ellystar

Didn't stretch yesterday, but went to CrossFit and I ate Whole30. Yesterday's WOD was 20 burpees and 20 kettle ball swings, 5 rounds for time. Feeling that one today. Ugh.

Sunday food: Breakfast: 2 eggs and four slices turkey bacon Lunch: Grilled chicken with salad and veggies, roasted veggies, beef satay Snack: Freeze dried apples and pears Dinner: Paleo Chili Dessert: Paleo apple crisp Monday food: Breakfast: Paleo pumpkin granola with almond milk Snack: Apple Lunch: Paleo Chili and spaghetti squash Snack: Pistachios Dinner: Two eggs, three breakfast sausages Monday workout: Back Squat 40 x 5 45 x 5 50 x 5 55 x 5 65 x 5 75 x 5 (new PR, can probably go higher but didn't have time to figure out my 1RM) Front Squat 45 x 6 55 x 6 60 x 3 Lurong Living Original Benchmark Challenge: 20 Burpees, 20 Kettleball Swings (at 25lbs) - 5 rounds for time 30:16 Oh man, that killed me last night. After the second round I thought there was no way I could finish. But my coaches pushed me and wouldn't let me quit. The kb swings weren't bad, but my endurance and stamina still suck, so the burpees drained me. My legs and arms were there, but I was getting fatigued and short of breath and couldn't do the burpees as fast as I wanted. I really have no idea how to improve this, it's always been a problem for me, even when I played soccer in high school. And then I went to fencing class for an hour.

I'm on day 8 of the Whole30, and I've been doing this the past few days to get past cravings. I'm glad to know it's not just me.

I don't know anyone named Mel. She might go at different times than me though.

Food yesterday: Lunch: Haddock provencal with broccoli Snack: Freeze dried apples Dinner: Lettuce wraps with tuna and roasted beef (not together, in separate wraps ) Dessert: Paleo apple crisp Snack: Paleo pumpkin granola

Yesterday's workout: Push Presses: Worked up to 1RM of 65lbs 35lbs x 5 45lbs x 5 50lbs x 5 55lbs x 5 60lbs x 3 65lbs x 1 Randy (75 Power Snatches at 35lbs) 8:46 -done as a benchmark for the Lurong Paleo Challenge- Food: Breakfast: Paleo Granola with almond milk Lunch: Steak tip salad with oil and vinegar Snack: Apple and chicken slices Dinner: Three eggs, four slices turkey bacon, 1 avocado, mixed veggie salad

Absolutely!

Made a change in my goals after tonight's workout. Definitely need to work on flexibility.

It's really good. One batch of the recipe makes quite a bit. It was just as hard coming into work and seeing the leftovers, lol. Still didn't partake.

CrossFit started well. Set a new 1 rep max for my deadlift of 165. Then it went downhill from there. I pulled a muscle in my chest early in the WOD, so I ended up doing a variant of TTB (which I can't do yet anyways) from the floor, and just air squats instead of wall balls. I struggled through my air squats as I'm still working on flexibility and range of motion. Deadlift 55 lbs x 5 70 lbs x 5 85 lbs x 5 90 lbs x 3 95 lbs x 3 (this was previous my 1RM set about six weeks ago, but my coach worked with me to find my new max rep) 115 lbs x 1 135 lbs x 1 155 lbs x 1 165 lbs x 1 (new 1RM) WOD Deadlift (at 115 lbs) TTB (did floor variation) Wall Ball (did air squats) 21-15-9 Buy out - 400m tire pull with 10lb added Sucked today. Icing my shoulder now. Today was pretty discouraging and frustrating because I felt myself improving with each workout, but with this one I felt like I took a huge step back. Back at it tomorrow though. Breakfast: Pumpkin granola with almond milk Lunch: Grilled chicken with mixed chopped veggies with lemon juice Snack: Apple and sliced chicken Snack: 10 Pistachios Dinner: 3 eggs, 4 slices of turkey bacon, sliced chicken, avocado Snack: Freeze dried pears, 1 cup spaghetti squash with bruschetta sauce I think I had a snack between breakfast and lunch, but I'm racking my brain trying to remember what it was. If I did, it was definitely something Whole30.

Oops, that's because I didn't. I did two. I'll fix that now. Yeah, 65 is definitely my 1 rep max.

CrossFit EXP in Leominster.

Great goals, especially your life goal. Relaxation is so important and it's definitely not insignificant, and I totally agree that being lazy is not the same as relaxing. Good luck!

Personally, I like them. I don't find them dry or flavorless at all. In the US, they add calcium ascorbate, a blend of calcium and vitamin C, to keep them from turning brown. From a quick google search, I can't tell either way if it's okay to have or something to avoid. But store brands of apple slices have the same thing.

Rest day yesterday. Here's what I ate: Breakfast: Two eggs, three slices turkey bacon Snack: Pumpkin granola (without maple syrup to stay on Whole30 - amazing!) Lunch: Cucumbers, green peppers, grape tomatoes, apple with almond butter (forgot my chicken at home ;_ Snack: Strawberries, baby carrots Dinner: Mushroom gravy slow cooked rump roast (didn't care for it, I think the coconut milk gave it a flavor I didn't like) Snack: Kale chips Best of all, yesterday was the monthly birthday celebration at my office, complete with cake, cupcakes, and ice cream. What made it extra difficult was I'm in charge of buying, setting up, and cleaning up everything, which made the temptation even stronger. But I had none of it (Next month I will though, since I'll be done with the Whole30, and it will be my birthday! But I'll keep it in moderation.)

Yay fencing! I started fencing six months ago and I love it so far. Your life goal definitely works as a life goal. Good luck on your first challenge!

Awesome goals. For your spending tracking, do you use Mint? I used to use it and it's a great tool. I only say "used to" because I just kept forgetting to go in and update stuff to the right categories. Plus, to be honest, I didn't want to face how much money I was spending. Good luck!

So if my first challenge was bad, my second challenge was good, and my third challenge was bad, then that should mean since this is my fourth challenge I will do well, right? I'm also going to ignore the fact that if I lose weight this challenge like I hope to, it's going to make altering my wedding dress a challenge (the reference in my thread title), and possibly more expensive. I had my first fitting two weeks ago, and the next one is October 13th, and then I'll have another one likely in November. I'm carrying over some challenges from the last one. Hopefully I can get there this time: Diet and Fitness Goals Continue Whole30, then eat 90% Paleo - I know I've said in the past that I found that doing one small thing at a time to progress towards paleo works best for me. I'm pretty sure this was a goal for my first challenge, which I failed miserably at. However, I'm currently doing the Lurong Paleo Challenge at my CrossFit affiliate and I really want to do my best at it (it started on Monday, so I'm on day 4 of Whole30). Since September is a pretty low-key month for me, it will be very easy for me to plan my meals better, which has been the major hurdle for me eating paleo. I'll be going 90% paleo once that is done, mostly because the Whole30 will end right before my birthday. [CON +3] Go to CrossFit three times a week - This was one of my goals from last challenge, where I averaged going twice a week. Loving CrossFit, loving the box I go to. I just need to make it priority and work my schedule around it, not work it into my schedule. For the next challenge I will start setting more PR related goals, I'm excited for that. [+2 STR, +2 STA, +2 DEX] Increase flexibility - I really, really need to work on this. My coaches have given me nine different stretches so far to work on flexibility, which has always been an issue for me. Every day, I'm going to do at least six of them. That does not include when I do them before or after CrossFit. [+3 DEX] I originally had this as a goal, but I think working on flexibility is more important right now. I set this as an additional goal that I wouldn't be graded on for the last challenge, but I didn't do any new recipes (but made two new recipes this week, go figure). My goal is to try six new paleo recipes. It doesn't have to be one a week, in case I miss a week. During the time I'm doing the Whole30, they'll of course have to comply with that. I will not be grading this. Life Goal Get writing - Another carry over challenge. I did nothing with this. I have two pretty solid ideas for stories, one that would work better as a novel and one that would work better as a comic. My goal is to spend two hours per week working on writing or drawing to develop these ideas further. At least one of these hours must be in the morning before I go to work. [+3 CHA]

Definitely way overdue on logging my workouts and food. Currently in my second month of CrossFit and I love it. Also currently doing the Lurong Paleo Challenge, which goes until November 18th. Bench Press 45lbs x 10 55lbs x 5 60lbs x 2 65lbs x 1 (65lbs is my 1 rep max) WOD: Power Cleans - 55lbs Kettle bell swings - 25lbs 30-20-10 Breakfast: 3 slices bacon Lunch: Grilled chicken, green beans, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic-mustard sauce Snack: Sliced turkey Dinner: Sweet Italian sausage with peppers and onions Snack: Paleo pumpkin granola

C.J. Spiller is my favorite non-Patriot player right now. I hope he keeps it up, except in the two games the Bills play against the Pats.

Copied and pasted from my challenge thread. I didn't do as well on this challenge as the past one. That's okay though, I"ll just keep going forward and not dwell on this. Cut out all bread - D - +.75 CON Although I ate nowhere near as much bread as I used to, I still made some poor choices along the way. But I definitely cut out a lot, so I don't consider it a failure. Drink at least 64oz of water per day - F This barely happened and I didn't make enough of an effort to do so. Go to CrossFit three times a week - C +1 STR, +1 STA, +1 DEX Bad timing on my part with this, though I shouldn't be making excuses. Dragon*Con fell in the middle of the challenge, and between cranking to get costumes done and being away for five days meant I only went once a week for two weeks. But other weeks I did go 2-3 times. Absolutely loving it so far. Get writing - F I never did anything after working on this the first week of the challenge. I'm going to carry this over for my next goals, and I'm going to schedule time on my calendar to do this. I'm seriously considering scheduling it before work in the morning. New Stats: STR 5, DEX 3, STA 2, CON 5.75, WIS 6, CHA 3

I didn't do as well on this challenge as the past one. That's okay though, I"ll just keep going forward and not dwell on this. Cut out all bread - D - +.75 CON Although I ate nowhere near as much bread as I used to, I still made some poor choices along the way. But I definitely cut out a lot, so I don't consider it a failure. Drink at least 64oz of water per day - F This barely happened and I didn't make enough of an effort to do so. Go to CrossFit three times a week - C +1 STR, +1 STA, +1 DEX Bad timing on my part with this, though I shouldn't be making excuses. Dragon*Con fell in the middle of the challenge, and between cranking to get costumes done and being away for five days meant I only went once a week for two weeks. But other weeks I did go 2-3 times. Absolutely loving it so far. Get writing - F I never did anything after working on this the first week of the challenge. I'm going to carry this over for my next goals, and I'm going to schedule time on my calendar to do this. I'm seriously considering scheduling it before work in the morning. New Stats: STR 5, DEX 3, STA 2, CON 5.75, WIS 6, CHA 3

I've seen every episode since it debuted in season 1 and it's one of my favorite shows in TV. I think the contestants are so talented and there's always at least one amazing dance every episode.

If you're a musical person and like stage shows, check out Beach Blanket Babylon while in San Francisco. It's a long running review show with amazing over the top costumes and very talented performers. They make fun of tons of celebrities and politicians and have lots of pop culture jokes mixed in a long the way. I live in Massachusetts, and I want to go back to San Francisco just to see that show again.

If you end up doing that, I'm very interested to hear how they come out.. I made bacon wrapped chicken fingers a few weeks ago and they were amazing.