Damn FB block

RANT-My original title was "Tweeking" but that was blocked to share from FB so I had to change it. So much for free speak. (No I get it but I thought my title was amusing...at least to me).

After speaking with Kellie last night I decided to tweek things just a bit-
3 eggs in the morning (normally just 2)

Get me by snack - one zucchini backed with procuitto. I quickly cut this up and threw it in some foil. Later today I'll throw this in the toaster oven at work. I wonder how this will turn out.

I'm EXHAUSTED today. Yesterday was 3 days on so I'm debating about Xfit tonight. After all we have Derby Day on Saturday. Let's just see which way my car decides to get home tonight...by way of Academy or on auto pilot.

PS-my car went on auto pilot and I decided to take a rest day.

First Water Not a Run

Don't know what happened but I couldn't even made it up to the trailhead! I got half way up the street, starting from Mira Monte & Mt. Wilson, and couldn't keep up a good pace. So Plan B was to just power hike as quick as I could and run down.

1st Water - 33:07
Down - 19:32

I LOVE being able to go out my back door and pick something. Today I used some fresh thyme.

Breakfast and lunch - not too exciting so I won't bore you on those details. If I decide to try something different I will definitely post it.

Dinner:
Turkey patties with procuitto and sun-dried tomatoes
Cherry tomato salad with sun dried tomatoes, red onions, olives and thyme.

1-1

Press 5 x 3 38#
Squat 5 x 3 53#

Nothing new or exciting about the meal plan today, except we had pears with procuitto instead of apples. I keep hearing about how well it pairs together (get it), but wasn't all that excited about this combo. I'd much rather have pears with carmel sauce. How about pears with honey? Must try that combo.

With all the procuitto left, I'd rather do dates and almonds with it. YUM!

1 down

This is Day 7 or Seven Days, depending if you want to count down or count up.

So many people I know are in a "Program" so they count up...Day 1, Day 29, 3 Months...until the months become years and milestones achieved and conquered. And if they regress, the clock starts over.

I don't know if that's how I want to approach this since I'm expecting meals where I will not eatting Paleo, but I also don't want to approach this like a countdown.

A countdown seems like there will be an end - an explosion - something significant and then BANG! it's done. Yes there will be an end when my body fat is measured again, but I'm trying to approach this like a part of everyday life. I could just STOP counting but this somehow seems wrong.

No cheat meals in the past 7 days since there are enough anticipated in this 90 day period-birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's day and Easter.

Breakfast-ibid, ditto, some old, etc.

Lunch-grilled veggies and grilled chicken sausage. I am going to assume when the label reads "spices" this does not include sugar.

Dinner-Quick N Easy shrimp salad.
Here's the original recipe I've made before:
1 mango cubed
1/2 lb cooked shrimp
1/2 avocado cubed
juice of 1-3 limes
salt
chili powder

Today I included the kitchen sink...just because it was in the house:
1 mango cubed
1 lb. shrimp
1 avocado cubed
1/2 cucumber
red onion, rinsed to remove some of the sharpness
some cherry tomatoes
lime juice
chili powder
salt

Race Results

32:24

Didn't qualify but did PR. I just wanted to be sub-33 and I was. That works for me!

Afterwards we went to the pub for breakfast. I had to NOT order my FAVORITE thing there-crumpets with lemon curd. Boo. I had to keep the bigger picture in mind. And there will be enough cheat days in 90 days: my sister's birthday dinner, Mother's day dinner, Easter with all the family, Father's day and my birthday. All those are cheat days but hopefully small, miniscule, microscopic cheat days. Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone.

Is it only Day 5?

I think the worst part so far is the counting of days.

Great-now I have this voice going through my head ...

"So why are you counting? Why think of this as ONLY 90 days? If this is better for you, why wouldn't you want to eat like this this every day? If you're healthier and have less body fat (still to be determined) why would you want to go back and eat sugar and gluten?"

I know some of you are laughing because you can hear that voice too.

Breakfast - Whole grain waffles with pure maple syrup and a double latte with low fat whipped cream.

Lunch-Opened faced turkey sandwich on herbed foccacio bread and salad with reduced calorie dressing.

Day 4

Breakfast-2 eggs with avocado salsa verde and 1/4 C of my faux granola with almond milk.

Lunch-pastrami sandwich wrap, 1/2 apple, miniscule cucumber tomato salad (like only 3 bites left from last night), celery wth sunflower butter * ,almonds and dried mango, banana chips.

Yes that sounds like alot of food for lunch, but that is also my mid-morning and mid-day get-me-through-this-without-going-for-the-bookcase-full-of-crap helper.

Dinner will be calamari with some veggie before I have to run off to class.

* I didn't read the label before purchase (opps) and found that it has sugar. Won't buy this again.

RECIPE
Cucumber tomato salad is REALLY easy. Diced tomatoes, sliced or cubed cucumbers, lemon juice and sea salt. That's it.

If you try this, let me know what you think.

Day 3

Last night's dinner at Yahaira's was successful! Skirt steak with chimicurri sauce and grilled veggies.
"Do you want rice?" No
"No potatoes?" No
"Do you want dessert?" No
"Do you want bread?" No

Whew-got through that! And the skirt steak was FABULOUS!

Today's menu looks like yesterday, but we did get home late and I'm not going to be culinarily creative today.

And once again, dinner is TBD.

Don't forget to shop at Whole Foods today. I'll be there tonight picing up stuff and supporting a good cause.

Day 2

Breakfast - 2 eggs with tomatoes, avocado, salsa verde
Don't know if this will be enough this morning but I have some "snacks" packed just in case

Lunch-Chicken salad with dried cranberries (leftover roast chicken from Sunday with mayo and mustard)

Snacks throughout the day will be celery sticks with almond butter, almonds, 2 dates and banana chips

Dinner TBD. We are meeting with friends so I'll see what I order from the menu (big deep breath).
Just read all the trash talk on FB. Now I'm more motivated to stay on the Paleo course to a big payout :-). Even if I don't win the jackpot, I'll still think I've won if I hit my target BF percentage.

End of Day 1

I'm amazed that my 10 steps forward was underminded in just 2 weeks. Not that I gained everything back, but I did increase my body fat to a point where I'm surprised that number changed so much in just 14 days. So its time to get serious.

This time I'm going to focus on building more muscle mass while decreasing body fat.

Day 1 - workout
10x3 squats at 70% of 5RM. For me that was 35#
Press 5 RM=33 #
1 RM rack jerk = 73#
150 pushups with a 50M sprint between rest. I don't know how many sprints but I ran but it must have been at least 750M (you do the math).

Day 1 to 19%

My weigh-in won't be until tonight, but that isn't changing our/my eatting for today since it's all Paleo. No last day of binging for me.

Breakfast - 2 eggs, 1 tomato and avocado

Lunch/snacks - roast chicken breast, grilled veggies, celery sticks, almond butter, almonds, dried banana chip, 2 dates.

Dinner will be grass-fed ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning (home made so I know what's in it) in a lettuce wrap, avocado, tomatoes. Cucumber and tomato salad.

In case you're wondering what 19% is, that is my total body fat goal. I started at 20% but someone at the BC/Xfit party said why not shoot for under 20%. Ok-I'll shoot for 19% as a target.

Reflection of 45 and the New 19% in 90

I don't think I posted reflections of the first Paleo challenge so here it is:
I learned that I'm really addicted to sugar, especially when I get stressed.
So to compensate, I replaced processed sugar with natural sugar in the form of dates in order to get through some days.

I learned that I eat when I'm bored so I try to stay as busy as possible. And those times that I have no control over my workload, I eat foods with nutritional value such as veggies, nuts or fruits and not chips or cookies.

I learned that I get bored eatting just eggs in the morning so I make a deal with myself and have my version of Paleo granola a few times a week. Paleo granola is just unsweetened, dried coconut flakes, almonds and some dried friut with almond or hazelnut milk heated up.

And most of all, it was devastating to learn my body fat percentage. I didn't realize how upsetting it was until the morning after our results. It made me cry. It still does. I let myself down, I let others down by being such a horrible example after so many years at bootcamp, I was so horribly unhealthy WITHOUT KNOWING ANY OF IT and being in pure denial.

NEW 90-day PALEO CHALLANGE STARTS TOMORROW

In preparation of the new challenge I cleaned our refrigerator. No not cleaned OUT the refrigerator, but CLEANED it...as in bring out the sponges, take out the drawer and get it sparkling clean.

I find that cleaning can sometimes be very cathartic and I didn't do my total top-to-floor cleaning last year. Why? Life? A job that exists in my life solely so I can pay bill? More focus to live a more active, healthier life? All those chip away at the 24-hours that exists in one day.

So I'm looking for a fresh start to the challenge.

With the last Paleo challenge, I cleaned out almost all of the foods that were in non-compliance. I kept some because Dave's boys would eat them in the summer and it's nothing I would normally touch-Hershey's chocolate sauce, peanut butter, high-fructose fake wanna be maple syrup, etc. And to get rid of them meant throwing more jars into the landfill which really REALLY makes me hesitant to get rid of them.

But since they aren't going to be here this summer, and I had a need to do something that was literally and symbolically a clean start, I cleaned and de-cluttered my fridge. I got rid of the stuff that was just sitting there representing an unhealthy diet.

Checklist for the start of the week:

-Celery cleaned and precut so I can have them with almond butter when cravings come calling.
-Stocked up on dates I can have those instead of sugar wafers from the Bookcase-Full-Of-Crap at work.
-Almonds in the pantry.
-I made baked kale for other cravings.
-Free Range chicken for dinner tonight and leftovers for lunch.