Monday, June 10, 2013

Getting comfortable with who you are

There is something that I have heard a lot as I've started this journey into nutrition and fitness - be happy who you are and remove the negative thoughts that are associated with how your body looks.

So let me make a few biased statements that I have either encountered or I have personally felt over a life time.  I have said these myself to others or in my head during times of strenuous activities: "I'm tired of being the fat, slow, old guy in the room,"  "this is the heaviest I've ever been," or my personal favorite "I don't want to be the last one finishing....again".  You see this are all the negative thoughts that are a constant battle with me, which is partially to blame on society and partially to blame on my own lamenting of a lack of will or better yet dedication to the plan.


What you deem as being healthy and what I deem as healthy may be completely different; however, each of us are constantly bombarded by the "image" of fitness.  I've put forth two images that sum up a lot of what is good and also some of what is bad with the perception of "healthy".  First, the image of the guys over a period of time shows what I would consider an unhealthy weight and progresses to a better or more fit weight.  I feel that I am between picture 3 and 2 from the left.  Ideally, I would love to be around 2 full out...this will happen, but I may still be around the same weight.
On the flip side of the coin, women have a worse time of it and even as I write this I should count my blessings that I don't have that much stress in my life.  I've put up another image of what most people would not consider the ideal image.  The image on the right are some of the female Olympic athletes, which should be considered like the pinnacle of fitness.  Looking at the image these women don't fit the mold of the ideal image, but these women train for their sport and respective physique.



Well, I am about 2 months in the the plan of eating a paleo/primal diet (which could still be better) and I am the heaviest I have ever been.  I woke up this morning and weighed in at 216 pounds, which is crazy to think that I physically feel great (except after those ass-kicking WOD's).  Psychologically, I am upset with the fact that I feel fat...one three letter word...but it is a powerful little word.

I know I have lost weight and then slowly started to gain it back, which seems to be in the form of muscle.  I am hoping that the change in diet will continue to work in dropping the pounds of fat and the CrossFit workouts will tone and increase the muscle mass on my body.  It is going to take me some getting used to that being heavier isn't always a bad thing.


Focus on doing. Focus on building. Focus on being the best version of YOU that you can be. Give your body a chance to grow and perform. Your body is smart. It will adjust to homeostasis if you let it. And you just might realize that the best version if you is yet to come.

Living by the 80-20 rule.

Been awhile since I have posted.

I recently got into a conversation on how I follow the Paleo/Primal diet.  The only way I have found time to eat the way I want to in order to lose the weight/live in a better manner is to follow an 80/20 rule.  This doesn't mean that 80% of the time I follow 20% of the diet.  Rather, it means that I am trying my best to follow the diet of high protein, vegetables, and no white starchy carbs (processed or otherwise) 80% of the time.  I am doing this because I don't want to lose the enzymes that my body already produces to handle the occasional potato, piece of bread, or some rice here and there.

There have been weeks that setting up the meal schedule has been near to impossible to keep up with and z finding time to make the trips to the grocery store is near impossible.  However, I have been able to sneak in time to make meals and snacks to help along the way.  

This has led to the following 80/20 rule and how it makes my life a bit easier.  Most diets will call for a cheat day or to heed the cravings to keep yourself sane. The rule that it is completely acceptable to out on an "All you can eat buffet" or tackling an entire container of ice cream.  But stopping by for a higher caloric meal here and there when you are burning off those extra items working out is perfectly fine.  Note:  eating denser calorie foods that a healthy is still the way to go.  There is a major difference between a double whopper with fries and a salmon steak with grilled vegetables or a few tablespoons of peanut butter, use your judgement.