Spring 14 Paleo Challenge, Week 1

Sunday, 3/23
Breakfast -
4oz meatloaf (grass fed hamburger, gluten free bread crumbs, chopped onions and celery) with homemade sauce (ketchup with chipotle peppers added)
8oz glass of "attitude cleanse" veggie juice (beets, ginger, cayenne, assorted veggies) from Alive Juice Bar
2tsp (6g of fat) organic almond butter

Lunch
4oz meatloaf
2 cups blueberries
1 tsp almond butter

Snack
2oz summer sausage
1 tsp almond butter
8oz veggie juice

Dinner
5oz meatloaf
80g sweet potato, raw, sliced
2tsp almond butter
4oz veggie juice

Monday, 3/24
Breakfast
3 egg scramble with onions and peppers, 3 slices bacon

Lunch
Spinach salad with peppers, pickled onions, balsamic vinaigrette and 4oz Salmon

Snack
Nugo Organic bar

Dinner
6-7 chicken skewers (1oz each?)
2tsp almond butter
1 cup blueberries

Tuesday, 3/25
Breakfast
3 egg scramble with onions and peppers, 2 slices bacon
2 tsp Almond butter

Side note: First time I have used the second hole in my belt for a while!

Lunch
Spinach salad with peppers, pickled onions, sheep feta, eggs, balsamic vinaigrette, and 4oz salmon on top

Snack
Nugo Organic bar

Dinner
5oz chicken bratwurst with 1-2 tsp of mayo
Homemade sweet potato chips (unknown qty)

Wednesday, 3/26
Breakfast
3 egg scramble with onions and peppers, 3 slices bacon

Snack
Nugo Organic bar

Lunch
Steak Salad at cuoco

Snack
Nugo Organic bar

Dinner
~6oz ribeye steak
Salad with balsamic and sheep feta
1/3 hot dog
2 tsp almond butter

Muscle up transition practice after dinner!

Thursday, 3/27
Breakfast
3 egg scramble with onions and peppers, 3 slices bacon

Snack
Nugo Organic bar

Lunch
Salad

Snack
Nugo Organic Bar

Workout with Zack -- handstand practice and hammy stretching!

Dinner 

6oz grassfed beef burger, light BBQ sauce

2 slices bacon
1 tbsp (14g fat) of coconut oil

Friday, 3/28
Breakfast
3 egg scramble, 3 slices of bacon "the usual"

Snack
Nugo Organic bar

Lunch
Spinach salad, added a little kale this time along with my usual toppings.

Snack
4oz organic beef jerky

Dinner
Steak with sheep feta, spinach and spices rolled inside it
Cauliflower and Sweet potato dish of some sort
10 almonds
asparagus/leeks/pine nuts/bacon bits dish of some sort

After dinner snack
~2oz summer sausage and 1/2 cup blueberries

Saturday, 3/29

Crossfit homework (muscle up, ring rows and dips practice) plus Dave's mobility class

Brunch

3 egg "el diablo" omelet at Hale's, with goat cheese and veggies

7 slices of bacon

Snack
1/2 cup of blueberries
2oz or so of summer sausage
6 almonds
4oz organic beef jerky

Dinner
Leftovers from last night
3tsp almond butter
1/2 cup blueberries

Sunday, 3/30
Munched throughout the day...
20 almonds, 3 tsp almond butter, 4-6 oz of summer sausage, 4oz beef jerky, 3 cups blueberries
6oz reheated steak

Dinner
Eggs, chicken sausage, kale scramble
2tsp almond butter

Pre-Paleo Challenge Spring 2014 (v7)

Started the Paleo Challenge today, but have been cleaning up my diet for the last week in preparation. Returned from a week of vacation and then a week of out of town corporate meetings, to find my weight at a Crossfit-era record high of 193. My allergies were acting up so much that for a week I couldn't sleep due to nasal congestion and itchy eyes. I was taking my prescription nasal spray and eye drops, plus Zyrtec, plus benadryl to sleep. And I would still wake up with itchy, inflamed eyes.

For the last week, I've been trying to be pretty strict Paleo -- no Gluten for sure, minimum Dairy (I even stopped putting whip cream on my blueberries). My allergies have cleared up, although not sure whether that's because it was really tree pollen, or because I've cleaned up the diet. I do know that the summer that I was very strict Paleo (2011), I didn't once use any allergy medication for the first time since I was five years old.

Nancy took my "before" picture at the gym on Friday night, and we take the after pictures on May 24th, after 7 weeks.

Week 5 of Strict Paleo

Following the return from Chelan, where I broke my 27 days of alcohol abstinence, I weighed in at 182.2 Tuesday morning, down about 8.5 lbs from 4 weeks ago, and up a bit from my lowest weight of the month. I'm back on my normal schedule, starting with an omelet and bacon for breakfast. I went to lunch at Portage Bay Cafe, but didn't have the corned beef hash. Had a walnut salad topped with a piece of smoked salmon, strawberries and balsamic vinaigrette. Yum. In the afternoon, I ate a Nugo Organic bar AND a Builder's Bar. I had both of these partly because I was still hungry and partly because I wanted to have enough calories/carbs in me for my workout with Steve in the evening.

Evening workout started with Bent Over Rows (3x10-12) super setted with Barbell Walking lunges (3x10-12 per leg). Weights were 20, 40, 45kg. Then we got to the fun part of the evening. Every 90 seconds: 4 Hang Power Clean (60kg), 8 air squats, 12 KB swings (24kg). .If you finish in less than 90 seconds, you get to rest for the remaining time. I did the first round in 43 seconds, and was able to maintain/beat that time in each successive round (11 rounds). the last round I did in about 38 seconds. Pretty happy with myself, assuming that this wasn't too easy of a workout. Steve said we are striving for consistency so I feel good about that.
After my workout, I had my egg protein powder shake mixed in Almond Milk rather than water. It was pretty yummy, although it didn't mix as well as it did in water or coconut milk. I think that this is a keeper though. For dinner, we had steak (I only had about 2-3oz since my shake filled me up) and broccoli/cauliflower.
I did 3x15 OHS with the PVC pipe after dinner. It's getting easier each time, and takes less warm up than it used to.

Wednesday
Weighed in at 180.8 (10 lbs down!) There is definitely a correlation between eating a small dinner and the morning weigh in, at least in the short term. Had an omelet for breakfast, a salad with salmon for lunch and a leftover omelet packed with veggies, meat, and topped with cheese, as well as a bowl of blueberries.
Did 3x15 OHS with the PVC again after dinner.

Thursday
Started the day with usual bacon and eggs. Eating lunch out at Mio Sushi - Two spicy tuna rolls, with Tamari Gluten Free Soy sauce. More rice carbs than I would like, but I am working out tonight so it's not terrible to have some extra energy. In the afternoon, I was going to grab a Builder's bar from the vending machine, but didn't get a chance to. Worked out with Steve in the evening. Did some presses, rowing and airdyne. Finished the evening with 3 sets of 2 rope climbs. My technique is actually getting much better (thanks Steve!) so it was pretty easy. Looking forward to knocking out sets of 5 at a time. When I got home, I had an egg protein shake with almond milk and some blueberries. Had a couple tsps of Almond Butter  before bed, and then again in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. :( Also had some intestinal distress, wondering whether it was from the shake with no other food... This was the first night in several where I didn't sleep through the night, so wondering if it was because I didn't eat enough after working out.

Friday
My calendar was clear today, so I was able to sleep in, take the day off and get a nap in the middle of the day. I didn't have breakfast, and had leftover steak from Tuesday for lunch, along with a bowl (1/4 cup) of blueberries. Went to massage with Marin, where she also made me do headstands (I'm getting much better!) Afterwards, I went to the juice bar and got something called the attitude cleanse, which has beets, carrots, ginger, cayenne and other stuff run through the vitamix juicer and straight into my cup. Yum and healthy!
For dinner, we had stew with beef, onions, carrots and parsnips. Gluten free flour thickener. And Cauliflower cheese bake with soy-based cream cheese, some sheep parmesan, and cow cheddar melted on top.
Finished the evening with 3x15 OHS for dessert!
Later in the evening, I had some beef jerky and a bowl of blueberries...not quite enough at dinner.

Saturday
Went to the gym for an all day workshop on "movement." The first two sessions were on handstands and hanging, as well as some tips on squatting. They recommend squatting for 30 minutes per day! For food, I had some summer sausage and blueberries for breakfast, an uncured, grassfed hot dog for lunch, and for dinner I went to Staple and Fancy with some friends. There were many courses of veggies, and a braised beef short rib. All Paleo, until we got to the cheesecake for dessert :( And 3-4 glasses of wine. So I guess we'll chalk this up to a cheat day!

Sunday
I snacked throughout the day on summer sausage, blueberries, almond butter, deviled eggs and a protein shake in almond milk. For dinner, having a ceasar salad with sheep parmesan and no croutons, and some beef jerky.
The other big achievement of the day was accumulating 30 minutes squatting. The folks from our workshop yesterday suggested 30 minutes/day of squatting for 30 days, so 1 day down.

Monday
Omelet and bacon for breakfast
Steak salad at cuoco (hold the croutons!) for lunch
Drank three Gin and Tonics at the bar, along with three plates of tuna-stuffed peppers appetizers. This made for dinner.

Tuesday
Omelet and bacon for breakfast
Salmon salad at the cafeteria for lunch
Nugo organic bar for snack in the afternoon.
Worked out this evening with Steve - Trap Bar DL and rowing, 4 sets. Wide Grip DL and Airdyne, 4 sets, L sit Situps, 3 sets.
Dinner - Ribeye steak, pureed cauliflower, and Broccoli and Cheese.

Coming up on a month of strict paleo

Stopped I'm on week 4, and I'm down about 7 pounds from where I started, although most of that loss was in the first week. Today, I stuck mostly with my normal diet.
Monday
Breakfast - Omelet and side of Bacon
Lunch - Steve's Paleo Jerky and about 10 almonds
Snack - More jerky (Golden Valley Natural) when I got home.
Dinner - Left over corned beef brisket, cauliflower, and broccoli
I went to the gym after dinner and did Wendler back squats, finished at 5x130kg. Hard!
Post-workout snack - Protein shake and blueberries

Tuesday
Breakfast - Omelet and side of Bacon
Snack - 10 almonds
Lunch at the airport, Qdoba steak, veggies an guac
Snack on the plane - Beef jerky and potato chips
Dinner - burger with goat cheese and onions, no bun or fries.

Wednesday
Breakfast - Omelet and bacon, and some chicken sausage
Lunch - corned beef sandwich, hold the sandwich. Tuna salad and a bit of salad
Dinner - ceasar salad with steak tips, no croutons
Snack on the plane - Beef jerky and back of potato chips
Snack at home - 1/8 cup blueberries, tsp of almond butter, and some beef jerky

Thursday
Breakfast - omelet and bacon
Lunch - salad with salmon
Snack -nugo organic bar
Pre-workout - Gu packet
Workout with Steve: Trap Bar DL, finished w/ 5@150kg. Not too shabby!
Then did a WOD - AMRAP 12min:
6 Push Press (45kg)
8 burpees
10 KB Swings
Steve diagnosed my problem as burpees, and BW exercises in general...something to work on!
Post-workout snack - Protein shake and a few slices of sweet potato, and two tsp Almond butter
Post-snack snack - 1/4 cup blueberries and some beef jerky.

Friday

We are headed for chelan this weekend, which will hurt the diet a bit, but hopefully not disastrously. 

For breakfast, I had the usual bacon and eggs. Didn't have lunch because I was booked at work and them off to massage (yay!)

We then loaded up the van around 4 and headed for chelan. I snacked on beef jerky and had a diet Pepsi (boo!) to stay awake during the ride. Stopped at cle elum for dinner at a Mexican place. Had carne Asada with no beans and rice.

Saturday I worked out at cvcf. 5 rounds of 400m run, 20 burpee box jump overs, 30 75 lb push press...40 minutes, ugh!

Had an omelet after that at the apple cup cafe. We went to "sip and stroll" that afternoon where we tasted 10 wines while walking around downtown chelan. That evening, we went to dinner with friends: ribeye steak, caramelixed onions, asparagus. For appetizers, had artichoke heart and goat cheese dip on gluten free crackers. And a bunch more wine. 27 days with no alcohol, not too bad!

Sunday

Went to 8am hot yoga to get rid of the toxins from night before. Had an omelet with summer sausage for breakfast and a bottle of Kevita lemon cayenne probiotic cleanse. Snacked on summer sausage and late lunch of blackened salmon Caesar salad. Finished off the day with goat cheese on rice crackers, an uncured hot dog, and a bowl of blueberries.

Monday (no weigh in this morning because we're in chelan)

Omelet with summer sausage and goat cheese and bolt house farms veggie juice. it advertises the veggies in large print on the bottle, but when you read the small print, the first ingredient is pear juice. 19g sugar. Not sure if the goodness from the veggies outweighs the badness of the sugar.

Stopped at the Roslyn cafe on the way back from chelan and had an omelet with sausage, bacon, onions and peppers in it. Topped with cheddar.
Didn't really have much for dinner. Felt bad from the big omelet. Just a bowl of blueberries.

Tuesday morning weigh-in: 182.2, down about 8.5 lbs since I started 4 weeks ago.

Week 3 of the Fall '13 Paleo revival

Week 3 - Monday's food log:
Breakfast - omelet with veggies, and side of bacon
Lunch - Spinach and mixed greens salad (with other veggies), topped with salmon
Snacks - Nugo Organic bar, and Tanka bar
Dinner - hamburger with mayo, frozen veggies, a few almonds

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Nugo Organic bar (lame!)
Lunch - Spinach, mixed green, veggies salad, with 4oz salmon
Pre-workout snack - 1/4 cup blueberries
Workout with Steve - Following the bad ass workout this weekend (clean ladder! See previous post), Steve took it easy on me. Sets of 8 trap bar deadlift. Worked up to 140kg x 8 reps. Then did 20 Minutes EMOTM, 1 tire flip with the 900 lb tire. Right up my alley. Finished with dead bug core strengthener. I had a egg white protein shake after the workout, before dinner. 23g Protein.
Dinner - Chicken adobo (one breast) made with splenda, a few slices of summer sausage, 12 stalks of asparagus, and about 6 almonds after dinner. Did 3x15 OHS with the PVC afterwards, to get the heart rate up a bit. That's what Tim Ferriss says to do.

Wednesday morning:
Day 16 of the revival! 183.3 this morning, down 7.5 lbs...not a bad first 16 days.
Breakfast - omelet and bacon, as per usual at the cafeteria
Snack - Nugo organic bar
Lunch - usual salad with 4oz of fish on top.
Snack - Nugo Organic bar
Snack - Steve's Paleo Jerky when I got home
Dinner - 6oz grassfed steak, ~1/4 cup blueberries and 12 almonds
After dinner, did what has become my active recovery workout -- 3 sets of 15 Overhead Squats with the PVC. In between, I used the softball to roll on my glutes, the roller on my quads/IT bands, the 7" ball on my abs/psoaz, ankle mobs against the wall. Lots of mobility stuff for me to do OHS. When I was done, I watched a video on how to learn to do a back tuck in 10 minutes (sent it to Steve). The last 2.5 minutes of the video, I was in a pretty deep squat. 1/4 of the way to finishing the Starrett 10 minute squat challenge! I've done it before, with 5 2-minute squat holds. I think I could do more now. I couldn't get my ankles quite on the ground in the full deep squat, but had I been in lifting shoes, they woulda been. Calling it a victory for now.

Thursday:
Started the day with bacon and eggs at the cafeteria
For lunch, went to the sushi place, but rather than get the high GI rice sushi, I had a bento box with beef yakinimu (or something like that) and kalbi beef. There was some soy sauce (with gluten) in there, but overall not too bad. Went trick or treating with the kids at work today, and the beverage buyer offered me "Zevia" and Diet Tonic Water from her stash. The Zevia had sugar alcohol (erhythritol?) along with Stevia in it and the Diet Tonic Water had Aspartame in it. It pays to read the label! I had a few sips of each before leaving them behind. Had about 10 almonds when I got back to my office.
For dinner, we're going out to a pizza place and I'm going to have crustless pizza, which consists mostly of mozzarella, pizza sauce and toppings (pepperoni and jalapeno). There's a lot of calories there, but I'm due for a cheat day so my body doesn't adapt to the low calorie input. So I think I'm going to do it! The plan is to do some OHS or something to burn a little bit of calories after dinner.
Man - that crustless pizza was yummy! I coulda eaten two of them...instead I came home and did some OHS, but weight will probably still be up in the morning!

Friday!
I started the morning with a workout with Steve. We did some mobilizations and then the workout was "5 minutes of work." How hard could that be? 1 min - 20 seconds AMRAP push press, 20 second AMRAP Box Jump, 20 second AMRAP burpees. Then get 5-6 minutes of rest, and do it again for 5 rounds. I was able to stay consistent at 19-21 push presses, 9-10 box jumps and 7-9 burpees. Apparently the longer it takes to recover, the more elite you are, because you are able to work at higher intensity during the minute.

I got home and didn't have time to eat, so I had Steve's Paleo Jerky for breakfast when I got to work. I didn't have time for lunch either, so ended up having some almonds and an "attitude cleanse" veggie juice at the juice bar, and then another pack of Paleo Jerky at the end of the day, along with about 4 almonds.

Dinner was corned beef, asparagus and "cabbage noodles" which is a recipe my mom found in a paleo cookbook. Yum!

Saturday:
Went to Mike's L2 class on Saturay morning. WOD:
AMRAP 10 Min: 5 60kg C/J, 7 Toes to Bar, 9 20lb Ball Slams. 5 rounds + 2 reps
Then stuck around for Dave's Mobility class. Dave said he's "really excited" about the progress I've made on my handstands! And Dave does not give praise lightly...
Post-workout meal - El Diablo omelet at Hale's with goat cheese instead of cheddar jack, and extra veggies.
Snacks throughout the day - omelets, beef jerky, blueberries around the house.
Dinner: Pizza from Razzi's with Gluten Free crust.
OHS after dinner, 3x15 with PVC pipe.

Sunday:
Breakfast - several slices of summer sausage, left over corned beef, and 1/4 cup blueberries
Pre-workout snack - trying a new idea today. Had an egg white protein shake, 5 almonds and a 1/4 cup of blueberries before the two hour "competition class." It will either ensure I have plenty of energy during class, or go horribly wrong...we will see.
Great workout with Steve and the competition class
Started with 4 rounds of:
AMRAP dips (2020 tempo, aka slow up and down)
2 rope climbs (I finally was able to do them. Did two sets of 2, 2 sets of 1)
Max Freestanding handstand with a spotter

Then moved into the team workout. Team Event 4 from 2010 CF games.
Each team consists of 2 men and 2 women, women start, and go through:
75 Backsquats (40kg)
40 Pullups
25 Shoulder to Overhead (40)
75 Front Squats (30)
40 Pullups
25 Shoulder to Overhead (30)
75 OHS (20)
40 Pullups
25 Shoulder to Overhead (20)
Men hold the bar during transitions, and during the pullups. Bar never hits the ground
Then repeat with men at weights 60, 40, 30, with women holding bar during transitions and pullups.

Our team ended up winning with a time of 36:37. My partner was a pullup machine, but I paid him back with doing extra push presses on the first two sets. All in all a fun workout. Was happy I could knock out several sets of 10 OHS at 30kg. I couldn't do that a few months ago!

Post workout, I had another egg white protein shake, and a few glutino gluten free pretzels. Probably not the best thing, but I wanted a little bit of carbs. For dinner, organic uncured hotdogs from applegate and kale and goat cheese salad!

Monday morning weigh-in::183.8, plus half a pound or so from last week :(
That's what happens when I cheat a little too much on the pizzas....

2nd week back on the strict paleo

Last week, I recommitted to the Paleo diet after spending the weekend in Chelan drinking wine, eating gluten and other crap, and eating sugary "trip snacks" while driving home. The first week was very successful, as the first week of diets usually is - down 5 lbs from 190 to 185. Goal weight is 175. I expect that I will not lose another 5 lbs this week, but I would like to lose 1 or 2, so continuing with the food log to keep myself focused.

Started the morning with an omelet at the work cafe, with a side of bacon. For lunch, we went to Flying Fish, and I had a steak (about 4oz), hold the udon noodles, double down on the veggies, with hoisin sauce. Upon returning to my office, I supplemented the lunch with nine almonds.
I got out of work early, so I grabbed a builder's bar when I got home and ate half of it on the way to the crossfit. This was my third day in a row, so I thought active recovery was in order. I went to Mike's snatch class, thinking that the light weights would be perfect for this. Unfortunately, I saw the other guys doing deadlifts, and got jealous. So Mike let me do my own deadlifts. Did Wendler 5/5/5, finishing at 135kg x5 reps. That seemed like enough for the day. I am now finishing the rest of the builder bar, and getting ready to eat dinner, which looks like a 4oz grassfed steak, and the rest of the mashed sweet potato. I had a tsp of almond butter and a couple fiber choice tablets to get some fat and fiber.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Another omelet, and a side of bacon, 3 almonds in my office
Lunch: Corned beef hash (root veggies, no potatoes) with eggs on top. Ate half of it, boxed up the rest. Had 9 almonds as an afternoon snack.
Dinner: I had some beef jerky when I got home, along with a few tsp of almond butter. Jen heated up some brisket (about 4oz) with bbq sauce, so I ended up with double the protein I needed, and less carbs than needed.

Wednesday:
Skipped breakfast (intermittent fast!)
Lunch: package of paleo beef jerky, and about 16 almonds
Snacks in the afternoon:  Nugo organic bar, tanka bar...not a good afternoon. Need some good carbs before Steve/Jim's class tonight! This is the first time I've been hungry over the last two weeks.
More snacks when I got home: 4 slices of sweet potato and half a bowl (<1/4 cup) blueberries.
Went to Jim's class and it was what we call a "grinder!"
Start out with five rounds alternating between power cleans (45kg, 55, 60, 65, 70) and 3x muscle up negatives.
Then the workout:
EMOTM for 12 minutes
Power cleans at 80% 1RM (70kg) then 10 DU and jump rope for rest of the minute, no rest.
Then
EMOTM for 16 minutes
ODD 200m row
EVEN 12 situps
Then Partner 2k row

After class, for extra credit I did 2 muscle ups on the high rings.

Then, home for dinner:
6oz grassfed ribeye
Kale salad with goat cheese crumbles and balsamic vinaigrette
The rest of the 1/4 cup of blueberries from earlier. I felt healthy with every bite I was eating!

Thursday:

Omelet and bacon for breakfast

Spinach salad with 4oz salmon for lunch

About 12-16 almonds for afternoon snack

Dinner was a chicken breast (with bone and skin on) and some mixed frozen veggies. I supplemented with a hunk of brisket and a bowl of blueberries.

Friday:
Took the morning off of work, went to Jim's movement class. Did lots of goblet squats and broad jumps, and finished with 1 MU, for extra credit!
Tried my egg white shake in water, very yummy and 23g of protein, when I got home.
Then Jen and I went to the Ballard Skillet for brunch. Deconstructed corned beef hash, hold the fingerling potatoes. Yum!
Dinner: two hunks of brisket (10oz?), 1/4 cup blueberries and 10 lime and chili almonds

Saturday:
I got up and went to the Level 2 Crossfit class down at the gym. Great workout today -- A reverse clean ladder (10, 9, 8...1) cleans, with a round of Cindy (5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats) between each set. I did the Rx weight, 55kg, on the cleans, and was pretty much dead after the 17 minutes it took me.
Came home and had an egg white protein shake mixed up in Coconut milk. I had never had coconut milk, but it's pretty thick and about 90% fat. I don't think I'll be doing that again! It seems to have taken its toll on my digestive system too...not sure if it was the coconut milk or the xylitol that they snuck into the protein powder. Will have to experiment with that.

Then I had a hunk of brisket for good measure while I watched the Crossfit Invitational, live from Berlin! Team World, including my favorite Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet upset the Team USA team. Pretty fun stuff! I had several slices of sweet potato along with that. For snack later I had about 6 slices of summer sausage with mayo.
For dinner, we had leftover chicken breast and kale salad with goat cheese and vinaigrette.
Family is having ice cream for dessert, but I'm going to pass. It is tempting to have a "cheat day" or even a cheat meal, but it seems to take several days to recover from that (weight  up, cravings for sugar return, etc). So I'm gonna go ahead and abstain. Week 2 weigh in on Monday morning, hope to at least maintain the 5 lbs loss from last week.

Sunday:
Had a 3 egg scramble with goat cheese, and a couple slices of summer sausage for breakfast. Mid morning snack was some beef jerky and about 10 almonds (lime and chili).
Lunch: The rest of the brisket (8oz?), 10 almonds, and a 1/4 cup of blueberries.
Monday morning weigh-in: 184.0, down 6.8 pounds in 2 weeks.

1 day at a time...

In the many months since I stopped my food journal, I have gained about 14 lbs, from 176 to 190. I've gotten a bunch stronger as well. I can now Deadlift 400 lbs, overhead squat 110 for a set of 3, and can manage a muscle up at this heavy weight. My squat has also gotten deeper.

So now my friend Annelisa (who is in Phoenix) and I are going to start keeping track of our food intake, and I'm going to try to get back to about 175. If so, I think I will like what I see with all the extra muscle!
Another friend of mine, who spent some time at AA, told me you don't have to take it one day at a time, you have to treat your diet like alcoholism, one hour at a time.

So, after a weekend in Chelan including a bunch of wine and a little gluten.  And a long drive home with sugary "trip snacks," I resolved to get back on the straight and narrow as of yesterday, Monday 10/14.

Monday morning, I got up and had a 3 egg scramble with peppers and onions (not nearly enough carbs) and a side of bacon. This is my standard breakfast when I eat at the work cafe. Along with a glass of (fresh squeezed 2 wedges) lemon water.
We had an all day "offsite" with my staff and I have now trained our department assistant that no food aside from lunch is allowed in the conference room, because I will stare at it for six hours then eat 14 cookies. So I was clean all morning and afternoon.
I had a tanka bar for snack at about 11am, then a spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette, topped with 4 oz of steelhead salmon.

In the evening, we did a "team-building event" on an electric boat. There was beer, wine, meat on a stick, veggies on a stick, and potato salad. I had several kabob like things of beef. It was marinated in soy sauce, so not quite gluten free, but better than potato salad. I also drank talking rain water rather than beer or wine. Good on me! I ended up having a scoop of peanut butter in the middle of the night to help me get back to sleep.

Tuesday, I had the same breakfast -- bacon and scrambled eggs, with peppers and onions. I also had a scoop of organic almond butter before I left home to provide the fat. I had a tanka bar for snack around 11, then 2-3 oz of beef jerky and another tanka bar in the afternoon. a little soy sauce in the jerky, but again maybe not the worst thing I could have.
After work, in preparation for the gym, I had an ounce or two of sweet potato, a GU packet, and a spoonful (1-1.5 tsp) of almond butter.
For dinner, Jen made savory roasted chicken and mashed sweet potatoes. Yum! Two days clean...one hour at a time.

Wednesday morning breakfast, I had leftover peppers, onions and chicken from our meal at La Brisa, so fried these up in walnut oil and scrambled three eggs with them. Instant Paleo omelet!

For lunch, I again had a spinach salad with various veggies, balsamic vinaigrette, and 4oz salmon. In the evening, I went to the bar with some friends for several hours, but was able to stick to water for the whole time! On arriving home, I had a tsp of almond butter, a leftover chicken sausage, and a big spoonful of mashed sweet potato. Unfortunately, this is at about 11pm. 

Thursday morning, day 4!!

I weighed in this morning 3 lbs lighter than Monday, 187.5. Part of this was small dinner last night (not really sustainable), but part was that I didn't drink any wine! I drank about three big bottles of pellegrino. This morning, I had an omelet at work, with a side of bacon, and for lunch, a spinach salad with some sweet potato and other veggies, topped with 4oz salmon and balsamic vinaigrette. I threw in a package of Steve's club's Beef Jerky (28g protein, 4 blocks).

I worked out with Steve tonight...presses, bench, 1 min rows...

Dinner was an organic grass fed hot dog (56g), big scoop of mashed sweet potato and a tsp of almond butter. Still no wine! 

Update: Didn't eat enough...was up at 11:30 and had another tsp of Almond butter, and then again at 1:30 for several slices of sweet potato.

Friday (Day 5 of the 1 day at a time plan!)

Breakfast - Omelet with side of bacon at work

Snack - Steve's beef jerky

Lunch - Corned beef hash with three eggs up. I could only eat half of it, which is very sad, and then I forgot to take the leftovers with me!

Dinner - It's Shabbat dinner, which means there's wine and dessert, so I'm in the danger zone again, but I think I can hold out! Update: held out...no dessert. We had brisket with yummy, ketchup-based bbq sauce. Very yummy, but kinda sugary from the bbq sauce. :( Salad along with that.

Saturday

Got up and headed for the gym. Did Mike's 9am class, which consisted of Romanian Deadlifts (up to 80kg), and then for the WOD, we did 7 min AMRAP with a partner, I go you go. 5 deadlifts, 4 cleans, 3 front squats. Started with 50kg, but moved up to 60kg and did some extra rounds because my partner went slow. I stayed for Dave's 10am mobility class where we did lots of ab work. Always fun. Finished with a couple muscle ups on the high rings after class.

I then headed over to Hale's for brunch of an El Diablo omelet (sub goat cheese for pepper jack) and a side of bacon. Yum!

Afternoon snacks - tsp of almond butter and a bowl (1/2 cup?) of blueberries.

Dinner - Three pieces (about 10oz) of brisket with bbq sauce. After dinner, a couple tsp of almond butter. 

Sunday 

This will be one week of good eating! Started the morning (around 10am) with an onion and goat feta cheese omelet (3 eggs). Headed for the gym at 3pm for Steve's "performance" class. That usually lasts two hours, and then will have dinner. 

Snack - 1/4 cup blueberries and 1 tsp almond butter

Had a gu packet before crossfit then headed off to class. We started with 4 rounds (not for time) of 5 hspu, 3 rope climbs and then AMRAP double unders. I could only do about 1 rope climb at a time, although Steve taught me how to do the Spanish wrap which should make it easier.  And I did 40 singles instead of doubles. 

Once we finished that, we did 1RM close grip bench press (102kg) and 1RM power clean (90kg). Steve gave me a larabar to keep me going...

We finished with a bunch if prowler pushes. 5 rounds of 50m @90% with 90s rest.Then 3 rounds of 75m @100% with 5 min rest. The final rounds kicked my ass.

After class, I had a veggie protein shake (23g protein) and a small piece (2oz?) of brisket. Then we went out to dinner at Georgia's and had Macedonian peppers, lamb souvlaki, a little falafel, hummus, 6 Kalamata olives, and some grilled veggies. I'm stuffed!

Final tally for the first week of renewed dieting: 185.2, down 5 lbs from last Monday! Starting a new post for week 2.