30 Day Paleo Challenge - Day 25

Five days left!

I know I keep saying this, but I serioulsy can't believe I've actually stuck with this for so long...I've always been a chronic "It's the weekend, I'll start over again on Monday" type of eater.

No commitment, no motivation, nothing worth sticking with. Chronic failure, chronic re-dos, chronic guilt and self-loathing.

No more.

  

If anything, this challenge has proved that IT IS POSSIBLE to stick with something.

Sure, I’ve wanted to relax and let my guard down and order a pizza, but honestly? Eating this way + crossfit workouts have given me so much energy I’m bouncing off the walls. I’m actually having a hard time relaxing, which is why melatonin at bedtime has become my friend.

But seriously, paleo is doable. It takes planning, but what doesn’t?

It’s easy to grill a steak and some asparagus and call it a completely 100% paleo dinner that refuels you after a particularly challenging WOD.

Mmmmm. Red meat over a grill. My inner Missouri Girl is salivating.

Plus, the bacon. Oooooh, bacon. 

Confession:  I started Crossfit back in March for the sole purpose of our St. Lucia trip next week with plans (gasp!) to stop (gasp!) after vacation.

Crossfit isn’t cheap, y’all. It isn’t easy. You feel like your trainers are staring at you thinking, “What in the world is that girl doing???” It makes you leave everything on the floor – sweat, tears, emotions.

But last night, as I checked CFVB’s site – and kept checking every five minutes, despite the fact that today is a rest day - I got yet another kick in the pants.

This last week of the challenge is getting kind of painful in that aspect.

  

CFVB posted a before and after picture of one of my fellow crossfitters and his transformation of one year of CF + paleo.

Nice work. Impressive. Motivational...and tells me it's going to take awhile until I see the results I want to see, not just 30 days of a challenge.

So I want to keep going. I don’t want to stop after our vacation. Sure, I might eat something not completely paleo while we’re gone. And I’ll keep being honest – I know I’ll probably have some Papa John’s again.

But that’s ok, as long as I’m prepared to work that much harder and eat that much more clean afterwards. Little indulgences are fine as long as they don’t become my old, past habits of twice (or three. Or four.) times a week.

And why stop Crossfit after only four months? That’s barely enough time to see results. Sure, I’ve gone from using the gigantic purple band for pull-ups to the not-so-gigantic black band, but I want to do one of those dang things with no band at all!

I want to be able to do a rope climb. I want to be able to back squat 150# by the end of the year. I want to be able to run a half marathon again without having to walk after the first three miles (December goal for that one – the St. Jude’s Half is that first weekend! My fundraising page is set up HERE. Hint. HINT!!!!)

I want to be transformed.

Like one of my favorite bible verses says, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” (Romans 12:2) – I need to change my mindset from “Friday Night Pizza and M& M Time” to “Friday Night Eat Healthy So I Can Get Up and Run Seven Miles In the Morning Time.”

Back to Romans 12:2 for a second. I’m in love with The Message version of this verse:

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

My spiritual life will always and forever triumph over my physical and emotional life. God does bring out the best in me, and only through Him can I have the strength to renew my mind and body.

I haven’t always done what’s right for myself, and let’s again be honest: I’m not getting any younger. Rather than have regrets over past choices, I want to move forward and continue to be the healthiest, most in-shape version of myself I have ever seen.

Today: 

WOD: It's Wednesday, which means it's a rest day! Possible plans to walk dogs after work with a friend if it isn't raining. 

It’s south Florida in the middle of summer, so it’s pretty much always raining right now.

Breakfast: Coffee, Eggs scrambled with diced bacon, baby tomatoes

Lunch: Pork tidbits (we cut our own pork loin and I like to save the extra pieces to cut up and sauté with veggies and coconut aminos – my paleo version of chinese), celery and almond butter

Dinner: Matt is going to grill some chicken whether he wants to or not. With pineapple. And broccoli. Or collard greens with pearl onions. Or both.

Today I love: Hand sanitizer for my car. I’m a road RN. Enough said.