Keto and CrossFit – Dealing with Weight Loss & Strength
So my weight was creeping up again. After the dogs passed away, and after our trip to Colorado for snowboarding, my god did I even talk about that here? It doesn’t matter. We went to Colorado basically on a week’s notice and took a week to go snowboarding and hang with family, it was much needed away time for both of us. Anyway, after that trip, I felt like I couldn’t control my weight again, even though I was still keto, still doing CrossFit. What the fuck. I felt like no matter what I did, or tried, or anything, it would work for awhile and the weight came back on. My lowest of 189 was short-lived, and I hung around in the mid to high 190s for months, and then the 200s came back. And I got back up to like, 210? 212? And I lost my shit. Why was I trying so hard, or so I thought, and not able to lose or even just maintain my weight?
Cue a talk with a friend. My friend Jared and I go back several years. We met at CrossFit Total Control back in 2012, he’s married, has two gorgeous kids, had a printing business that we ended up buying from him a couple of years ago, so we’re connected in a couple different levels. He had asked me a few times about keto, and I gave my uneducated response as to why it worked and how it worked, and probably sent him off to do his own research because really, wtf do I know?
Jared is also a big proponent of B12 shots for cold symptoms. I was like, yeah dude whatever, I’m not doing that. Fast Forward to two days before we’re supposed to leave for Detroit, and I was 3 days into some gnarly cold symptoms. It was inevitable, I’m doomed, I’m getting sick. This is it, my trip to Detroit with Dave is ruined, and it hasn’t even started yet. I was desperate for anything, even these ridiculous B12 shots he had always talked about. I sheepishly texted him, dude… tell me about this B12 nonsense. Do they really work?
So. He told me about Pure Hydration Spa. Right in Jax Beach. I hemmed and hawed a little, I’m just not into this. Whatever, I’m also not into being sick, especially while traveling. I don’t want to be that person on the plane. FINE. I called and talked to Hannah, she made some great recommendations for infusions, and I booked my appointment for later that day. I had decided on the Immunity Plus which contained B-Complex, B12, Vitamin C, and Zinc.
Fast forward to later that day, I walked in and it was incredible. Beautiful. Calm, clean, serene, and there was a dog. I’m totally in. They got me all hooked up in a nice, quiet, and private room, and puppers plopped on the couch next to me, and away we went. Can I just tell you? The combination of those infusions instantly made me feel better. I literally felt my sore throat going away. My headache, aches and pains, literally drifted away and were completely gone by the time I was done. My cold that was 3 days in the making had been wiped out. Science says it’s not possible? I don’t care. I definitely had a cold, sore throat and all. It was literally gone. Gone gone gone. I went from a total non-believer to sign me up, I feel so good I will be here every single day for this stuff.
That shit was so amazing, that I booked another appointment the next day, just to be safe before our trip. I felt even better, and I didn’t realize that was possible.We went on our trip, spent a few amazing days in Detroit, and when we came home, I went for a 3rd time, just to beat all the plane and travel germs at their game.
SO. The point of telling you all that was not to brag on Pure Hydration, but they’re awesome, so bonus for all of us. BUT to tell you about how Jared’s suggestions went from being interesting to I will now listen to everything you say and recommend. Please tell me more!
At this point, Jared and his wife had been doing keto for health reasons, but he had dove head in. I thought I was obsessed, he went above and beyond to steer their lives in a new direction by way of diet. All the stuff I ever did for Tex and Sammi, with food for their health, foos is medicine, food is fuel kind of stuff, he topped the charts on. Jared went into a full bio-hack mode, absorbing everything he could on the subject, consulting with doctors (Dr. Brian Anderson woop woop!) and so on.
He had previously asked me if I had tried Intermittent Fasting. No, not intentionally. I drink way too much coffee with cream to fit within a restricted window of calorie consumption. (btw, I’m back on dairy. I hang my head with guilt whenever I make my coffee, something I have decided to live with, in shame). But. Now that Jared apparently knows everything about life, I leaned in. Please tell me more!
With some info from Jared, and eager to learn more, and finally commit, maybe… I ventured off to consult the world’s best friend, Google, to tell me all about the wonders of Intermittent Fasting (IF). I determined my feeding window would start when I had my first coffee with cream, and end 8 hours from there. This meant I was about to embark on a 16:8 IF program. Fast for 16 hours, eat for 8. And when I say eat, I mean, consume calories, not just eat for 8 straight hours. It’s more like an OMAD lifestyle (OMAD = One Meal a Day) with the rest of my feeding hours filled with coffee with cream. This doesn’t sound so bad after all!
I dove in, and declared that on July 2nd, I would no longer be participating in dinner. The first few days were weird. What am I supposed to do with my time? Do I just watch him eat? WTF do I do now? Not cook? Have tea? This is so weird. I quickly got used to making sure I made the most out of my midday meal, as it was literally my one chance at eating what I really wanted that day. No do-overs, no take backsies, no 2nd chances later in the evening. I have my coffee at 8a with another coffee around 10a, followed by lunch somewhere, then another coffee around 3p ish and by the time I finish that, we’re at about 4p which closes off my eating window. After 4p, I can focus on water, tea, going to the gym, and not worrying about eating. Not eating in the evening has become really liberating. Only one time was I noticeably hungry and it was because I didn’t have enough calories earlier that day (I think). The rest of my ‘hunger pains’ have really just been wanting to eat something but not actually being hungry.
So what did the scales do? At first, they plummeted. From 207 to 197, which is where I currently sit. I am now trying to figure out why the stall again, but in my mind, I know the answer is, too much fat. I need to cut back on some of the fat from somewhere, and I say that like I don’t know, but it’s really a matter of putting less cream in my coffee, and sucking it up. I like the idea of using less cream, because that means buying milk less frequently and not supporting a factory farming industry as much.
I need this to be a to be continued… This is far too long, at this point!
Related posts
