My Day in Pictures

I want iced coffee so bad....

 

But I'm cleansing...

 

So I'm drinking Spark instead...

 

It's cold in my office....

 

My office has this super cute calendar with pictures of C!

 

And it's hung on this awesome bulletin board that I made myself...

 

It's beside this really special file organizer that hangs on this cute vintage-style hanger (also made by me...)

 

I'm in an online class this week... from home... so I haven't put on makeup since church Sunday...

 

I've been trying to drink a lot of water out of this fancy cup (since I'm cleansing)

 

And I've been trying to stay out of these.... it's hard... they're yum.

 

And Carter played in this box that our new dryer came in (yesterday... I couldn't make a post without a pic of him, though! )

 

Paleo Challenge: Day FAIL

As you may have noticed... I stopped posting my daily Paleo challenge updates after Day 5. I knew that would happen... but was trying to be optimistic that I'd actually have time on my hands to post daily. June was a whirlwind month. It was Josh's first month coaching on a regular basis, we bought a truck, Carter seemed to have 5,000 PT appts (in reality it was like 3)... It. Was. Chaos. But I loved it. My eating went off track after my first unintentional cheat (OJ in Tropical Smoothie Cafe's smoothies is NOT Paleo). The rest of the month was a nutritional blur. I barely made it to the gym (literally 2 days a week some weeks...) and I'm getting rather fluffy. One of my very best friends got engaged last weekend and is getting married in three short months. I'm using that as motivation to get back on track. I'm due for another 24 Day Challenge mid-July, so I plan to kick-start my fat loss there. I'll indulge on the 4th, but after that - I mean business! Our family is gearing up for the furlough... restaurants will not see our faces often. Meal planning, budgeting, and penny pinching are about to take the Piatt's by storm. While it's not an ideal situation, it will be good for my diet to have to cook at home and take my lunch. Wish me luck and I'll keep y'all updated on my progress!

Slow & Steady

Oh, HEY! It's been a while....

I came across this picture today... it's a doozy.

It made me think about how much I've changed over the last 3+ years.

May 10, 2012 - Pre-pregnancy weight of 150 lbs

December 18, 2011 - 1 month before delivery

January 9, 2011 - 2 days before I delivered. This is what 235 lbs looks like on me.

February 6, 2011 - 1 month post-delivery. 210 lbs.

May 28, 2011 - almost 5 months post-delivery. 190 lbs.

December 2011 - almost 1 year post-delivery. 183 lbs.

September 29, 2012 - after I started CrossFit in July. 163 lbs.

March 31, 2013 - And NOW at around 160... and STRONG!

It didn't happen over night - it was slow & steady. I started with my diet by counting calories, and then I was introduced to clean eating. I started running, then I decided to try CrossFit. Through CrossFit, I was introduced to Paleo eating and Advocare supplements. These three things - CrossFit, Paleo, and Advocare - have been essential to maintaining and fueling my machine. I had to double check when I saw that my weight had not really changed from this time last year, however, my friends can tell you that there is a definite difference between my 163 last year as compared to my 163 this year. My body is the same weight, but it's muscle mass and capacity is completely different.

Moms - don't get discouraged. It took 9 months to get there, and the weight won't come off over night. Hard work and dedication go a long way. Recruit your family to hold you accountable. Figure out what motivates you and surround yourself with positive things. If you have a hard time resisting temptation, steer clear of those things that tempt you most! Set clear goals and reward yourself when you achieve them! And most importantly, if you need a friend to keep you motivated and accountable, get in touch with ME! :)

Busy Week!

 

Tuesday night we celebrated my birthday at my parent's house. My birthday present from Josh also came in that same day, and he met me up at the box so I could wear them for my workout!! Check out our new kicks! (Somehow, he got a pair for my birthday, too....)

 

 

 

These are the Reebok Nano 2.0s! They are super comfy. I didn't realize how much cushion was in between my feet and the floor in my old shoes... I could feel my feet a lot better in these. Also, there's more room and give in the toe, so my burpees and box jumps were better from the extra leverage I could get!

 

 

My dad grilled filets, and mom roasted some vegetables and made sweet potatoes and sauteed onions/mushrooms for the sides. And yes, I even had a roll! Guess what else I had....

 

 

Yep. Happy Birthday to me! Carter ate like a champ, and then played with mom in the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

And later, Aunt Stephanie came over! She's in town visiting from Pennsylvania! She got some good sugar!

 

 

Carter got his hair cut for the THIRD time Thursday. He's such a big boy!

 

 

And I decided to (**drum roll, please!**) go brunette! I really think I'm going to like it once I get used to it. I'm still caught off guard when I look in the mirror!

 

 

My parents got me a gift card to Academy, so after Nichole treated me to dinner for my birthday last night, I went by there and picked up some new workout gear! I even bought my first pair of spandex shorts!! Eek!!

 

 ---24DC Update---

 

Wednesday was day 10 of the 24 Day Challenge. Thursday morning I measured and weighed to see what the results of the Cleanse phase were:

 

4 pounds down

1 inch lost in hips

 

I feel great! Between being without my computer and just being busy in general, it wasn't possible to blog my food every day. To be honest, I haven't been being very good. I'd say I've been at about 70% "good"/30% "bad" for the past week. That means I need to do some serious planning for the upcoming week! I'm now on day 13 of the challenge, so I'm over halfway finished! After seeing such great results in the Cleanse phase and loving Spark so much, Josh and I decided to become Advocare distributors. I can't wait to see what my final results are for these 24 days!

24DC: Day 8 & Birthday WOD!

Food for my birthday was as follows:

Breakfast: Fiber drink and meal replacement shake. I finally found a way to mix this shake that is perfect for me (a big thanks to Kelli Rhodes!). My magic recipe is 10 oz of water, 5 ice cubes, and a blender bottle. Success!
Snack: Banana with peanut butter
Lunch: Dad took me to Lek's Railroad Thai... one of our favorites. I had Pud Thai. Yum.
Snack: I had a Spark before I left work for the gym
Dinner: Pork tenderloin and roasted veggies (squash, zucchini, mushrooms, onions)
Snack: Birthday Banana Bowl! A banana, peanut butter, and dark chocolate chips!

Birthday WOD!
Several people wished me a happy birthday as I walked into the box. We worked on Clean and Jerk for strength, and I was able to get a new PR of 75#. Josh Carter helped me fix my power clean... I tend to pull my shoulders forward and down and it puts strain on them, so now I have no pain!

1600m Run for time! (that's a mile-ish)
9m 8s... my fastest mile ever!

30 squat cleans @ 55#
I'd never done these before... and they suck. Better yet - I suck at them. I made a lot of progress, though. It felt good to get them done!

When I got home I was reading through my birthday comments on Facebook, and a fellow Crossfitter friend mentioned "birthday burpees." I thought it was a great idea, so I busted out 23 burpees in the living room! Carter was intrigued, and attempted some himself!

Tonight is my birthday celebration with my parents and Greyson. I'm looking forward to a steak dinner! Yum! And my birthday present from Josh is supposed to be in today - I can't wait to show them off!

24DC: Days 5-7

Sorry for the delay! Our computer has been down, so I've been unable to blog. I probably won't be able to remember everything I ate... but I'll try my best!

Day 5 (Friday)
Breakfast: strawberry/banana smoothie with almond milk

Lunch: sesame chicken and fried rice... with soy sauce! What was I thinking? I caved. I need rice in my life. I didn't eat all of it.
Dinner: steak fajitas... again, I had a few chips... nothing crazy.


Day 6 (Saturday)
Breakfast: banana with peanut butter (this was around 10:30a!)
Lunch: I wasn't really hungry... so I had a granola thin
Snack: my hungry kicked in. I bought a bunch of bananas at Sam's, and ate one when we got in the car. Then we went to tropical smoothie and I had a Pomegranate Plunge with Splenda. Yum!
Dinner: hamburger patties with homemade guac and Grilled Chili Lime Sweet Potato Wedges
I forgot to get a picture! We grilled half and baked the other half just to see which we liked better. Definitely liked the crispy-ness of the grilled ones! We'll be making this again, for sure.


Day 7 (Today, Sunday!)
Breakfast: strawberry/blueberry/banana smoothie with almond milk

Strawberry/Blueberry/Banana Smoothie

1c frozen whole strawberries

1/4c blueberries

1 banana

Unsweetened almond milk (enough to make it your desired texture)


Throw it all in the blender and let it go! Isn't it a pretty color?

Lunch: I had some roasted turkey lunch meat before I left the house, and then some celery and peanut butter when I got to mom's.
Snack: Breakdown. We went through BK so I could get some sweet potato fries... I got their $1 BK Bacon Burger as well... wouldn't have been so bad if I had ordered it plain. It was loaded with mayo. Blecgh.
Dinner: Mom's cooking roast and vegetables! I can't wait! I'm a little hungry right now. There's a pan of brownies on the counter that I'm trying my hardest to ignore!

24DC: Day 4

Day 4 food

Breakfast: No fiber drink today! Yay! I took my probiotic restore pills, and was a happy girl! I wasn't super hungry, and didn't feel like a meal replacement shake again, so I whipped up a peach/banana smoothie.

Peach Banana Smoothie
1 1/2 c frozen peach slices
1 banana
Unsweetened almond milk (enough to make it your desired texture)

Throw it all in the blender and let it go! This had a super mild flavor... tomorrow I may try something more exotic. Ha.

Lunch: leftover Bacon Wrapped Chicken Skewers and Mango Drizzle
Snack: Carter and I went into town to get out of the house, and I was thirsty so we hit Chick-fil-a. I had a diet lemonade and a fruit cup... he had french fries. I was jealous.
Dinner: Mom and I took Carter to Cracker Barrel. I had the grilled chicken tenderloins, baby carrots, and green beans. I've had a killer sweet tooth today, so I had fried apples, too. Shame on me.
Snack: I still had a huge craving for something sweet, so I stopped by Winn Dixie for a beautiful bunch of green bananas. I'm one of those weirdos that likes my bananas really firm... I love when they still have a little green on them! I scarfed one with peanut butter when we made it back to mom's.

This was a hard day, guys! I don't know what the deal is with my sugar craving today... maybe being at home all day? Anyway, I know I messed up with the Splenda in the lemonade and the fried apples... I saw a shirt with this on it, though, and it shall be my motto.

100% Paleo

80% of the time

I'm back to work tomorrow, and will more than likely go out for lunch - hopefully I'll stay on track! We're trying a couple new recipes tomorrow night, so check back for those. Y'all have a happy Friday!

24DC: Day 3

Today's food is exciting... brace yourself! Besides the grapes... those weren't very exciting...

Breakfast: Fiber drink with orange juice; I was NOT feeling a meal replacement shake today... so I made two scrambled eggs and a sausage patty, and then I sipped an iced coffee made with Stevia and almond milk on my way to work - yum!
Snack: a banana with a huge blob of peanut butter
Lunch: leftover Crockpot Cuban Pork and slaw
Snack: grapes and a Spark... and then Shannon gave me Rehydrate to try after my workout... pretty tasty!
Dinner: Another great recipe from PaleOMG! Bacon Wrapped Chicken Skewers with Mango Drizzle. These were delicious, despite Josh's grill being crappy and catching on fire. Some of our bacon was extra crispy, but still good! We just dipped into the sauce, which is a perfect combination of sweet, tangy mango and honey, and spicy red pepper. We had roasted asparagus to round out the meal.

My friend Michael gave us this super-awesome-ridiculously-amazing Kitchenaid food processor. I used it for the first time tonight to make the mango drizzle. I'm a kitchen tool fanatic... I have just about every Pampered Chef item under the sun. This is going to make my life so easy!

Josh loved this dish! For those of you thinking about delving into the world of Paleo eating... know that our grocery bill has been about $40-$50 lower per week. Also, we tend to have leftovers alot more often. Josh and I both are eaters, but the quality of the food you put in your body makes a difference as to when you're full! We're not only saving money on groceries, but also eating out less often, further decreasing the amount of money we spend on food!

Carter even tried the asparagus! The chicken had a little too much kick with the curry powder for us to feel comfortable giving it to him. We're starting to eat at the table as a family more often, especially now that he's so interested in eating.

Tomorrow will probably be a boring food day. I'll be home with Carter, and Josh will be at work, so no fun-delicious-inspiring new recipes will be made. I've got a good one planned for Friday, though! I won't get to go to the box tomorrow, but may get out in the driveway and do a WOD while Carter naps if I get a wild hair. I felt better during today's Guts workout... but it didn't involve a ton of cardio... I just sweat (sweated?...idk...) about 5 gallons. I even felt good enough to practice double-unders after I finished the WOD! Must've been that giant glob of peanut butter this morning...

24DC: Day 2

Day 2 started better. I mixed my fiber drink with 8 ounces of orange juice, and the tang helped me not pay attention to the consistency. Apparently my taste buds are super ADD. Meal replacement shake is still on the rocks. Literally. I tried it with ice today. I threw the powder, the recommended 9 ounces of water, and about a cup of ice in... and I ended up with what seemed like 32 ounces of  smoothie. I liked the consistency a lot better with the ice, and the fact that it was much colder... however, I didn't finish it because there was SO much of it. I'll work on my measurements tomorrow. Here's how the food worked out today:

Breakfast: Fiber drink with orange juice... part of the meal replacement shake
Snack: a plum
Lunch: Dad and I hit a Mexican place to get out of the building. I had steak fajitas sans tortillas, with guacamole and salsa... I confess... I had a few chips
Snack: a banana with peanut butter and a Spark
Dinner: Crockpot Cuban Pork Lettuce Wraps from PaleOMG! Y'all - these. were. amazing. Josh actually loved them, which surprised me... and Carter even ate quite a bit of the meat! I made the slaw as well, and it was super delicious. We're both eating this tomorrow for leftovers. I'm all for a crockpot recipe, and this one will definitely be on the menu again.

I'll be honest... I did my WOD at home today, and while it was a doozy, I felt like T-total crap-ola. I remember when I started Cat Food Diet having a rough time with my workouts the first week or so. My body is so used to giant amounts of carbs and fats, that it's not sure what to do with the smaller amount I'm giving it now. I'm going to try to up my fats over the next few days... lots of peanut butter in my future! I really need to do the whole "3 Macronutrient Meal Deal", but I've been scattered lately and haven't had to time to plan that well. Maybe next week!

24DC: Day 1

Alright, so here's the skinny. I'm doing the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. The way it works - there's a 10 day Cleanse phase, followed by a 14 day Max phase. Sounds fun, right? Before we get too far into this, here are my starting measurements... I have no shame.

Bust: 40 1/2" ....really?

Bicep: 11" ...guns, my friend.

Waist: 35" ...at least I have one now...

Hips: 40" ....thanks, Carter!

Thigh: 24 1/2" ...two words. quad. zilla.

Weight: 162 lbs

My goal with this 24 Day Challenge is to possibly get to my pre-preggers weight of 150. We'll see. I won't be sad as long as I'm losing inches.

Josh called from the station tonight to see how Day 1 went. Our conversation went something like this...

Me: I had to choke down the fiber drink... and as soon as I finished it I was dreading having to do it again tomorrow morning.
Josh: I've heard that...

Obviously, he didn't bother giving me that info - thanks, guy!

Me: The meal replacement shake flavor is GOOD. However, there's a consistency issue, and I had to fight with the 2 year old inside my head... "Just 2 more sips and then you're done!"

FYI, I ordered the Peaches and Cream fiber drink at Shannon's prompting, because she'd heard the citrus was an even worse consistency. I would die. Again, the flavors really are delicious... I'm just having consistency issues... which may be fixable. I'll let you know tomorrow. Also, I got the newest meal replacement flavor - Chocolate Mocha - and it is delish... despite it going down like hot milkshake. Did I mention Shannon is doing this, too? We pick crazy hobbies to do together... it's cool.

I'm incorporating a Paleo diet, because I need to be eating that way regardless. I was home with Carter today because daycare is closed, so my food was something like this:

Breakfast: Peaches and Cream Fiber Nasty and Hot Chocolate Milkshake
Lunch: We met Alisha and Kadie for lunch at Chik-fil-a, so I had a 12 ct grilled chicken nuggets and fruit... I'm a dipper, so I used yellow mustard with my chicken
Snack: a plum
Dinner: celery and peanut butter*, ham (lunch meat), pistachios... I was at my mom's, and she didn't cook, so I just scrounged up some Paleo-friendly items. Carter likes pistachios, by the way.

*Note: Some forms of Paleo are anti-peanut butter. I refuse to give it up, since almond butter is too dang expensive for the amount of nut butter that is consumed between my husband and I.

Hopefully tomorrow morning will go better... send a prayer my way around 8am - I'll probably be gagging in my kitchen. I'm excited about our dinner tomorrow night - can't wait to share the recipe!

On Ramp: Day 8 - Nutrition Class

Today Josh went over the basics of good nutrition that enhances performance. First thangs first.

A meal includes these 3 MACROnutrients. MACRO, because they're a BIG deal. Got it?

Protein

Carb

Fat

Proteins promote muscle health. Carbs are fuel. Fats are super fuels. Proteins are meats and eggs. Acceptable carbs are fruits and vegetables. We'll talk about grains in a minute. Fats are nuts, oils, seeds, and peanut butter. Each meal should contain one of each of these. If you're missing one of the macronutrients, you might as well have missed a meal completely.

A snack is just a smaller meal. Eating 4-6 meals a day keeps your body fueled and helps control insulin. (cat food flashback...) Food is for fuel and recovery... NOT for treating yourself or for enjoyment. I have a hard time understanding this. I know this in my head, but I really am a food lover, so I'm working to break this bad relationship with food. Pray for me, y'all. Anyway, in case you were wondering - females should aim for 17-20g of protein each meal, 30g for guys.

Grains & Dairy Discussion

I love the way Josh explained this. What does a farmer feed a cow he wants to fatten up quickly for slaughter? Grains. What happens when we eat grains? 'Nuff said. What do we feed babies to help them grow and retain fat? Milk. Whether it's formula or breast milk - we push dairy to children because it promotes growth. Same deal for adults, people. You may say, "Well, I need the calcium." Calcium can be obtained through plenty of fruits and vegetables... and if your source of carbs is fruits and vegetables, chances are you're taking in plenty of calcium. If not, get a vitamin to supplement.

Today Josh never even used the words Paleo or Zone, to my surprise. However, alot of the folks in my class were curious, as surely they'd heard of this before they started Crossfit. For those of you that asked, here's a start-up guide to paleo/zone that also includes links to a block calculator and meal plans.

While my cat food journey gleaned results, I'm looking forward to how my body will react to this Paleo/Zone/Crossfit fusion. I plan on starting next week with a new month. I may even throw in the Advocare 24 Day Challenge somewhere and see just how lean I can get in a month ;) It's all about planning and choices. If you can plan ahead and make good choices, the rest is easy peasy.

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Notable Quotables

"What kinda animals graze? Cows. Who wants to look like a cow? If you're gonna eat, eat a meal."

- Josh Carter

"I'd rather be enjoyed than my food be enjoyable."

- Josh Carter

"If it's sweet, spit it out."

- Josh Carter

"I love to talk about poop."

- Shannon... had to throw this one in here :)