my legs were just so tired. After Monday's workout they were shot. So truly jumping on that box was hard. Especially 30 times. I'm getting better at it though which is good. It still takes some effort considering the fatigue I was in, but I have a lot more power than I did when I first started using a 16" box. I finished 2 rounds plus 334 reps into my 3rd round. My goal was to finish 3 full rounds so I was so close! Grrr
Which leads me to my next point. I am so pissed at that box. Back when I started crossfit on my dinky little 12" box, I wasn't in any rush. The 20" box looked like freaking Mount Everest. Now I'd do anything to be able to jump my ass onto that thing. Why haven't I you say? Well because box jumps are about 70% fear. What person looks at a tall box and says Sure, I'll potentially sacrifice my shins and maybe a little blood just to say I can hop on top of that wooden box. Maybe people that aren't so gravitationally challenged, but still, just looking at that thing is terrifying. I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could find the physical ability. It's the fear factor. One day (hopefully soon).
I literally spent the rest of the day in bed. I got home so exhausted. I had some lunch and crawled (literally) back into bed. It's partially because I had no motivation to sit at my desk and get a bunch of stuff done, but yeah.
Today I went back for more torture. Luckily I think they decided to take it easy on us today. This week has been a high rep/moderate weight kind of week, but since I've outgrown the weights I was originally using, it's ended up being a high rep/higher weight kind of week for me. I'm sure I could have stayed at my usual weights for things like kettlebells, but the 26 pound kettlebell is way too easy for me now, so I've almost been forced into moving up to a 35. The workouts we've been doing prescribes a 53 pound kettlebell for women so I'm definitely not overdoing it by any means.
Skill/Strength ("Snatch Bear" - working up to a max load or technique practice)
1 snatch grip deadlift
1 power snatch
1 OH squat
1 snatch balance
1 behind the neck snatch grip push press
Midline (3 rounds)
10 toes to bar
10 back extensions
20 hollow rocks
10 barbell good mornings
So grateful for the easy day. The snatch bear sequence is one of those sequences where each exercise ends in a way that segways into the next exercise. The big idea behind this sequence in particular was to use a snatch grip, which is a wide grip. I find that I have less strength in the wider grip exercises than the narrow grip ones. With this sequence, you start with your standard deadlift, put the barbell back down then do a power snatch (floor to overhead in one step), from there do an overhead squat, bring the barbell down to your shoulders and do a snatch balance (jump into a squat position while bringing the bar above your head), bring the weight back down and do a push press. Really wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the snatch grip. I think I got the hang of it though. Ended up using 65 pounds. I could feel how shot my quads were when I was trying to do the squats. Eesh. Midline didn't go too badly. I'd like to be able to get my toes to the bar but for now I'm just trying to make it so that I can pull my knees up a little further.
I'm really debating whether or not I should go tomorrow. We'll be doing WOD 13.3, which starts off with 150 wall balls. Yeah...about that. If I wasn't planning on going Saturday morning for the last WOD challenge I would totally just suck it up, but I feel like if I go tomorrow I won't make it Saturday. Such a frustrating feeling. I think the most wall balls I've done at any one time is 40 soooo 150 would be very interesting.
Just out of curiosity because I was befuddled why it feels like I've taken such a physical beating this week, I looked back on the calendar since the beginning of the challenge. This entire time, I haven't been able to get to the gym more than twice in a week. THAT explains it! Now that I know about these shenanigans it amazes me that I've even been improving at all. Well I certainly will after this week!
Today after getting home I showered really quick and relaxed the rest of the day. I eventually had to go to a meeting, which meant putting on jeans for the first time in awhile. I honestly have to say, I don't know what the hell happened. I don't know if it's because I ran them through the dryer twice or what, but those jeans just didn't want to fit me the way I wanted them to. They were just tight in all the wrong places. Now I know it's not because I'm not losing the weight because I've been wearing smaller EMT pants and all my sweatpants now look like I stole them off of my imaginary boyfriend. I just don't know what it was about those jeans today. Is it possible to have a bad-jean day?
I brought the scale out of retirement a couple days ago and now it needs to go back in because I got obsessive again. I made my goal weight finally, so I did what any human being would do and told myself to lose 5 more. Well since then I've become a little obsessive over it so the scale needs to go back into hiding. I know I've been drinking a little more water this week because of the intense workouts, on top of retaining a little bit of it. My eating hasn't been too bad, I still may be under eating Cheated a couple times, but it wasn't anything unreasonable or something that was truly a game changer. So bye bye scale. See ya in a week. Same thing with you Mr. Tape Measure. Once the weekend hits, life will slow down a little and I'll have a little break from the gym to just let things balance out again. I feel like that's really when I see the body changes. Not the middle of the week in between workouts.
It's been a crazy week so far for me in the paleo world. I guess people have started noticing that I've been toning up and then they look confused when I tell them I've lost 12 pounds. With my body, 12 pounds in itself isn't noticeable simply because I've got a lot more than 12 to lose. But the true test is going to come when we do body fat testing again. I hope to have dropped a couple percentage points, but we'll see. Other than that I'm just trying to keep this body fueled up since I'm doubling the number of times I've been going to the gym. If I'd known that sooner I would have kicked my ass 4 weeks ago...
Time for bed! G'night all!
Been feeling great these past few days. I'm fairly sore and I can tell my muscles are tired, but we're still going strong and I know I'll be acclimated to the extra workouts in no time.
Yesterday I went to the gym to find another grueling workout.
Strength
5 x 5 weighted pull-ups (or just working on strict pull-ups)
AMRAP (20 min.)
300 m row
30 box jumps
30 Kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls
Obviously I can't do unassisted pull-ups yet so I grabbed my usual assistance band and worked on form. I noticed about the 3rd set in that I wasn't struggling nearly as horribly as usual, so on the last set I used a smaller assistance band. I couldn't do the full pull-up, but I could get myself past halfway, which is huge for me. The AMRAP...don't even get me started. The rowing and the deadlifts weren't bad, but my legs were just so tired. After Monday's workout they were shot. So truly jumping on that box was hard. Especially 30 times. I'm getting better at it though which is good. It still takes some effort considering the fatigue I was in, but I have a lot more power than I did when I first started using a 16" box. I finished 2 rounds plus 334 reps into my 3rd round. My goal was to finish 3 full rounds so I was so close! Grrr
Which leads me to my next point. I am so pissed at that box. Back when I started crossfit on my dinky little 12" box, I wasn't in any rush. The 20" box looked like freaking Mount Everest. Now I'd do anything to be able to jump my ass onto that thing. Why haven't I you say? Well because box jumps are about 70% fear. What person looks at a tall box and says Sure, I'll potentially sacrifice my shins and maybe a little blood just to say I can hop on top of that wooden box. Maybe people that aren't so gravitationally challenged, but still, just looking at that thing is terrifying. I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could find the physical ability. It's the fear factor. One day (hopefully soon).
I literally spent the rest of the day in bed. I got home so exhausted. I had some lunch and crawled (literally) back into bed. It's partially because I had no motivation to sit at my desk and get a bunch of stuff done, but yeah.
Today I went back for more torture. Luckily I think they decided to take it easy on us today. This week has been a high rep/moderate weight kind of week, but since I've outgrown the weights I was originally using, it's ended up being a high rep/higher weight kind of week for me. I'm sure I could have stayed at my usual weights for things like kettlebells, but the 26 pound kettlebell is way too easy for me now, so I've almost been forced into moving up to a 35. The workouts we've been doing prescribes a 53 pound kettlebell for women so I'm definitely not overdoing it by any means.
Skill/Strength ("Snatch Bear" - working up to a max load or technique practice)
1 snatch grip deadlift
1 power snatch
1 OH squat
1 snatch balance
1 behind the neck snatch grip push press
Midline (3 rounds)
10 toes to bar
10 back extensions
20 hollow rocks
10 barbell good mornings
So grateful for the easy day. The snatch bear sequence is one of those sequences where each exercise ends in a way that segways into the next exercise. The big idea behind this sequence in particular was to use a snatch grip, which is a wide grip. I find that I have less strength in the wider grip exercises than the narrow grip ones. With this sequence, you start with your standard deadlift, put the barbell back down then do a power snatch (floor to overhead in one step), from there do an overhead squat, bring the barbell down to your shoulders and do a snatch balance (jump into a squat position while bringing the bar above your head), bring the weight back down and do a push press. Really wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the snatch grip. I think I got the hang of it though. Ended up using 65 pounds. I could feel how shot my quads were when I was trying to do the squats. Eesh. Midline didn't go too badly. I'd like to be able to get my toes to the bar but for now I'm just trying to make it so that I can pull my knees up a little further.
I'm really debating whether or not I should go tomorrow. We'll be doing WOD 13.3, which starts off with 150 wall balls. Yeah...about that. If I wasn't planning on going Saturday morning for the last WOD challenge I would totally just suck it up, but I feel like if I go tomorrow I won't make it Saturday. Such a frustrating feeling. I think the most wall balls I've done at any one time is 40 soooo 150 would be very interesting.
Just out of curiosity because I was befuddled why it feels like I've taken such a physical beating this week, I looked back on the calendar since the beginning of the challenge. This entire time, I haven't been able to get to the gym more than twice in a week. THAT explains it! Now that I know about these shenanigans it amazes me that I've even been improving at all. Well I certainly will after this week!
Today after getting home I showered really quick and relaxed the rest of the day. I eventually had to go to a meeting, which meant putting on jeans for the first time in awhile. I honestly have to say, I don't know what the hell happened. I don't know if it's because I ran them through the dryer twice or what, but those jeans just didn't want to fit me the way I wanted them to. They were just tight in all the wrong places. Now I know it's not because I'm not losing the weight because I've been wearing smaller EMT pants and all my sweatpants now look like I stole them off of my imaginary boyfriend. I just don't know what it was about those jeans today. Is it possible to have a bad-jean day?
I brought the scale out of retirement a couple days ago and now it needs to go back in because I got obsessive again. I made my goal weight finally, so I did what any human being would do and told myself to lose 5 more. Well since then I've become a little obsessive over it so the scale needs to go back into hiding. I know I've been drinking a little more water this week because of the intense workouts, on top of retaining a little bit of it. My eating hasn't been too bad, I still may be under eating Cheated a couple times, but it wasn't anything unreasonable or something that was truly a game changer. So bye bye scale. See ya in a week. Same thing with you Mr. Tape Measure. Once the weekend hits, life will slow down a little and I'll have a little break from the gym to just let things balance out again. I feel like that's really when I see the body changes. Not the middle of the week in between workouts.
It's been a crazy week so far for me in the paleo world. I guess people have started noticing that I've been toning up and then they look confused when I tell them I've lost 12 pounds. With my body, 12 pounds in itself isn't noticeable simply because I've got a lot more than 12 to lose. But the true test is going to come when we do body fat testing again. I hope to have dropped a couple percentage points, but we'll see. Other than that I'm just trying to keep this body fueled up since I'm doubling the number of times I've been going to the gym. If I'd known that sooner I would have kicked my ass 4 weeks ago...
Time for bed! G'night all!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Great Balls of Chicken!
Sometimes I just blow myself away with the wit I come up with.
So today was kind of an "eh" day. It was pretty crummy out so it kind of brought my mood down to the point that I just got back into bed after a couple hours. Breakfast was two eggs with ground beef and a couple pieces of mango. Lunch was the clam chowder with a pork chop. Dinner was turkey and squash (which was made by RIT and therefore not very good). I'd technically brought dinner with me (chicken meatballs, recipe to follow) and banana pancakes, but I wasn't very enthused by the meatballs, ergo, I went with the turkey and had the banana pancakes for dessert.
I definitely think I overdid it with the fruit a bit today. But that mango was so good! I stayed pretty clean but the sugar intake was a little higher than I expected. It's not even like I was craving it. It just was a good side with whatever I was eating. Definitely need to watch that in the upcoming days. I only have 10 days left in the challenge. I'd really like to lose at least 5 more pounds in that time.
I made a couple "life" goals today. One is to lose 5 more pounds by the end of the challenge, which is March 30th. And then I'd like to lose another 20 by the beginning of summer. With the way I've starting shedding weight, I'd like to think both of those goals are fairly attainable. To get down another 5 pounds before the end of the challenge means I gotta lose half a pound a day. Seems reasonable to me. Although after today I feel like I put another 5 pounds on. Not amused.
I'm joining the Biggest Loser challenge through Henrietta which starts on April 1st. I know I just keep going from challenge to challenge but it'll give me another thing to look forward to, especially with getting ready for the Catalyst Games and wanting to lose another 20 pounds. This challenge is essentially based on the TV show. Lose the biggest percentage of weight in whatever way you can. I forget how long it goes for. I think it's 6 or 8 weeks. I've also started getting some interest on the Hero Rush and getting people on board with coming and running with me. Definitely very excited about that.
Very excited for my new goals. I feel like they are very attainable with the way I've been feeling lately. I just hope I can keep it up. I feel like my body is starting to get in its stride with this whole thing, which is exciting to me. In the beginning I could feel the muscle coming in, but not really the fat burn. It could all still be entirely attributed to my fruit intake. But I feel like it's more than that. Losing weight has always been tough for me because of my hormones, so I really wasn't expecting to be losing pounds per day and I wasn't expecting to be winning any awards with this challenge, but it's been a good challenge for myself to see if I'm strong enough to dedicate myself fully to something like this. Turns out that I am and I'm running with it while I can!
Alright, bedtime, at work again tonight so trying to get as much sleep as I can.
G'night all!
So today was kind of an "eh" day. It was pretty crummy out so it kind of brought my mood down to the point that I just got back into bed after a couple hours. Breakfast was two eggs with ground beef and a couple pieces of mango. Lunch was the clam chowder with a pork chop. Dinner was turkey and squash (which was made by RIT and therefore not very good). I'd technically brought dinner with me (chicken meatballs, recipe to follow) and banana pancakes, but I wasn't very enthused by the meatballs, ergo, I went with the turkey and had the banana pancakes for dessert.
I definitely think I overdid it with the fruit a bit today. But that mango was so good! I stayed pretty clean but the sugar intake was a little higher than I expected. It's not even like I was craving it. It just was a good side with whatever I was eating. Definitely need to watch that in the upcoming days. I only have 10 days left in the challenge. I'd really like to lose at least 5 more pounds in that time.
I made a couple "life" goals today. One is to lose 5 more pounds by the end of the challenge, which is March 30th. And then I'd like to lose another 20 by the beginning of summer. With the way I've starting shedding weight, I'd like to think both of those goals are fairly attainable. To get down another 5 pounds before the end of the challenge means I gotta lose half a pound a day. Seems reasonable to me. Although after today I feel like I put another 5 pounds on. Not amused.
I'm joining the Biggest Loser challenge through Henrietta which starts on April 1st. I know I just keep going from challenge to challenge but it'll give me another thing to look forward to, especially with getting ready for the Catalyst Games and wanting to lose another 20 pounds. This challenge is essentially based on the TV show. Lose the biggest percentage of weight in whatever way you can. I forget how long it goes for. I think it's 6 or 8 weeks. I've also started getting some interest on the Hero Rush and getting people on board with coming and running with me. Definitely very excited about that.
Very excited for my new goals. I feel like they are very attainable with the way I've been feeling lately. I just hope I can keep it up. I feel like my body is starting to get in its stride with this whole thing, which is exciting to me. In the beginning I could feel the muscle coming in, but not really the fat burn. It could all still be entirely attributed to my fruit intake. But I feel like it's more than that. Losing weight has always been tough for me because of my hormones, so I really wasn't expecting to be losing pounds per day and I wasn't expecting to be winning any awards with this challenge, but it's been a good challenge for myself to see if I'm strong enough to dedicate myself fully to something like this. Turns out that I am and I'm running with it while I can!
Alright, bedtime, at work again tonight so trying to get as much sleep as I can.
G'night all!
Monday, March 18, 2013
Dost Thou Even Hoist?
That statement always makes me laugh...and kind of sums up today perfectly.
Worked the overnight last night and somehow managed to get a full night's sleep. I still came home and grabbed a couple more hours though. Woke up in time to get to the gym. Had a quick boiled egg as I was running out the door because I didn't want to be working out on a completely empty stomach.
Warm-Up
2 rounds: 10 kip swings, 10 toes to bar, 10 burpees
2 laps salutation lunges
1 min. Olympic wall squat stretch
Strength
20 unbroken squats (about 60% of 1 RM)
MetCon
30 kettlebell swings
90 lunges (45 each side carrying 2 kettlebells)
30 kettlebell swings
Midline
3 x 12 GH raises
I'd just like to say, that my booty did not appreciate these shenanigans in the least bit. This entire workout was pure muscle endurance. Twenty unbroken squats is tough. I finished them using about 75 pounds (I guestimated what 60% of 135 was). The MetCon was just unbelievably hard. I usually use 26 pound kettlebells and can get through things with some level of difficulty towards the end. Well, the problem with coaches knowing you so well is that they know when it's time to step it up. The prescribed weight for women in this workout was 53#, I think I used a 40-something kettlebell in the end. I was not a happy camper. The swings weren't so bad. I was going to eye level since I was using a much heavier kettlebell than what I was used to. It was those lunges. Having one kettlebell in each hand was truly killer. Not just on my quads, but my shoulders as well. I actually think my shoulders hurt more than my quads by the end of it. Lunges have never really been my strongest leg movement ever.
GH raises are just so bizarre. So people are used to back extensions at the gym, where you place your hips against a pad and just extend, sometimes holding a weight. Well GH raises happen on an apparatus similar to the one you do back extensions on, except the way it's set up is that your body is parallel to the floor. You go down as if you're doing a back extension except you don't use your back to come back up. You use your hamstrings and your butt and you end up in a kneeling position. It looks like this:
Those are just truly awful. Tack them on to the rest of the workout that we went through today and my legs are going to be shot tomorrow.
Lunch today was the clam chowder, a side salad and an apple with almond butter. I was super full after that one but I kind of needed the replenishment. The clam chowder was better than I expected it to be. It's not really a soup consistency. It's honestly as thick as baby food, but it was good.
As if I didn't already have my workout done for the day, we ran our asses off at work for a good portion of the shift. One call I just spent the whole time going back and forth to the rig and lifting everything and anything. Totally should have invested in some ibuprofen before I went around doing those shenanigans. Dinner (when I could finally have it) was shepherd's pie and a couple zucchini fritters.
I'm so not ready for the soreness that tomorrow is going to bring. I get the feeling I'll be spending a lot of time crawling around. At least I have the majority of the day off so it won't be too bad. Was going to go to the gym but I now have a sick puppy again so I'll be taking the morning off. Also doesn't help that it's currently raining snow pellets outside, so I'd like to stay in as much as possible.
Heading to bed early! G'night all!
Worked the overnight last night and somehow managed to get a full night's sleep. I still came home and grabbed a couple more hours though. Woke up in time to get to the gym. Had a quick boiled egg as I was running out the door because I didn't want to be working out on a completely empty stomach.
Warm-Up
2 rounds: 10 kip swings, 10 toes to bar, 10 burpees
2 laps salutation lunges
1 min. Olympic wall squat stretch
Strength
20 unbroken squats (about 60% of 1 RM)
MetCon
30 kettlebell swings
90 lunges (45 each side carrying 2 kettlebells)
30 kettlebell swings
Midline
3 x 12 GH raises
I'd just like to say, that my booty did not appreciate these shenanigans in the least bit. This entire workout was pure muscle endurance. Twenty unbroken squats is tough. I finished them using about 75 pounds (I guestimated what 60% of 135 was). The MetCon was just unbelievably hard. I usually use 26 pound kettlebells and can get through things with some level of difficulty towards the end. Well, the problem with coaches knowing you so well is that they know when it's time to step it up. The prescribed weight for women in this workout was 53#, I think I used a 40-something kettlebell in the end. I was not a happy camper. The swings weren't so bad. I was going to eye level since I was using a much heavier kettlebell than what I was used to. It was those lunges. Having one kettlebell in each hand was truly killer. Not just on my quads, but my shoulders as well. I actually think my shoulders hurt more than my quads by the end of it. Lunges have never really been my strongest leg movement ever.
GH raises are just so bizarre. So people are used to back extensions at the gym, where you place your hips against a pad and just extend, sometimes holding a weight. Well GH raises happen on an apparatus similar to the one you do back extensions on, except the way it's set up is that your body is parallel to the floor. You go down as if you're doing a back extension except you don't use your back to come back up. You use your hamstrings and your butt and you end up in a kneeling position. It looks like this:
Lunch today was the clam chowder, a side salad and an apple with almond butter. I was super full after that one but I kind of needed the replenishment. The clam chowder was better than I expected it to be. It's not really a soup consistency. It's honestly as thick as baby food, but it was good.
As if I didn't already have my workout done for the day, we ran our asses off at work for a good portion of the shift. One call I just spent the whole time going back and forth to the rig and lifting everything and anything. Totally should have invested in some ibuprofen before I went around doing those shenanigans. Dinner (when I could finally have it) was shepherd's pie and a couple zucchini fritters.
I'm so not ready for the soreness that tomorrow is going to bring. I get the feeling I'll be spending a lot of time crawling around. At least I have the majority of the day off so it won't be too bad. Was going to go to the gym but I now have a sick puppy again so I'll be taking the morning off. Also doesn't help that it's currently raining snow pellets outside, so I'd like to stay in as much as possible.
Heading to bed early! G'night all!
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Cook All the Food
Today was another busy day in the kitchen. Let me tell you, my house smells freaking divine right now. I probably smelled pretty good too. Found out last night that apparently when you spend a day in the kitchen, you end up smelling like it. Literally people were drooling. But anywho.
Got up this morning and had brunch since I went to bed late last night. Had a couple of the banana pancakes with unsweetened applesauce on top (delicious!), two pieces of turkey bacon and a slice of pineapple. My snacks were prosciutto chips and a boiled egg. Dinner was another pork chop with zucchini fritters and a side salad. I currently have a headache that would kill a horse that I'm trying to douse in Advil and water with no luck (<_<).
Made 3 more recipes today. Two of them were repeats: shepherd's pie and lara balls. This time around I added peas to the shepherd's pie and a little bit of almond butter to the lara balls. Can I just say, making lara balls is a pain in the ass. You get this nice grainy textured stuff after you're done processing it and then you have to form it into balls, which just gets pieces of walnut everywhere.
The new recipe I made was the Chicken and Biscuits Casserole:
6 boneless chicken breasts
1 pound of carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 onion
1 bag of green beans (I used frozen)
Salt and Pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 celery stalk, sliced
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp tapioca flour
Topping:
2.5 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup ghee/coconut oil/olive oil
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a dish and place the chicken breasts in. Season as you like (I did salt, pepper, garlic powder, poultry seasoning and onion powder). Bake for 35-40 minutes. In large frying pan place ghee (or fat of choice), add onion and start sautéing. Add carrots, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until carrots just soften. Add green beans, poultry seasoning, garlic powder and celery seed. Adjust salt and pepper.
Once chicken is done cooking remove from oven and cut into bite sized cubes. Mix veggies and chicken together in a large casserole (9x13 or so). Add chicken broth, coconut milk and tapioca flour. Now prepare topping. In large bowl mix almond flour, salt and baking soda. Add eggs and ghee and mix until forms a ball. Using two sheets of parchment to sandwich the dough, roll it flat to match the size of the casserole. Place over the top of the casserole and bake for 25-30 minutes or until biscuit topping just starts to brown. Serve and enjoy!!
I don't know if I'm impressed with this recipe or not. Everything looked great when I first put it in the oven, but when it came back out I found that the liquid was still there, hadn't really formed a "gravy" or anything. To be fair, I don't have tapioca flour but I didn't think that'd be the big game changer since there was so little of the flour compared to how much broth was in there. It smells very fragrant, but there's not really a "casserole" consistency to it. The only thing "casserole" about it was that I took a whole ton of ingredients and put them in a baking dish together. Also would have been easier to make the topping if I'd actually had some parchment paper and a rolling pin. I still think I should get brownie points for my creativity though. I also completely underestimated the sheer volume of food that this recipe generates. I should have been able to guess from the fact that it called for 6 chicken breasts but apparently I wasn't thinking ahead that far. I may just end up freezing half of it just to have it handy.
Tomorrow starts my first week of unlimited classes at the gym. Gotta say I'm kinda nervous but I'm so ready to take the next step. I'm not going to go crazy all at once but I'll definitely be starting with 4 per week and going from there.
Just for shits and giggles I dug out the scale and the measuring tape again today. According to my scale, which is probably somewhat inaccurate, I'm 1 pound away from my goal weight. The report from the tape measure is that the weight is coming right off my hips. Nothing else has really changed that much, but my hips are where you really notice it. Wish it would come off my waist a little more but I know that's going to be the hardest spot to get rid of the pudginess. Scale's going back from whence it came now.
Today started Week 5 of the challenge. Man time has flown. I'm definitely going to stay on paleo after it's done. I might not be AS crazy strict about it, but it'll be consistent. As in, adding back a guilt-free cheat day and maybe adding back some dairy like cheese or butter/cream (when needed for cooking). Other than that, I'm just gonna stick with it. Clearly coming off the crap in my life has done nothing but good for me so why go back to my evil ways? Plus I'm actually kind of used to it. It'll be a relief to not be going crazy about it 24/7 though. I'm not going to go crazy with the cheats, but I'm also not going to hate myself for cheating every once in awhile.
Well I'm going to go back to pretending I'm doing work. And by that I mean I'm heading to bed so I can get as much sleep as possible before the calls start coming in.
G'night all!
Got up this morning and had brunch since I went to bed late last night. Had a couple of the banana pancakes with unsweetened applesauce on top (delicious!), two pieces of turkey bacon and a slice of pineapple. My snacks were prosciutto chips and a boiled egg. Dinner was another pork chop with zucchini fritters and a side salad. I currently have a headache that would kill a horse that I'm trying to douse in Advil and water with no luck (<_<).
Made 3 more recipes today. Two of them were repeats: shepherd's pie and lara balls. This time around I added peas to the shepherd's pie and a little bit of almond butter to the lara balls. Can I just say, making lara balls is a pain in the ass. You get this nice grainy textured stuff after you're done processing it and then you have to form it into balls, which just gets pieces of walnut everywhere.
The new recipe I made was the Chicken and Biscuits Casserole:
6 boneless chicken breasts
1 pound of carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 onion
1 bag of green beans (I used frozen)
Salt and Pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 celery stalk, sliced
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp tapioca flour
Topping:
2.5 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup ghee/coconut oil/olive oil
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a dish and place the chicken breasts in. Season as you like (I did salt, pepper, garlic powder, poultry seasoning and onion powder). Bake for 35-40 minutes. In large frying pan place ghee (or fat of choice), add onion and start sautéing. Add carrots, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until carrots just soften. Add green beans, poultry seasoning, garlic powder and celery seed. Adjust salt and pepper.
Once chicken is done cooking remove from oven and cut into bite sized cubes. Mix veggies and chicken together in a large casserole (9x13 or so). Add chicken broth, coconut milk and tapioca flour. Now prepare topping. In large bowl mix almond flour, salt and baking soda. Add eggs and ghee and mix until forms a ball. Using two sheets of parchment to sandwich the dough, roll it flat to match the size of the casserole. Place over the top of the casserole and bake for 25-30 minutes or until biscuit topping just starts to brown. Serve and enjoy!!
I don't know if I'm impressed with this recipe or not. Everything looked great when I first put it in the oven, but when it came back out I found that the liquid was still there, hadn't really formed a "gravy" or anything. To be fair, I don't have tapioca flour but I didn't think that'd be the big game changer since there was so little of the flour compared to how much broth was in there. It smells very fragrant, but there's not really a "casserole" consistency to it. The only thing "casserole" about it was that I took a whole ton of ingredients and put them in a baking dish together. Also would have been easier to make the topping if I'd actually had some parchment paper and a rolling pin. I still think I should get brownie points for my creativity though. I also completely underestimated the sheer volume of food that this recipe generates. I should have been able to guess from the fact that it called for 6 chicken breasts but apparently I wasn't thinking ahead that far. I may just end up freezing half of it just to have it handy.
Tomorrow starts my first week of unlimited classes at the gym. Gotta say I'm kinda nervous but I'm so ready to take the next step. I'm not going to go crazy all at once but I'll definitely be starting with 4 per week and going from there.
Just for shits and giggles I dug out the scale and the measuring tape again today. According to my scale, which is probably somewhat inaccurate, I'm 1 pound away from my goal weight. The report from the tape measure is that the weight is coming right off my hips. Nothing else has really changed that much, but my hips are where you really notice it. Wish it would come off my waist a little more but I know that's going to be the hardest spot to get rid of the pudginess. Scale's going back from whence it came now.
Today started Week 5 of the challenge. Man time has flown. I'm definitely going to stay on paleo after it's done. I might not be AS crazy strict about it, but it'll be consistent. As in, adding back a guilt-free cheat day and maybe adding back some dairy like cheese or butter/cream (when needed for cooking). Other than that, I'm just gonna stick with it. Clearly coming off the crap in my life has done nothing but good for me so why go back to my evil ways? Plus I'm actually kind of used to it. It'll be a relief to not be going crazy about it 24/7 though. I'm not going to go crazy with the cheats, but I'm also not going to hate myself for cheating every once in awhile.
Well I'm going to go back to pretending I'm doing work. And by that I mean I'm heading to bed so I can get as much sleep as possible before the calls start coming in.
G'night all!
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