5 Year CrossFit Anniversary Post 2

In honor of my 5 year CrossFit anniversary, this week I am sharing five things that have changed since I started. The second is how I eat.

When I started CrossFit in 2013, my diet left a lot to be desired. I ordered Chinese from Hunan Delight thirty-eight times that past year. THIRTY-EIGHT TIMES! (There was an intervention in 2012.) ConEdison contacted me every 6 months to inform me that the gas might not be working in my apartment because the stove had not been turned on during that period. There was a lot of skipping meals followed by epic binges.

One morning I woke up one Saturday hungover and didn't eat per usual, and I pinned myself under the lady bar. I realized the reason I always felt like garbage was because the majority of the calories I consumed came from alcohol and dumplings. I slowly started cleaning up my diet.

I followed a pretty common CrossFit diet trajectory. I decided to embrace the Paleo diet after dabbling in it in the past. I tried another Whole30. I remember coming home at around 11 PM after going to the 9:15 PM CrossFit class and being so damn tired that I would throw a bag of veggies into the microwave and just cover them in coconut oil. I'm not sure I ate protein besides bacon. Someone pointed out to me that cocaine is Paleo but oatmeal is not, and I started to question if it was really that bad to eat Greek yogurt. I switched to Primal and ate a lot of Kerrygold butter.

My diet got better when I reconnected with an old boyfriend who tracked everything he ate in MyFitnessPal like he would be executed if he didn't. I still followed a mostly Primal diet on weekdays but then we would binge eat all weekend. Nothing like two former fat kids in love and let loose in a Publix. We would strategize the cocktail hour at weddings to make sure we maximized our hors d'oeuvres intake. He would beeline for the bar and get drinks while I filled up two plates and found a table. Then we would alternate returning for our favorites while the other person held down the fort.

I tried to follow macros but was still very wary of carbs. I tried using a Paleo meal service but got discouraged when I realized the macro calculations were significantly off. I started prepping my own meals, which sounds like crazy talk to anyone who knew me while I lived in New York. I ended up hiring a macro coach and had some success with her. I'm not very compliant on weekends or when I travel, and it was only after I acknowledged and embraced that fact that I started to see real progress.

I learned that I could eat anything as long as it fit my macros. I went from being scared of carbs to putting Gatorade in my protein shake and eating Jolly Ranchers during workouts.

I tried reversing and a bulk, which left me a lot heavier than I would have liked but it taught me a lot about how I eat, what my triggers are, and what I can do to set myself up for success. After being able to make almost anything fit my macros, I realized I like eating whole foods, and I enjoy chicken and broccoli. I track from 7 PM to 6:59 PM so my dinner informs the remaining 24 hours. This switch has been the most helpful.

Right now I am using macros from Affinity Athletics Coach Delta and trying to be reasonable on weekends. To be honest, that usually means eating small amounts to offset the amount I drink in the pool. I prep almost all of my own foods when I'm home, but do eat out frequently because of my work travel. I will always make room for tacos. I still enjoy margaritas.

CrossFit has made me see that what I eat (or don't eat) has a direct impact on my performance in the gym. You really can't outtrain a shitty diet, abs really are made in the kitchen, and it's really hard to get bulky because I've tried.

This is just proof that I do sometimes use my oven:

Semi-Covert Food Scale Use

I regularly see people asking how to track food at restaurants if the nutrition information isn’t posted. They go all meltdown, forgetting that the nutrition information at chain restaurants isn’t 100% accurate anyway. You do not have to eat at Applebee’s unless you want to if you’re tracking macros. I eat out frequently because I travel so much for work. Sometimes I eyeball portions. Sometimes I will weigh one item and then multiply it. So for example, if I weigh a piece of pineapple at the breakfast buffet and it weighs 11 grams, I will take 6 pieces and log 66 grams. And sometimes I’m eating alone in a nearly empty restaurant and I put my food scale on the table because I give zero fucks.

It’s really about making the right decisions for your goals. If you eat out once a week, eyeball the portions. If you are dining with people who might be weirded out by your food scale, like clients, eyeball the portions. If it’s your birthday, you get infinity macros. But if it’s just you or you are with other macro-counters, break out the scale. I’ve seen people get really aggressive online about how carrying a food scale around with you is eating disorder behavior and you should only weigh food at home. Well Martha, I’m envious of your 9 – 5 PM job with your designated lunch hour, which you take in the break room equipped with a refrigerator and microwave. I see that you went away exactly 2 days in the past 52 weeks and that was to your sister’s house for Thanksgiving. Tell me more about how to live my life. Martha is a bitch and she can’t tell you how to reach your goals. If you become overly reliant on your travel food scale, give yourself a break. But if you would like to learn how I use mine in restaurants without looking like a total nutjob, I took photos last night.

What You Need:
1.       Menu
2.       Food scale
3.       Paper
4.       Writing utensil
5.       Food log like MyFitnessPal

Step 1: Review the menu for what you want to eat. I recently started tracking 7 PM to 7 AM, which has made choosing what to eat so much easier for dinner. Basically I start fresh at 7 PM allowing me the greatest amount of flexibility. If dining out, I either choose something similar to what I would make for myself, or whatever the restaurant or city is known for.

Last night I chose the honey baked salmon with vegetables and a dessert from the hotel restaurant menu. I make salmon for myself but I don't know how to honey bake it. I actually didn't realize that my selection came from a daily specials menu that included dessert. Normally I wouldn't order dessert unless I really wanted it but I like apple cobbler and I paid for it, so I ate it.

Food Diaries

I took about three weeks off from tracking my food and it was one of the smartest things I've done all summer.

source

Logging your food is a proven way to reach your weight loss goals. Many respected fitness experts, including Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper, recommend keeping food diaries. Trainer Bob might be a vegan but he CrossFits at Brick so I trust his judgment, and I love me some Jillian even if she can't push press a 55# bar. There's been a lot of information circling about timing your eating and fitting your macros and eating for your body type, all of which requires some kind of food diary. It's a good habit to get into.

Unless it starts to drive you crazy.

Cheating

This post is about food - cheat meals, cheat days, cheat months, whatever. I frown upon all other forms of cheating, including cheating on your hairdresser. Nothing good ever comes of it.

I think everyone has an opinion on cheating and their diet. (I'm interested in your opinions so please comment and let's get a discussion going.) Some folks go with the cheat meal once a week, others have dessert at one meal every day. One of my favorite coaches and his girlfriend eat incredibly clean except for about once a month when they celebrate that month's holiday. (It's actually pretty cool - you can go through the calendar and actually find a major religious or cultural holiday that warrants sugar cookies and booze each month.) My boyfriend eats like a saint Sunday through Friday and then Saturday is a hedonistic free-for-all of Doritos, ice cream, and whisky. (He has some of the best ab definition I've ever seen so clearly this works for him.) I try to follow his example but I'm a work in progress.

I've been a lot more consistent since I moved to Georgia. I have a protein shake that I split between before and after my morning workout. I eat some bacon after my morning shower. Lunch is Caprese Greek yogurt with a tuna packet or 3 oz of Boar's Head Ovengold roast turkey. For dinner I've been eating 3-5 oz of steak with steam in the bag broccoli and cauliflower with a tablespoon of Kerrygold butter. I might also have another protein shake. But then fun things pop up, like the Professor was in town for work and we had a delicious dinner that involved fried asparagus fries. And yesterday I ended up staying at the office later than I had planned and I picked up some sushi and a packet of Raisinets. I took today off from CrossFit, completely throwing off my autopilot morning routine and forgot my Fage at home. I went to Publix, where I could have purchased a Fage, and instead walked out with 8 pieces of fried chicken, a slice of key lime pie, and a half-gallon of unsweetened iced tea*. Best damn 1,400 calories I've ever had.

The FitBit Hates on CrossFit

I love my FitBit Flex. It's probably my favorite accessory and I've got an Hermes bracelet so that's saying something. (Yup, I went there.) I wear it everyday and it is a consistent reminder to get my ass moving. If I need to go down to the Tech Shack, I'm walking the 7 floors, even if I'm in heels. If I want my 44 oz iced coffee from the East Norwich Deli - whelp, time for a stroll outside. I really like seeing those little lights light up.

The FitBit is an accelerometer, which means it measures acceleration and that means it does its thing best when you are moving forward. This is great if you're into running, less so if you're on a spin bike. FitBit uses algorithms to approximate calories burned based on your movement, and they do a pretty solid job of using feedback data to update their algorithms, but since it is not a heart rate monitor, it isn't very accurate at calculating calories burned from other forms of exercise.

This leads me to stand behind my statement that FitBit hates on CrossFit.

Let's take a look at what FitBit calls Very Active Minutes. FitBit's Help site says,

"You earn 'very active minutes' when you wear your Fitbit while doing cardio workouts and high-intensity activities like jogging and running. Note that your active minute count will be lower for activities that are not primarily step-based, such as weight lifting, cycling, and rowing."

I'm pretty sure CrossFit is the definition of high-intensity activity.

Now let's take a look at my FitBit dashboard for April 15, 2014. I had 3 Very Active Minutes and you know what the WOD was? ONE HUNDRED FRICKIN BURPEES FOR TIME. It took me over 10 minutes. Where are my other seven very active minutes?!

It doesn't matter how hard you work or what barriers you break - if there is no running in the WOD, be prepared to be told that you lay prostrate on the floor eating macaroons all afternoon. You can override the thing and input your own exercise but there's no CrossFit option. The generally accepted substitute on MyFitnessPal is Circuit Training but I don't bother to change it. Normally I'd advise you to wear your HRM to get an idea of calories burned during a certain activity but since no day at CrossFit is exactly alike, that's not going to provide you an accurate number.

My best advice is to remember that the FitBit is not supposed to provide you with an accurate number of calories burned but should rather be used as a motivational tool. It's really hard to justify taking the elevator when it's midday and you're only on your second light.

Early April in Photos

April has been pretty dang good to me thus far. Here are some photos that capture why it's been so nice.

One day my friend Brittany came to visit me at work and we went to CFHK. She didn't bring her gym clothes but we were able to convince her to wear some of our extra gear and train in her sock feet. There she is with two of my other most favorite people - Tammy and Rachel. It was a great Friday afternoon and I am so thankful to have these three ladies in my life.

Tammy is working on her jerk recovery. This is when we put more weight than we can jerk onto the rack and jerk from that starting position. This helps us to get stronger and improve our form.

I stayed with my parents for a little after my surgery. My dad apparently doesn't like the scent of cooking bacon. I woke up to find this Post-It on the microwave.

My friend from high school works for CrossFit HQ and just casually trains with Pat Sherwood. No big deal. It took them about 52 minutes to perform their workout. And for some reason, this friend of mine refuses to introduce me to my future husband.

I've mentioned that my friend Ryan has influenced me to start using MyFitnessPal, but I might not have added that I've already lost 4.5 lbs. I guess I was eating a little too much food. When I was in LA hanging out with my friends Rylan and Colton, I joined Colton on his daily trip to Whole Foods. He likes to eat turkey and a green juice every day. I've been eating it for my morning meal more often and it is surprisingly filling and delicious.

The Saturday before my surgery, I joined some of my CFHK friends at the Cliffs at LIC for some bouldering. I've gone rock climbing before but not in the past decade and I had never gone bouldering. Nieves was a great and patient teacher. I was scared at first but I got to the top of one of the v0 problems by the end of our session.

Post-Rhino Workout

First off, let me say how thankful I am to be able to move my body. I chose to have an optional surgery that will hopefully improve my quality of life, and I knew going into it that I would have to give up some activity for a while. This week has taught me what a gift being able to get out and move around is and I can't imagine the sacrifices our armed forces must make when they are injured while protecting us and go from peak performance to bedridden. I am in no way comparing spending a week in bed watching soap operas after a nose job to the sacrifices of our injured soldiers. What I am saying is that if five days in a bed made me feel the way I did, then I better start doing more for those who are facing much more serious recuperation. One thing I can do is start using Charity Miles more often to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. It kills your battery but I think that's a small sacrifice we can all make.

I've got goals dammit.

This morning I felt like a brand new person. A brand new person whose nose keeps bleeding and can only breathe through her mouth, but at least this person could logically string thoughts together and stay awake for more than 30 minutes at a time. I was up at 7 AM and ready to roll.

I bought myself a Fitbit Flex today. I've been coveting one after spending a weekend in Atlanta with my friend Ryan. Honestly, if he took the dang thing off, I'd have probably stolen it. Ryan uses a combination of MyFitnessPal and Fitbit Flex to track his nutrition and fitness goals. Friday night in the airport I'm teasing him to live a little as I'm sitting there eating chocolate and pistachio gelato and by Sunday, I'm downloading the app and weighing Flex color options. (I went with black.) Ryan's been a good health influence on me since we went to high school together. Senior year, my two hour exercise routine was heavily influenced by Ryan. Granted I ended up semi-expelled and in an eating disorder rehab clinic soon after, but strangely enough, the two are barely related. I digress.