Category Archives: Life

10 Full Days Eating Ultra Low Carb – 8/17/14

Life, , ,

I started following some guidelines in the book Carb Nite (I apologize, the site is a little scammy and hokey) over the last 10 days. I waited a full 10 days of Ultra Low Carb eating, and decided that the night of Day 11 would be my insulin-spiking feast!

During the 10 days I ate things like,

ground turkey with sauteed onions, mushrooms and red pepper flakes (basically my sweet potato hash minus the sweet potatoes)
Salads with grilled chicken and bleu cheese
Burgers, no bun, with cheese, pickles, lettuce, bacon, mushrooms
eggs, lots of eggs! Hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, fried eggs.
Bacon.
fried, unbreaded chicken wings, caprese salads (tomatoes were my biggest source of carbs the last 10 days, for sure.)
grilled steaks, sausages
salads, salads, salads
more eggs, more bacon.
Coffee with cream (I’m drinking dairy again, I couldn’t stay away.) and by cream I mean, half and half, or heavy whipping cream – 2-3 cups of coffee a day
butter! Mmmm butter.
Mozzarella, often with hardboiled eggs. I can eat them in the car, on the go, whenever. As long as I put some salt in that zip lock, we’re good to go.
nuts! walnuts, cashews, almonds

That about covers it. But yeah, my biggest thing was the VERY FIRST DAY. Once I got through the first day, I was good. I missed my dried pineapple, my dried banana chips, my whatevers. Sweet potatoes, rice, etc. But.. once I got through that first day, the rest was smooth sailing.

I’ll tell you about my Carb Nite later. If nothing else, just know I was extremely UNcomfortable last night after all the shit I ate. I can’t believe people eat that way on a regular basis. As in daily. As in multiple times daily. I even stayed mostly gluten free last night too! Miserable.

I will mention that in 10 days’ time I went from 215ish to 210. My lowest on this CrossFit/Paleo journey EVER has been 209. So.. hopefully this insulin spike BS crap that I went through last night will power me past 209. That would be awesome. 🙂 More later!

Day 6 – No starch, no fruit, no sugar – 8/12/14

Life, , , ,

Essentially, I am depleting my body of carbs, starches, and sugars in an effort to force it into ketosis, to force it to burn fat instead of the food I’m eating for fuel.  The first day was the hardest, but after that it was no big deal, and so far today has been great too.

My one ‘treat’ has been my BCAAs at night with glutamine, and I may or may not have had a spoonful or 2 or 3 of coconut almond butter.

It’s the beginning basics of Carb Backloading, which I’ve never really tried, and hell, maybe I should. It’s also along the same principle as Carb Nite, which I’ve never tried before either.

Regardless, I feel better. My body is reacting to the slightest amount of starches I consume (whether it’s in sauce inadvertently, or from too many vegetables) I can FEEL it. I’m glad I’ve gotten over that initial hump of wanting dried fruit and starches and whatnot, and now I’m content with not eating it. I don’t want it. I feel better without it. WHOA.

Granted, I only worked out yesterday since I started cutting starches. Tonight will be another determining factor, how it affects my performance; we’re doing heavy C&J today. I’ll keep you posted!

Seeking Advice from my CrossFit Friends – 7/30/14

Life, ,

Alright.. seeking advice from my Crossfitter friends! What do you all suggest for leaning out/losing fat while still maintaining your strength? I’ve just about had it with myself.

Some info:
I eat pretty well, mostly paleo. I am gluten free. I eat some fruit, some sweet potato, a little dairy/cheese (cream or kerrygold in coffee), a little bit of rice (a bite here and there IF I make it for Dave), beans RARELY, very little processed sugar.

I eat eggs, chicken, ground turkey, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, bacon, for the most part. I’ll splurge on a couple pieces of almost bitter dark chocolate here and there but I prefer to eat dried fruit (natural, no sugar added, organic in place of sweets if I’m craving something, or if a meal is a long ways off). I’ve tried snacking on the whole ‘handful of almonds’ thing to curb my appetite, (that’s a load of BS.)

I haven’t always eaten dried fruit, and incorporating it into my diet hasn’t changed or affected my weight. Meaning, when I didn’t eat it, I still had these issues. Same with the dairy, same with the rice, same with the dark chocolate. When I went strict paleo for 30 days, I lost a few pounds only, and felt AWFUL. When I added the sweet potato back in and laxed up a bit, I felt much better overall and my workouts and strength returned.

I’m always hungry. I drink a crap ton of water. Two cups of coffee a day, iced tea here and there (unsweet). I take all my supplements (glutamine, carnitine, fish oil, taurine, magnesium), I work out 3-4-5 times a week and I always give it everything I’ve got.

Aside from eating nothing but boiled chicken, plain lettuce and broccoli.. what are your recommendations? I have been willing these last 30lbs to drop, but the last time I lost 5lbs by cutting carbs out entirely and going strict paleo, I felt like I was going to pass out all the time. (lightheaded, dizzy, had a hard time lifting anything heavy…) Would love to hear some suggestions from people I haven’t necessarily asked. THANK YOU!

My Goals for the next 365 Days. 7/30/14

Life, ,

Lately after finishing certain benchmark and Hero WODs, I’ve found myself saying, “next year I’ll RX this one..” Which turned into me wanting to make a list of goals to work towards and then put it out here, so I can attempt to hold myself accountable.

Next Year I will RX the following WODs:

Murph (okay maybe without the weighted vest)
Kalsu
Holleyman

I also want to continue to work on the following movements, to the point of being able to RX them.

ring dips
HSPU
DUs (I can do them, but not when I’m tired. I’d like to be able to do them through an entire WOD)
C2B

I want to shoot for the following weights:

Bench (currently 145, I’d like 155 or higher)
Back Squat (currently 265, 300 would be stellar!)
Front Squat (haven’t PRed in awhile, last one was 215, would like 245)
OHS (last PR was 125, would like to go for 150)
Snatch (last PR was 125 or 130, would like 150)
Deadlift (currently 335, would like 350+)
Clean (currently 175, would like 200)
C&J (currently 155, but I know I have more! Would like 200)
Strict Press (currently 115, would like 130)

So we’ll see. These are some pretty lofty goals. And of course there’s my weight, which I’ve pretty much just given up on. It’s like, do I focus on getting healthier and stronger and just be happy with my weight? Or do I try to lean out and hope my strength stays? I don’t know how to do either of those things, honestly. (be happy with my weight, or lean out and keep my strength.)

The only method I know that works is to eat less, and the last time I did that, I suffered a great deal from the lack of energy and strength that resulted. It sounds like excuses, I know. But for me, to eat less to the point where it would make an impact would be to always be starving, and each chicken and vegetables. Plain lettuce, plain chicken, plain broccoli. Only. How badly do I want it? Not that badly.

I also always say that I really need to just do more cardio too. Get my heart pumping, racing. Getting my metabolism jump started has been so difficult. I’m a little faster, a little smaller, and a little stronger, but I’m still the same weight on the scales. I hate it. And for the most part, the same size. If you look at pics of me from last year to this year, they look the same. It’s monumentally frustrating to put this much work into something, only to have no physical, bodily changes. 🙁

So there are my goals. Now I’m frustrated.

L5 S1 – Compressing my Spine – 7/23/14

Life, ,

I tweaked my lower back and the pain is coming from to the left of my spine, right above my tailbone. It’s not muscular, it’s more like nerve-ish pain. Just got back from the chiropractor who confirmed my suspicions. He said it was my L5 S1. Took some x-rays, gave me some good stretches, did a great adjustment, and decompressed my spine a bit. I need to work on it myself from home.

It gets better as the day goes on, as I get warmed up, but he said it was inflamed and the compression of the weightlifting just isn’t helping it right now.

Which SUCKS because today (7/23) is Holleyman.. hands down, one of my favorite WODs of all time. Bummed that I have to miss it, but I will try and make it up on Sunday. I need to take it easy.

I suppose I could go to yoga, but.. meh.. I need to work on some stretches at home. See if I can get this improved. 🙂