Even More Whole30 Results

Thank you for all the thoughtful comments on my last post <3

In other news, I received this message over a week ago, but it kind of got lost in the shuffle.  Mary did the The Whole30 with us in April and let me tell you, she has 8 kids, ages ranging from teenagers to toddlers.  If she can do the Whole30, anybody can!  Here's what she had to say about her experience:

What a great experience the Whole30 was!  I must not consume a ton of sugar and carbs, because I had no issue cutting them out.  I lost 18 lbs, and inches as well, but the best thing is the increase in energy!  I had always gone to the gym 3-4 times a week prior to starting.  Now I do an hour of cardio every other day and on non-cardio days, I do an hour of strength training and weights.  I feel healthy and strong!  My skin is glowing, I sleep like a rock at night... it's just been amazing!

Congrats Mary!

Interested in more results?

My January Whole21 Results

My April Whole30 Results

Sarah's Whole30 Results

Heather's Whole30 Results

It's so weird to think that this time last year I was in the thick of my half marathon training!  When I signed up for my half, it was the beginning of January.  I had New Years resolutions swirling around my head, I wanted to take my fitness to the next level, and I thought "man, I will look amazing this summer!"  Well, running the half was an amazing experience and I was in top cardiovascular shape, but as for slimming down for summer... well, that just didn't happen.

In July, I even wrote this post about my body.

I know that we've been conditioned to think that if we can just hit the treadmill hard enough, we can melt away our stored fat, but unfortunately it just doesn't work like that.  When you flood your body with sugar and carbs (that later get converted to sugar), you're providing it with an abundance of sugar to use as fuel.  When your body is adapted to burning sugar and it keeps receiving a steady supply, it will not use your fat!

When I was cleaning my room the other day, I found a receipt from a year ago for a bridesmaid dress that had my body measurements on it and I immediately thought, ooh I want to take some new measurement to compare!  Shall we?!

5 inches from my hips people... FIVE!  Long story short, training for a half marathon did nothing to eliminate any fat from my body but cutting carbs, added sugar, and processed foods from my diet made all the difference!  Regarding weight loss, you can't out exercise a bad diet!

We were supposed to go skydiving today but it was too cloudy.  I am so bummed!  I hope you're having better luck this weekend than me.  Happy Saturday.

How Many More Times?

Although I'm hearing an awesome Led Zeppelin song in my head, the title of this post is not referring to my love doing me wrong.  No, it's about... you guessed it... food.  (Well, the more I think about it, maybe this post is about my love doing me wrong lol.)

Sunday was a day that revolved around family and eating.  I made brunch for my mama and it was Paleo and delicious.  Dinner with Dave's family was a different story.  Throughout the evening I managed to drink an entire bottle of white wine to the face.  Finishing dinner with a giant piece of cherry cheesecake certainly didn't help anything.  My evening ended with a huge swollen tummy and a belly ache.  Shocking, I know.

But wait... didn't I just do this last weekend?  Cinco de Mayo, which involved a total of 2 pina coladas and 2 beers (aka not really all that much), left me feeling like complete crap on Monday despite getting 9.5 hours of sleep Sunday night.  I literally had a headache the entire day and thought, ugh I cannot do this to myself.

So how many more times can I put myself through the same thing before I learn?  I don't want to wake up feeling craptastic after getting 9.5 hours of sleep... that's just silly!  I don't want to lay in my bed unable to fall asleep because my stomach feels like it's going to explode.  So, why is this so hard?

Well, because booze is fun and Dave's mom's desserts are (almost) worth the tummy ache.  But there's a difference between having a glass of wine and drinking the whole bottle.  And there's a difference between having a taste of dessert and purposely picking out the biggest piece that was cut.  I desperately need to find a balance!

Ugh.  I really want to stop talking about food fails!  Honestly, most of the time I am making awesome food choices and I feel great.  But when I fail, it's epic and my body lets me know just how it feels about it.

Do you ever eat or drink things that you know will make you feel bad afterwards?  How do you handle treats?

CrossFit Catch Up

Now that we've been doing CrossFit for a few weeks, I'm starting to feel more comfortable with a lot of the exercises!  However, I'm still crazy sore after every single workout.  CrossFit is no joke, but I'm loving it!

Thursday, 5/2/13

Skill: Double Unders

Workout of the Day:  7 Minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible)

- 7 Kettlebell Swings (35,53)
- 7 Situps
- 14 Double Unders

I completed 3 rounds and I used a 12 lbs kettlebell.

Double unders are hard!  Class started with my coach asking me what kind of temper I have because apparently double unders piss people off!  It took me a few minutes of trying but I finally got my first one... and then ended up with the jump rope around my neck.  I don't even understand how that happened!  Let me tell you, jumping rope is a great workout.  Every time I do a WOD I just keep thinking, you really only need a few minutes to get in a good workout.  No one is too busy to jump rope for a few minutes!  My calves were killing me for days after this one.

Tuesday, 5/7/13

Workout of the Day: You will take at least two attempts to set maxes of the following:

- 400 M

- Pull-ups (scaling option use a band that you will at least get 10 options)

- Push ups

- Toes to Bar (if you can't do toes to bar, please do sit-ups)

- Double Unders

- Box Jump in 60 Seconds (18,24)

Here are my numbers:

The run kind of sucked.  If I'm running long distances, I will take my time, if I'm running a quick sprint I will go all out... 400 M is a long way to sprint.  I really didn't want to do the second one.

I did my pull ups with a big green resistance band.  They felt super easy in the beginning, but my arms were burning quickly.  I got 22 on my first try, but I got to 24 on my second try!  This was the only thing that I did better on the second time.  I realized I wasn't doing the kipping motion (pumping your legs for momentum) that everyone else was doing and that helped a lot.  I still need a lot of work on pull ups.  One day, I will do a pull up with no resistance band.

I was already dreading the push ups since I've been struggling with them since I corrected my form (arms close to body, chest to ground) and my arms felt like jello after the pull ups.  Only doing 12 seemed pretty sad, I know I have a lot of room for improvement here.

I hadn't worked on toes to bar before, but I thought I'd try it to see what I could do.  I got my toes up easily the first time, but my lack of technique left me swinging awkwardly at the bottom.  I got my toes up a second time but decided to do sit ups instead since I don't really know how to do toes to bar correctly yet.  I killed it with 75 sit ups!

Next was double unders.  I did 10 in a row my first try!  I was super pumped.

And finally box jumps... jumping 18" doesn't seem that hard, but doing it repeatedly for 60 seconds is another thing!  Nothing like almost missing to put a little pep in your step jump!

Thursday, 5/9/13

Workout of the Day: Father of the Bride Workout (since one of the member's daughter is getting married this week)

Partner Workout (Cause what Marriage isn't a Partnership)

1. Getting to the Wedding - Row 800, 100 Double Unders (or 200 Singles)
2. Walking Down the Aisle - 2 100 Meter Farmers Carry (25 pound plates each hand)
3. Exchanging of The Rings -100 Ring Rows
4. Listen to the Bells Ring - 100 Kettlebell Swings - I did 12 lbs
5. Cleaning out after the Wedding - 100 Hang Cleans 65,95 - I did 35 lbs
6. Getting the Heck out of There - 800 M Run

The coaches gave us our partners, so Dave and I were split up and paired with some more experienced people.  Each portion of the workout could be split however you wanted.  My partner and I ended up splitting everything in half (we both did 50 of each exercise) except I did a few more cleans since I was feeling strong and my partner had a lot more weight on his bar (he did the prescribed weight of 95 lbs).  I probably could've cleaned more weigh (definitely not the 65 lbs prescribed for women, but more than 35), but I wasn't really sure and 50 reps is quite a bit!  The ring rows (grab rings, lean back with feet on the floor, pull yourself up) were surprisingly hard!  We finished in 24:21!  And my arms hurt so bad!  I thought about going to the WOD after work today, but I decided it was probably a good idea to let my arms rest instead.

After the workout we all went to a ice cream place called Zwahlen's that specializes in rich homemade ice cream, specialty chocolates, and gourmet candy apples.  I felt like I had definitely earned the brownie sundae (with Twix ice cream!) that I crushed.  I wish I took some food porn pictures because it was glorious!  It was a cheat, but I'm glad I cheated with something delicious and special.

Mine was similar to the one on the left!  (Source)

After ice cream we headed over to Chickie's & Pete's, a sports bar that has a few locations around the Philly area.  I ordered a burger with bacon, fried onions, bbq sauce, lettuce, and tomato (no bun).  Despite our trip to Zwahlen's, a lot of the people from our gym also follow some version of Paleo.  The guy who sat next to me just started a strict self imposed diet.  He went home during the ice cream portion of the evening to eat a healthy home cooked dinner and then expressed his jealousy during dinner as he sipped water, the only thing he consumed at the bar.  I felt bad for him but could totally understand where he's coming from!  It's nice to gain some new friends with similar views on food and fitness!
Do your friends share your views on fitness and healthy eating?