MrsJasonBourne

Since my last post, I have gotten back on track with my eating, so I am very happy about that. I was able to spend a fair amount of time reading this weekend as well. I even woke up earlier than normal (for a Saturday) to do my Angry Birds W/O before I had an appointment to get my hair cut. I felt great about fitting that in. Last Thursday, my running day, I managed 1.5 miles at 6.5, then I did an incline walk because JP warned me to not go too crazy with the running so I don't hurt myself. I'm glad I listened to him, because my calves were super tight last week and now they are back to normal I've gotten my upper body strength up and I can manage a "sort of" pull up on my own if I don't start from the hanging position. I start with my feet on the ground, using one of those door frame pull up bars. I have also definitely noticed a change in my core. I can manage 70 seconds planks now! Feeling a little nervous about this week because I have training at work and they usually bring catering in for us. I think my willpower will be OK, but am worried that the options for me will be limited. And the training location will not have a refrigerator to store my own breakfast/lunch if I just decide to take my own. Ahh! What do I do??

Ah, so it has been a little while since my last post. I have some victories and defeats to report: This was a busy weekend, as JP's sister and her family were in town, and we had a work party on Friday...you know how that goes - celebrations / libations are in order. However, I did still manage to get in my 2 strength sessions last week and I got up early on Monday (even though I had MLK off from work) and did my Angry Birds workout before doing anything else. Since my last post, I am VERY HAPPY to say that I conquered 5K in under 30 minutes. Last Thursday I came in at 29:40 and yesterday I ran it in 29:11!! Nearly 30 seconds off my time! I feel so triumphant, and especially so that I did not feel like I was dying by the end. I'm very excited for this Thursday, which is my next running day to see if I can improve on 29:11. Woot! Now I have to be honest and also report my defeats - which was in the food category. I was quite good on Friday (work party day), other than a few glasses of Sangria. It was difficult passing on the bread to soak up the oil that was sitting on oneof the shrimp appetizer plates, but I did resist. Had a meat and vegetable dish for dinner, so that was paleo, but for some reason I could not pass on dessert. I had a little flan, which I thought was the lesser of evils since its main ingredients are paleo, except for the sugar. Saturday I also stayed paleo until dinner. We went out with his sister and a few other people to a Chinese restaurant. We ordered a big sampler appetizer, which actually had a good amount of paleo friendly options, but I also splurged with 2 dumplings, and yes, I ate the wrappers. For dinner I ordered something called Firecracker beef, which had a crispy coating, so I KNOW it was not paleo, but sounded so delicious - and it was. JP and I also split a small chocolate mousse for dessert. Lesser of evils thinging in effect again. Sunday I ate two non-paleo cookies and that's when I really realized the effect of gluten / crap on my body. Not even an hour after I ate those cookies, my stomach hurt so bad and I felt crappy. So now that I know the effect of gluten on my body after staying away from it, I don't think it is going to be hard for me to continue to stay away from it. So now I am back on track with eating 100% Paleo and maintaining my running & strength training. It honestly feels so much better. I also realized when eating those two cookies that they didn't even taste that great. I wish I just spat them out after one bite, but oh well, you live & learn. Looking forward to pecan-crusted chicken tenders tonight. Oh, also - did anyone see Panera's newly released "Hidden Menu"? Options look very paleo friendly. They report these options should be available in all stores now. Nice!

That is true, it does get your brain jonesing for food. It's true, just brushing afterwards would help as well. Thanks for the advice - I think I will only use gum in "emergency" situations when brushing is not an option.

What is the consensus on this? Can you chew gum while eating paleo? I'm not talking like using gum to stave off hunger, but more so for freshening after garlic/onion-y foods.

Wow, I've actually never noticed that before. If you checked all the other packages, I'm sure they all weren't maple flavored. That's all I can think of for added sugar. In all my reading on paleo, bacon has been on the OK list. There's so many bacons out there now - did you check uncured bacon?

I would second this. Made some last night to go along with turkey burgers. Awesome! Fried mine in coconut oil - the slight coconutty-ness of the oil was a nice complement. You can also cut the sweet potatoes long-ways and use them as "bread" for burgers, sandwiches, etc.

It was running day yesterday and I'm really happy with my performance. I ended up missing 3 miles in under 30 minutes by about 7 seconds! Arg! But it's ok. I think I probably could have done it if I started counting mileage/time after my warm-up. I usually walk a 1/4 mile before I start running and it takes me about 4 minutes. I started running at a speed for 5.8 and ended at 6.8 woot! I was using my heart rate monitor during the run, taking my heart rate at ever mile and the read out at the end was about 560 calories burnt Dinner last night was from the mall food court - Japanese hibachi grilled chicken & shrimp. I was skeptical, but JP really wanted it. I probably confused the workers with my order - no teriyaki sauce, no rice, double vegetables, double chicken. I'm not sure if it was very paleo though. The chicken looked like it might have been coated (probably with flour) - but it might have just been super grilled (it had a slight crunch, which could have just been caramelization). My stomach is a little rumbly today so that is why I'm thinking this. I am excited for dinner tonight - Margarita Chicken cooked in the crock pot. Nothing like coming home to an already cooked dinner

Hey Kaprycious_Blue! Good job on your goals so far! I bet you are filling out your application as I write this. What is the c25K program? I've never heard of it.

Well, Week 1 is down in the books. It seemed to go quickly. I've managed to to stick with my Angry Birds goal 100%, I'm probably 90% on the strict Paleo, and 75% on both running and reading. The weekend was a little difficult with Paleo. JP and I went out to lunch one day and I saw a really delicious burger that I wanted and he always enjoys an appetizer. I was able to negotiate with him to NOT get the fried spicy calamari, but we went with nachos instead. My thinking being: its still gluten-free (corn chips, cheese, salsa, jalapenos sour cream). I splurged on having cheese on the nachos and there was also Brie on my burger; however, I DID skip the bun on the burger and ate it with a side salad instead of fries. On Sunday we went to a friend's for brunch, where the only food served was fruit and bagels. I stayed away from the bagels pretty easily, and ate some fruit. They were also serving mimosas, so I had 2-3 of those, so not Paleo, but I felt bad not really being able to eat anything and I didn't want to be rude. Thankfully I also ate before I went so I would not be tempted to go on a bagel binge. Was able to get up early on Sunday and get a chapter of my book in before it was time to get ready to go to our friends' house. I don't know whether or not I'm benefiting from Paleo yet. I don't feel as if I've lost much weight, but I haven't weighed myself in a while either. My athletic performance is increasing pretty well, so maybe Paleo has something to do with that. I also find it easier to wake up now and find myself not being as tired throughout the day. So I guess it is working, but I'd really like to see it work in the dropping weight category. Maybe I should quit snacking on nuts this week. Not that I've overloading myself with nuts, but that is usually what I reach for for dessert - that or dried mango, which I know is high sugar. But it's also these things that keep me from reaching for "bad" carbs. I did the Angry Birds workout once again yesterday - currently: Level 5-2 on squats; Level 2 on the incline push-ups (got to 45 though!); Level 2 on back (65 bent over rows with 15# weights AND very close to 1 pull up on my own!); Level 3 on the planks. Today is a running day, so I'm shooting for my 3 miles, running the whole time. Good luck to everyone this week!

Hello! Congratulations on your 1st challenge! (It's mine too!) Goal 1: One suggestion I have for you is to try not to think of yourself as "failing" at your goal. My personal experience is that once you've said to yourself that you've failed, it opens you up to making more excuses for not sticking to your goal. If you have a slip up one day or at one meal, just put it behind you and continue on with your mind set on eating well the next time you eat. Mantra: move forward positively and don't look back! Is it possible for you to have a chat with your sister about your getting healthy goals? Or to ask her if she could scale back the baking at all since it is your "kryptonite"? Maybe you guys can cook or bake healthier things together. I'd suggest trying skinnytaste.com for some nice, lower calorie sweets recipes. Goal 3: Try your friend's suggestion of showing them your income taxes for a discount. As a past Y employee, I can vouch for the fact that the Y really wants to help their members - whether that means a payment plan, or perhaps a discounted rate. They are really big on helping the community, so I would definitely think they would try to work with you. -MJB

Where do you find your Spanish language podcasts? Improving my Spanish is something I need to do - it's the first language of my other half's family. Long walks are a great way to begin a cardio fitness regimen. Good for you! I wish you much luck -MJB

Love my Kindle app on my Droid! Just need to use it more :/ Here's the link to the Curried Chicken in the Crock Pot. It was super easy, but I found mine to come out a little watery. I think it's because I didn't use canned coconut milk. I used the boxed, unsweetened type that I had open already. I put in 2T of curry, 2t of cinnamon, 1t of turmeric and about 1t of garlic. I would probably up the curry to 3T next time - 2T didn't seem like enough for me, but I'm also fond of curry. Thanks for asking - good so far, I think I will definitely be able to finish at least 1 book during this challenge. I've been toting around my book so I can read it whenever I have a moment. Had some time waiting in the dentist yesterday so was able to get a few pages in there. Did my 3 miles yesterday but ended up alternating running & walking. My body was just not feeling up to running the whole time. All in all I completed everything in 40 mins, including warm up & cool down I bought a heart rate monitor watch yesterday, which I am newly in love with. I bought it on special at my wholesale club, so luckily it was about $50 instead of $60-$80. It's great for providing an accurate heart rate during exercise as well as accurate calories burnt! Keeps you honest, you know? The readout on the treadmill was definitely higher than on my watch (which is customised to my age/weight/gender/resting heart rate), so I like the increases accuracy. I think I am going to do my 3rd day of strength training today since this weekend looks like it's going to be busy. Hope everyone has good and successful weekends! -MJB

Paleo is quite expensive I've realized as well. Do you belong to a wholesale club or have a friend who is a member? They are starting to carry more organic/natural items now. I always buy my spinach salad at my club; the huge tub is under $4.50 whereas at the supermarket it is about $7. Steve wrote a good article about how to eat healthy on a budget. You don't always have to buy organic either. If you eat "Clean 15" foods, you don't really need to buy them organic. I don't always buy organic or grass fed beef or organic omega-3 eggs. Sometime it is just too expensive. I think if you just keep it clean with fresh produce, meat and dairy if you choose to include it, I think you will be fine & successful!

It's a few days into the challenge now and I'm doing pretty darn well. I've been strictly paleo since January 2nd and I've really been enjoying it. I find that it forces me to plan out my meals which also makes me more organized. On Tuesday I took a break from strength training to let my muscles recover and I walked on the treadmill for 1 hour at 4.0 most of the time. I also watched the first few episodes of Season 1 of the HBO show GIRLS. Pretty good show - anyone here watch it? I stayed true to my aforementioned goals and did the Angry Birds workout last night and I actually improved somewhat...even in upper body strength (push-ups). I was able to do 2 more regular push-ups yesterday than I did on Monday! So far I am up to Level 5 in Squats, Level 2 in Push Ups, Level 3 in Back and Level 3 in Planks. I attempted to do a pull up on JP's door frame pull-up thing, and probably did 3/4 of one. **Sigh** JP told me not to get down, they are actually really hard. I'm going to try to do one nearly every time I pass that door frame! I told JP I wanted to work out with him at the gym ((read: I want him to escort me through the free weights section)) and he seemed excited about it. So I'm really happy since that's another step toward regaining my free-weights-area-of-the-gym confidence back. I also discovered the Advanced Body Weight Workout the other day. I like the flow of exercises (and Steve's videos are SOOO helpful!) so I think I am going to add this into the rotation. I will probably sub this in one of the 2-3 days that I do strength training. Maybe I should get my upper body strength up a bit before attempting. Any thoughts on that one? I made a Paleo Meatloaf for dinner last night that everyone loved. Everyone being JP, and JP's mom and dad. His mom called me later in the night to tell me how much she enjoyed it! The only change I made was that I used the 3 meat meatloaf mix instead of all ground beef. It fed everyone about a slice and a half and we had leftover loaf, so I took a piece for lunch, as did JP. I'm planning on doing one of my 3 mi runs tonight. I've got Curry Crock Pot Chicken thighs going, so dinner will be done when I get home w00t! Wishing everyone good luck! -MJB

sericite - Congrats on Challenge #1! I did consider audiobooks, it's a great idea in theory but I feel like I lose my concentration if I'm not using my eyes to read. I haven't tried it while driving, but it could work. I used to listen to audio books as a child to help me sleep and loved them then. Maybe it warrants a 2nd try. Laureleye - Thank you. I am hoping they do pan out to be realistic. Thanks for noticing my name - avatar relationship. It's what I strive to be...an assassin that doesn't look like your typical assassin.