“We’re in a squat series…”

Yes, we are. I have done more squats in the last two training sessions than I have ever done in two training sessions in my life. Wow. We need to get one of those foam roller things to work out the stiffness and soreness. Of course, while using it after the WOD on Monday, I was ready to give up the Nuclear Launch Codes.

I had a few flavor challenges, today. When I would walk in the kitchen at work, the Ritz Crackers on the tableware calling me…LOUDLY. Fortunately, I was able to resist. It felt good to say “No. I don’t need them. I don’t want them.”. It felt real good. I do need to figure out some more appropriate snacks, to keep at my desk. Processed snack bars are no longer a viable option, and may never be again.

We’ll see.

What is tap for tomorrow? More Paleo and a trip to Siena Massage. I need it.

Squats, squats, and more oh my!

Quick wrap up for me!

Food was on target. Shake, salad w/ chicken, celery w/almond butter, apple & fajita chicken, with grilled onion, bell peppers, mushrooms Mexican squash topped with some guacamole!

Felt good about what I could do at cross fit. Evidently we’re in a squat season. Joy! All I can think about is how it will get easier… Right? Cory cut my # of squats in 1/2 for the 3 Reps For Time RFT… Half was 5 not 10… In 13 min I did 25 squats and ran (almost all of it) 800 meters (200 at a time, 5 squats, run 5 squats… Well you get the picture, this was after the strength reps of 3×5 back squats. But for warm up it was jumping jacks and air squats & groiners. Oddly I like the groiners… Oh and all day I did a squat here a squat there to work through the soreness. Tomorrow I fear will be hell.

I was happy with today’s results. Not hitting the energy wall I’ve read about. Hoping that is not Sat. during the run. Asthma was trying to kick up, something outside was causing me to clog up! Speaking of running… I’ll be doing that tomorrow after work.

It is off to hit the showers, read some fluff…and sleep. Up early to walk tomorrow am is the plan!

Are my legs still attached?

Day One AC. After Crossfit and I can still walk…I think. It feels like walking, but I cannot guarantee what it looks like. I used to like Josh and John-o. Now I’m not so sure. LOL Why is it that the one thing that will help the soreness, is the one thing I really don’t want to do, because it hurts so much? I know, I know…quit whining.

What to say…what to say.

Today was dietarily interesting. Eating what I’m supposed to eat wasn’t hard, though i did have a couple Coke Zeros. It was a lot less than i have been having every day. A lot less. Hey, small victories. There were a couple times where I felt kind of sick…like a hangover without the headache. Ate a banana and I felt a lot better. I guess I do have a bit of a hangover. A food hangover, that is. According to the timeline on whole9life.com, a food hangover is to be expected. I knew it was coming, but it took a while to figure out what was going on. At first, I just thought I had really overdone it at Crossfit and got sick. One of these days, I’ll learn. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully. Probably not. Honestly, I am looking forward to experiencing the changes that are taking place.

Let’s just pray that I don’t wake up one day, in the middle of the living room floor covered in Cheeto Dust.

Day 2 – Almost in the books

Good day, ready for bed, but just got home from work. Late night… At 6:00 pm I needed a snack. I grabbed an apple and a tbs of almond butter… I really wanted popcorn!

So lets re-cap:

Activity:

I did not get in my walking done, yet. Not sure I have it in me to do at 9:30 pm. I did do about 50 squats, trying to loosen up the soreness after squat-a-plalooza yesterday.

Food:

AM – shake, made with almond milk not too bad.
Noon – Pan Seared Telapia, top with mangos and avocados with 2 sides of steamed broccoli @ Chilis!
Snack – Apple and almond butter & a bunch of gum.
PM – Spicy Chicken Sausage, spaghetti sauce, mushrooms, spinach & a cup of quinoa pasta (I’ve got most off my pasta left over)
Beverages – water, and my shake… Yep 2 days no sodas.

Wins:

At chilies … I did not eat any chips, and I did not feel all that deprived. I think I was just happy to be away from my desk. Stayed out of the popcorn, cookies and cheese that is all in the break room.

Well that’s day 2, tomorrow is a CrossFit day, eek! I’m off to bed…

Arthritis – Yea! ~meg

Well my back pain mystery is solved… Arthritis, is the culprit. I’ve inflamed the joints and now it is MAD!

The Plan:

The good news is all my nerves look good, the disc that looked compressed on the x-ray is fine. Dr. Karll is referring me to a pain Dr. for injections and/or other treatment to relieve the pain.

Inflammation?

Hum… This may be another blasted sign to follow the Plaeo thoughts on foods.

More good news:

No restriction in activity, just to focus on form when doing strength exercises. Nice that alines with Frisco CrossFit’s philosophy.

What have I gotten myself into?!?!?!?

So…as you can surmise by the title of our blog site, and Meg’s previous postings, we have made a significant change to our lifestyle…or two Part of me is screaming, “WHAT IN THE HIGH, HOLY HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!”

I had heard of Paleo, and thought it a bit odd, at best. However, after our fateful reacquaintance with John-o, it became something that I NEEDED to find out more about. Quite frankly, the things I read stunned me. Robb Wolf’s book, “The Paleo Solution” laid it out in terms I could understand, with a humor that was right up my alley. Is it possible that my Rheumatoid Arthritis is basically self-inflicted? If I do what Robb suggests, will my disease lessen? Will I truly be in remission? Can some of the damage be reversed, maybe? Can I be cured? I have to know, and there is only one way to find out. I have to do it. I have to eat like a Caveman…sort of. There are no Saber-toothed Tigers and Wholly Mammoths around.

So today is Day One. So far, so good. Not a truly, pure Paleo day. I can live with that. As time goes by, our purity will increase. I am curious as to what Day Two holds. Will I have a food hangover and a three day long headache? Will I wake up in my office floor surrounded my empty Coke Zero cans and candy bar wrappers? We’ll see. It should be interesting…to me at least.

If you remember, I said we made a change…or two. Well, the “Two” involves another thing I had previously heard about, and had actually been interested in. Crossfit. Yes, CROSSFIT. Again, WTH, dude? I had looked into it several months ago and decided a couple things: 1. This crap’s expensive. 2. I need to get into shape just to walk in the door. Well, at the Super Bowl Party Meg blogged about, we were actually the only non-Crossfitters. I kind of expected to feel a bit out of place, but I didn’t. They were really nice people. They encouraged us, and we’re genuinely excited to hear how much weight we both have lost, especially in regards to Meg. The only pressure I felt was from John-o, but it was more of a case of removing any excuses we had. Classic Network Marketing Upline. Basically, we were Multi-leveled into checking out Paleo and Crossfit. Awesome. I love it.

So…tonight was our first experience with Crossfit. Our first workout. In classic Jay-man style, I think I overdid it. Lots of squat-type movement. I really need to remember I am 47, not 25. I’m fat and woefully out of shape. Other than that, it was awesome. I really enjoyed it. It felt good to get out there and sweat my ass off. I’m looking forward to our next WOD…assuming I can walk by then.

Meg’s Day One ~ Check

Done… It was a good day.

On plan for my food all day… Really happy with that!

Breakfast was a shake. Lunch was the longest drawn out salad… Eating while working some times works our well for stretching food. my snack was an apple and tbs of Almond Butter. Dinner… Was the bell pepper Alfredo we had left over. I was with in my points. No big snack attacks and no soda’s.

Activity

I’d like to say I hit 100% on my active link, but I forgot to wear it while at CrossFit. Ugh! The WOD was hard, Tons and tons of squats. I see handicap bathrooms in my future tomorrow. LOL! It felt good to at a gym. If my back behaves I think I will enjoy CrossFit if I survive the first month.

Off to shower and head to bed. Plan to walk and stretch in the morning before my Dr. Appointment. Swamped day at work this week. Will concentrate on being focused and not quite so scattered tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how this week goes with food.

Cross Fit Tomorrow

We begin tomorrow. Dr. Appointment Tuesday morning. Ready to hit the sack!

Ignorance is Bliss

It all started Super Bowl XLVII, innocently we joined our friend John-O at a watching party. I knew ahead of time that many attending were following the Paleo lifestyle. I did a bit of research on Nerdffitness.com’s The Beginners Guide to Paleo to see what we could take for food. After reading….I decided Ribs!

So we arrived at Wes’s home… A pot full of smoked ribs, Jay knocked it out of the park, no cokes and no beer… I had a feeling it was going to be a different kind of Super Bowl night… It was… We caught up with John-O, ate our fill of food. At some point we got on the subject of Jay’s RA and our WW journey… John-O suggested that eating Paleo could help his RA and get us to our next level of weight loss. He suggested a book by Robb Wolf, The Paleo Solution.

I fought the suggestion, I did not want to read… I did not want to try… I did not want to know if grain, corn or dairy bothered my system, you see Ignorance is Bliss! Awe, but the man upstairs has a way… You know SIGNS; well, ours came in the form of gas! Yep farts, cutting the cheese is what got us saying “damn you John-O!”

Jay bought the book… Began to read, and said “I thinks we should try this.” Me-“hell no, I’m not giving up my cheese”, but the gas continued… And a week later I was knee deep in the “leaky gut” chapter.

I was pissed!

I did not want to know what was happening at the cellular level. My BLISS was gone! I had no choice, but to make a choice… Ignore what I learned, or give it a honest try for 30 days.

So last Sunday when I planned out our menu, I tried to cut out all the gluten I could. I’d say the meals I prepped were 87%-94% gluten free. I felt better and finally some of the gas stopped. It must have been doing something inside, as I had a fantastic loss at WW this Saturday, 4.2 lbs. (WHOOP!)

Thursday, I went to frisco cross fit… I decided if I’m not getting cheese for 30 days. I better up my workouts to make it worthwhile. Just waiting on Cory or another coach to contact us to set up getting started.

This morning I awoke with a food hangover, oh but the chips and salsa were Delish! Dessert was heavenly, but the gut grumbling this morning at 6:00am not so much. Again I said “damn you John-O!” But now there is a plan.

Off to plan this week! I’ll post more later, meals, work-out, and maybe some before photos.
~meg

Meals Feb. 25 – March 2, 2013

Our first week eating an 87%-94% Paleo diet… We have some leftovers that have some “non” Paleo parts, but they are for the most part gluten free. I had a lot of the ingredients for the meals below in the fridge already. I’ve discovered that Paleo has removed all the easy food vehicles, bread & tortillas. Jay’s lunches were hard… We had the fajita meat cooked and portioned in the freezer, just what to do…. He may understand why I do a salad daily… Easy, little thought, I can pack up the whole week at once.

On the Egg Smoking Today:

4.79 lbs of Wild Salmon (to be frozen in portions)
15 lbs of Chicken Breast (to be frozen in portions)
Coconut Mojo de Ajo (garlic, roasted in oil with salt & lime)

Sunday prep:

Wash & prep salad veggies
Clean & slice leeks
Wash & bag lettuce
Make frittatas
Prep fennel

I best get back in the kitchen, the salmon is ready to be packaged. Also, I have yet to find a veggie prepping fairy. Later a workout plan will be posted & those before photos…

Breakfast:

Shakes: Almond Milk & remaining milk, WW shake mix with instant coffee, coconut oil, slaw mix & egg white protein powder / or fruit & remaining Greek yogurt, coconut oil, slaw mix & egg white protein powder

Meg’s Lunches:

Salads: Smoked Chicken (5 to 6 oz), lettuce, bell pepper, celery, jicama, toasted pine nuts, crasians & good seasons dressing

Meg’s Workday Snacks:

Apples & almond butter
Celery & almond butter
Coconut milk yogurt / Leftover Greek yogurt.

Jay’s Lunches:

3 – Salads: Smoked Chicken (5 to 6 oz), lettuce, bell pepper, celery, jicama, toasted pine nuts, crasians & good seasons dressing
2 – Fajita Chicken Frittata w/ sauté bell peppers, onion

Jay’s Workday Snack:

Apples, Deli Meat, Almonds (pre-packaged)

Leftovers:

1 – Chicken Fajita’s w/ grilled veggies
1 – Chicken Spaghetti, sauce with spinach and mushrooms, 1 cup gluten free pasta & salad
1 – Chirrizzo Chicken, leeks, mushrooms, kale, spinach sauté over 1cup gluten free pasta, with a roasted bell pepper Alfredo sauce

New Meals:

1 – Grilled Pork Chops, steamed Broccoli, 3 oz Alexia Sweet Potato Tots, Apple
1 – Chicken Spaghetti, sauce with spinach and mushrooms, served over sauté fennel & salad
1 – smoked Salmon, capers, lemon, power greens, leeks & mushroom sauté