Crossfit?

June and July have been crazy so far! Shawna took me on a trip to Germany. The picture to the left is posing with my new Bayer Healthcare bag. I LOVE that bag! So, while in Germany for a week, I worked out twice and the rest of the time enjoyed eating a croissant every two hours and enjoying all of the food I could "take in" while in a foreign country.
When I returned to the US, my husband arrived home and we took more vacation time to spend together. During this time, we painted the house in 100 degree heat and 1 million % Louisiana humidity from sun up to sun down for over a week. Though we lost all of our water weight, by literally sweating enough to cause minor heat exhaustion, we were so engrossed in our project we missed the gym for another week and a half. I am struggling to get back into my routine now that work has begun again, partly because I am dabbling in Crossfit.

Charlie is totally sold on Crossfit. I am not sure that the Crossfit ladies (see Crossfit lady in the red shirt below) look like that just from Crossfit. I have more research to do to find out. I DO know that Crossfit will help me to become stronger! I still have the goal to pull my 150 pound ass up (to do one pull up). Along those lines, I also want to do one body weight (150 lb) dip and one handstand push up. I am aware that Crossfit will help my strength tremendously, but is it enough of an overall workout (at my current fitness level) to burn enough calories and build enough muscle for my goals in bodyfat and muscle. To put it simply, will I look the way I want to with ONLY Crossfit???

Any suggestions and info, please let me know. I think my plan soon will be to contact some of these Crossfit ladies with bodies that I admire (see above lady in red) and ask them where/how they established their muscle base. My hunch is that many/most of them are prior gymnasts/athletes (unlike me).

Balance

I am happy to report that the fitness contract worked! It immediately curbed my sugar addiction by forcing me to think and eat consciously. I am now in a different phase... I am enjoying going out to drink quite a bit too much and am working on that.

Working out is never the problem for me but food definitely is the issue. Now I know that the drinks I am consuming, though better for me than beer or margaritas, are still high in calories. My drink of choice.....CRANBERRY AND VODKA! Great choice for a lower calorie option of cocktail but no idea what kind of cranberry they are using, probably the cheapest kind with added sugar and much high fructose corn syrup.

Also, when we drink, we usually eat more and lose our inhibitions with good food choices. I tend to make poorer food choices when I have been drinking but I don't necessarily eat a lot of extra calories. Yes, yes I recognize that I am now justifying, but it is so much fun to meet with the girls after work (only if I've had my lift for the day, preferably right before happy hour...will explain in a later post about post-workout nutrition) and enjoy a HAPPY HOUR!

This is an old picture but it will have to do since I do not have a functioning camera or a photographer at the present. I do find it necessary to mention that the above picture was not taken at happy hour nor is that a cranberry vodka in my hand. It was ON VACATION! So I am excused for having a number of fabulous beach-side sugar delights. I do think it is okay to enjoy life and indulge at times. My problem is that I have a problem turning off the switch. I tend to go for 6 months hard core....eating right all the time, with my one free day a week to recharge my metabolism and then I get tired. I go on vacation or work gets crazy and I start to skip eating well, and the days turn into weeks and before I know it 3 months have passed......

That is my new goal...living this way with balance. Part of my contract is to be balanced and to do this for life. I am working towards not being neurotic and overly obsessed. I have a problem with seeing a goal and wanting to work towards it all or nothing. I need to incorporate healthy eating into my life in a moderate way. It's probably a bad idea to "eat clean" all the time for me because I go over board.

Like everything in my life....it's a journey and I am learning about myself and how hard this is for me. I am working towards BALANCE.

Fitness Contract

As I sit here at my desk and work on the first paper of my first Masters class I am forced to make a plan to self-modify a problem. Although the book states that it is often difficult to identify the problem you would like to change, that is not the case for me. I know exactly what problem I want to change. Part of this "plan" is to sign a contract. As I printed this contract and was tying out this paper for class, I realized "styleberryHOME" was right - it is time to start a blog for my passion - FITNESS!!! And, to get out of this depressed, feeling sorry for myself rut that I have been in for 4-6 weeks since my husband has been out of town.

This is the perfect start to my blog...my contract. I will post my "before" pictures later...when I have really good "after" pictures. Or maybe never. I don't know if pictures of my butt hanging out of the bottom of a bikini bottom should ever be on the internet. We'll see about that one.
My goal is to someday use this blog to post publish my journey onto stage as a figure competitor.

I am not using Bob Greene's plan but I do listen to his radio show and really enjoy it. I love that he truly lives his life continually with what he believes. His walks the walk daily. I truly believe in what he preaches as I do most all of the fitness and nutrition experts we have at our disposal. But, for some reason, I am hard core for 6 months and then I waiver for 3-6 months and then I'm back again. I may be too hard core when I am working hard and it is unsustainable. I also have the problem that when I reach the goal (or get to where I am happier with myself) I don't fight like hell to keep it. I feel like I deserve to look this way and I let is slip away.

I have a lot to learn about myself and how to be the best person I can be. I have a lot to learn about my body issues and how to turn those into positives and work with those the best I can. My contract is signed. I have to eat consciously and not because I'm depressed my husband is gone!

I hope you will join me in my journey and help me out through this and all of my other life's endevours....