Mom

This blog post is dedicated to my adopted mom, Justin Mom (because I don't know her first name). She adopted me at the ripe age of 27 and we've been so happy together ever since.  Mom and I sat down for an interview. 

Mom and Julie (Justin's GF). LOVE Mom!

My brother Justin, he's the best!

·        Me: What was it like adopting a 27 year old intelligent, beautiful, amazing crossfitter?

·        Mom: Who?

·        Me: MOM! Me!!!!

·        Mom: Oh yes. Interestingly I have only met you once and when we did meet you told me you thought I would look way older. 

·        Me: Perhaps I thought you should be older because I am 27 and my brothers are 30-something and 20-something, and you're only 40 something. Back to my earlier question, what is it like to have been blessed with me in the family?

·        Mom: I imagine you’re a great influence on Justin, other than that I still am not too sure who you are.

·        Me: Funny you should say that. What’s your favorite food? Is it fried Oreos? Buff chicken salad from Pat’s?

·        Mom: I’ve never had Pat’s buff chicken salad.

·        Me: You should try it, it’s AMAZING. Do you enjoy a good pruppet show?

·        Mom: What’s a pruppet show?

·        Me: Nothing, nevermind. Let’s talk about me again. Did you cry at my wedding?

·        Mom: I was not at your wedding

·        Me: WHAT???? You’re my mother, I thought you were there watching me.

·        Mom: I’m sorry, I wasn’t there.

·        Me: OK, forgiven. Is it difficult to handle that you and I are responsible for making Justin and Joey, my brothers and your sons, responsible, respectful men?

·        Mom: I think we have done a great job so far. Both of them made questionable decisions at one point with clothing choices and facial and hair styles, however I feel like they are on the right track now

·        Me: thanks to me mainly, I tell them when they look like Vinnie and Pauly from you know where?

·        Mom: No, where?

·        Me: Nevermind… do you think Justin, my favorite brother, will stop eating so much?

·        Mom: No and now I am going to have to cook for him again when I move in.

·        Me: Don’t let him get chubby again, that was a rough time in our lives as a family. What is your favorite memory of me as a child?

·        Mom: That’s a tough question…

·        Me: How so?

·        Mom: Mainly because I wasn’t there for your childhood. Although I did enjoy meeting you for the first time 6 weeks ago.

·        Me: Me too… that was a special time. Well mom, this was a nice interview. Thank you for donating your time to my readers. I’ll be home a little late tonight, I can’t wait for whatever you’re making for dinner. 

Where Have I Been Part 2

Part of the reason I was hesitant to start a freaking blog was because I am the worst at sticking with something. I always find excuses to not do it. CrossFit is a bit different, but there are even days when I just don’t feel like jumping on a box or throwing a ball 9 feet high against a wall. This week was one of those weeks where CrossFit and I were not friends. 

I blame it on my eating. I literally ate like the world was ending on Saturday and Sunday. I have been watching the Walking Dead, so perhaps I was eating like the world may end soon, I don’t know. Side note, The Walking Dead is my new obsession!!!! I don’t know why I didn’t watch from the beginning because I love zombies! I watch at least three episodes a night on Netflix. Still only on season 2, but I hope to catch up fast. 

Back to my issue, I didn’t take many pics of all the food I ate, but it was in excess because Monday I wasn’t hungry AT ALL. Let’s just say this is how I felt putting on pants Monday morning…. 

So I didn’t CrossFit Saturday or Sunday. I forced myself to go Monday but it was like the hardest decision I have ever made. On Monday I did “Karen” (150 wall balls for time, 20#) and did awesome. My time was 7:13, which was a PR of more than 2 min since the last time I did Karen during the open. Not only did I PR but I did the 90 double unders afterwards to see what my time was compared to when I did it in the open, and I finished the double unders at 9:45. The open WOD was 12 min amrap, 150 wall balls, 90 double unders and 30 ring muscle ups. During the open I think I only completed 45 of the double unders before the time ran out, and this time I finished them all with more than 2 min to spare!!! Of course I can’t do a muscle up, so had it been the open I would have stood around for 2 min lol.  I suppose I should work on those muscle ups.

Regardless of working out I still felt like crap all day Monday. I felt nauseas, tired and I had a headache all day. I even felt like that a bit of Tuesday as well, and Tuesday I still didn’t want to work out, but I forced myself AGAIN. I rowed 1,000 meters for time and completed it in 3:52.

I’m not sure how fast that time is compared to top CrossFit athletes, I know I’m not the fastest rower in our gym though, but to complete 1,000 meter row in less than 4 min is huge for me. since I began CrossFit almost 1 year ago I have never completed 1,000 meters in under 4 min. actually I before Karen I did 1,000 row for a warm up and did it in 3:58 which was my first real real time under 4 min. I HATE rowing. I don’t know why I feel like I should be better since I’m tall but I’m just not. Just as a reference my rowing numbers are improving, my fastest previously was 4:09, then I did 4:00 and finally now under 4. After the row I wanted to go home lol but I still wodded slowly. 21,18,15,12,9,6,3 box jumps, kb swings 16kg and pushups. Pushups….. WHY DO I SUCK AT YOU TOO??? Are my arms sooooooo long and weak that I can’t lower and push my big body up????? I refuse to even discuss pushups right now because I hate them so much.

So back to my beginning point, is it my crappy eating that made me feel like crap which then turned into not wanting to WOD, my most favorite thing? Or does my body just get tired every two weeks and I need to take off 2-3 days from wodding (this CAN’T be it because I don’t even work out that much, 5-6 days a week MAYBE!) why can’t I just stay consistent? I’m experimenting by not eating like the world is ending this week or next week and I will see how it affects my motivation and ability to work out.

Next point…. Why am I back to binge eating?????? The weekdays I am pretty good, come Saturday I binge a little, maybe a normal cheat meal, Sunday I eat like the world is ending (lol this reference is the only thing I can think of to describe my eating).

wings, to go with my cheese fries, fish tacos and fried s'mores

I ate more than 1 of these, don't be fooled

Speaking of experimenting, I started yet another food challenge this week. Paleo challenge. Only Monday-Friday (this is my 3^rd challenge/food plan in the last month). I don’t care about winning anything for this or even losing the 12lbs (maybe 15lbs now) I still am trying to lose. I literally see this as something to force me to eat real foods as opposed to processed sugar coated fried beer. I needed to do this just to detox from the weekend. So I’m only eating whole foods and some other stuff like dairy free yogurt. Chicken and turkey, veggies, sweet potato and squash, and fruits and nuts.  I’m hoping to do this for the two weeks to see how it effects my motivation and ability to WOD. Saturday and Sunday I will maybe eat less paleo friendly foods and try to only have ONE CHEAT MEAL. 

And some random pics...

My awesome CrossFit total score from last week!!!

310# deadlift! yesssssssss

Building new boxes at the gym =)

Tasty and healthier snack than of fried s'mores =)

I am definitely a yogurt snob

No Back protein bars by The Betty Rocker

Jackson being a hypochondriac at the vet (he is perfectly fine)

Who has a better catfish face? Me definitely

Me and Alli doing handstands at the bar lol

Baked egg in 1/2 avocado

My obsession with hot ground chicken sausage

Where Have I Been????

Seriously? Where have I been? I said when I started this blog I would be consistent with it and here it’s been 10 days since my last post. Ughhhhhh. And I don’t even have any awesome crossfit updates or pics. So this will be a post about where I have been and what I've eaten recently.

I visited the shore for Labor Day with my family.  

Me and Jackson on the way!

Going in I had all intentions of eating healthy. FAIL. Well partial fail. I ate well during the day then at nightfall, like the move twilight, all hell broke loose and if it was edible I ate it. 

Roasted veggies... healthy

Greek yogurt and nectarine.... healthy

1 egg, 1/4 piece toast.... not bad

What the HELL mom and dad! For breakfast? cupcakes!!!!

And it continues.... this was my SECOND plate of desserts

...and continues

So as I said, as the daylight hours whittled away so did my inhibition. Good thing it was so much fun though!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE THE BEACH. My last hoorah there I'm sure. 

Future child crossfitter? maybe. Is it creepy I was taking pic of kids on the beach?

The beach trip ended and I did get back into a routine with better choices. Plain greek yogurt with agave syrup and berries is my new go to snack and I can't forget coffee (and YES that is an awesome coffee mug with a picture of me from my 1970's high school yearbook lololol).

This interesting concoction is my current fall obsession... Roasted acorn squash with ground chicken sausage and goat cheese. Weirdly amazing!

And an awesome and easy healthy alternative to microwave an oatmeal cookie from my favorite blogger Carrots and Cake. It may seem weird, but it was really good.  

On to crossfit.... I'm in a slump right now. Every time I go away my crossfit routine suffers. The last WOD I did was on Saturday =( which is 4 days ago!!!! Regardless the WOD I did was a repeat from March and I PR'ed by more than 3 minutes!!!! I went from 29 minutes and some seconds to 25 minutes and some seconds, WOOO HOOOO! PRs everywhere. Although it sucked horribly, burpees and me are like Edward and Jacob (so many twilight references today oh my goodness).

I won't go back to crossfit till tomorrow morning and then I'll just have to WOD it out like 5 days in a row and add a second session to one of those days I guess (that's how I'll make it to the Games right????).

Next post will be SOON I promise =)

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!!