day 60 of 60: sugar challenge

The End.

It is the official last day of the sugar challenge for me and my last weigh in was this morning. The result? Well surprisingly I lost another 3#! I say surprisingly because last Friday I got hit with the Flu and have been home sick all weekend couch bound. Today was my first day out of the house to go to work for a few hours and I really wasn't expecting to see much of a difference on the scale. Now I know the loss could be contributed to having been sick and not eating a whole lot, but I know it could also be that I've reached a point where my muscles are burning enough calories on their own. It could be one or the other, or more probably a combination of the two. Either way, I'll take it. I've lost more weight than I had expected to during this challenge. I'm pretty stoked!

Total weight lost from November 1st thru December 31st is 17#. I averaged a loss of 2.125# a week, but in reality that is not how it unfolded. I suspect I will reach my first weight goal in mid-January. If I keep up with my current success I will reach my second goal weight in one years time. Sooner if I am ambitious. I will continue to track my weight loss on a monthly basis as I will continue to keep a cleaner diet and not bring refined sugar and unbleached enriched flour back into my regular diet. This wasn't a temporary thing, it was the road to a new way of life!

I do want to take a moment to thank my wonderful partner, Aaron, for his encouragement and support during all of my challenges and on my road to making a better me. You make me stronger and stay on track with your positive words. Thank you my love.

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

day 54 of 60: sugar challenge

I had an exciting Christmas Eve weigh in!! I had not expected much of a loss, I was shooting for maintenance. But this morning I weighed in 3# less than my last weigh in. WHAT! Yes... I am so excited. This obviously proves the lack of working out two weeks ago is what inhibited any loss in last weeks weigh in. I am now officially 10# away from my first goal!! Give me a moment as I do my happy dance. :)

So in one weeks time I will be doing my last weigh in for the sugar challenge, as it is coming to an end. The end result of this challenge thus far? I will not go back to eating refined sugar on a regular basis, if at all. I have seen too much progress and feel too good to want to put much of that crap back into my body. I will, however, begin a monthly weigh in on the last Friday of every month to keep record of my progress with my continue healthy eating and CrossFit workouts/monthly challenges. So stay tuned!

day 50 of 60: sugar challenge

Alright, so I had my weigh in this morning and I managed to lose the 0.5# I gained last week but that is all. That is ok. As I suspected with the reintroduction of beer into my diet and having a couple of outings that involved drinking and the lack of working out last week, this was bound to happen. I also know that I should not always expect a weight loss as I am still building muscle. What I should be happy with is that I am able to maintain my weight at the very least.

In 10 days will mark the end of this challenge and my 7 month CrossFit anniversary. A lot has happened for me between the two. I have lost more weight than I had expected to see on the scale in the past 50 days, and in the last 4 to 5 months I have really noticed the changes in my body. I know that if I keep up with eating right and training hard I will achieve my fitness goals. I know I am on the right track. :)

sugar challenge still going strong

I realized that I never posted about my weigh in last week. Probably because I was a tad bit disappointed with it. I gained 0.5# during that week and I know I can attribute that to the introduction of beer back in my diet as well as being out of CrossFit for a full week due to my knee. But that is alright, it was a slight increase and not the end of the world for me. I am not drinking beer everyday, just had a couple of events I went to. Plus I have gone everyday this week to CrossFit. I expect a better outcome in my weigh in this Friday. Stay tuned…

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

plank challenge ended

Today was the last day of the 30 day Plank Challenge, which I unfortunately was not successful in. A combination of the challenge calendar being far more advanced than I had anticipated and my right knee being a bit of an issue. But that is ok, I will be better prepared next time the plank comes back around. I will now go off and enjoy the rest of my holiday season and join in another challenge in January… the push-up! Interested in joining myself and some of my friends? Check out Challenge Me Fit and let me know if you are interested. The more, the merrier!

out of commission

So after a kick ass WOD on Monday and RXing for the second time ever, yesterday I managed to hurt/injure myself. While at work, I was walking and suddenly decided to shift right. I don't know exactly what did and did not move, but the next thing I knew I felt a pop in my right (already bad) knee. I felt an extreme sharp pain, and much discomfort almost immediately. For about a minute I couldn't move it, afterwards I couldn't stop limping. Thankfully I work for a chiropractor, so my boss took a look at it right away. I don't think he was able to get a whole lot done as I could not help but tense up and guard my knee. He believes I strained my meniscus.

Later that evening I still went to my box and Coach Joon helped me with some mobility stuff. I rolled out the Quad, Hamstring, and Calf muscles of my right leg and then used the VooDoo Straps. Torturous straps is more like what they are. But oh lord did those straps help. By the end of class I was no longer limping. I'm still extremely sore, mostly from Monday's WOD, but the right leg feels like it took a beating. My knee still has some discomfort and on occasion with the right movement I'll experience a sharp shooting pain. I'm giving myself until Monday before attempting another WOD. I hope for a speedy recovery!

rx'd for the second time

Tonight for the second time in my CrossFit experience I have RX'd a WOD. What that means for those of you who are not familiar with that term, is that I did the prescribed weight and workout. This workout tonight has shown me that I am getting stronger and more willing to assert myself.

The WOD this evening:
A: Snatch Push Press- work to a heavy single.
     Then perform 5 sets of 3 reps @ 80%

B: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
     -Thrusters 95#/65#
    *100ft Bear Crawls after every set of thrusters.

Now I typically avoid bear crawls, as well as crab walks, inch worms, and anything else that asks for you to put any sort prolonged pressure on your wrists. I am a massage therapist by trade and preserving my wrists are important. These sort of movements tend to wreak havoc on me and so that is why I avoid them. But when I saw the posted WOD this evening and knew that a 65# thruster was doable for me, I was frustrated that the bear crawls would be the thing to keep me from RXing. So I made a decision to go for it this evening. And I did it! I did 65# thrusters and 100ft bear crawls. I felt like throwing up for most of the workout and I kept seeing stars after doing bear crawls. Not to mention that my wrists weren't feeling that great half way through it. No worries though, my wrists are fine now, I didn't throw up, and the stars are back in the evening sky. I did my WOD in 27 minutes and 45 seconds. Definitely not the best time of the night, but I really could care less!

I do want to take a moment to give a shout out to an incredible woman, Ms. Alisha Howard. This evening she did the same WOD as I did, but accidentally put 5 extra pounds on her bar and did 70# thrusters. It was pointed out to her when she was already half way through the WOD and like a CrossFit beast, she kept going with it. Even though she was the last one to finish the WOD this evening, she is my hero for the day! She didn't give up. And she didn't take those extra 5# off… WOW! Good for you girl! Brag away…

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

8 steps towards your resolution

The new year is fast approaching and I know many of you, as I do, create a resolution you are adamant on fulfilling but sadly rarely ever comes to fruition. Why is that? Well I am no expert but from past experiences I think it has a lot to do with having too high of an expectation on ourselves. Sure, it is a great idea to want to do better for ourselves, I wish everyone would. But if you haven't already begun baby steps and stuck to it, how do you expect to achieve such large goals? Granted, I know there are some of you out there that are super-human and get shit done! Kudos to you. But for the vast majority of us that is not the case. So here are 8 steps to start now towards a healthier and happier life, so you'll be successful with your new years resolution.

1. Think positive and have gratitude. Sure we all have something about ourselves we aren't happy with but getting down about it isn't going to help. Be thankful for what you have and for the things about yourself you do appreciate. Be positive that you'll overcome your dislikes. A positive mind has positive outcomes.
2. Sleep. Let's face it we don't get enough shut eye. While some of you may only need 4 to 6 hours of sleep, others may need 6 to 8 hours. Know what you need and respect your body enough to have it.
3. Drink water. I know many of you think you drink plenty, but the fact is most people don't drink enough water. Replace that third cup of coffee with a glass of water instead. Put down the soda can and have some water instead. Your body will thank you.
4. Develop healthy eating habits. I know not everyone wants to do the Paleo diet, I'm not fully on board either. But you have to admit you don't eat as healthy as you think you do. Add more fruits and vegetables to your daily diet. Cut back on the refine sugar (or do like I am and cut it completely out of your diet). Small changes here and there add up to big changes.
5. Be active. Ok, so now you're an adult and you've been busting your ass all day at work and all you want to do is go home, sit on your couch with a beer in hand, and veg out. I don't blame you, there are days that is all I want to do and I do it (minus the beer). But keeping a sedentary lifestyle will lead to a very unhappy golden years. Get up and do something. At the very least do 30 minutes a day of physical activity. 
6. Stretch/mobility. You know how flexible kids are in the way they move around? Well we lose that as we age, unless you're a super-human (or a gymnast). Regain some of that flexibility.
7. Do something you love. When you focus on an activity that makes you happy, your stress level drops. 
8. Laugh. Do this every day, it is so good for your mind, body, and soul.

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

mobility, my new best friend.

So if you've been keeping up with my posts, you are more than aware that I have been struggling with some knee issues. Pin pointing the cause has been a long process of trial and error, but needless to say I have learned a hell of a lot about mobility and it's importance. We have determined that I do not squat correctly, I have been taking a wide stance with feet pointed outwardly. I took on this stance as I could not squat with a lesser stance and forward facing feet. But why can't I? Ah, and that's the question that needed answering.

So let me back up for a moment and start from the beginning. I first noticed my right knee pain during our big lifts sessions of back squats. For those unfamiliar with this term, it is when someone places a barbell on their shoulders behind their head and squats. I was squatting in the 120's when I began to notice the pain. I tried widening my stance and that helped for a while, but shortly after the pain would come again. I was sure to always roll out my Quads and ITB (IT band) after every class and ice my knees as soon as I got home. After a while none of that was helping and I began to avoid squatting all together. Then one day we had to do some lunges in class and I found out rather quickly that motion was not agreeing with my right knee at all. Now I avoided lunges. Before I knew it, I was not running, jumping, squatting, or doing lunges. This was getting out of hand!

I was getting my knees checked regularly with my chiropractor and staying on top of stretching and using my foam roller. But I knew more needed to be done. After several post class chat sessions with Joon, and on occasion Tony, I learned an immense amount of things about mobility and it's importance. I was referred to look into a book, Becoming a Supple Leopard, by Dr. Kelly Starrett. Within days Aaron and I purchased the book and began reading up on everything we could. Taking everything in that Joon would tell me into daily use on top of what I would learn from the book and from Kelly Starrett's MobilityWOD site and his YouTube channel.

So back to the question, why can't I squat correctly? It's not my knees that stop me from doing it. It's the fact that I have limited ROM (range of motion) in my ankles and my hips aren't fully open. In other words, I have a lot of tight muscles throughout my legs and my flexibility is limited. Am I done for? No. I can regain control and flexibility with a lot of hard work and investing in time for mobility work. Will I? You bet your sweet a** I will. In time I will be able to squat correctly if I am willing to put forth the effort. I have begun to squat again with complete focus on proper technique and no knee pain.

I can not stress how important mobility is, and it's not limited to those who CrossFit. If you are an athlete of any kind, or an active person who swims, bikes, runs, etc, you should really be doing yourself and your body a favor and begin mobility training so that you don't run into similar or worse complications down the road. Be sure to check out Dr. Kelly Starrett's pages, and book. The unfortunate part of becoming adults is that we no longer move the way we did as children. Many of us lose the flexibility and movement we once had. But certainly with determination and focus, I will regain something back.

This was taken from Pinterest.

day 33 of 60: sugar challenge

I'm not going to lie, I was a wee bit nervous to weigh in this morning. I was certain that I'd see a one to two pound gain on the scale. But I didn't. I actually lost a pound. Not a big loss as I really wasn't expecting that, but pretty happy with a loss of any kind! A little over a month into the sugar challenge and I'm convinced I made the right decision. I can not express how good I feel, internally. I feel like things are beginning to function better. It's amazing how well your body will treat you when you treat it well. If I were you, I'd rethink the refine sugar...

the holiday aftermath

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now on to the Christmas festivities. I intentionally started the sugar challenge on November 1st for two month so that during the holidays I would have an obligation to stay on it and not splurge. It's not an uncommon thing for us to overeat during the holidays, with there being a lot of yummy stuff in every corner we turn. I'm proud to say that I barely fell off the wagon this weekend, I stayed on my challenge. I skipped dessert during Thanksgiving, and have yet to eat anything with refined sugar. However, I did cheat Wednesday evening and had a beer three days before I was allowing it back into my diet. I hardly think that will hurt me. And with the weekends schedule being thrown off a bit, I had one too many chocolate milks. Again, I hardly think that will hurt me. December 1st was the day I was allowing wine & beer back into my diet, in moderation. Last night I attended a concert and had just one beer. I know I will have to be strong with the rest of my diet if I don't want the beers to effect my weigh ins. Speaking of which, this coming weeks weigh in will be on Tuesday, after that they will resume on Fridays. I am not expecting a large loss at this weigh in, but I am hopeful.

Last Friday I went to a class since I missed out on Thursday and knew I'd be missing another one this coming week. At first glance at the board, the WOD looked fairly easy. But the thought was short lived, the WOD aptly named 12 Days of Christmas, was going to be a torturous one and it was!

WOD:
1. Power Snatch ?/65#
2. Ring Dips
3. Burpee's
4. Pull-ups
5. Toes to Bars
6. Push-ups
7. Air Squats
8. Jumping Lunges (though I did Push Presses @ 65#)
9. Box Jumps
10. Wall Balls 20/14#
11. KB Swings
12. Thrusters ?/65#

Now do you remember how the 12 Days of Christmas song goes? It starts of with one, then it is two and then one, and so on. That was pretty much how the workout went. We'd do one first, then do two, one, then three, two, one, and so on and so on. It wasn't too terribly bad until I hit #8. Adding push presses into the mix was brutal, and then #10 with the wall balls, and then #12 was the ultimate killer. By the last round I had to remove the weights off and just use the 35# bar. Today is the first day that my pec's aren't killing me. I swear Tony had to have laughed his ass off as he wrote the WOD that morning!!

How did you fair with the holiday aftermath?

This was taken from Pinterest.