Modified Diet

In order to avoid my friends throwing me off a cliff just so I wind up in the hospital where I am forced to eat a more reasonable diet, I went off the "nutrition challenge" yesterday.  I am both glad that I stuck it out a week and glad that I didn't go any longer.  I feel MUCH better now, and more able to handle the OTHER stuff that life is throwing at me (which seems to be quite a bit right now.)  

I HAVE decided to stick out the diet period in some ways, so here is my modified diet.

No Alcohol

No Soda

No Fried Foods

No Dairy except Butter

No refined or artificial sugars (except the fact that the bread I already have in the house has brown sugar in it, and I am not buying a different loaf of bread.  When this loaf is gone, I will find some without sugars.)

I am going to continue to try to increase my veggie intake (which I have utterly failed at today) and decrease my use of any oils besides EVOO, Coconut oil, and butter.  Legumes are WAY back in (had black beans with lunch and dinner yesterday and again with lunch today) but I am going to continue to try to avoid things like pasta, white rice, regular potatoes, etc. 

I still plan to have a party with beer and cake on the 3rd.

The main point of this challenge is to "lean out" i.e. drop body fat.  I am still going to track that, and I am going to laugh SO HARD if I lose more at this diet, which I expect to, as I am honoring my body more while still eating more "healthy fats" and less high Glycemic Index foods.

Conclusion: Black Beans never TASTED SO GOOD

This sh** is for the birds

So, as you all know, I decided to do the nutrition challenge at my box.  I have been officially doing it for 6 days.  It is AWFUL.  I have been lightheaded most of the week, and have woken up with a nasty headache 3 of the 6 days.  Today I felt so awful that I didn't get out of bed until 3:30.  Which meant no run, no housework, no nothing, since I still felt icky after I got out of bed.

I have not been getting enough Cals, and my coach at the gym doesn't seem to think this matters.  This REALLY bothers me.

This is the point where my friends tell me to stop this whole craziness.  The problem is a) I can be a little competitive and b) I don't want to let my team down c) I am already planning my party full of carbs and cake and beer for when this is all over.  Oh yeah, and have I mentioned that I am a little stubborn?

On brighter news, I did my second WOD (workout) on Friday and, while I forgot my inhalor and it was TERRIBLE during, I feel better about it now than I did after my first WOD.

Conclusion: I thought this stupid diet was supposed to enhance my working out.  I think feeling so crappy that I stay in bed all day and can't do my run is not so much helping my overall fitness.  If I don't start feeling better soon, I am going to have to quit the challenge.

Yup. Kool-Aid drunk. Except that Kool-Aid is against the rules.

So, I decided to do the food challenge at my box.  Here are the basic rules:

Avoid the following: Everything you ever liked.  Ever.

OK... exaggerating, of course.  But seriously.  This is going to be painful. No Dairy.  No Booze.  No Grains.  No Soda.  No Sugars. No Processed foods.  The basic setup of the challenge is that everyone starts each day with 10 points, and there are certain things that you lose points for.  They are varying levels of points lost, but the basic gist is, these are "no no foods."

Grains
Dairy
Legumes
Sweeteners (natural or artificial)
Fast Food
Packaged or Processed foods (yes - bacon and sausage count as processed.  lame.)
Soda/Juice
Alcohol
Potatoes
Dried fruits (while Paleo, they tend to be high in sugars.)
Larabars (while Paleo, they have lots of dried fruit/sugar)
Gum
Canola/Vegetable Oil

*Processed meat IS allowed 1x/day
*Protein supplement IS allowed if it is within 30 min post-workout and is not soy based.
*green beans, snow peas, and sugar snap peas do not count against your score, even though I believe they are technically legumes
*Sweet Potatoes are allowed
*Clarified butter (Ghee) is allowed, even though it is Dairy.

Honestly, I can't imagine I will stick with this past the 26 days.  There are things I don't agree with it.  But, I am willing to give it a go.  I mostly expect it to enhance my hatred for paleo.

Group Think appears to be setting in

So... you know those rants about the Paleo Diet?  You know how (for those of you know know me) I am terribly against any "extreme" or restrictive diets?  Well, group think/cult think appears to be setting in.  My box is doing a "Nutrition Challenge" starting on Monday.  There is a lecture on Sat on Paleo and Zone principles, and then a 4 week (well... 26 days... starts on a Mon and ends on a Fri) challenge.  They have done it before, and there is prize money at the end.  I am actually seriously considering doing it.  I feel like I need some sort of kick-start.  I DO believe the part of the CF that believes that you can get some gain by changing diet, some gain by changing workouts, but combining the two would give even more benefit than the sum of the diet change and the exercise change.

There are a few things conspiring to make this seem like a good idea.  As I said, I have been feeling like I need a "kick start" in changing my diet.  Andy will be out of town for 2 of the 4 weeks, making it more feasible.  I shouldn't knock it before I learn more about it.  The fact that one of the coaches swears up and down that paleo has helped his stomach issues and asthma to the point where he doesnt need treatments any more helps too, though I don't really know how much I believe that.  From what little he told of his story he may also have just grown out of it.  I also like money.  And competition.  And starting off as probably the most out of shape person in the gym gives me a fighting edge on making the most improvement, right?  Apparently during the last challenge people lost an average of like 3.4% body fat or something.  I wouldn't mind that.  I really need to lose my gut. It legit gets in the way on some of the exercises.

Anyhow.  Right now I am planning to go to the lecture tomorrow, and then make a decision.

Group think may be setting in.  I do NOT want to have to concede to my friend M on his belief that I will drink the Kool-Aid though.

Workout #1

So, yesterday was my first CF workout.  Yes.  I went to the gym on the 4th of July.  The crazies may be setting in already.   The workout was interesting, and supposedly a particularly hard one.  I guess on patriotic type holidays and anniversaries of disasters, CF folks to "Hero Workouts" in order to honor the fallen.  This one was actually quite cool when it comes to the concept, as it divided us into teams (all teams of 2, except one team of 3, which I was on.)  We had to, between the team, complete 7 rounds of a prescribed workout. Didn't really matter who did how much.  It certainly reminded me of how armed forces, firefighters, etc have to rely on their peers/teams in times of stress and how it is important in difficult situations to rely on each person's strengths and allow the team to compensate for each person's weaknesses.  Unfortunately for my team, my weaknesses are significant and my strengths are few at this time.

All in all, the workout kicked my ass.  I kind of doubt I truly pulled my weight on the team, but I did what I could.  I was seriously considering dropping out for the last round.  I didn't, but I also did WAY less than I had in the earlier rounds.  I guess what little I did still made it easier for my team members, right?  I was shaking half the way home.  It was actually kind of nice, because I am insane.  This is why I decided to join CF.  Because I know I have that type of insanity.

Everyone at the gym was really friendly.  Most of them congratulated me on making it through my first workout, told me it was a really tough one, and reminded me that it gets better.  I legitimately hope to see some of them again.

Foundations, Day 2

The second day of foundations went well.  Again, I did well except for upper body stuff.  I was *slightly* less embarrassed this time, since at least I could do SOMETHING, even if I couldn't do a full tricep dip.  I was happy that all three of us passed the class, but a little disconcerted about a few things that were said at the end of class.

1) when asked about how often to come to the gym to start, the coach said "Like 3-4 times a week... probably leaning towards the 3 side.  More like every other day." I am sure I am butchering the way he said it, but it's definitely the gist.  Holy crap. umm... no.  a) I was still WAY sore on Monday from the workout on Saturday.  Every other day?  As I mentioned before, my peak of soreness is usually at around 48 hours.  this would mean I would be working out just when I hurt the much.  Forget that!  Especially while I am new at this and at THIS level of soreness!  b) my plan is 2 days a week.  Not to start.  Period.  MAYBE working up to 3.  STARTING at 3-4 days a week makes me assume that it would be working up to 6 days a week, possibly multiple times a day.  (The box isn't open on Sundays.)  Eff that.  I run.  I dance.  I teach water aerobics.  That's 3-6 days of exercise a week already.  I can not/will not add 6 extra workouts to that.  2-3 is already enough, thank you very much.  Seriously.  Do these people have lives?  I mean, exercise is important and all, but wtf?

2) The part I had been avoiding.  Nutrition.  It was a nice quick schpeel, but the basics were "CrossFit believes in following a mixture of Paleo and Zone."  The QUICK rundown of Paleo was "meat and veggies, a little fat, and occasional fruits.  no processed foods."  The QUICK rundown of Zone was "split your plate into 40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fats."  I will FULLY admit that I know very little about the paleo diet.  I confirmed via the interwebs that it IS what I was thinking of, which is often called the "caveman diet."  What I DO know: I hear people talk about how its better to eat like we did when we were cave men.  I hear people talk about how processed foods are the downfall of society.  I hear people talk about the evils of carbs.  What annoys me: The life expectancy when we were cavemen was, what?  30?  Maybe?  If we were eating as hunter gatherers did, we would not have access to avocado year round.  We would eat fruit for days if we happened across it.  We would eat spoiled meat.  Eff that.  I think my dad summed it up pretty well when we were talking about it yesterday.  "I can tell you what the caveman diet is like.  Breakfast: Squish a mouse.  Eat it.  Lunch:  Find some berries.  Eat them.  Dinner:  You have no food.  Smash your neighbor over head with rock.  Eat what he had."  Another annoyance?  Most of the people who I have known who espouse this type of diet also tend to be totally into protein shakes/bars/etc.  Not generally animal proteins as the diet would prescribe.  Extremely processed foods.  Guess what.  I at least don't pretend to be all high-and-mighty-better-than thou.  I like beer.  I like processed foods.  I like fried foods.  I don't try to pretend to be one thing while really doing the other.  In fact.  I think those three statements pretty much sum up part c.

Foundations, Day 1

So it's official.  I joined CrossFit.  I am a member of the cult.  The box I joined (still have no clue why they call it that, and I usually call it the gym, but feel like I should use "proper" terminology if I am trying to educate/talk about this stuff) does a two-session "Foundations" class before you can begin to go to the normal workouts.  From what I can tell, all boxes do this, but the requirements vary vastly, from 2 sessions to 2-3 sessions a week for 3-4 weeks.  While part of my thought process re: foundations was "Only 2 sessions?  Is that really enough to teach proper form and make sure people are going to be safe?", another part of it was "I know good form, mine just needs some cleaning up I am sure, since it has been a while.  I know enough about the human body and my own body that, really, I don't even know that I need those two classes."  Besides.  The community there seemed SO much better (the other box I was looking at had more extensive foundations requirements) AND I had found out that I already know someone at this box.  PLUS if it is only one week, and I do it this week, I won't have to miss any dance classes, since dance is already cancelled this week.  So, that didn't deter me.  

The "sample class" I went to was on Saturday.  It was GREAT but OMG did it kick my butt.  By Monday, I was REALLY feeling it.  For those of you who don't know, peak muscle soreness for a healthy individual usually peaks between 24-48 hours after the workout.  I tend to be around that 48 hour mark.  Foundations Day 1 was 56 hours after the workout that kicked my bum.  oh my.  I was so sore that I went for a run before going to the box so that my muscles would be a little warmer and I might not destroy myself to the point where I wouldn't be able to walk for foundations day 2 (48 hours later... eek.)  It helped, but by the end of class when we got to some more cardio-intensive stuff (though just barely) and all the warmed up muscles had cooled back down, I wasn't sure it was really worth it.  In the long run, I am glad I took the run, though, and I know it was worth it.

I actually really liked the way they did the foundations class.  They limit it to 4 people, and there are 3 of us in my class.  I don't know if there are always two instructors, but there is for mine.  So, LOTS of individual attention.  We would watch one of them do the move, they would point out some of the common mistakes and some of the things to keep in mind, and we would try the exercise with a light weight.  We certainly didn't do a TON of each exercise, but definitely in excess of 10 reps of each, with serious scrutiny on form.  OK, good.  These guys DO care about form/safety.

A few things I did NOT like about the foundations class:  I knew I had no upper body strength, but I don't think I realized JUST how little upper body strength I had.  I knew there was no way in hell I would be able to do a pull-up.  I did NOT realize that I would also not be able to do a pull-up with the heaviest band they have for assistance.  Talk about embarrassing.  Especially for a group exercise instructor who used to teach mostly toning and weight training classes.  Crap.  Now I have to say.  They were actually really great about it - both of the coaches and the other two participants.  No looks of pity, no looks of disdain, I did not feel judged at all.  Except by myself.  While it was extremely embarrassing to me, to the point of making me emotional, that's my shit, not theirs.  The other thing: I did not like the way they have us holding the barbells in front of the body (resting on the shoulders, pressed up against the neck.)  I completely understand that it is correct form.  It is just way uncomfortable.  As this article, which I liked, about front-squats says, "Coughing is possible and clavicles may hurt. Front Squat more, you'll adapt."  My clavicles are not visibly bruised, but they feel bruised to the touch.  Not so enjoyable.  I also managed to clip myself on the chin with the barbell doing a jerk.  This is just me.  I am clumsy.  The coach said something to the extent of "you will only do that once."  He obviously doesn't understand the extent of my skill.

Conclusion: Holy CRAP is this going to be hard.  I hope I have it in me.  I also hope I don't embarrass myself again on Wednesday.