Katie C’s First Guest Post
This is Katie's husband Dave. I can't seem to track down a picture of Katie....
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I have asked Katie C to write something for Barbells and Bacon. She has a valuable view point, and has become increasingly knowledgeable on Paleo cooking and Crossfit in the last several months.
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My Perspective on a CrossFit and Paleo Lifestyle
I started CrossFit in January, and for the first three months leading up to my wedding, I pretty consistently worked out 4 days a week. I noticed great improvements at first (I hadn’t lifted weights or done anything but jogging since high school), but just never seemed to be progressing like some of the other people I saw regularly. I knew what I was doing wrong. My diet was pretty bad. When Aaron explained to us the “prescribed” diet for CrossFit during one of my first foundations classes (eat meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar), it made sense to me. I have a bit of a background in science and knew that my body can make all the carbs it needs from protein and fat. But I still just wouldn’t give up my bread, cookies, pasta, pizza, Hostess cherry pies (one of my favorites), sandwiches, etc.
To give you a sense, I was probably eating pretty close to the diet prescribed by the USDA food pyramid–usually a bagel or oatmeal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch with a piece of fruit, and evenings were kind of a grab bag (I work pretty late, so more than not, it was some kind of takeout–Chinese, subs, pizza, etc.). Oh, and of course, I always ate the assorted cakes/cookies/pies/brownies at my work for meetings, people’s birthdays, going away parties, and seemingly any other event that involved more than 2 people. After my wedding in late April, I completely fell off the wagon for awhile–I was only CrossFitting on weekends and my diet got worse. Two months later and 10 pounds heavier, I decided it was time to act. I started coming into the box more regularly and started reading up a bit more on diet and nutrition.
When Jon posted about doing the 30-day caveman challenge, I decided I was in. My husband, Dave, wasn’t so sure, but he figured I’d be doing most of the cooking, so he’d come along for the ride. Let me tell you, the first 72 hours are the WORST. I was addicted to Diet Coke, and since I couldn’t have that, I decided to give up caffeine along with the grains, dairy, and starches. We started on a Sunday, and by Tuesday evening, I had an atrocious headache, had no energy, and just generally felt like my head was in a fog. I started thinking I was crazy for agreeing to do the 30-day challenge.
My first CrossFit workout on the new diet was on a Thursday, and although I was starting to feel a bit better, I felt like my body was a lead weight. I had NO energy and just barely muddled my way through the WOD. In the mean time, I started reading up on everything I could about paleo nutrition. Mark’s Daily Apple, Dr. Eades, and Robb Wolf are a few of my favorites. With Mark’s Daily Apple, I literally just went to the oldest post and started reading my way forward until I was caught up. As I began to learn about why grains and legumes are so bad for us, I also started to see the results from eliminating them from my own diet.
I dropped the extra 10 pounds I had been carrying without any effort at all. And then I just kept getting leaner and stronger. After about 2 weeks of just trying to get through CrossFit workouts, I started noticing that I was feeling more powerful and less winded. There was one burner we did that started and ended with a one-mile run, and I was terrified of it but actually did really well. That was the point at which I realized that I was never going back to eating how I used to.
Stay tuned for Part 2 and 3 later this week….
12 comments
Thanks Katie, can’t wait to read the rest!
Love the post Katie! And thanks for pointing it out Jon. Still haven’t done the 30 day challenge but keep telling myself I will. Looking forward to the next few posts.
Wow. Hostess Cherry Pie? That’s awesome, though if it were up to me I would probably choose different Hostess croducts (Cupcakes and “Donettes” being top of the list).
Your new nick name is Warrant. Get it?
Great job on all the progress. Diet is king. Now if we could just get everyone else to buy in.
Thanks, guys–glad you enjoyed it! Alisha, we’re coming up on the end of the month–maybe November could be your month to do the paleo challenge? I know Thanksgiving’s in there, which could make it tricky, but you have to start somewhere.
If you do go for it at some point, I’m happy to help any way I can.
Oh no, Aaron–Dave’s not going to let that nickname die, given his undying love of anything 80′s hair metal.
Thanks re: progress. I’m hoping that posting my story may help to encourage others to give it a try. You saw me through foundations, so you can attest to how un-fit I was then! I’m definitely doing way better now and look forward to continuing to get faster and stronger. Dave and I are planning to do a L1 cert sometime next year, which is also exciting.
Love the nickname Aaron! You totally need to post that on the PCF blog so we can make her new name official!
Katie, great post. It’s always really inspiring to hear and read the before-and-now accounts from everyone — helps us keep convincing people that it’s worth a shot! Keep up the good work. I’ll be plugging away myself (I’m still trying to eliminate the last of the sugar in my diet for more than a few days in a row. It’s rough, but worth it.)
Thanks, Alison! We all have those things that are hardest to give up. Sugar is especially addicting. I found that if I eat something with sugar in it, then suddenly I’m craving a bunch more of it. At least for me, it’s definitely addicting!
Hi Katie! I’ve started a CF blog and I just posted that I wanted to start weighing and measuring on November 1st. For those of you out there that are already eating clean…do you think it’d be more beneficial to do the clean first and then weigh/measure afterwards or weigh/measure for 2 weeks and then do the clean? I can see benefits to both. Any thoughts? Bottom line is November 1st I am starting one of the two!
Click on my name for my blog.
Congratulations Alisha! I have never weighed/measured, so I can’t help you there. Maybe others can weigh in on that issue. But I’m proud of you for deciding to make the change. If you need any help just let me know – you can reach me at katyrin27 at gmail dot com.
Alisha,
Go with quality first. Just “Paleo-ing” things will get you 80% of the way there. When you are ready for that last 20% (As in you want 8 abs instead of 6 abs) let me know.
Thanks Jon! November 1st…here I come!
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