I almost forgot to post the real Monday...

Chicken is Paleo. Poor chicken.

Greve in Chianti, Italy 2007

Breakfast:

1 cup of fruit (melon, pineapple)

16 oz skim cappuccino

Banana chips

Lunch:

Salad (same as the previous three days) except we had a lunch meeting at work and there was turkey, which I cut up and added to my salad and then had some zucchini, too.

Breakfast for Dinner:

Paleo almond butter pancakes. I didn't have applesauce, but I went for it anyway. They weren't bad. I added some coconut for texture. I also put maple syrup on them. If I had better fruit I would've used that.

Chicken sausage (2 links)

Workout:

That was tough. I was dying and doing a lot of swearing, but I had headphones on so I can pretend like I really wasn't saying anything at all. Thankfully, I was in the small gym and Adam was the only one there.

Subbed thrusters for wall balls

Rnd 1: Thrusters (12# dumbbells) 35, KBS (35#) 11, DU's 12

Rnd 2: Thrusters 30, KBS 15, DU's 15

Rnd 3: Thrusters 24, KBS 15, DU's 19

PR'd on my 500m row to warm up. I got 1:56! The second was 2:01. Not too shabby for me!!

Just say yes...just say there's nothing holding you back...

Lucca, Italy 2005

I'm slightly fond of Italy. So I figured I would post some of my photos.

Sunday 24 January 2010

Breakfast:

Apple

Lunch:

Same salad as the previous two days. Woooohooooo variety!!

Dinner:

I ordered sushi. I figured it would be my cheat meal for the week. It was awesome, but over way too quickly. I should participate in those food eating contests. I can inhale food no problem.

Special Phili Maki. It was very special.

Goma-ae

Crab rangoon

Avocado salad

Coconut bubble tea.

I had enough food for two people and I ate almost everything. I had a couple crab rangoons and threw out the rest. I figured I hardly ate all day anyway. I didn't mind having to unbutton my pants and rub my belly afterwards. It was worth it. Mmmmmm, avocado salad, kinda paleo, kinda not.

Had a light, fun work out at West Loop with Jonny, Heather, Adam, Anthony, Megan, Tim, Anjali...

I worked on getting my kipping down. I went for a pink band and got to work. I actually did it! I think it's really hard to do them on the green bands and I probably waited too long to graduate from the green. Oh well, now I know!

Then I did toes to bar, which I was really shocked I could do. I got a cramp in the arch of my right foot as I was on my third one. Kinda weird. Anyway, the point is I got my freaking toes to touch the bar, foot cramp and all.

I need to stop underestimating myself. I'm stronger than I think I am.

Florence, Italy 2005

God bless the Italians for their food, art and fashion.

I'm not feeling too bad without bread/grains/etc. I was tempted this morning to allow a cheat at breakfast, but thankfully I got talked out of it. I've had more than enough bread in my lifetime to make it over the next 6 weeks. I'm missing my sushi and coconut bubble tea with tapioca big time though. I should see if they would use coconut milk??? It's just milk with ice, but tapioca is from the cassava root, and those are my favorite part of the whole drink.

Breakfast:

Banana

16 oz skim cappuccino

Lunch:

Baby lettuce with grilled chicken, almonds, dried cherries/strawberries, grapes and low fat raspberry dressing. I thought it was fat free - it's not.

Dinner:

I had salmon with salad. I was at my parents who have more bread, chocolate, ice cream, hot fudge than most people should. I didn't cheat. This was a major, major accomplishment. I normally go there and pig out on all the bad stuff. I left feeling super proud of myself. I was surrounded by my "crack" and I left it alone.

Today's WOD kicked my ass big time. In 15 minutes I got in 8 rounds + 2 box jumps. When I got to round 3 I was like "7 more to go??!!! There's no way!!! Toes to bar wasn't going to happen so I was aiming for knees to elbows, which was actually performed as knees to as close to elbows as possible. Those will be worked on!

I practiced my deadhang and kipping pullups with a blue band. No more green!

Woooohooooo!

5-5-5 + Back squats at 100# 110# 125# + 5

Freedom costs a buck o' five...

Is this what will happen to us after the Paleo Challenge?

Guinness Factory Dublin, Ireland 2007

The title has nothing to do with what I'm going to post. I just like that song.

Breakfast:

Two scrambled eggs with 2 teaspoons olive oil

1 banana

16 oz. skim cappuccino

Lunch:

Apple with sunbutter

Almonds, dried fruit (strawberries, blueberries, apricots, cherries)

Water

Dinner:

Grilled chicken (salt, pepper, olive oil) over laitues miniatures (how cute is that? okay - baby lettuces) with red grapes, almonds, avocado, cilantro, dried cherries, and strawberries. I put fat free raspberry dressing on it. Wasn't feeling the basic olive oil and balsamic vinegar thing. Sometimes the vinegar is too strong for me.

So I realized a couple things today. 1) I have no idea how to work this blog. I inadvertently added myself as a follower to my blog ("Allow myself to introduce myself"), and now I can't figure out how to remove it. And I have no clue how to make my picture visible to other people. Oh and there's more I have no clue about, so maybe I'll figure it out this weekend.

2) I'm not a fan of working out alone anymore. I'll do it, but it's not as much fun as having people yell at you to keep going. I've gotten so used to having people around offering encouragement that I look around my gym and think about telling people to step it up! Mostly because they need to. Seriously, if you're reading a magazine while you're "working out" you're not working out. Slackers.

Tonight I warmed up with squats, jacks, sit ups and walking on the treadmill. I also threw on some boxing gloves and hit the punching bag. No, I beat the crap out of the bag. I haven't thrown punches in a while and it felt amazing. I worked on my jabs, uppercuts, and hooks.

WOD:

20, 12, 8 full push ups

Bench: 50#, 55#, 60# +7

Metcon: 5:06 I wouldn't mind doing this one again. I think I could get sub 5.

30# SDHP/Push Press (3:05)

500m row 2:01

Better late than never...

I'm starting my very first blog. Here I get to blab about two of my favorite things in the world: Food and exercise! Two things I've loved forever and felt so passionate about I pursued degrees in (BS in nutrition & dietetics and then an MS in exercise physiology and cardiac rehab).

I always have believed that striking a healthy balance between mind, body, & soul was extremely important in life. If I had become a registered dietitian (as planned) I would have spent my time teaching that when it came to helping people lose weight.

In many ways exercise has become a mirror to how I view life. When you exercise, if you're going to grow stronger you need to push yourself through the temporary pain and discomfort of lifting heavier weights or running faster, because otherwise, you'll never progress.

In my opinion, life is about change and continuously gathering the strength to keep going. Not that life is always tough, but personally I never want to sit still for too long. I always want to strive for more - whatever "more" is. It's amazing how good one can feel when a PR or any goal is achieved. The sense of accomplishment is inspiring. It makes you realize you are capable of so much more than you thought and that you should never stop pushing forward. And when you feel like quitting it's so important to have support around you (i.e., CFC, friends, etc.) to cheer you on. Because sometimes in those moments you don't recognize your own potential as clearly as someone else does. Sometimes just knowing that someone else believes in you is enough to keep you fighting.

Breakfast:

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

1 cup grapes

12 oz skim cappuccino

Lunch:

Salad with salmon, cucumber, squash, sundried tomatoes, carrots, onion

banana chips for dessert

Dinner:

Salmon (again) with lime juice, salt and pepper and cilantro.

1 tablespoon of sunbutter

I'm still eating dairy. I know it's not paleo, but I'm really just eating it at breakfast. The biggie for me is that I'm not eating grains, cereals, etc. Bread, cereals and grains are like crack for me. I go back and forth feeling like I need "a hit". All the more reason to give it a break :o)