I love McFlurries. I love Blizzards. I love fries. I love bad-for-me-foods. I also love the idea of being stronger than I’ve ever been, faster than I’ve ever been, and leaner than I’ve ever been all at one time. Somehow, I’m convinced that I can’t have all the junk food I want and get my goals accomplished.
I’m going to embark on a 30 Day Challenge (30DC) during which time I will stick as closely to The Zone diet as I possibly can. During the work week, I’ll be measuring out my food, eating more fruits and veggies, eating more healthy fat and lean protein and probably trying a lot of new foods. I’ll be skipping the McFlurries, the fries, the bad-for-me foods and hoping that in the end, the payoff will be spectacular.
If you’d like to join me on this adventure, I’d recommend that you check out the following links.
CrossFit Journal - Nicole's Story
The Zone Overview (Provided by CrossFit)
CrossFit Journal - Zone Meals
Zone Block Chart - Essential Information
The first is an article that convinced me to give this a real try. The writer is a Crossfit hero of mine. She tells her story with great honesty and that is what drew me in, I’m sure. In order to read the entire article, you will need to subscribe to the Crossfit Journal. You can read the summary and still get the jist of her article and see her picture without subscribing.
The second through fourth links are some information about The Zone. It is something that makes sense to me in concept and I believe it is “doable” for anyone from a single person to a larger family because it uses real foods as well as pre-packaged foods and protein shakes to get the job done. You can tailor it to your needs.
Here is a link to The Zone’s site. It’s a free sign-up, and I’m sure will be quite valuable to me in the coming weeks.
Please join me in this adventure! I’ll be blogging each day about my experiences, both good and bad. I’ll be recording my progress in handling cravings, increases in strength and speed, and how I look at food. If you want to be a part of this, please just post a comment to the blog and come along with me! The more the merrier!
As this goes to press, I'm already six days into the challenge. So far, it's been...interesting. =) Details to follow in the comments under this post!
3 comments:
Well, I won't post the ENTIRE list of what I ate last week. =) It was a lot. I'm using a 14 blocks/day plan, because when I'm working out that is what I'll use. So far, I haven't felt hungry.
I HAVE had some cravings for sugar. I've noticed that I eat a LOT of carbs...even things I don't think of as carbs are carbs! Carb-o-rama! =)
Something else I noticed this weekend is that I felt really good last week, compared to how I felt eating my old way this weekend. I had digestive problems and some stomach pain this weekend, whereas I did NOT last week. Hmmmm...
I'm back on the Zone today, and so far it's going well. I'll report my food tomorrow!
Here is what I ate yesterday on The Zone (I'm aiming for 14 blocks, but might not need all of that because I'm not working out right now).
Day 7 11/16
Breakfast 8:45 (3 blocks)
3/4 cup cottage cheese
1.5 cups grapes
3 macadamia nuts
coffee (lots)
Extra fat dose 9:15 (0 blocks)
9 almonds (more on this in the first article in my original post)
Snack #1 11:15 (1 block)
6 oz yogurt
9 almonds
Lunch #1 1:30 (3 blocks)
Leftover turkey chili (ask me if
you want the recipe - it's so
good and EASY!)
Water
Dinner #1 6:15 (3 blocks)
1 hard boiled egg
2 oz deli turkey
1 oz full fat cheese
1 cup cereal
1 cup milk
Dinner #2 10:25 (4 blocks)
1 hard boiled egg
1 oz full fat cheese
2 cups green beans (steamed)
Sprinkling of almonds
1 heavy beer =)
I was not hungry at all today. If anything, I was eating when I didn't feel hungry. I'm not gaining weight at this time, however, so I am going to keep up the "almost 14 blocks" I'm using.
I have had some cravings for sugary things, but eventually those fade.
Well, I've had some successes and some failures the past few days. The sugar cravings have been TOUGH, as have the fried food cravings. Here are the details of Tuesday and Wednesday.
Day 8, Tuesday
Breakfast 8:30 (3 blocks)
1 scoop protein powder
1.5 cups milk
1 tbsp peanut butter
9 almonds
Snack #1 11:20 (2 blocks)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 cup grapes
3 macadamia nuts
Lunch #1 12:30 (3 blocks)
Leftover turkey chili
Snack #2 2:00 (2 blocks)
1 Zone bar
Snack #3 3:22 (1 block)
1 Double Stuf
Snack #4 4:35
5 macadamia nuts
MAJOR FAIL THE REST OF THE DAY! I always go to Don and Millie's when I get my hair cut...and I got my hair cut tonight. I avoided the place before the haircut...but drove right to it after! I had:
Cheese Frenchee
Medium Fries
Ranch dressing
Then when I got home, I did the typical "I've already failed...what's a little more now?" thing...sigh...so I had:
White wine
Cookie dough
2 cups milk
Then I finally went to bed. =)
Day 9, Wednesday
Breakfast 9:10 (3 blocks)
3/4 cup cottage cheese
3/4 cup grapes
1/2 cup milk
4 macadamia nuts
Snack #1 11:00
7 macadamia nuts
Lunch #1 12:56 (3 blocks)
2.6 oz tuna
3 tsp light mayo
1 piece whole wheat bread
1 cup green beans
Snack #2 2:00 (2 blocks)
2 Double Stufs
1 cup milk
Lunch #2 4:40 (2 blocks)
Salad (tomatoes, red peppers,
lettuce, Italian dressing)
1 oz cheese
3 macadamia nuts
Dinner #1 6:00 (3 blocks)
TCBY Regular Golden Vanilla with
Snickers and Oreo on top
Dinner #2 9:45 (3 blocks)
Leftover turkey chili
This is a fairly frustrating experiment. I think I would be far less stressed out if I could work out during this time as well. For now, it seems to be merely ... frustrating with no pay off. But...time will tell.
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