AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge Results

Today is the 24th day and the results are in....
                             July 9th              July 31st         Total lost/gained
Weight                    193                   184                   9 lbs lost
Right arm flexed       14.5"                 14.75"              1/4" gained
Waist                      41"                    39"                   2" lost
WOD                      14:11                 12:28                1:43 improved performance
-The WOD was 3 rounds for time of 300m run, 9 squat clean thrusters at 95 lbs, 12 pull-ups and 15 24" box jumps.
I am very pleased, of course I would have liked to have greater weight loss but I have to remember two things. 1. It was only 24 days and I ate a lot of high caloric meats (pepperoni, bacon and more bacon). 2. I actually gained muscle, 1/4 inch in the arm.  I think any guy would love to gain a quarter inch :)

This was a great 24 day challenge.  It had structure, you had to spend some money which made you commit to it and it has jump started me back on the right path to fitness.
Before                                                                                              After

After

Supplements, hmmmmm......?

I have never taken supplements other than a protein shake until the last 2.5 weeks.  I don't like pills, that's why I started CrossFit in the first place to avoid high cholesterol medication.  Always thought it was a waste of money, as long as you eat the right things you should be getting everything you need right?  I don't know how to say this, but I may have been mistaken (hard to believe, I know).
So, I started the 24 Day AdvoCare Challenge 18 days ago and I have been pleasantly surprised with the supplements.  The results I have gotten so far is 8 lbs lost and an increase in strength/performance during workouts (whenever I have dropped weight in the past I also lost strength).  The only changes in addition to the supplements is that diet wise I got rid of alcohol (not having a beer for the first 10 days was torture but I hardly miss it now) and the Friday night pizza.  But, the amount of exercise has stayed the same.

Here is a list of some of the things I have tried and the results....
Herbal Cleanse for the 1st 10 days is supposed to detoxify your kidneys, liver and clean your intestines out and it did.  I felt better and lost 5 lbs in the 10 days.
My coach, Matt at CrossFit Champions, swears by a little pre-workout cocktail he makes with 1 scoop each of the Mass Impact, Arginine Extreme and 1/2 scoop of Spark.  I really thought he was full of it and then I used it.  I have hit 2 personal records in the last 3 weeks and I am able to exercise longer and harder with it. The Spark is a energy drink that my wife, Jane, loves.  It perks you up without making you all jittery.
The Nighttime Recovery is an amino acid/herbal/mineral that I have been taking at night  that reduces soreness and helps you recuperate faster, I looooove it.  If I had not been taking it there would have been a few workouts that would have made it difficult to walk.
A non believer has now jumped on the supplement band wagon and the ones I just listed I like the most and have seen great results from.  If you are interested in trying some and you are local give me a holler and I will see if I can get you a sample or just click here to look around.  I will be posting my final results late next week.

Careful what you say....

Yesterday I was talking to some friends about going running on the trails in Memorial Park.  We were gripping about all the trees that the parks dept has been cutting down.  Doug tells me that it's better than having a branch/tree land on my head and I say what are the chances of that happening?  So...this morning I am running there thinking to myself that it looks like crap with so many trees cut away and I hear a branch snapping.  I looked around and couldn't see it as I run and hug a tree to minimize getting hit.  A 50 lbs branch came crashing down onto the trail about 75 ft away from me.  Moral to the story, I got a wake up call from God (thank you) and you should be careful when you dismiss possible dangers, like playing outside or showering during a thunderstorm, etc.  We all dismiss them because those tragedies happen to someone else.  That person could end up being you/us.

Egg Smithmuffin

My wife Jane made some really good egg muffin's the other day out of the Paleo Comfort Foods Cookbook.  They are really easy to make, you can make a bunch at once and they are great for leftovers.
1. Basically chop up what you like and saute it in olive oil
2. We used 1 jalapeno, 1 onion, 1 pepper, 2 garlic cloves and lot n' lots of bacon
3. Crack a dozen eggs and whisk
4. Mix everything together and use a ladle to put it into the greased muffin pan
5. Bake at 350 for around 15 min.  They will rise on top and turn golden brown.  If it's jiggly, it's not done.
6. Eat

Next time I think I would like to do spinach and feta cheese or pepperoni and jalapeno.
I have been eating these for a couple of days.  Today I added Tabasco's Buffalo Wing Sauce on top.  Yummy.

Time to Man Up

I have procrastinated for the last week to put up this new post because I didn't want to put pics of myself  sans shirt until my 24 day Advocare challenge was over and I could show everyone the great results.  Well, it's time for me to man up.  If I put them up now, I will be that much more motivated to get better results, no risk, no reward, etc, etc.  For those of you that don't go to Crossfit Champions where I train, the whole gym did this challenge.  I didn't get in on it in time to start with everyone else so I waited until July 9th so I could get my "beer on" for the fourth.  Thankfully my lovely wife Jane and a few friends are doing the challenge with me.  When you are trying to make a change in your lifestyle that will stick, your spouse has to be on board with it.
I can exercise hard 5 times a week and not keep my weight where it should be because of the crap I put in my body (beer, pizza, more beer).  I am not a moderate person, I could eat 3/4 of the pizza knowing I would feel horrible after.  I think a lot of guys are like that, we know stuffing ourselves makes us feel bad just like we know the pizza is hot and if we take a bite it will burn our mouth, so...we take a bite anyway.  Getting off topic here....

The challenge is for 24 days of eating proper nutrition (Paleo), exercise and take the supplements-of which I have never been a  big believer in till now, but more on that later in another blog.  Take your stats on day one and then compare them 24 days later.  So the stats are..193 lbs, 26% body fat (woohoo!), 14 1/2" right arm and 41" around the belly button/stomach area.  The baseline work out was 3 rounds for time, 300m run-9 clean and thrusters (95 lbs)-12 pull ups and 15 (24") box jumps, it took me 14:11. I am looking to improve in all categories in the three weeks of the challenge, but I have to remember that it is only 24 day's so I shouldn't expect to drop 15 lbs.  I believe the whole purpose of it is to start off on the right foot, to get started on improving our health because anyone can do anything for 24 days.  This last week that I have been on it I have had 0 alcohol.  The worst thing I have eaten was some beef jerky that had 5 grams of sugar per serving, so the challenge has already achieved some of it's purpose.  I don't feel like I have lost a bunch of weight (4 lbs) this week, but I feel physically better than I have in a long, long time.  Hopefully after I post the results in 2 1/2 weeks some of my other friends will become motivated to make a positive change in their life.

Pizza, how I love thee...

I love pizza even though I feel like crap after I eat it.  If I am being good my substitute is eggs.  Here is what I do...
Saute pepperoni in the skillet
Use the existing fat/grease and throw in scrambled eggs
Add any pizza toppings you like and cook thoroughly
I usually only do the pepperoni, sometimes mushrooms, basil, a little parmigiana cheese please? (not Paleo but better than dough)
If you want, you can make or buy your own red sauce and have it to the side to dip your eggs into but I found that they are great without it.

Gratitude

Every day I am grateful for my son, wife, our health, God, our country, having food and shelter, books, beer, a great environment to work in and follow my passion, etc.  The list can go "to infinity and beyond!" to quote Buzz Lightyear. Many people don't seem to comprehend how grateful they should be. They might break down on the side of the road and have that ruin their entire day, and post their misery all over Facebook, but at least they have a car to break down.  I was laid off from a position with a six figure income in April, the day before my wife and I went on a two week vacation.  At first I was pissed, for a day, and then I was grateful.  I felt as if a burden had been lifted off of my shoulders.  I didn't like it there.  I knew I would miss the income but that was it.  I enjoyed my vacation a whole lot more.  I didn't have that feeling four days before coming back where you are thinking "crap, I have to go back to work."  It gave me the opportunity to pursue something that I really enjoy with people that I respect and admire at Crossfit Champions.  Another benefit to the layoff was that today my son and I went to see a movie and played on the floor with his legos.  I was thinking less money is good.  

I can't continue to buy him or us more crap we don't need.  How many legos do you really need anyway?  I am trying to teach him that money is a tool that opens up choices but it is not the end all be all.  Six years ago, Jane (his wife--insert George Jetson theme song) and Liam were in a car wreck that totaled her car but they were both uninjured, that is all that matters.  If we get into a wreck once every 10 years, I would take that one because they were both fine.  That is how I wish people would learn to look at things. It can always be worse. The a$$hole that ran the red light made a stupid choice that could have cost them their lives.  So many people don't understand how precious and fragile life is.  We only get once chance to have it.  And, it can be short or long but we need to appreciate it by being grateful for what we have.  It is how you chose to look at life.  Everyday, we should make a list of what we are grateful for--it will make us appreciate it more, things and people we take for granted.  Tomorrow is July the 4th, our Independence Day.  I am grateful for the country we live in.  The sacrifices that our forefathers and our servicemen and women have made. 

I know those of you that read this are as well. 

Shrooms, the good kind!

I was a cook in the Army for three years a long time ago.  We didn't cook like this but it gave me confidence when cooking.  To many people measure everything out just right.  Take this recipe as a guideline and add or subtract the ingredients based on what you like.  You could sub basil for the rosemary, ditch the olives and add (a little) jalapeño.  Add extra bacon, no cheese, onion, whatever.  I have never made anything the same way twice.  Experiment and have fun (music, good beer, and others in the kitchen helps).

Ingredients

18 button mushrooms, large

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

1/3 cup kalamata olives

6 cooked bacon slices, chopped

1 cup shredded swiss (skip it if you want, not a big deal)

After washing the shrooms, remove stems and chop 2/3 of them and add them to a bowl with all of the other ingredients.

Slice a little bit of the bottom off of the shroom so it won't roll around and dump the goodies out after you put them in.

Mix it up, the olive oil helps things clump and stay together.

Shove it in the shroom without breaking them.

Put on a greased grill or a cookie cooling rack over a cookie pan in the oven at 375 degrees for 5-10 min.  
Eat.