US Wellness

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Let's get this started....I think!

Welcome to our new blog about the changes we are making in the upcoming year - and hopefully beyond.  After several months of convincing Mark has finally been able to get me to adopt a couple new things into my life. First, Crossfit, which was a major source of contention for a while.  Upon first setting foot in our CF gym, I hated it.  It was incredibly intimidating.  I reluctantly signed up for On-ramp (their mandatory, month-long introduction course) and decided to give a 3-month membership a go.  I went to the gym, even on nights that Mark wasn't home, pretty much to make him happy and so he would leave me alone about trying it out.  Some nights were okay, and I felt neutral - at best - about being there.  Other nights, I left the gym nearly in tears and feeling completely defeated.  I made sure to be a brat when I got home just so he knew how unhappy I was.  Making it it clear that I didn't want to talk about the gym or the WOD (workout of the day) until I was ready to complain about it (or admit that it had gone moderately well) was also common.  Somehow, he put up with me and continued to encourage me everyday.  (Thanks, Mark!)  At some point right before we went on vacation after Thanksgiving, my performance in workouts starting improving and I got the handle on a few of the tougher skills - my outlook on CF started looking up.  In December, things continued to click and I am happy to say that I recently renewed my membership....for an entire year.  (I could go on about CF for a while and I will later on.)

So, the second big change - diet.  Sometime about a year ago, after Mark and I started hanging out on the regular, he started trying to convince me that eating Paleo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet) was the way to go.  I really wasn't having any of that non-sense for a while because honestly, I wasn't going to even consider giving up OJ, Cheerios, pasta, pizza, mashed potatoes and etc.  Was he fucking crazy? (Honestly though, I did enjoy poking fun at him and the diet - hence the title of our blog!) During the time that he did his Paleo Challenge last spring I watched him eat while we were home and out and it didn't seem so bad the things he could have, but I was no where near ready to give up the things I liked.  At some point after he moved here, I agreed to try Paleo for a short amount of time and it was quickly over after I thought I started gaining weight on it.  (That was before Crossfit.)  Over the summer, I adjusted my diet to be fairly low carb, while still occasionally eating things I liked, and I had good results.  So, after the last few months at Crossfit, some additions of muscle to my body, and my ongoing frustrations with my weight I've decided to give Paleo an honest attempt - starting today.

I hope that using this blog will give me an outlet for sharing successes and venting about my frustrations (aka - How will I turn down pizza at work?! SHIT!)  I hope that I know enough about modifying behavior and contingency management that I can work some magic on my own lifestyle.  :)  Public posting and my undying desire to succeed at everything should be a good start, right?

Goals for 2012 (so far)
1) Decrease my body fat - More specifics later.
2) Return to Zumba - I miss it.
3) Master the guy-style push-up
4) Pull-ups ...a strict and then kipping
5) Hold a handstand for at least 5 seconds
6) Convince Mark we need the puppy we keep looking at online

Wish me luck!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds great, E! I wish you the best! I look forward to hearing about how it's going! You are so positive and wonderful. You have my unending support. If you need sunshine and 80 degrees you know where to find me... for a little while anyways. Happy happy New Year and I love you!!! - Bec

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