1/23/13 WOD

I went the pull-up route, using a green band and started off with strict pull ups, but eventually went to kipping as my arms wore out.

Time:  11:18

1/18/13 Food Log

Breakfast:

• Bulletproof Coffee
• Eggs/Salsa/Bacon

Lunch

• Looks like leftover roasted chicken (I can't tell, but given the soup later that night makes sense.)

Dinner

• Some more Publix wings with buffalo sauce
• Guacamole + celery

Snack

• Homemade chicken soup yummmm

1/18/13 WOD

5-4-3-2-1 Front Squats:

115-135-155-185-205 (PR)

-Then-

EMOM for 7:00
2 Hang Squat Cleans (unbroken)

I started with 150, big mistake.   It was awkward,  it was aggravating my knotted traps,  and I was thinking about pushing my back too much.   I ended up shedding weight until I could string together some good sets.   115#

1/17/13 Food Log

Breakfast:

• Eggs w/ salsa, bacon & 1/2 avocado
• Some coffee I'm sure

Lunch:

• Leftover spaghetti squash spaghetti

Dinner:

• Wings from publix.  I think the non-paleo part was the oil used (veg maybe?)  Oh well, could have been worse. 
• Had some carrots + homemade guac

1/16/13 Food Log

• Breakfast:
• Bulletproof Coffee
• Eggs, Bacon, Green Pepper sticks, 1/2 avocado
• Lunch
• Leftover chili
• Leftover chicken breast with buffalo sauce & green beans
• Dinner
• Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti
• ** Added liquid smoke and bacon to the meatsauce!  WIN

1/15/13 Food Log

Breakfast:

• Bacon & Eggs
• Bulletproof Coffee
• Another tall Tervis cup of coffee

Lunch:

• Leftover Puerto Rican Beef (with Sweet Potatoes) - 1/2 serving of leftover

Snack (Pre-WOD)

• Remaining Puerto Rican Beef/sweet potatoes +
• Handful of pistachios +
• Banana

Dinner

• Pan friend chicken with buffalo sauce 
• Green beans sauteed in bacon

1/15/13 WOD - Fran

I saw the WOD on CFES' site and got excited.  Fran is probably the quinessential Crossfit benchmark WOD - Crossfitters comparing their Fran time is like weightlifters talking about their bench-press max.  "What's your max?"  "What's your Fran time?"  Yup.

"Fran"

Three Rounds

21-15-9 (Reps per round)

Thrusters (95#)

Pullups

My last Fran was on 9/2/12. I used Rx weight, but scaled my pullups with a blue band.  Set my benchmark at 13:33

Today I set a new PR with the same setup, beating my time by 1:15, clocking in at 12:18.  Good stuff.

Here's The Biggest Loser's Bob Harper doing Fran:



1/14/13 Food Log

Breakfast:

• Eggs, Bacon, 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 avocado
• 2 Cups Coffee

Lunch:

• No Bean Chili

Dinner

• Puerto Rican Beef

1/13/14 Food Log

Breakfast:

• Bulletproof Coffee

Lunch:

• Salad w/ Chicken from Saturday night, green olives & dill pickle spear chunks, olive oil & vinegar

Dinner:

• No Bean Chili

1/12/13 Food Log

From left to right:

Breakfast

• Bulletproof Coffee (with Folgers Black Silk K-Cups and regular unsalted butter)
• Scrambled Eggs
• Banana

Post-WOD Snack:

• Banana

Lunch:

• Leftover Pork Chops/Broccoli

Dinner:

• Slow Cooked Whole Chicken
• Broccoli
• Salad

1/12/13 WOD

Finally made it to a Saturday WOD, and it was awesome.  We had about 25 athletes there, and as my buddy Bo said "this was the type of WOD that makes me love Crossfit."

Looks like my splits were:
Round 1 - 3:50
Round 2 - 3:56
Round 3 - 4:16
Round 4 - 4:22

1/11/13 Food Log

Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs (coconut oil) + leftover tilapia/green beans, and salad (Olive oil + cider vinegar)  2 cups of coffee through the morning.

Lunch:  Moe's BBQ small rib plate, no sauce.  Cole slaw + side salad, no dressing.

Dinner:  Ruby Tuesdays - 2 salad bar trips + ribeye and spaghetti squash

Paleo and Me (Part 2)

Continued from Paleo and Me (Part 1)

So I finally convinced my wife to give it a shot.  I remember being utterly confused with so many questions – I’m sure we bugged Luan quite a bit – I actually remember a phone call between my wife and Luan where my wife was visibly frustrated she started crying.   We didn’t know what to do…no pasta, no rice?  No potatoes?  No bread?  Not even the “healthy” kind?  And back then (which was somewhat “ancient” times for the widespread paleo movement), there wasn’t many good recipes online – not like today where there’s countless cookbooks, blogs, communities dedicated to sharing Paleo recipes.

But we forged ahead and rocked a 30-Day Challenge, and were very happy with the results.  We both visibly lost a nice amount of weight, without even working out…or much exercise at all.  Imagine how much more we could have trimmed up if we did go on regular walks!  At this point, we were hooked.  As time went on, we learned new things about Paleo and what’s accepted (learning that green beans were fine completely blew our minds).

But we haven’t been perfect.  For two consecutive years, we slacked off during football season, which leads into Holiday season.  One of my goals this year is to maintain Paleo through these times – it’s not hard, really. 

Now, we’re armed with tons of information – from experts like Robb Wolf & Mark Sisson - and awesome recipes from websites/cookbooks like: Everyday Paleo, PaleOMG, Practical Paleo (book), and PaleoPot.   There’s even some fantastic podcasts from Robb Wolf and Sarah Fragoso (Paleo Lifestyle & Fitness and Paleo Talk). 

With all of this on our side, coupled with our previous experience – I don’t see why we won’t be successful in re-adapting to Paleo and getting our bodies the proper fuel it needs.

1/10/13 Food Log

• Breakfast: 
• Eggs!  Probably 5 of them.  I missed them so much.
• 2 pc bacon

Disclaimer: Not what I actually ate

• Lunch:
• 3 Almond Flour Tilapia filets
• Coated with dijon mustard + Almond flour, pan fried
• Green beans sauteed w/ bacon

• Dinner - I had two complete servings (4 pork chops) since the chops were super thin.
• Spicy Pork Chops w/ Dry Rub (Thanks Michelle B!)
• Dry Rub: salt, cayenne, chipotle, chili, garlic
• Michelle B's recipe actually included brown sugar, so I unfortunately had to omit that ....so I'm wondering if these will be too spicy without the sugar to cut the heat.  I prepped two chops with olive oil, worcestershire, liquid smoke and some spices (can't remember to be honest)
• Veggies - Broccoli and Salad (with green olives, olive oil + cider vinegar)

1/9/13 Food Log

Breakfast:
5 pieces of bacon (THIS IS NOT NORMAL!!)
2-3 cups coffee

Snack:
Handful of almonds

Lunch:
2 Leftover chicken breasts w/ buffalo sauce
Green Beans

Snack:
A few more almonds

Dinner:
Pan-fried tilapia - maybe 4-5 filets?
Green Beans

Snack: two pickle spears

I need to remind whoever reads this that my food options this week suck.  As I've mentioned, we didn't plan well enough to be prepared for this week.  Today I get paid, so we should be eating some pretty sweet meals next week.

1/9/13 Workout

Warmup: same as yesterday:
Accumulate 3 minutes in BOS (Bottom of squat)
50 lunges
30 OHS (Overhead Squats)
20 Good Mornings

Today's WOD was "Nate"

Intermediate: 15:00 AMRAP
4 pullups (green band)
8 Hand-Release Pushups
16 KB swings (1.5pd)

I matched my previous result (from 10/16/12) exactly:  6 Rds + 4 pullups + 8 pushups

Not bad for being out for a month.

Blood Baselines

Today I went over to my wife’s school, where the county public health office was conducting free blood testing for the teachers and their families. 

Here’s my results:

Blood pressure: 100/70

Resting Pulse: 66 bpm

Blood Glucose: 85 mg/dl

Total Cholesterol: 236 mg/dl

HDL: 39 mg/dl

LDL: 179 mg/dl

Triglycerides: 92 mg/dl

Total Cholesterol/HDL Ratio:  6.1

Some are good results, some could definitely use some improvement.  I think this is a good baseline, given I haven’t been very disciplined with Paleo since September – and I took about a month hiatus from the gym.  Some of those readings qualified me for a free referral to my physician to get looked at a little closer, so I can definitely use those results as a measurement after my initial 30-day challenge.

First WOD of the year

Super happy that my first WOD in about a month wasn't a Hero workout or even a tough metcon.  I kept the weight light, but just heavy enough to get my muscles burning and ease me back into the box. 

Warmup: Accumulate 3 minutes in BOS (Bottom of squat)
50 lunges 30 OHS (Overhead Squats)
20 Good Mornings

WOD: Back Squats
185lbs x 1rep
155 x 10
205 x 1
115 x 20
225 x 1
95 x 30

1/8/13 Food Log

Before you read today's food log and say "Boooooring!" , please understand that we did a HORRIBLE job preparing to go paleo.  We're honestly throwing stuff together here.  Again, I forgot to buy eggs (which I probably eat the most of day in/day out).  Once we're able to properly get to the grocery store, we'll get some different meals in our bellies.

Also- I hope to get my new phone in tomorrow or the day after, so I'll be able to post cooler photos.

Breakfast:

• 5 pieces of bacon. My son got the 6th one.  He, like me, also wanted eggs.  FML
• Two cups of coffee through the morning

Lunch:

• See 1/7/13's Food Log.  Seriously - pretty much the same stuff.  Leafy lettuce, bacon-wrapped sweet potato bites, and crock pot chicken.  Maybe more of a soup with chicken meat than chicken with yummy broth.

Dinner

• I think we're having chicken with Alton Brown's Buffalo Sauce for dipping.  If I was a betting man, I would guess we're going with broccoli green beans  as our side.  I'll be sure to post pics I guarantee you that we will frequently make chicken wings using his recipe. I should buy stock in Frank's.

Paleo and Me (Part 1)

Soon after my son was born, almost three years ago, my wife and I decided to lose the pregnancy weight.  I say "we," because pregnancy weight is not just for mothers...the daddies get it too.  So much food would go to waste due to mom's lack of appetite from instant nausea, or Cletus the Fetus pressing up against mom's stomach.  Dad eats it.  Late night run for a McDonald's Oreo McFlurry (add hot fudge)?  Dad gets one too.  I'm pretty sure I made that run for at least three straight nights.

So, we started out counting calories with the FatSecret app, and we did get some results.  But it was slow going.

On the night of April 28th 2010, I got into a GTalk chat with my fraternity brother Luan, who has also served as my fitness guru through college.  I was talking to him about our calorie counting and he starting saying basically "bro, stop wasting your time with counting calories.  Paleo." 

It blew my mind - you eat like cavemen did because our bodies are genetically designed to process certain types of food.  And our society is getting fatter and sicker because of all the junk our bodies aren't supposed to process.  It all made so much logical sense.  I learned the meaning of insulinemia and Syndrome X, and how the current American diet propagates these problems.  I had so many questions, my mind was spinning.  But - if Luan recommends it, then I want in.  Now I just had to convince my wife to not eat pasta or bread anymore....

TO BE CONTINUED

1/7/13 Food Log

Breakfast:

• 3.5 pcs of bacon + green pepper sticks sauteed in bacon grease
• 2 cups of coffee

Lunch:



Paleo Frozen Crockpot Chicken Breasts (3 pcs)

• Chicken
• Chicken Stock (1c)
• Coconut Oil (1/4c)
• Poultry Seasoning
• 1/2 ea Red/Green/Orange Peppers, sliced into strips
• 3 Onions
• Salt/Pepper to taste

Bacon-wrapped Sweet Potato Bites

4 or 5 pieces large leaf lettuce

Dinner:

• Puerto Rican Beef

Onward

Today started like any typical Monday.  I woke up 15 minutes late and never really caught up.

It was the day that we have had circled on the calendar.  A 30-day Paleo Challenge + getting back to square one at my Crossfit box.

My situation, and this blog, is simple:  I’m a guy who is very familiar with the Paleo philosophy and armed with about 5-6 months of Crossfit experience.

Ever since I discovered Paleo and implemented it, I have realized the gains the approach promised.  In May, I applied my Paleo eating towards the Crossfit style of fitness, and was pleased with the results.  I dropped down to around 200 and lost some good inches.  I could have done more though.

BUT – a couple of things got in my way and caused me to lose focus.  First, I was diagnosed with spondylolisthesis – in short, one of my vertebra is misaligned.  I’ll discuss that in a future post.  Secondly, football season happened.  We are avid tailgaters and go out to our alma mater’s games early.  This cut out my Saturday morning WOD + and caused my Friday evening WODs to be frequently skipped if I had any tailgating prep work to do.  Also, tailgating is synonymous with unhealthy eating, including beer intake.  And I love beer.

Fast forward to today – I’ve put back on 10 pounds and I can definitely feel it.  The holidays are over and all of the temptation of eating bad food has passed. 

Today I get back on track.  I’ll be posting photos of my food and reporting my WOD and results.

Methodology:

I’ll be more or less following a 30 day Paleo Challenge like Whole30, except for the grass-fed requirement.  Click the link for more info, but basically:

·         Yes to Meat, Seafood & Eggs

·         Yes to vegetables & fruit (I will actually limit my fruit considerably to maximize weight loss)

·         Yes to healthy fats like coconut, avocado & olive oil

·         No Grains (incl corn)

·         No Dairy

·         No Legumes

·         No added sugar/sweetener

·         No Alcohol

…and I will be working out at least 3 times a week (or as much as my back allows) at my box, Crossfit Eastern Shore.  

My blog posts will be a combination of a food diary, workout results, sharing information from other blogs, or general musings.

Starting weight – 212 lbs.  Measurements to come later (I forgot).