on the blahs

In the “out of left field” department, I’m struggling with a deep case of the blahs this week. Sure, some of it is post-Spring Break depression, but a lot of it stems from some minor diet changes, digressions, and the realities of life this week. Let me explain them one by one.

The Benefits of Raw

Last week we were out of town for about 5 days. During that time, we ate raw fruit and veggies along with almonds, macadamia nuts and some boiled eggs and simple grilled chicken for our meals. We digressed from this to eat meals with the family, but mainly for social reasons. Our stocked cooler provided the main source of our food. Because of this great baseline, even when I enjoyed tortilla chips and salsa at a Tex Mex restaurant and a brownie with ice cream for a birthday celebration, I still felt good. I felt light. I could feel that I was losing weight. And I did – even with the traveling and the treats I lost 1 pound last week.

Don’t Over-think Food

After a week of eating mostly raw, whole ingredients, I felt the pressure was on to provide some hearty cooked meals for dinner. In addition, I’m doing some experimentation on the paleo and primal fronts, so I’ve noticed that I tend to rely more on things like coconut oil and olive oil instead of nuts for my fat sources. The portions are not huge, but they just feel heavier than their raw counterparts. And during the day when the family was off to school I was making omelets for breakfast and generally having dinner leftovers for lunch (except for one meal, which I will discuss below). While none of this is necessarily “bad” per se, I was just left feeling worse off than I did last week.

Could it be that eating raw and whole foods as a majority of your diet could have such powerful effects?

1 Bad Choice Has Major Consequences Now

When you eat crap every day for every meal, crap for one meal doesn’t really have a huge effect on your metabolism, your body’s tendency to burn fat instead of storing it, your mood, etc. So the logic is always, “one bad meal won’t hurt.” But when every meal is one bad meal… it’s a vicious cycle.

Factor in the issue above and some stressful situations at work and I had a familiar need to escape to some bad food choices. So on Tuesday I was out and about and I grabbed a sack at Jack in the Box. I was thinking, “It’s just one meal…” And it probably would have been, but I was already struggling with the shift from mostly raw foods. Boy, it sure tasted good and it did fulfill my immediate emotional need to connect with food, but I think it compounded my body’s issues this week and as a result I’ve put on a few pounds in just a few days.

Workouts Are NOT Enough

Last week I took a break from long workouts and still lost weight and felt great. I’ve been working out this week, but my diet and other stress factors are overpowering the benefits of 2 great CrossFit WOD’s. This is just another powerful reminder about the constant need for balance in all areas of our lives.

Injuries Suck

I’ve been dealing with a shoulder injury that has now contributed to an injured pectoral muscle. It’s not stopping me, but it is slowing me down. Most of all it’s just frustrating because I’m seeing so many positive changes in other areas and I want to see them in my workouts as well. I think I’m underestimating how much stress this is causing me right now.

And so, today is another day. I’m not dwelling on the choices made this week or the realities of life right now, rather I am thankful that I am more in tune with my body now and I’m really starting to connect the dots when it comes to diet, stress, and overall living conditions. Grok would look at his living conditions and make adjustments when things were out of balance, and so will I. Grok on.

on eating by spreadsheet

When I first started thinking on what I wanted to write about and communicate here, I was very much focused on The Zone. Every CrossFitter is likely to know about The Zone thanks mainly to the now infamous CrossFit Journal Issue #21 from way back in May 2004 (our copy is covered in who knows what, the ink is smeared, it’s in bad shape from being used so much). On day two of my training regiment I was introduced to this new way of thinking about food. At first, I was drawn to the regimen and the counting and the weighing, but I burnt out on it quickly because food is and always has been more about the emotions for me. The math was ruining it! However, earlier this year I decided to hit it hard again and read up on Dr. Sears’ Top 100 Zone Foods. It worked and I began to see results again.

Even just a week ago I was deep in the spreadsheet mindset and I was working on a spreadsheet that calculated the carbohydrate food blocks by weight. It just kinda hit me like a lightning bolt: “What in the world are you doing? This is dumb. I shouldn’t have to crack open a spreadsheet every time I want to eat!” That same day I came across Mark Sisson’s website, Mark’s Daily Apple. His approach to the whole paleo/CrossFit subculture just seemed to fit me better than others. I love his approach to balance on both the food and the fitness. It just all goes together easier for me – and there’s not a single spreadsheet for download on his website. Before Mark, “going paleo” seemed to be extreme to me with no balance for living life.

I’m still plugging through his book and I plan to finish it this week, but I’ve already started to put his basic principles into practice and I feel better, I have more energy, and I’m losing weight without really trying. In just 4 days I’ve lost about 2 pounds while eating what I like! I know this is just a microcosm, but this feels very sustainable to me.

As we head into Spring Break this week we’re actually planning ahead by bringing our own food. We don’t want to be ostracized by the rest of the family or be seen as pariahs, but at the same time we don’t want to go backwards either. Just something simple like replacing the daily morning donut regimen with some eggs, berries, and nuts. Also, instead of snacking like we normally would on vacation, we’ll just grab some pre-cut vegetables from our cooler. Then for lunch and dinner we’ll eat what everybody else eats, just in moderation.

I’ll report back in and let you know how we did.  As of yesterday, my weight was 265. Posting that here will keep me honest and accountable!

on progress

In the past 5 days I have been In the Zone for about 95% of my food intake (I had Indian food for lunch one day with a friend). I have concentrated more on ensuring that the food I am eating is of a higher nutritional value thanks to The Top 100 Zone Foods guidelines by Dr. Sears. I’ve completed 3 CrossFit WOD’s with mixed results (still carrying around 75-ish extra pounds or so and struggling with a nagging shoulder injury), and I’m starting to do more and more research on Paleo (not quite there, yet). The results? I’ve lost 2.5 pounds in the last week.  Make that 72.5-ish extra pounds. 🙂