#Microblog Mondays?  Read more about it here!

It's been a while since I have been able to sit at a computer for more than 5 minutes at a time since daycare has been closed for almost 2 weeks and I have taken some time off of work.  It was nice to be away from the daily grind, but today it is back to reality.  I already miss my little B. 

Let's see, in the past 2 weeks, I have put on Christmas Day dinner for 10 people, hosted 5 family members at my tiny 1100 sq. ft. house for 5 days, hosted NYE for 10 people, won a race that over 500 people ran (1st female), and was able to get everything back together for today.  No, I didn't sleep much.

Lastly, here is a quick (and promised) update on the Paleo cookies that I made for Christmas this year... most of them were a success. 

Hope you all had a great holiday with family and friends!  XOXO

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#Microblog Mondays?  Read more about it here!

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In my last post I told you about how my spending habits have gotten out of control.  Well, I knew that I was spending too much money, but I wasn't sure exactly how bad it was.  Well, my friends, it is downright frightening.  It is also eye opening.

The other night I downloaded an app to my iPad called "Mint" (by Intuit) and in less than 24 hours, this app changed my life.  Here is how it works, if you aren't familiar... You give it access to pull data from your bank account, mortgage account, student loan account, car loan account, etc and it categorizes all of your transactions in an easy to read format so that you can tell how much money you spend and where you spend it.  You can set financial goals for saving or paying off debt.  It also creates a monthly budget for you based on your usual spending habits, which you can update as you like.

After categorizing a few transactions that the app couldn't automatically figure out, I was able to view a pie chart of my expenses from last month and my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw how much I spent on food (groceries, coffee, restaurants) last month.  Oh and the kicker is that this is just my spending and does not include my husband's because we have separate bank accounts.  He checked and spent another $400 plus on food.  What the hell???  Neither of us are overweight so who is eating all of this food we are buying?  I guess the biggest drawback to Paleo is the cost.  No matter what people might try to say to you about being able to be on a budget friendly Paleo diet, it really just isn't possible I guess.

Obviously, the "Food & Dining" is something that we can probably cut back on if we actually plan out our meals for the week and follow a budget.  The "Home" costs will be cut $200 shorter this next month because I cancelled the cleaning lady.  I dropped the data plan on my phone down from 5 GB to 2 GB because I have only once in 2 years gone over 2 GB, so there is $20 a month.  I just need to be cognizant of my internet surfing habits.  We also decided that we are going to refinance our house and consolidate our two mortgages into one and so I have gotten the ball rolling on that process.  So in the past 2 days I have saved us $220 a month, plus the potential of another $100 with the refinance (and a ton more of general savings on mortgage interest).  Fun times in our household.

So back to the "Food & Dining" expenses, which is mostly groceries... I need to find some sort of meal planning or grocery budgeting tool to help me in this space.  Coupons would not help me much because most of the stuff that we buy is fresh.  We eat hardly any processed foods, which is what the bulk of the coupons that I see are for.  Most of the health/beauty/cleaning products that we use are also organic so there really aren't deals on those things either.  I could follow grocery circulars more closely and go to multiple stores every week, but that would take time away from doing other things (like maybe having a little fun with my family every now and then).  I guess I need to do some more research in this space and come up with an action plan in my spare time (hahahahahahaha).  Until then I am just happy I now know how much I am actually spending.

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I am happy to say that I made it through the Paleo Challenge...alive.  On Friday, we did our exit measurements and the exit workout (the crazy Burpee Challenge).  The next day we had our completion party at a local restaurant and let me tell you, that calamari with hot peppers tasted AMAZING.

You may be curious to know what the results of the 30 Day Paleo Challenge were for me.  They were definitely not what I expected.  I don't have all of the final measurements yet (i.e. I don't know what my starting or ending body fat measurements were/are), but I do know that I GAINED 3 lbs.  In.  A.  Month.  HA!  Everyone was telling me that I gained muscle.  I am not sure if that is true or not, although I would like to think that it is.  The good news out of this is that I didn't want to lose weight and now I am back to my regular weight of 118 lbs.  I don't think that weight gain was always typical for the other people that did that Challenge because one woman posted that, together, she and her husband lost 21lbs.  A few other of the smaller girls doing the Challenge also gained a few lbs.  Muscle weighs more than fat, right?

On the flip side, at the beginning of the month, I struggled to do my 55 burpees in 4 minutes (if you remember from the intro post you had to do 30 burpees in 2 minutes, then if you completed that you had 2 more minutes to do 30 more burpees, etc).  This time I got to 85 burpees!  I was almost to my 4th round!  I did 30 more than a month ago.  I was pretty proud of myself for that.  I am also now able to do regular push-ups like I have never been able to do before and I started doing some of the regular ab work that others do.

Here is my start picture (keep in mind that the goal here was not to lose weight!):

Here is my end picture:

I feel like I have gained some muscle tone in the past month and I do feel stronger and healthier, as well.  I have been sleeping great, when B actually lets me sleep. So far I have not gotten the Norovirus and I really haven't so much as had a cold all winter (knocking on wood).  I do feel like I am going to continue on this paleo "lifestyle" (not calling it a diet since I think that it is much more than a diet), with a slightly modified approach to what was prescribed by the CrossFit coaches.

Here is my fitness/diet plan:

• I am going to allow myself to have some breaks when I feel like it.  If I am at a party and there are some good looking cookies or an awesome looking piece of cake, I am going to have some.  
• I am going to try to stay away from refined sugars, for the most part.
• I am going to continue with high protein, but eat less red meat and more fish because I like it better.
• I am going to allow natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup, in moderation.
• I am going to allow (no sugar added) dried fruit.
• I am going to allow wine, and the occasional micro-brewed IPA because, well, I am obsessed. 
• I am going to stay dairy-free for the most part except adding in some raw milk cheese and some grass-fed butter.
• I am going to stay gluten-free for the most part and allow rice, gluten free oats, etc.
• Staying away from soy.
• I am going to stick with CrossFit 3 days a week.
• I am going to run the remainder of the days, if I feel good, but will take full rest days when I think I need it.

So what is my next goal??  Still looking to get my 5k time under 20 minutes and soon, I'll be starting my NYC Marathon training!

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While my husband, the baby and I were out doing our weekly grocery shopping on Sunday morning, my husband told me he felt like he had a hangover.  It would have made perfect sense had he been out drinking the night before, but he (and I) has (have) been stone cold sober for the month of January.  He was complaining of a headache and nausea.  I asked him if he wanted to leave the store that we were in and he said no.  He seemed ok for the rest of the outing, but wasn't his usual go-get-em self.

When we got home, and put B down for a nap, I started doing my usual Sunday afternoon routine of baking, cooking, and cleaning.  My husband sat on the couch, turned on golf, and then promptly fell asleep.  Of course, I had to take a picture of him and send it to my friends because, let's face it, most mommies would never have the time to sit on the couch and nap on a Sunday afternoon.

Later that evening, I asked him how he was doing and he said he felt better.  "Phew", I thought to myself.  I would hate for him to have that horrid Norwalk virus that seems to be circulating around the office, gym, etc.  The "Phew" turned into, "Oh shit," when we sat down to dinner and I was finished with my bowl of delish paleo chili before he had taken 3 bites.  I asked him if he didn't like it and he told me his stomach was bothering him.  Uh oh.  Not something I was wanting to hear.

I went to bed early, as I usually try to do since I am up 2-3 times a night.  I fell asleep and at 11 PM, was jarred out of a deep sleep by the sound of my husband heaving his dinner into the toilet.  I went down and found him hunched over the toilet, barely responsive to my questions regarding his current well-being.  I let him be, since I know how I want to be treated when I am throwing up...left alone.  I went back up and fell asleep.

B woke me up around 12:30 AM for a midnight snack and my husband was still throwing up.  Not sure if it was sympathy sickness, but I started to feel queasy.  Something about everything that surrounds throw-up makes me want to throw-up.  Gross.

Around 4 AM, he came up and got into bed.  I had already sent an email to my boss telling her that I was going to be out of the office the following day.  One- I needed to take care of the ill, two- I needed to be prepared if B caught it, and three- I'd rather not throw up on the train if I was getting sick.

The next day was a whirlwind of grocery shopping, cleaning, disinfecting, and more cleaning.  I spent about $100 on Clorox and Pinesol products and disinfected both bathrooms, the kitchen, and the living room/dining rooms.  I switched out all of the tooth brushes and washed all of the linens.  I then made my husband some almost paleo chicken soup with rice (I know, not paleo, but at least it was gluten free).  He ate about 2 bites of it along with some of the best tasting cantaloupe I have ever tried and about 2 gallons of coconut water.

He stayed in our room all day and all night., alternating between sleeping and reading. He must have slept 30 hours between Sunday and today.   He hadn't thrown up or had diarrhea since Sunday night, but he said he still had a headache, a slight fever, and terrible body aches (probably complicated by the fact that he had done a CrossFit competition on Saturday).  Ugh how long does this thing last?!

Last night I slept on the floor in B's room.  While it was rather uncomfortable sleeping on a wood floor with no air mattress (I am afraid to get it out of the attic due to a bat sighting up there the previous week), it was convenient to get to B three times last night.  Growth spurt?  Perfect timing!!

This morning I made my husband some scrambled eggs, heated peaches, and a slice of paleo banana bread along with some lemon/ginger tea.  Yes, he is still dead stuck on this Paleo Challenge, even on his death-bed.  He was very appreciative, which was nice, considering this morning I had to take the trash/recycle out and the back gate was frozen shut so I had to remove all of the bags from the trash, throw them over the fence, throw the trash can over the fence (had to drop it on my foot, first), then put the trash back in, all while swearing and in my pajamas in 10 degree weather.  Single mommies, you have my sympathy!

I am sincerely hoping that my son and I don't get this terrible virus.  Not only would I be so worried about B getting dehydrated and ending up in the ER, but I would be worried about me getting dehydrated while trying to breastfeed and also ending up in the ER.  Praying none of these two things happen.  Hand washing like crazy and you should, too.  Stay healthy my friends!!!  

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Two days ago, my husband and I were getting ready to turn in for the night when he decided that it would be a good idea to tell me how running is bad for me and will lead to my eventual death.  Ok maybe he didn't actually say that it would kill me, but he definitely alluded to the fact that I should let up on the distance type of cardiovascular activity or submit to the fact that I will die of some type of running induced heart malady (hint, hint, more CrossFit?).

How did this start?  My husband is big into listening to Paleo specific podcasts while he is in his car and it just so happened that the one that he was listening to was listing out the many reasons why cardio, distance running in particular, is bad for you.  I haven't researched the specifics of the podcast or the "studies" that were referred to, but I have since G.oogled "is running bad for you" and "chronic cardio" and I have come up with a plethora of articles preaching gospel on how endurance running is evil and HIIT (high intensity interval training) is where it is at.

Wow.  Where have I been?  Apparently I had tunnel vision and was only concerned with my reproductive health for several years so I missed the memo on how bad running is for you.  So I guess getting back to my pre-baby weight, regulating my blood sugar, and normalizing my thyroid function, and preventing PPD due to running was just a coincidence?

Rather than be angry with my husband for trying to convince me (yet again) why CrossFit is the best of the best in terms of workout regimes, I started to get depressed.  Another thing that I have done or liked to do that I need to cross off my list because someone did a study and concluded that it is bad for me.  Add it to the list of things I shouldn't do, shouldn't eat, or shouldn't use along with:

• Conventionally grown fruits & veggies
• GMO fruits & veggies, which are unfortunately not marked
• Meat of unknown origin (i.e. grocery store meat)
• Farmed fish
• Drug store cosmetics
• Anything made in China
• Fleece (lovely co-worker...)
• Perfumes
• Nail polish
• Johnson & Johnson products
• Dairy
• Soy
• Corn
• Wheat/Gluten
• Aluminum foil
• Cell phones
• Trans fats
• The elliptical machine
• Non-green furniture (lovely co-worker tells me this)
• Formula
• Canned food
• Phthalates, Sulfates, Parabens
• Tampax, Playtex, or other regular tampons
• Microwave
• High fructose corn syrup
• Tupperware
• Caramel coloring
• Yankee Candles
• Non-organic decaf coffee
• Anything with lavender
• The baby jumper or the Exersaucer (also, from the lovely co-worker)
• Sitting at work
• Purel
• Antibacterial soap
• Toothpaste with triclosan
• I could keep going but I think you catch my drift here...

It is getting really exhausting to live like this.  Just when I turn around and that that I have all my bases covered, with regards to keeping my family and me safe from the dangerous world that we live in, a new study comes out that "proves" that something else that you use every day and have used every day for your entire life is going to cause you to get cancer, Alzheimers, or some other type of incurable terminal illness.  I think one part that they leave out of all of these findings is what type of damage all of these studies can do to a person's mental health when they go crazy trying to cut all of the bad products out and stick with only what has been determined to be "safe" today.

Am I going to quit running?  No.  Am I going to give up my dream of running in the NYC Marathon this fall?  No.  Am I going to continue trying to cut out all of the potentially disease causing products out?  Ok, maybe, but within reason.  At some point I (along with others) need to realize that it is most certain that something, eventually, but hopefully many many years away will kill us.  It may be the accumulation of chemicals in your body causing cancer or it may be that you get hit by a bus.  We just don't know.  If we spend all of our free time trying to cut everything out then we are not going to be able to spend any time enjoying life, because friends, unless you know something that I don't, we only get one.

Here is my takeaway...  I am going to eat healthy when I can, but enjoy a treat once in a while (after this damn Paleo Challenge is over!).  I am going to use natural products that cause less stress to the environment, but still use my Givenchy Very Irresistible because I love the way that it smells.  I am not going to keep my son in a bubble, because eventually he is going to grow up and need to make his own choices, but I'll offer him healthy suggestions and hope that he takes some of them.  I'll exercise how I want because it makes me feel good, helps keep me sane, and I'd rather die a happy girl than a miserable one.  :)

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Wow.  How is it possible that I now the parent to a 9 month old?  Where did the time go?  Yesterday we went to the doctor for his 9 month appointment.  He is now 29 inches and 21 pounds/13 ounces.  He is growing right along the 75th percentile curve, which the doctor was very happy with (especially since he is still mostly breastfed).  I'll give you his stats and then I'll tell you what the doctor said regarding those stats.

Physical
Can sit on his own.
Can go from his back or stomach to a sitting position.
Can pull himself to stand on his own (in his crib or on the ottoman).
Can army crawl backwards.
Can crawl forward one or two times (then gives up and sits).
Likes to use his thumb and first finger to make pinchers to pick up the tiniest things off of the floor.

Non-Verbal
Waves bye-bye when you wave to him.
Reaches for you when you ask if he wants "up".
Turns to look when you say "where is daddy" or "where is the dog/cat".

Verbal
Says "dada" on occasion.
Babbles when he is by himself (in his crib before he goes to sleep or when he gets up).
Screams/grunts/cries when he wants you to pay attention to him.

Food
Still breastfeeding or taking bottles of breast-milk every 3 1/2 -4 hours.
Wakes up at least once a night to breastfeed.
Loves pureed baby food including all veggies and fruits.
Gums baby teething biscuits.
Gags and throws up when eating anything that is semi-solid (bananas, avocado, egg yolks).

Sleep
Takes 1-2 naps a day ranging from 45 min to 2.5 hours.  Totally variable!
Has slept up to 9 hours straight, but averages about 6 hours straight.
Goes to sleep around 6:30 PM, usually.
Wakes up around 7 AM, usually.

Activities
Goes to music class once a week at his pre-school that he will start attending in the summer.
Takes swimming lessons once a week and love it!
Has occasional play-dates with my friend's children, although not enough of them!
Loves reading books before bed.
Loves playing with his toys.
Loves playing peekabo

So I am not sure if this is the picture of a "normal" 9 month old or not.  The doctor told me that she would like to see more in the way of verbal skills by this point although she was ok with the non-verbal.  She told me that if he didn't make a ton of progress by 12 months that she would refer him to early intervention.  I hope that he makes progress in the next 3 months, which seems like a long time to wait if there is an issue, but I guess that is just how things work.  She also told me to start pushing more real food and to continue giving him water in a sippy (which he just pours out all over himself).

I am trying to keep to the assumption that all babies develop at different rates.  What is "normal" for one baby might not be "normal" for another.  It is tough because we live in a society where everyone compares everything to something else.  I guess I'll jut wait it out like they say.  Anyone else have any experience with "delays" such as this in a 9 month old?    

As for the Paleo Challenge, I am still going strong with the diet, although I could really use a chocolate chip cookie and a glass of red wine.  Those cravings have NOT gone away as it was suggested that they would.  I am keeping up with the 2-3 days a week of CrossFit and 3-4 days a week of running, too.  I have also forgotten to pay my car payment, forgotten to pay the electric bill, and screwed up the electronic payment for the mortgage so that they assessed me a late fee and refused to take it off even though I made the payment on time, but the account somehow didn't get set up correctly.  Aye.

One really great thing that happened though, was that I "won" my first race, for the females and got 4th overall!  It was a small race, but still a great ego booster.  I am getting closer to breaking 20 minutes in the 5k!!

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So you may think that since I have not posted in almost a week, that I have fallen off the Paleo Challenge wagon.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  I am still going strong and have not slipped up once.  Rather than go through each of the last days that I missed, individually, I will give you some of the highlights.

I have noticed a few things since being on this pretty restrictive version of the paleo diet (i.e. no honey, dried fruits, maple syrup, etc.) which have included:

• Being more thirsty even though I am drinking a ton more water than usual.
• Being unusually exhausted in the evenings to the point where I have been falling asleep sitting up.
• Sleeping very deeply (when I actually get to sleep).
• Waking up feeling rested even after broken sleep.
• Less general bloat.
• Still craving carbs...namely cereal and crispy/salty items.
• Craving a glass of red wine after dinner.
• Being much less agitated than I was during the first week of this challenge.
• Drinking way more caffeinated coffee than I have since long before I became pregnant and not having it affect me.
• No longer feel like I am developing low blood sugar if I wait too long between meals (i.e. no carbo crash between breakfast and lunch).
• I am spending waaaaaaaaaay more money on food than I ever have in my life.  Our grocery bills have gone up by at least $150 a week to include all organic/grass-fed meats and as much organic produce as possible.
• After a serious tanking in my breast milk supply, I can say with almost complete certainty that it is back to where it was before.  YAY!  This may have to do with the resolution of masitits (and finishing the antibiotics) or with the fact that my body has adjusted to the new diet.  This morning, I pumped 8 ounces!
• We made this meal last night, Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry over Brussels Sprouts (except with chicken) and it was awesome!  I loooove Brussels Sprouts so why not put more veggies and some lean protein on top and call it a meal?! 

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Wednesday, 1/8/14...

Food
Breakfast
Paleo pumpkin pancakes, turkey sausage, blueberries/blackberries

Snack
Mixed dry roasted nuts, snow peas & baby carrots

Lunch
Kale and spinach salad with roasted peppers, celery, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers and grilled chicken

Snack
2 clementines, Steve's buffalo chicken jerky

Snack
Sunflower seeds, pistachios

Dinner
Stir fried beef with broccoli and cauliflower rice (from a paleo catering company)

Snack
Paleo apple/pear crisp (sugar-detox)

Exercise
I took the day off from CrossFit today and instead ran 4 miles on the treadmill.  It is tough to schedule days of complete rest while doing CrossFit and running.  I feel like if I miss CrossFit, I am wasting money and if I miss a day of running I will lose my cardiovascular shape.  Ugh.

Life
Saw the funny article in US News and Reports about the Paleo Diet being the worst diet.  Ummm they really think that Slimfast is a better idea?  For real?  Do you know what is in that crap (see below)?  I agree that if you are trying to use it to "diet" in the American sense, then yes, it is a very difficult transition to make.  Cutting out processed carbs cold turkey is pretty terrible.  Almost as bad a cutting a caffeine addiction.  It is also rather expensive and generally takes more time to prepare than a "normal" diet.  If you are using Paleo as a lifestyle instead of a quick fix diet solution then I think it is a great alternative to the crappy American processed food diet.  I will write up a better post on this later on (hopefully if I have time this weekend!), but I felt that I had to mention this incredibly ignorant article.

B was a complete train wreck last night!  He woke up a bunch of times and then had trouble going back to sleep.  I really think his 8th tooth is going to be poking through very soon as his cheeks are very rosy, he is drooling up a storm, and is biting on ANYTHING that he can get his mouth near (including my shoulder).

FAT FREE MILK, WATER, SUGAR, COCOA (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), CANOLA OIL, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, FRUCTOSE, GUM ARABIC, CELLULOSE GEL, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, MALTODEXTRIN, SOY LECITHIN, CELLULOSE GUM, CARRAGEENAN, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SODIUM BICARBONATE, SUCRALOSE AND ACESULFAME POTASSIUM (NONNUTRITIVE SWEETENERS), SODIUM CITRATE, CITRIC ACID,

MAGNESIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM ASCORBATE, VITAMIN E ACETATE, ZINC GLUCONATE, FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE, NIACINAMIDE, CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, MANGANESE SULFATE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, FOLIC ACID, CHROMIUM CHLORIDE, BIOTIN, SODIUM MOLYBDATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE, PHYLLOQUINONE (VITAMIN K1), SODIUM SELENITE, CYANOCOBALAMIN (VITAMIN B12), CHOLECALCIFEROL (VITAMIN D3). SWEETENED WITH NUTRITIVE SWEETENERS AND NONNUTRITIVE SWEETENERS. CONTAINS MILK AND SOY.

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Tuesday, 1/7/14...

Food
Breakfast
Paleo pumpkin pancakes, turkey sausage, blueberries/blackberries

Snack
Mixed dry roasted nuts, apple sauce

Lunch
Leftover veggie and turkey chili

Snack
Steve’s grass-fed beef jerky, snow peas & baby carrots

Snack
2 clementines

Dinner
Salmon with sautéed spinach and parsnip puree (from a paleo catering company)

Snack
Paleo banana bread (sugar-detox)

Exercise
Went to Crossfit after work and did "Annie" plus a 1000 meter row.  Annie is 50-40-30-20-10 of double-unders and sit-ups.  So basically you do 50 double-unders then 50 sit-ups and work your way down the ladder until you are finished.  I had to seriously scale this workout because I  can't yet do more than 1 or 2 double-unders at a time and because of diastasis recti, I can't do sit-ups.  I did 100-80-60-40-20 of regular jump roaps and 50-40-30-20-10 of plank knees to elbows.  Despite the scaling, the workout still kicked me @$$.  I did NOT run after putting B to bed, but instead put my feet up and watched my DVRed Bachelor episode.  Man do I love that show!  What a train wreck already!

Life
I am starting to feel much better on the paleo diet and don't feel as agitated and hungry as I did the first few days.  Yesterday my milk production was the lowest ever at just 12 oz while I was at work (3 sessions).  Today it was back up to 15.5, which is the lower end of normal for me.  I think a combination of the diet change and the mastitis may have lowered my supply temporarily.  B also has started taking 2 hour naps at mid-day and a shorter cat-nap in the afternoon.  This is producing an overall happier baby.  Yay B!!

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Still catching up!!

Monday, 1/6/14...

Food
Breakfast
Paleo pumpkin pancakes with turkey sausage, leftover apple/pear crisp, blackberries and blueberries

Snack
Mixed dry roasted nuts

Lunch
Leftover carrots, butternut squash, parsnips and onions with steamed green beans and grilled chicken

Snack
orange, raw snow peas, 2 Steve’s grassfed spinach paleo sticks

Snack
Sunflower seeds, 2 pickles

Dinner
Veggie and turkey chili (This is my special creation!  I will post a recipe soon)

Snack
Paleo banana bread (sugar-detox)

Exercise
Went to Crossfit and did "Fran", which consisted of 21-15-9: thrusters and pull-ups.  I was proud of myself that, despite being scared to death, I did the thusters with 30 lbs instead of 25.  The 5 lbs doesn't seem like a ton of extra weight, I know, but when you are "sprinting" to do 21 in a row, it gets really heavy, really quick.  I used the green band for the pull-ups (which is easier than purple) instead of purple because I knew we had to do 21 in a row.  It was a good choice.  That was a killer!

As if that wasn't punishment enough, after I put the baby to bed when I got home, I ran 3 miles on the treadmill.  I feel like I am in such a great place with running right now that I don't want to stop the momentum.  The beginning of the run was not fun and very slow, but towards the end, I ramped up the pace and finished strong.  Thank you Spotify for supplying me with a great 90s playlist!

Life
My boob feels back to normal, however the bleb (milk blister) is still there and it still hurts.  I am wondering when this will go away.  I feel like I have had it forever!  B did something cool and started waving back when waved to.  It was crazy that he just did it one time when my husband was waving to him.  He is growing up so fast!  Work is a crazy storm right now.  I am in the process of training an entire staff on a new system that I helped to build and test.  Needless to say, I don't have very much time to do anything other than work, parent, eat, and exercise.

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I was supposed to be writing every day for this challenge and I only made it two days.  Sometimes life interferes, I guess.  Now you are all going to get post spammed by me.  :-)

This was from Friday, 1/3/14...

Food
Breakfast
Paleo pumpkin pancakes (did not add the maple syrup and instead added more almond milk and more spices...A MUST TRY, AMAZING!!!)
Bacon
Frozen and heated mixed berries

Snack
Steve's Grass-fed spinach & beef sticks (also a great find)

Lunch
Egg white frittata with tomatoes, onions, peppers, sweet potatoes.

Snack
Homemade baked sweet potato chips with salt/pepper 

Snack
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

Dinner
Spaghetti squash bolognese

Snack
TBSP almond butter w/ apple

Exercise
I did a really crazy CrossFit workout which consisted of 30 burpees in 2 minutes.  Since I completed 30 in 2 minutes I had another 2 minutes to do 30 more burpees.  If I would have gotten that 30 burpees into that second 2 minutes then I would have had 2 more minutes to get in 30 burpees.  Now you probably get it.  I only got through 55 total so I missed getting another 30 burpees by 5 burpees.  Try it sometime if you are bored.  It is way tougher than it sounds.  You have to make sure your chest hits the ground fully, and then you have to jump and clap.

Life
The clogged duct came back and this time with a crazy vengeance.  I was up every few hours that night trying to get the painful, hard, and hot lump out of my right boob.  No success, unfortunately.

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I found a few things out about this Paleo Challenge that I am not especially happy with, but as my husband keeps telling me..."This is for fun".  Apparently the only exercise that counts in this challenge is a CrossFit WOD (workout of the day).  So basically, none of my running counts.  I could sit on the couch and for this contest, it would be scored the same way as not doing a WOD.  Zero points.  For my blog, though, I am counting it as exercise!!

I should probably also let you know about the scoring since you might be confused at what I am talking about here.  This challenge is not without a winner.  The winner gets money, too.

Paleo Challenge RULES
Every day you get a score based on how you follow the Paleo lifestyle.  The winner gets a cut of the money.  There are also a few other prizes for weight/measurement loss and WOD performance gains.

Four Points:  You are a hunter-gatherer.  You eat nothing but meat, veggies, some fruit, nuts and seeds.

Three Points: One time during the day, you had a little something that wasn’t paleo, but wasn’t horrible.  Ex:  Dried fruit, most condiments (bbq, soy sauce, ketchup, mayo, salad dressing), peanuts, hummus, cream in coffee, etc…

Two Points:  You slipped…but didn’t get hurt.  You had a small amount of “not real food”.  Maybe it was a fully paleo day, but you couldn’t resist having a beer at the family BBQ, or you finished your kids’ mac ‘n cheese, but the rest of your day was solid.  Ex:  1 beer/glass of wine, dinner rolls, a handful of fries/chips, rice, etc…

One Point:  Most of your day was paleo, but there was one full meal that you fell off the wagon.  Ex:  Pasta, pizza, more than one soda/juice/alcohol, bag of popcorn, etc…

Zero Points:  You had a bad day and made more than one solid mistake.  Ex:  You had a couple slices of pizza and beer.

BONUS POINTS:
1.  You get one extra bonus point for every day you participate in a WOD (at any affiliate).
2.  You can get an additional bonus point for every night you sleep more than eight hours.
3.  You get one extra bonus point for every day that you take fish oil.

Pretty safe to say that I will always get at least 3 points a day.  Haha.  Ok so now on to my day #2...

Food
Breakfast
1 cup heated frozen peaches
2 slices egg white frittata (from "Against All Grain" cookbook with: tomatoes, shredded sweet potato, onion, peppers, ground 93% lean ground turkey)

Snack
Small cup almonds, macadamias

Lunch
Kale & spinach salad (with: 4oz grilled chicken, peppers, carrots, cucumbers, celery, olives, lemon juice/olive oil)

Snack
Orange
Homemade plantain chips (fried in organic coconut oil)

Snack
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

Dinner
Center cup pork chop with roasted cauliflower (garlic/lemon/EVOO) and sautéed kale (red onion, chx broth)

Snack
TBSP almond butter

Exercise
Yesterday I did the WOD, but scaled since I am still new to CrossFit.  It was "Barbara", which when done full scale, includes 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 50 air squats...TIMES 5.  So basically, the whole workout need to be done 5 times in a row with a mandatory 3 minute rest after each round.  I did half of the workout, which was still really hard.  10 pull-ups, 15 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, 25 air squats...TIMES 5.  I used the purple band (which was much harder than the purple and green bands together that I used the first time I did pull-ups).  I also modified the push-ups to be on my knees, which is till very hard.  I also had to modify the sit-ups due to my ab separation so I did plank knees to elbows.  I was dizzy when I was done, but I am proud that I did that.  CrossFit is a total ass-kicker.

Life
For the most part I felt good, physically, yesterday.  No afternoon bloating, which is great.  I didn't get 8 hours of sleep the previously night though.  Maybe 6 total, broken, hours?  I also think my supply might be going down.  I pumped a record low 12.5 oz in 3 pumping sessions yesterday.  My right, which has been the producer, has slowed production since my plugged duct and now the left is producing more, but not as much as the right used to produce.  So weird.

We had to weigh in before the WOD yesterday and I was only 115 lbs with sneakers on.  Wow, I can't remember the last time that I was 115 (maybe right at the start of my pregnancy with B when I couldn't eat anything?).  I am wondering if this is why my supply is down.  I am going to try to eat more today.

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So apparently my husband and I got it wrong and the challenge starts today and not yesterday.  We decided that we would keep the start as yesterday though because we are just that dedicated.  Haha.  Not really.  The day was half over when we figured out that it started today and we had already thrown out our leftover pizza from the night before.  :-)

I am going to split these posts up into sections: Food, Exercise, Life.  If you aren't interested in the food aspect of this then please skip to the end.  I hope you all had a very nice New Year's holiday!

Food
Breakfast
1 cup heated frozen peaches (try it on a cold morning, so YUM!)
1 slice egg white frittata (from "Against All Grain" cookbook with: tomatoes, shredded sweet potato, onion, peppers, ground 93% lean ground turkey)
Black coffee

Snack
1 banana

Lunch
Kale & spinach salad (with: 4oz grilled chicken, peppers, carrots, cucumbers, celery, olives, lemon juice/olive oil)

Snack
Apple with Almond Butter

Snack
Small cup almonds, macadamias, and cashews
3/4 cup sugar snap peas

Dinner
Sea scallops sauteed in olive oil/chx broth (with bacon and Brussels sprouts)

Snack
Homemade plantain chips (fried in organic coconut oil)

Exercise
Yesterday was a huge first for me!!  I ran a 4 mile new years day race and I ended up getting 3rd place overall woman!!  My pace was the fastest that it has ever been in my life (6:37 minutes per mile).  I really felt strong through most of the race until it came to the last 1/2 mile.  I kind of ran out of gas, but I still finished better than I ever thought I could.  I am so excited to do more races this year!!!

Life
After my race yesterday, I was super productive and took down all of the Christmas decorations and organized all of the new toys.  I vacuumed and dusted.  I folded laundry and did the dishes.  What is it about 1/1 that makes people so productive?!

I was totally craving carbs after my race, especially after seeing all of the granola bars and bagels on the snack table afterwards.  I restrained myself and had a banana.  This is going to be harder than I thought because I am used to having some natural sugars.  This cold turkey thing is rough.

In (in)fertility news, I stopped taking the stupid mini pill.  I was forgetting at least 3 times a week and the amount of sex that is happening lately isn't making me too worried that I'll end up with an oops baby (if that would even be possible for me).  I have no interest in having a baby at this point in time.  I was thinking that the recommended 12-18 months between c-sections seemed like a lot, but now I am actually thinking that is a good idea.  I really want to run the NYC marathon this year so that means no pregnancies until at least November!  ;-)

  

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If you have been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I've talked about CrossFit several times and usually not in a positive light.  Back when I first found out I was pregnant, my husband told me about this Groupon he had bought to do the Foundation level class at a local Crossfit facility.  I thought nothing of it.  He'll go to these two weeks of class and then go back to his regular routine at the gym because, well, we can't afford a $150 a month gym membership for one person.

Imagine my surprise when he told me that he was joining that "box" (that is what they call a gym in the Crossfit world).  I was deep in my hormone induced pregnancy haze when I realized that my picture of who did CrossFit, huge muscle-headed guys, was actually incorrect and over half of the members were young, cute girls.  Yeah, I wasn't too happy about that, especially because I was so out of shape and knew there was no possibility of me getting back into shape for many months.

So yeah, my husband joined the "box" and started doing competitions, and to my subconscious dismay, started placing in them.  He soon became the most in-shape version of himself that I (and probably he) have ever known and I became (almost) the most jealous version of myself that I have ever known.  He started getting very serious about NEVER missing workouts, not drinking alcohol, and he started eating a fairly strict paleo diet.  No more potatoes, rice, flour, or sugar in our house.  I am a baker.  I am a healthy baker, but a baker just the same.  Screw paleo.

Even more upsetting and annoying to me was that fact that all he wanted to talk about was CrossFit.  He listened to pod-casts about it and talked to his CrossFit friends about it.  "Oh I crushed that WOD in under 5 minutes!" or "I RXed that clean and jerk, did you?".  Then he would try to talk to me about it and I had no idea how challenging doing 100 burpees in 5 minutes was.  I didn't really care either, I was worried about birthing a healthy baby.

Once I had the baby, things just seemed to keep getting worse with regards to CrossFit.  I was tired, frumpy, out of shape, dealing with crazy post-pregnancy hormones, and stressed out over a baby that spit up after every feeding. Meanwhile, my husband was going to CrossFit 5 plus days a week, was in super-duper good shape, and was hanging out with people who eat-breathe-sleep CrossFit.  Recipe for disaster, my friends.

My husband and I ended up training for an running a half-marathon in the month of October.  It helped us connect and helped me get back into shape.  I impressed myself with my time (1:46), which made me eager to start training for more races and to bring my times down even more.  I bought a treadmill and stuck it in my basement.  That way I'd get to see my baby every day after work and then I could run once he hit the hay.  PERFECT.

I thought this would be my new workout routine until my husband suggested that I complete the entry level class at the new CrossFit gym that his friend opened.  He even said that he would foot the crazy $180 bill.  I will have to admit that I really didn't want to do it, but he did go out of his comfort zone to run a half marathon with me and I did totally kick his ass.  Lifting weights is NOT my thing though and, due to my diastasis recti (that has improved tremendously), there are still quite a few types of ab workouts that I can't do.  Plus, CrossFit just doesn't interest me in the slightest.  If I have time, I'd rather run.  Plain and simple.

I sucked it up and agreed to sign up and do the two week class to secretly prove to him that it wasn't my thing.  The first class was awkward.  I didn't know anyone (other than my husband's friend), but it seemed like everyone else there knew someone else.  Most of the girls looked like they were in better shape than me with the exception of one older lady who looked like she hadn't gotten off the couch in several years (she ended up quitting after the first night).  Of course I compared myself to everyone and got upset at myself at the end of the night because I was one of the last people to finish the baseline workout of 500 meter row, 40 squats, 30 sit-ups (I did a plank variation), 20 push-ups, and 10 pull-ups (assisted with a green rubber band).  Even the older out of shape looking lady did better than me, allegedly.  I was embarrassed to write my time on the huge white board.  

Not getting into all of the details of the classes, I will sum it up by saying that I ended up going to all six of the classes and finishing the program.  I am now "allowed" to go to regular classes, which kind of scares me.  Do I even want to?  The jury is still out.  There are some good and bad things that I noticed when doing the entry class.  I'll start with the good and then get to the not so good...

The Good

1.  The people in my class seemed normal and not "cult-like".  They wore Lulu Lemon and Nike (like me), not all Reebok with bight colors and knee socks, like most CrossFitters wear.  Maybe that is because they just haven't been doing it long enough?  A few of the girls also had young kids so we had stuff to talk about besides working out.  Mommies are mommies, first (I hope).

2.  The workouts were challenging and I feel like I could get into overall better shape by doing classes a few times a week.

3.  The coach was good.  He was motivating and understanding.  He seems like he knows his stuff.  He was willing to work with me and help me scale my workouts due to my ab exercise restrictions.

4.  I don't mind paleo anymore, 80% of the time.  We pretty much eat a paleo diet now with the exception of me eating oatmeal cereal for breakfast (breastfeeding) and the occasional non-GMO verified corn chip.  I still don't eat any soy or dairy.  I think this is good enough.

5.  The "box" is nice and new.  It is really close to my house.

6.  Now I can understand what my husband it talking about when he says he says he did an AMRAP of wall-balls for 9 minutes.  I know how much that would totally suck now.  We can have a conversation about the day's WOD and I don't glaze over completely because I may (or may not) have done the same thing.

The Not So Good

1.  You have to workout on a schedule and they would like you to go 3 days in a row and then rest one day.  Sometimes I can't go to a 5 PM class or a 7 PM class and there is a high probability that I can't go to a class every day (especially since my husband already goes 10 times a week).  I have a baby and his schedule isn't the same from day-to-day.  Sometimes I need to workout at 5:30 PM or 6:45 PM.  Can't do that with CrossFit.

2.  People cheat.  This is something that shouldn't bother me, but does.  When they give you a workout (like the baseline one above) they ask you do time yourself and then write the time down on the board.  No one is counting your reps or making sure that you have proper form and, while I didn't watch people working out because I was too busy trying not to die, I would be quite surprised if the older lady actually did beat me.  My husband tried to tell me that I should measure myself against myself...kind of hard for a competitive, type-A person like me.  People write down times that are less than they actually were or don't do all the exercises correctly or the right amount.  Annoying.

3.  Weightlifting is not my thing.  Lots of the workouts have a strength component that works on Olympic types of lifts.  I have zero interest in this and I don't want to become a female body builder.  Enough said.

4.  CrossFit is all about abs and core and my ab situation sucks.  I will probably never be able to do real sit-ups again like I could before I had B.  Even though my diastasis has closed to 2 fingers, doing sit-us, toes-to-bar, and v-ups is going to cause it to open right back up.  I used to kill sit-ups and I liked doing them.  Now I can't do them and have to scale every workout that contains them.  People look at me like I am cheating or something.  If I am going to do something I want to do it all the way.  No half-assing for me.

5.  I am realizing just how out of shape I still am, and folks, it ain't pretty.  This obviously doesn't have to do directly with CrossFit, but I feel like I need to wear a shirt that says I had a baby 7 months ago and I used to be in good shape.  I hate being the worst.  I am used to being one of the more in-shape people in a group.              

So am I going to drink the kool-aid and officially join CrossFit?  I'm not sure yet.  I just don't know that it is going to work for me time-wise or fitness goal-wise.  I am first and foremost a mommy and secondly a runner.  I don't want to cut out running workout for CrossFit ones.  I do want to get in better shape and look and feel better about myself than I do now.  I guess time will tell on this one.  More to come...    

Also here is a pic of the ab situation I speak of, regularly.  I am down below my pre-pregnancy weight, but still have this to contend with.  My arch-nemesis.

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