Fitness Journal

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Benchmarks

Backsquat 140#

Full snatch 70#

Overhead squat 110#

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Thrusters

30 thrusters

55#

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Then I ran 2 miles. Day after Irma.

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KETO TIME

So Stephen and I decided to go for a keto diet. His parents had a lot of success with it and my close friends have too. We shopped at Sam's, prepped our meals and pretty much just made it happen. Day 3 is today and I almost broke down over a cookie at work. Thank goodness my Amazon packages arrived. I am now officially "one of those people". I'm a little confused about how I ended up w a lot of things that I don't know a whole lot about in my kitchen, but I'm kind of into it too. I really like baking so I made some keto scones tonight to help break up the morning monotony of egg muffins/quiche.

I've been kinda gassy-- burping a lot and wild poo attacks that come out of nowhere. No blowouts, but just an emergency groundhog type feeling that just bursts onto the scene. Case in point, I was grocery shopping and it just came BAM outta nowhere. Crazy.

I've been feeling pretty good. No flu symptoms-- we also are keeping our calories pretty high. Today I feel absolutely buzzed like I'm on steroids or something. I want to do all the things!!!

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Did you see that?! Yes! 95# front squat 6x6 Yayuuuuur. That means I should be able to do 135# front squat as 1 rep max! Bodyweight would be 149#

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Wednesday 104 wallballs

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Monday

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End of Week Three

Well, I have had alcohol. Sunday we went to Sweetwater Brewery and I had about 2 beers (12 oz each). Wednesday evening I went to a work event where I had an 8oz beer plus an 10oz glass of wine. I definitely had anxiety during and after drinking on Wednesday which reminds me that I don’t want to drink especially on weeknights. It was just unfun.

My WODs seem affected my caffeine, alcohol and nicotine gum intake. My heart rate shoots up especially during the strength+cardio like I did on Thursday evening. I honestly could have done more, but I was afraid I was going to puke and didn’t want to suffer the consequences of that (dehydration, feeling like shit, etc.). 

I really am beginning to see changes in my body. I don’t think my weight’s gone down, but my clothes definitely fit better. My colored Nike shorts fit awesome now, I don’t feel weird wearing the booty shorts that I bought from Joni, and I’m starting to see my waistline narrow. My arms looks much more muscley/toned and my legs feel powerful and strong. Also I noticed the Crossfit HD shirt that I bought feels big now whereas it felt normal before. 

All of this is motivation to continue! I want to limit my alcohol intake-- why not try for 3 months without drinking? I want to continue my quest of eating more vegetables. I also am so motivated to get Toes to Bar and achieve my first pull-up! 

To date my benchmarks are:

-Clean: 85 #

-Front Squat: 75#

-Back Squat: 95#

-Box Jump Max Height: 28″

Just read a blog on NerdFitness about how maybe I shouldn’t be doing this (being SO PUMPED about the weight I am lifting). Lol. Most of my WOD workouts, I go for much lighter. I’m usually doing 10# or 15# on my 15kg bar. However, I think it’s good to track this. Maybe next week I can think about form more and track how I am feeling through the workouts that require lifting. 

Re-Evaluating Goals -- What ARE my Goals?

Looking back at my first post it seems that my goals were:

1) Eat more and better foods.

2) Look better / Feel healthier.

3) Keep alcohol consumption down.

I like these goals. I think I can tweak them a little:

1) Eat more vegetables.

2) Drink more water and tea and less coffee and no-cal soda.

3) Continue with CrossFit so I can look better and feel healthier.

4) Keep alcohol consumption down. Try for 3 months without drinking.

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I didn’t really know what to do with myself last night so I went to the gym and surprised myself. #prowler #wod #gtooh #powerclean

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First #girlwod #helen !!!! I’m very sore as I post this the next morning 😊

Also I'm so close to getting toes to bar. I'm gonna do it in the next few weeks for sure. Something that was fun today was that I got to talk with a bunch of people at the gym since traffic forced me to arrive at 6:45. I was sitting around stretching and you just start talking with folks. One girl asked if I cheer-- she said I had a cheerleader body. Her body's pretty rad so if one day I look like her I'd be down. Talked with Laurie about how much the traffic sucked. And generally just enjoyed myself 😊

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This workout kicked my ass. It was so awful. Not my fave.

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Monday 8/14

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Beginning of Week Three

Beginning of week three and I am really excited! I’m starting to see tiny changes in my body! My diet is actually pretty good-- I drink lots more water, and eat a fair amount of good protein and vegetables.

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Sunday = One Month without Alcohol

Sunday will mark my one month milestone without alcohol. In some ways it has been easy, a “no-brainer” choice because of the new fitness regime that I am doing. In other ways it has been incredibly hard.

I’ve been struggling with alcohol for a few years now, and after I returned to the States from Sweden, my intake sky-rocketed. It’s hard for me to admit how much I was drinking and some of the scary nights that I had with it. I felt like I was in my early twenties all over again. Before dedicating myself to the gym and the healthier lifestyle that I was craving, I would typically have one night a week where I would get incredibly smashed-- binge drinking to the extreme. I basically lose the ability to say no to alcohol. It happened at a work event and ever since I have been incredibly upset about it and nervous that it would happen again. It’s easier to just not drink, to say I don’t drink anymore, and that I am focusing on my health now. I get the feeling that some people think I am being self-righteous. At least I am afraid that they think so. If they knew my whole story with alcohol though, they would understand that this is the best choice for me. I’m so much happier, better, clearer without it. 

Anxiety More than anything, I am happy to be rid of the alcohol-induced anxiety that I experienced. Even now, typing vaguely about some of the experiences brings up a shadow of those feelings. That deep, unseated feeling of guilt, shame and little self-worth that lasts for hours is terrible. If not drinking alcohol means that I am free from this feeling, then it is definitely worth any sacrifice-- even appearing a bit self-righteous now and again.

A Reward Alcohol functioned as a reward in my career-oriented life. Long day at the office spent accomplishing a lot of stressful things? Drink a bottle of prosecco! Had a bad day with the former workmates? Have a beer and a cigarette at the favorite bar. Firm won an award? Drink another bottle of prosecco. While I haven’t really found another substitute, I like to think of my life as shifting focus somewhat. Right now I am concerned about my health and beauty routine. I want to look my best and feel my best because how I feel during the peaks of these feelings is fantastic! It also means being a little more stable with less hills and valleys in my mood. With alcohol in my life, I found that I would be extremely stressed at work, then rush home with bottle in hand to feel the skyrocket of pleasure that comes from drinking too quickly. Now I don’t get as stressed and I don’t crave that skyrocket as much. Like I said, I am trying to find something to function as a reward but everything else (hair cuts, painting nails, baths with nice soaps) just takes a longer time. Maybe that’s just how the world works-- and accepting that as a new normal is best.