Diet

Fuel Challenge Week 5 (final)

Posted by bronick on February 10, 2014
Posted in: Diet, Food Log, Fuel Challenge. Tagged: .

Well, the Fuel Challenge is officially finished now! How do I feel about it? Pretty good actually. Did I lose any weight? Yep! Did my performance improve? A little. Did I learn anything? Nothing new…  more getting back to doing what I learned in the past.

So lets start off with some photos of the few things I did get around to cooking this past week:

Not much to show off, as this week was a lot of more of going thru the food from my freezer. Did I mention how handy a vacuum sealer is ;-)

The challenge officially ended on the 5th according to the original information, however, the benchmark follow-up wasn’t until Sunday the 9th. Did I stick to it until Sunday? Yes… for the most part.

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Fuel Challenge Benchmark (Finish)

Posted by bronick on February 9, 2014
Posted in: Fuel Challenge, WOD. Tagged: , , , , .

The follow-up benchmark for the end of the Fuel Challenge…

Benchmark: 3 rounds

  • 400m run
  • 10 Burpees
  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 30 KB Swings (1.5 pood)

Results: 1 round + 25 reps  w/20min cap

So it was an improvement over the start benchmark  (+8 reps), but still not what I was hoping for. I did finish the 2nd round around 27min mark, but inspite of the coach wanting me to finish the last round I opted to stop and not spend another 20min on that last round.

I really need to work on learning to scale again. I am nowhere near in-shape as I use to be. Just because I can do a movement, doesn’t mean I should. In this case, I can still do kipping pull-ups… but when I get to only do 1 at time, I end up loosing all the intensity of the workout. The run and burpees definity felt better this time around, and the kettlebells were never really an issue (aside from my grip after the pull-ups). It was the pull-ups again which were the trouble spot.

Fuel Challenge Week 4

Posted by bronick on February 3, 2014
Posted in: Diet, Food Log, Fuel Challenge. Tagged: , .

A step backwards… Food-wise this week was pretty good, however, I didn’t goto the gym at all this week. Getting sick last weekend threw a wrench in the plans to getting back into regular scheduled workouts. I did not do  much bulk cooking this week, as I needed to start using up what I already have stocked piled in the freezer. However, I did manage few things…

My big cooking was the chicken soup, exactly what I needed for being sick. However, I kinda cheated with it…

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Fuel Challenge Week 3

Posted by bronick on January 27, 2014
Posted in: Diet, Food Log, Fuel Challenge.

Week number 3 done and I’m still doing good for the most part…

I did have minor breakdown in the diet this past week… I got sick :-( and so I took some vitamins mix and cold medicine which definitely was not whole30, but it was what I had at my apartment. Meal wise though, I’ve been good and here are few meals for this week:

The full food log is here: Ben’s Food Log

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Fuel Challenge Week 2

Posted by bronick on January 21, 2014
Posted in: Diet, Food Log, Fuel Challenge. Tagged: , .

Week number 2 is over and done… and I’m still doing good.

Still trying to get over the never ending pile of dishes I seem to have. But since I’m finally starting to use my previous made food which I’ve been stockpiling in the freezer, hopefully that will reduce a bit. Speaking of my freezer, I did finally get around to organizing it! I got a two baskets to put in the freezer and a whiteboard to keep try of what I’ve got stashed away in there. Here are the kitchen “projects” I did this past week:

And now onto the food… Continue Reading

Fuel Challenge Week 1

Posted by bronick on January 13, 2014
Posted in: Diet, Food Log, Fuel Challenge. Tagged: , , .

Week #1… Done!

First thought… Anyone know how to teach cats to wash dishes? Just kidding, kind of. I’ve been doing a LOT of dish washing because I’ve been doing a lot of cooking in my tiny kitchen, which is a good thing, and have started stock piling food. Overall, I think I’m did pretty good. One of my biggest hurdles with meals is being lazy, there are lots of time when I just want to eat. Not have to cook and clean. Just eat. Queue the slow cooker! Plus every time I cook, I’ve been making lots of food and freezing part of it (queue vacuum sealer) for quick meals later on. Here are a few of the meals I had this past week:

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NorCal CrossFit Fuel Challenge 2014

Posted by bronick on January 8, 2014
Posted in: Diet, Fuel Challenge. Tagged: , .

Wow, over a year since my last post :-(

Needless to say, this past year… not so good in terms of getting my life back on a healthy track. I’ve let a lot of excuses keep me from eating better and going to the gym. It has been a very long time since I’ve done any serious cooking at home and I’ve had way way way too much pizza as evident by my expanding waistline. Not to mention the lack of energy and horrible performance the few time I did make it to CrossFit. I’m basically back to where I started… overweight and out of shape.

So with the start of the new year, I’ve once again decided to join the Fuel Challenge (http://norcalcrossfit-fuel.blogspot.com/2013/12/norcal-crossfit-fuel-challenge-january.html) at the gym but will attempt the Whole 30 (http://whole30.com/) this time. The catch is that due to logistical issues, it may not be an official challenge in the competition sense (not that I was looking for that), so we will see. For me, it more about the accountability and support of having other folks doing the same.

I’m even trying to get my mom to join in unofficially. We keep talking about trying to eat healthier and how we keep finding reasons why we haven’t done so yet. Hopefully this year we’ll be able to help keep other going in the right the direction.

I’ve just been lacking any sort of motivation and organization around getting my life going back in the direction I want. I’m been caught in that cycle of eat crap, feel like crap, no energy and don’t want deal with cook so eat more crap, feel like crap and don’t want to cook, eat more crap, feel like crap, etc… Going to the gym, cleaning my apartment, being active, and just being social in general have also all been lacking. Time to change all that.

Fuel Challenge Benchmark

Posted by bronick on January 5, 2014
Posted in: Fuel Challenge, WOD. Tagged: , , , , .

The benchmark for the start of the Fuel Challenge…

Benchmark: 3 rounds

  • 400m run
  • 10 Burpees
  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 30 KB Swings (1.5 pood)

Results: 1 round + 17 reps (20min cap)

Having been eating like crap and not making to the gym… not surprised by this, but still kinda disappointed in myself. I probably should have scaled the pull-ups, as those took a lot out of me and most of the time.

NorCal CrossFit Fuel Challenge 2013

Posted by bronick on January 6, 2013
Posted in: Fuel Challenge. Tagged: .

Hello blog… it’s been some time.

With the holidays finally over with, its time to get back to a normal routine. I’m an not making a New Years resolution, but rather just getting back to what I know I should be doing. No more pumpkin spice lattes, peppermint mochas, or late night pizzas. Its back to the gym and back to eating clean.

And to help kickstart the whole process, I’ve opted to join into the Fuel Challenge at NorCal CrossFit… http://norcalcrossfit-fuel.blogspot.com/2012/12/norcal-crossfit-fuel-challenge-as-we.html

This is Paleo/Primal challenge with various levels of strictness.

  1. Eliminate all refined and added sugar
  2. Eliminate Grains/Gluten and Soy (includes corn & beer)
  3. Eliminate Legumes, Beans and Lentils
  4. Eat full fat dairy only
  5. Cook with animal fats/coconut oil
  6. Eliminate starches (white potatoes, rice,)
  7. Eliminate all dairy (heavy cream, butter)
  8. Eliminate all alcohol
  9. Limit fruit to 2 pieces a day
  10. Eliminate nuts and added salt

I’m committing to level 7, that way I can enjoy a glass of wine with dinner ;-)  I should be posting more frequently again, as I get into the challenge, start cooking again, and get back to the gym.

30 Day Paleo Challenge – Weekend #2

Posted by bronick on June 11, 2012
Posted in: Food Log, Fuel Challenge. Tagged: .

So week #2 is starting of with a not-so-on type of weekend, which is better than the off-the-wall type of weekends I had prior to June. I did manage to cook a fair amount of quality food, but also managed to have a few not-so-quality foods and drinks. Pretty much every dinner this weekend was on the grill:

What went along with these fabulous meals wasn’t so paleo… a few apricot wheat beers, couple glasses of red wine, and a some sangria as well. That being said, I did have some will-power and managed to resist the chips, dip, and other crap that my friends brought over for my impromptu BBQs.

Then there was Sat evening at the bar which ended in Taco Bell :-( That was my one off-the-wall meal of the weekend. Its usually in these social and late night scenarios which I endup not making the best decisions when it comes my eat.

Here’s the damage… Continue Reading