Going Nutrient Dense-Whole30-Paleo

I had been thinking of going to see a nutritionist.  At this point, working out, while not easy, was something I knew I could do consistently.  But the ingesting was something I found more difficult than waking up early to go to the gym.

Enter MindBodyHealth.  In partnership with my bootcamp, they brought in this Nutrient Dense Challenge.  We would be changing the way we eat, with a focus on eating real and healthy food as opposed to the overly sweetened, salted, chemically-altered foods.

I had already started focusing more on eating more vegetables, more fruits, less of the processed stuff.  But my downfall is ultimately sweets.  Give me a piece of chocolate to satisfy my craving any day.  Any. Day.

So, when I saw the list of foods to enjoy vs. foods to avoid, I decided I would take up this challenge.

I can get behind all the foods in the "Yes" category.  The idea, really, is to eat real food.  It's based on what is now known as the Paleo diet, called so because it's going back to the basics.  But it's refined by the folks at Whole9.com who focus more on the science and not evolutionary theory.  I bought their book, It Starts With Food, and I can honestly say I'm getting behind the stuff they're talking about.

I'm still in the first chapters of the book, but I'm feeling really committed to what they're throwing my way.

So let me address all the thoughts I had about the "No" items.

Not eating dairy is fine for the most part.  I only really crave ice cream and cheese when it's in the house and I know it's in the house.  But I also know that if I eat too much of it I get a little gassy, and that's not good for anyone involved.

Not eating soy/tofu?  Well, I've been living off soy milk for a while now.  I tried almond milk and I definitely disliked it.  I've decided to give coconut milk a try.  I like it so far, but I have to be careful about any added sweeteners.  Now, there's also soy sauce.  How am I supposed to make chicken adobo???  After a Google search, I found Coconut Aminos (which I bought at Whole Foods), and I'm more than willing to try to make chicken adobo with this.

No beans of legumes might be a bit difficult, but I don't have too much of an issue staying away from beans.  Of course, I'm kind of wondering where the plant protein will come from in this diet, but I'm assuming that the answer is "another vegetable."

No grains means no bread, no rice, no quinoa.  That also means no pancakes, no pastries, no English muffin with my bacon egg and cheese (not that I get that too often).  But wait, I thought, how do they make those vegan pancakes at the All Night Costume Dance Party every year?  I knew there had to be a way!  So, for rice I will take some cauliflower and stick it in a food processor.  For pancakes, the base will be bananas.  For pastries, there's almond and coconut flour.  Thank you, Google and the multitude of resources out there!

No alcohol will be tough on tough days.  But I can get behind that easily.  I will miss wine a bit, though.

No processed foods of any kind include no artificial sweeteners.  That means no sweets, no candies, no sweetened chocolates.  This one is probably going to be the most difficult next to no grains.  I got me a major sweet tooth.  But, I do know that I can have unsweetened chocolate, which Trader Joe's has.  Basically, anything that has a long ingredients list that includes more real food is on the No list.

For the next month, I will try to be as hardcore as possible on this new meal plan.  I refuse to call it a diet, because my main focus will not just to eat less - but eat less bad stuff.  I decided to go for the group challenge in addition to some individual coaching, for the times when it feels tough or for when I have questions.  I will be relearning how to eat, and how to make better choices.

In the second month, we get to reintroduce the different categories of foods one by one.  This way, I get to see what food groups my body doesn't like or doesn't react well with.  I already know that dairy and beans make me gassy  I already know that all that processed sugar makes me extremely tired.  So, if I know these things, it's time for me to follow through.

This challenge is going to be hard.  There will be times when I might inconvenience others, and there will be a lot of work in terms of planning meals, snacks, and eating out.  But I want to change my eating habits.  I want my body to change.  And as many a wise person has said:

I'm ready, and I know I have the love and support of those around me.  Let's do this.

24 Til 30 - Toesies of the Month

This week at bootcamp kicked my ass.  My shoulders were so sore.  It's been a long time since my shoulders have been that sore.

It only made sense to sit in one of those pedicure spa chairs that massage your shoulders.

Man, those things really helped to work out some of the soreness!  I made sure it focused on my upper back and shoulders, and I pushed back up against the chair a bit more just to get at the knots.

Phew!  It was so absolutely needed.

Designed by Kim at City Nails & Spa, South End, Boston
Color:  Essie - Go Incognito
Occasion:  Birthday Month Prep
March/April 2012

There was a moment when I realized that the leg massages were going on way too long.  It was like she knew that my calves also needed some TLC.

But that long massage ended up making me a bit late for work.  So, after sitting under the dryer for a bit, I put on those little plastic toe coverings and tried to walk to work.  Of course, my legs were tired from trying to prevent any damage to my new design.  And of course, one of them managed to get messed up.

I ended up just repainting my right toe with the color, so it looks a little uneven this month.  But I'll probably end up going back in the next couple of weeks anyway as another special birthday treat.

Did I Mention the 5K?

Dude...did I completely neglect to mention that I ran my very first 5k?

I totally did, didn't I?

Well, back on December 18th, I managed to make it out in the freezing cold to be part of the Jingle Bell Run! 

The morning was mainly spent trying not to freeze my toes off, and then looking for something more festive as so many folks were dressed for the occasion.

Here are my results:

Place Div /Tot  Div   Guntime Nettime Pace  Name     Ag S Race# City/state 

5031 1604/1723 F1829   47:10   39:30 12:43 Cecilia V 29 F  6605 Brighton MA  

Not bad for a first time!

But then there are the pictures.  They're horrendous! So horrendous that I didn't even try to get a copy of them.

Either way, I'm really proud of myself.  I still don't consider myself a runner, not by any means.  But it sure does suck a lot less than when it did in the beginning of my bootcamp adventures.

In terms of bootcamp, I'm up to the 3 days of bootcamp, plus I added a strength training class.  I'm thinking about adding a core strength class as well.

If only there was a nutritional bootcamp to complement all this working out.

Thankful 4 - Strength

I know that I'm not a fast runner.  I know that I'm not even an endurance runner.  I know that I'm not aspiring to be a runner.  But, man, I know that I will try my best and give it everything I've got.

Every time the bootcamp puts together a challenge, I try to make it just to show myself that I can do it.  I've finished last or second to last every time.  But I still show up.  One day, I won't be last or second to last, but maybe 4th last.

Trying to slim down is hard work.  But I can feel the strength in my body.

And if I'm strong physically, perhaps I can convince myself of my other strengths as well.  I am absolutely thankful for all the strengths that I possess within me, and all the strengths that I can find in others as well.

my beat up sneakies

Simple Pleasures Sunday and Day 19: A New Appreciation

I've always been a sunset kind of girl.  Having lived on the West Coast for most of my life, spending full days at the beach, you get an amazing appreciation for the sunsets.

After long days of working, the sunset signals a glorious end and a time for rest.  Sometimes it's a beautiful light show that plays off the clouds and the atmosphere (in the case of L.A, it would interact with the smog).

But after having to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn to make it to bootcamp, and with the days getting longer, the sunrises have grabbed my attention.  I'd have to say that I definitely have a new appreciation for sunrises, one that I have never had before.  Though, I'm still not a fan of waking up early, the sunrise makes it better.

Day 3: Still Sore from Bootcamp Challenge

Holy moly, y'all.

This is actually an "off" week for the bootcamp regular classes.  However, as the trainers like to keep us challenged, they set up a marathon obstacle course for the regulars.

They called it the Gazelle Gauntlet.  From the description, it looked like hell.  It looked like it would be the most challenging thing ever.

Originally, I wasn't going to do it because I didn't want to try to have to feel competitive around the more advanced bootcampers.  I know I shouldn't feel competitive.  But it's almost like performing for me.  I felt like I'd be hoping on stage without any knowledge of what I was doing.

But a week before the marathon, our trainer sent an email encouraging all of us to sign up and go for it.  He also called me out in the email.  I was the only one to get called out in the email for joking about there needing to be an ambulance at the finished line.

After reading that email, I was fired up.  I signed up for it and convinced myself that it would just be like regular bootcamp where I wouldn't necessarily know what we were doing that day.  Though, I must say that not knowing is a lot better than knowing.

When I arrived, I saw a small group of my foundation bootcamp compadres.  It felt good to see the familiar faces and knowing that we were all doing it together.  The majority of folks, however, were definitely some of the more advanced (read: fit) folks.

The head trainer started going through the different obstacle courses, which started with climbing over a 3-foot high chain-link fence, included crawling under barbed wire, running a half mile to another park to do some agility exercises, running back to finish with run up and down a set of stairs 5 times.

Suffice it to say, I finished last.  I didn't run the whole way through, and I'm pretty sure I accidentally missed part of the course.

The worst thing was that I had trouble getting over the freakin' chain link fence!!! My shoes were slipping on the metal, and for some reason I couldn't lift myself over the fence!!  I couldn't believe it.  But I pushed myself to get up there, even though I could have just run to the entrance.

Honestly, I'm really irritated that I had so much trouble getting over the fence.  I know it's silly to be pissed about it.  Don't get me wrong, I can laugh about how ridiculous I must have looked.  But it still got me feeling really defeated, and it was the first thing we had to do.  It's the upper body strength that I need to work on, apparently. 

But it was great to be encouraged by my fellow bootcamp-mates.  It was great to finish it, even though it was the first time I felt like crying during bootcamp.

Two days later, I'm still feeling sore, both physically and mentally/emotionally about the literal hurdle I had to climb.  But I'm also feeling really strong and really proud of myself for signing up, for showing up, and for finishing it.

With that, I present to you my creation for the 30 Days of Creativity.

my very first marathon bib
with a buff mermaid

Oh, Ya...I'm 29!

I am so super excited to be 29!!!

It means that my Saturn's Return is almost over, and newer and better things start to happen.  Though, I'd have to say it's still been pretty rough on me.

But I hear time and time again that turning 30 is pretty amazing.  This isn't to say that things still aren't difficult or challenging.  Apparently, however, it seems like one's attitudes about a lot of things just start to change.

Many of my peers are setting up their list of things to do before they turn 30, like traveling somewhere or building something or doing something crazy.

I have only 1 goal in mind.

I want to reach my Goal Weight of 145lbs.

Why 145lbs?  According to the CDC's BMI charts, that is the weight that would put me in the "normal" weight range based on my height.  It's right at the edge of being "normal" and "overweight".

Right now, as you'll see on my "Shedding Scales" page, I'm in the "obese" category, which both frustrates and scares me.

I feel like I've come a long away in the way my body looks, having built some more muscle.  And yet, the scale isn't budging too far.

Mermaid Parade's through the years...

But now, I'm determined.  I'm making some headway by really cutting down on my meal sizes and committing to bootcamp this month.

I've got a bit more than 60lbs left and less than a year.  I KNOW I can do this.

60lbs to 30!

Boot Camp - Week 5

I did it, y'all.

I completed 5 sessions of bootcamp.

Granted, I totally cheated the system.  I guess I was supposed to do 5 sessions back to back on the regular schedule (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays).  But, they didn't really specify that.  So I ended up going on every Wednesday instead.  I didn't actually realize it until they started asking me if I was going to show up on Friday.

Oh, well.

In the 4th session of bootcamp, it was a pretty windy but sunny day.  Being that I was already having a bit of a cold, the windiness just kind of aggravated my coughing.  I ended up taking it a bit easy the rest of the week, considering that I had the BARCC Walk that weekend (more on that later).

No surprise, however, that I didn't see any changes on the scale.

But, this week was my final paid session.

It was a rainy Wednesday, but that doesn't stop the trainers from taking it outside.  For the most part, we were underneath a shaded area.

I prepared a playlist of songs that would help to motivate me in the morning, and it really seemed to help.  As I ran around the raised lawn area, I found that The Jacksons' "Blame It On the Boogie" was really motivating me to keep going at a good pace.  Maybe it was the beat, but it was pretty helpful to have it playing in my head.  For the first time, I didn't feel like dying immediately after starting to run.

Near the end, we were instructed to run up and down stairs, run to the other side of the raised lawn area, and then up and down another set of stairs.  As I reached the top of the second set of stairs, I was slowed as I saw the sign for the Division of Unemployment.

Click on the image to see my little directions.

Knowing that the unemployment office was right where we had been working out gave me a second wind.  I feel like I really pushed myself harder during the circuits.

Afterward, I knew I wanted to continue doing bootcamp.  I burn so many calories in an hour, and I feel so powerful after working out. 

The worst part, really, is having to wake up so early.  And yet, it's great to know that I'm done with my workouts and have so much more of the day to accomplish things.

Here's the thing.  If I want my body to change, I have to really push myself and work out really hard.  I really think that bootcamp will help me get to where I want to be.  So, perhaps at the end of the month or starting in May, I will be attempting to get my butt up at 4:30 in the morning on more than just Wednesdays.

Setbacks with Bootcamp and Lent

No Bootcamp This Week
Well, I woke up ass-early on Wednesday, and made my way to the North Station area just to find out that there wasn't class at all this week.

I was so angry about waking up early that I managed to motivate myself to attempt running around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.

April 2010,
The boyfriend and I were taking a walk around the city.
This is us around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir...
well, I cropped him out...

So, I tried to get all motivated, though my pockets had a little too many things in them (keys, phone, Zune, T pass, and photo ID).  I put on my "Buttkicking" playlist, and did 2 rounds (which turns out to be about 1.56mi per round) around the Reservoir of intermittent jogging and walking.

Running sucks ass.  I just really don't know if I can get down with it.  I just don't want to get so winded just from running around during bootcamp.

Plus, my phone didn't do the best job of tracking how many calories I burned, which was even more extremely frustrating.  I'd gladly have done the hour of bootcamp instead of the hour of running.

A friend of mine suggested a phone app called "Couch to 5K," which I guess makes one able to run a 5K after 9 weeks.  I'm still pretty irritated with running, but I'm willing to give it a try - maybe when bootcamp is over.  Maybe.

Lent Fail
Later that day, I asked the boyfriend to bring me some portobello mushroom burger action, especially since there was some ground beef that needed to be turned into burgers (mmmm...delicious home-made burgers...with cheese...).  He brought home a veggie portobello burger pack.

As I started preparing our Cuisinart Grill, I take a look at the ingredients.  Lo and behold, there is cheese in the garden burger.

One of the first rules that I learned during this diet is that vegetarian ≠ vegan.  There are so many things that have milk lecithin or milk powder or cheese or something ridiculous.

And at the same time, you would be just as surprised to know what things are just high fructose corn syrup or just plain sugar.  For example, I can't have Honey Bunches of Oats (which has whey from milk); however, I can have Frosted Mini-Wheats (which has whole grain wheat, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and gelatin).

Makes you feel really good that that
frosting is just sugar and HFCS, huh?
Super healthy, for sure...

Well, I ate that veggie burger anyway.  I'm not about to let the food go to waste, and I think the boyfriend will do better about looking at the ingredients next time.

I also went back on my Lent Challenge completely by accident on my way back from New York.  I was in desperate need of some coffee.  Knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to get any soy milk when we stopped at a gas station, I instead asked for a Chai Tea Latte.  Yeah.  Though it *looked* like it might have been an Oregon Chai-like mix (which is dairy-free), I didn't really see it.  It *tasted* like it could have haid milk.  Clearly, I was still too sleepy to realize that I still ordered a beverage with milk in it.

But then, the Saturday before leaving for New York, I knowingly said "screw you" to the diet.  A dear friend was celebrating her 30th birthday with a dessert and cheese party.  I mean, she makes delicious desserts, and it was her 30th!!!  Knowing that I'm not doing the Lent Challenge to get closer to god or whatever, I knew that it would really just be disappointing myself.

Well, that birthday dessert party was so worth it.  But completely losing my mind over the Chai Tea Latte just pisses me off.

Well, lessons learned.

3 WEEKS LEFT!!!

Boot Camp - Week 3

Once again, I had a really difficult time getting to sleep the night before boot camp.

In the past week, the boyfriend and I discovered that Mencken had burrowed a hole into our box spring.  When he's feeling particularly frisky, he will rummage around underneath us, doing god-knows what.  It's really irritating...but also really hilariously cute.

our little monster

Suffice it to say, he didn't make it any easier the night before boot camp.  I nearly ran late, but I tried to jog a bit to get to the gym on time.

Ugh.  I hate running.  I hate running so bad.

for serious

Near the end, I definitely felt like I was giving up, and I was really frustrated at myself for feeling that way.  At the very end, we ran to a separate location and were told to go up and down some stairs and then run up a short hill and back down several times until we were told to stop.

As Jillian Michaels would say, I totally "phoned it in" at some point.  There was no way I was jogging up the hill, and running and and down the stairs was not even an option.  I was spent.

But I have 2 sessions left.  Right now, I'm almost considering paying for more sessions, but that's dependent on my job situation.

I know it's been good for me and my body to keep at this.  Plus, having a trainer/teacher around to keep pushing us while having other group members around to keep me feeling competitive helps with my motivational level.

I do wish that the trainer would provide some music to help keep us motivated.  But, it's just not his style.

I couldn't imagine doing it more than once a week at this point in my body, but if I get stronger I could up it to 2x a week.

The problem is that pesky running.  You'd think that riding a bike would have helped me get a bit stronger, but my bike has been out of commission for a while.

I'll be honest, and this is just a little thought between you and me...but I'm considering going out to attempt running on my own.  Maybe around the Ringer Park field super early in the morning, but it's a smaller area, which means several laps before reaching a mile.  Or probably around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, which is nearby and relatively flat but long enough that I won't just quit (according to Yelp, it's approximately 1.56 miles).  Or even down the Esplanade one day.

Sshhhh!!! Don't say anything, okay?

Let me be clear, though.  I still loathe running, but I'm stubborn enough to know that I want to conquer it just because.

Boot Camp - Week 2

Today, I had the pleasure of waking up at 5 am to prepare for my second session of boot camp, after having an incredibly horrible night of sleep.

I wish I knew what it was that was keeping me up.  My brain was just racing last night.  I was thinking of boot camp, I was thinking about making it on time, I was thinking about my lack of money, I was thinking about my diet, and then some.

I got up, being extremely nervous about going to boot camp with the very little sleep I got.  I thought that maybe I should go on Friday instead.  But I didn't want to make any silly excuses to not go.

This week's session started at 6:30 instead of the usual 6.  Also, the Foundation Bootcamp group (which I'm part of) was combined with the Intermediate Bootcamp group (which has a larger number of people).

So, perhaps because the leader wanted to keep it challenging for the Intermediate group, while allowing the Foundation group to push themselves according to their level, today was a very difficult day.

There was a lot more running.  Running to the outdoor park, running to one side of a field, running from one marker to another and then performing an exercise on the ground while not trying to touch or lay down on dog poop, sprinting from one marker to the other, running back to the other side of the field, and then running (or in my case, attempting to run) 5 times up and down a set of stairs.

These stairs to be exact.

You can't really see it, but there are about 5 sets of steps going up
and some more steps on the right you can't see that we ran down.
Then we jogged back to the bottom of the stairs to start over.

By the second set, I could feel my inner thighs burning.  I wasn't even trying to run the stairs.  No freakin' way.  I was just trying to keep breathing and pushing and climbing those stairs.

I kind of had Cake's "Going the Distance" in my head while I was running.


There's definitely something to be said for adding music to your workout.  One woman had her music blaring during her workout, and last week a group leader for the Intermediate Bootcamp group had music playing on a radio.

I might create a workout playlist for next week - if not for listening while working out, definitely for the early morning ride over.

Boot Camp - Week 1

So, a couple of weeks ago, I took advantage of a Groupon for 5 sessions at Beantown Bootcamp for $30.  I was still a bit sick, so I made sure to sign up for a week when I could participate without coughing up my lungs.

This was that week.

The boot camp sessions start at 6am, and it's on the other end of the T from where I live.

Because I wanted to make sure that I got there on time, I woke up at 4:30am today.  I got on the very first T and got to the North Station area by 5:40am.  I now know that I don't need to get there that early, but I just wanted to ensure that I could find the gym.

I got a bit nervous about being the only person waiting out there.  But soon others appeared.  There were only 4 of us, and that made me nervous.  There was no way I could even try to slack off if there were only 4 of us!

The boot camp sessions are held outdoors, and I thought I was fairly prepared with a thin hoodie.  But I learned that I'm really going to need some lightweight gloves to protect my poor hands.

We warmed up with running short laps around a raised circular grassy area where we did most of the workouts.  Honestly, the running/jogging was probably the worst part.  Since it was in the first 10 minutes, I was already starting to feel like, "I'm so over this."

But after we warmed up, the trainer set up a series of 7 circuits.  As he went around explaining what we were supposed to be doing in the circuits, I started to psych myself up.  I started thanking that I had done all the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred workouts back to back last week (which was my mental and physical preparation for boot camp).

I'll be honest, I had never done a full 30 Day Shred schedule in 30 days.  I had always focused on Level 1 for about a month (but not doing them every day), then Level 2 for another month, then Level 3 for another month. 

However, I never really did it all too consistently.  I would usually intersperse the workouts with belly dance or Turbo Jam or yoga or pilates.

But, I digress.  Back to boot camp.

So, in total, we did some short running/jogging laps, 2 different circuit sessions of 7 different moves (totally in 14 different moves), and jogging up and down a set of stairs.

In the final set of circuits, I remember thinking to myself and mumbling under my breath to myself, "You can totally do this.  You want to lose weight?  Well, you gotta fight for it!"

It was encouraging to hear from the trainer and from some of the regulars that I was doing really well.  The trainer even joked that he must not have been pushing us hard enough because I wasn't struggling as much on the first session.  That makes me a bit nervous about next week's session.

I was almost surprised that the hour went by as quickly as it did.  I mean, I was exhausted, but I think that not knowing the time made it easier for me to focus on what I needed to do instead of how much longer I had to do it.

Now that several hours has gone by, I am already starting to feel the soreness.  It will be interesting to see how I'm feeling when I wake up tomorrow morning.

But I am extremely proud that I signed up for the boot camp, and that I didn't chicken out of it.  I'm proud that I managed to survive it, somehow.  I'm proud that I could feel myself stay motivated, even during the running/jogging.

I'm so not a runner, but it does make me wonder if  I should start adding a bit of running to my weekly workouts.

But I hate running...this will give me something to think about.

So, Boot Camp - Week 1?

Success!