LuRong Results

This will be my last post about LuRong this year (and I just realized that I’ve been spelling it wrong for two years, it has a capital “R” in the middle – whoops). I just wanted to give a quick update on the results from the challenge.

For those of you who don’t know – yesterday was the final day of an 8 week challenge of strict paleo eating. It also had a performance aspect to it (10 workouts that were scored throughout the 8 weeks), goal setting, and other miscellaneous tasks (i.e. submitting  a written testimonial). I successfully completed the entire 8 weeks without a single “cheat” (so, no food other than vegetables, fruits, meats, and nuts/seeds). I also hit 5 of my 6 goals:

• I want a new PR on my back squat (shooting for 20#)

Yes – #20PR on my back squat on Wednesday this week. I also had a 20# PR on my front squat earlier in the challenge, and a 45# PR on my CrossFit Total on Wednesday.

• I will drink 1 oz of water for every 2lbs of body weight (so about 100oz/day)

Yes – although I had to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom a lot more often!

• I want to give up alcohol completely for the next 8 weeks

Yes

• I will work on my squat mobility at least 5x a week

Nope – I didn’t get this one – only 3-4x per week for the second half of the challenge.

• Continue to work on my relationship with Meg

Yes – the specifics of this goal were private, but I achieved it.

• No cheats for the entire challenge

Yes

Not only did I hit all of these goals, but I had some big improvement scores. As I wrote about last week, we did three benchmark workouts at the beginning of the challenge, and redid them again at the end. I improved on all three by a considerable amount – 29% on the first, 5% on the second, and 28% on the third (I redid all three again this past week and improved my second two even more from my update last week).

Finally, I got my final measurements done yesterday to compare to the beginning of the challenge. As I wrote about before, I let myself go a little bit too much before this challenge started, so my beginning numbers are higher than they should have been. But, nonetheless, I lost 20 pounds and here are the measurement results:

• Chest: lost 5.25″
• Left and right arm: lost 1.5″ on each
• Left leg: lost 1″
• Right leg: lost 0.75″ (maybe I use my right leg more than my left?)
• Waist: lost 5.25″
• Hips: lost 3.5″
• Total inches lost: 18.75″

I don’t love these photos, because I still have a LOT of loose skin around my belly from the last two years of weight loss, but I still wanted to post them to show the difference a clean diet for 8 weeks makes:

Before and after – I can START to see my abs for the first time in my life!

Now, I know that I may be perceived as a paleo evangelist, but I really don’t want to be. Paleo works for me. And, truth be told, if many people eliminated alcoholic beverages and sugar from their diet for 8 weeks, they’re going to see similar results, regardless of the consumption of grains and dairy (not allowed in paleo). But, I have found that for me, grains and dairy are not good for me. My body does not react well to them, and I have tried incorporating them back in before and it’s just not optimal for me. If you’ve never tried to eliminate some of these foods from your diet, I’d encourage you to try it. But I really hope that this isn’t me trying to force paleo on other people – I’m advocating eating whatever it is that works for you. For me – it’s paleo.

As I wrote about before, I do think this will be my last formal challenge though. Assuming I can find a way to eat like this all year long, while allowing some limited indulgences, I’d like to make this a more sustainable lifestyle. And, if you keep reading this blog, I’m sure you’ll find out how I do!

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Clean Eating Fail

I have fallen off the clean eating wagon and my body hates me for it.

French Fries shared with friends at the Kenny Chesney concert.

Here are just a few of the many symptoms that show me I need to clean up my act, and fast:

• All my pants tight. In fact, my “fat pants” that I reserve for “that time of the month” are even too tight.
• All I can wear are skirts and dresses. And I even feel uncomfortable in those.
• I have a zit on my chin. I NEVER get zits. I have been blessed with very clear skin. Except for when I eat like crap, apparently.
• I am super grumpy for no reason.
• I am tired ALL THE TIME, and I can’t sleep.
• My digestive system is all sorts of messed up.
• I don’t want to work out. I only made it to CrossFit twice last week, and I was super sore for days. Eat like crap = bad recovery.

So much sugar. So much dairy. So many grains. And while the last month of summer has been incredibly fun, it has also been incredibly unhealthy.

Incredible dessert while out to eat with Bob. Mine was a chocolate orange mousse, his was a pb&j parfait.

And it has finally caught up with me.

So, here’s my confession: I’m up to a weight I haven’t seen in a LONG time. And I feel generally really crappy about myself. I’ve been saying mean things to myself about how I’ve let myself go and how I look terrible, etc., etc., etc. WHY do we allow ourselves to say such terrible things to ourselves when we would NEVER say it to someone else? I would NEVER tell my best friend that she looks like hell because she’s gained 7 pounds in a month.

I used Bob’s birthday “week” as an excuse to also celebrate. And the leftovers from the sundae night made for a few more additional bowls of ice cream…

So here’s my second confession: from now on, I’m going to try to treat myself like I would treat my best friend. That includes reminding myself that it’s just a phase, that I’ll lose the weight quickly because I’m jumping back ON the wagon today (after the two(!!!!!!) whoopie pies I had for breakfast), and that the extra weight doesn’t make me a bad person. That the extra weight simply means I had a great summer, and I just need to refocus my priorities on fueling my body properly so I am a more pleasant person to be around.

The last one, I swear. SO GOOD.

And finally, if I was talking to my best friend, I’d tell her that she was beautiful no matter how tight her pants feel, and that she shouldn’t allow herself to be defined by her food choices. But that if she NEEDS to feel better about herself, she better start now instead of continuing to make excuses.

So I still have some events where I’m going to be making less than healthy choices (wedding, girls’ night, etc.) but that doesn’t meant that the surrounding days can’t be full of lean meats, lots of vegetables, and healthy fats.

Here’s me, getting back on the wagon. And hoping my pants will fit again soon, because I REALLY don’t want to go up a size.

How do you get yourself out of the cycle of eating poorly? How do you handle poor choices emotionally?

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My CrossFit-iversary

During my blogging hiatus I missed two big milestones for me: a) it has officially been two years since I started my weight loss journey (started in May 2011 at 300lbs), and b) it has been one year since I started CrossFit in May 2012 (or February 2012 if you count the two months of bootcamp).

I want to compare where I am to where I started two years ago, but honestly it’s almost impossible because my baseline for everything was pretty much 0. The number of push-ups I have done in my life before May 2011? 0. That’s not a typo – I had never been able to lift my body off the ground in a plank position, ever. My 1 mile time before May 2011? Never ran it start to finish without walking. The number of pull-ups that I had ever completed? 0. You get the idea. How am I supposed to compare where I am now to where I was if I can’t even to a simple percentage, because I can’t divide by 0?

Doing a pull up at Reebok CrossFit

Needless to say, I am a completely different person than who I was two years ago. And even if I can’t necessarily measure my progress with concrete improvements and percentages, I don’t really need to – the differences are pretty evident.

But, one year after CrossFit is a different story.

When I started bootcamp, I had already lost 50 pounds. I ran my first mile (over 3 miles actually) shortly after starting CrossFit. I did my first push ups, and later my first unassisted pull ups, while in a CrossFit class. So, I might talk about it a lot (maybe too much), but obviously it holds a special place in my fitness journey.

My first CrossFit competition this past Winter

So, just some big changes that I’ve seen over the last year and a few months of CrossFit:

• When I started bootcamp and we jumped over a PVC pipe, I had to jump, stop, catch my balance, and then jump. Now when we jump over our barbells I can do them all unbroken and more fluidly
• I constantly finished in last in the class. Now I’ll still finish in last at times, but I’ll also finish in first in the class at times, and usually pretty consistently I’m somewhere in the middle
• I took 2 minutes off my 5K row
• I’ve taken minutes off of my 5K run
• I’ve improved on every benchmark workout we’ve done
• I have increased my strength dramatically – increasing my back squat by 40 pounds, increasing my clean by 40 pounds, and my snatch by 25 pounds
• I have learned how to successfully do double unders, and now can string at least 50 together pretty consistently
• I have climbed a 15 foot rope (I hate heights, so I still don’t do these during WODs, but I can do it if I have time and don’t feel rushed)

400m runs with a #45 bag for the “31 Heroes” WOD a few weeks ago

So, yes. I might talk about it a lot. And there are lots of other fitness solutions – and CrossFit isn’t the only answer for fitness. But it is the answer for me at this point in my life. And I am very proud of the work I’ve been able to do there, and the gains I’ve made. Could I have made this progress elsewhere? Maybe. But the community and support I get from the other people who go and the trainers are unmatched in anything I’ve ever experienced. And I really attribute their support and guidance for a lot of my progress.

The class I did the “31 Heroes” WOD with

So, happy belated CrossFit-iversary to me! I can’t wait to see what another year there will do!

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“The Stigma of Obesity” – Guest Post!

Sorry for the delay in posts. We got a lot of great feedback from our recent series on “The Stigma of Obesity.” This is a guest post from Meg’s sister (and therefore my sister-in-law) Katie in response to the series (based on this article by Mark Sisson). Here are links to Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, and Part V. For the record – she sent this to me after Part II of the series, but I’ve just been holding on to it because I was going to post it after the series, and then we pretty much didn’t update our blog at all last week due to lots of stuff going on. So, anyway – sorry it’s late!

And thanks for sharing Katie!

Katie and Meg before taking on the half marathon last fall.

I probably know more about health, nutrition and weight loss than you do. Want to burn one pound a week? Then you need a 3,500 calorie deficit. Parsley is a great way to detoxify in your green juice that you make. Interval training burns more calories. You need strength training to build muscles and that will burn more fat. You need to deal with your emotional problems behind why you eat the wrong foods. I know where to buy local grass-fed beef and have bought a quarter cow with my boyfriend and his family. Good fats are not bad. Oh and I’ve tried butter in my coffee.

I’ve done work out videos, classes, kettlebells, yoga and I ran a half marathon. I am a member of a gym and go at least three times a week.

Would you be surprised to learn that I am extremely overweight? I am too. But I am.

Katie and her boyfriend, Ryan

People see me and automatically assume they know me. They assume what I eat or what I do in my spare time. I’ve gotten used to nurses looking startled when my blood pressure is so good, used to them ignoring my inquisitions into why I’m not losing weight and instead telling me to cut out carbs or change my work out routine interrupting me mid sentence as I plea my case. I’ve gotten used to people looking at me like I’m a pathological liar when I tell them I ran a half marathon.

But here I am, relatively healthy as an ox except for my weight. I did have a problem with a stomach ulcer this year but that was due to a dairy and yeast allergy that I didn’t find out about until after a colonoscopy, endoscopy, several doctors visits and finally a visit with a Naturopathic Doctor.

I don’t have a choice if I want what I want out of life to keep plugging away and researching and putting in the time and effort in the gym and watching what I put in my body. So I’m still moving forward and focusing on what I can do instead of giving up.

But regardless of that it would be wonderful to have people look at me as a person instead of the extra jiggle around my stomach. Obese people have almost become the lepers of society. I was told by someone very close to me when I was in college that if I lost weight I’d have an easier time getting a job and when I got a job that said person credited it in part to a big chunk of weight that I had lost at the time not mentioning my actual talent as a photographer or hard work ethic. It made me feel like who I was as a person was not enough and has made it hard for me to believe I am enough. And that is only one of the many derogatory comments that have been made to me from a wide variety of people. People seem to think it’s okay to yell out “Fat A**” out their window at you, it’s not.

And society fuels that. We are inundated with diets, nutritional information, magazines headlines, models and tv shows constantly berating us for our weight. Although there are people out there who believe it’s okay to be overweight I truly believe most of us who are overweight know that it isn’t and don’t want to be but don’t want to admit that to people because they are afraid to fail. But we are aware that everyone is trying to change us at all times helping to perpetuate a cycle that tells us we just aren’t up to par in the game of life.

But what is the solution? Should obesity be overlooked? Absolutely not. But it should be handled with support, encouragement and very very gentle words of direction. It should also be followed by affirmation that who you are as a person is enough.

And not how people reacted to this: http://shine.yahoo.com/love-sex/im-overweight-boyfriends-not-big-freaking-deal-134800157.html.

You might have read about this girl, Gloria, who wrote an article about her boyfriend being skinny and she is overweight. People on social media blew up at her and said some horrible things about her and their relationship. It’s as if society wants the fat people just to stay together and that overweight people are not recognized as equals but as instead a lesser than human.

So the point of my rant – you might be shaking your head in agreement while reading this but preconceived ideas of overweight people have probably been creeping in your head without you even knowing. I have done it myself and I am overweight. I’ll see a larger person eating a second cupcake and in my mind give myself a pat on the back that I haven’t had a cupcake for a month (although I did have one last night hehe). It might be a glance at an overweight person who is bigger than me and telling myself at least I am not that large. It might be being frustrated because I have to sit next to a larger person and I have less room in mine and feel crowded.

It is so easy to judge a book by its cover especially when it comes to obesity but if our obesity crisis is ever going to end society needs to stop making obesity attached to a stigma that only makes sinking into the heavy weight hole deeper easier and focus on the person and reinforcing that they are worth the happiness they seek in health.

Katie after a “Color Me Rad” race

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