Checking In

by xine23

So I reactivated my online food diary at My Fitness Pal {I cannot believe I remember the password! Go brain!!} and logged my food today. Go me!! Today the cabinets were cleaned out, so there was nothing to eat but real food.

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I also made a turkey shepherds pie, which is more than I normally do. Tomorrow: I make my egg casserole for breakfasts!!

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New goal, after looking at today’s breakdown of food: eat more protein!

Monday: working out is going to happen. For reals.

And if you want to see my first blog on my photography website about me being a dork, you can find it here.

Merry Christmas!

by xine23

535142_934285263325227_7273280018365828443_nSo, I haven’t written here since August. Looking back, I have to say that 2015 was rough mentally on me for food and exercise. I haven’t been working out. I have had a lot of amazing opportunities this year with photography and it has kept me busy and exhausted. Working at 4:30am and then doing a ton of photography stuff after has left me drained. It’s not meant to be an excuse, I recognize that I could be working out and I have made the choice not to.

I feel like I am coming out of the tunnel from 2015, I am seeing things clearly. I miss eating clean and working out but I need balance. 2014 it was a huge focus and took up a ton of time. I need to be invested to a point, but not to the point where it is all I do or think about.

I need to accountable for this stuff, so my one goal for 2016 is to blog here with what I am eating and if I worked out. That’s it. I encourage my readers to comment if I haven’t written here in 3 or 4 days. Call me out.

In other news, my photography is growing and going in an exciting direction! Check out my new website, it’s kind of gorgeous: http://cwrightphotohouston.com

Constipated

by xine23

have-you-seen-the-new-movie-constipated-pun-dogReally? I am naming my blog post “constipated”?? Yeah, this weekend kind of sucked. I woke up Saturday with a pained belly and the inability to poop. It was from out of nowhere! I have never been constipated in my life, so I was kind of shell shocked. And in mild pain. I tried to think–what had I eaten to bring this on? Nothing out of the ordinary! I am still eating tons of veggies and protein and my water intake has increased since it has been so hot. I didn’t want to aggravate the situation so I basically ate applesauce, fig newtons (like 2), protein shakes and spinach salads over the weekend. As of last night things started getting better and it has followed to this morning. I am hopeful that with an increase in fruit intake and more working out this week, everything will kind of work itself out.

In other news, I have been to crossfit 3 times a week two weeks in a row and I have been walking like a cowboy ever since! It’s funny how I forgot how to walk after doing tons of wall balls and thrusters. This week I plan on going 4 times, but it all depends how much my body hurts {in a bad way}. I always listen and never push anymore!

I see my nutritionist tomorrow and I am hoping it’s another good visit. We shall see!

Summer = Hibernation

by xine23

its-too-hotIt’s odd that I would have a title like this, but I need to express how fucking hot it has been here in Texas this summer. We went an entire month {after the flooding} without rain. The temperature climbed to over 100 degrees plus the humidex, meaning each day felt like it was 115 degrees. It has been brutal. I would be lying if I said that I still worked out consistently and just adapted to the heat. I have been inconsistent. I have been working a lot of early mornings and working out anytime after 9am is just too hot for me, so I have been hibernating in the air conditioning. It has just been in the past two weeks where I have been back to crossfit three times a week, and boy have I been sore!! I did a WOD Friday where it was a 25 AMRAP of 200m run, 40 wall balls, 200m run, 20 kb swings, 200m run and 10 burpees. I did 2 rounds. When I say that I had trouble sitting to pee, it was no joke. I am hoping that by this week my body might be protesting so badly.

Eating has been pretty good, until Robert’s birthday hit last weekend. I ate so poorly I felt nauseated for a full day and barely ate. In the past I have felt bloated and gross but never so bad that I entirely lost my appetite. I said to my husband that for the future I don’t mind the extra work, but from here on out we make dinner and host people for birthday’s–no more eating out. I have said in the past it’s hard for me, but now it’s getting physically impossible for me.

In other news, I have lost 15lbs of fat since starting working the nutritionist, which is great. I am also mixing it up in the kitchen more, especially since coming back from New York City. I was inspired there on the food tour, and now I am playing with different dishes, while keeping the fat low and the protein high.

I am hoping with this “cold front” that we are having this week, it might stick around a bit and that I will be able to workout more, as I will have the flexibility to do so. If the temps do go back up, I will hibernate until things drop a little. And if I lose weight slower because of this, I am ok with that.

Food, Airrosti & PR’s

by xine23
eas shake

This bad boy is my morning snack in-between breakfast and lunch. Surprisingly good!!

I wrote half this blog 2 months ago and then life happened and I just didn’t get here. So now I have even more to report! My last post discussed how all these changes were coming and now I have implemented them and things are getting better.

Nutrition–this is going to be a lot to talk about, so buckle in. So even though I had changed my eating after seeing Frances at the end of 2014, things still weren’t clicking. What I learned in this meeting is that I am still starving myself, which is why I crave sweets in the afternoon and evenings. This is something that was reiterated in my 2nd meeting with my nutritionist. Every meal I need some form of carb–whether it is sweet potato {yuck} or rice or beans. This is something that Whole 30 was adamantly against, but I have to say that since I have introduced carbs back into my diet on a consistent basis, I do not crave sugar the way I used to. I am still not eating enough of the carbs {I am working on it!!} according to my nutritionist after she read my food journal. Another thing, I need to increase the amount of protein I eat and that my protein needed to be lower in fat. It made me realize I was eating a lot of pork and beef {basically paleo staples} and I needed to eat more turkey and fish. I am not the biggest fan of fish, so I have been consuming shrimp and tuna.

I am sure a braver person would discuss what their fat percentage is but I am not that person. I will say it isn’t as high as I thought it was going to be and I have a goal of losing half of it. I lost 3.5% of it in the past two months–which translates to 10 lbs in body fat loss. How that translates to overall body weight, I don’t know. I asked the nutritionist not to tell me how much I weigh, as I hate knowing that and I am already upset enough about how much I have gained and where I was when all this started. It feels like a slap to the face considering how much I have changed my eating in the past few years. I am hoping I am finally on the right track, it feels like I am on the right track. Clothes are fitting better {or are baggier} and it is nice to feel this way again.

wpid-wp-1434333622476.jpegAirrosti–I saw her three times two months ago. The first visit was plain torturous. She worked on my butt, my lower back and my hip. The pressure she put on my hips felt like a truck was sitting on them. I cursed, I cried, and suffered. I left bruised and with homework–to work on rolling my body 3 times a day and putting a smal ball on the inside of my hip and pressing it in there. The second visit was much the same with more homework given out. The third visit was a good day–me doing the homework made it so that it was my last visit–my back hump was almost gone when she put the same pressure on my hips it did not feel like a truck was on them. I left with homework to do everyday–working on the strength of my core and to roll my entire body everyday, regardless if I do Crossfit. I would like to say I have been the model patient in this area, but that would be a lie. I roll after working out, but not on the days I don’t.

prsPR’s–So I have been inconsistent with crossfit for a while. Since I dropped that barbell on my lower back. It’s been hard getting back and trusting my body, and part of that is an excuse and I own it. I am working on my mental game right now. That being said, I have had some PR’s recently and it’s been encouraging!! I went up 20# on my front squat and 25# on my back squat in April–so now I can do 155# for my front and 165# for my back, and I probably could add 5 to 10 pounds to those. Again, I was nervous, didn’t trust my body and didn’t fully push it. But those were still hard. This past week I did 3 sets of 3 thruster and I got to 85#, which is no joke!! I also have done Fran recently and Diane, and both I could have gone heavier.

Now I want to be consistent. I want to go three times a week and be a little heavier in my weight. And I want to roll everyday. My body is hanging in there, feeling strong, rebounding. It’s time to treat it like that.

Thanks for listening!! I know it’s been a while–I never stopped, I just had a ton of life things get in the way.

Good Week

by xine23

wpid-img_20150326_201424.jpgOn the heels of admitting that things have been going wrong for a while and that weight has come back, I had a week at crossfit that gave me faith again. I was able to modify the WOD’s to a point where I was still getting my ass handed to me but I wasn’t aggravating any of the wonderful issues in my body. The WOD Monday took me 18 ish minutes to finish and the one yesterday took 28 ish minutes to finish, so not your easy 10 minute WOD. Nope. And there was running. And rowing. And complicated movements like my nemesis the overhead squat. But you know what? That was the best my overhead squat has looked and felt in a long time. Even my coach complimented my squat, saying it had improved vastly over the past 2 months. After all of these blows, the smacks to my confidence in the past year, yesterday was was so refreshing. It was nice to work out hard, feel good after and feeling like I am growing as an athlete.

I also have to say that I had a pretty awesome time this week at Atomic. It’s hard changing boxes. You grow close to the people you sweat with in a crossfit box. A natural camaraderie occurs because afterwards you are like “we survived!!!”. That also means new people to a group sometimes struggle to get to know others who have been close for a while, so finding who my “people” are going to be at the 6pm class has been a bit of a learning curve, and this week things started to fall into place. I now have at least 3 people I have dirty joke to, who hug me when I come in and can sometimes whine to. Thankfully one of the people is my previous coworker David, and we will text during the day about the WOD and strategies. The coaches are also hilarious and I find myself starting to click, which is great because that is part of the incentive of going, is being with the people. And the nice thing is that I am still friends with my people from Pearland Crossfit, so it’s like I have the best of both worlds!

And as you can see from the picture, this week was no joke. And I will keep on going back for more as long as my body will let me.

It is Time

by xine23

failure-quotes-51So I have alluded to regaining some weight, being injured and other fun things for a while. Well after a recent doctor’s visit {where it is mandatory for you to get weighed}, it turns out I have gained more weight than I care to admit. So I won’t go into full details, but it’s enough that I had a serious wake-up call. I have tried lots of stuff on my own, and I am waiving a white flag bc for a good chunk of the time I eat fairly clean. This white flag is not what you might assume, I am not giving up, because I am not a fucking quitter. I made an appointment with a nutritionist for next week because I am so done with all of this. I got the number from my previous trainer Kat, who has also struggled like I do and she saaaang this woman’s praises. So I go to her Thursday next week and I am really hoping she can help me. I have been religiously writing in my food diary for 2 weeks now, so I will have something to bring her {which I am sure is more than other people bring for their first visit, but I want to get fucking ON this}. It’s hard to admit that things got this far out of control, but it has. And I have been having a lot of treats for a while and not working out as much and it has just snowballed.

I need an eating plan that works if I workout and if I don’t, because I am still seeing people to work on my body.

Which segues nicely to my other topic, which is I am going to go to an airrosti next week as well. My lower back is still giving me grief {I believe from the incident in November} and I need someone to really get into my muscles and work that shit out. Right now I have to modify for that and my knee. And to honest I am just tired of it all. I just want to workout, feel good and be done with it. I don’t like sitting here on a Wednesday, feeling my lower back talk to me and wondering if I should really go to Crossfit tonight or not. I don’t want to further hurt myself, I don’t want to feel like a slacker and I am caught in the middle in my mind.

I think I might just row tonight, get some activity without stressing out my back. And then once I get worked on, then I will figure out the rest. But it sucks.

wc

Juggling

by xine23

me n kbsI know I am not a mom or taking care of a huge family, but still, my life has gotten pretty hectic as of late and basically all of February was me instantly reacting to what was happening. And it’s been a month, so if I repeat things from a previous post, I apologize.

1. I got a new job. And this job is different from any other job I have done. I am the pulse of the office I work at, wearing many hats, preparing numerous documents, renewing software, ordering supplies, and more. It was a larger than anticipated adjustment than I was prepared for and the person who was doing my job had already left, so a lot of what I am doing is self-taught. Luckily, the person who did my role previously has been on hand to help answer questions, make sure I do certain things correctly, which has been a godsend. I come hoe exhausted every night because this job is more work than my previous one {where I read Buzzfeed articles for half the day and still managed to look amazingly productive}. I like the stimulation, the learning, etc. I feel challenged. It’s great! It has also meant longer hours, working some weekends to ensure I know what I need to know and that the office didn’t miss a beat.

me n steve2. I had a lot of photography projects in February. I photographed a 2-day crossfit competition that was exhausting but also rewarding as it was a lot of fun to photograph and yielded some wonderful images. I also shot 2 weddings–my first ever! A wedding is like shooting a competition–lots of standing, walking, squatting, only you get fed way better and instead of people making “I pooped my pants!” faces, they are either smiling or making out. That was plenty of pictures to get through. I also did a personal project of photographing a 5 week old baby and his parents. All while meeting with new clients for future projects. I was also participating in a mentorship photography program where I met this amazing photographer named Megan and we critiqued each other’s pictures and inspired each other to do new, fresh things. It was a wonderful experience.

Between these two things I have been sleeping really well every night but I am also finding it hard to plan/prep food and workout. I have 2 jobs. I am busy. Exhausted. Happy!

me n alli3. I went to Canada for the first time in over a year at the end of February. It was so so so so so good to see my family and friends!!! We celebrated my birthday {and my mom’s}. I lived at Kelly’s Bake Shop {legiterally}. I ate off off Whole 30. But is was so great to be able to go back to my home town {I still think of it as home, but I also think of Houston as home}, and be able to step in and see people and not miss a beat. That’s genuine, real friendships right there. It also makes me miss being there so much it hurts if I think about it too much.

So what now? Well! I booked a wedding in February and we just finished doing engagement pictures over the weekend!! And I have a senior shoot this weekend! Plus, I am going to Atomic Crossfit three times a week and trying like hell to get my miles in to finish my challenge (I am 3 behind). I have been getting Robert to help me with grocery shopping, so I am not balls to the wall busy every weekend. I also approached the owner of Atomic about goals and I now have homework! I am to religiously write a food journal {I am sketchy at that, at best} and to start recording my benchmarks on movements and things like running or rowing for specific distances. Oh and I have to measure my belly once a month.

I know I have struggled to write here, but I promise that I am still working hard. I am now at the point where I can start working on fitness goals and being consistent in my food so I can perform well. It feels fucking amazing to be able to say this after all of those injuries last year.

If all my talk about my photography has made you say to yourself “I wonder what that shoot looked like”, my Facebook page is where I post everything. Oh look! I just linked to the page there! Ha ha!

Next: making coconut milk for the first time with Hayley! Writing about what my benchmarks are! Maybe incorporating my photography with this. Could be fun and creative…..

Stride

by xine23

wpid-img_20150203_234542.jpgIt’s only Tuesday and my body is already like WTF. Last night’s workout was madness. Madnessssss!!! There was a 35 minute timecap, and I am proud to report that I got that shit done in just over 33 minutes. I did scale and I walked some of the running bc my heel was starting to talk, but I did it. Eat it WOD!!! So today I am settling into that familiar feeling of after-WOD muscle fatigue pain, but because I voodoo flossed my calves last night, I am feeling limber and not pained in a way that I know means trouble. I have said it before and I will say it again: voodoo floss is a fucking life saver. In 15 minutes my calves feel so much better and my heel that was talking during the WOD is now silent and happy. I love feeling spent but healthy. I feel like I am finally on the right track. It’s seriously exciting!!

wpid-img_20150203_122806.jpgIn other news, I theoretically just finished my 30 days with the Whole 30, but we know I wasn’t religious about it during Shaun’s visit, so I am not really counting it, but I also didn’t get raid-roaded afterwards by my sugar dragon, so that’s a win. But I am not stopping this train either. I am not reincorporating desserts back into my life, it’s a slippery slope and I am not playing russian rulette with my body like that. Plus, I am not craving sugar anymore and I want to keep it like that. So really, I am just going to continue on, eat my 5-6 small meals a day and keep on trucking. I lost 4 inches off my waist in a month!! I am down that dress size I gained! I mean this is exciting. I am back to my smaller size with the carrot of getting even smaller and possibly being able to shop at a regular clothing store. And I like this carrot. I’m in. Let’s do this.

In other news I have had a bad week for my 90 miles in 90 days. I was stupid sore from Monday’s workout and frankly used it as an excuse not to do miles on Tuesday or Wednesday. The good news is that this weekend I am photographing a competition and that means I will be walking a ton of miles. But if it weren’t for that I would be in a tiny bit of trouble. I am aiming to be better next week with a new job and better hours. Here is to being better. I can do it!

Bad Food = World o Pain

by xine23

wpid-abm_1422201732.jpgShaun’s visit was a massive amount of fun!! Was it compliant to my goals? Ummmmm…no. Let me just be honest about it. I had a little bit of sugar {and freaked out about it}, a little bit of wheat and maybe a glass of wine. And let me tell you, my body fully rejected it all. It was like “Aawwww HELL NO”. And now I am back to my regular eating and my body is back to loving me. Although I am thinking about sugar more. Fucking sugar.

We also got in my miles, as we walked through Walmart, Target and Whole Foods. No real strenuous working out was had, but I still kept to my 30 miles in 30 days goal. So at least there is that. But yesterday I went back to Atomic and got my Crossfit on. And that was legit hard. But I want to work on my conditioning, so I need to show up. I am contemplating signing up for the Crossfit Open as they have a scaled portion, I just worry the scaled portion will still be above my abilities. But it is an excellent motivator to getting my ass to the box, so….I’m still thinking.

wpid-abm_1422414931.jpgI am getting bored with my food, I need to find some new recipes, but I also need to have more time to cook them too. Double edged sword!! And this weekend I am photographing a competition and a sports session, so my “free” time will be minimal this weekend. Thus I am thankful for my friend Mary who runs an awesome paleo meal prep business. Order is in, so all I have to do is focus on dinners next week. My life is a gong show.

So what’s next? Consistency. Working on my conditioning. OH and trying out a new technique for my tight muscles! Thanks chiropractor for the sweet gift! I swear I am using it!! And if this works, expect a blog post! It could change your life TOO!! *ends sales pitch*