Weekly Wrap Up 1/21-1/27

Monday - 

I tried to walk the dogs on Monday but failed. Well, I didn't fail, but it was just too cold for the pups. We made it about a block away from the house before we had to come home. 
Good news is that I played soccer instead and OMG it was an intense workout.

Tuesday -

Same story with the pups today, it was just too cold. We didn't even attempt to walk. 


SWOD
BS 5x5 
115#, 135#, 165#, 175#, 165#
WOD
AMRAP in 20 mins
12 Box jumps 24/20 
9 HRPU (hand release push-ups)
6 Power cleans, 135/95 scale to 85#

6rounds + 2 cleans 

Had to really focus on keeping my knees out during the SWOD. It's different. My knees have always "wiggled" back in when I stand up and now I have to think about it so much. I know that eventually it'll become second nature but it's always weird to change something after doing it a certain way for so long. 
During the WOD I felt really good. I'm finding that my conditioning is improving and that I'm wanting and willing to push myself harder than I have in a long time. 

Wednesday - 

With a continuous running clock
EMOTM for 15 mins 2 front squats  115#
Then 8 min AMRAP of 
10 Goblet squats, 70/53 26#
10 Pull-ups RX
Then 2 mins max burpees
Score is reps and weights

I scaled the goblet squats, mostly because hanging on to the 53# KB was so hard! Gotta work on that grip strength. I felt really good about this WOD as well, which makes me think that I'm getting stronger. Which means, I'm getting better. 

Thursday -

REST DAY! Well, sort of. Took the dogs for long walks, almost 5 miles. They were happy and I felt good. Nice to "relax". 

Friday -

Snatch balance
1-1-1-1-1-1-1
45#, 50#, 55#, 60#, 65#, 70#, 75#

WOD
Row 1K
then 
21-15-9
Lunges
Pull-ups
Sit-ups

Ooh! Snatch balance was tough. As the weight got heavier and I got out of my head, I started to feel comfortable with the movement. Felt pretty good going into this WOD, minus rowing. I'm terrible at it but I did alright. Lunges I can rock out no problem, pull-ups and I don't necessarily get along but I was excited for the opportunity to get better and well, I suck at sit-ups, or so I thought. Yvette actually said "Nice sit-ups Paige" and that is officially the first time any has ever said that to me. Then I tore my hands open so half way through the WOD I had to switch to ring rows. 

*Lesson here, take care of your friggin hands. This is the MOST annoying reminder ever.*

Saturday -

Saturday was a busy day. Got in a good 4-5 miles first thing in the morning, really tuckered the pups out. Moved a treadmill into the basement and shit it was heavy! It was a busy but relaxing day. 

Sunday - 

Got up early and took the pups for another walk. Man they're spoiled! Can't wait to have the treadmill upstairs so we all can use it. 

20 Min AMRAP
10 Front Squats (50% 1RM) 60#
10 Box Jumps (24)

Completed 9 rounds + 1 front squat 
I really wanted to get 10 rounds but it was exhausting! Now I have new goal to work towards. Later that evening I played soccer. What a long day! 


Now will I update this weekly? Hell no. It's taken me 3 days to write this anyways. But I thought it would be nice to write out but then I did it and I don't think I like it. I'll continue to use my notebook to write my WODs in and MapMyRun to log my dog walks. 

2013 Goals

So I haven't done this yet this year. I haven't set any goals to achieve, fitness or otherwise. I guess now is a good a time as any to make some goals...

Originally Written 1/14/13 (I will update this every few months with accomplished goals and additional goals)

1. Find a consistent weight and stick with it. I'm thinking 145 +/-

• I'm the queen of fluctuating weight, not just a couple of pounds either. We're talking swinging 20 pounds either way. Time to stop that. 

2. Continue to make the time to exercise my dogs properly

• I have 3 large rescue dogs that need exercise to be well balanced dogs and a mile a day is not enough. I have committed to walking the dogs every day, I do a total of 6 miles on average, walking & jogging. This is making things much better in the house and it is necessary for my sanity.

3. Get up the rope

• That stupid rope. 

4. Move to toe pushups exclusively

• I can do about 3 pushups on my toes in a row and if the WOD requires a large number, I usually scale to my knees. Time to get off those knees!! PERMANENTLY. 

5. Master Toe to Bars

• Those stupid things, time for consistency. 

6. Reduce my meat intake and dairy intake

• See my "going green" for an explanation regarding this. 

7. Make my bed every day 

• Doing this one thing will create a bit of structure in my life. Oddly enough. 

8. Finally begin working with a rescue 

• I've been talking about doing this for some time and really, until now, I haven't had the time to do so. I don't have a ton of free time but I'm ready. 

9. Find small ways to be more green

• Walking more. Reusing more containers. Recycling more. Educating people more. Making my own cleaning supplies, detergents, etc. Small steps. 

10. Educate yourself weekly

• Watch the news. Watch documentaries. Read blogs. Read about things you don't understand. Learn more and be better. 

11. Become a more balanced pack leader

• My dogs are my world. I don't have kids & I am a military wife. I spend a lot of time with my dogs, most days, I spend more time with them than I do my husband. For all of our sanity, I need to be better and I will be. 

So as of today, these are my 2013 goals. We'll see what happens a few months from now. I also got a physical today and will post my numbers and see how they improve with the lifestyle changes. 

Biggest Loser Made Me Do It

So I'm sitting there catching up on Biggest Loser (apparently I missed 2 episodes already, oops!) and I heard one quote that made me want to post something on Facebook regarding it. Then as I was typing about it, there goes another quote that I liked, so now this is my Biggest Loser inspired post.
I feel like this blog is all over the place, all the time, but I guess that is similar to who I am. So there I was catching up on Biggest Loser and by catching up I mean watching the only episode that I have DVR'd thus far. I had heard that a bunch of the big name crossfitters would be on, well, if that's why you're watching, don't. They weren't introduced and rarely shown and it was referred to as functional movements instead of crossfit, just annoying.
Anyyyy whoooo, so I'm really into Biggest Loser when the cast doesn't suck (aka last season) but I have never experienced Jillian. So basically I've only watched it for a season or two. Bob, you're kind of scary, like seriously scary. I was surprised to see you have tattoo sleeves but it made sense, because he's scary. Then I got to see Jillian for the first time and a big WTF came to mind. She was insane, so overly intense and all you could see is her team breaking down and by the time she realized it, I think it was too late. Then when Nathan got kicked off she cried because she didn't have anyone to respond to her awfulness anymore, not because she was going to honestly miss him. Dolvett is extremely competitive and so intense, I like it. He seems like a great motivator and I think he'd make a great life coach.
So the episode that I watch is the infamous "doctor tells you how heavy you are and the many ways it's killing you" episode. While watching this specific sentence really got to me regarding obesity

"If I told you that you were dying from lymphoma, would you take 2 hours out of your day for chemotherapy?"

This quote pretty much blew my mind, which now that I read it again, it makes so much sense. Being overweight is unhealthy and is killing you, me even. I mean honestly! There have been times in my life that I was so overweight that it was probably starting to kill me and I couldn't take 2 hours to walk or do some sort of exercise. And on top of that, take some time out to just plan out my meals for the week so I don't eat like crap on a whim. This seems so simple to me now, it seems crazy that I couldn't find time to workout and plan & cook my own food. How ridiculous.
As of late I go to the gym at least 3 times a week and no more than 6 times a week, but truth be told, it's been a long time since I've done 6 days. And I've recently added in the extra long dog walk/jog, which since Tuesday has produced between 14-15 miles and 3 more days left in this week... All this exercise is good for me, I'm just ready to put a backpack on these kids and cut some miles back and put some better focus on crossfit.
Then there was another part of the show, during Bob's "functional movements" clips, one of the contestants (I can't remember his name for the life of me, which is terrible) had some breathing problems and Bob said this

"I want you to never forget how this feels right here and right now. I don't want you ever to forget this moment. I want you to remember when you're home and under 200 pounds and think about going back to your old life..."

That is so crucial to staying healthy. It's so easy to go back to eating whatever you feel like. If it were easy to be healthy and fit, everyone would be healthy and fit, but that's not how it goes. You need something to keep you driven, something to keep you motivated, something to pick you back up when you've fallen down. Remember how you felt when your fat pants became your skinny pants? Or when you feel so crappy about how you look that you'd rather stay home alone then go out? Yea, those times, that's when you need a moment like this. A moment when you realize that you did not die, you pushed yourself harder than you have in possibly your entire life, and you survived. And tomorrow when you wake up, you'll be stronger than you were today, and huzzzaahhh! you're still alive.
You're still alive. You didn't die. You survived the workout and you know what, you'll survive today's as well. Biggest Loser is crazy for sure, these people workout all day, every day, just about, for like 6 weeks or so. I don't honestly know how many weeks they're at camp. Then they go home and many of them don't work and just focus on getting healthier until the final show. THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE. Very rarely are people afforded the time to workout like that. To be so dedicated to losing weight and getting fit, not working, and only taking care of you. That's insane. In real life we are parents, siblings, partners, husbands, wives, children, aunts, uncles, and friends, which means we aren't given a plethora of free to take care of ourselves. This however just means that you have to make time, which isn't easy, but it's doable. 
So in closing, Jillian did finally have some good input when she said this.. 

"The people that watch the show really get deeply inspired by the things that happen here, they're not inspired by me. They're inspired by the changes you make." 

This is so true. Watch the show, I dare you not to be inspired.

Goals

So back on September 10, 2012 I made a list of goals. Then again in October I made a verbal commitment of the goals I wish to achieve. Here is where I stand and my next levels of goals.

September Goals 

1. EAT BETTER! Seriously though, I need to stop gorging on dumb shit. Oooh candy bar, let's get 3... Who does that? Oooh, cupcakes, let's get 4... This is the kind of shit that I do to myself. WTF

2. Get back to 135-145. I honestly don't really care what I weigh but I would like to live my life somewhere between a 6-8 and be happy with that.

3. Get my shoulders, back, and arms toned up. I'm the Matron of Honor in my sisters wedding in May and my dress is beautiful and strapless, I'd like to show off my hard work in it.

4. I've gotten into crossfit lately and will be setting goals for this soon. Currently my goals are the following....
4a. Do pullups without any bands
4b. Do toes to bar without any bands
4c. Do all pushups on my toes
4b. I always want to set a new PR for everything but I'm pretty proud that I benched 105 today for my PR

5. Stick to working out 3-6 times a week

6. Start training for my half marathon!

7. Get the husband on track with me 100%. We had a long talk this weekend after my target breakdown. When we're home I eat so well from the moment I wake up until I get home... that's when I get myself into trouble. I won't feel like making dinner and neither will he, so we end up at our favorite mexican place or ordering pizza. Plus I cope with bad news by eating cake and drinking... Oops. I know that I'm responsible for my actions but a little support from him helps a lot.

October Goals 

8. complete a pull up, chin over bars, without any bands.
9. climb the rope
10. complete a handstand push up

So where am I now? 

1. I've had some good weeks and some bad weeks. More bad than good. We're in the middle of moving to Michigan and I'm in the process of leaving my job, so things have been insane. I need to utilize my crock pot for the next few weeks and then pack up everything else. Not having structure is a problem for me and my eating is the first thing to go. 

2. I'm fitting into all of my 8's but it's not always comfortable. This goes hand in hand with my eating. 

3. This is coming along well. I feel stronger but again, this goes hand in hand with my eating. 

4a. Extremely close to getting my chin above the bar. I feel confident that I'll be able to do this by the end of next week. 

4b. Today I officially got my first (and many more) toes to bar. Super pumped about that!! 

4c. I've got this one down for the most part. I still have days where it's really tough to keep proper forms but it's getting there! 

4d. I don't know that this is a goal really. It's just a philosophy to always strive to be better. 

5. I've been doing well with this one. I feel like it's been harder to get up every morning but I think that it has to do with the amount of stress I am feeling and the lack of proper eating this week. 

6. Since we're moving, I'm no longer doing the Princess Half. Although I'm looking for a different one in Michigan, so we'll see! 

7. Husband is on track sort of. We're both under a lot of stress leaving our jobs, packing, working with the dogs, doing house repairs, etc. Again, I need to start relying on my crock pot and just be done with it. 

8. Same is 4a. 

9. I've gotten half way up the rope but I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll get up that bad boy on Saturday! 

10. This. This. This... This one is exceptionally hard but from what I've heard, I'm close to accomplishing it. 

November Goals (continuing old goals and adding new goals)

1. Continue the struggle with eating. Eventually I'll win. 

2. Get that dang pull up

3. Climb the rope to the top

4. Complete a hand stand push up

5. Complete a muscle up (this is a long term goal but I figured I should list it) 

6. Spend more time working on form and mechanics (doubleunders)

I've had this open for more than a day, trying to find more goals that I think I should set. Since I haven't thought of anything since yesterday, this is enough for now. I'll add to these in a couple week or so. 

You Reap What You Eat

I've always struggled with my food. I love love love love anything sweet and have lots of trouble with portion control. For more than a year I've been working out at Body Evolution 3-6 times a week, that has really been the biggest consistency in my life. For a good 6 months I was pretty insane about my eating habits then I got married. Then I went on my honeymoon. Don't honeymoon if you have issues with food. Well do, but then have a plan to get back on the horse when you return. Then execute that plan! 

My summer was awful. I didn't really gain any weight until later in the summer and once I did, I cried. We got married the first week of June, honeymooned the week later. We had 3 weddings this summer, a week in DC for my husband's bone marrow donation, and a week home for a death in the family. That last trip was when I realized how destructive I had been with my health and weight. I had to buy a new pair of pants so I could have something to wear to work because most of my pants were too small once again. Walking through target, I cried. Yup, cried. I didn't cry because I was fat again, I cried because I was so disappointed in myself. It wasn't anyone else's fault but mine that this had happened. Now I was a little frustrated with my husband's lack of support, but truthfully, it is not his responsibility to keep me away from cake, beer, candy, pizza, etc. 

So when I returned home after my long summer of "vacations" (I hesitate to call all of them vacations because there was very little relaxing outside of our honeymoon) I sat down with my husband and carved out another life plan. Then I shared my thoughts with the people at my gym. Everyone says 80% diet, 20% exercise, I know it's true but this time I am the walking example of it. I exercised, burning on average 800+ calories each workout, and I was still gaining weight. I gained about 15 pounds back from my wedding day. 15 FREAKING POUNDS, that was almost half of the weight I had lost in the last year. What a waste!!

So now, it's been about a month since I've stopped traveling so much. I have made strides in what I eat daily. I've committed to eating clean (well as much as I can). I've committed to myself. I've committed to crossfit. I've committed to my gym. 
The first week I was back, I stayed close to my caloric allowances, but I was usually higher than I should have been. The second week I was better, still high on a couple of days but mostly I was good. Then I really sat down and figured out where I could cut calories and where I needed to improve. I ditched the processed protein bars and started to make my own. I ditched the peanut butter on my oatmeal/eggwhite waffles. I ditched the daily lunch out with friends and decided to cut it down to 2-3 times a week and when I do, I get a salad. And like usual, I know what I'm going to order at said restaurant before I show up. 

Now I've begun my crossfit journey. And holy shit what a journey that is!! I've been doing crossfit 5 times a week since the beginning of September and let me tell you, this is when I truly realized that I reap the benefits of my food. We were home last weekend for a wedding. Friday night we ate food at the rehearsal dinner, had drinks, and didn't get in bed until midnight. The next morning we attended a crossfit gym in Ann Arbor and OH MAN!! I was fatigued so quickly, my food, drinks, and late night, had a direct effect on how I performed in the WOD. It was pathetic. Then Monday morning I felt that my muscles fatigued so much quicker from the exhausting weekend and the lack of total clean eating. So to wrap this up, you reap the benefits of what you eat. You eat well, you can exercise to your fullest potential. You eat well, you lose weight. You eat well, you succeed in life, well maybe not, but it will probably help. 

Long Time No Post

Life life life. 
Well planning a wedding and having a life and keeping this bad boy updated has been tough. So today I decided to update it, with no real plan as to what I'm going to write about. 


I guess I'll start with some accomplishments... 

• Last week I broke into the 130s, which was awesome!!! 
• I purchased my first few size 4 pieces of clothing
• I put on my prom dress from my sophomore year prom/junior year homecoming
• Reached a new PR for my 1.5mile of 12:57

I have also decided on some new goals to get to in the next 365 days

1. obtain arms, a la, Jennifer Aniston 
2. drop another 15-20pounds (which would make a grand total between 55-60pounds) but honestly anything under 135 is amazing
3. drop my 1.5mile time to below 11 minutes (current PR is 12:57)
4. drop my 5k time to below 26 minutes (current PR is 28:18 or something)
5. complete a half marathon
6. beat Eva in abs at least once, but mostly get a nice stomach

So to get where I am right now I have done the following

Exercise

Pay attention to what I've been eating

Make my health a priority 

No seriously, that is it. Nothing complicated. 

I work out 3-7 times a week. 

I log EVERYTHING I eat, even if that includes a candy bar or cookie. 

Each weekend I sit in bed with Nick and make a meal plan for the entire week and purchase only that stuff. 

Each evening or morning I make a lunch, including snacks for the day. I also log my dinner and breakfast the night before so I know how many "extra" calories I have for the day if I am hungry but run out of food. 

Before I eat anything I look at any and all of the nutritional information, so I always know what I'm putting into my body, even if it is that candy bar. I don't starve and I don't keep myself away from just about anything as long as I stay within my tolerances. 

1300 calories a day

30g of fat

65g of protein (or more)

195g of carbs

Truthfully, the one thing that has made the biggest difference in the world, minus the LOADS of support I have from my Body Evolution family, is the fact that I have made all of this a priority. I cannot hit snooze and say "oh I'll workout tonight." or "I'll workout tomorrow" because today is tomorrow and tomorrow is yesterday. 

So I'm currently hatching my plan to run my first ever half marathon. I'm so pumped! So on that note, I will call it a night because I need sleep so I can get up and run with my animals in the morning. 

First Full Week of the Year!!!

It's weird to think that this week, 5 weeks into the year, was the first week I have been healthy enough to attend all 3 boot camp sessions. Welcome to my January 2012, it was officially my worst start to a year in a very long time, I can't remember when I had this bad of a January. Anyways, here is my pity party. Week 1 (1/2-1/8) missed Thursday work because I was sick, missed Friday boot camp due to it. Week 2 (1/9-1/15) Missed one day this week due to sickness, can't remember which day but I know it happened because Nick was home sick with me that morning as well. That Friday around 3pm I just started to feel really ill. I had felt sick a few times already this month but most of my sick days were to prevent getting really sick, I was taking the "rest when you think you're getting sick and you'll have less sick days" approach. It failed. I spent the entire weekend on the couch, resting, napping, resting, drinking fluids, and doing everything you're supposed to do when sick that I usually never EVER do, but I figured since I'd been that sick, I should really go "hard" at trying to get better. On Sunday I felt a bit better and decided if I got a good night of sleep I'd go to boot camp in the morning. Sunday evening I spent the majority of my night dealing with an upset stomach due to some not so awesome food. 
Week 3 (1/16-1/22) Missed Monday boot camp, figured that if I couldn't sleep the night before, I probably wasn't healthy enough to work out. Pretty sure my body was giving me warning signs since I slept terribly all week. Still I made it to Wednesday's camp, which was a nice mile run in the rain, followed by legs, which didn't want to work as hard as I was asking them to. That afternoon at work I realized that I had a fever, which sucked, and it continued on Thursday. So I decided to go to the doctor since my horrid cough wouldn't leave me alone. Turns out, I had bronchitis, so they gave me some weird medicine but it started to work. Then I managed to feel pretty good all weekend, which meant Nick and I deep cleaned the entire house, it was the best weekend I've had in a LONG time. Week 4 (1/23-1/29) I was prepared for a good week. I felt better, minus my awful cough, but it was better. Then came Thursday.... Seriously single handed-ley was the worst I have felt in months and months. The medicine I was on for the bronchitis gave me a bacterial infection. Which presented with flu like symptoms and my body stopped processing food. Well needless to say, my bathroom and I were good friends for the day. I did not make it to boot camp on Friday. 
Week 5 (this week 1/30-2/5) Ahhh the sweet sigh of relief... or so I thought. Monday my bacterial infection was still lingering but I made it to boot camp. Monday was tough! My shoulders were still sore on Wednesday. Monday though, was bad, had some not fun "side effects" from my bacterial infection and got some bad news about a family member and cancer. Fuck Cancer. Tuesday showed up and I slept in, I figured I haven't made it a week without falling apart that I'd take it slow. If I make it through a full week of boot camp, I can go back to 5 days a week in the gym. So Tuesday my "side effects" got worse. I decided to call the doctor and got some medicine that really sucked. Then that evening I realized that I had poison sumac on my ASS. Yes you read that correctly, in FEBRUARY, sumac is growing in our yard. I got it last year from my puppy, she just loves to play in our backyard and when it's warm Nick is really good about keeping the yard clear of it for me. We never thought that in February it'd be growing but the patch of hives on my ass, begs to differ. I know, lovely, but this is the hilarity and terrible of my month. The last day of the month, I find hives on my butt. Luckily I still have the steroid cream for them so now Nick applies it daily to my boottay. (we assume that I touched the dog, then touched my butt, and that's how it got to my butt) 
So Wednesday I made it to boot camp again, this was a record (almost) but man, my legs think I probably should have skipped. We got WORKED, just plain worked. We did a weird cardio warm up that I wasn't too fond of but it was the entire leg workout that really kicked our asses. We were in 2 groups, I now realize I was no longer in the top group, I've lost that much muscle in 5 weeks, defeating, but a new goal to work towards. We started with.. 15 deadlifts then moved to a isolated hamstring move and did 10 reps, increased weight and did 8 reps, then increased weight again and did 6 reps. Repeated this cycle 6 times then moved on to quads. For quads we did 15 squats then did the 10, 8, 6 reps cycle 6 times. Don't forget, we had about 30 punishment burpees, which was just comical because my arms were SO exhausted from Monday still. Regardless, I made it through the leg workout, defeated a bit, but I made it. 
So Friday morning comes and I'm alive, well, and kicking, and at boot camp, the first time in 2012 I've made it all 3 days. And let me tell you, after boot camp on Friday, I wasn't sure I'd be alive and kicking when I left the gym. I had my first meeting with crossfit, while it was awesome, it was HARD. We began with our cardio, 10 burpees, 20 hand release pushups (your hands had to come off the floor), 30 box jumps, 40 squats (I wasn't sure my legs would hold up), and 50 jump rope. So basically you move through this sequence as quickly as you can and Mary recorded the time. I did my first set in 4:09, beating Nick by 8 seconds or so, I was pumped. Today was back & biceps and when I thought my legs were weak, they had NOTHING on my arms. We all started with standing barbell presses, NBD... Ha! So then after our 15 presses we moved on to a station, then did 15, 10, 8 reps, increasing weight each time, unless you're me and end up on one station with just the weight of the machine and Mary spotting you because you literally have no muscle left. Regardless, by the end of the cycle we had hit 10 or 11 stations and did 10 or 11 sets of barbell presses in between the stations. So we're close to 6:30 but not close enough, we go back to the crossfit cardio and have to BEAT our first time. Really? I was so proud of my first time. I worked hard, ended first, and worked incredibly hard during the weight session and now you're telling me I need to find some gas in my already empty tank? Okay, ready go! I beat my time by almost 30 seconds and finished second. I'll take it. 
So here I am, Saturday evening, writing down the woes and challenges I've faced the last 30+ days. Here I am, happy, content, inspired, and motivated. My entire body is still sore, my legs hurt to the touch, and my arms hurt when fully extended, but I'm here and I plan to do a 3 mile walk tomorrow if the weather permits. I can honestly say that January was one of the longest, most stressful, busy, and pretty terrible months I've had in ages, personally and professionally speaking. It was just exhausting. Still, throughout all of the bad, negative, and just silly things that happened to me, I still managed to drop all of my Christmas weight and exceed my January budget by 9% and only cried about the awful, terrible, very, very, bad month 4 times. I'm pretty sure that all of those cries came between 25th & 31st. 
My take away from all of this, when someone says "it can't get any worse" it actually can and it most likely will but you can choose to let it defeat you or you can choose to keep pushing through the shit and know that it can't be awful forever. Life just doesn't work that way. I literally chose not to let it break me into a million pieces. Yes I cried from time to time because I just didn't know what else to do, but shortly there after I was able to make jokes out of my childlike immune system and move forward with my itchy butt. It wasn't easy but I'm pretty sure it was easier than giving up and moping forever because I never quit. So I will end it with this, Nick sent this to me on Wednesday and it just fit. 

‎"God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength but with your testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it" 1 Corinthians 10:13

ps i have not proof read this entry at all, i just started writing and apparently just vomited out a novel. enjoy if you can. :)