Week 1 Wrapup

It was good, aside from the migraine!

Monday was great; I felt really good about my decision to start doing this challenge. I drank tons of water, kept my caloric intake up to par and managed to get a lot of sleep. It’s one of the things I really need to focus on now because my sleep, while deep and through the night, I wake up feeling exceptionally groggy and unhappy- it’s been like this my whole life, though, so I don’t know if there’s anything to fix, I think I just need more of it rather than the 7 hours I appear to get every night. It takes a lot of coffee and time to get up to working capacity. I have no idea how to fix this- any suggestions would be so helpful.

I made it through the week without a single cheat and I feel really good about that. I managed to hit my water goal 4 out of the 7 days. I didn’t get enough water on Friday, Saturday or Sunday and I’m definitely feeling the effects of that. My engagement ring fits pretty tight, my breath has been horrible and, the migraine was definitely not fun-I’m still feeling a tinge in my neck, so I hope that lots of water and coffee today will help. I had about 75 oz of water on Friday and not a whole heck of a lot on the weekend while I worked.

This week will be great; at least I’m going to make it great. I will be doing some grocery shopping this week for myself and mom. Tonight is knitting group- but I don’t know if I’ll go simply because I can’t make any of the food there Paleo; I would usually get a chicken curry wrap and hummus and veggies. The wheat wrap and the hummus aren’t allowed. It seems a waste of money to buy the two things and not eat a lot of it… There’s a salad there, but the goat cheese and walnuts are mixed together, making it very hard to justify eating a strawberry and lettuce salad. I can stop at Outpost and pick up some food but I feel bad about bringing outside food in just because I can’t eat anything on their menu.

Last weeks’ workouts were good. I didn’t go on Friday due to the massive migraine that gave me insomnia until 1 a.m. when I finally slept. I worked a short day on Saturday and worked all day Sunday. I got a LOT of knitting done on my wedding shawl. It feels much more real now. I came home on Sunday and printed 50 invitations, stuffed them and, after a fight with Fiance about it, I hand-addressed all 50 of the invites. And I’m 18 short. More about the knitting on the other blog.

Here’s to another great week. I’m super excited to hit some milestones.

Keeping it up

Day 2 wasn’t bad! I had a really grouchy day after a win and then a series of losses at work. It wasn’t a banner day for me, but I should be seeing some income in the following weeks, so that’s good. I showed up for church really early and sat in my car listening to a podcast and knit on my wedding shawl.

I finished up Wednesday with about 3 or 4 oz of Tilapia and some asparagus and chunks of thick-cut bacon. I added some honey-dijon dressing and it was absoluetly delicious and not a lot of calories, either. I finished off another 16 oz of water, bringing my daily total yesterday to 136 oz. I just barely hit my caloric intake goal for the day and was over until I went to bed after burning a few extra calories.

Again, I slept like a brick last night and woke up groggy when the alarm accidentally went off at 5 a.m.. I slept again until 6 and ignored my alarm until 6:30…late. I jumped out to bed, at least managed to brush my teeth and ran out of the house with just enough time to stop at Kwik Trip to pick up breakfast.

GoGoSqueez AppleStrawberry Applesauce on the go.
2 hardboiled eggs
2 packets of carrots (one for breakfast, one for snack)

I made it to work just in time.

I am deep in the throes of carb flu. I got a double migraine aura during lunch (probably not related to carb flu) and I’m lethargic, my stomach hurts and I want nothing more than pretzels with lots of salt on them…and a nap.

I got a salad with mixed greens, pecans, dried fruit and raspberry vinaigrette. I’m sure the caloric content is tiny. I planned to go to the store after work but can’t imagine walking to the other side of the room let alone walking through the entire store and then driving half the groceries to mom’s and settling at my place.

No. Instead I’m skipping the workout tonight in favor of sleeping with a blanket over my eyes so I can’t see light anymore. I’m sure I’ll cobble something together for dinner with chicken and sweet potato fries. I’m too busy trying to stop the room from spinning right now instead.

That’s all for today.

One of Those Paleans

There are a few things that make me a bit weird when it comes to eating paleo.

1.) I suck at eating out. I tip really well when it comes to making the wait staff work to get my order just right. I also usually have to tell people ‘I can’t eat there’ so we have to find other places (read, more expensive) to find food.

2.) I have a tendency to get creative on occasion. Stuff I’ve never made before doesn’t scare me nearly as much as it used to.

3.) I like to proclaim to people that the brownie you just ate and loved was actually made with Sweet Potatoes. And it’s gluten, dairy and sugar free. So there.

4.) I no longer can properly process gluten and especially dairy. It’s not a pretty picture and I have to impress on people how much I cannot cheat if they want to see me in an hour.

5.) If I taste something Paleo and I want to taste it again but not for the price I just paid for it, I will find it elsewhere.

So that brings us to the last three meals I’ve had.

Last night the Urban Caveman Food Truck came to Badger CrossFit and I was elated they brought Truckasaurus out of hibernation and were back on the food-prowl. Boyfriend was finally over his viral plague, so I told him to get something and we would have some awesomeness for supper. He got the cashew chicken curry and I got a chicken salad wrap and their texas style pulled pork with sweet potato mash.

Now, I adore both of the things I got. To the point where I was doing some online searching to try and find the recipe for the chicken salad; of which I may have found one. I’ve been eating chicken systematically throughout the week, so I’ll refrain from making it this week but next week is another matter!

I like the pulled pork but I feel like, if I had the recipe, I’d likely never make it unless I really wanted to. I like that the pork is a little prize for myself after a hard day. It’s so warming and lovely.

Today was another fun one. Boyfriend and I woke up at our normal time (Read, me up a half hour after him because I suck at waking up) and he heated up some Cranberry Orange Buttermilk muffins he’s completely obsessed with. Like completely. Like he told me he would have them for breakfast every day for the rest of his life forever and ever amen. So I keep making them and I make them in double batches so I get 24 muffins out of the recipe.

I went to work with two chicken breasts with the plans to eat them with some thousand island as a dip and some carrots. It’s not amazingly paleo but it works. But then an email came through at about 11 saying that a soup food truck would be outside today. Simmer is made out of an old short-bus and it’s adorable. The smells coming out of this bus were fantastic and I could have sat in there all afternoon just soaking in all the smells. They cater to a vegan/gluten free crowd, which made me a little apprehensive, but I was very happy to see a Brussels Sprouts and Rosemary soup. A few of my coworkers came with me and we became snow-covered quickly in the fat snowflakes falling at speed to the ground. I double checked with the woman in the truck and she told me essentially everything that went into the recipe. When I was satisfied that it was sufficiently Paleo, I got a 16-oz container. While it helped keep my fingers warm I could smell the deliciousness as I was walking back to the office.

The taste is phenomenal. It’s based with a vegetable stock and it’s blended so it’s not like eating giant sprouts and cauliflower florets. It’s not too salty and it has a very well-rounded flavor, though I did feel the rosemary overpowered it at times. I was so happy with the flavors that I did some digging and I found the soup! I was a little happy to say the least, and I have intentions to make this for me and boyfriend this weekend. It’s expected to be cold and snowy this weekend, so it’ll be perfect.

On another note: I have my first day off this weekend. I think my WOD will be to clean all the things for time.

Stay warm, all!

Not Enough Coffee

Oh hi! Welcome back! I’d love to say I’ve been crazy busy but really, I’ve just be working so much that I don’t have time to think about writing for myself; especially when I write all day every day at work.

So I’m back. I promise. I’m also finally back into the groove of working out regularly after all the medical drama is over and all my stress and family obligations are also over.

I am working every day this month except for one day. Literally. I have one day off in January and it’s this Saturday. It’s coming at the perfect time because I’m exhausted and stressed and generally punchy and unable to find enough coffee to drink during the day.

Here’s a little bit of randomness to bring you up to speed on my last few months of quiet-time.

I’ve been making time to get to CrossFit but it’s about that time that everyone signs up for class so I get on the waitlist, resign myself to not working out and then, an hour before class I get the email saying I got in, only for me to realize that I haven’t had any water that day and I’m exhausted and oh I just got this shitload of work to do.

I made some CrossFit goals this year:

Bodyweight Deadlift (only 20 pounds short)
125# Clean and Jerk (I’m at 100 so far)
125# Back and front squat (115 and 95 each currently)
100# Push press (I think I’m currently at 80)

20 pounds lost from my body. I’ve gained 10 this year after losing the 50, which I know is normal, but I want it gone again. 170 is my final goal.

Last week was Benchmark week and, while I was feeling a bit under the weather and work was crazy, so I didn’t make it in until Wednesday for DT and Back Squat 1RM.

My all-time PR, from when I was still 234 pounds, was 115 pounds. When I lost 40 of the 50 pounds, six months later, I went down to 105 pounds. This past Wednesday, I finally went back up to 130. One goal down!

I also PRed DT by 3 minutes. Three months ago I put 65 pounds on the bar and finished in 15 minutes flat. I kept the 65 pounds and finished in 11:40. I was exceptionally happy even if my hands were in so much pain. The grip dies after about round two. I was still really happy.

I stayed out of the box on Thursday for church and sleep and went back on Friday for Deadlift 1RM and FRAN.

 

The Deadlift was great! My ultimate goal is to get bodyweight but 170 seemed really hard. When I finally made it up to 180, my form fell apart but I got the weight up without rounding my back. In 3 months, when we do it again, I really want to make it up to 190, meaning I’ll have more than a bodyweight deadlift if we go with my most recent low-weight, though I’ve gained some of the 50 pounds back.

I really strongly dislike Fran and not because she’s tough, but because I suck at both of the movements. I am not getting better with my pull ups and my thrusters are really low because we almost never do them. I was also dehydrated and tired and sore from doing the Deadlifts so, while my time three months ago with 45 pounds was 7:02, I finished in a piddly 9:48 and was not happy with myself. What a disaster.

Now, On the Paleo Front:

I fell apart during the holiday and didn’t really limit myself to eating what I wanted because it would simply be too hard and I was cooking most of the foods anyway so it was a bit of 100% paleo 80% of the time. But, by the first, I was ready to get back on the wagon and I did hardcore.

But. I soon realized how sensitive my body has become since I went Paleo. I was having dinner with my best friend on Friday at Chilis and had a Santa Fe Chicken Salad with a picante ranch dressing that usually is fine with me, but for some reason, an hour after finishing eating, I was in the bathroom with some awesome lactose reaction-ing. At least I felt skinny when going back to the table? So I’ve officially decided not to eat at Chilis anymore. Which makes me sad because I love their foods, but I just can’t make it happen anymore, I guess.

I’ve still been doing really well, though I may be dealing with some carb flu, which has always had a bit of a latent reaction for me. I’ve been ornery and have a headache every morning and wahh. I’m drinking coffee and taking tylenol and generally hiding away in a dark office and dark apartment and dark. Just lots of dark.

I have officially come to realize how much my body has changed. You ready?

Here’s me in August of 2012 doing 35 pound squat cleans. Ahem. Power cleans and front squats.

Annnnnnnnnd…….

Here’s me, at 175 Deadlift, on Friday January 10, 2014.

It’s amazing how much the body can change in a year and a half. I am so proud of myself.

Weight at the beginning of the year: 196 lbs. Goal by the end of the year? 170 pounds. 26 pounds to go!

A Herd of Turtles

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I left for the Games. It feels like it was only a couple weeks ago that we were on the plane coming home with a bunch of the Rogue equipment guys and 2010 champ, GRAHAM HOLMBERG. Boyfriend saw him, I didn’t. Though we did our best to stalk him.

I wish I could say that I’ve been wodding a lot, but ever since I got back from California and even before then, I’ve had way too many things go wrong that have prevented me from entering the box.

July 19: I hurt my back moving apartments. It took three weeks for my back to stop being so angry. RockSauce, RockTape, regular ice and chiropractor visits and rest made me go stir crazy but my back got better, so I was OK with it.

August 19: I got a cyst on my left ovary while rowing a 5K. This definitely was a monkey wrench thrown into the mix. I felt pain during the Monday WOD that week but thought it was general female issues until Friday night when my toes were curling in pain and we were headed to the ER. A prescription for Percocet later and we were on our way. I was tender for a good week. The cyst is also messing with my weight. I’m way heavier than I have been in months and I have to assume it’s because of the cyst. I just want it to go away and stop messing with my body.

Now that I’m feeling better, it’s time to get back to my regularly schedule WOD life. Monday was a doozy for one who hasn’t wodded regularly in weeks. It was also about 95 degrees outside, 110 in the box (I swear that thermostat is broken. It always says its 90 degrees in the box. NOT TRUE).

Anyway: Monday.

4 rounds:
15 wall balls

10 Burpees
15 tuck jumps

3 rounds:
150 m run
10 hang power snatch

2 rounds:
10 Power Cleans
10 hand-release push ups

1 round:
60 wall jumps (vertical jump)
60 mountain climbers (2 for 1)

Dying. Just dying.

The burpees were so hard and the snatches killed my already aching shoulders and forearms. I pussed out on the wall balls (6 pounds) and only did 45 pounds for the snatches and cleans (my clean is 95 pounds. I muscled those suckers up). The mountain climbers are so awkward for me. I jiggled a lot. I knew there would be a lot of hardship during this WOD so I did everything I could to make it a little more bearable. I was still dripping in sweat when I finished.

I ran during that WOD. I figured 150m was the best time to do it because it would be short and couldn’t possibly aggravate my achilles enough. I took it extremely slow, to the point where I could actually breathe and carry on a joking conversation with the coach while I ran back in. He was proud, to say the least.

The rest of the classes had a 25 minute time cap. I was in the 6:30 class so we didn’t have a cap and I couldn’t (read: Wouldn’t) not finish and/or stop at 25 minutes. Robb told me to do so but I told him ‘that’s not how I operate’ and he continued to cheer me on through the whole thing. 25 minutes came and went and I was working on the snatches. I finished in 36:46 and collapsed on the mat for an unknown amount of time. I couldn’t properly grip things.

I know you’re supposed to leave your ego at the door but I don’t feel like I’ve done enough unless I actually finish the workout. I can’t DNF. It’s simply not in my nature to not finish.

I stood up when Robb was kicking us out at the end of the night and he gave me a congratulatory hug because he knew I hadn’t wodded in two weeks and I haven’t run in 7 months.

My favorite part of the night was exclaiming to boyfriend that I had run. He had proud.

I then drove to pick n save and picked up a rack of already-cooked ribs, some potato salad and some fresh fruit. I ate dinner at 9 and it was amazing, if not paleo.

I woke up the next morning feeling pretty good but DOMS hit pretty quickly by the afternoon. It hurt to sit, to fully extend my arms and to bend at the waist. It even hurt to walk and laugh.

Sweet potatoes were my savior this week. I had some fries last night as a snack because I’d had dinner at 5 and it was this teeny tiny little salad with nothing on it so I was famished. I’m feeling better, though I didn’t think I’d be able to make it through Wednesday. Better start slowly, in my opinion. I’ll be at Friday night, though!

Next post is going to be recipe-rich, I think. I make chili every week and I’m going to be making some awesome cookies on Labor day. I hope you all have a great and long weekend. I’ll be knitting, baking and enjoying every second of my day off! There will likely be a WOD in there, too.

2013CFGAMESKAL

The title is the tag. I can’t wait for a full weekend of CROSSFIT!
Boyfriend and I board a plane on Wednesday afternoon to LAX and the home of the CrossFit Games, The StubHub Center on the campus of USC: Dominguez Hill.

25,000 people will be there
90 men, women and teams will compete to become the fittest in the world
I will be there
I will be knitting

So. On the CrossFit front: I’ve been doing plenty, but haven’t for a week as I’ve been doing a sort of CrossFit: Functional fitness. I’ve been moving apartments and I’ve been doing quite a bit of lifting, boxing, sorting, etc. with help from Boyfriend, best friend and Mom. I’m currently wrapped in Kinetic tape on three spots. It’s working, too, which makes me very happy.

We had 1 rep max a couple weeks ago and I did pretty good! I PRed my Deadlift (170), Bench Press (70), Clean and Jerk (95) and Snatch (75). Everything was at least a 10 pound PR, which made me really happy. I am also so close to bodyweight Deadlift, so I’m hoping that by the time we do 1RM again in three months, I’ll get it.

On the Paleo front, I recently made sweet potato brownies from Again Faster and took them into work. By the end of the day I had eaten 6 (I was hormonal, what can I say!) and everyone was asking me for the recipe. I even made them with agave nectar so my boss could eat them as she’s preggo.

Other than that, I’ve been working like crazy, knitting some and trying not to freak out over the smallest things. I have only two days of work before Boyfriend and I make our way to California.

So: The Knit/Crochet-a-long:
6 days, starting Midnight on the 22nd, until Midnight on the 28th. Knit something; anything. We are all on Ravelry to post pictures, offer encouragement, and be each others’ judges and coaches. We’re going for no DNFs. As I am the only one attending the actual Games, I’m going with something simple so I’ve picked up skein of Malabrigo Rios to mix with Wintry Mix Plucky Knitter. I’ll do random stripes in just stockinette as it’ll be a quick knit as well as a fun set of colors. I expect there will be plenty of funny looks but I don’t care. I’m so excited to be going again! See you all on ESPN 2 and 3!!

I’m off to my apartment to ice my sore back from picking up countless boxes. Then I get to go unload them.

Long Time…

I know it’s been a month since I last blogged… it’s been a month for all of my blogs… I’m not proud of it. But I think it’s about time I came out of hibernation.

The whole 30 challenge wasn’t as stellar as I was hoping, mostly because I had a bit of a…broken…ankle which stopped me from going to the box all that much, so I only lost about 7 pounds overall, and I’ve been struggling with it since then. I’m growing thinner, my chest is smaller and my pants absolutely don’t fit again.

I’ve been still strict Paleo with the exception of dark chocolate since the beginning of the year and my weight has been down since I’ve sprained my non-broken ankle so I’m not working out and being Paleo helps me lose the weight whereas Paleo + CrossFit means I gain weight… I’m sure I’m just not eating enough.

I made pancakes for dinner last night after seeing the recipe on Paleomg.com. She made banana, vanilla and coconut pancakes with a berry compote. I knew I had everything except for the vanilla bean at home and Boyfriend looked like he wanted to eat the screen they were so delicious-looking. I told him I’d make them for dinner when he came over on Sunday and I hoped they’d be amazing.

The recipe calls for two bananas, smashed (perfect, there’s 7 in the freezer), 3 eggs, 3 tablespoons of coconut flour, a splash of vanilla, 1/4 tsp of baking soda and that’s it!

When I made it, the batter was super thin, so I added almond flour to thicken it a bit and got it to a pancake-consistency but it was kind of a mess to make them. Paleo pancakes are much heavier and much more dense than All-Purpose pancakes, so they don’t flip and/or rise the way AP does. Some of them wound up being rather messy until I went to a smaller pancake size (about 2 inches in diameter at most) and was rather successful. They also need to be much more brown before flipping. Oh! and you need higher heat on the pan/griddle. Trust me on that.

We finished off the pancakes with some of the delicious sides made by Boyfriend’s best friend Jon and his wife Amanda for Christmas. I was so grateful that they made these things Paleo for us that it made the massage I bought her seem so mediocre. She created a wine jam, honey butter and lemon curd. Last night was the first time I’d opened the jars since we got them and it was all SO DELICIOUS. The lemon curd was so tart and sweet at the same time and the honey butter made my heart go all aflutter. The jam was the perfect consistency and mixed all together, the pancakes were just amazing. Boyfriend ate them faster than I’d ever seen him eat.

This morning we woke up and the first words out of his mouth were ‘I think you should make some pancakes for breakfast’ and kept insisting (even to the point of whipping the blankets off me and practically pushing me out of bed) until I was in the kitchen making the pancakes. I altered the recipe slightly in that I didn’t use coconut flour, but almond flour and I only put 2 eggs rather than 3 in the mix. It made the batter thicker right away and it was much easier to pour and cook. We used just the curd and honey butter and I wound up scraping up the remnants of it off the plate when the pancakes were all gone. Golly it’s good.

That picture just doesn’t do it justice at all.

So now I get to digress:

My mom started Paleo (HI MOMMY!) at the beginning of the year and has since lost about 11 pounds and astonished her doctor when her cholesterol and blood pressure came back with increasingly normal numbers. The first thing I said to her when she told me this news? “I TOLD YOU BACON WAS GOOD FOR YOU!”

I’m a really great advocate for fat and bacon, to be honest with you. It’s weird that I tell people ‘eat fat’ but they don’t quite understand how good fat is for you. I mean come on… I wouldn’t be nearly 50 pounds down if I ate carbs. There’s a mason jar half-filled with bacon fat reserves, there’s always at least a pound of bacon and 12 eggs in my fridge and I willingly absorb the shock of groceries by shopping on the perimeter of the store. I don’t remember the last time I had bread…or white sugar…or milk chocolate. I no longer have migraines, I have more energy every day and I sleep way better at night. The pros outweigh the cons immeasurably when it comes to eating Paleo.

So when someone posts a status about eating egg whites with spinach and tomatoes, I think, “Where’s the bacon?” to which I get the reply “Bacon got me into this mess” which I just simply can’t believe is true.

Pasta got you into this mess. Bread got you into this mess. CHEESECAKE GOT YOU INTO THIS MESS!

Cut out grains, dairy, excess sugars– and eat clean foods fresh from the market and you’ll be amazed at how quickly the fat falls away to reveal the real you. This world is so full of processed foods or the new ‘fad’ foods to tell you how bad fat is for you and you shouldn’t be eating eggs or bacon because they’ll ruin your cholesterol when it’s simply not true. Take my mother for example: her blood pressure AND cholesterol are down because she’s eating clean; she’s eating bacon and eggs and she’s getting healthy. She ate carbs before and was on tons of medication to regulate her body… I’m willing to bet that in 6 months she’ll be off almost all of her pills and will just be taking fish oil and a multi-vitamin.

The cavemen had something going for them.

Whole30

It’s that time again.

This holiday totally kicked my ass. Like totally and completely.

It all started good and well with lots of paleo goodness with spaghetti squash and marinara, burgers and lots of veg. No cheats for the week before leaving for Seattle to visit my brother.

Then we went to Seattle. I can’t even begin to tell you how weighed down I felt after eating cheat meal after cheat meal with only a few meals actually being Paleo. Miracle of miracles, I lost 1.5 pounds while on vacation. Don’t worry, I gained back a pound in the next two days after dinner with Boyfriends’ family, then another bash with his family and finally another bash last night with the extended family. My stomach is now really angry with me so I’m hoping this challenge will set me straight and make my belly happy again.

Seattle was amazing, though. We WODded at Emerald City CrossFit just east of Downtown and it was my first WOD in two weeks since spraining my ankle. I was nervous and hoped that I’d be able to keep up with Boyfriend and other people in the box, and I was amazed that my ankle was willing to support me while I jumped in the Team Double Under Cindy.

Team DU Cindy
20 Minute AMRAP
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats

One partner completes one round of Cindy while the other partner does as many DUs as possible. (singles 3:1). 30 double unders (90 singles) equal one round. When done, give one number of rounds.

It was FUN! I missed the pain, the hard breathing, the bent over-hands-on-knees-trying-to-breathe feeling. And I loved how the black band made my pullups SO EASY. I almost felt like I could have gone to a smaller set of bands, but because of the ankle, I didn’t want to test fate. We both walked out with the highest number (because we did single unders) and a couple great t-shirts. They were extremely nice and we enjoyed visiting them. I’m sure we’ll be back soon.

That was the last time I WODded. It hurts, not being able to make it into the box. Work has me at the office for 12 hours a day if I want to have a decent paycheck and the holidays leave me out of time to do anything other than travel and hang out with Boyfriends’ and my families. At least I got a lot of knitting done this holiday. I also did a lot of eating and cheating. I feel like my body is getting squishier so, while I planned on working 12 hours today, I’ll be leaving in time to go WOD instead. It has to happen. I. Must. WOD.

Now we’re back to the real world and next week will be a regular work week (yay!) so now I’m planning on losing some weight first thing in the year. Badger CrossFit is doing a Whole30 paleo challenge where you are strict paleo for 30 days. They’ve also required that you drink your required water amounts and get a WOD in three times a week. This week I’ll only have two WODs, one of which has to be at home, but we have to write down everything we eat and what our WOD was and post onto our group on facebook. It’s super simple for me to get back into the swing of paleo because of how I feel right now, I can’t wait to remember that I am being held accountable to a group of people to stay strict and not cheat. I want to lose 10-15 pounds this month, keep going through next month and lose another 10-15 and be at my goal weight of 165-170 by my birthday in March.

I’m eating a giant salad as I write this, taking a 10 minute break from the nuttiness at work. The only questionable thing in the salad is the dried apricots, but they’re so delicious and good for you that I can’t help myself but to include it into the salad.

So day 1 is off to a great start. I’m going to the box tonight (YES) for some sweating and feel-good-ness.

I’m doing things slowly this year– making this resolution is something I know I can stick with so why bother writing up resolutions I won’t actually complete. I’ll knit and WOD and eat delicious paleo instead. What are some of your resolutions this year?

“Don’t Spoil My Pie, Please”

Excuse me while I pick my jaw off the floor.

Boyfriend texts me this after I asked his opinion of Pumpkin Cheesecake from PaleOMG or pumpkin pie made paleo– the recipe being adapted from Mom’s Pumpkin Pie recipe.

Now, I have made Mom’s pumpkin pie before and it’s delicious. I have not adapted her recipe and tried to make it yet, mostly because the LuRong challenge is still going on and I can’t eat baking powder or soda, or raw honey, or well… ANYTHING GOOD. I hate this stupid challenge and can’t wait until Saturday. I MISS MY OVEN!!!!

Anyway– I was planning on taking my day off on Saturday– my first one in about a month, mind you, and go shopping, get a wax, buy groceries, bake delicious things in my oven that I have missed so much over the last two months and stop off at Mom’s and get the recipe to make this pie on Sunday after work.

So I decided to be all dramatic with Boyfriend. The conversation went as followed:

Me: With picture of PaleOMG cheesecake: Pumpkin cheesecake or pie? Either way they’re paleo and I found my crust.

BF: Cheesecake: Don’t spoil my pie, please.

Me: … :-0
I can’t believe you just said that!

BF: Lol.

Me: (5 minutes later) I’m blogging about this. I’m still in shock.

BF: hahaha. I’m sure you will do an excellent job at converting a pumpkin pie… just not for Thanksgiving!

Me: I. Am. Appalled. You don’t think paleo pumpkin pie will be as good, if not better, than regular FATTY pumpkin pie?

BF: I said no such thing…

Me: I’ll prove to you just how amazing pumpkin paleo pie is on Sunday. So there. And you’ll be begging for it for Thanksgiving. But I won’t ruin your previous pie for you. Oh no.

It’s at this point in the conversation where I imagine I stomp one foot, cross my arms, mutter a defiant ‘hmph’ and tip my nose in the air. (Have I mentioned I’ve had a lot of really strong coffee today?) He then rolls his eyes, stifles a snort of laughter and goes back to work. We all know this is exactly how it would have happened in real life, too. We’re a. that predictable and b. that disgustingly cute.

I really couldn’t care less what kind of dessert I make, and this cheesecake sounds delicious so I’m planning on making it anyway. I just needed a giggle and I got it.

So anyway.

Pumpkin cheesecake. Mom, the truly non-paleo of our bunch (she claims she simply can’t go on without carbs), won’t know what hit her. This will be an awesome ending to our 100% Paleo 80% of the time Thanksgiving dinner. What’s on the docket you ask?

• A 10 freaking pound  turkey. An actual turkey. Do you know how long it’s been since I had an actual turkey with Thanksgiving dinner? Prior years it’s always been me and Mom so it’s been a breast, or a Cornish Hen (Don’t judge me.) so we’re doing a turkey. Holy crap.
• Green bean casserole. It’s the 20% of non-paleo to our dinner. I can’t live a year without it. It’s my crack. I have to have those French Fried onions. Those tiny little artificial food bastards taste so good.
• Sweet Potatoes. I haven’t quite decided how to best prepare them. I might just do them with sme marmalade and pumpkin pie seasonings, without the marshmallows, or I can mash them… or do something else. I’m not totally sure yet.
• Cranberry sauce. Fresh cranberries in apple cider with a squeeze of agave nectar. Good god.
• Mom is making gravy. I don’t eat gravy. Gravy isn’t Paleo.
• The cheesecake. I might have to make concessions as coconut butter might be hard to find, but almond butter is sitting in my cupboard. We’ll see what happens.

As Bob as my witness, the pie will be amazing. And my oven and I will be reunited once more in a harmonious love that no one else has ever known before.

Yearly

You know what? I love my Gyno. He’s (yes, I said HE) is the sweetest man and he doesn’t bullshit with me. When he told me two years ago that I have PCOS with the severe chance of Type 2 Diabetes in five years if I didn’t turn my shit around and fast, he laid it straight out on the line. He didn’t sugar coat it for me. When my previous doc scolded me for believing her when she said the medication I was on would help me lose weight when it only made me sick every night, I was done and decided I need a don’t-eff-with-me doctor who would tell me exactly what I needed to know and be able to help me sufficiently without me wanting to rip my hair out in frustration.

The last time I saw the good doctor was a year ago for my last yearly. I was a sad and pathetic 211 pounds, with no hope of losing any more as I kept yo-yo-ing back and forth between the same seven pounds. He told me my diet sounded OK and to keep working out and getting on the treadmill, but it all seemed so dismal. I wasn’t feeling so happy about coming back in a year potentially weighing more.

At my worst, I was at 234 pounds in June.

Then I found CrossFit and Paleo. And I lost 40 pounds. This morning I stepped on the scale at Boyfriends and it looked to be saying 191. Boyfriend gave me a sideways hug and I complained about how it hurt my ribs. “Yeah because you don’t have a ton of fat as a cushion there anymore!” and hugged me again. I told him how unlikely it was that I just had a 6-pound poo, but I knew I was closer to my goal of 40 pounds and that I might actually have made it there for this appointment. My previous goal was to just get to 200 pounds for the appointment and I demolished it a few weeks ago.

I got to the doctor and stepped on the scale and was so happy to see 195 pounds. I told the PA I was only one pound away from a total weight loss of 40 pounds since June and she was so happy for me. She didn’t have the same appreciation for Paleo as I do, but she extolled my happiness while asking all the basic questions.

Doctor came into the room to my beaming smile and immediately told me I look fantastic and I don’t even look the same. Oddly enough, I don’t notice a difference in my physique. I notice the difference in the gym, sure, but not really in myself– only occasionally when I wear certain clothes that fit right. He still was so happy for me and told me to keep it up as it was having a lot of positive affects on, not just my physical condition but my personal and hormonal balances. He did the basic tests, told me I looked awesome, gave me a flu shot and sent me down to have my blood sugar checked.

I know a lot of people talk about how weird it would be to have a male-doctor all up in their lady-business but I’d much rather have a dude who isn’t going to bullshit me into thinking this drug is going to help me lose weight when it won’t and he’ll tell me exactly what I need to know and he’ll be there to help me when I need it. That and there is always a PA/Nurse in the room with the doctor when he is examining your ladybits, so it helps with the comfort thing. I’ve had some great female doctors and I’d go to a couple of them in a heartbeat for other things like a cold or whatever, but when a doctor starts telling me ‘I never told you that you needed to lose 50 pounds’ when I never would have gone on a diet in the first place unless you told me that, it’s time to move on.

Anyway, that’s just my little spiel on how much I lurve my doctor. I’ll be seeing him, hopefully lighter still, in a year.

I think it’s about time to do a before-during-after photo shoot. I’m still working on finding the before photo- as I decidedly avoided my body in pictures BCF (Before CrossFit), but now I don’t mind it so much. One of these days I’ll figure out which picture I hate more and what outfit to photograph for an after. This reminds me I need to go shopping.