New Sensation

~ INXS ~

So, the Christmas tree has hardly been packed away and we're (most of us) already back at work and stuck in the hamster wheel. Time really is a terrible thing. How is it possible that 4 hours at work (an eternity) can feel so much different from 4 hours watching series (but, I just started episode 1, how can this be the finale).

During these last 2 weeks, I've built stuff from all our scrap wood, gone red & then tamed it slightly, entered competitions, had my measurements taken, freaked out on Sherlock Holmes Season 3 (I love that man's cheekbones), completed the multitude of Vitality Q's for points & drank copiously when we had to mingle with family...

I was somewhat ambivalent about the results of my measurements... October'13 saw me at 24% body fat while January'14 kicked me in the teeth with 24.8%. Along with some caliper readings actually increasing and a 3kg increase in weight! My tummy area actually increase in cm's - shock! horror! Yes, yes - same person, same calipers. Seriously?  Hours & hours of Crossfit & my tummy is still flabby? 

One word - kitchen. That's what let me down.  Eating healthy 80% of the day for 70% of the week helped me get strong, but it definitely did not help me lose weight.

The only thing that saved me from driving straight to Wakaberry and asking them to open the tap over my face was the fact that my thighs, calves, triceps & chest decreased in %, and that the 3kg that I I picked up was 80% muscle.  

This lead to Boyfriend and me starting with Paleo, that changed to Paleo Reboot, to no, let's just do Paleo cause that's what we're gonna stick with at the end, to Zone cause that's the "official" crossfit diet, to Zone/Paleo, back to Paleo cause I was over counting Zone blocks pretty quickly.  There was also a brief detour to Low Carb High Fat, which can either be Paleo or not Paleo... 

Basically we are now on what people call Paleo - a 80/20 Paleo. We still have diary (full cream milk), but apart from now eating eggs or leftovers in the morning instead of oats (or nothing) there's not much of a difference to how we have been eating. But we've been strict - on the 4th we cleaned out our cupboards & fridge & just got on with it. Basically we are going to eat good food, and not eat bad food. Follow whatever diet/detox/lifestyle you want, but that should be bottom line.

The 2014 Crossfit Games Opens will start in February & I'm so ready to compete. I would love to go to Regionals (only the top 48 ladies from the Open go through to Regionals, and then 1 lady goes through to the Games). So training & nutrition are all geared towards being able to optimally performing when the time comes.

We participated in our first mini competition on Saturday - the Philippines Fund Raiser.  Wow, what a long (from 9am - 3pm) & rewarding day!  Not only did we do our part to help out some people in need, we also smashed our Personal Best weights on the strength section - my stats are looking pretty great if I don't say so myself:

• Back Squat - 102kg (up from 100kg 3 weeks ago)
• Dead Lift - 105kg (up from 90kg)
• Strict Press - 40kg (up from 37kg)
• Snatch - 40kg (up from 30kg)
• Clean & Jerk - 55kg (up from 50kg)

On the flip side, we pretty much felt like death warmed up the next day.

I entered the Sleek Geek Challenge as well as a Port Elizabeth based body transformation competition. PE ladies have from January to June to participate in this weight loss competition and stand the chance to win a boudoir photo shoot from Elsje D Photography - yes please!

Some holiday meals below.  Made my first poached egg this morning - cling wrap & a washing peg (I didn't have any elastics...).

So, yes, a lot of "resolutions" were made, but it doesn't need to be 1 January for you to change your life. Make the decision today.

Remember to follow K&C on Google+ | Facebook | Pinterest | Bloglovin.

Writing in the Margins (Part 3)

~ Yep, you guessed it, still John Gorka ~

There are about 30 - 40 blogs that I follow on a regular basis.  These range from funny pictures of cats & cheezeburgers, fashion, crossfit & just normal people who have some amazing insights to life [I always think of this specific post on Aspects of Transformation - it's great cause it's true]. Trying to keep track of when a new post is out is like higher grade maths.  

Blog readers pretty much lump together your favorite blogs into one long email or web-based article. This makes blog reading less tedious (you don't have to browse to each of your fave blogs) as well as more discreet which is kinda necessary for those (like me) who do a little reading while at work.

This is where Bloglovin comes in. It gives bloggers their page views, you can comment directly on posts & it's the prettier one of the lot. It gives you little snapshots of posts from the main page and you can scroll through at your leisure.  And as I mentioned before, the best part of Bloglovin’ (from a blogger’s perspective) is that is still gives page view, so you can keep track of your readers' interests.

Create a profile, copy the address of the blog into the search box, and click follow. You'll then get notified via email whenever there is a new post - all under one email. Easy peasy. And even better: here you can get a list of all the SleekGirl (& some extras) blogs.
 
Now for the dark underbelly of blogging. There are a view things that make blogging a bitch, these are mine.

1. What is appropriate to share with everyone? I often don't know what is too personal.  Once something is on the Internet it's there forever. I'm quite happy for my close friends to know that I walk around without pants over the weekend, but do I want all my Facebook acquaintances to know this?  Or even prospective bosses?  On the other hand, once I get that squat-worthy ass it might actually help with the interview...

2. What I find interesting, inspiring or funny might be boring as hell or insensitive to someone else.

I'm sorry...but I did the coffee snort through nose thing when I saw this. I'm a bad person.

3. It takes time. Is that time better spent on Boyfriend (no, not on him...perhaps with), on my work, on our house, on filing the heap of paperwork behind the door? 

4.  Nothing inspired me today, so I'm writing about what I did at work (read blog posts, find things to do in Pamplona), what I cooked for dinner, or what color my favorite socks are. Not every posts has to be a masterpiece, I'm still a real person.

These, by the way...

5. It's 9:30pm, I'm still stinking from my awesome Crossfit session, we've just finished dishes & packing up tomorrow's food. I want to get a round of Battlefield in. I want to go sleep at a decent hour. Somedays I'm just to tired.

6. Other people's blogs. I read other blogs & immediately think..wow, I'm not half this witty/profound/creative. Thinking like that sucks - comparing yourself to someone or something else will never end good. Use others as inspiration, I'm different from you and that's what makes both of us unique.

 

I lifted 50kg above my head tonight with ground to overheads (i.e bar on floor - get it up over your head any way possible).  And when I tried 55kg,  all of a sudden logic kicked in and said: WTF are you doing? What if this falls? What if it snaps your wrists like twigs? 

It was the same with handstands - I would stand like an idiot with my hands in the air, looking at the spot on the floor, willing myself to throw my body over, crazy right? Your mind is your worst enemy. As soon as you start doubting yourself you are going to stagnate. And as long as your coach has taught you how to fail, you will not fall on your face or snap your wrist. Just harden the f*ck up & try it. Next time 55kg's, next time.

It's going good food wise, I hope this trend continues at least until Christmas day. I forgot to take photos of supper again, so here are some random Google stock images of the food I ate.

Remember to follow K&C on Google+ | Facebook | Pinterest | Bloglovin. 

Have an amazing weekend. And if you are finishing work today, I might be disliking (hate is a strong word) you a little bit at this moment...

Writing in the Margins (Part 1)

~ John Gorka ~

It seems that blogging is becoming more & more popular everyday. There are various reasons you can start a blog: simply for fun, love of an actor or a hobby, a passion for ugly Renaissance babies...  Whatever the reason, one of the key factors to be successful is having a passion for your topic. 

When I started blogging I started to connect with like-minded people. I've received so many links to other wonderful blogs simply because I started blogging. It also lets you know that you are not the only one going through a particular struggle. But mostly I use it for myself, to keep myself accountable, to give myself an outlet, and to find weird shit on the Internet. Seriously, weird, weird shit.

Blogging teaches you to write, and you need to write well not to sound like an uneducated pleb, cause who will take you seriously if if you do?  I think daily writing can only make you a better communicator, as you are constantly putting your private thoughts to "paper".  And if you have confidence in your communication skills it can only filter through to other aspects of your life.  I've found that it makes it a bit easier to socialize with people & to express my thoughts.

It also makes you do research on your topic. You know last week when I gave you some info on the Crossfit moves we were doing?  I didn't know half of that before writing the evening's post. Google becomes your research friend. Fellow bloggers become your inspiration. Mrs Prava becomes your cookbook.  Butternut & Bacon? Yes, please!

I've also found that I start to jot down notes during the day, or just bullets of topics I want to focus on. Normally I'm all over the show - jumping from one idea to the other like there's no tomorrow [Ask me about my attention deficit disorder or pie or my cat. A dog. I have a bike. Do you like tv? I saw a rock. Hi.] - so this aspect has really helped me to keep on topic. Most of the times. Sometimes.

Tonight & tomorrow I'll be continuing this post:  what I've found awesome about blogging, reasons blogging sucks some nights & how to keep track of all the spectacular ones out there.

Last night was Event 3's re-testing for the in-box challenge.  I managed to increase my ring dip pushups from 39 to 52. My boobs (pecs) are so stiff today; it hurts putting on a bra. The next challenge was a power snatch burpee combo - 10 snatches & then 10 burpees.  You have 7 minutes to complete as many rounds as you can - 6 extra reps this time round!

The power snatch works your upper back & it is especially good for your shoulders as it aggressively works the muscles that rotate the shoulders, and because you use a wider grip it also works the hamstrings, glutes & lower back muscles. It's also a much faster lift than the clean so it's good for improving your jumping ability.  Most importantly, it’s just really fun to say the word snatch in public & make crude jokes.

Officially back on the wagon yesterday after the horror of "The Weekend" - felt real good. We made the most amazing Quinoa salad that consisted of quinoa, bacon(!), yellow pepper, almonds & macadamia nuts, broccoli, cherry tomatoes & Greek yoghurt (the double fat kind).  After the previous very bland attempt this was a 100% improvement & will definitely be made again. 

Remember to follow K&C on Google+ | Facebook | Pinterest | Bloglovin. 

Night all!

Work (Part 2)

~ Jimmy Eat World ~

I think my fascination with archeology was fueled by watching Indiana Jones over & over during the school holidays.  Then when I discovered computer games Lara Croft & her tomb raiding just stamped it in further.

I'm not naive - I know that archeology (especially in SA) is probably is boring as it comes....fossils, ape people, cave drawings.  This is probably the point where I should let you know that I have an majorly overactive imagination, I can daydream like there's no tomorrow and dreams are as vivid as they come. I can make up a scenario, fall asleep with it, dream about it, wake up & then continue that dream. So when I think archeology I think adventure & long lost treasure & magic.

That is why I love reading so much. I finished the Lord of the Rings saga when I was 10, I've reread my Terry Pratchetts till they are dog-eared and I've probably read thousands of books since. And when I found Andy McDermott's series that chronicles the adventures of archaeologist Nina Wilde and her husband, ex-SAS soldier Eddie Chase (with a British accent to boot and you can bet I read every line in that accent), I was in 7th heaven...archeology, dry wit, adventure - the whole deal.

I don't know who the artist is, but the fact that there is a person out there that can see book characters the way I see them makes me a very happy person...

There was a time that I wanted to be this guy as well. Travel the world & experience different cultures? Yes, please!

Ian Wright - Lonely Planet / Globe Trekker

But all these dreams doesn't help me find my dream job. Do I drop everything & go look for adventure? Or do I just suck it up, work 8 - 5, earn my paycheck & read my books? Do you at some point just accept that those dreams are only dreams? I wonder if you can read books & get paid...

Last night's work out kicked my ass. My knees are blue from the burpees, my hands are raw from the pull-ups and yeah, tomorrow morning I'm going back for more.

Looks like tomorrow there will be double-unders, so I will be able to add some whip marks to the collection. Seriously, I'm going to create an album just with photos of my sport related battle scars.

Food wise I'm doing 95% well. I've got MyFitnessPal mostly sorted out & it's becoming easier to add food to my daily diary.  I still prefer taking the photos because visually seeing what you ate (and drank) makes quite a difference.

Let's Have Another Party

~ Winifred Atwell ~

 

So, 23 days till Christmas and still so much to do.  Just in the next week I have to organize (and go to) an end year function for a group of hyper kids & a baby shower for a group of ooohing & aahing ladies, and then attend two further Christmas functions. This week is going to be so hectic that I resorted to cutting my own hair over the basin last night.. Crossfit peeps everywhere be proud - I chose going to Crossfit over (my dignity) going to the hairdresser.

I hate the madness that goes with December. It's "sales", mad traffic, no school (so the kids & their 'rents are in the shops) and I'm just trying to buy a cucumber for my salad, standing in a queue that has 3 Sinotech flat screen TV's and a couple of bikes in it's collective trolleys.

And while you are attending all these extra festivities, you still have to find time to exercise, willpower to stay away from all the desserts & alcohol and the patients of a saint not to kick that girl that is walking in front of you at a snail's pace in the crowded mall corridor. Seriously, I have an hour lunch - can we make a deal?  You go to the stores between 8:00 and 12:00, go home, come back after 14:00. Then it doesn't take me 40 minutes to buy said f*cking cucumber.

And it's not like you can bunker down till after New Year's, so you have to find your coping mechanisms, even with Boney M blaring about Babylon in the background. This time of year people seem to forget how to drive, and everyone is in such a rush! Courtesy becomes non-existent and idiots come out in their droves. 

When things get a little overwhelming I just have to remind myself that this season will also come to pass. Eventually everything will be calm and quiet once more. People will be overfed and flat broke & then I will have the shops all to myself again.  

We did a Clean Ladder at Crossfit and I have the shoulder & collarbone bruises to prove it.  Was such a nice feeling to get a new personal best on the weight - I can now do a 55kg power clean.  The power clean is derived from Olympic lifts and is explosive by nature - in other words, it can’t be done slowly (and when your new - gracefully). The “pull” part of the power clean utilizes all the major muscles of the core, hips, quads and hamstrings.  

Power cleans are technically considered a shoulder exercise, but they do so much more. They give you well-developed muscles in the legs including the calves, glutes, and hamstrings & also targets the muscles in the lower and upper back and traps. It requires the coordination of every muscle group in the body & in time, the exercise adds muscle density and functional strength over your entire body.

I cut waaay down on the coffee today, only 2 cups. Ok, I might be having a 3rd one while I'm typing now...

Remember to follow K&C on Google+ | Facebook | Pinterest | Bloglovin. Night all!

New Sensation

~ INXS ~

I'm not a natural cook. I'm the person that makes an eatable flop, and by the 3rd or 4th time, has that flop down to a T. I'm pretty sure I get my baking abilities from my mom. Whenever I need to defend my kitchen skills I bring up the birthday cake event of 1987:  the middle fell flat & instead of ditching the cake she filled the hole with icing & caramel. All the 7 year olds loved it; I'm sure the adults that had to deal with the plummeting sugar levels didn't. Boyfriend's mom is one of those women who can glance at a recipe, throw stuff in a mixing bowl & put forth a plate of perfection. I forsee that this might become a daughter-in-law / mom-in-law issue at some point...

But at least I'm willing to try.  And I love trying new things, which this new lifestyle has brought plenty of. I do not know how I ever lived without coconut oil. The taste is amazing & anyone who buys the unflavoured version needs their mind read. My favourite is sauteing green beans in coconut oil & salt - yumm.

Since ditching bad carbs I also had to improvise on starch substitutes. Whoever knew that cauliflower can make a crunchy pizza base, or rice for that matter.  

A lot has been said about bulletproof coffee - you either love it or hate it. Good coffee is a must. Grass-fed butter is a must. A blender or stick is a must.  If you just throw everything in a cup you are gonna have a bad time.  You need to wizz it to hell & back & then top it off with a bit of cinnamon. And it makes your lips nice soft.

Quinoa we'll get back to.  It's supposed to look like the pic on the left, mine not so much. 

Protein Mug Cakes where have you been all my life!  If you are craving something sweet at 10pm on a Friday night, and your significant other has refused to go the store despite all your charms & threats, this is the thing to make. Mix protein, coconut milk, vanilla essence & an egg in a cup & micro. I am sure I am not the only one who has a macadamia nut butter addiction - I can eat half a tub in one go - not my proudest moment. But OMG, it's like sex on a teaspoon.

There has also been the bad ones... Liquorice is my sad, happy, grumpy, cramps food - I love the taste & the smell, and thought "hey, I will then probably love this tea". No. No, no, no...

Exercise wize I'm still out for the rest of the week. At least I'm feeling better & have caught up on at least 3 show's. Now to find out who Red John really is...

Motivation Proclamtion

~ Good Charlotte ~

I'm 3 days into my new eating plan & I've realized again that I'm not that big a fan of change.  I have to keep track of everything I eat, I have keep track of whether it's an active or work day and most days I can't even keep track of what day of the week it is.  I feel rushed & out of sorts & a bit sorry for myself. But I also know it's what I normally do just before I bail. When stuff gets to hard let's go back to the old & known ways.  

So I went a bit mad with the pinning of motivational images today to keep me on track.  I don't know if looking at posters of motivational sayings actually work, but every now and again you stumble onto a really funny one, and I do this "snort water through my nose thing" (because I'm trying to force down that glass of water)...and that makes me feel a bit better about life.

At the moment I'm still eating very basic (read: boring). With chicken you know what you get, but with chicken stew there are so many more variables you have to keep track off. I think as soon as I'm comfortable with the basics I'll experiment a bit more. I've also reach the end-year slump - I'm tired & moody and could happily spend the whole day in bed, with ice cream, sour worms, liquorice, nachos & series.

One thing that I realized by taking photies of everything that goes into my face is that I'm drinking way to little water during the day.  I have decided to make that my one thing that I focus on for the next couple of days. If I don't have the water in front of me, in a bottle, cooled with a glass you can forget about it. And don't even let it taste funny... How do you get your 8 glasses in? 

I have to just remember I'm doing this for myself: I want to be fit & strong. And I won't get it without a bit of work. So if it keeps my on the straight & narrow I'll recite these suckers of by heart!

Today was a nice & chilled rest day. Up early tomorrow morning for a 5:30 am WOD - looking forward to it!  Going to focus on getting my water in this weekend & to not go off on the normal weekend binge ringers.

Have a good one peeps!

PS:  A big-ass creepy see-through/white gecko just ran across the floor & is now sitting there staring at me...I might be spending the night on the couch...

[Bi]cycle Race

~ Queen ~

I couldn't find any cool photos about calorie cycling, so opted for the next best thing...

There are so many methods of dieting to loose fat without losing muscle and calorie cycling is just one of them. Instead of just eating less constantly every day, you have a mix of high calorie days (normally in conjunction with exercise) and low calorie (or rest) days.

It is said to speed up fat loss, helps reset your hunger hormones, improves insulin sensitivity and gives you a mental boost.  However, this requires a fair amount of self-discipline, as well as a willingness to measure food and count calories with a great deal of precision. 

An example that is used is the following.  Let's take 1500 calories per day, 7 days a week. So a sample week will look like this:

M - 1400  / T - 1400  / W - 1650  / TH - 1450  / F - 1450  / S - 1650  / S - 1500

That equals 10 500 calories for the week.  10 500 / 7 days = 1500 calories. So effectively you are still getting the same amount of calories in for the week, you're just shaking things up a bit.

Normally you'd have your high calorie days when you need more energy for your workout and recovery & you're lower calorie days on “rest” days. It's a pain in the ass to keep track of everything you eat, but it forces you to take a hard look at what you put into your body.

If you want to lose fat you basically have to force your body into tapping your stores of energy and the only way to do this is to put yourself in a calorie-deficit. If you reduce your calories enough you’ll start losing fat, eat more calories than your body needs, and it will start to store the excess energy as fat. There are two challenges tho, when you reduce your calories below your maintenance level for any extended period of time:

Catabolism:  The body doesn't always just burn fat, it also burns carbs & sometimes lean tissue. So you might be losing weight, but it may be muscle along with the fat.  

Homeostatis: Eventually your body will catch on that you’re eating less food than you need, and it will interpret this as a sign that it might be in for an extended period of food scarcity.  So it will start to slow down your metabolism in order to conserve energy, since it interprets your calorie deficit as a sign of “famine.”

Calorie cycling tries to trick the body into thinking that you are not actually dieting.  And because you are alternating between higher calorie days and lower calorie days, you may be less likely to lose lean tissue and less prone to developing fat loss plateaus. 

That's the theory anyway. Apparently most of the evidence around the effectiveness of calorie cycling is anecdotal, although calorie cycling devotees often swear by the results. You can have a further read here.

It's still early days, and a hell of a lot of food, but I'm sure in a couple of days I'll be back into the swing of things.

Food good, water bad.

Double Unders are getting easier - my new record is 22! And handstands away from wall is up to 4 seconds...whoo, yeah...small steps. I still suck at the overhead squat press.

Remember to follow K&C on Google+ | Facebook | Pinterest | Bloglovin. Night all!