Cheating

One of the reasons I’ve signed on to the Whole Life Challenge is to become accountable to my mouth.  Generally, my motto is: If I see cake, I eat it.  Obviously, this is not a good thing.

Over the last eight weeks I have eaten like a super star- not Paleo, but a superstar none the less.  What do I mean by “super star” you ask?   I mean, I’ve allowed myself one “cheat day” a week, I’ve stopped drinking (alcohol) completely during the week, and I’ve made a conscious effort to plan out my meals to include the good stuff.  No, this isn’t a Snapple commercial, I literally mean good stuff: eggs, meat, fruit, veggies, avocados, nuts, etc.  

This effort has rewarded me six pounds of weight loss and a feeling of happiness when I look in the mirror.  : )

So, back to cheating – I am breaking up with you.  I only have two weeks left to enjoy a “cheat day”.  As of September 15^th (the start of the WLC), my cheat days are over.  

Its kind of like a relationship, if you’re going to cheat, make sure he’s hot.  Today, I enjoyed a lovely slice and a half of Celestino’s Tom Jones.  Mmmm… he was hot!

As I lift my bud light (weekend drinking - give me a break), a toast to cheating – it only lasts so long!

Week One

My first week of Paleo went pretty smoothly.  It took a little bit more preparation then what I was used to, but it was worth it.  And the scale proved it!  When I first started doing CrossFit, I was super disappointed that the scale started going up.  I couldn’t figure out how I could look and feel so good, yet weigh almost 5 lbs more.  As of this past Friday, I am officially down 4 of those 5 lbs, and hope to get even lower. 

In all honesty, I was not 100% Paleo.  I still indulged in a glass of red wine almost every night, and had a free day on Sunday (and I mean free day).  Until the Challenge begins, I plan to continue to enjoy a glass of wine nightly along with my Sunday morning biscuit breakfast.  Everything in moderation right?!

On a personal note, today is also my 8th day smoke free (“toot-toot”).  I am pretty proud of myself with all things considered. 

Here’s a few pros/cons from the first week:

1.         Going Paleo made my body really efficient at processing food (*wink-wink*).  I thought for sure the lack of carbs and fiber would have the opposite effect.  

2.         Paleo made almost all of my bloat and water retention go away.  My stomach seems ridiculously flat and sculpted.  

3.         You have to be prepared.  Planning and prepping your meals is key to sticking to Paleo.

4.         As a mom, Paleo has kept me from “cleaning up” my kids’ plates.  I didn’t realize how much I ate my daughter’s left over food.  I had to stop myself a few times from grabbing that chunk of pancake, goldfish, PB&J, etc.  That alone probably saved me a few hundred calories. 

5.         It took my body a few days to adjust to the lethargic feeling.  I’m not sure if it was just me, but I definitely had a “drained” feeling the first couple of days. 

Today is a new day.  I have my mini-fridge packed with raspberries, blueberries, apple slices, grapes, cucumbers slices, carrots, celery, peppers, left over kabobs and asparagus, spinach salad, mini frittatas, and sliced up chicken/steak.  I’m excited to see what this next week brings.

Easy Breakfast Frittatas

Let's be honest... my a.k.a. ain't Betty Crocker.  When I do my shopping for the week I try to buy the quickest and easiest things.  Eating Paleo has put a cramp in my shopping list.

My BP (Before-Paleo) breakfast used to include a Fiber One Breakfast Bar and a banana on the way to work.  It was easy, quick, and I could share it with the two year old mini-me in the back seat.  I started doing Google searches of "easy Paleo breakfast ideas" and found this amazing recipe that I tweaked to my tastes:

Cupcake Frittatas (just the name makes it sound delicious doesn't it???):

Muffin Tray (12)
8 organic eggs (I use half egg whites/half whole eggs)
Turkey Sausage (browned)
Veggies (Mushrooms, Red Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Onion, Broccoli, Spinach, Jalapenos, Zucchini)
Coconut Oil

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2.  Grease muffin-cups with coconut oil
3.  Layer muffin-ups with spinach (imagine the paper wrapper)
4.  Sautee veggies with a little bit of coconut oil and add even amounts to each cup.
5.  Add whisked eggs to each cup (about 3/4 full)

Bake for 15-18 minutes until the eggs are set.

Slide a butter knife around each cup to loosen and turn upside down on a piece of wax paper to cool.

I portion out two in zip lock bags for a whole weeks worth of breakfast.  Because each little "muffin" has different veggies, it's a new taste every day.

Enjoy!!

p.s.  I promise to work on taking better foodie pictures:)

Transitions

So... my husband and I rarely eat dinner.  We generally only sit down to eat once during the week (our rest day) and on the weekends.  Now, I know what you're thinking... what do those amazing little girls eat?  This is where my amazing husband comes in:  I get home from work everyday by about 6 to find my man making a healthy mix of food for the girls.  After the gym, we both chug a protein shake and call it a day.

Well, today being our rest day, we all sat down to eat.  Tonight, my husband made a great pork stir fry.  Segue into the title of the blog... this amazing stir fry (shown above) was a great Paleo or WLC start.  The problem was the sauce....

So, in this spirit of transitions, we are now in need of modifying our style of cooking (3 weeks left).  My goal for the week is to find some great recipes for stir-fry like sauces that could make the above dish be true Paleo.  Wish me luck.

Note:  The goal of this blog is to capture tasty recipes and ideas (among other things)... No pressure, but feel free to add some inspiring ideas! 

My baby's got sauce...

Why do this?

You might be wondering, "who cares"?

Well, Christie and I both have a bit of an addiction to blogs.  Now that we're both into the Cross Fit community, our blog obsession has turned to Paleo Treats, Workout stats, Box WODS, etc.

I've been hard at Cross Fit since March of this year.  Wes and I (wait wait... who's Wes?  Wes is my amazing husband) get in a sixty minute Cross Fit class at least four days per week.  We workout at Cross Fit In Motion in Chico, CA.  On the off days I get in at least thirty minutes of cardio (running or tedious eliptical fun) and allow myself one day of rest.

Christie is much more disciplined than me.  She's been going hard for over two years at running and boxing.  After listening to me gush about Cross Fit, Christie decided to join a box in July.  She gets in two 1 hours sessions of Cross Fit per week at Crossfit714.  On her off days (she also goes hard six days per week) Christie runs like a psycho and works on other strength conditioning moves.

So... bringing you on back - why are we doing this blog?

We want a venue to blog about our experience on the Whole Life Challenge including what we ate, how we kept the food choices interesting, and what we did to get our bodies moving!  Not to mention the fact that public commendation and accolades are always well received!

In addition, we're identical twins - everything is about competition.

So, our stats:

We are both 5' 8".  I currently weigh in at 161 lbs (I've lost 11 lbs since February - yay me!) and Christie is currently tilting the scale at a beefy 147.1 (mind you, she used to be a petite 144.5 until she started Cross Fit).  I'd like to throw in a caveat here:  I have birthed two children... Christie has only birthed one.  In addition, I suffered some pretty serious pain issues in my hips and SI joints during most of 2011.  (Okay, okay... that's all my excuses for the rest of the blog!)

Leading up to the challenge, Chris and I will keep you updated on our Paleo-esque build up (meaning, what our food ideas are - where we are Bobing meals <BOB = Building on Brilliance>, and how we're dragging our husbands along for the ride) and we'll provide last minute (as of September 15th) stats on our measurements, weight, and fitness goals.

Thanks for reading and hold on for some crazy babbling... in twin stereo!

And finally.. one of the best reasons:  To look like this (go Christina Gloger!!):

September 15, 2012

That was my sister (Jamie) and I back in April.  Don't get me wrong - we both look good - we just want to look better. 

In exactly 3 weeks we will begin the Whole Life Challenge.  Both of our CrossFit gyms are sponsoring this incredible event.  Here is the basic summary:

The Game is scored in Four ways:

Nutrition              3 pts

Workout              1 pt

Mobilization       1 pt

Fish Oil                 1 pt

Each day, you are eligible to receive up to the max amount of pts per category (see above – 6 total per day).  Note, by default, you will start with the maximum amount of points per category each day.  As you go along, ANY violation of the rules will subtract one point.  Check out the FAQ page listed below for additional information on this.  We will log our points by 3 pm each day for the previous days activities.   In addition, there will be weekly challenges that will provide additional opportunities for bonus points – up to 3 per week!

These bonus points can be banked to make up for points lost during the overall challenge!  Bonus points also give you a license to cheat and break some of the rules in the challenge when needed.

So, after the 56 days are over, the max amount of points you could have earned will be: 336 points.  (Note:  The challenge will go from September 15 to November 9). 

Winning:

The winner will be determined by a combined ranking of your total points and your body measurement improvement. 

Nutrition:

If you violate any food rule, subtract 1 point per violation Lowest score you can get on any day is 0

No Grains or starches – including wheat, barley, oats, breads, rice (including wild rice), quinoa, pasta, potatoes, etc.

·        EXCEPTION – Legumes (beans) and sweet potatoes/yam

No Corn or Soy (including oils)
No Sugar or Sweetener of any kind – including refined sugar, raw sugar, cane juice, evaporated cane juice, honey, agave, maple syrup, Truvia, aspartame, NutraSweet, sucralose, etc.

·        EXPECTION – Stevia may be used

No Dairy – including milk, cheese, buttermilk, yogurt, kefir, sour cream, etc.

·        EXCEPTION - Butter

No Alcohol, Soda, or Juice – Values for 1 point are 1 oz. liquor, 16 oz. beer, 4 oz. wine, 1 mixed drink, 12 oz. of soda, and 8 oz. of juice.

·        EXCEPTION – Lemon and lime juice

No Artificial or Processed ingredients or foods – Any non-traditional food chemical is permitted. This includes guar gum and agar. No food that required anything other than traditional food preparation methods such as cooking, drying, or curing. Food from jars, cans, or boxes are permitted as long as their ingredients or preparation do not violate the general nutrition rules.

Compound items – any item with more than one violation contained within (e.g. cake has grains and sugar, pizza has grains and dairy, a milkshake or latte has dairy and sugar) counts as 1 point only.

Workout:

You must be active daily to earn your workout pointAny kind of workout counts Minimum workout is active recovery for 10 minutes. Active recovery is defined as intentionally engaging in some form of movement with the purpose of improving your fitness. Examples: jogging, recreational cycling or skating, hiking, yoga, etc. The final determination is yours, but be honest with yourself about the completion of this requirement.

Mobilization:

You must mobilize or stretch daily to earn your mobilization pointAny kind of stretching or mobilization counts

·        Soft tissue work with a foam roller or lacrosse ball

·        Static stretching

·        Yoga, etc.

Massage does not fulfill the mobilization requirement.

Fish Oil:

You must take a dose of fish oil every day.There is no minimum dose requirement Recommended dosage: 4000mg combined EPA & DHA. Read back labels for dosage information. Fish oil mg listed on front of packaging is not the same thing. You may use any fish oil supplement you choose, even if it contains a prohibited ingredient.

Check out the FAQ page at: https://www.wholelifechallenge.com/challenge_rules