5th Element and Primal Challenge

First off, yesterday I published my first solo blog post for my new blog, 5th Element Fitness. OMG it made me soooo nervous!

You'd think that after ~4 years of blogging, in one place or another, that one more post wouldn't be a big deal. But this is the first time I've blogged without a psuedonym and also declared the type of stuff I'll write about. I switched over to using my real name on this blog several months ago to help me get over the anonymity hurdle. But the stress of feeling like I need to have something truly interesting and well-written before hitting "publish" is still getting to me. I almost jumped out of my chair as I clicked "Publish Post".

Check it out if you are so inclined. :)

Curiosity.

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Also, Kelsalynn and I are attempting the 30 Day Primal Challenge via Mark's Daily Apple over the next few weeks.

In the interest of full disclosure, my current nutrition status is best described as "free for all". There was a short-lived revival of my Paleo/primal habits from Dec 2010 to Jan 2011 in order to fit into my shorts for my vacation to St. Thomas. That petered out once I returned home from my trip.

And it goes a bit deeper than just eating poorly... This past spring I began seeing a counselor because my on-off issue with binge eating (since adolescence, really) had gone completely out of control. You know the saying -- once something starts affecting your ability to live your life, it's time to get help.

My counselor suggested that I read a book -- Intuitive Eating. The book outlines a step-by-step process to follow to help retrain your behavior from unhealthy restricting or bingeing, to an intuitive way of eating. One of the concepts in the book is that placing any concept of good/bad or restriction on food is detrimental to developing a healthier relationship with food.

This concept made a lot of sense to me, and it gave me a lot to think about as I tried to implement it for myself. But since I never really went on to the next steps of the program (counseling took a bit of a different angle at my request, not my counselor being lax!), I find that I'm stuck in this mindset of "eating junk is OK, if I restrict myself it will be bad".

But I'm left weighing a lot of things in my head...

I don't want to try to start some kind of strict challenge, because I KNOW that is very likely to trigger bingeing behavior, and I do not want to cause that to happen. Things are 100% better than when I started counseling, and I do not want to have a huge setback...

However, I also am not happy with the weight that I've put on while eating "freely", which makes it really hard for me to resist the temptation to start "forcing" myself to eat Paleo again. I know that it works, and that I'd definitely lose this extra bit of weight if I started eating that way again. But even if I get the 8-10 pounds off that I am carrying, will it really be worth it in the long run if things start getting out of control again? Again and again I keep telling myself "no, not worth it".

So, back to the challenge. For me this challenge is not necessarily going to be about eliminating anything from my diet, or stopping anything, or having a list of "bad" foods that I won't eat.

It's going to be about a commitment to learn more about the practicalities of eating the way that makes me feel, perform and look great.

Of course I feel overwhelmed when I start removing foods, because as an inexperienced cook I start to feel like there's nothing I can eat. And the only way to remove those feelings of "there's no food!!" panic (which lead to bingees) is to learn to procure and prepare food that I love eating and this is healthy.

I guess the good thing is that because I never learned to cook many dishes, it's not like I'm starting over. I'm just starting fresh. Except for lasagna, I make a freaking killer lasagna. :)

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This week I've done a few things to support my goal of learning and practicing how to feed myself great tasting and healthy foods.
 - I stocked up on a bunch of healthy fruits and veggies that I enjoy snacking on --  strawberries, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower.
 - I bought jicama from the grocery store; Mel always mentions these, so I felt I should try it, just for shits and giggles. I haven't attempted to do anything with it yet...
 - I made a batch of meat sauce with grass-fed beef; sauce is a staple for me, especially since I use it to cook up my famous stuffed peppers (need to make those soon). I also got a big spaghetti squash which will be good for 2 or 3 meals.
 - I took fish oil today for the first time. 2 capsules and no weird burps yet, so I think I'll up to 3 tomorrow and see what happens. :)

Still more to do, but this is a start. My next priority is to get some more MEAT into my house. Learning to cook tasty protein sources is probably the number 1 way I could help myself eat healthier.

Weigh-Ins, for posterity

I got tired of these weigh-ins being listed on my side bar, but wanted to save them for posterity. So, a post. :)

This was my weight loss while following a relatively "clean" or Paleo diet, and CrossFitting on pretty regular schedule of 3 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off. And if you care about that kind of stuff, I'm 5'6''.

Unlike others, I didn't have 20 pounds fall off the moment I started eating Paleo. I lost a couple pounds a month, gradually. After reaching 143 in January, I actually started to gain weight back from putting on muscle. Which is just fine with me, I wasn't trying to achieve a certain number on the scale -- I just wanted to look and feel better than I did when I started. Goal achieved. :)

 

161.8 -- 08/05/2009

159.2 -- 08/12/2009

157.0 -- 08/19/2009

158.0 -- 08/26/2009

157.8 -- 09/09/2009

158.6 -- 09/16/2009

156.4 -- 10/07/2009

153.4 -- 10/27/2009 -8.4

154.0 -- 11/11/2009 -7.8

152.8 -- 12/11/2009 -9
148.0 -- 01/10/2010 -13.8
146.8 -- 01/20/2010 -15
145.0 -- 01/27/2010 -16.8
143.2 -- 01/31/2010 -18.6

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This isn't necessarily a case of a dramatic visual change. I went from looking pretty average to looking fit. And more importantly, I felt awesome, had tons of energy, and gained tons of confidence by physically achieving things I didn't think I could do. Go CrossFit. :)

July 2009

Spring 2010

Later w/ more muscle - October 2010

Interesting chipper, lots of questions

I envisioned this WOD taking *forever*, but it really wasn't that bad. I could improve my time on this one, but I was pretty happy with the work I did.

WOD:
4 rope climbs
50 thrusters (45/25)
400m run
50 thrusters
1 mile run

Results: 22:39 Rx; time for 1 mile: 9:32

The 4 climbs went well! I used the "standard" rope around the leg technique to go up, and then experimented with different feet placements to come back down again.


Rope Climbs from c wiss on Vimeo.

For some explanation about the different stuff I was trying, check out this video on rope climbing tips from Beastskills.com.

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Our gym is talking about having another Paleo challenge... And I'm not sure how I feel about it. At the start of our last challenge I had been eating Paleo on my own for several months, had seen excellent results in losing fat and improving performance, and was super gung-ho about getting others on board.

Then the challenge started, and all hell broke loose. Some kind of latent adolescent rebellion kicked in, and suddenly didn't want to eat Paleo because now I "had to".

And honestly, my Paleo mojo has been majorly fucked up ever since. To the point where I'm reading "The Primal Blueprint" and eating a bowl of ice cream.

Recently I read a blog post -- Is Competition Always Good? -- that was good food for thought.

[O]verall, I think this kind of competition is counterproductive. I’m not saying “don’t run a 5K” or don’t challenge yourself in a way that feels right to you. I am saying that the challenge or competition mentality, when it comes to our bodies and our health, is probably more of a distraction than a help. I think it pushes us into a more narrow definition of what’s acceptable for ourselves.

I can't find the link, but I also read a blog post once about a woman who started a challenge, and had it derail her from a good routine because she wasn't able to be a perfect competitor. So, if I can summarize, she had a good thing going, hitting the gym regularly, doing her thing, good results. Then the gym started a challenge -- you know the drill, start with a benchmark WOD, 6 weeks, repeat benchmark WOD. She had this grandiose plan about how she would "pump up" her current routine so that she would blow her old time away at the end of the challenge. But the pressure to be a perfect competitor completely stalled her ability to even continue what she had been doing. She stopped going to the gym completely because she wasn't able to do it perfectly, as the perfect competitor.

Hope that made sense to you guys -- I'm bummed I can't remember what blog that story came from.

Today I read a post on PaleoChix, which is the first in a series of posts about members of CrossFit Scotsdale who have participated in a Paleo Challenge. This post had a very positive outcome for the athlete.

I'm left wondering if they'll include a story that turned out badly for the athlete, like what happened with me. Where a person that had made a relaxed and gradual switch to Paleo found themself derailed by the challenge, because it created pressure to adhere to a perfect standard.

Thoughts from you all? Have you done a Paleo challenge?  If you have, did you like or dislike it? Did it help or hurt your overall efforts?

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For 2 weeks earlier this month I had the opportunity to assist with teaching swimming lessons at our pool on base, since I had just completed (and thankfully passed!) my Red Cross Water Safety Instructor course.

And you know what? I'm pretty good at helping little kids learn how to swim. Except the making them submerge when they don't want to part, I am not good at that yet. But other stuff, I'm pretty good at.

It was so fun to see the students in the 2 classes I helped with progress! They worked so hard, and learned a ton, and never gave up, and had so much fun and were so excited.

And so now I'm seriously thinking about signing up for the CrossFit Kids certification, especially because one is being held in Atlanta soon, and that's actually within driving distance for me...

Some additional inspiration came from:
 - Melli: CrossFitting Kids
 - Raw CrossFit: Imagine if you CrossFit as a kid
 - Miss Jovina

Those of you who CrossFit and have kids -- let me know your thoughts on CF Kids. Are your children already too busy with other sports to participate? Or is it something they would enjoy making time for? Would you like your kids to have class at the same time as you? Or at a different time so you can watch them and maybe participate a little bit in their class?

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CrossFit Is A Gateway Drug

I think metabolic conditioning is our “bait” – it’s the bright shiny object we use to reel them in.

 Did CrossFit draw you in with the "great sweat" workouts, and then you found yourself becoming obsessed with barbell lifts or gymnastics? This was true for me, so I'm just curious if it was true for you guys too?

Rest day hodge-podge

Cool article about women in CrossFit, and how they can become more competitive. Some of the statements made about women are a bit stereotypical, but I think they're still valid for enough women that it's not over the top.

I love this enough that I want to put the main points here:

• Embrace your competitive nature
• Challenge your definition of beauty
• Nourish your body
• Track your progress
• Train with the guys

That site is great, but the URL makes it hard to share links with lots of people, since it's so offensive... Dayum.

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A few thoughts on eating Paleo that I like. Here are two slightly edited quotes:

"Eating without regards to hunger, satiety and fullness, eating just because you can without regard to a block prescription, is a recipe for disaster."

"What is working for me may not work for everyone, which is why I love the expression Your Mileage May Vary.  It is so wonderfully vague!  What that means is that Paleo has no rules.  Paleo is indeed very freeing.  It forces introspection, experimentation and adaptation. Goals factor into what constitutes YOUR perfect Paleo."

 Working hard to find MY perfect Paleo. It has been a challenge so far, but I know it will make a huge difference in the rest of my life once I figure it out.

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Train the mind as well as the body, and make winning a habit. Zach Even-Esh posts cool stuff. Which I now find cause I'm doing Twitter.

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I am dying to sign up for a CrossFit Endurance certification, and I just saw an announcement about one in my local area... Now to talk to husband about spending yet more $$$ on my CrossFit stuff...

This new urge probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm thinking about signing up for an Olympic distance triathlon sometime this summer or fall. Olympic (or intermediate) is the next step up from sprint distance -- 1.5 km (~1 mi) swim, 40 km (~25 mi) bike, 10 km (~6 mi) run. Instead of spending money on a cert, I probably should spend it on a bike with a frame that actually fits me.

My biggest reason for trying the next "level" is that I want to swim longer. My 2005 sprint tri I swam for 13:47, and in 2007 I swam for 18:43. I need more time in the water, cause that's where I kick ass. :-D

PS - I did the Philly Women's Triathlon (sprint distance) twice. It rocked. Hence I'm leaning towards the fall tri because it's a women-only event.

PS2 -  Why Swimming is Different from CF Journal. I'm so excited to be getting back into swimming. Can't wait to see how my upper-body strength gains will translate in the pool.

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Did some searching and found a bit of information about the accreditation process that is underway for CrossFit certifications. The biggest impact it has on the community is the introduction of a 50 question test as part of Level I. There's a study guide linked from the FilFest page, which I have read -- it is an awesome compilation of some of the best CF Journal articles.

• CrossFit message board thread discussing test
• FilFest test registration FAQ

Resting on Thursday

Today is a rest day, and I really need it! Starting yesterday I was having some wicked delayed-onset muscle soreness in my shoulders -- assuming that was from going up and down the rope on Monday.

Today won't be a complete day off, though -- I'm on the hook to clean the house up for a visit from husband's mom this weekend. We're excited, it's her first time visiting since we moved down here a year ago.

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Great quote today from CrossFit KoP:

"Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it." - Goethe

Reminded me of another quote that I absolutely love:

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action." - Frank Tibolt

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Yesterday I attempted to roast a spaghetti squash, and even cooked up a big pot of sauce in anticipation of some spaghetti-like goodness.

The spaghetti squash came out on top this time -- even after an hour roasting in the oven, the squash strands ("noodles") were still kinda crunchy. Not exactly what I had in mind, since I am a big fan of overcooked noodles. I'm not really sure if I did it correctly, and I just don't like it, or if I did it incorrectly and that's why it was horrible?

I will be trying the spaghetti squash experiment again, irregardless, because I think for me finding "substitute" foods will go a loooooong way in helping me stay on track and avoid dosing myself with gluten.

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Yesterday was also completely gluten-free, but I was still sick this morning... I think I'll need to go another few days without gluten before I see healing in my gut.

I'm anxious to return to the world of healthy BM's, because once I do, I'm going to start taking some supplements.

After listening to the first 6 episodes of the Paleolithic Solution Podcast, put out by Robb Wolf and Andy Deas, I've really become convinced that I need to add their 3 recommended supplements:

• fish oil (7250mg / day)
• vitamin D
• magnesium

I've procured some sources for the above, but I don't want to waste my money by taking them while my gut is still irritated, and my body won't be able to absorb them. So, we wait...

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Some recent online purchases:

• GymBoss Timer -- one for me, and one for my sis
• Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Rippetoe and Kilgore
• Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe and Kilgore

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I have been described as inspiring! Thanks Melli! That is so damn cool! Between this linky love, and my new peep at the gym (Melissa) saying she wants to be like me after rope climb day, I am feeling the freaking love. :-D

And this is an awesome quote about finally mastering the kipping pullup -- "A whole new world of Crossfitting feels like it has opened up to me. It feels like freedom." I know exactly how you feel Catherine!

Food choices, guilt and punishment

There are many "voices" in my online life who are constantly reminding me to live with a spirit of acceptance about the present state of things, to not "beat myself up" over choices but to accept and move on, to live mindfully. They state those ideas much more eloquently that I can, but that's my best attempt at summary. (Thanks to Steph, Cindy, Mark and Margarita for their positive influence.)


Where I struggle most is in the area of food, and food choices.

I want to embrace the idea that I can make choosing and eating food a positive experience, and I'm inspired by things that Cindy and Mark wrote recently.

But it's very hard for me.

I'm not sure what exactly set off this most recent bout of self-sabatoge in the area of food... Maybe it was something to do with completing the 1/2 marathon, and feeling like I had "arrived" at some mythical place where I could just put whatever into my mouth and it would all be good? Or was it the Paleo Challenge that we are doing at our box? Sometimes it seems like the moment I "have" to do something, it becomes a chore to make the right choice, regardless of whether or not I was making the right choice previously.

So yeah, the food I've been consuming in the last few weeks hasn't always been the best choice. And I am trying not to beat myself up for it, or punish myself for making less than optimal choices...

What makes it so hard is that my body itself seems to dole out it's own brand of punishment, even if I can refrain from negative and guilt-ridden thoughts. Lately it seems that even the tiniest of mis-steps on a given day results in catastrophic gut and digestive issues. I'm relieved that I don't have any (noticeable) stomach pain, but that final step in digestion is not at all pleasant (and obviously signals that there are bad things going on in my intestines).

This is depressing, because I thought that I had finally ended my history of crappy (hah!) digestive issues after my first few weeks of eating Paleo. Now I feel like I will never have a healthy gut, and I'm just very overwhelmed and defeated by it all.

I wish I could live the 80/20 lifestyle, and be healthy and happy when 80 percent of my choices are good, but it seems like I have to be completely perfect. And if I'm not perfect, my intestinal tract will dole out punishment...

And that brings me back to the "have to" = rebellion idea. Because I will get sick, I have to eat strict Paleo all the time, and therefore I don't want to. But this doesn't make sense, because it was improvement in the area of digestive upset that helped me stay true to Paleo when I first started...

Maybe there is something more complex going on here, it needs more thought on my part, and more writing. Especially since I'm not even sure I made a point with this post; it was just important to me to write about this issue so I can start working through it...

Lots of links, Friday's WOD, Saturday preview

I'll start with the links today. :)

This "burpee tag" warmup looks so fun! If we didn't have so much equipment blocking the edges of our area of mats, I would totally do this for a warmup. Maybe if we go to the track one of these day for sprints, this would be a good warmup to do on the football field.




20 tips for improving your squat, shared by CrossFit East Sacramento, originally from the "Squat Clinic" article of the CrossFit Journal.

I finally gave in and signed up for Twitter -- I'm ceewiss, since cwiss was already taken. I only did it because one of my friends won't sign up for Facebook and we are having a heck of a time staying in touch. Guess she won that standoff. :-p

Yesterday I cooked up some yummy veggies and beef in my CrockPot -- I posted about it on the CrossFit Camden Paleo Challenge blog. :)

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Today's scheduled WOD was "JT" -- handstand pushups, ring dips, pushups. With my (still) tweaky shoulder, I knew that was not a good idea. So I made up the workout from the 17th, with some modifications.

WOD:
20 cal row
20 wall ball shots (20lbs/14)
20 clapping push ups hip extensions
20 knees to elbows GHD situps
20 double unders
20 star jumps
20 pull ups
20 lunge steps (each leg)
20 slam balls

Results:  13:27

The only shoulder exercises I left in were wall balls, pullups and slam balls. I did a test K2E during my warmup, and it did not feel good, so those were out. The pushups I took out just to be on the safe side. I want to rest this as much as possible so I can get back to improving my skills for the cert in March.

I was feeling a little bit scared and wussy on the pullups -- those took me probably close to 1/2 my time. The double unders I did in 2 sets -- 9 and 11. That felt awesome. :)

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Tomorrow is gonna be interesting -- I'm running a 5K that is completely on a bridge. With a 6% grade. ZOMG. It's the Sidney Lanier Bridge, which goes over the Brunswick River and essentially connects Jekyll Island to the rest of the Golden Isles / Brunswick, GA. This bridge is super-pretty, and I love driving across it. It should be painful fun to run across -- and then back again.

 

 

My arms are toast

I was already feeling sore from rope climbs, ring dips and pushups yesterday, and then I decided that during today's open gym I would make up the crazy WOD from Thursday, which was my 3-1 rest day.

Oh. My. God. The finish time speaks for itself. A WOD hasn't taken me that long since I did Eva just after Thanksgiving.

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WOD:

5 rounds, for time:
10 DB hang squat cleans (35#/20#)
10 DB push presses
10 DB front squats
10 DB man-makers
5 pullups

 Results:  57:47 - as Rx'd

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Even though this took me F-O-R-E-V-E-R, I'm proud to say that this was my first "as Rx'd" WOD with pullups in it. I said I would be off the band for pullups by the end of the month, and as of today, I have officially given them up. I may be doing pullups one at a time for some WODs in the next few weeks, but I will be doing them on my own.

The worst part of the round for me was the pushup within the man-makers. I was happy to have done all my pushups on my feet yesterday, but today they weren't there, and I was back on my knees by round 2. I think I just need to do WAY MORE pushups to get better at them. It's not as sexy as working on your pullups after the WOD, but I think at this point it's holding me back and I need to pick a minimum number to complete each day. Grease the groove to get better.

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I brought some SunButter,  along with apple slices, carrots and celery, to share after the Mud Run training was over. A few people got a chance to try it. And we had some good discussion about what foods aren't part of a Paleo diet, and what foods you do eat. I'm hoping that the information we share at the new Paleo Challenge blog will get people thinking, and help keep everybody motivated about making a switch to Paleo, even if it's just for the next 6 weeks.

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Almost forgot to share the most hilarious part of completing this WOD. Smashing my chin off the pullup bar during round 4. Note to self -- it's cool to kip with all you've got, but look at the bar when doing so. I think I escaped relatively unscathed, considering I probably could've cracked a tooth or something gnarly. Considering this a warming to anybody reading this!

Dirty South Chipper

Today's WOD came from the 2009 Dirty South (South Eastern Region) Regional Qualifier.

WOD:

For time:
1000 Meter Row
25 OHS (135/115/75)
150 Meter Run
50 Kettlebell Swings (24k/16k)
150 Meter Run
25 Burpees
150 Meter Run

Results: 18:01 -- 55# OHS, 16k kb

I meant to remember my time for the row, but did not succeed. I think I could've gone faster on it, but honestly I was scared about not having anything left for the OHS. I actually intended to use 60#, but after I snatched it up (prob ugly) I only got 3 1/2 before I dropped it. So I took off the 2.5's and just did 55. It's amazing how much difference 5# makes on those.

I stuck with my decision to start doing OHS from the ground during metcons / chippers (started that at Ultimate in early Jan). Can't remember how I broke down my 25 reps into sets...

Kettlebell swings rocked. I got 30 in a row, then 8 (weird issue @ top of the swing, dropped the bell) and then 12. Very happy with those.

Burpees -- did all proper pushups, but probably could've done them faster.

All in all, I was happy. I'm stinky now, so I must've done a good job. :)

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We're talking about doing a Paleo challenge for our box during the month of February. I hope we model it after this system at CrossFit Delaware Valley. It just sounds like such a good plan...

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Mandy wanted me to post my pullup video to the box's Facebook, so I decided to take a minute to put together a single video with all 3 kipping videos in it, to demonstrate my progress.

Kipping Pullup Progress - Nov 09 to Jan 10 from c wiss on Vimeo.

Repost: Paleo-riffic!

Ok, that title is only fun if you say it out loud, and laugh because it sounds so much like "Paleolithic".

Yes, I am a dork, and my jokes are usually only funny to me. :)

Aaaaaaaaaaanyway...

What I'm trying to write a post about is my current endeavor to change the way I eat.

If you mingle in CrossFit circles or blogs long enough, inevitably you will hear about the Paleo / Paleolithic / Primal / Cave Man diet.

In a nutshell:

Plants (vegetables, fruits, seeds and herbs) and animals (meat, fish, fowl, and eggs) should represent the entire composition of your diet.

- Mark Sisson, The Primal Blueprint, 2009

What's different about this style of eating (I hate the word "diet", it makes me think of starvation and grapefruit...) is that it's not necessarily one that people seek out to lose weight. Most people who switch to eating Paleo do so because they want to improve their health, well-being, performance, etc.

For me, the most intriguing thing about Paleo is that it can help you discover whether or not you are sensitive to dairy (lactose) or gluten.

Sorry, but I'm about to go TMI.

I've had issues with digestive upset / diarrhea ever since I can remember. I came to realize as I got older that my "normal BM" was not the same "normal" as others. If I had ever gone to the doctor about it, I might have been diagnosed with IBS (inflammatory bowel syndrome). During particularly stressful times in college, I definitely thought I had IBS.

It is really freakin' annoying. And gross. And annoying.

'Nuff said. You get it.

At some point during college I noticed I had particularly acute reactions to eating milk with cereal, and sometimes from ice cream. So I eliminated milk and switched to soy milk for my cereal, and tried to cut down on ice cream. Those changes helped a little, but the general trend of digestive issues continued.

I've primarily initiated this change to find out how my body feels without any dairy and without gluten (wheat / grains).

I made my decision to try Paleo just before I left on my road trip. It's hard to make that type of change while on the road, and while I was eating carefully and mindfully while away from home, I didn't succeed in cutting out all dairy and grains.

What I immediately noticed was that anytime I did eat anything in those two categories, a digestive upset clearly followed. And when I was successful in avoiding those foods, things were OK in that department.

The biggest thing I learned from those slip-ups is that dairy clearly is not a friend to my digestive system. So, at this point I'm fairly certain that I'm lactose intolerant. I kind of already knew that, from my previous diet changes, but I guess I was in denial. I love cheese! And I will probably eat cheese in the future, just with the knowledge that it will make me sick after the fact. Which is a lot like most kinds of alcohol, so that's not so different, right? :-p

I'm still not sure about whether or not I'm sensitive to gluten. I want to stay strictly on the Paleo diet for a full 30 days before I experiment with eating anything in the grains category. During my first few weeks, any grains that I ate were always paired with dairy as well, so I didn't get a truly clear picture of the effect grain was having on my digestive system.

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All that said, I have been feeling great since I got back from my trip a week ago today. Some of it I have chalked up to the energizing factor of visiting so many friends and family while I was away. But something tells me what I've been eating is a factor as well.

Obviously the improvements in my digestive system must be from the new diet. That is irrefutable. This is a freakin' life-changer people. Amazing. I am so happy about this.

But one other thing I know for sure is that I have lost weight. Between October 7th and October 27th I lost 3 pounds. That is huge for me, because even with going to CrossFit I have been hovering around the same weight for nearly a month. What is crazy about this is that I was primarily on the road, and not working out very consistently or intensely during those 20 days. (PS - Yes, this means that I did weigh myself after that post earlier this week about dreading it.)

Which is why I'm kind of amazed that I'm kicking so much ass in the gym. Today I did a set of 11 pullups in a row with the smallest resistance band. That was while completing the first round of a workout that included sets of 21, 15 and 9 pullups. I thought by the time I got near the end that I would have to switch to the middle band, which provides more assistance, but I didn't . That made me feel freakin' awesome. And I completed all the ring dips with the smallest assistance band as well. I had a slow time due to the dips taking forever, but I was still pumped. I haven't felt this kind of mental energy about athletics since my high school soccer days, or maybe my running days just around the time I met LT when I brought my mile time down near 8 minutes.

Anyway, that kind of got off topic -- the point is, I feel good.

And what I love is that I didn't make the choice to do this because I want to weigh a certain number of pounds, or because I want my upper arms to stop jiggling (don't get me wrong, I do want that!). I'm doing it because it's what is healthiest for my body.

In a way I feel lucky that I have these sensitivities / allergies - it's a built-in incentive to fuel my body optimally. It's a motivating factor that won't change with the season or with my pants size.

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In closing, I just want to say that this isn't just a "crazy" diet for those "crazy people who do CrossFit". This diet would've benefited me at any point up until now, CrossFit or not. It just so happens that the CrossFit community is a primary source of information / anecdotes about this style of eating, and that's how I was informed about it.

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. You may not like the idea of CrossFit, and you may have no desire to try it, which I totally understand. But I think a diet like Paleo still deserves your consideration, especially if you are like me and have even an inkling that you might have some undiagnosed food allergies.

There are so many other cool health benefits to Paleo, but I will leave those to the experts (hellooooo keeping blood insulin levels from spiking for one!). This is just an account of my experience so far. If you want more in-depth information, this post is a good jumping-off point: Getting Started: A Brief Guide to Paleo / Primal Living.

Happy eating!