So I went.

And? And I’m pretty sure this post may be my last post ever as I write this from my death bed; the floor of Reebok CrossFit Liberty Village. So sweaty. So tired. So pleased I came.

I finished dead last, actually the time cap for the workout was 16 minutes, and it took me 18:31, so technically it was a DNF (Did Not Finish), but whatever, I tried my best, which is all I could do, and now I’m better for it.

Oh! and I was the biggest person in the class, but apparently, as people noted, it didn’t seem to matter.

So… my new (well, soon to be) CrossFit coach just messaged me on Facebook asking, “what time are you coming to workout tomorrow?”

Is it appropriate to write back, “I am currently way too fat and therefore self conscious to do CrossFit right now. See you in a month when I lose some poundage”?

No? Not appropriate? But really. I feel huge suddenly being at home. Seeing myself in my old, regular mirrors was such a wake up call. And seeing that new, heavier number on my bathroom scale made me feel extremely disgusted with myself. I have gained a lot of weight. A lot of weight. Since I left home September 2011 I am up nearly 40 pounds. Forty pounds.

It’s awful. And I know I should suck it up and just go. Go workout. Go sweat. Go be seen in workout gear. Especially as I’ve always told this blog that it’s impossible to be too fat to do CrossFit (and that’s true), but, but-but-but I am just so scared. Everyone at this CrossFit looks insanely fit. And me? Well. You know. I am not.

I don’t know. This was a ramble. But I don’t know what to do, and suddenly the thought of CrossFit and workout clothes in front of others is absolutely horrifying.

Let’s talk about this:

And this:

So hawwwwwt, I know.

And this:

Let’s Talk About CrossFit

Why? Because I remember oh-so-very well reading that little word, “CrossFit,” on many-a-blogs, seeing it in articles, on TV, and on passerby’s Tshirts, and yet I had absolutely zero-zip-zilch idea what it was.

Sure, it was something to do with sweating. Yup, it looked hard. Yarrrr, it sounded pricey. And damn straight you better believe I assumed there was no-way-jose I’d ever be able to do it.

False Liz False.

But first, let’s start at the beginning:

So, What exactly IS CrossFit?

Simply put: think of a bootcamp, a bootcamp where you show up a few times a week and written on a board is a different, random workout. Every time you show up, the workout is a different length (approx 8 min to 1h. the majority are 20 minutes) and/or a different type of workout (cardio, strength, gymnastics or a combination of the 3 - but don’t let the gymnastics part scare you).

So there you are. At your “CrossFit bootcamp” reading the WOD (Workout of the Day) on the board. And suppose it’s something like this:

Looks daunting, doesn’t it? Firstly, “Kelly” is just the name of the workout (WOD). As I’ve mentioned before, CrossFit Headquarters names their universal workouts, which means the workout of “Kelly” is this exact CrossFit workout anywhere in the world.

And secondly, “China Town Run” is just the lingo my CrossFit uses as we use Melbourne’s actual China Town to run through, so just know: China Town Run = 800m run.

So back to you standing there staring at the board. You know it’s Kelly, and you read “5 Rounds For Time,” which means exactly what it says; you’ll finish this workout once you’ve done 5 rounds of an: 800m run | 30 Box Jumps (24” = ideal male height / 18” = ideal female height) and then 30 Wall Balls (male/female weights).

Now if you don’t know what the actual movements are (don’t fret - most people don’t), you’ll be TOLD and SHOWN. That’s the beauty of CrossFit; at the beginning of each and every single workout the Coach will DEMONSTRATE the movements for you. So never worry about not knowing what to do, or feeling stupid. (Everyone started somewhere!)

And yea, I know what you’re thinking, but nope. There is no way you’re too unfit/fat/weak/uncoordinated to do CrossFit <— ANOTHER GLORIOUS DETAIL ABOUT IT.

**Every single movement in CrossFit can be “scaled” to your ability. EVERY SINGLE ONE**

Let’s do another example, shall we?

This is another Universal WOD called “Elizabeth” (it was done in the 2012 CrossFit games in just over 2 minutes by the winner!!! I do it in about 18 minutes). It’s rather simple if you’re told, but makes no sense if you’re not:

21-15-9 is a very common type of CrossFit workout. And it simply means you do 21 of the first movement listed, then 21 of the second, then 15 of the first, then 15 of the second, and finally 9 of the first, 9 of the second, and then you grab your time and you’re done! Yea, I too had no clue what a “squat clean” is, but I learned, and you can too - promise.

Other popular terms you’ll see on my CrossFit photos are “AMRAP” which stands for As Many Rounds As Possible in, perhaps, 20 minutes. (They’re my favourite).

But sometimes you rock up to CrossFit and it’s simply “150 burpees,” or “400 metres of walking lunges,” or “row for 1 minutes. 8 times,” or “Find your max back squat/front squat.” They’re evil workouts, but that’s the point of working out, right? PUSHING YOURSELF.

So, hope that clears some of my confusing photos up for you. So next, very important question:

Will CrossFit make you lose weight?

Firstly,

You can’t out exercise a bad diet and,
You lose weight in the kitchen, you get fit in the gym.

So yup. Know that. Believe that. Remember that. CrossFit and exercise aren’t the magic beans to weight loss - the magic beans will always be having a balanced lifestyle ‘n what not, but CrossFit WILL make you fitter & stronger & give you a sexy strut of confidence as you walk down the street. GUARANTEED! :)

I wanted to write this post because CrossFit has changed my life. It’s given me a ridiculous number of friends, (seriously, the community CrossFit embodies is super-duper (oh yes, I just said ‘duper’) awesome (proof), and so much more confidence it’s hard do put into words…

Instead of sucking in when I cross a road with cars staring at me, I think to myself, “whatever, I can deadlift 220 pounds” and I hold my head up high, and get on with my day (as the person in the car didn’t even notice me, but that’s neither here nor there). 

So yup. I guess I was just thinking if there is anyone who is looking for an awesome new 2013 goal, I would highly recommend CrossFit. I know it’s pricey, but it truly is the most amazing, challenging, hard, yet fun workout I’ve ever found, and one that I just want to do again & again & again, and share with everybody I can (YOU!).

CrossFit VS Running?

The Challenge in Review

The full dirty deets can be found here, but my summary of Paleo-Style eating is this: eating healthy is about the right type of food, not the quantity of food.

I was not allowed any: dairy. sugar. grains. legumes. processed food.
And I was allowed as much as I wanted of: Meat. Fish. Veggies. Fruit. Good fats (avocado, bacon). Natural food (like maple syrup, dates, cocoa).

Fun facts: Paleo comes from term the Paleolithic Era. It’s essentially: Eat like a caveman. There is no portion control on paleo (but I was super sceptical of this). Rob Wolf created the diet after many years of being on a low-fat, high-carb vegan diet. He went from 180 pounds to 130 pounds and developed severe digestive issues. He created the Paleo diet from going back to the basics of the human body (His book is an interesting read, even if you have no plans of doing paleo).

My Goal

My goal was a full four weeks of eating paleo. No halfassing it, but 110% actually doing it. My goal was to lose weight. Now please keep in mind this was quite the ambitious challenge for me as I’ve never (ever, ever) stuck to a diet perfectly before. And? I find it weird writing this out, but… I actually did it!

The Facts

I averaged 1,489 calories a day.
My lowest calorie day was 1,009 calories.
My highest day was 1,938.

NOTE: Despite Paleo being a “no portion” diet, I counted my calories every day using My Fitness Pal, but please note calories hardly played a role in the challenge. I just recorded them for curiosity sake. What I found is paleo essentially maximizes one’s daily calories. I’d even be so bold as to say it’s nearly impossible to go over 2,000cal/day because the type of food you eat is sooooooooooo filling.  

My Weight:
Start: (Nov 2): 178.2 pounds  | 81kg
End: (Dec 3): 168.08 pounds | 76.4kg

My Body Fat:
Start: (Nov 2): 43%
End: (Dec 3): 40%

My Muscle:
Muscle gain of 1.76 pounds (800 grams)

My Inches:
Down 2.5cm on my waist      

(All stats are from the Nutrionist)

General comments

That Sunday night before I started Paleo I was terrified. I had announced to you guys, my family, friends, work and CrossFit that I, Liz, was going to attempt a “paleo challenge.” I had tried it before, and I had failed before (twice actually), so to say I was nervous was an understatement. 

And then it went down like this (click on the links below for a more indepth review of each week):

• Week 1: Awesome! The plan was new and exciting & seemed fairly easy/doable. The blog helped too as it gave me motivation to prep my food properly, and make new and exciting meals. I blinked and this week was gone.
• Week 2: I started to feel sick this week. Nauseous. I wasn’t ever hungry, but around 3pm every day I felt sick. Eventually I pushed through this and it went away.
• Week 3: I found a routine for myself this week. I started to stop obsessing over Paleo as much. Week 3 was the first time I could see myself doing this long term. However, sugar & carb cravings were in full force at this point. They were HARD to deal with, but eventually I broke through them too.
• Week 4: This week was awesome. I had found my ‘regular, go-to’ meals and found making my breakfast/lunch the night before became second nature. I was in a good routine and found myself not even thinking about the challenge that much, I was just doing it!

(Want more food ideas? Week 1, Week 2, Week 3)

The Food

The food was delicious. There is no doubt about that: Steak. Bacon. Avocado. Fruit. Yes please! I think when most people think of Paleo they think of lots and lots of meat and plain veggies, but that certainly isn’t the case. I managed to find lots of creative ways to spice up the challenge and was always satisfied with my meals.  

I wanted to also send a special shoutout to Coconut Milk. Despite not liking coconut, it saved my taste buds and made some delicious, paleo-friendly meals (buy it. used it). They key to paleo is having lots of spices and herbs on hand!

Also, the desserts on Paleo are also absolutely divine – honey, cocoa, coconut, almonds = heaven.  However, I really restricted the paleo treats I made/ate as I still love sweet food and was nervous I’d binge on a tray of paleo brownies – so if I made them, I made them for other people.

I also wanted to share the below two graphs; before the paleo challenge, and during the challenge. You can see how much my carbs came down, and fat and protein increased - interesting! I think ideally it would be 33%, 33% and 33% - one day!

The Prepping

Without doubt one of the reasons I was so successful on the challenge was because I prepped so much. Every Sunday afternoon was devoted to paleo: Shopping-Cutting-Slicing-Prepping. Taking the time (about 2 hours) to get ready for the week made it soooooo much easier to stick with paleo. 

I also think the longer one actually sticks to paleo eating, the better they’ll get at knowing how much to buy, what to prep, & how to plan meals ahead of time. I never actually cooked food more than 24 hours before the meal, but I’d love to change this in the future (for example make a mass breakfast Sunday night for Mon, Tues, Weds).

Exercise

8 Rest days last month. Not too shabby. Not too shabby indeed. However, I still TRULY believe you lose weight in the kitchen, get fit in the gym, so me being a CrossFit ninja this past month was simply an added bonus, I really believe the scale went down because of my food.

Money

I saved money doing paleo! Totally not what I expected, but facts are facts!

Week 1: $120 (start up costs - like oils, nuts)
Week 2: $80 
Week 3: $100
Week 4: $90

I think because I ate out so much less, my overall food costs actually came down. Pretty exciting as I thought my bank account would really take a hit from this. I always tried to buy grass-fed meat, and free-range eggs, and the few times I did eat out, I had to close my eyes and point to the $30 steak and veg, but it really was worth it.

Going Forward

The first Monday after paleo ended was my first cheat meal. It was my birthday and although I had made myself a paleo breakfast, come lunch time I ‘gave in’ to a few French fries, and the homemade cheesecake someone had made me.  I felt full within 3.2 seconds. Like, whoa, stomach-is-about-to-explode full.

Since Monday most of my meals have still been paleo, with the exception of eating out (stealing fries, ice-cream with Matt, cupcakes from Danya, a piece of cake (or two) for my birthday & a chicken parma last night with some awesome ladies), but the exciting part is I am SO READY to get back to 100% paleo eating. It’s Friday today and I am ready not to eat crap. I feel more tired after eating sugar this week, and just all around blah, whereas I felt awesome on Paleo!

So with that, I am rolling into another STRICT 30 day challenge starting Monday (exception of Christmas day & NYE). My results were awesome, and I really enjoyed the challenge, so I figured why not?!  

Oh, and I should mention the absolute #1 reason I think I actually did the challenge 100% was because I had a defining start date. One day I was not doing paleo. The next day I was. No ifs. Ands. Or Buts.

Please feel free to join me! I’m no expert, but if you leave comment/question I’ll do my best to answer them. Let’s prep like all-stars this weekend, for a big, new start on Monday!