BEFORE & AFTER

Friday, August 27, 2010

BEFORE & AFTER

This is my crossfit story. After spending most of my 30's working on my career. I found myself at 40, overweight and with extreme high blood pressure. According to my doc, I was a walking heart attack. After I finished with my grad degree (Dec 2008) I was weighing in at 225-230 lbs....I felt like a FAT SLOB (well, I was). I had stayed productive, but had let my self go physically. I had spread myself thin and neglected my health. That didn't stop me from keeping busy, I just didn't have the energy to do as much as I wanted. Creeping up to my 40's had finally caught up with me. I tried several times to get back in to shape. I started running, then my knees would swell up and hurt.  I fell into a deep depression. I really never had problems with my weight until my mid 30's. I gained about 10 lbs when my wife was pregnant with my daughter Thea. Then it crept up from there and before I knew it I was wearing 36-38" pants. I struggled mentally and physically but I knew I still had it in me to get in shape. I never took my my shirt off when I went to the pool or the beach because I had a huge spare tire around my waist. My younger brother would kid around with me and tell me I sported my weight pretty good, BUT I didn't feel good at all. I felt like CRAP, lethargic and weak. The smallest tasks would cause me to have labored breathing (like bending over to tie my shoes). One day, I ran into a high school buddy that I had played ball with. As we talked he sensed I was down and asked me what happened? He reminded me I used to be fit. I didn't have an excuse. Facing the quandary of my Doc's suggestion (high blood pressure medication) and considering some of the side effects (including insomnia, cold feet & hands, lethargy, depression, asthma, impotence, skin rashes, loss of taste, chronic cough, kidney damage, palpitations, swollen ankles, constipation, headaches and/or dizziness) I opted for my high school buddies recommendation (crossfit). That was Jan 31, 2009 a week after my 40th birthday.


First crossfit wod :
The Chief
Max rounds in 3 minutes of:
135 pound Power cleans, 3 reps
6 Push-ups
9 Squats
Rest 1 minute. Repeat for a total of 5 cycles.

3-2-2-1-1

I met pukie 3 times that morning. I was hooked......... Don't get me wrong... I still puke, but now I'm putting up numbers like 6-6-5-5-5 (Oct 2011), oh yah, and now I weigh 180 lbs and have a 32" waist.

MERCURY RETROGRADE

Well here it is, summer is over. Today is the last Sunday of our summer. Kids are going back to school tomorrow, like it or not. I think they're ready, truthfully. What does this mean? Well for one, it is a regimented schedule. It means 0530 am crossfit workouts instead of my more flexible summer schedule of whenever I can squeeze my wod in. It's all good to me. I make it a priority, my wife and kids know it. My schedule gets hectic, I'm geared up and ready. Besides my regular job, I've been blessed to be an adjunct professor at the local community college and University (Del Mar College & TAMUCC). This semester it's Del Mar.

How do I feel as a 40 something year old? Mind, body and soul are all in tune. Timing is everything. I've been tweaking my diet lately and it seems to have been working. Went on the WHOLE 30 PALEO about 3 weeks ago. I didn't feel the detox like I have before, I think it's because I was already on a generally clean diet.  I can't believe how good I feel. CLEAN. I've had a clean diet for a long time, but doing the whole 30, I eliminated artificial sweeteners, as well as making several other adjustments including no alcohol of any kind. I used to do the 80% /20%, stay on a paleo 80% of the time, but I have moved that number to 100% now and I can tell the difference. That didn't include eliminating alcohol until about 3 months ago. I used to drink beer, wine and alcohol regularly. Weening myself from alcohol wasn't hard. I just did it. With the same attitude I stopped eating 'reward' meals (20% of the time) which included sugar, bread, butter, french fries or any of the like. IT'S NOT HARD. Just made up my mind and did it. I eat plenty of good food. It helps that my wife has been doing something very similar to the whole 30 for a very long time. Our house isn't divided anymore. It used to be though! Traveling for work is more challenging where eating is concerned. Most restaurants have salads and some sort of protein. Just remember to use olive oil & vinegar or balsamic vinaigrette instead of the typical salad dressings and NO CROUTONS!!! If I did it, it can be done.  Truth be told, it's not as difficult as people say.

OK NOW FOR MERCURY RETROGRADE.
For you folks that don't believe in Astrology or Kepler's law of planetary motion, please skip this part.
What is Mercury retrograde? Retrograde is when a planet appears to be moving in the opposite direction of it's normal orbit (see Astronomy retrograde). Astrologically it means communication breakdown. Heck, everything breaks down. Just be aware of it. You will notice people arguing because of bad communication. You will notice computers, phones, electronics acting funny. Just be aware of it and if you don't believe in it, just notice around you if things are going a little crazy for the next few weeks. Mercury goes direct station (appears to stop moving in the opposite direction and goes back to it's normal directional orbit) on September 12th. This isn't all bad, Mercury retrograde can be beneficial, a time to focus on 'cleaning out your closet'. Follow through and finish up what you've left undone and you will feel much better. MAKE THE DECISION AND FOLLOW THROUGH!!!!!!! To quote the paleo whole 30 blog, which touts that making the decision to clean up your diet for 30 days will significantly change your quality of life, "It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Giving up heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard." ENOUGH SAID, MAKE THE CHOICE AND FOLLOW THROUGH.

PEACE

I've come to the crux

Here I am, a 40 something crossfitter, neck deep in all sorts of ideas, but don't really know where to start. This is as good place as any; I've been traveling for a couple of days now and have successfully meandered my way through countless restaurants and fast food joints without succumbing to unhealthy food. Eating paleo on the road is really not that tough! It just takes discipline........  SUCH IS THE CASE FOR LIFE IN GENERAL.  I get asked all the time, how do you do it?  You just have to make the decision that it's what you want and then follow through.  I've been there.  I had to clean up my diet.  I  went through the DETOX.  Felt like CRAP, headaches, weakness, generally NOT GOOD.  Most people don't make it past this stage.  It's easier to revert back to your 'old ways' of eating processed/enriched foods (sugar, flour and anything processed), which in turn make your headaches and DETOX pains go away BUT ISN'T GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH!!!

YOU KNOW THIS!

The aftermath of the detox feels GREAT!!

One thing I'm working on is how to squeeze a workout (wod) in and still get to my regular job and jobsite to finish what I was hired to do..........It's pretty odd as I'm rereading what I just wrote, I'm growing OLD, but I don't feel like it.....Case in point, I didn't even have a beer. I have completely minimized and substantially eliminated alcohol consumption...... I've done it for many reasons, it takes it's toll. When I began my journey back to optimal health, I was still consuming alcohol frequently.  Took me almost a year to come to the decision to eliminate it.  With a year of crossfitting under my belt, my recovery from working out was improving drastically but so was my alcohol consumption.  Kind of peculiar but I felt that because I was in decent shape, I actually recovered from drinking much faster too. It's true! But it finally caught up to me.... I knew it was time to stop. It was time to put up or shut up. SO I QUIT, cold turkey, didn't want to hear any BS from anyone about it either. People point fingers and use the 'alcoholic' tag too much. Point is, if you want to do something, you just do it. MAKE UP YOUR MIND AND DO IT. FOLLOW THROUGH. My old man always told me when I was a kid, if you want something bad enough, you'll work and do whatever it takes to get it. You just have to make the choice.........  I did notice that my recovery improved, AND I lost that last 5-10 lbs that was sticking to me while gaining strength. 

I feel as if I've been on a roll lately. I'm tired of political correctness and walking on egg shells. I'm not holding back anymore. I'm in tune (440 Hz).

MORE TO COME...........

Take my eye
Do not wonder why
I've come to the crux

I've looked it up and down
Seen the trespassers trample themselves
As the miser makes love with his wealth
Convenience his love!