WHOLE FOODS TRIP

Who doesn’t Love Whole Foods???? All of you heath and food nuts out there do, I know it. I love it so much, because I LOVE food, and I feel especially great about food when I know (think) it’s healthy. Although it is rather expensive =(

So here are some recent purchases at the wonderful Whole Foods. 

I didn't buy much produce because I don't really need any now, but one of the reasons I love Whole Foods is because they have great, organic produce, such as apples! 

FALL! It’s here (almost). Is there a better way to celebrate than with all different, awesome squashes??? NO!

I only bought one acorn squash because I can’t have all these squashes lying around my little house, even though it is so festive. In honor of fall I also bought some apple butter.

I am so excited about this purchase, last year was the first time I ever tried it and I fell in love. Honestly, you can use it with everything, greek yogurt, SQUASH, toast and cheese… the possibilities are endless!

What else did I buy…. You all know of my love for nut butters, right? Well Whole Foods has an amazing section of different brands and varieties and I needed a replacement for work. LOOK at all those nut butters!!! Lol

I bought this Earth Balance coconut and peanut spread. It is made with coconut oil which I thought was cool. It tastes like peanut butter with a touch of coconut, so I say GOOD buy (not goodbye because I like it, but GOOD BUY because it as a good purchase).

I wanted to try this other brand NutZo (it uses 7 different varieties of nuts) but HELLO! Look at those prices!!!! For freaking nut butter? Even I’m not that silly. Maybe I'll ask for a jar for Christmas =)

Next to the nut butters are chocolate and what girl doesn’t love this stuff. Whole Foods has a HUGE selection of awesome chocolate as well.

My favorite brand is chocolove, but this time (like the nut butter) I wanted to venture out of my comfort zone, so I bought milk chocolate with toffee and sea salt.

It is really really good. Usually I only eat dark chocolate, but this was definitely worth it. And it comes in easy to break apart squares, meaning it's almost (almost) impossible for me to eat more than I should.

UMMM yes, they taste even better when dipped in the peanut butter coconut butter spread lol!

Lastly, as you can see from my checkout line, I purchased plain greek yogurt, mini chocolate chips (why? I don’t know because I have 4 bags in the freezer at home lol), Ezekiel bread and wraps, ground chicken sausage (SOOOOO excited about this), almond meal/flour and organic apples.

Like I mentioned earlier, Whole Foods is soooo expensive. This small amount of food cost $63!!! Of course most of these items are not cheap at all, Almond flour $7, nut butter $7, apples (4) $4, chicken $8, catch my drift? 

Maybe Elyse at The Unexpected Crossfitter will write a another post about budgeting and better spending on healthy foods because I need help!

2 Year WEIGHT Cycle

Once about every two years my weight goes up like 10lbs or so. How does this happen you ask? Well....

1.     I am at a somewhat stable weight for me (145-150lbs). Even though 150lbs is healthy and that is where I was in high school, I ALWAYS feel like I need to be lower (ugghhhhh why can’t it ever be good enough lol????). With crossfit and all my amazing muscle, less than 150lbs doesn’t seem right though, so 150lb is good for me for now (I hope) 

SOOOO HEALTHY and HAPPY

2.     When I’m at that weight, for about 9-12 months I weigh myself bi-weekly maybe, I work out at that weight 5-6 days a week, I watch what I eat, my clothes fit awesome, I feel amazing and then one day I get cocky and say, “scale schmale – I don’t need to care about the scale, I’m healthy and beautiful and I am healthy and I know what I’m doing…” 

3.     I stop weighing myself.

4.     I continue to work out and eat healthy (less and less days a week though because now I’m being cocky) and I go out and have fun with friends by drinking alcohol, eating Wawa at 2am, eating birthday cake ice cream once a week, eating fried food once a week, eating out at restaurants 3 times a week, eating at parties, eating at BBQs, eating at work functions, eating, eating, EATING

5.     I put on an item of clothing I haven’t worn in a while and BAM its tight

iPhone but whatever

6.     I say I’m going to get my but in gear and eat better

7.     Weeks pass and I don’t

8.     Now I feel horribly about how I think I look because my clothes don’t fit right anymore and reality is striking

9.     I still don’t weigh myself because now I’m afraid

10. Week pass and I get the courage to weigh myself

11. OMG I gained 10-15# above my healthy, happy weight  

This has happened to me maybe 4 times in the last 6 years I guess, and here I am BACK AGAIN.

The next 5 or so steps would be me weighing myself more consistently, writing down all the food I eat, and not going out to eat or drink but MAYBE once a week or less.  And I’ll drop back down to my happy weight, and I probably will get even lower because I’ll be on a role, and then it will start all over. The nice thing is I am at a happy weight for the majority of the time, like 9-15 months, and then for like 3-6 months I’m unhappy trying to lose the weight again.

I know this is the case. I clearly am well aware of this happening every time. So why can’t I stop it and why am I so consistent with this weight inconsistency? This is where I need some type of support because I am really not sure how to get myself out of this 2 year on and off weight rut? HOW do I read some blogs where the writer is like “I don’t ever weigh myself anymore, I know exactly what I can and can’t eat, and I am so healthy and beautiful BLA BLA BLA”

HOW????? Answers, supportive comments and resources are welcome, thank you =)

PS: I want to be healthy and happy, NOT SKINNY! Believe me, my ideal weight of 150lbs is healthy!!

No Baby Leave the Socks On Crossfit Competition

Saturday I competed in a crossfit competition called No Baby Leave the Socks On. It is an all girls competition throughout the nation at different boxes. The WODs seemed doable to me so I decided to sign up since there was a location hosting about an hour from my House. Before I got into what the WODs were I must inform that I placed 7th (68 girls total) locally at the Crossfit T1 (the box that hosted) and 49th overall in the nation (643 girls total)!!! There were three WODs through the day and they were HARD!!!

The day started at 9am where the gym went over the WODs and the movement standards. There were 130 women total, 68 RX and the remaining scaled. Because there were so many they ran about 7 heats of 20 women at a time with RX and scaled mixed.

WOD 1

• Thruster/Box jump ladder
  7min AMRAP
•  65#/45#(scaled)
• 20″ box jump/step up(scaled)
  2,2-4,4-6,6-8,8-10,10……

Ummmmm no one likes thrusters and try to do box jumps after thrusters. Forget about it! I improved on my score from when I did this Monday so I was happy, though I almost threw up afterwards lol. I ended up 16th overall after WOD1. 

WOD 2

 10 min AMRAP

• 10 pull ups
• 20 burpees
• 30 double unders
• 40 wallball 14
• 50 kb swing 35#
• then max reps clean & jerk in remaining time 95#

This one may seem easy but it was also HELL. I feel like I significantly improved on this WOD compared to when I did it the Monday before, I was able to get in 17 clean and jerks whereas when I did this the first time I only got 10. I placed 9th in this WOD overall and moved from 16th place to 11th. 

Joe is eyeing the competition lol

WOD 3 (my favorite)

Deadlift ladder 135#-275# - 1 minute for each lift

This was my favorite for a few reasons. I am pretty awesome at deadlifts, my 1 RM is 305# so 275# seemed easy peasy. I also loved this WOD because it was low endurance, and my endurance needs major improvement. The tie breaker for this WOD was as many reps as possible at your max lift. I made it to 275# fairly easily and completed 9 reps at 275#. And my place in WOD 3 was 3rd!!!!! SO exciting, I came in third in my favorite WOD. And thanks to this WOD I moved from 11th place to 7th place =)

Because this is a national competition we also have a national ranking. As of today my place was 49 out of 643. That is pretty freaking impressive!!!!!! WOOO HOOOO. I know I already said this earlier but I am so proud of myself, I haven't even been doing crossfit a year yet and this is my first real competition and I did SO WELL.

Things I learned: 

1. I wasn't nervous until right before each WOD and then I was SO NERVOUS. So nervous that in the first two minutes of WOD 1 and 2 I almost gave up and walked away because I actually thought I was going to throw up (not from pushing myself). After the first two minutes I was too tired to care and just kept moving. I learned its only nerves and to shut up and move lol. 
2. DON'T stand around. I am against doing step ups during WODs that require box jumps. I don't know why, I just am. But I think moving forward, especially in competitions,  I will do step ups when i become fatigued from box jumps. 
3. Every rep counts. I could have placed 15th after WOD 1 if I did one more thruster.
4. Hard work pays off! Duh on this one. 
5. I have really supportive friends and family. Joe, Alli and Elyse all came to cheer me on and stayed the WHOLE TIME (about 6 hours) and my parents and friends and family were texting me all day and then asking me all about it the following day =)
6. Eat good the week leading up and celebrate afterwards. I was soooo excited to have a really good beer (or 4) after. And so I did!
   

Not sure when my next competition will be but there definitely will be one.  

Foods I CAN'T Live Without

First, these are not whole foods. I eat whole foods ALL THE TIME, and they would probably bore you.  These are relatively "healthy" foods I eat in addition to the whole foods and think they are amazing and buy them often and have numerous supplies of them!

1. Birthday cake ice cream. This is first because it is the unhealthiest of the bunch and I wanted to get it out of the way. Whether it’s from an ice cream shop or the grocery store it’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I have gotten many friends to convert to this ice cream flavor. Who doesn't want to eat ice cream that tastes like cake? I said these were relatively healthy right? The carton says "1/2 the fat" people!
   
2. Sunbutter. I love nut/seed butters but this love affair didn't start until this year. I have been eating almond butter for years because I heard it’s “healthier” than peanut, but not until this year did I begin to branch out. Wegman's and Whole Foods have an amazing selection of all types of nut/seed butter, so one day I decided to try Sunbutter. LOVE IT. I have also converted many friends to this as well. The crunchy actually has whole sunflower seeds in it!!!!  
   
3. Fage Apples Cinnamon Rasin Greek Yogurt. I love all greek yogurt, and Fage (pronounced "fah-yay") is the best. I actually prefer Chobani’s flavor selection because it's so vast, however for the actual yogurt Fage takes the cake (when will they come out with birthday cake yogurt???). Fage and Chobani flavors aside this is my fav greek yogurt so far because I LOVE THE FALL, and this reminds me of it.
   
4. Wasabi and Soy Almonds. Nuts and wasabi… need I say more?
   
   
   
5. Kid Cliff Z Bars. I love cliff bars but I cant just snack on one with 240 calories each. I cant just eat half either because who opens a bar of any kind and only eats half? These made for kid bars are smaller and only have 120 calories so they are perfect anytime! And they have awesome flavors like chocolate brownie!!!
   
6. Barney Butter. Another of the nut/seed butter family. I always have this in my house and at office in addition to my sunbutter because its amazing. Its made with roasted almonds and is sooooo smooth.
   
7. Vanilla Crème Brulee Rice Cakes. I guess these are sort of healthy like the ice cream (healthier than actual crème brulee right?). Its basically like eating crème brulee in the form of a sweet little crunchy rice chip (I guess). Whatever, they taste awesome and you get to eat way more of them than real crème brulee because HELLO they don’t have a lot of calories. If you're really hungry crush them up and put them on your birthday cake ice cream lol!
   
8. Vanilla Almond and Soy Milk. I love love love both of these. I haven’t purchased regular milk in ages. First reason is because it expires too fast for me and almond/soy milks have a longer shelf life. Second, almond and soy milk come in yummy flavors =) like vanilla and chocolate. I usually only have unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my house. One whole cup only has 30 calories. I use it for everything I need vanilla flavored milk in (cereal, coffee, oatmeal, etc). When I need a little extra sweetness that more resembles milk (because almond milk is a bit thinner and more watery) I get Very Vanilla Silk Soy Milk. 130 calories per cup so quite an increase from almond, but I only really use it in coffee and oatmeal, so my serving size is only about ½ cup. LOVE these milk alternatives. It is a sad day when I run out or forget to buy either of these.
   
   
   
9. Bobbi’s Dips. If you like hummus you will love Bobbi’s. They are local to Philadelphia area so may not be available everywhere. My favorite is their garlic white bean hummus and garlic hummus. I put this on almost everything it’s so good. The container even says, “Put it on everything.”  
   
10. Hot Italian Turkey Sausage. Any brand will do, but I do like Jennie-O. I don’t really like sausage in the casing, it’s really gross to me, but I love crumbled sausage and fennel. So usually I take the sausage out of the casing and use it as needed. I love making sausage meatballs, basically just ground turkey sausage with egg and bread crumbs rolled into balls and fried or baked, or ground turkey sausage tacos, or anything you would use ground meat for.