Thursday, December 17, 2009

Week: 2

Hot damn! What a great "first" week... okay, I have been doing this longer then one week, but I was really, really on it.

Dec. 17, 2009: 205
Dec. 10, 2009: 213

Lost this week: 8lbs
Total loss: 41lbs

Wow, just wow... This past week I have learned a lot about myself and this journey that I am on. As I have been reading The Primal Blueprint, something really stuck out and hit me like a ton of bricks. Stop beating yourself up. With every "diet" I have done (and trust me, there have been many) I would tell myself I was "bad" if I ate something off plan. But um, hello.... how can you keep on plan when you are eating something (carbs, or I should say breads) and they are truly empty calories. I love how people say "just eat things in moderation"... well, if you have a serving size of pasta, lets say, that is like half a cup to maybe a cup... really? Do you honestly think you will get full on that? This is why people fail. Those serving sizes are crap and the food is crap.

I haven't measured, counted calories or anything like this since I have started. It's not about counting calories. It's not about weighing your food. It's about putting good proteins, fats and carbs in the body. I have never been hungry. I eat usually two meals a day (gasp! the horror! not the 6 small meals? you are horrible!)

This really is sinking in. My head is getting out of the CW way of thinking and getting in line with me... thats what it is all about.

I gave myself permission this past week NOT to beat myself up. What happened? I ate great! I took the pressure off of myself and I didn't worry about if I slipped up. It meant I didn't worry about "am I doing this right" and instead, "I don't need those cookies. It does nothing for my body". Huge change in thinking.

I have a long road to go, but if I just change little by little, I know I am going to get there. I am feeling great after my CrossFit session and ready for tonight. I am sore in all the right places. I am looking forward to this next week and what it will bring me!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

CrossFit. Awesome, simply awesome.

Tonight was my first class of CrossFit. I have had an introduction to CrossFit with the boot camp I was attending, but this was full blown, weights, kettle bells, goodness.

It was an intro to the facility, and just an intro to a workout. As I pulled into the parking lot, my tummy had butterflies. Not because I was scared, because I was nervous. I really don't know of what, maybe it being new?

Anyway, a young guy was the trainer and boy, was he a chatty cathy! haha... He seemed like a really nice kid. There were 5 of us total. Two men, three ladies. We did a warm up and we were taught the Front Squat. Bar in front and then squat. It was great. Just did a few to get a feel. Then he showed us around and talked more about safety, blah, blah, blah... then came the workout.

It was a short and sweet. 6 minutes of a round of 5 burpees and 10 kettle bell swings... so keep repeating, over and over for the 6 minutes. For the love of pete, I hate burpees! hhaha they are my arch nemesis. But we all started at the same time. Okay, I am a competitive person. I will admit. And, well, I know most men I will have to keep up with... and we started, first round we all were pretty much at the same pace. Then, after the first round, everyone took a break... they were huffing and puffing... I continued. I just kept going. The way I look at it, it's only 6 minutes. Probably the longest 6 minutes of my life, but 6 minutes none the less. It felt great. I was pumping away. The instructor even yelled out "this is what Jennifer wanted"... (um, that's me)... and I just closed my eyes and kept going. The instructor said a good amount of rounds for that 6 minutes was 6... So about a minute for each round... I pulled ahead. At the end, everyone had a 5 or less. I went 7 and 1/2 rounds. I was so proud of myself. Was I trying to beat everyone? mmmm, yeah, kinda... but mostly, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

It's been a couple hours and my lungs still feel alive. You know that feeling that you just ran and your lungs can feel it? That's what I am feeling. And I love it.

I have a smile on my face. This is the best thing for me. I am so happy that I have found this. I heart CrossFit.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Talking to the In-Laws

I have been on my journey since June of 09... So about 6 months. As much as some people might think I talk about what I am eating and such, I really don't talk about it much. (Some of my friends would beg to differ, haha, but I feel like I can talk to some of them about it over others). And one of the "others" would be my in-laws. They already think I am "different". I have my own opinion and I like what I like. It's not always in line with their thinking (okay, it's NEVER in line with their thinking).

So today, I met with my FIL to head down to the crown molding store, as we are making some much needed changes to our home. I dropped off my son (another story, as this was the first time alone with my MIL and SIL) and off we went. Got some great ideas, samples and went back to the house. We stood around talking about my son's milestones and things he can and can't do yet. Then my FIL asked "What is he eating now?". I smiled and told him veggies and fruit. I have tried some meats, but he doesn't really care for it. Then he asked the dreaded question: "has he had rice yet?".... Um no? hahaha... and I finally broke down and told them I will be keeping grains away from him as much as possible. The look on my FIL face was priceless. I think he was keeping every ounce of himself not to roll his eyes at me. This is also coming from someone who has IBS, horrible, horrible food issues (sensitivities) and that called this same morning and said his stomach finally settled down and he thinks he can go out to the store.

So I just stated the facts. I mentioned what grains do to my stomach after I eat them. He said "oh, maybe you have that Celiacs Disease"... I just nodded. They both didn't say too much. Which was nice. I am very interested to see how this plays out. My FIL had mentioned over the Thanksgiving Holiday that he was excited to give him Cheerios and such. Funny, my SIL was in the background biting her tongue. She is a resident at Stanford (so as a Dr., she knows everything ;) ). I could see her wanting to say something.

At least, maybe next time we have dinner over at their house, they will fore go the pasta with no protein source what so ever and give me some meat! haha

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

Aahhh yes, the holidays are upon us. What is an easy thing to do for presents? Cookies! I belong to a group of woman (we all had babies around the same time) all across the US and some even over seas. We did a cookie exchange for the holidays. I had a blast making my cookies for my partner. The sweet thing, my partner actually made gluten free cookies for me! How thoughtful!

And yesterday was another day of cookies. A friend of mine was celebrating her birthday with a cookie making party. I was a little fearful of going... not because of who was going to be there... that was probably the reason I wanted to go the most! But having all the cookies there looking at me. Watching my every move and jumping in front of me, tempting me. It wasn't tempting as in "oh no, I am being bad". It was more like "oh no, I really don't want to feel like crap at the end of the day. I can feel the sugar surging thru my body, and I don't want that!". So I went with my a recipe for gluten free bars so I could have a small treat. I really didn't have too much of a struggle. Maybe this is getting easier after all. The smells where yummy. The cookies looked fantastic. And knowing what those cookies could do to my stomach was enough. So I made my bars, tried one and was pleasantly surprised. It as really good! It had bananas in it, so that was my "sugar" and made them sweet. It was perfect. I can tell my taste buds are changing too as I can't handle overly sweet things anymore.

The last thing I got out of this is realizing it's not about beating myself up over anything. With any "diet" I have ever done, it was always a guilt thing. "Don't eat this because you will be bad if you do!"... "You cheated? How dare you!"... It was more of I didn't want to feel, physically, horrible. What a great change of attitude. Because this is not a temporary thing. This is a life change. I can't go the rest of my life beating myself up if I "slip" up. I think this was the best thing that I had on my side yesterday.



Saturday, December 12, 2009

Mom's cooking again!

I live in a home that was built in the early 60's... not an "old" home, but, when it comes to cooking, it is. The stove top in the original, as is the oven. When we first moved into the house, 8 years ago, I was in my early 20's and just married. I wanted to cook for my husband... poor thing, he suffered thru many a burnt meal. Right after we moved into the house, we also got a dog. Poor thing, he has to suffer too! haha... Every time I cooked back then, I would burn things, so, what would happen? Smoke would fill the kitchen, even when I turned the fan over the stove on... and, well, that smoke would drift into the hallway and just a minute or two later, the piercing sound of the fire alarm would ring. The dog would go running into the back of the house, pacing, thinking the end of his life was near. My husband would run and get a book or magazine and fan the alarm, while I would run around opening up windows.

Eight years later, I don't burn food... but what happens still? Yes, the fire alarm goes off all the time. *sigh*... this morning I was cooking bacon (mmmmmm bacon) and I took the seeds from my spaghetti squash last night, and roasted those this morning. And there is the fire alarm going off. Yes, the dog is still going to the back of the house and pacing. My husband is in his comfy chair playing with our son... all he does is chuckle and say "Mom's cooking again!"... My son is not even phased by this. Thank goodness. I am in the kitchen looking for the closest book, running to fan the alarm.

But, my breakfast turned out wonderful. I had 3 pieces of bacon, 3 eggs scrambled, and a handful of roasted spaghetti squash seeds. I am enjoying eating such yummy foods. It makes me realize that I really don't miss the cereals and all the carb laden foods.

So, if you are walking by my home, and you hear the fire alarm go off, don't be too alarmed... I am probably just cooking!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

It's always a good time for change

A lot in my life has changed over the few years. And all for good. My marriage is great (I couldn't say this a while back), I have an 8 month old baby boy, and life is just... good.

The only thing I have struggled with, and this has been for my whole adult life, is my weight. I wanted to loose weight before I got pregnant... yeah, that didn't happen. So, I let my body recover it's six weeks after I gave birth to my son, and I got to work. I knew I couldn't continue down this road that I was on. I needed to get my nutrition under control. How does one go about that when one never had a solid foundation growing up? I had to do a lot of searching. What was truly healthy? You see doctors pushing low fat, counting calories. Or, maybe pushing weight loss pills, like my dr. did. I don't want a quick fix. Okay, okay, I would love a quick fix, but I know in reality that that doesn't work. But in the mean time, lets find some exercise that I like too... Well, I got that covered. I found a boot camp while I was still pregnant. Perfect, allow myself the six weeks and I will go to boot camp.

This boot camp has saved my life. My instructor, who is also a nutritionist, was telling us what we needed to do to loose weight... At first, I was think, "I know, I know, cut calories and fat"... ugh, not more crap I didn't want to hear. But first words out of his mouth was "You need to cut out grains"...

WHAT? Cut grains? Like Atkins? I actually did that years ago... I can do that... But wait... he went into depth. Talked about gluten, sugars and insulin. Whoa, whoa, whoa... I NEVER looked at it that way. I have family members who are diabetic, so I have a funny feeling I was on that road... but after this class I was headed down a new path. Honestly, it's nothing like Atkins... (well, to an outsider, it might look the same... but to me, it's a different logic behind everything).

I have read the Paleo book and I am now reading Primal Blueprint. In the last six months I have dropped 35lbs. Of course, I am human and I have eaten gluten here and there (um, okay, maybe there was a month that I really got off track...). And I am sure I will be human and slip up again. But today and yesterday were really good days. And even the day before that. So, I am now here to start documenting my journey on this. If I put it out there, maybe it will keep me honest. Maybe I will have others reevaluate what they want to do for their nutrition. And possibly fitness.

While in my boot camp, I was introduced to CrossFit. I. fell. in. love. My membership is up next week at the boot camp and tomorrow I am signing up for the CrossFit facility in my area. I will also be documenting my journey with this as well.

I am not a doctor. I am not a fitness professional. I am just a new mom that wants to get healthy for herself and for her family.

Starting weight: 246 (5'6")
Weight today, Dec. 10, 09: 213

I might not post everyday. But I am sure going to try weekly and also to record my weight loss.