Welcome to my blog. I'm 32 years old and was born and raised in the great state of New Jersey. After many years of thinking I was doing the "right thing" with health and fitness (but not really trying that hard) I just recently discovered Crossfit and the Paleo diet which have both changed my life!
I embarked on this discovery 10 weeks ago with the help of my husband who said to me, "if you really want to get in kick ass shape then you have to step it up and set some goals. Work harder, eat better and stop complaining that you're not seeing results." Now, for a little background...I've always been active in my adult life. I never played competitive sports as a teenager but got into casual running in college and enjoyed going to the gym to take the standard "Total Body Conditioning" and "Step" classes. They were fun. I liked the music and the camaraderie of the fellow women in class. I always kept myself in good health eating whole food and never that crappy "diet" stuff, but then I turned 30 and I swear that things started to slow down. I'm 5'7" and have always been around 135-140 but most recently I was hovering somewhere in between 140-144 and really upset with myself. I knew that if I didn’t make a change soon I was headed for continuous disappointment.
In 2010 I decided to "step up" my running thinking that if I did as my husband said and "set a goal" of running a 1/2 marathon in the Spring and then a full marathon in the Fall I'd be in the kick ass shape I wanted to be in. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong and I wish I could take the last year in "workouts" back. Running long distance only proved boring, time consuming and eventually a complete waste of time as I eventually injured my quads from "overuse" only 6 weeks away from my full marathon. In my training I got up to 20 miles 6 weeks out from my race and when I tried to taper the next few runs I developed excruciating knee pain. I had no choice but to throw in the towel on that goal. I ended 2010 in Active Release Therapy twice a week (at a co pay of $25 each time, not cheap!) and gained 5 lbs due to pretty much zero physical activity while I recovered and rested and an amazing 2 week trip to Italy in September filled with good food and great wine, but albiet not so great for my waistline. :)
I began 2011 renewed and ready for a new approach to exercise...and then we discovered Crossfit and got a 2 for 1 deal of exercise AND diet! I say "we" because my husband and I embarked on this journey together. He had heard about a Crossfit gym in our town but wanted to see what it was all about. After a free beginner workout on Saturday right before the New Year he said to me, "This is what you need. Forget the running and the intense cardio, you need to be lifting weights and building muscle. That's the only thing that's going to work". After proving to myself that my current methods were just not cutting it, I relented and signed up for Fundamentals. We started our first class on January 10th and boy was it a challenge. I ended the class with one of the worst baseline workouts on record and thought to myself, I don't see how this is possible. Well, 10 weeks in I've lost 6 lbs following the Paleo Diet and just did my first REAL push up (off my knees) this past week, which I didn't think was even possible until at least 6 months in!
Over the course of the last 10 weeks I have proved to myself that with careful focus on the RIGHT diet and the RIGHT exercise, overall fitness success IS POSSIBLE! I'll never go back to long distance running or the eliptical machine again and while I do crave a delicious NY bagel loaded with cream cheese, I know the carb high and then quick let down are not worth it.
I wanted to start a blog to chart my progress but really to focus on the food that I'm cooking and my approach to the Paleo Diet lifestyle. I like to cook so this isn't particularly difficult but I wanted to share some of the recipes I'm finding and making up as I go along.
Enjoy! Happy eating and cooking and if you like what you read please share your comments!
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