Say Goodbye

~ Norah Jones ~

Just a quick one today - still so much to do for tonight's end year party with the PeeWee's.  And besides, after last night's cleans @ Crossfit everything hurts. Everything. Hurts. And if you are keeping track - I'm now up to 4 callouses & 3 blisters :)

BF & I have been teaching the PeeWee's for close to 3 years now and it has come with it's own rewards & frustrations. Martial arts have long been know to help teach self-discipline and socialization skills. In fact, many parents whose children have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) report great success with these programs because self-control and concentration are exactly the skills underdeveloped in ADHD kids.

And if you have a group of 10 kids (including ADHD kids & just plain naughty buggers) you can almost multiply that number by 5.  There have been days that I have been thiiis close to murdering a child with my bare hands...and there are days when that same kid will bring me a flower & a drawing. I can see how teachers find this very fulfilling, but an hour, twice a week was our limit!  

I've come to know this face. I've come to fear it....

So we made a decision to finish up & hand over our classes to a new instructor - to you I say "Good luck!" and "16:00 is not to early to start drinking".  We're opening ourselfs up the possibilities of a bigger world next year, and so we bid a mostly fond farewell to Taekwon Do.

I will be having a cupcake tonight. Perhaps 2. I don't often bake (OK, ok...I did not bake them, but I at least did the frosting), so I'll be damned if I don't have one.

 

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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...

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Not an Addict

~ K's Choice ~

I am physically twitching....these exercise withdrawals are baaad.  I haven't done any exercise since Saturday & it's taking it's toll mentally. Which is a worrying thing, I'm so desperate to get back to exercising but I can hardly make it up the stairs at work without breathing hard. So I'm trying really hard not to cave & give in to quickly - I promised myself I will see if I'm ready on Saturday (not a day earlier!) & then take it easy (pfft...).  This means Boyfriend is going to Crossfit alone this week; which is a total & utter bummer.

Exercising or playing sport makes me happy, and I feel like I've accomplished something when I'm done. I know if I'm in a bad mood the endorphins will kick in & make me (slightly) less grumpy. If I have bad cramps during a period I go to the Box anyway, because afterwards it definitely feels better. But at what point does exercise become an obsession?  Exercise addiction may not necessarily sound like a bad thing - after all, it is essential to our well-being, however it can have harmful consequences.

Firstly, exercise addiction is maladjusted:  instead of improving your life, it causes more problems. It can threaten your health, causing injuries & physical damage (because you are not getting enough rest) and malnutrition (when coinciding with an eating disorder). Secondly, it is unrelenting: you exercise too much & for too long without giving you body time to recover. We all overexert ourselves, but usually with a rest day every now & then. Exercise addicts will exercise for hours every day, regardless of being tired or ill.

What's scary is that there are several similarities between exercise addiction & drug addiction, including effects on mood, tolerance and withdrawal. Neurotransmitters and the brain's reward system have been implicated in addictions - dopamine has been found to play an important role in overall reward systems, and regular, excessive exercise has been shown to influence parts of the brain involving dopamine. Like other addictive substances and behaviors, exercise is associated with pleasure, and social/cultural desirability.

The Sport Psychology Journal had a trial where the types of sensations experienced by runners who missed a run was studied. Most of the 345 runners reported some kind of distress:  irritability, restlessness, frustration, guilt, and depression were reported most often. Sleeping problems, digestive difficulties, and muscle tension and soreness were reported less frequently. Three causes of exercise withdrawal were proposed: (1) a misinterpretation of the return of dysphoria that had been temporarily masked by the effects of running; (2) an inability to cope with stress in periods when the coping mechanism of running is temporarily unavailable; and (3) the loss of regular, predictable reinforcement of feelings of self-fulfillment gained through success or achievement in previously unimagined and unattainable ways.

There are several warning signs that can confirm if you are in the danger zone ("Daaaanger Zooonnneee" - anyone who has ever watched Archer will appreciate that) - this handy article lists them.  I don't think I'm quite there yet, but I can see how stressing about every little thing you eat can let you slip into this kind of thinking quite easily.  If your need for exercise is greater than your ability to manage your relationships & feelings, you may need help.

So tonight while Boyfriend is practicing his overhead snatch & snatch balance (grumble) I'll shoot at things on Battlefield...at least I can exercise my aiming finger....

Even with a coffee shop lunch date I was able to keep within my macro's today - even had two glasses of water that only mildly tasted like mucus...this nasal drip really needs to pack it's bags now.

Ladies who follow Sleek Girl blogs (or any blog for that matter) - do yourself a favour & join Bloglovin. Create a profile, copy the url of the blog into the search box, and follow. You'll then get notified via email whenever there is a new post - all under one email. Easy peasy.

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...

Sick As a Dog

~ Aerosmith ~

Dammit. Normally I get flu around August/September, so this year when those months wooshed by (seriously - 29 days to Christmas!) I thought: "Yes! and this went with the deserved air punch.  Then the bastard found me Friday morning. I woke up with a sore throat & dozed it with all sorts of fizzies, I even did the responsible thing & skipped the 05:30 Crossfit session. And it work...for a bit.

Instead of doing the sensible thing Saturday morning & giving my body some more rest, I decided to go join the open WOD (more on this just now), and my body just decided "f*ck you" and gave me every sensation that it could think of in no particular order: hot, cold, crawling scalp, sweats, coughs, drips, sneezes, sore body, itchy feet, etc.  The worst is the sleeping sitting upright, cause as soon as I lie down I basically drown myself in snot.

I hate being sick.  The first day is OK (especially if it falls on a work day), the 2nd day is a bit boring, by day 3 I'm completely over it & just get more & more pissed of the longer I have to stay away from gym.  I hear what they say about moderate exercise & being sick, but I know myself & I know I will be a heaving, gasping heap at the end of the hour. Moderation, pfft....

And healthy eating while sick is horrendous. I've eaten rusks & strepsils today...yeah - quite a combo. I'm going to have to force myself to eat supper just now..

On a happy note: Saturday's WOD.  The workout consisted of Wall Balls & Burpee Pull-ups. So every minute, on the minute (for 10 minutes) you do 5 wall balls & then for the remaining seconds in the minute you do a burpee, a pull-up, a burpee, a pull-up, etc.  I did every one of those bitching pull-ups!  It was an amazing feeling - realizing that 2 months ago couldn't do what it just did.  Now the next thing to conquer is consecutive pull-up's.

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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.

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