Continuing My Journey to be Healthy(ier), Strong(er), and Lean(er)

I got the “er” idea from this great article by Jen K. It’s all in the thought process. I am healthy, but I can always be healthier. I am strong, but I always want to be stronger. And I am lean, I just want to be leaner!

Here’s an update on my ever so changing nutrition life.

I dabbled with Leangains a bit after my 12 week nutrition challenge in April. I didn’t have any trouble with fasting. My challenge was to be able to stay within my macros that I had set for myself on a “cut”. I was on track for about 3 weeks, obsessively counting my macros, not trying to overeat, working out my hardest, etc etc. On my rest days, I ran 4-5.5 miles. Well, this soon caught up to me, and I started to fall off the wagon. I probably didn’t plan enough food on my “rest” days, and then I over ate.

When I went on the hack-cation, I decided to continue fasting, but eat whatever I wanted during my eating window. I wanted to focus on my side project, taking my focus away from eating, which means stop prepping food but still be healthy with my food choices, but not so strict. The not so strict part bit me in the behind! That meant, heavy cream in my coffee, paleo krunch bars, dried fruit, which then lead to donuts, hawaiian bread, burgers, and pizza. Ya, how did that happen. I told myself I wasn’t going to be as strict, but I completely fell off the wagon. Definitely not good for my gut or my health.

Two weeks later, I’m here and feeling a little puffier. I took pictures of myself and YIKES! Reality check. I haven’t even compared them to the pictures that I took in the middle of April because I know I’ve gained. I’ve probably gained muscle and fat at the same time, definitely not what Leangains is about. It could also be a lot of water weight from eating lots of white carbs.

My problem is being consistent and keeping myself in control to meet my goals. I’ve made great progress since having Lil’ AMRAP, but I want to be in the best shape possible. I want to “look” like I workout. I want to continue eating healthy, and not be afraid of the once a week “off plan” meals by adding in an extra workout or two. If I do have an “off plan” meal, I want to be able to get back and not continue on the path of destruction. To continue my journey, I’ve decided to take on a new adventure with Jen Keck from Girls Gone Strong. I’ve been following Jen and GGS since the beginning of the year, and was very inspired by all the articles that they’ve written and encouragement that they give women all over the world. Here are some of the great articles that keep me going back to Jen and GGS for motivation:

When is it ever enough? – By Jen K.

The power of preparation – By Jen

Everything(and Nothing) in Moderation – By Neghar

It’s My Fault – By Neghar

How to Have an Awesome Deadlift Workout – Nia Shanks

What’s your “WHY?” – By Molly G.

Jen’s given me some good advice about hormonal issues that I may be having because of the lack in calories, yo-yo dieting, and excessive workouts. I think Jen will not only help me get lean, but also look after my health. My road to trying what fits for me has evolved throughout the years. I know I love CrossFit and lifting, and that has definitely been consistent thanks to Tim, CFPA, and The Five Tribe. Like many other people, the nutrition side of being healthy is the hardest part. I’m living and learning, and I think this will be a fun journey. A little self control, and I’ll be able to reach all my goals in health and fitness.

And so, I’ll leave you here with this little quote from Metabolic Effect.

The metabolism is like a see-saw that is always seeking balance. Eating less and exercising more is a strategy that assures your metabolic see-saw will continue to swing wildly back and forth. Instead of fighting against your metabolic processes you can work with it. Two strategies work best. 1) Eat more and exercise more. This is what you do to build muscle or perform better. 2) Eat less and exercise less. This is best for fat loss.

Yeah, we know you have been told different by all the other experts. Well, their advice has created a 2/3 obesity epidemic in this country and the Yo-Yo dieting phenomenon. It is time, in our humble opinion, people start questioning this bad advice. Any other model in any other industry with a success rate as poor as the eat less exercise more model would have been labeled useless and abandoned long ago.

Oh, and here is one hint about part 2 above. If you eat more of the right kinds of food more often you end up eating less calories without even trying. And, if you exercise smarter you can spend less time and get better results from your exercise (its called exercise efficiency).

Wish me luck in my never ending journey!

05/26/2012 – Good Eats

After the workout, I went to Red Rock to do some app stuff. It was easy not to eat until I got home. Since it was my off Friday, I came home to hang out with the kids instead of spending time working on the app. I feel bad enough that I’m using PTO to code instead of spending QT time with the kiddies. But hey, if I want to stay current, I think I have to do this.

I broke my fast at 11:45AM with 6 egg white omelet, broccoli rabe, sweet potatoes and a 4oz turkey patty.

I had a mid afternoon snack. It wasn’t ideal, but it gave me the extra carbs that I needed to meet my Training day macros. This little piece of heaven is made up of dates, figs, and Enjoy Life Semi Chocolate Chips. Blame it on PaleOmg.

Dinner was a piece of Damn Fine Chicken, 2 mahi mahi fish fillets and roasted cauliflower.

Oh, and look what I got from my 4505 Meats CSA!

I’m really not sure what to do with 8#s of pork shoulder. Maybe I’ll try making char siu from Well Fed. I’ll probably use the other half to make some pork kalua. It’s been awhile!

That’s all folks. I’m going cherry picking tomorrow. I will probably consume over 2 pounds of cherries. Yum!

05/24/2012 – Good Eats

Today was Day 1 of Hack-cation but I still went into work to do some LISS. I walked/jogged on the treadmill for 45 minutes. Then I went to Starbucks to get started on my app. 11:30 rolled around and I was starting to get hungry.

I met up with my fried at Dish Dash for lunch, and I got the norm…greek salad with beef and chicken. Yum-O!

I went to Panera Bread to continue working on my app, and munched on a packet of PaleoStix. These suckers come in handy!

Dinner was salmon with veggies

05/23/2012 – Good Eats

I broke my fast at 11:00AM and scarfed down an egg white omelet with 400g of roasted sweet potatoes. Since it was high carb day, I added in blueberries and strawberries. So delish!

I kept busy all afternoon, so there really wasn’t any temptation to eat anything extra. Being out and about can definitely get your mind off of snacking. When I came home I prepped some bison burgers with jalepeno and garlic. They were delicious! I need to get bison into my diet regime more often.

I had a 5oz burger with another egg white omelet, sweet potatoes, roasted zucchini, and a small handful of cashews. Oh ya, with that dish I still didn’t meet my 160g protein macro yet, so I had a package of paleo stix. So good! I love workout days(high carb days). Looking at the picture, I should of added more leafy greens.

Hope everyone had a good hump day! I’m on stay-cation starting today. Maybe more like hack-cation. Wishing I could spend the time with the boys, but I need to get my butt going on this app. I see there are apps out there like the one I want to do, but who cares. I’m doing this for experience. Hopefully it’ll help my career.

05/21/2012 – Good Eats

This past weekend was pretty busy. I was in the kitchen almost all day Saturday, in between spending quality time with my family. My girlfriends came over for dinner, and I cooked most of the food. It was fun to prep and stuff, but took a lot of time. And I didn’t take that many pictures. Here’s a pic of dessert, recipe courtesy of PaleOmg.

These bars are dangerous, and very delicious. Hats off to PaleOmg for creating such a recipe. I basically had a clean refeed on Saturday. Fasted until 1 and ate as much as I wanted till 7.

On Sunday, I didn’t eat until 1, and broke my fast with leftovers.
. We went to watch the final heats at the NorCal Regionals, and I was able to pick up some PaleoStix. Great snacks! We ended the night at Buffalo Wild Wings. Not a good idea. Tummy was not feeling well, and I was gassy all night. My boys were complaining that I was stinky! LOL. Sorry, TMI!

Okay, onto better eats today, and I kept it real simple. Two big meals.

First meal was at 12PM. 400 grams of sweet potatoes, with a 6 egg white omelet and 5.5 oz pork tenderloin. The pork tenderloin was left over from Saturday’s dinner. Oh, high carb day, so I had some cherries and strawberries. These cherries were from the farmer’s market, which means it’s almost SUMMER!

I got home late from work, and quickly whipped up dinner for us. I had chicken breast plus a 4oz turkey patty. The sides were brussel sprouts and broccoli.

That’s all folks. One more day of work, then I’m going on a stay-cation. More like a hack-cation.

05/17/2012 – Good Eats

Howdy! It’s almost the weekend! It’s almost CrossFit NorCal Regionals! I hope everyone can get out to the Santa Clara Fairgrounds to see the action live. I’m going to TRY really hard to make it on Friday. I probably can’t make it there Saturday, but definitely will be there Sunday. Good times, good times!

Here’s how I fueled my day.

First up was an egg omelet with 4oz of Grassfed ground beef. Yummy!

Next up on my list to eat was chicken lettuce wraps. I didn’t take a picture, but it was the same wraps from the other day, so let’s just use the same one.

Once I got home, I hung out with the kiddies, then warmed up our food. I didn’t really have to cook anything, because all the food was prepared. Yes, please cook leftovers, so you don’t have to cook EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

Hmm…and I guess dinner didn’t stop there. I munched on PaleOmg’s Banana Bread. I knew I couldn’t resist it. I was good yesterday, and that’s only because I made it after the eating window had ended. Today was a different story. I probably had two good slices of the banana bread. So good! Here’s a pic of my Lil’ Munchkin’ helping me yesterday. Love my little sous chef.

05/16/2012 – Good Eats

If you haven’t heard, CBS San Francisco is airing a 5 part series on Paleo. You can find the first 3 segments, here, here, and here. Check it out and get some good info on why eating the Paleo Lifestyle will benefit your health.

Onto my good eats for the day. Today was much better that I didn’t get hungry until 11:15. Maybe working out helps with my fast and drinking some coffee.

I broke my fast with a 6 egg omelet, 400g of sweet potato fries and 50g of chestnuts. Delish!

Next up was Melissa J’s Best Chicken You’ll Ever Eat wrapped in red butter lettuce with roasted bell peppers. Yes, I made this wraps sitting at my desk. You will not regret making this chicken. So moist and the flavor is divine!

For dinner, I took out some Wild Scallops I bought at Trader Joe’s and pan fried them with bacon grease, salt, and pepper. Dinner was on the table in minutes.

I ended the night with a couple handful of cashews. Not on the plan. I had to get rid of these cashews, so I made some banana bread from PaleOmg.

No more cooking dinner until Saturday. We have a ton of leftovers, so I want to clear all this food out before I start cooking again on Saturday. The GFs are coming over for dinner and it looks like pork tenderloin roast and skirt steak are on the menu. I hope they like it.

05/15/2012 – Good Eats

I got to work and sat on the bike. Just biked for 45 minutes while reading a book. Crazy huh? It wasn’t a fiction book or magazine. More like a book on how to code. Tips and tricks. I never knew reading a book on software development would make the time pass so quickly.

I was suppose to run with my coworker at lunch, but work got in the way, and I decided not to go. I could of used the Vitamin-D, but I could use the rest even more.

Here’s how I fueled my day.

I broke my fast pretty early today because I was HUNGRY! I got a 14.5hr fast. It’s probably because I didn’t eat as much yesterday. I scarfed down my eggs with spinach and roasted cauliflower.

I was still hungry after eating my eggs, so I made my little Coconut Wrap with a can of Wild Planet Sardines and roasted bell peppers. Surprisingly, this was delicious! Wish I had more. I’m sure my neighbors weren’t too happy about me opening a can of sardines. I smelled it all day because the can was sitting in my trash can. LOL.

For dinner, I dunked a 6oz Salmon in the Sous Vide, then pan fried it in some ghee. Yes, my plate looks small compared to other nights, but oh well.

I made the mistake of roasting some raw cashews. I had a handful just to make sure that they were actually roasted instead of raw. A bit addicting.

Night folks!

Mother’s Day Weekend Recap

After a fun filled weekend with my family and extended family, it’s time to get back to reality. Mother’s Day was celebrated all weekend. The four of us spent the day in the city, and the weather was gorgeous. We stopped by The Ferry Building to walk around and pick up some sausages from 4505 Meats. Those guys are great, and I spent a few minutes talking to Kyle about our CSA. I can’t wait to start getting meats from them. After the market, we took the kids to The San Francisco Zoo. And once again, I was not prepared for the weather change. It was pretty windy and cold there, and I was wearing shorts and a tank top. Luckily my smart hubby brought extra clothes for the kiddies, so they had a fun time looking at all the animals. Here are a few shots from my phone.

Next we went to Limon SF in the Mission. By far, the best Peruvian place I’ve been to. So so yummy, and you can definitely stay Paleo. Rotiserrie chicken was delicious, and the ceviche was THE BOMB!

Sweet Potato Fries

Sauteed Vegetables: Oh so good!

Braised Boneless Beef Short Ribs

Rotiserrie Chicken

Yucca Fries

Traditional Peruvian Stir Fried Top Sirloin topped with Fries.

On Sunday, I did my usual Campbell Farmer’s Market run and then prepped veggies for the week. We had a Mother’s Day gathering at my sister’s place. The food was BBQ from Blue Rock, and since I fasted all the way up till 1PM, I devoured a whole bunch of ribs and chicken with salad.

And then..I devoured 2 cream puffs from Beard Papas. It all went downhill from there. I was stuffed and uncomfortable. We went home and I took a nap to alleviate the pain of eating too much. I woke up feeling refreshed, and decided to go to Krung Thai. I came home with a bad stomach ache that lasted way into the night. Why do I do this to myself?! The food wasn’t even that great.

Fortunately, I didn’t take any pics on Sunday. I’d rather keep it in the past and not go back to that tummy ache again. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.

05/10/2012 – Good Eats

I was sort of lazy to get out of bed this morning, and I even wanted to ditch out on my coworker for our run. Of course, I decided to stick with the plan and hit the pavement(5.5 miles). I’m sure glad I did, because it was a nice morning to get the blood flowing.

I broke my fast at 10:30 and devoured my ground beef egg omelet with roasted broccoli.

I brought Sauteed Curry Chicken Liver for lunch, but decided to not eat it. My coworker went to St. John’s BBQ and Grill, so I asked him to bring me back half a bbq chicken. I picked apart the chicken and devoured it with mashed cauliflower and a side salad. Yum!

For dinner, I sous vide’ed a piece of salmon and paired it with leftover asparagus and sauerkraut. I was still hungry, so I ate some chicken thighs and dried cranberries. A few handful of dried cranberries.

Tomorrow, I plan on switching my heavy lifting day to Saturday, which means rest day calories as well. We are going to SF on Saturday, so I want to take advantage of a heavy workout and training calorie day. Yes, there will be lots of good eats on Saturday.