Moving!

I've spent the past week moving from my old bachelor to a two bedroom with my man lover! The living part is fun, the moving part--> not so much.

This is what happened the day I moved. So I was a pretty damn useless mover. I'm about 90% done though, thanks to the violation of labour laws on my moms behalf. You're the best mom.

I was carrying a stupid (can you tell i'm a little bit bitter) IKEA table really high (because i'm so strong) and the damn middle part came out and landed right on my big toe. I was in momentary shock, and still managed to get shit on the elevator, but once I reached the ground level I started crying like a little pansy.

It goes to say that I don't see any more marathons in my near future, which blows. Cheers to training upper body for the next 6 months like the average male gym-goer :)

Have a great day everyone

The most important day of your life is TODAY!

I worked on my shoulders yesterday, and woke up with sore lats and pecs. No idea where that came from, especially since I haven't worked back or chest in a few days.

I did 8-12-16 for shoulders and biceps:
8 reps x 65 bb strict press
12 reps x 20's db neutral grip press
16 reps x 10's db lateral raise

8 reps x 25 db concentration curl
12 reps x 15's db zottman curls
16 reps x 30 lb bb curl


Rest 2 minutes between each circuit and repeat each 4 times. It's a killer.

I've also decided to amp up the running, my toe isn't 100% yet but it's better than what it was. I wish I could do BJJ more often, but I injured myself each time. And with my profession, I can't afford to be injured.

On another note, i'm moving out of my apartment! I found someone to sublet it, and he should be here any moment to sign the lease. But I am super duper excited! Living alone really sucks. It's awesome when you want to blare rap and pretend you're a hip hop dancer, but shitty when you want to come home and talk to someone (dogs don't count).

After mentioning that I was going back to being vegan, I was astounded by all the negative comments. All the frustration of being vegan came back to me. WHY DO PEOPLE CARE WHAT I EAT!!!!! I'm not preachy, but they sure as hell are, and its irritating as @%$*.

I plan on running 10 km today and working on legs. We'll see if I survive.

Have an amazing and stellar day! The most important day of your life is TODAY!

Heeeellllo

Hey guys, two days in a row, im on a roll :)

Competed yesterday in DCC's little crossfit style competition and did okay. I didn't push myself as hard as I should have, but it was still fun.

The events were a lot of fun, some deadlifts, burpees, tuck jumps, you name it. On the nutrition front, it's pretty much been all over the place. Quinoa, eggs, boxes of gluten free cereal, apples, bananas, oatmeal. I want to be both paleo and vegan, but I realize that makes absolutely no sense.

See you tomorrow :)

Bear with me

I dont even know how to start this. I've been away too long and had so much stuff happen. I thought that maybe these events had changed me, but they really haven't. I still can't stick to a damn program, and can't stop shoving chocolate down my throat. The minute that I start stressing about my shape I blow up like a balloon.

What worked for me previously was training for strength and caring only about lifting heavy shit. What also worked was being vegan and training for marathons. How does one find a happy medium? Something has got to change though, my workouts have gotten boring and shitty and my meal planning is mediocre at best. I have wonderful people helping me with eating plans, but I cant follow something that makes me super lean really fast, because what happens when that's over? Im looking for longevity.

People try to help you out by telling you that their way works, and I understand that they may truly believe it because it has worked for them, but it doesn't work for everyone. CrossFit worked for me pretty well and it was super fun, but the programming was garbage. Need I really say anything about marathon training? Who the $@*& wants to do that? Not me.

So please, bear with me as I figure my shit out.

I made this blog private, then I made it un-private again. I really am a woman, with my wishy-washy moods :)

Our CrossFit team placed fourth out of 33 teams. It was a good experience, one that I won't forget. It was nice to have such great team comraderie.

I'm super tired and can't think what to type, so Ill catch you guys tomorrow. I did want to mention that I'm going to start adding more interval cardio to my training because Im starting to look like a linebacker. Not good for the dating scene.

Sometimes...

Sometimes you just have to accept that you're going to make some enemies, fall hard in the process, and feel like curling up under a rock and dying. And once your pity party is over, its time to party with a real purpose.

And yes, you might think that this means to drink a disgusting amount of Guiness, and it did, for that night. But now it means, buckle down, grow some balls and get to work.

I got to meet the man behind GoodLife today, and it was pretty eye-opening. Unless your goals are written, they remain as dreams. Goals need to be written and timed, once that is accomplished, you can make a game plan to achieve it.

So today I sat down with one of the most important females in my life and mapped this shit out (say this with a gangster accent). On a side note, I just want to voice how amazing it is to have friends that are your missing piece and bring out only the best in you, and who don't judge you when you do something really horrible that should definitely be judged.

So what better way to write out my goals then on my blog. Here they are:


10 years: Being an NCCP Olympic Lifting Coach, still doing personal training but at the elite level, doing consultations for my expertise, being PERMAJACKED, bringing a more well-planned and injury-preventative version of CrossFit out. Being highly skilled and educated in olympic lifting, muscle testing, barbell techniques, functional testing and assessment, and applying this to elite sport specific movements.

5 years: Still working at GoodLife, as a Level 5 trainer. Possibly working a bit ouf of CrossFit gyms as well. Being a part of the CrossFit community and competing RX in Regionals. Working towards NCCP certification. Working towards my lifting goals as well; hopefully having achieved a 170 lb clean and jerk. Having extensive knowledge on olympic lifting technique/ progression/regression/ program development.

1 year: Be a level 3 trainer at GoodLife. Qualify for CrossFit regionals. Work maximum hours with 100% satisfied clients seeing amazing results. Start towards reaching the peak of my actual training. Show that CrossFit can be done while remaining injury free. Focus on not binge eating.

I'm sure there are way more, and I will update as needed, but the sound of my fan blowing is really making it hard to focus.

Anyhow, today was new PR's for cleans and bench, hopefully tomorrow follows suit with the snatch :)
Competition is a little bit more than a week away! I feel a win coming :)

If this is you...

THEN PLEASE STOP!!!

Although I might not remember too much of what I learnt on the weekend ( I am the opposite of  a sponge, im oil, and new information is water) I do remember enough to know that that bench press DOES NOT COUNT. Not only is she exhibiting the worst possible form ever, she's going to injure her shoulder, her back, her neck, everything. This picture was not posted on a site about bad form, it was posted on a site about fit women doing great athletic movements. Pshhhh, as if. She should be going back to a lower weight and working on proper form again, then gradually increase the weight. If she can do it with proper form, then gradually she will get stronger. Doing that weird exorcist type bench press will not make her stronger, only screw her up for the future. The same goes for my deadlift. I've started working at a lower weight to make sure my form is perfect. My lower back has been tight alot lately, and I attribute it to improper deadlifting technique.

Things have been going great around here, lots of changes, lots of new stresses, but also lots of great improvements. I did a killer leg workout yesterday, and to further my self-punishment, I'm going to go run hill intervals with my best friend in a few hours.

Yesterdays leg workout was :

• 6 heavy squats, ass to the grass, 135 lbs
• 12 loaded lunges, each leg, 2 x 25 lb db
• 25 deadlifts, 125 lbs

You do this without stopping, and without dropping the bar. Then you rest three minutes and repeat 4 times. By the time you reach the deadlifts you're ready to collapse if you do it right. You are supposed to focus on tempo, with a 4 second eccentric. But that went out the window after the first squat.

I had intended to stretch after, but you know how that goes. So now i'm hobbling around like an aged Bilbo Baggins.

Birthday party tonight, talk to you guys later! :)

WOD

Todays workout killed my legs, it took over two hours to complete somehow. No matter how hard I try, I can't get my workouts under an hour. And yes, I know that growth hormone decreases drastically after an hour and cortisol shoots up.

I did 5x5 of back squats and deadlifts, a little WOD, and some farmers walks.

Back Squat:
1: 135          2: 145               3:145                4: 145              5: 155

Deadlift:
1: 155         2: 165                3: 175                4: 175            5: 185

It's really weird that my 5 RM was so close for my deads and back squats. My deads should be far stronger than my back squats.

Then I did 4 rounds ( I had planned on five then shortened it) of:

10 OH squats ( 55 lbs)
15 full power burpees
20 lunges holding a 45 lb plate overhead
20 bench step ups with bar on back ( 55 lbs)

Then I did some uniltateral farmers walks with a 45 lb plate. Doing it unilaterally really works on keeping that scapula retracted and KILLS YOUR ABS.

I'm excited to see how sore my legs will be tomorrow :)

INSPIRED

Apart from thinking that I had mumps, this weekend has completely affirmed my career choice and inspired me. I took a course on assessment and program design by Kevin Darby and I feel sooo educated! At first I felt sort of depressed when I realized just HOW MUCH knowledge there is out there, but then I got excited, because the possibilities are endless.

I realized that the way I've been training the past few months has been completely retarded. Yes, crossfit has its time and place when DONE CORRECTLY. But I was not doing it correctly. Doing 100 snatches is great, once a year, and when you're form is perfect. It's no wonder that my body was falling apart. So tonight Im creating a whole new program for myself that focuses on re-mastering technique at lower loads, grooving the pattern neurologically, and then adding load and intensity. I want to be doing this for the rest of my life, I don't want to  lose my shoulder in 2 years. One thing that this course reaffirmed for me was my strengths, and to focus on those. I'm good at Olympic lifting, I picked it up extremely quickly, my potential in it is big, and I like it. So why not?!?! And it's got a high badass factor right? When I say Olympic Lifting, most people look at you like, "what the hell is that", and once you explain that it's a form of excercise not related to pilates they turn their noses up at you :)          Always a great feeling

When I see my clients tomorow I can't wait to properly assess them. I admit, some of the stuff I had in their programs I might find out is completely awful for them to do. But hopefully assessing them correctly and with knowledge will lead to more effective and safe results for long term health.

So here's to education! :)

Back at it

Fricking 10 by 5's, they're grueling. I am so used to 3 reps, not 10. Today was 5 sets, 10 reps of jerks and snatches each.

Snatch: 10 reps
Set 1 (65 lbs) Set 2 (65 lbs) Set 3 (70 lbs) Set 4 (70 lbs) Set 5 (70 lbs)

The reason my weight was so low on these was because I killed myself with too many deadlifts yesterday, so any sort of deadlift motion was hindered---> like half the snatch movement

Jerks: 10 reps
Set 1 ( 65 lbs) Set 2 ( 70 lbs) Set 3 (75 lbs) Set 4 (80 lbs) Set 5 (85 lbs)

The weight looks really low, but try doing it continuous for 10 reps, it is not easy!!

I had some protein pancakes for breakfast, and now im cooking some chicken and ribs for lunch at work. I hope everyone has a great day! I know that I will :)

Day 1

Today was Day 1 of training again. Although I'm not competing for the upcoming contest I was originally a part of, I am instead training for a contest a few months away that I'm going to kill my past team in. Muahahahahahaha.


So today my best friend Karen and I did 5 sets of 10 reps of clean and jerks and bench press. When you're so used to doing 3-5 reps of things, throwing in 10 rep sets really really kills you. It also doesn't help that we didn't have chalk, but anyhow, here are my stats.

Clean n Jerk:
Set 1 ( 75lbs x 10) Set 2 (85 lbs x 10) Set 3( 85 lbs x 10) Set 4 (85 lbs x10) Set 5 (95 lbs x10)

Bench Press: 
Set 1 (65 lbs x 10) Set 2 ( 75 lbs x 10) Set 3 ( 80 lbs x 10) Set 4 ( 85 lbs x 10) Set 5 (85 lbs x 10)

WOD:
8 ROUNDS ( 20 cal row, 10 pushups with hand release, 15 full power burpees). By the fifth round is when you really start hating yourself for recommending 10 rounds, but then feel grateful that you're teammate negotiated it down to 8.

It felt nice to lift some moderately heavy weights again. Tomorrow should be a leg day, I just haven't thought what I'll do yet!

Talk to you guys later :)

Murphy's Law

After a string of really bad days, I thought that the sun was really starting to shine when new and amazing people came into my life. And then I think I hit rock bottom: because of some gym politics I am no longer training with my crossfit team, and I am no longer working at my previous restaurant job. Although I feel slightly relieved at the latter, the first change is very upsetting.

I will continue to train by myself and go to the challenge in January solo, what better way to train then with the idea of killing your past teammates in competition (Karen excluded) :)

On the job side, yes, it sucks, and yes, I might have to pound the pavement to find a waitress job on the side, but it's mighty refreshing. Some jobs just weigh you down and make you miserable with their toxic environments. You want to work somewhere where you are constantly bettering yourself and around people that bring out the best in you. I am not settling for anything less than that anymore.

Sometimes you need some bad shit to happen in order to get your ass into gear and focus on the stuff that really matters and makes you happy.

So goodbye crappy job, goodbye crossFit team, and helllllo happppy Marianne!

Apples n Bacon: A marriage made in heaven

I bought a great paleo cookbook the other day and it totally inspired me! Sometimes that's all you need!

Unfortunately, this new-found inspiration didn't have such a positive effect on my kitchen.

First up was a pulled chicken crockpot recipe, it looks disgusting, but it's a party in my mouth!

Pulled Chicken:

2 chicken breasts, cut up into pieces
1 can diced tomatoes, no added salts or herbs
1 red onion diced
4 carrots, diced
2 green onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 handful mushrooms, diced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 tbsp chili powder
S & P to taste


Combine all ingredients into a slow cooker and cook! I had it on all night and I had the weirdest meat dreams. I won't be doing that again.


I also added 2 lamb sausages in there crumbled up. Mighty tasty.

Next up, I mixed some berries, watermelon, and nuts in a bowl for an easy pre-workout snack. Or as an addition to some protein for breakfast.

Next, a super amazing salad that I ate in 2 minutes, so ignore the photos; there wasn't much left to take a picture of.

Super Delicious Paleo Salad:


3 handfuls spinach
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
1 avocado, diced
3 hardboiled eggs, diced
5 slices bacon, cooked and diced
1 large granny smith apple, sliced, skin on


Dressing:


1 tbsp dijon
2 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp paleo mayo
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
S&P to taste
1 stalk green onions, diced


One more thing that I made where I didn't take a picture because I ate it too fast was "Paleo Workout Pancakes":


1 ripe banana, mashed
2 tbsp almond butter
2 eggs
1 scoop whey powder


Mix well and fry in coconut oil! So delicious. I ate these cold during my workout, and a bit after. The banana replaces your glycogen, and the whey helps prevent you from going catabolic.


Here is an excerpt from the above mentioned book:
"The food that you eat before a workout is to fuel your body for the even it's about to do. This type of fuel needs to be light, relatively quick asimilating, and produce a lower insulin response to avoid a spike in hormones and thus a crash during your workout. A meal that contains some good fat (avocado, flax oil, seeds, nuts), lean protein ( tuna, white meat chicken and turkey, tilapia) , and low glycemic carbs is best ( berries, apple, citrus). Once you have completed an athletic event, it is extremely important to refuel your body and provide it with the necessary ingredients to recover. During a long or intense workout, your body uses its glycogen storage and breaks down muscle fibers. Your job postworkout is to supply your body with the necessary building blocks to reconstruct muscle and store glycogen once again. The two food groups that are most useful at this time are protein and carbs. Additionally, it might be necessary to rehydrate and replace losts electrolytes. A meal containing a lean protein source and a higher-glycemic carb (sweet potato, apple sauce, mango, melon, grapes)  is a perfect recovery meal. Fat, post-workout is not necessary and is best left for a meal two or mroe hours after the post-workout meal."



Talk tomorrow!

Sorry it's taken me so long. I feel like I've had absolutely no rest time. My cortisol is through the roof, i'm not sleeping enough, and my training is going backwards. I'm dedicating today, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to full fledged rest from excercise. Unfortunately I'll be working like a maniac anyways, but, it's better than nothing.

Yesterday I did a 20 min WOD with a co-worker, and I almost made him throw up: 4 rounds (20 cal row, 10 clean and jerks (75 lbs), 15 pushups). Then I finished it off with some traditional shoulder work ( 4 sets 6 reps of shoulder press (30 lb dumbbells), 4 sets of 8 reps of front raises (15 lb dumbells), and some dumbell snatches, 4 sets 8 reps (40 lb dumbbells).

I probably shouldn't have done shoulders yesterday since I'm showing some people how to use Kettelbells tomorrow, but I'm still young right?! I'll load up on BCAA's and fish oil.

I made some delicious meals in the last few days. I don't have time now, but I'll post the pictures and recipes later tonight!

Bye :)

Went to see a soccer game today at BMO field, TFC vs. Salt Lake City. There were some super duper cute players on the Salt Lake City team!

Today was 5 rounds of 20 cal row, 15 pushups, 10 burpees. It was intense. Tomorrow is the last WOD from the CrossFit Games.

Wish me luck.


P.S. Totally fell off the bandwagon today, I think I need to be on that show intervention. Maybe if my family and friends cry about how much sugar I eat and how it affects our relationships negatively, I'll stop. Just maybe.

Hey guys,

I've been working some twelve hour shifts and have sooo much stuff to do. Thankfully today was a rest today because I can't really walk and my traps and rhomboids are on fire.

Tomorrow is a rowing wod. I'll let you know the specifics tomorrow!

That's me, upside down of course, doing a 215 lb dead the other day. Today's 175 lbs felt oddly hard. I have so much to do today and not enough time. I wish I could fit a nap in as well, my cortisol must be through the roof. But no rest for the wicked.

Ill update you guys later :)

Extraordinary Results

Extraordinary results call for extraordinary measures. I get it now, if I want to look like a super buff crossfitter, I can't keep cheating on my meals and doing sub-par on the metabolic conditioning aspects of my training. This is my pledge people, I am dedicating myself here to my diet (not a lose weight diet, but a lifestyle diet), and stating that I will no longer have a jar of peanut butter a day, nibble on fries at work, or lust after cheesecake. I just have to keep in mind the results:

As for training, today was dedicated to entirely upper body since tomorrow is a deadly leg assault. It's going to suck tomorrow because my legs are still shot from yesterday's max thrusters in 8 mins (60 at 65 lbs). Todays WODs were:
1) 5 rounds of (5 dips, 10 hand release pushups, 5 half rope climbs)--> still working on the full ones
2) 3 rounds of (10 pullups, 10 toes to bar/ knees to elbow, 10 bench press (75 lbs))

Here's a sneak peak at tomorrows workout, Im excited for it already. My legs are my powerhouse, so I love leg movements.

1) 21-15-9 of deadlifts (175 lbs) and box jumps (20 inches)
2) 3 rounds of (3 band sprints, 10 squat cleans (85 lbs), 10 bar facing and jump burpees)

I still have turf toe, so it's hindering any progression in double unders, and I'm hoping that tomorrows burpees won't aggravate it.

Other than the full jar of peanut butter I ate in two days, I've been enjoying having berries, apples and citrus back in my life. I've had quite a bit of chicken, spinach, ground beef, turkey burgers, cucumber, bell peppers, bok choy, and carrots. That pretty much sums up my diet. Meat is usually cooked in light coconut oil, and vegetables are eaten raw and crispy!

I have to get ready for work, so I will let you know how tomorrows savagery goes!

Bad days

You win some and you lose some, right? After having a string of great lifting days, it was bound to happen, I had a bad day. My heart wasn't in it, my body was tired, and I wasn't commiting to the lifts. I did get new 1 RM's for the snatch and the jerk, but they weren't even close to what I had hoped they would be.

That workout ruined my whole day yesterday, and it made me soooo miserable. Ask Rocky, he had to spend the day with me, and I was NOT a happy camper. Then he showed me our old 1 RMs from May, and I instantly felt better. Though my results from yesterday didn't seem huge to me then, when compared to results from a few months ago, they were quite impressive! Bad days are bound to happen, but what makes you great is how you let it affect you and how you react to it. I ruined a whole day yesterday moping around feeling sorry for myself, maybe I should have researched snatch techniques and practiced, etc.

Even if it was only a small gain yesterday, atleast it was a gain right?! Heck, Im not going backwards, so I'll take a little step forwards!

Don't be too hard on yourself, any step forward is a step in the right direction!



On a side note, I had completely cut out fruit and all other carbs from my diet as a recommendation from a friend, but I don't believe in not eating fruit, so I am bringing that back into my diet. Helllllo apples and berries, I've missed you guys!!! :)

This is my vice. Apples and natural peanut butter.

Optional Day

 Hey guys! So today was a nice sort of active rest day. We did a core circuit workout, 50 seconds on, 10 seconds off for about 15 minutes. Some of the workouts included toes to bar, side plank holds on bosu, L-sits, and weighted back extensions. Afterwards, was 10 rounds of double under tabatas. My double unders have gotten worse over time, it's really weird. I went from being really shit at them, to being pretty good, to even shittier. It makes no sense and it's incredibly frustrating. Afterwards, were some weighted vest suicide runs where I proceeded to fall down and roll my ankle. Apart from the last bit it was alot of fun. I also worked on my chin-ups, as the pictures above showed. My legs are a bit tight, so I hope they loosen up for Sundays 1 RM lifts of jerks and snatches. Big numbers, big numbers!

On the food front, today was very uneventful:

Breakfast Pre-workout (5:30 am) : 1/2 chicken breast sauteed in coconut oil with some seasoning + 1/2 cucumber, 1/4 avocado,     1tbsp walnuts
Workout (6:30): 2 cups green tea, 1 scoop BCAAs, 1 scoop Vega Sport
Post Workout (8:30 am): 1 scoop whey with water + 3 eggs with green onions, mushrooms, smoked salmon + 1/2 red pepper.
Snackage: BBQ chicken- 1/4 chicken, ground turkey, 1 orange, 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, 2 stalks celery
Lunch (2:00 ish): 1/2 lb ground beef mixed with zucchini, red pepper, onion, and garlic.
Dinner (9:00): Greens with bacon, turkey, chicken, eggs, and avocado.

I felt so tempted today by dessert. It is sooooo hard to be surrounded by delicious desserts and not eat them. I kept trying to think of reasons to rationalize eating them, like "to celebrate my new job, to celebrate my heavy lifts, new PR's!, it didnt rain today, and blah blah, the list is endless". But instead, I thought about how great I would feel tomorrow if I didnt eat it. So I just ate some bacon, I feel better already!

I am very tired today so I need a good nights rest before a long day at work tomorrow! Talk to you guys soon, hopefully with some new personal snatch records!

 LITTLE HEALTH MONSTER IS BACK!

Hey guys! I'm back and better than ever! So many great changes have happened in my life, and I couldn't be happier. Im so excited to share them with you.

Me on a bike trip I went on with my beau Rocky, yes, that's his real name

He's super human. He has to be, with a name like Rocky.

1) I am a certified personal trainer working out of Goodlife Fitness!

2) I will be certified in Crossfit and Darby Training Systems! So exciting!

3) I did my first Crossfit competition, and didn't do too bad! (9th place)

4) I've gotten hurricane strong, when I think back to my past training, I have no idea what I was doing.

5) I've moved out on my own and met some really great people! My crossfit training team is like my new family. I love them all! We're currently training for the Element Open Team Competition, should be fun!

6) I've gone strict paleolithic, and it has helped with my stomach issues and I've never felt this good!

That's alot to take in, it feels like my life has done a full 360. Even though I went through a really rough patch earlier this year, I wouldn't trade it for the world, because without it, I wouldn't have gotten to this happy spot.

So, Ill get right into the good stuff: TRAINING! Right now our crossfit team is in our first of three phases of training, and in terms of strength, the results are through the roof for me. I've added about 10-15 lbs on all of my previous 1 RM's for deadlift, back squat, clean, jerk, and snatch. The only thing really holding me back is my bench press, it just isn't changing. But that's for another post. So far, our workouts start with a strength component, which have progressed from 5 x 5 to 5x 3, to 5x 1's. It's usually bench press and cleans, snatches and jerks, deads and squats. After the strength work we have one or two WODs (workouts of the day--> a stupid crossfit term), which vary all the time.

As my strength has gone up, conversely, my metabolic and speed work has gone down. Not quite the results I was aiming for, but I'm just going to have to step it up on the WODs.

Todays workout was: 5 sets of 1 RM for deadlifts and back squat. I ended at 215 for deadlifts, and 170 for backsquats. I felt like I could have gone higher, but by that point I was just exhausted. You really stress your neurological system when you lift at your max like that. Next up was the WOD. Twelve minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible--> yes, another stupid crossfit term), of 20 wallballs (12 lbs), 15 overhead squats (65 lbs), and a heavy prowler (100 lbs). I have turf toe, so the prowler was really killing me, but it was a great workout.

Ill keep the site updated with my daily training and improvements from now on, hopefully you'll see me cleaning 150 lbs by September. :)

The diet has really complemented the training. I feel like I wouldn't have been able to get these results had it not been for being paleo. I know, its a huge shift, FROM VEGAN TO PALEO (now thats a true 360), but I wouldn't go back. Yes, I have to rationalize in order to eat the meat, and yes, I really am going against my morals, but it's something I can stand doing.

As an example, so far today this is what I've eaten:
 Pre-workout (5 am): 4 eggs fried in coconut oil + 1/2 avocado + 1/2 cucumber
                                  1 scoop vega sport, and fish oil
Workout:                   1 scoop BCAA's mixed with green tea and lots of water
 Post- workout (9 am) : 8-10 oz pork chop in coconut oil with cayenne + 3/4 cup broccoli and cauliflower
                                     10 almonds, 1 scoop whey mixed with BCAA's



I have to stretch it out before my back seizes, and I have to bring the bears out. Talk to you guys soon :)

So glad to be back!

So it's been a while...

Hey guys, it's been quite a while! I've been in a sort of rut lately, feeling stuck in my present situation, and didn't at all feel like sharing my feelings on the blog at that time.

But the sun is out, its warmer, and i'm starting to feel like my old self.  I've made a goal that within 15 years, I want to live in California. I have no idea how to start that goal, but it's going to happen :)

Eating around here has been really good, lots of lean proteins, veggies, and fruits. I've been low carbing it, so the only carbs I really get are from fruits, and my oats in the morning. I mix it up though, on some days I do higher carb and some days I do lower carb, anything to keep your body from reaching a plateau.

I've also stepped up my game on the workout front. I've been supersetting most of my sets and shortening my rest to 45-60 seconds. I find that lifting for 8 reps and then sitting around for 2 minutes did nothing for me. I know that when I am supposed to lift something for 8 reps, I pick a moderately heavy weight, but if I had to, I could pump out 20 reps at the weight. I really need to learn how to believe in myself and my ability to lift heavier. But on that note, I really need to get hand straps. My grip gives out way too fast, it's one of the factors that limits me in going heavier. I have these dainty little wrists, so increasing my forearm/wrist strength is up there on the to do list.

I've also been taking one high intensity conditioning class a week, and it is amazing! I've also met some great people there too. Flipping tires, pushing plates, etc., it feels horrible when you're doing it, but you feel amazing afterwards! Conditioning is what my body has been needing to bring my shape up to the next level!

Now, for some food pictures! Heres some random eats from the past few weeks.

Note: I've been eating protein pancakes everyday for a month. This stops today!

Some lemon pepper salmon, and "Sweet Chili Heat" salmon

Kale salad with a garlic tahini marinade

Chicken salad with bean salad, greens, and feta

Shrimp pasta with spinach noodles

This is what Gigi does when we cook :)

Well, I have to head off to work! Hope everyone is having a great day :)

4 day protein pancake streak

This is me making dinner. More on that after.

Back to pancakes. I think I'll be having these for the next few days. I'm so excited at dinner to go to bed so that breakfast can come sooner. I've been getting used to not-so-sweet pancakes, so I don't put anything on top of them, just blueberries. I'm sure you're sick of hearing about these pancakes, so I'll move on. But if you haven't made them yet, make them now :)

I found a recipe in Clean Eating magazine (my new fav) for curried chicken with green peas. The original recipe had 37 grams of carbs, and 32 grams of protein. Since their calculations included 1/2 cup of rice, I figured I could make this into a low carb, and more healthful meal by subbing in veggies for grains.

Update: I just checked, cutting out the 1/2 cup of rice takes out 23 grams of carbs from the recipe.

This recipe turned out super delicious. It was very spicy, had lots of flavour, and went perfectly with the vegetables.

Here is the recipe that I adapted from Clean Eating:

Curried chicken with vegetables:
Keep in mind this is more of a Thai curry, not Indian curry

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup minced scallions (or green onions for people like me who had no idea what these were)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed, and preferably organic, free-run
• 2 tbsp curry paste, I used red
• 1 cup veg broth or chicken broth, I used veg
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• S&P to taste
• 10 asparagus spears, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 red onion, chopped
• 2 cups broccoli, chopped

Directions:

Saute your vegetables, minus the peas, garlic, and scallions, in a pan with 1 tbsp oil. Add some salt and pepper. Salt and pepper your chicken cubes. In a separate pan, saute your scallions and garlic. After two minutes, add in your chicken and saute till' golden (about 5-7 minutes). Whisk together your curry paste and broth, and then add to your chicken mixture. Cook for 2 minutes, simmer, and then add your sauteed veggies from the other pan. Cook for a few more minutes, or until desired tenderness is reached. Salt and pepper everything and enjoy with a huge glass of water, you'll need it.

My back is aching typing this post, because I have posture like Quasi Modo. I have to lay down to straighten it out, I'll see you guys tomorrow after I stuff my face with protein pancakes.

Yep, that's me sitting at the computer.