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| For the marathoner: Running shoe and 26.2 medal |
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| Mini bronze kettle bell charm and 'Inspire' tag necklace |
It use to be 'Thirsty Thursday' when I graduated college. This was the day we would clock out from a busy day in the Operating Room and head to a local watering hole and delight in some frozen drinks and get excited about the weekend approaching. My how things have changed.
I'm going to change it to 'Tired Thursday'. My body is saying "Is it the weekend yet? I'm ready to rest." Maybe I am old after all. Just kidding. It probably has to do with my recovering from being sick last week and then going balls to the wall on Saturday while competing at 'Battle on the Bayou'. I placed 15th out of 49 scaled women. I wanted to place higher, but considering I had minimal use of my respiratory system the week before, I'll take that. Next time, Top Ten, I'm coming for you.
So, other than competing and then hanging out at my parent's house doing a little target practice in the back yard with some ammo, it was a pretty uneventful weekend. Oh, and I ate a lot.
I'm going to change it to 'Tired Thursday'. My body is saying "Is it the weekend yet? I'm ready to rest." Maybe I am old after all. Just kidding. It probably has to do with my recovering from being sick last week and then going balls to the wall on Saturday while competing at 'Battle on the Bayou'. I placed 15th out of 49 scaled women. I wanted to place higher, but considering I had minimal use of my respiratory system the week before, I'll take that. Next time, Top Ten, I'm coming for you.
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| WoD 1: Thruster Ladder at 'Battle on the Bayou' |
So, other than competing and then hanging out at my parent's house doing a little target practice in the back yard with some ammo, it was a pretty uneventful weekend. Oh, and I ate a lot.
Life gets busy. And when 'busy' strikes, blogging takes the back burner! Husband doesn't like when blogging cuts into sleep time! So, since my last post, here's what has been going on in my neck of the woods:
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| Team WoD Final |
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| Mens Pro Final |
With travel comes several things including stepping outside of a usual dietary routine while staying at a hotel. We stayed at a hotel with a daily hot breakfast. I steered clear of the pastries and oatmeal and settled on the 'eggs' and 'bacon/sausage' and fruit. I am 99% sure the eggs had some kind of dairy in them and the meat was a little sketchy, but it was the best option available. And man can not live on jerky alone. This is the 'lesser of two evils' situation a Paleo eater is bound to encounter. You do what you have to do and move on to the next meal planning to 'do better'.
The great thing about getting food at a CrossFit competition is that usually the host site has some kind of healthy meal option. A Paleo food truck was on site serving up lunch/breakfast on both days. While a little steep at $12 a plate, the food was tasty and I even recreated a dish once back home from traveling. My version costs less than $5 to make, for the record.
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| Scrambled eggs, Chicken and Apple Sausage Patties, Kale and Peppers and Onions. Delish! |
I must say I get really jealous when I visit cities with way cooler food options than I have at home. I did stumble upon a really cool Texas based company called Snap Kitchen while walking back from where else, Luluemon. This concept is freshly prepared, packaged, ready to go meals that are clearly labeled by dietary preference (low carb, gluten free, Vegetarian, Paleo, etc). They had everything from snacks to meals in coolers and microwaves to heat if needed. They also had a good selection of convenience healthy packaged foods like Steve's Paleo Kits, Justin's Nut Butters and Kind Bars to name a few. To top it off, a wide range of beverages from bottled waters and juices to kombuchas. They have another location in Houston I'm looking forward to hitting up next time I'm in the area.
Overall, a great trip. I love getting to know the people I work out with better because we are like one big family and support (and make fun!) of each other always out of love and respect of each other. Sure, I get picked on and hassled about the way I choose to eat, but I feel great and I won't let peer pressure to 'eat this' get to me. I have free will and if I choose something then it is my choice. To each his own people and I love ya just the same for your beliefs on what fuels your body and soul.
With that, here's a few more pics of some fun I joined in on in between watching WoDs/shopping/hanging under the team tent. The folks over at Ultra Immune put on a few little mini-WoDs and I (wo)maned up and tried the 'Keg Snatches'. Not easy at all. A (big, strong) girl right before me did 10 in a minute. I did 3 successfully overhead. Seems like small potatoes? Well, I think I was the only girl from our group who tried the keg snatches! These were no joke! Hey, got a free T-Shirt and now I'm actually taking their daily immune supplement (which I love by the way). So, I guess their marketing worked! Thanks Ultra Immune!
I thiiink I'm getting over 'carb flu' but not really sure. However, just indulged in a home cooked grass-fed beef tenderloin steak grilled to perfection with a side of asparagus. I have a good grillmaster in my house ;) No recipe today but instead a little back story of my beef with a major weight loss program that frustrates me.
Today's rant: My problem with 'Weight Watchers'
Before you go thinking "Oh, she only hates WW bc she is in love with Paleo" you are wrong. I have done WW in the past. Multiple times actually. I have done it over all the different versions that have existed over the past 10 years. Most often it the results were always the same:
Today's rant: My problem with 'Weight Watchers'
Before you go thinking "Oh, she only hates WW bc she is in love with Paleo" you are wrong. I have done WW in the past. Multiple times actually. I have done it over all the different versions that have existed over the past 10 years. Most often it the results were always the same:
- Frustration over how little food I actually could eat and be full
- Weight loss as slow as a snail's pace
- Hungry. All. The. Time
The first times I tried WW, I did all the low-cal, fat-free, sugar-free, reduced-fat BS. And even though you could have all the fruits and veggies (most any way) for ZERO points still didn't make that salad full of veggies w/fat free ranch taste any more delicious. My last attempt at WW was back in June when there was a online promo and after returning from a trip to California I wanted to get beach ready. Over 6 week I lost 7 pounds, which is about average but I did not feel right about not eating real food and trying to dumb down recipes with their low fat alternative mostly because my convictions about food had changed since my previous WW attempts. Even the 'extra points' I got with WW for breastfeeding didn't make my hunger better. Somewhere around this time I tried to squeeze Paleo into WW and well, they are like oil and vinegar! CrossFit and WW are the same. You need calories and fat to fuel a workout! So, I could stick with the national 'Skinny Fat' club of WW or (wo)man up and not be afraid to eat.
I was scared as hell. How was bacon gonna make me skinny?! I understand that WW tries to teach portion control and how you can indulge in moderation and make it a lifestyle. But is teaching someone to eat almost nothing all day so they can bank points and have cheesecake really a healthy thing? I mean, isn't this just teaching someone to fit their old junky life to live like a poor college student??
"Can't eat today. Only have X amount of dollars and I need that for beer money!"
That's how I see it anyway ;) For the record, I always ate in college. It was more important than beer! Can you say 'ladies night'??!
When you realize that an ancestral diet, like the paleo lifestyle is teaching you to eat more natural, unprocessed nutrient dense foods, you see things in a different light. It was not this magical 'get thin quick' diet I was following it really was a lifestyle. Living the way life was intended when my great grandparents were around. I loved some of the other principles of a paleo lifestyle including exercise/play that is fun and sleeping in a dark, cool cave (We don't really sleep in a cave FYI. Pretty sure cavemen didn't have good thread count sheets...). So you can see my problem with a recipe that teaches you to use fake sh*t for ingredients and tastes sub-par. It leaves you wanting more.
Enter the nay-sayers: "Well, that's fine and all, but do you really expect me never to eat a piece of cake, bread or cheese ever again?!" No, I don't. I sometimes eat these, but now I know when my habits are getting out of control and I need to clean up my ways. I have worked way to hard to get where I am to bail on me now. WW says the same thing in a recent annoying commercial featuring Jennifer Hudson:
The thing is, we aren't SUPPOSE to eat the 'extra large, extra cheese' in the first place. 'Good food' doesn't have to be defined as cheesy-deep-fried-whipped-cream-on-top. Good food can be healthy.
WW had a slogan a while back that 'diets don't work.' They are right, diets don't but lifestyle changes do! So here's to never counting points again!
