Throw Your Scales Away - The Before & After Shots

So I didn't quite hit my goal of 15% body fat by 6/1 but I came pretty damn close at 16% and I'm also down four pounds, which is nice even though I'm not concerned about the number on the scale. Ladies, especially those on the Jamie Free Max Muscle plan, throw your scales out, that number means shit and does crazy things to our heads. I still have a long way to go, I'd like to put on muscle so I can crush my PRs and guess what, when I put on muscle, that number on the scale is going to go up, so again, my CFCS girls, throw your scales away!

Now here's the before and after picture. The before picture was taken on March 14, the first day I started the nutriton plan. The after picture was taken on Saturday right before I hit up the awesome pool in my neighborhood (which, btw, you can totally use me for my pool. I'm always down for a having someone to go to the pool with).

22% body fat on the left and 16% body fat on the right

So along with being down 6% body fat, I feel amazing. Besides not having near as many stomach issues as I had when I was a vegetarian or when I had no structure to my eating, I don't take or need naps to get me through the weekend, I think the first time I had napped since March was on Monday after doing Murph. I also feel like I recover quicker from my hard workouts and don't feel as sore as I have in the past. Jamie recommended today that I start adding a glutamine supplement to my post-workout protein to help speed recovery even more (I wish I would have done that after I finished Murph because maybe the area where my boobs are supposed to be wouldn't still be on fire three days later). Regardless, I cannot say enough positive things about how much my body has changed for the better since starting my nutrition plan and doing CrossFit and I am so grateful to be surrounded by such a supportive community and coaches who really care about their athletes.

I will continue to keep posting about how my body changes, especially since I have started going to the gym six days a week and the calories in my nutrition plan have been increased - I can eat good fats at breakfast, lunch and dinner now on workout days, JEAH!

Next week is Ragnar Chicago and I am going to attempt to blog live from the van, attempt being the operative word, as most of you know, I love my sleep, so spending 30 hours in a van on very little sleep should produce either some highly entertaining content or shit that makes absolutely no sense. Regardless, stay tuned as the team Hello Jillian/Banditos 2.0/Run to Cure Rabies makes its way from Madison to Chicago starting next Friday.

Memorial Day Murph

Yesterday was Memorial Day and like many CrossFit communities around the country, the community at CrossFit Cool Springs honored our fallen heroes by doing Murph. Murph is a Hero WOD named after Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy who was killed in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. To learn more about the story of how Murph gave his life to try to save the other members of his team, click here. 

For most of us, yesterday was our first time doing Murph, which is a 1 mile run followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and ending with another 1 mile run. We had a great turn out and everyone finished despite bloody ripped hands and semi-functioning legs for the second mile! This was the fourth time that I've done a Hero WOD and I can honestly say as horribly hard as they are, there is something about trying to push yourself to the limit to honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. The hardest part of Murph, at least for me, wasn't the running, it was ripping my hands at pull-up number 90 and the push-ups. I actually enjoyed the last mile and channeled those awful first few miles of the Ironman run where you can't feel your crotch and hamstrings because you just sat on a bike for 112 miles. I finished with a time of 45:41 despite my left shoe being untied the entire last mile. Next year I'd like to do Murph with a weighted vest like how Michael Murphy used to do the workout. 

Results of the 9AM group

Results of the 11AM group

The 9AM group and in true CFCS fashion, after the 11AM group was over, we had a cookout where we all stuffed our faces with burgers, beer and guacamole with bacon in it

The ladies of the 9AM group

Sarah and I right after finishing! One of the strongest girls I know!

The 9AM ladies showing off their ripped hands

Besides kicking off the week with Murph, I'm going to do my final weigh-in and pinch at the end of the week to see if I've met my goal of being 15% body fat by 6/1. I know I originally said I wanted to get to 16%, but since I've had such success with the food plan that Jamie from Max Muscle in Cool Springs I've raised the bar a little higher for myself, so I'll keep you posted on what my results are on Thursday! I also set some new goals for myself at the gym, including being able to do 20 unbroken pull-ups and a bar muscle-up with a band by 7/1. I can do 10 unbroken pull-ups now, so as soon as my hands heal from Murph, I'll start chipping away at that goal, along with trying to figure out how to land on top of the bar with my arms extended, not chicken winged for a muscle-up.

Listen to Reach Your Goals

I must confess, it's taken me years to hone in my listening skills and I still don't always listen, especially when I have my mind made up or if I think the person speaking has no clue what they're talking about. That being said, I think one of the keys to being a good athlete is listening to your coaches and those people trying to make you better. Case in point, I listen to what James tells me to do to get better at CrossFit and I start accomplishing things that I couldn't do before, like pull ups. I also listen to Jamie from Max Muscle in Cool Springs and follow the food plan he wrote for me and I drop 5% body fat in less than two months.

I am by no means saying that I am perfect in my eating or working out...there are days where I want to eat my weight in pizza and ice cream and sleep in and skip the gym, but I usually find some sort of way to get my ass out of bed and try to stay on track with my eating. I found if I'm still hungry after I eat my pre-determined meal, I'll grab a spoonful of peanut butter, make an extra slice of bacon or eat a pack of Sharkies (organic sport fruit chews), but I refused to keep crap in my house because I literally have very little self control when amazing-but-bad-for-you foods are within arms reach. I also help curb those daily cravings by cheating once or twice a week. This past week was my brother's birthday so I had myself a giant slice of ice cream cake on Wednesday and then I had a bowl of ice cream last night, but I immediately get back on track because that's what Jamie and James told me to do.

Only fill your shopping cart up with the good stuff like bacon, peanut butter, avocado, fish and grass fed beef!

I also want to confess that I was a skeptic about this whole CrossFit thing when I first started. I come from a world where quantity is king and you stare at the bottom of the pool for hours, sit on your bike until you can't feel your ass and run until you're borderline delusional to see results, so when I started changing things up and working out for less than an hour a day, I was like, uh nope, no way am I going to see results by doing just a workout that can last for less than thirty minutes. WRONG. Besides dropping 5% body weight and being able to bust out a bunch of pull ups on command, I have also added 25 pounds to my back squat PR, 10 pounds to my strict press PR and just overall become more fit.

I still have a long way to go in terms of my strength and my short term goal is to get to 15-16% body fat by June 1 and then see where I can safely go from there. I am very thankful for my coaches and their wealth of knowledge that they share with me everyday, as well as their encouragement. A lot of times, they're the reason why I get my ass out of bed, especially when they send text messages asking where you are, and 9 times out of 10, it's easier to just go workout then come up with an excuse on why you were lazy.

Let's also for 2.5 seconds talk about the CrossFit makes women "bulky" rumor that most people buy into, which is crap. Yes, there are some super muscular girls that compete in the CrossFit Games, and a lot of them are short and have gymnastics backgrounds, so pack a bunch of muscle onto their short frame and they look jacked, but 99% of people women who do CrossFit aren't going to make it to the games and aren't going to look "bulky" by doing a WOD 3-4 times week. I mean what woman in their right mind wouldn't want to look like Camille LeBlanc? I'd take abs/arms for days and strong legs over the skinny/fat look please.

In my dreams I'll look like this when I workout