All You Need is Love

I cannot believe that Week 3 of the challenge is coming to an end Sunday. This challenge seems to be FLYING by - the best part of that is that I have been loving every minute of it and I don't miss a thing...not cheese, not pasta, not bread...maybe ice cream, but it'll be too cold for that before ya know it!

The biggest challenge(s) I faced this week was going out to dinner. This is New Hampshire, I am lucky to meet someone outside of GSCF that has actually heard the word "paleo" before, never mind a restaurant that caters to the lifestyle - but for me, going out to dinner is a reality. My father is obsessed with Cactus Jacks and my god parents like to go out once a month or so to catch up.

I think I did pretty well considering I went out to dinner back to back nights...

 

Wednesday's Menu:                                  

Breakfast - 1 Apple chicken sausage with two scrambled eggs 

Snack - Strawberries and almonds 

Lunch - Chicken and apples 

Snack: almond butter and baby carrots 

Dinner - Seafood Gumbo, steamed broccoli, and a "Jamacian" margarita

Wednesday night was Cactus Jack's with Dad...I wasn't sure what to get, so I tried the Gumbo - little did I know, the Gumbo was in a thick, gravy like sauce. Fortunately, there was a TON of seafood in it and they were very accommodating and let me skip out on the rice and add a side of steamed broccoli instead. In an effort to stay as Paleo as possible, I literally ate all of the seafood out of the bowl, along with my side of broccoli and avoided whatever that "sauce" was that it was in. Of course, I had to have a "jamacian" - 1800 and lime juice! Yummy!

Moving on to night TWO of going out to eat...tonight's venue - Hooked, which happens to be one of my FAVORITE restaurants in Manchester. I get the exact same meal every time I go there because it is just so DAMN good! Their Seafood Cioppino is to die for! It's a giant bowl of seafood (scallops, shrimp, crawfish, muscles, clams, and tilapa) served with some garlic bread - I will get to that....

Thursday's Menu: 

Repeat Wednesday's breakfast, lunch, and snacks

Dinner - Seafood Cioppino and two glasses of red wine

I wish I had taken a picture of the garlic bread that comes with this meal - which in the past, I crushed. I contemplated eating the bread, like I really thought about it as it sat on my plate...then I remembered that I was in FIFTH place for points in the challenge and that bread was not worth the 5 points OR the crappy feeling that I am sure would follow from eating it!

This next picture has nothing to do with food, CrossFit, or Paleo - at all...but it has to do with life and is quite adorable, so I feel the need to share it with you all...

A friend sent me this the other day and it make me think...kind of like the Justin Bieber song says (yes, I am about to quote the Biebs) "As long as you love me, we could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke...as long as you love me, I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold" I suppose a better song choice for a quote would have been, "All you need is love" as the Beatles are (were) much cooler than Justin Bieber...but I digress...

Regardless of your age, race, what you eat, where you workout, how old you are, your sexual preferences, what coast you live on...if you can find that one person who make you happy forever and always, you will be forever happy, like this amazing couple I totally creeped on at dinner Thursday night...

This picture does not show the love I saw between these two on Thursday night, but they truly seemed SO happy together. I don't know how old they are, how long they've been together, or anything else about their life....but I know one thing, this is what I want some day.

Whoops...looks like I've gone totally odd topic and have now run out of time....weekend update will come soon!

Pork Chops and Apple Sauce

In my last post, I mentioned that I had pork and spaghetti squash for dinner Sunday night...what I didn't mention was what happened when I attempted to cook the squash in the microwave...

OOPS looks like I didn't poke it with the fork quite enough...or maybe I just cooked it for too long?! Either way, it was quite the mess to clean up! I was able to salvage enough of it to get three meals from it, so all was not lost!

I wanted something easy to make, that I could throw in the crock pot before leaving to sky dive, that would essentially be ready when I got home - so I googled "paleo crockpot" and this is what I came up with...

I wish I knew how to rotate pics on here!

"Pork Chops and Apple Sauce"

1 Pork Loin
3-4 Apples (more or less if you like)
Cinnamon
Honey
Onion
Garlic
EVOO

(I chose to marinate the pork in garlic, onion, and EVOO the night before, but this was not part of the original recipe)
Dice up an apple, put it in the crock pot - drizzle some honey and sprinkle some cinnamon over it
Add the pork
Cut 4-6 slits in the pork, drizzle some honey in each slit and add a slice of apple to each slit
Slice up the rest of the apples, put them in the crock pot, drizzle some honey, sprinkle some cinnamon
Cook on high 6-8 hours - VOILA!

This meal was certainly a lifesaver, due to my lack of time and planning this weekend, for the upcoming week!

So what do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news? 

Whenever someone asks me that question, I usually choose to hear the bad news first, in hopes that the good news outweighs the bad and just erases it from my mind!

So here it goes...I had a major cheat day on Monday!!! Let me introduce you to my friend...

Being the WONDERFUL teacher that I am, I decided to bring some candy in for the kids - well, clearly I was buying it just as much for myself as I was for them, because I ate THREE of these bad boys for lunch - yes, I said it - for LUNCH!

This is what happens when you don't plan ahead and have no groceries on hand and no microwave at work for leftovers! 

Monday's Menu:

Breakfast: Leftover pork

Lunch: KitKats

Dinner: Leftove pork

WOW - what a great eating day!!

I suppose you want the good news now?

I paid a visit to the nutritionist on Tuesday and was weighed for the first time since I have started this challenge...I am DOWN 4 lbs and 3% body fat! I've got to say, for only being at CrossFit for 3 weeks and doing Paleo for 2, I'd say this is quite the accomplishment! Would I have loved for her to say - WOW, you've lost 8lbs in the last 2 weeks?! Well, of course - but I keep up a steady 2lbs a week, I will be at my goal in NO TIME!

Big thanks to one of my favorite people in the world, Dan Beaulieu for getting my lazy butt back in gear and over to Granite State CrossFit and encouraging me to become "Fierce Sara" - without his constant nagging to "just come check out the box - you'll love it there, everyone is so awesome" and getting me out for drinks to meet Mat, where I was again encouraged to come join the GSCF family, I would not be where I'm at right now....and you wouldn't have the joy of reading this LOVELY little blog of mine :)

Tuesday's Menu:

Breakfast - 3 scrambled eggs

Snack - beef jerky and cucumbers

Lunch - leftover pork and spaghetti squash

Dinner - Cinnamon Chicken and Apples

Off to meet my Dad for dinner...wonder what I can find that's "Paleo" over at Cactus Jacks!!

Oh - I almost forget...our team picture was available for download today, check  us out! Gotta love my perfect T-Rex pose 

Week 2 COMPLETE!

WOAH - what a busy end to the week/weekend...a field trip, a wedding, and SKYDIVING!!!

Thursday and Friday were standard days with nothing exciting to report on.

Thursday Menu
Breakfast - 2 eggs cooked with coconut oil
Snack - Strawberries and almonds
Lunch - Salad with "taco chicken"
Snack - Celery with almond butter
Dinner - Spaghetti squash with turkey tenderloins and veggies

 Thursday dinner

I thought taking my kiddos on a field trip Friday would be hard - my boss brought donuts for everyone ...

...a weakness of mine in the past, I managed to avoid them, and very easily I must say. On top of that, the only food served at the field trip was PIZZA. Fortunately, I knew this ahead of time and brought snacks of turkey and veggies, as well as an apple and almonds with me, so I wasn't tempted at all!

I was nervous for Friday's dinner, as I was going out in Boston - but I must say, I kicked some Paleo ASS! Oysters, grilled shrimp and salmon, ONE glass of red wine and ONE tequila and soda water! Sheer exhaustion from the crazy, early morning WOD and my general lack of sleep probably helped out, because I was in no mood to stay out late drinking!

I think Friday's crazy hard WOD helped me stay focused with my eating...who wants to work THIS HARD and then throw it all away on donuts and pizza??

Friday Menu

Breakfast - Banana with almond butter, strawberries

Snack - Turkey, grape tomatoes

Lunch - Grilled chicken salad

Snack - Apple, almonds

Dinner - Oysters, grilled shrimp and salmon, green beans, 1 glass of red wine, 1 glass of tequila and soda water

I showed up for my first every Saturday WOD this weekend and, not gonna lie, I was nervous. 5am WODs are like my comfort zone...it's usually just me, maybe 1 or 2 other people that are newer to CF than I am, and Mat. I've never worked out with the other Matt or with a bigger group of people, so I had NO clue what to expect. Damn, there was NOTHING to be scared of - Matt was just as helpful and encouraging as Mat is, plus Dan was there - the other 3 people WOD'ing were super nice and I am glad I sucked it up and showed up! 

I'm so glad I went! Going to do my best to make Saturday WODs a regular thing for me!

Wedding time...I was running around like a crazy person all day but managed to get a decent breakfast and lunch in - I wasn't sure what dinner was going to be like, so I didn't want to take my chances! Fortunately, along with the Chicken Cordon Bleu, two types of rolls, potatoes and rice - there was was also pot roast and salad...guess what I had??

HOLY hunk of beef!!

I must admit, I took a cupcake to go...but after ONE bite, I threw it out. If you know me, cupcakes are my FAVORITE thing...I used to feel that if I never saw another cookie, pie, or bag of chips again, but had cupcakes, I'd be happy...I didn't want it, had no desire to eat it and wasn't mad about throwing it out! 

That felt GOOD 

Saturday Menu:

Breakfast - 2 eggs + 1 white scrambled with pepper and onion - two cups of black coffee

Lunch - Leftover spaghetti squash/turkey/veggies

Dinner: Salad, pot roast, 1 bite of a cupcake, red wine (4 glass - TWO too many)

Up bright and early Sunday morning to jump out of a plane...yes, that's right, jump out of a perfectly good plane for fun! It almost didn't happen - when we got there at 8am and it was WINDY!! At 10:30 they announced that no one would be jumping anytime soon and said we could hang out and wait or reschedule. We decided to take a chance and hope for the best. Back to Manchester for breakfast (brunch) and before we knew it, the call was made and we were back and jumping by 1:30! 

It was the most amazing experience of my life and I literally can't wait to do it again! If I was rich, I would be back at it next week!

Sunday Menu:

Breakfast - Banana with almond butter, coffee

Brunch - Western omelet and coffee

Dinner - pork loin and spaghetti squash

Game time...Let's Go Pats!!!

The Paleo gods are watching down on me!

Wednesday is officially my new rest day for the next 10 weeks - class keeps me up way past my bedtime and 4-5 hours of sleep just isn't enough for a decent WOD at 5am. Not to worry, I'll be back at it tomorrow - pulling a double, possibly triple workout day (5am WOD, 6pm MRSC run, 7:30pm yoga and mobility at the box). I always make sure to stretch and foam roll on my days off, well everyday for that matter, but extra time on my off days.

Grand Slam Pizza has what I refer to as the "Crack" salad...which is essentially a grilled chicken salad with feta, house dressing, and pita bread - a weekly occurrence for me prior to this challenge. Tonight I was craving something "bad" so I figured I'd order the salad without the cheese, use my own dressing and take the 5 point loss on the pita bread...well, those Paleo gods have some major powers, because guess what DIDN'T come with my salad?!

THE PITA BREAD!!!!

It wasn't quite the "crack" salad that I know and love, but in the end, I am glad that I didn't get the bread - because really, it isn't worth the 5 points and I'm in a close second (points wise) after week 1!

As I mentioned yesterday, there has been ZERO variety in my week! I need to do better planning next week because I am starting to get bored. Lucky for me Janine and my good friend Dan both posted new Paleo recipes on Twitter and Facebook, so next weeks shopping list will include the ingredients to make something yummy for breakfast other than eggs! Still looking for more ideas for snacks too...I need to do some serious research if I want to last these 30 days and more importantly take this past the 30 day challenge and make it a life style.

Today's menu:

Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs

Snack - strawberries and almonds

Lunch - Gazpacho and lettuce wraps

Snack - celery and almond butter

Dinner - "Not so crack" salad

Off to bed - looking forward to getting back to the box in the morning. It is crazy how quickly you get addicted to it and actually miss going on your days off. 

Have you ever said that about the place you workout??

Tuesday is officially my least favorite day

Up and at it BRIGHT and early and off to GSCF, where I was the ONLY one that showed up for the 5am class. Don't get me wrong, essentially having one-on-one personal training isn't a bad thing - but sometimes, especially when I am really tired at 5am, having someone to WOD with helps me do better and go faster. Nonetheless, Mat encouraged me all the same and I lifted heavier than I thought I would!

Push Press 65/75/80/85/90

WOD 24:30 (115lb) 

(I wasn't able to do my toes to bar, so I had to modify and do knee raises)

Notice my nasty man hands - I bought gloves and hated them, so bring on the calluses

A new challenge on top of a challenge...Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday...leave the house at 4:45am and don't get home until 9:30pm. What does that mean...taking lunch, two snacks and dinner with my when I leave the house...along with a change of clothes for field hockey and my laptop and books (which cost me a small fortune) for class at night.

So even with all of my planning ahead, I didn't think about variety! I have essentially eaten the same food for two days in a row...and will probably eat the same thing tomorrow!

Today's menu:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, +1 white with some leftovers from last night.
Snack: strawberries and almonds, coconut water
Lunch: Gazpacho and lettuce wraps
Dinner: Salad with "taco chicken", apple
Snack: Jerky and cucumbers, coconut water

I was STARVING after class, but chugged some water before settling in to do some homework. This new class might make me lose my 4.0, but I won't go down without a fight! Was up way past my bed time, so tomorrow is my new off day this week!

Week 2 - Day 8

Wasn't sure it was going to happen, but I got my ass up and to CrossFit this morning at 5am! Luckily for me, today's WOD wasn't a crazy strength workout and didn't involve lots of running or rowing. I survived it with no problems and felt pretty good when it was over. I really think that jumping right back into my normal routine was better than taking a day off to recoup!

I feel like a bottomless pit! It's like that game I played as a kid, Hungry Hungry Hippo...

...I just eat and eat and eat...my cranky mood swings are gone, but I'd almost take them back over this non stop hungry feeling! Mat (with one T) specifically told us that we would be most likely eating more (portion size-wise) while on Paleo, then we used to eat. This is because things like bread and pasta and rice fill up your stomach fast and just sit there, where as fruits and veggies are lighter and don't sit like a cement brick in your belly!

As soon as I got home from GSCF I made myself three scrambled eggs - I never eat 3 eggs...usually 1 egg, plus 2 whites or just 2 eggs, but like I said, I was STARVING! Holy shit!

Because I managed to be somewhat productive yesterday, getting my meals ready for the day was easy....

Today's Menu:

Snack: 1/4 c almonds and some strawberries
Lunch: 2 cups Gazpacho and some lettuce wraps with taco chicken
Snack: beef jerky and cucumber slices

I'm so happy I planned ahead because with my the small animal living in my gut today, all bets would have been off and I would have caved if I didn't have good food, ready to go!

For dinner I decided to try and recreate my accidental yummy dinner from the other night of ground beef with veggies and sweet potato. Today I used tomato, onion, garlic, mushroom, and celery for my veggies with the rest of the grass fed beef from A-Market and half a sweet potato. SO YUMMY! Even yummier when paired with a glass of red wine!

It is 7:41pm and I am actually contemplating going to be right now. I think I might be forced to stay up until at least 8pm for fear of being called "grandma"

Day 7

Exhausted is an understatement....my goal was to sleep through breakfast and wake up just in time to watch the Pat's kick some Arizona ass lose to Arizona!

No such luck, so instead I made a trip to the grocery store to prepare myself for week 2 of my 30 day challenge! I was incredibly sore from Reach the Beach, so it took me a little while to get motivated.

Before the store, I NEEDED food - I am starving after the weekend of very little food and a lot of burned calories. Lucky for me, I have some leftover sweet potato from last week and two eggs in the fridge. I cooked those up with some tomato, onion and mushroom and VOILA! breakfast was served...thank god, because I thought I might chew my own arm off and was very tempted to hit up the Bagel Cafe for a very non Paleo breakfast!

My belly is finally full and I'm off to the grocery store! Before I left, I looked up some new Paleo recipes and I will be making a Gazpacho and some Taco Chicken to get me through the week. I am so super busy, that I need to prepare all my meals ahead of time or I end up eating something bad - like pizza or a burger. Preparation is KEY for me!!!

Here's what my Gazpacho looked like when I was done whipping it together

This was SO easy to make! All I did was dice up 4 big tomatoes, 2 green peppers, 2 medium cucumbers, 1 red onion, a few stalks of celery, juice of 3 lemons and 3 limes and some garlic - I added some curry because, well I just love curry! Mix it all together with 64oz of organic tomato juice and BAM! You've got yourself some Gazpacho! I haven't tried it yet - it needs to be in the fridge over night and is supposedly even better 2-3 days later! I can't wait to try it out!! It smells yummy!

Next up, Taco Chicken! I chose this one because I could throw it in the crock pot and forget about it for three hours...

I found a recipe and made some tweaks....this is two large chicken breasts, some chipotle chili powder, some curry, some fresh cilantro, an onion, juice of one lime, garlic and a jalapeño! That's it, leave it in there on high for 3-5 hours and shred away! This was very spicy but very yummy! Can't wait to throw it on a salad or make a lettuce wrap!

Last up, some "Apple Chicken" - I don't know what it's actually called or the real recipe, but I tried it at our Paleo Challege Information meeting, so I thought I would attempt to make it myself. I diced up two chicken breasts, sauteed them in some EVOO and onion, added a diced apple, some cinnamon and the juice of one lime. That's it!

Since I'm not going to be eating my favorite, overnight oats for awhile, I figured I would make good use of some of my mason jars and portion out my apple chicken! Let me tell you, one two of those jars were empty before I knew it! Lunch was served!

Depressing Pat's game officially over - time to shower and get ready to meet my long lost friend out for a drink. We used to work together and then he had to run off and be a grown up and get married and have kids! How dare he?! It has been over a year since I last saw him, but it felt like no time had passed at all! I love friendships like those, they truly are the best.

While he drank his beer and a hurricane...I stuck with my very Paleo and very delicious Patron and soda water with extra limes! I really wanted that beer though...

Got home and was once again STARVING, so ate that last serving of my Apple Chicken....so glad I made that today!

Back to CrossFit in the morning, so time for bed!

Reach the Beach Update!

Team TuTu survived the race! I couldn't be more thankful to EVERYONE who supported our journey along the way - from donations, phone calls, texts, emails, facebook statuses, etc I LOVE YOU ALL!

Staying 100% Paleo during our exciting adventure was nearly impossible - but I would say I came pretty damn close!

Thursday night was probably the HARDEST time to stay on track, but I planned ahead and DID IT! 

This is what everyone else ate...

This is what I ate...

I LOVE garlic bread...not to mention, there was salad with cheese and ranch dressing (thank goodness my AWESOME teammate brought extra salad stuff from anyone who didn't want cheese) plus lots of beer and M&M cookies!! 

Holy hell that was a tough night...but I stuck with my spaghetti squash, plain salad, and glass of Merlot. The glass of Merlot was a necessity just to relax my pre race nerves! I was runner 1, which means at 9:40am I was taking off and starting this adventure for Team TuTu!!

Let's just say I didn't sleep well Thursday night - it wasn't my bed, my team was also excited so not everyone wanted to go to bed early, and I was NERVOUS!!

I thought I would get up early enough Friday morning for a nice shower, relaxing cup of coffee and maybe some eggs and bacon...I woke up Friday morning to rush through a shower, enjoy a yummy cup of coffee, decorate our vans and shove some protein bites down my throat! Ok - so probably not the BEST pre race meal, considering I was about to run 8 miles...oh well!

Regardless of the the lack of sleep, improper hydration, and rather crappy breakfast...I survived crushed Leg 1 and still had a smile on my face when it was all said and done!

Starving was an understatement after my leg...as soon as I finished, I posed for a picture, took a phone call (ya...I know, who takes a phone call with in the first 3 minutes of running 8miles? THIS girl!) and grabbed a banana and my Justin's Almond butter and destroyed that thing, washing it down with a Vita Coco (one of our AMAZING sponsors!!)

Time to relax while my 11 AWESOME teammates did their things...throughout the afternoon, I snacked on some beef jerky and an apple until Van 1 was done and it was time for a "real" meal.

Muddy Moose here we come...while my teammates enjoyed a refreshing beer and some amazing looking pasta dishes, I opted for a glass of Merlot, a hamburger (no bun), and a side of steamed carrots (REALLY wanted the sweet potato fries!)

I was actually very happy with my choice - was still a little hungry after I was done, but glad I didn't cave! 

That beer looked really good though!!

All fueled up and ready for my big night run! And by "big" I mean 3.9 miles, in the dark, on little to no sleep - I crushed, survived my night run and was ready for some food and sleep!

I got one of the two...I gave up briefly on Paleo and made a turkey wrap, but I used an Organic Spelt Wrap - I am still not 100% what it is, but apparently it is better for you than bread or your typical wrap! I guess things could have been worse.

Can I sleep yet? No...still 5 runners to go, and unfortunately for a few of my teammates, their long runs were in the middle of the night! Those girls are so tough for hanging in and kicking some serious ass in the middle of the night to push our team along! We finally got to sleep rest our eyes and legs for a few hours around 3:00am. 

6:00am wake up call Saturday morning! I've got to run my final leg at 8:00am (4.5 miles) - time to fuel up with some coffee and food! Fortunately, the local fire department put on a breakfast for the runners - I was able to get coffee and a breakfast sandwich - another paleo "cheat" but I only ate half the English Muffin and none of the cheese.

I crushed survived barely finished my last run, it was by far my WORST - I was tired, hungry, dehydrated, and there were A LOT of hills. Who would have thought I would have run a faster pace on my 8 mile run than on my 4.5?!

Painful or not, I was DONE!!!! 

Not quite as happy and cheerful after this one...actually, as you can tell by my swollen eyes, there was actually tears! Pain and exhaustion won after this leg...

I was our team sponsor poster child during this last leg - I was rocking my Aspaeris shorts, my Bic Bands headband, Run Pretty Far arm warmers, and of course my team t-shirt designed by Chris Duhaime of Pivot Creative Management and screen printed by Blue Dolphin - everything was amazing and helped me get through this last run! Team TuTu Hot to Handle would not have had such a successful weekend had it not been for our amazing sponsors! 

This picture was taken BEFORE my final run, AFTER I had my coffee - I was still smiling at this point!

The rest of the day is honestly a bit of a blur - I know I snacked on some beef jerky and protein bites and a few carrots. We got to enjoy a much needed shower while Van 2 finished up there final legs and then we headed to meet them at the finish line.

Another Paleo cheat I couldn't resist - finish line beer! I own two t-shirts that say Will Run for Beer - I was tempted to cross it out and write Wine, but alas, my only option post race was beer, so I drank one!

Overall, it was an amazing weekend spent with amazing ladies, while we were all supported by our wonderful friends and family. I would not have changed a single thing about the weekend and am incredibly proud of myself and Team TuTu Hot to Handle!!

Congrats ladies! Looking forward to doing it with you all again in the near future!! 

Day 4

No early morning WOD = happy, refreshed tired, extra hungry Sara

I took this morning off from GSCF because my back was tight from Tuesday's WOD and I figured a good night's sleep would be best, with my Reach The Beach advendute beginning tonight!

I expected to be refreshed, less hungry, more energized, and ready to take the day head on...SO not the case! I was extra tired this morning and have felt like a bottomless pit ALL day today

This is literally what I feel like deep down inside...

And to top it off, I have been CRAZY thirsty all day! I drank 48oz of water before I left home this morning and just finished another 2 liters! What's up with that?!

Finishing this post from the van...we are officially on our way!!

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and an apple

Snack: 3 slices of turkey and some baby carrots

Lunch: lettuce wraps with chicken and tomato

Snack(s): beef jerky...shortly after some paleo protein bites

Planned dinner: Salad and some paleo "spaghetti"

Hoping for a good night of sleep before the big weekend...but I fear that's not going to happen!

Updates will be posted as often as possible!

Day 3

I learned one thing this morning...I have ZERO (and I mean ZERO) upper body strength! I always knew I had more lower body strength than upper body, but DAMN - today's WOD was pathetic!

I maxed out at 85 on my Push Jerk and took just under 9 minutes to complete "JT" - but my HSPUs were VERY modified, I used to green band for ring dips and I couldn't manage to do more than 3 regular push ups before I had to move to modified! UGH - I swear, if this had been my first CF workout ever, I might have never gone back! But - alas, I survived it and I will return again!

MmmmmMmmm Gooooood....
I live on a street with about 10 restaurants within a mile and at 6am, one of them was cooking up a mean breakfast...smelled like pancakes or french toast, something very "un" Paleo - it had my mouth watering and stomach growling!

6:45am
Breakfast - one of my favorite breakfasts from a local breakfast spot near here is this breakfast skillet, where they top home fries with eggs and gravy! mmmm I would eat that every day if I could!
This morning I made my own, Paleo version of this breakfast....

Left over sweet potatoes from last night with two eggs, over easy, on top! Perfect breakfast - it was no Chez Skillet, but it was delish!

9:45am
SUPER hungry right now! I honestly thought my amazing breakfast would hold me off a little longer, but no such luck. Snack time came a littel bit earlier than planned.
Today's snack: three slices of turkey rolled up and a cup of strawberries! Very delicious! Hopefully this hold me off until at least 1 o'clock - I forgot to bring my afternoon snack with me, so I want to push lunch back as far as possible!

I made it until 1...1:15 actually, before I got hungry! Lunch was standard, nothing special...salad with grilled chicken, evoo, and some balsamic vinegar! 

GOOD NEWS!!! No moody, cranky, emotional Sara today!! 

Woo hooooooo! Maybe instead of two WEEKS of feeling crummy, I will only have two DAYS! I hope that's the case, because Team TuTu Hot to Handle leaves tomorrow night for Reach the Beach NH and the last thing anyone needs is a cranky, moody Sara!

Nothing exciting to report for this afternoon...

3:00pm
Beef Jerky

5:00pm
Almonds and an apple

8:30pm
Final serving of my Curry Chicken



I had such late dinner because we had a field hockey game tonight - both JV and Varsity beat Concord! 

I am so happy that today was such a good day physically...minus the shitty WOD this morning! If this is what I have to look forward to, then this Paleo challenge will be easier than I thought!

I am nervous for Reach the Beach this weekend - as far as eating goes....there's going to be  a lot of pasta, bread, granola bars, and Gatorade going around! I need to remember my goals, remember the awful sight of my "before" pictures, and just continue to "do me", which has been my goal of late!

Not sure if any posts will be made here tomorrow - Saturday, but I will try my best! I will be trying my best to update on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well! 

Wish us luck!!!

Day 2

First and foremost, let me take this time to remember all those lost on this day 11 years ago. What a terrible day for the fate of our country and certainly one I will never forget. It was my freshman year at Endicott College and I was in a class with mostly upper class men. When the news broke, we were all sent back to our dorms, and being so close to Boston, the campus was put in lock down mode. I remember it like it was yesterday, watching the news on my tiny 9'' tv, just sitting on the foot of my twin bed, crying - I was sad, scared, and in disbelief.

Day Two begins...

Let me tell you, no matter how many days you do it in a row, waking up at 4:30 in the morning never gets easy!! I have to set two alarms every morning...one for 4:15 and another for 4:30 because I am bound to hit snooze more than once!

I really wish I had this clock on my night stand..who would want to chuck this guy across the room to avoid waking up?!? Not this girl!!

I'm not going to lie, today's WOD was tough! Thank god for Mat playing bodyguard to all those super creepy people hanging out on Elm Street at 5am or else I might not be here to blog this post! Ok...so maybe that's a BIT of an exaggeration, after my first 400m "sprint" (I call it a sprint, most people would call it a jog), I realized that it wasn't creepy people on the street I needed to fear, it was the damn pot holes and garbage on the sidewalks! Get it together Manchester!!! I no longer fear the 5am runs in the dark, at least I accomplished SOMETHING this morning! Here's a little idea of what I was getting myself into this morning...notice, I am still smiling after it was all done!

It doesn't look bad, right? Pssssh let's just say, I liked Fran better than I liked today's WOD...shhhh don't tell!!                                                  

So I survived this morning, with my 1RM at 185 - finishing the WOD in 23:26 with 135 on my dead lifts (it's Rx'd for body weight...so I chose my goal body weight, as my ACTUAL body weight was too heavy for me to lift 36 times!)

7:15am

Breakfast time!!

Veggie Omelet, strawberries, and coffee with coconut milk!

It might not be the prettiest omelet you've ever seen, but damn was it good!

10:30am
I.AM.STARVING!!!!!! Someone FEED me!!
1/4 cup of almonds and an apple made for the perfect snack...that took me an hour to finish! Much better now :)

1:45pm
Cranky.Tired.Emotional - not hungry, haven't had lunch yet! Let's hope this turns around sooner than later!!

2:30pm
Lunch time!!! I finally felt hungry, but didn't want a salad - I felt like biting into something, but of course I couldn't have your typical sandwich, sooooo a yummy lettuce wrap it was! 

Still cranky...still tired...still emotional...even a fresh haircut didn't break me out of this funk! 

4:30pm
Went to A-Market for some grass fed beef and with the hopes of finding some decent jerky to snack on! Well...I saw some jerky with "Primal" written on it, so I assume it is exactly what I'm looking for, WRONG! It was "Vegan Meatless Soy Jerky" UGH - one bite and I almost threw up. There goes $5, hopefully my one and only vegan friend will like them, so they don't go to waste. I settled for some jerky from Shaw's and noshed on that for an afternoon snack.

7:30pm
I don't know what else to call my dinner creation tonight, other than DELICIOUS!

I bought some grass fed ground beef from the A-Market and a sweet potato, with the thoughts that I'd make a burger and some sweet potato "fries" - well I got hungry faster than expected and didn't want to wait for my "fries" to bake....so I sautéed some diced onion and garlic in some EVOO, diced up the sweet potatoes and microwaved them for 2 min, added them and the ground beef to the onions and garlic and continued to cook the meat through. About halfway through, I add some tomato and mushrooms to the mix and continued to cook. Ended up pouring the beef and veggie mixture over the potatoes. Holy yummy!! 

Feeling much better after that delicious meal and ready to relax for the rest of the night!

Final thought for the day....Mat sent me my "before" pictures this morning...do I post them on here or not? I asked for them for my own personal motivation, not sure I'm ready to share them with the world...although, I'm not sure anyone well ever even read this!



Let's Do This!

Happy Monday!!

Let me start by saying, I'm not a writer - so hopefully this little blog of mine won't bore you too much! The idea behind this, is to share my experiences with changing over to the Paleo lifestyle - highs and lows, over the next 30 days.

I googled "caveman" (as the Paleo diet is often referred to as the "caveman diet") and found this image that I feel is rather perfect! I am still in the second to last phase, hoping by the end of these 30 days I'll be in the last phase!

For those who ask "Why Paleo?", I will share the brief overview my awesome CrossFit coaches from Granite State CrossFit  gave us at our Paleo information session...

"We started eating the Paleo way about 2.5 million years ago, and then we drastically changed our diets about 10,000 years go when we began cultivating grains and legumes. That's not much time for evolution to catch up to us, meaning our bodies are still most adept at eating the way we used to eat:  meat, vegetables, fruits, and some nuts and seed.

Switching from our evolutionary diet of animal products, veggies, and fruit to a diet full of grains and legumes is best portrayed in the movie "Super-Size Me." In the movie, director Morgan Spurlock goes from eating his normal diet to eating ONLY McDonald's food for 30 days. His health plummets - he gets fat and depressed, and he develops fatty liver and sexual dysfunction. Here are some medical issues that people h ave overcome or had major improvements in from following a Paleo diet: Cancer, Autoimmune Diseases, GI Diseases/Distress, Depression, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, Infertility, Neurodegeneration, etc...

We've replaced wholesome, clean plant matter and animal foods with a high carbohydrate, low nutrient, high toxic chemical diet and we've gotten sick. We've shrunken in size, our bones are osteoporotic, we have more cancer, obesity, and diabetes, an alarming incidence of heart disease, and inflammation of all kinds, skin problems and the list goes on. We are sick and it's time to do something about it!!"

Still not sure what it is or why you should do it? Hopefully my daily posts about my experience during this challenge will help you understand it more and give you a greater insight to how it can change your life!

My goal is to post daily my WODs (what I did and how it felt), what I ate (like, dislikes, recipes, etc) and how I feel and what I notice changing. I know this is not going to be the easiest thing I've ever done, but I also don't think it will be the hardest either!

I hope at least one person gains some insight and knowledge from my endeavors and I look forward to hearing some feedback!

Day 1

Recap of my day:

5am WOD - ahhhhh just as we suspected, we started the day with a little Fran...

No, not this Fran....

....this Fran!

Considering I can't do a pull up and this was my first time with Fran, I don't think I did too bad...managed to finish in a little over 8 minutes. After Fran, we had a 1000m row for time (4:25)

Over all a good morning at the box...next step, plan my first day of Paleo!

6:30am
Breakfast was a no brainer - two eggs, scrambled, cooked with EVOO and 1/2 c all natural apple sauce

10:30am
Not hungry at all, but I know we are supposed to eat every 3 hours or so, so it was officially snack time!! 1/4 cup raw, organic almonds and 1 cup of strawberries! Delish!

12:45 
lunch time!! 4oz of chicken over lettuce, tomato, cucumber and red onion, with oil and vinegar for dressing. So full!!

3pm
Hitting a lull...sitting on the bus on the way to our field hockey game and slowly dozing off! At this point, I feel exhausted! Not sure if it is the 4:30 wake up call, the changed diet, or just being on the bus for an hour! Either way, it's no fun!

3:30-5:00
Slowly noshed on beef jerky and carrot sticks while the first game was being played...that woke me up a little, but was still feeling pretty "blah" throughout the game and bus ride home!

7:45
Too hungry to snap a picture of dinner, but it was some good (but a little bland) Thai Chicken Curry, that I had made on Saturday for our Paleo information session! I was freezing my butt of and it was warm, quick, and most importantly, PALEO...so it served it's purpose!

I'm still hungry, but it is nearing my bedtime, sheer exhaustion is taking over and 4:30am is EARLY and doesn't get easier with each 5am WOD!

Good night y'all!