Out to Eat!

A little inspiration for Tuesday!

One of the hardest parts about following a strict diet is going out to eat or away on vacations. This past weekend Matt and I attempted to save money and keep on track with our diet challenge while we were away.

First, we booked a "suite" hotel (get it? hehe) Ok, it was pretty sweet, but it was also a suite that had a fully functioning kitchen. We packed up food from home, including eggs, chicken sausage, veggies, and some pre-cooked food (my veggie chili!) that we were able to just microwave.

When we found they had a Whole Foods, we decided it would be ok to spend a little money. I had NEVER been to a Whole Foods before, so this was ridiculously exciting for me. We hit up the salad bar and made really big salad to take for lunch. You don't HAVE to go to a Whole Foods to do this! Salads are great, I don't care much for lettuce, and it doesn't keep me full anyway, so I made my salad with mostly veggies and (pre-cooked) chicken. 

I was super hungry by the time we left the seminar, but we didn't want to stop for a long sit-down dinner. We found the closest Five Guys Burgers and Fries and each got a bacon burger with no bun. (the regular burgers have 2 patties!) MMmmm This is my new favorite fast food. Other good options are Chipotle and Panera salads (no cheese or dressing).

It's not beautiful, but it was delicious!

It is difficult to eat at restaurants on strict diets. If you're going to eat out, expect that you will probably not be 100% perfect. Most likely, the oil the food is cooked in is not going to be coconut or OO, it might even be butter! I've found that being aware of what you're eating is half the battle. If you have a food allergy or an intolerance, then you probably shouldn't risk it, otherwise, remember if you're strict at least 80% of the time, you're doing well!

Todays WOD(s):

#1: Diane Ladder:

Every minute on the minute for 7 minutes, increasing by 1 rep each time

1 155# deadlift, 1 HSPU (2 DL, 2 HSPU....)

I sucked...I couldn't get up, so I quickly jumped on the scaled wagon and did hand release push-ups!

#2: 2k row (aka...2000m row) I finished in 8:11 woop woop!

#3 : 6 min of dumbbell snatches alternating arms each minute, 10 snatches per minute

I need to work on my upper body strength....It's so frustrating :( But, like the motto of my page, I'll keep going!

**This Saturday, I am participating in the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month Fundraiser, Barbells For Boobs, to raise awareness and funds for low income and uninsured women and men to receive necessary screening and procedures. We do the WOD "Grace", 30 clean and jerks for time. I have reached my fundraising goal of $100 but would graciously accept more (its a great cause!) BUT Matt has not reached his goal, and if he can get the funds raised, he will do the workout wearing a PINK BRA! (and I will absolutely post pictures and/or videos on here!!)

Here are the links: 

Karli- https://support.barbellsforboobs.org/individual-fundraising/Karli

Matt- https://support.barbellsforboobs.org/individual-fundraising/illwearapinksportsbra/

CrossFit L1 Weekend

I spend a lot of time doing/talking/thinking about CrossFit. This weekend was no different!

This weekend, I attended the CrossFit Level 1 Trainer seminar and took the exam to become a trainer....not sure how that went..

I thought it was easy, but I tend to take tests quickly and go with gut choices, and that's not always the best idea!

The seminar was awesome, the instructors so so amazing (and good looking!)

Have you heard of Austin Malleolo or Spencer Hendel? Google them...or watch the CrossFit Games reruns...these guys are beasts!

**I am super awkward looking in pictures when I'm trying to look normal....

Oh hello, Spencer Hendel :) 

The seminar was in Canton, MA at Reebok CrossFit One. AKA Reebok Headquarters and a beautiful facility!

The hands on the hips thing isn't working...I know.

We did a few workouts and a ton of skill work that left me SORE! Even without the test, this was such a great experience.

The best news, they were selling discounted Reebok apparel! I got Nano 2.0s!!!!! EEEEk they're fantastic! (and purple...becasue I have a mild obsession with purple....actually, when I find free time I plan to re-do my blog in a purple them, but thats another story!)

I will find out soon whether or not I passed, please keep finger crossed! I'm kinda nervous.

We stayed in a hotel all weekend, and we are cheap, paleo diet followers, so how did we survive?! Well, first of all, I met Whole Foods for the first time in my life, second, tomorrow I'm going to talk about how to dine out/vacation/survive weekends away on a paleo (or any strict) diet!

Oh and no big deal, but I PR'd my max power clean. I was working on max clean and jerk and got to 140#...then I went for 145# and only managed to clean it. Not complaining :) 

Anyone else PR lately??

Short and Sweet

I didn't want to not post, but I really want to use all of my spare time to study for my Level 1 cert this weekend!

So here is a short for your entertainment post!

Last night, I went to trivia night at a local bar with a few CrossFit friends (and Tammy!). So, my Paleo BF, Matt was meeting up with us after work and asked me to order dinner. He wanted the surf and turf, (they were out of the surf part, so he got chicken). Then asked for "double seasonal veggies" instead of potato. Well this arrived....

Immediately, my fellow paleo-eaters and I exclaimed "He can't eat that!". I think we startled the waitress haha...but in the end, we got him a salad :) Go team!

My favorite CrossFit websites that make me happy:

http://fuckyeahcrossfit.tumblr.com/
Awesome people doing awesome things...

http://thiscrossfittinglife.tumblr.com/
Funny GIFs about CrossFit :)

Songs that will NEVER be removed from my workout playlist:



Finally...

Update on my arms... still don't have functioning arm muscles...boooo
Update on CrossFit, today I rested AND signed up for an individual competition in New Haven, CT in December :)

WEAK!

It's Wednesday!

I'm sorry I ate all the cookies last night and didn't post a picture....so I made more! (I guess I'll just have to eat these too!)

Om nom nom...

I have a really bad habit of unnecessarily multi-tasking. Last night, I did laundry, baked donuts, cooked chicken, and made soup and dumpling for dinner. All in 2 hours time. 

Bade news, my arms have only gotten worse. I attempted to do negatives on the pull-up bar today to just work on my strength....well I couldn't even hold myself up on the bar. 

This of course led  to me crying because the WOD today was "Helen"

400m run

21 kettlebell swings

12 pull-ups

Basically, impossible for me. Luckily, Joy came to the rescue and assured me, it's ok I just need to let my arms heal and until then I can do lower body workouts.

My WOD:

400m run

21 air squats

12 GHD back extensions 

Then the after party was 100 situps

I did mine on the GHD machine and finished in 4:46 I think? I can't remember, but I hit 75 at 3:02!

After the workout, I rushed home, couldn't find a parking spot by my apartment, and ended up not having time to make breakfast....so I ate 3 pieces of bacon, a banana, and one of these yummy (paleo!) donuts!!

 There is a 33.4% chance that I accidentally put ground mustard instead of nutmeg in these donuts....haven't figured it out yet. Either way, they taste pretty delicious.

The recipe for these little noms can be found on A Sweet Simple Life.

Ok, time to hit the books! I have my CrossFit Level 1 coaches certification this weekend in Canton, MA! eeeek! I'm nervous! It's only cost $1000...no big deal, right?

It's hump day people! DO something active to keep yourself motivated though the next 2 and a half days!!!!

Paleo No Bakes!

You know what's really difficult to do when you biceps are strained?....

.....EVERYTHING! I'm actually not sure what is wrong with my arms, but they are sore. Not like "wow that was a good workout" sore, but more like I have to clean a a 45lb bar on to my should because my arms are so shot I couldn't lift it....like "could someone please lift my arm for me so I can write my name on the score board?"....I'm am 98.3% sure that the only reason I was able to hang clean 95# today was because I had good hip thrusting form, the bar just flew up my body and I was able to catch high. (I feel I probably lost some people during this rant because I'm sure a lot of people have no idea what "cleans" are...I assure you, I was not scrubbing the bars with soap, but instead using my hips to allow the weights to glide up my body to my upper chest where it can rest)

Anyway, I hurt.

Now, to what I promised!!!

I have a new favorite indulgence. My sweet tooth is evil and cries for dessert after dinner every night. LUCKILY, I have found a cure that is quick and easy  and delicious...and healthy!!!!

Paleo No Bake Thumbprints
(adapted from friskylemon.com)
I meant to post a picture....but I ate the cookies!!!

• 1/3 C coconut or almond flour
• 2/3 C shredded coconut
• 1/2 C almond butter (chunky works very well here!)
• 2 tbsp coconut butter
• 1 tbsp Agave
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 squares of bakers chocolate (or if you aren't doing the Paleo challenge and like dark chocolate or enjoy life, use it instead!)

Mix everything but the chocolate together. Separate into 5-6 balls then push your thumb into each to make a little crater. Put in the fridge while you melt the chocolate. I used a double boiler, but you can melt the chocolate anyway....remember to keep the heat low, otherwise the chocolate will burn and taste icky. Once it's melted, pour a little chocolate into the cookie craters and then put them back in the fridge to allow the chocolate to harden.

Now, to the paleo dumplings for your chicken and dumpling soup!!!!

***Some people don't use arrowroot on their paleo diet. It is NOT from a grain and is from the arrowroot plant ground into a flour. 

Paleo Dumplings

The fun part of this recipe is it's hard to screw up! If you mix these together, your goal is to get a thick stricky dough.

• 1/2 c almond flour
• 1/4 c coconut flour
• 1 c arrowroot flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1/8 + 1-2tbsp nut milk

Boil a large pot of water. Mix the dry ingredients into a medium bowl, then add in the egg. Then add 1/8 c of milk and mix, if it seems to dry add more milk by the tbsp until you get a sticky dough that is not too dry. Then spoon 1/2 tbsp size lumps into the boiling water. When the dumplings float, they are done!

Delicious in soups or mixed with fried bacon! Ahhh so yummy!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was the Fall Face-Off CrossFit team competition. It was such a great experience. The morning was rough, I was nervous...not knowing what to expect aside from the first workout.

Beyond Rugged BAMFs

WOD #1
20 ground to over head (snatch or clean & jerk) 65# women and 115# for men
20 burpee step ups
500m row

We rocked this workout, finishing 2nd or 3rd in our heat. According to my teammates, I turned a nice shade of blue during my turn. I swear I was breathing!!

WOD #2
10 min to max out clean & jerk, seated press, snatch, and front squat
Each teammate must do a different lift and you want your total lifted weight to be the highest.

Strength was our weakness, sadly. We fell behind here. I see how people PR during these events, though. My team was right in front of where the crowd stands, and I was struggling with the 95# snatch (This is my max, and I had barely warmed up). I got the bar over head and just had to stand and I studder stepped a few times (scared the crap out of the front row of spectators) then locked out and everyone was cheering! I'll say it again, CrossFit is so great because the people you are surrounded by go from your competition to your cheerleader in seconds... its so amazing.

 WOD #3
Chipper!
100 kettlebell swings (100 between the men and 100 between the women)
100 box jumps (ditto)
50 lateral jumps over parallettes
5 pull-ups chest to bar (with assistance from team mates if needed)

We finished this WOD fast, we were in the top again, but we weren't able to beat the #1 team here. Those pull-ups required almost no arm strength....from me at least! This was a fun workout, except for when I slammed my knee against the box jump. Tara, the other girl on my team really helped me after that. I momentarily lost my ability to jump and she hopped right back in after barely getting a break to rest.

WOD #4
20 minutes total
10 minutes for women first, every minute on the minute do 5 burpees then as many wall-balls as possible alternating between the 2 women.
Then the men did the same for 10 minutes.
The goal is to get the most wall-balls

We rocked this workout, if we weren't first, we had to be second. We got 403!

We came in 5th place out of 23 or 24 teams? I'm not sure...but we really did great! The other 2 teams from my box came in first and second! I am surrounded by fantastic athletes!

Sunday was rest day and celebratory cheat day! It was great. The BF and I couldn't move in the morning....unfortunately the excessive amounts of water we drank the day before got the best of us and our bladders could no longer handle it. I made sweet potato hash and eggs...which Matt added to it steak and vegetables because he's a beast.

Then we slowly got ready and headed to Barnes & Noble to drink sugary sweet happiness and read.

 No that's not my name...but it sounds the same. Pumpkin spice white chocolate mocha....with whip. Oh yeah.

 Then after enjoying a few chapters of Gone Girl, I hit up the business section and decided to see what they had to say about my business idea.

 I'm glad my bf doesn't think I'm silly always making him take pictures of me doing things just so I can blog about it!

Finally...This happened. MMmm, powdered cheese and dairy milk with gluten-ful noodles. I ate the whole box. And was hungry 20 minutes later, so I ate beef stew, haha.

Good news! Tomorrow will be a double recipe post! no bake paleo cookies (Paleo challenge approved!!) AND the amazing dumplings!!!! So you better come back and check them out, k?!

How was your weekend? Kill any workouts? or relax and recover?

I hate Running

This week, registration opened for the Pittsburgh Marathon. I've run the Half-Marathon the past 2 years. I like half-marathons...challenging, yet not excessively long. But 26.2 MILES?! really? Who wants to do that?

Well, my friend Nick (who ran the full last year) texted me to let me know registration was open AND it was discounted that day only. A full marathon for only $75? what a deal?! But I HATE RUNNING! Unfortunately, Nick reminded me that a marathon is just the next mountain I have to climb in my never ending fitness endeavor. So, after asking Matt to sign up with me (to which he immediately and excitedly agreed ...freak...) I decided I would sign up too.

So, I guess I'll keep CrossFitting for now, and soon add a few runs. If I can finish in 5 hours or less, I'll be happy!

BUT, we I have more important matters to attend to first....TOMORROW IS THE FALL FACE-FACE! Woop! Unfortunately, I woke up with an intense stabby pain in my back that is severely limiting my lifting abilities. So, leaving work early today to attend to that!

Wish me luck and check back Monday for an update on how the competition went!
(OR follow me on twitter and check it all out as it happens!... @beastmode_chic )