My best supporter and my worst enemy are one in the same.

I wrote this about a year ago and pull it out every so often to give me a little motivation. Today is day 13 of the Whole30 program and I feel great about the choices I have made and will continue to make.

We know that by following the rules (ALL of the rules), you will see success and progress week over week. I believe we all know this intellectually, but oftentimes our emotions get in the way of intellectual thinking which can lead to self-doubt and saboutage our approach to a healthier us,

 a real debate that goes on in my head sounds like this:

Me: Okay, people are seeing the scale move in the right direction. I did great yesterday and can't wait to step on the scale to see how much I am down!

<scale groans with equal passion as it did yesterday and no change>

My worst enemy (also me): Lard Ass! Okay, just kidding about the Lard ass comment,. :) hmmm...I did everything I was supposed to do yesterday, was close to perfect on Tuesday, and though I chose not to exercise on Monday, everything else was pretty good, so maybe this is just another diet program that is not for me so continue the game (at least as best I can knowing I am not going to see the results everyone else sees because my body and reasons for being heavy are different from others), support your teammates and set them up for success, and at the end of 4 weeks, find something else to try.

 

Me (my biggest supporter): "Don't be retarded! Consider that the program and plan works and consider that you haven't given it a chance to be successful. Think about what you read and the principles that are outlined. You believe in them, you know that when you are disciplined, you see success over time (in this case, week over week). Also consider that you really didn't have a perfect day yesterday. You know your mind is scatterbrained right now and you know you are not sleeping well and when you exercise, you might be going through the motions vs. getting the ultimate benefits of focused and deliberate strengthening, lengthening, toning your muscles and/or building your aerobic capacity. 

 

My worst enemy (me):  Yeah, what do you expect? You half assed the workout even though you got 55 minutes in instead of 20 deliberate, potentially intense minutes, you ate 5 times yesterday (you think!), but you didn't write it down to be sure, and you go caught up in work (or be honest, you worked really late to distract yourself from other stresses in your life and pretended to be the noble worker). Oh yeah, and the snack sized candy you ate and justified b/c it was little and probably less than 100 calories, what do you think that is doing for ya? Just give up! Blame it on the faultiness of the program looking for something else. Create a list of reasons this program doesn't work for you and share that with your friends as you either encourage them to do it because they are the right body type or current weight or current level of exerciser that this book was REALLY designed for or discourage them from trying because you didn't see success and your friends are just like you, so they won't see success either.

 

Me (my biggest motivator): You're right! I have not been as disiplined and focused as I know I need to be. I have had success in the past and the behaviors I demonstrated when I was successful are not being demonstrated 100% of the time during. I am not going to beat myself up, nor am I going to give up. It was hard to create or engage those behaviors and I get frustrated that they are not easy, but I am not giving up! I am committed to this for me and committed to this for my friends who are doing this with me.

 

My point:consider that it is just a matter of time and the scale will move because you are following the plan! Consider that you are allowing yourself to be ALMOST Perfect thinking that will give you what you need and aren't really giving 100%! Consider that you are self deprecating when you see the scale hasn't moved and others are dropping pounds and that is saboutaging your belief in you! Consider that you can be truly happy for others who are seeing success and not see it as a negative about your own progress. Consider what you have direct control over. You can control whet you choose to eat. You can control when you choose to eat. You can control what time you go to bed and what time you wake up and what type of exercise you choose to do and when you will do it. You can choose to plan meals, and carry 3 liters of water with you and pack portable meals when you are on the go. Consider that it may (or likely will) require sacrificing something else, but isn't that what a chioice is, selecting one thing over another thing?

 

Consider that you can't control the number on the scale, but you can influence it by choosing to follow the plan, And influencing the number on the scale does not mean leaning a little to the front or back or removing hair clips and jewelry to get the scale to come down 0.2 lbs),

 

Choose to believe in your own capabilities and stop listening to your version of "my worst enemy: ME".

I Got Mail!!

I love packages delivered by UPS. Today Omega3 fish oil from Stronger, Faster, Healthier and jump ropes from Power Systems have arrived.
Why Omega 3 fish oils? - they are natural anti-inflammatory agents, and  play a role in brain health, heart health, protection against cancer, Alzheimer’s and depression, improvement of skin conditions, etc.

Why jump rope? to practice double-unders (and to give to my family and friends for Christmas so they, too, can practice double unders!)

picture coming soon

Making wishes come true through commitment, hard work, and the support of friends

Most recently, it has existed as a wish since I began the P90X program. I have dreamed of being able to do pull-ups,  to not look foolish as I grasp my hands on the overhead bar, engage my muscles, use all my might and barely get a shoulder shrug in.  I would sheepishly smile, crack a joke, and step away from the bar so 'those that could do pull-ups' could use the equipment to get as many reps in before it was time to move to something else.

I have said (under my breath & really quietly) that I would be an amazing feat if I could do one this year BUT I haven't believed that it was actually possible.  I read the comments my Coach left on the last blog post and it made me realize that I am approaching things all wrong. First, I haven't really believed in myself and my own capabilities. Second, I shy away from practicing and working towards my goals vs. focusing on incremental improvement. Third, I haven't enlisted the support of those who can help me, my trainers and my friends.

That all changes, right now! I am committing to the goal of performing a real, un-assisted pull-up by January 1, 2011. I know I am physically capable if I do the work. I also know that there are people who will help me through coaching, encouragement,and  holding me accountable to my own word, and perhaps a few (I'll settle for 1 or 2) of you will join me on my quest! =^_^=

Everything is possible!

What is it about pull-ups?

I do not like them (edited to remove "Hate" since my mother taught me never to hate anything ;-))!
More accurately, I do not like that I cannot do pull-ups! Seriously, what is it? isolation of a certain muscle that does not get used very often? Carrying extra weight? Compromising the move with improper form to to make it 'easier' to get your chin over the bar? Is it about consistency and working on them every day?
ARRGGGHHH

Enough ranting! All that being said, I used the green for ths first two rounds and added the red band to the last 3 was able to do the 5X5 strength workout this morning. Yea! Improvement from ring rows.  I can definitely feel that my lats got a workout.

Today's met-con
40-30-20
sit-ups
kettlebell swings (26#)

time: 7:14

Eight is Enough? No Way!

It is Day 8 of the Whole30 Program (http://www.whole9life.com/) and the start of my second week of squeaky clean eating. The time I spent planning and preparing my meals yesterday made today so much easier! I ate three times and had a cup of coffee with coconut milk before 8:30 (pre-workout, post-workout, and breakfast). Lunch was roasted turkey breast, steamed veggies, and avocado. Afternoon snack was sliced beef, spinach, and a few macadamia nuts. Dinner was ground turkey stuffed acorn squash, based on this recipe http://whole9life.com/2010/10/stm-stuffed-acorn-squash. All in All, a very tasty day!

TMI alert: I am experiencing digestive 'discomfort' and belly bloat. I attribute the bloat to the concentrated intake of vegetables and dense fat sources and wondering if the Fish Oil supplements are causing me to be a bit dispeptic.

I wanted to add a little inspirational message to this post so I used Google to search "Overcoming Food Cravings". I chose the second result from the top, the article that was published on Otober 16, 2010. Here is the image that was at the top of the article:
 
I will be providing feedback to Wikihow, the publisher of the article letting them know that this is not a good image to display when people are trying to overcome cravings! Luckily, this doesn't look nearly as delicious as the ones I bake, so I am not tempted! Say no to the vegan chocolate chip cookie!*^_^*

Contraband and Lessons Learned

I went to see a movie and know I am susceptible to the ritual of movie theater popcorn. I packed myself a little baggie of coconut flakes and a bottle of water and bypassed the concession stand and went directly to theater 9 to watch ''Life as We Know It". Second lesson learned: Listen to the MovieFone critics when they tell you to "Skip It". While Josh Duhamel is nice to look at, it was not a good movie! I skipped the first lesson that was learned, at least in this blog post. I mentioned in an earlier post that my Whole30 experience was inhibited by my lack of preparation, particularly preparation of vegetables. Today, I grilled steak, chicken, and chiken sausage, roasted a turkey breast, and baked, sauteed, and steamed a variety of vegetables. I packed a variety of easy-to-grab containers and I am all set for the week. I am looking forward to days 8-14 of the Whole30 program and cannot wait to be 'fat adaptive' where I begin using fat at fuel! ;-)

"You Don't Look Like a Pop Star..."

I saw a video clip of Simon Cowell providing feedback to Clay Aiken in one of the first season's of American Idol and it stuck with me, not because I don't look like a pop star, but because I don't look like a marathoner/triathlete/Ironman.

I acknowledge that the primary gap in my pursuit to optimal health and fitness is my approach to nutrition. In the past, I have not priortized (or if I did, it was short-lived) nutrition and eating habits. I have convinced myself that the weight and body composition will take care of itself because I am burning tons of calories in my workouts. I have eaten too few calories or too many calories for the duration of my endurance training and both have led to weight gain and poor performance, I have half-heartedly treated food as fuel until the 'fuel' options were not very appealing or I wasn't seeing the progress I expected to see and it turned into me treating food as sources of yumminess!

Day 5 of Squeaky Clean Eating on the Whole30 program (http://www.whole9life.com/) - Two Thumbs up - good macronutrient mix for my meals, including veggies; dinner with friends and no temptation to 'cheat', starting to understand what my pre-workout meal tolerances are and getting used to eating 3 times before 8:00 a.m. (pre- and post- workout meals and breakfast!)


Goal for 2011 - Complete Half Ironman in 5:30
My fastest Half Ironman was over 6 hours at Gulf Coast (fast and flat course) in 2004. Yep, 40 minutes off my fastest 70.3 time on a more challenging course. It would be nice to look like an Ironman, too!
Challenging? YES!
mpossible? NO WAY!
Factors involved in accomplishing this goal:
Body Composition
Nutrition
Disciplined/Purposeful workouts (CrossFit, swimming, biking, running and yoga)

A one man (woman) Science Experiment

I attended a day-long nutrition workshop this past weekend and found the theories and approaches presented very compelling. The phrase that got my attention was one the speakers used in response to "how can I be sure this will work for me?" They responded, " be a one man science experiment and dedicate your efforts to squeaky clean eating for 30 days."

I am on day four and, while challenging at times, I am not feeling any detrimental effects (like being tired or irritable/cranky) and I am finding it moderately easy. I say moderately easy only because I did not do as great a job in planning and preparing my meals for this week.
I spent Sunday planning and preparing for the Whole30 program:

• creating a shopping list comprised of all healthful foods 'approved' on the Whole30 program
• making healthful choices at Sprouts (choosing grass-fed, organic Chicken, beef, and fish and easy to eat fats like avocado, shredded coconut, coconut milk, & macadamia nuts, and loading up on market-fresh vegetables)
• Pre-cooking the protein that I thought I would eat for meals (I fired up the grill for the steaks and chicken and hard-boiled a dozen eggs)
• 'thinking' about the variety of nutrient rich veggies I would add to my meals - This is what I will change next week!

The hardest part for me is getting the vegetables in my meal. I made my other food choices very easy, but left the preparation of my veggies to just-in-time and learned that I would rather not eat a veggie with my meal if it requires me to peel a cucumber & slice an onion or steam some broccoli, or sauté some spinach, snow peas, and green/yellow/red bell peppers. I should have known! *^_^*
I changed my approach last night and put together baggies of grape tomatoes and carrots and brought some fresh spinach to add to my scrambled eggs that I had for breakfast. Next week, I will include vegetable preparation on my planning day and package delicious vegetable concoctions into portable, ready-to eat servings.
I rambled on more than I anticipated about my experience, so I will stop and direct you to the website. Let me know if you are going to become a one man science experiment and commit the Whole30 program!
Check out www.whole9life.com