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!