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Healthy Habits

Fed and Fit Project – Take 2 – Week 2 Update

Paleo friendly breakfast

Sometimes, you think you’re ready to make a massive change in your life, only to find that a week later, you’re still falling back into the same habits. Last week’s Fed and Fit Project focus for myself has been to increasing my activity, control my portion sizes, but most importantly, making time for recovery (i.e., sleep). I did really well in the activity portion, sort of all right in the portion sizes, and my sleep schedule? It remained more or less the same: I am still not getting enough sleep.

Activity:

I’ll start with the activity. I’ve been really doing well last week in my workouts. On Monday, I went to the gym and got a really great workout in. I did the Stairmaster for about 10 minutes (we have these new stair machines at the gym, so that was exciting). Then I did this awesome Aaptiv Treadmill run for 44 minutes. Afterwards, I did some abs and called it a day. I was super active all in all, and ended up with 19,493 steps for the day.

09 May 2017 Crossfit Hull Workout WOD

On Tuesday, I had a Crossfit session at Crossfit Hull. I was SO please with myself. I got my first Rx. Basically, Rx means that you do the exercise at the prescribed weights/heights/reps. Since starting at this gym in January, I’ve had to scale back almost every exercise because I don’t have the strength or endurance to do some of these killer workouts. Turns out, I can actually do some of them at the prescribed settings! Also, I want to talk a little about this workout. It was the first time I tried the box jump. It was the perfect example of how the mind is one of the biggest obstructers to obtaining our goals. I came into the workout thinking, “There is no way I’m going to be able to jump on that box”. After some encouragement, I took a deep breath, and gave it a try. I managed to easily clear the lowest level. Then we moved the box up to the taller side. It was only a few inches taller, but my mind was like, “Nope! Can’t!”. I’d keep hesitating and not jumping. After I finally jumped that one, I moved on to the next level, and same thing again! The moral of the story, I was actually capable of doing a lot more than my mind thought I was capable of. It was such an adrenaline rush, and I learned SO much about what impact my head has on my progress.

Caffeineberry at Crossfit Hull

{Me, with my first Rx!}

On Wednesday, I went for a run outside around Hull. It wasn’t anything special but I just wanted to keep myself moving for 5 days straight.

Thursday was another Crossfit day. And again, I completed it with another Rx! This workout was a killer interval. It consisted of a 400 meter run, and 20 kettlebell swings with a 16kg kettlebell for women and I can’t remember what for men. Then you repeat this 5 times for time. That workout made me  so sweaty and I haven’t been that out of breath in a long time. I do want to take a moment to brag for a second and state that I was the fastest girl in the WOD up until the last round. I was gutted to be bumped down, but the girl who caught up has been doing this for a lot longer than I have, so good for her!

sunny day in Hull, England

{We’ve been having some warmer weather here in Hull… Perfect for running!}

Friday was just a simple gym workout. I ran, did squats, weighted sit-ups and some ab workouts on the mat. Afterwards, I took some time to really stretch out so I’d have a better chance at recovery.

Saturday and Sunday were my recovery days, so this weekend, I didn’t do very much physical activity!

Lessons Learned: Mind over matter! I can actually achieve more sometimes, if I just shut off that brain saying those negative thoughts!

Portions/Food:

I’ve been trying to eat healthy, Paleo, balanced meals for the most part, but I don’t have the time, the tools (i.e., I have the smallest fridge and no dishwasher) or the space to cook all the meals suggested in the Fed and Fit Project’s weekly plan. I try to cook about 1 – 2 recipes out of her book per week so that I can mix it up a bit. In general, her recipes are so amazing, so I do like to have something done out of the book, rather than eating my typical chicken breast, steamed potato and some green veggies. When I make something out of her book, it usually lasts me several days because a lot of her recipes are for 2-4 people, and I’m just cooking for one!

Cassy Joy's Italian Sausage Eggplant Fed and Fit

{One of my new favorite Paleo recipes from Cassy Joy’s Fed and Fit Cookbook}

Portion sizes have been all right for the most part. The morning and lunchtime portions are fine, but I find that I pig out when I get home after a work out. By pig out, I mean, still eat in scope, but just eat a lot more food than I probably need. One example of ‘pigging out’ has been with my cashew butter obsession. When I get home from the gym, I’m starving and need something to tide me over until my meal finishes cooking, or whatever, so I end up having a few spoonfuls of the Meridian cashew butter that I always buy. Additionally, I eat it for dessert AND I’ve started using it as a random snack throughout my day. The thing is, it’s not bad for you, and there aren’t any added ingredients, but yesterday, after having had it between meals and having my meal times way off (I ate breakfast at 11:45, skipped lunch and dinner at 5:30pm), I noticed I wasn’t feeling that great. I think my blood sugar was off or something, because towards the evening, I just was feeling crappy.

Lessons Learned: Stick to smaller portions because it helps regulate my body better. Snacking is not necessary, and more often than not, I snack when I’m bored, rather than when I’m hungry.

Sleep:

First, I want to yell at myself for a moment: ALKSJGLKJASLKGJLGKJ. Ok, done. Sleep is the one factor that is the most important for me because of how tired I constantly feel, yet I constantly cut into or find reasons why I can’t be in bed at a decent hour. I ALWAYS have something more important to do (i.e., look at cat memes for an hour) rather than being in bed. I have such a busy mind, and I maybe need to quiet that down first before I can get myself into bed at a reasonable hour.

Lesson Learned: It might be good to try meditating for 15 min or so before my goal bedtime (10:45). I want to leave my electronics in other rooms, and see if that will help me to not be as distracted before bed.

What lessons have you been learning? Are you trying to make healthy choices? Have you ever done a plan similar to this, like the Whole 30, and how was your experience?

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