Mission

I may or may not have mentioned that I'm on a suicide mission this week so I'm going to CF every day. Monday-Saturday. I'm doing this mainly because I'm trying to expedite the slimming process but also because I like being around people and I have a captive audience at CF so it's a win/win. It has been insanely hot this week so the gym has become a steam room of sorts. You know it's hot when you want to go outside when it's 90 degrees to "catch a breeze" that may or may not have been created by the person running by you.

Anyhoo, I went last night and it was a real gem. I thought we were taking a break from legs when I saw that the movement of the day was shoulder presses. I'll be the first to admit that I whiz through them faster than others because I lift barely any weight. I feel that my days of glory with the 30 lb bar are soon going to be over and MP is going to make me be a big girl and use the 45 pounder. Eek!

Once we finished the movement we moved on to the actual workout which was Thrusters and Pull-Ups! Yay for pull-ups! I say this semi-jokingly because it's not that I'm good at the pull-ups, it's that I suck less at pull-ups than push-ups so it's all gravy. We did 3 thrusters and 3 pull-ups, 6 thrusters and 6 pull-ups, and so on until we reached 15 or 18. All in seven minutes.

First off, let me tell you that I had a literal powerhouse of a girl in front of me. It was her second day and she was throwing weight around like Polly does her pet raccoon. I like to attempt to keep pace with everyone else so suffice to say that I was winded by the time the whole ordeal was done. I was a little slow getting my box in place for pull-ups (I do jumping pull-ups since I'm still "perfecting" my movement) so I had to run across the gym for that portion since I didn't get a good spot. I'm pretty sure I had angels leading the way because it was a literal mine field of equipment and things that Sunny likes to trip over. I'm not over my last fall yet so I'm trying to put some space between the injuries. During the pull-up time I was contemplating (aloud) the likelihood of my being physically able to hoist my person sufficiently on the higher bar when I heard MP shot, "This is the 5:30 class! No whining just do it!"

Tom Hanks? Is that you?

Somehow I forgot my multiples of three, skipped 9 and went straight to 12 reps so I had to go back to nine. My set went like this: 3-6-12-9-15. I only made it to seven on the last set of thrusters because we ran out of time and I wanted to kiss that timer square on the screen I was so glad to be done! Being in a class where you are the weakest link will really encourage you to suck it up and hustle through. Being in a class where you are the weakest link will also get you a lot of strange looks but it's all good, everyone sucked at some point.

I was thoroughly drenched in sweat when I left and my legs felt like jello. I considered myself to be completely worked out. Most of the members of my old class have pretty much moved up to the big kid's class so I'll be in good company this afternoon.

The push-ups are coming. I was a smidge "tighter" last night as I was focusing on squeezing everything and keeping that "counter balance" in check. They are a beast, though!

Everyone have a safe and happy memorial day weekend. I know I'll be getting some MUCH needed sunshine!

Adios,
Sunny

30 Days of Crossfit

Well, peeps, yesterday marked the 1 month marker for my Crossfit journey. One month ago I was stomping around my room throwing dresses everywhere because they wouldn't fit. After that little temper tantrum I decided to do something, so here I am now. A lot of people have been asking me how it's going so I'm going to do a month in review.

The first week was really tough. The only thing that got me through was going almost every day the gym was open because I was afraid of the soreness that would sit in during my "day of rest". Week two was a good week. I felt encouraged and like I could tackle pretty much anything that came my way. Week three was tough but manageable. I could really tell a difference in my energy levels. I had been trying to follow the Paleo diet and I'd say I follow it 80% of the time. Breakfast is what kills me. I hate eggs. Love grits, but they aren't allowed so they're out. Biscuits are my life. I want biscuits for every meal. Needless to say, we're still working on the diet part!

Then there was week four. Oh week four. I swear it's like Eric knew that I'd been eating donuts at work or something because I promise you those were the toughest freaking workouts to date and they were all consecutive! Wall balls ran rampant. We rowed until our hearts wanted to explode. We ran. We dead lifted. We rowed some more. And we planked. We ran. It just keeps going! It was insane! I lost 1/2" off of my waist last week alone!

For the one month workout Eric had something special planned. Now, I seriously doubt that he had it marked down as "Sunny's One Month Mark" but I really think that he subconsciously knew. I saw people running the 400m course when I pulled up. Rut row. When I walked in I saw people jumping. JUMPING!  On boxes! Boxes that were 20" or higher! I wanted to just DIE when I saw those boxes! We know how I felt about jumping over the utility blocks, but  now I was supposed to jump on two of them stacked on top of one another! Great! I am not exaggerating when I say that I would have rather someone throw me in a pool full of snakes.

So, to clarify, we were run 400m, do the normal stretches, 10 push ups and 25 burpees to warm up. Then I got to do back squats for the movement (I still do front squats because my hips "roll under" and my core is weak and I tend to lean forward). The actual workout was 20 box jumps with a 400m run in between followed by a 2 minute break. Repeat. Four times.

Somehow I made it through the jumps with minimal drama. I still felt like I was going to fall over the front of the blocks and bust out my teeth (my #1 fear at Cossfit) but I didn't. So I jumped and ran and jumped and ran. Right at the end I tweaked my arm movements and got a little more momentum of ouf them. Oh man, I was so happy to be done with that workout! But wait, there's more! We had to choose between doing dips or "Awesome Push ups" as our cashout for the day. Awesome push ups are push ups that dont' suck like they usually do. Well we know that I suck at all things upper body so I was directed to do push ups so that I could "perfect the movement". Ha. Ha. Ha.

During my first week at Crossfit I remember thinking "Is my lower back supposed to hurt during these?" No, moron. It is not. It hurts because you are doing them wrong and you're being a sissy. My hideous form gained the attention of some of the guys so they took me under their wing and attempted to teach me how to do one properly. The problem is that I'm so weak up top that I'm just pulling my chest up and my butt is sagging behind. A saggy arse is no good when one is doing push ups. After much yelling and discussion and a few comments like "I think there's some extra mass back there weighing her down," we decided that I just needed to practice my "let downs" and worry about pushing up later. Gotta build that core!

The cashout just about broke me. Frustrated doesn't begin to explain the emotion. I don't know what I'm going to have to do to get my core stronger but I'm willing to do just about anything! It takes time to perfect movements and get everything right. You can't start out on top. I know all of these things, but it doesn't make the feeling that you're failing go away. That's a tough pill to swallow! I didn't mention it earlier but I've made the switch to the 5:30 class so I have the feeling that I'm going to be slamming my head against the wall a lot more now that I've got the pictures of health and fitness running laps around me as I dry heave and shuffle my way through the runs.

On a positive note, I can say that I've lost 2.5 inches off of my waist and other miscellaneous inches that add up to 6.5 total. I've got before and after bathing suit pics but I'm saving them for the 90 day marker so that I can really see how far I've come. That, and I want to be a former blubber butt before I start sharing bikini pics!

If anyone has any before and after pics from Crossfit or any other program they've been doing, I'd love to write up a post on you and what you've been doing! Crossfit isn't for everyone, but we should all be striving to be fit and healthy! Nothing like some good before and afters for motivation! (I've got specific people in mind and they know who they are!)

 I hear we're doing shoulders tonight! I would usually dread it but I'm so happy that my feet will be on the ground that I don't care!

On a totally unrelated note, Polly has revealed to us that she is completely able to jump up on the bed unassisted. After a year of me hauling her up and down! The heifer got tired of us ignoring her on the floor so she just hopped up the other day! I really don't know what I'm going to do with her.


Laters,

Sunny

Jackie Ohhhhh

Remember my pal Hellen? Yeah, she was a real bitty to deal with. On Wednesday I had the pleasure of meeting her sister, Jackie. Jackie sucks. She definitely kicks you when you're down. For those of you who aren't abreast on sunny-crossfit-anese "Hellen" and "Jackie" are the names of certain workouts. Jackie consisted of a 1000m row, 50 Thrusters and 30 pull ups. All in a row. No breaking it up for some variety. (Here is a link to the actual workout done in 1/2 of the time it took me. These women are BEASTS!)  It was pure unadulterated hell preceeded by 20 back squats at 80% of our max weight (I just lifted the 45 lb bar since my core isn't strong and I start going wonky around #5).

By now you all know how I feel about that blessed rower. My first time up I went 500m. I didn't keep track of distance the second time but I went for 3 minutes. My third time at bat I had to row 1000m without a break. I figured I could knock it out in about five minutes. Eric was kind enough to inform us that it was right around a mile distance wise and that really did a number on my mental state.

A mile? Rowing? A MILE? Running a mile makes me want to die so rowing must be absolutely wretched. I was in the first "heat" for rowing (since we only have two machines we break off into pairs) and somehow finished right around the 4:30 mark. Solid! Thrusters suck any way you slice it so of course they were awful but I made it through. (I used the 30 lb bar since I'm still a weakling. My fellow classmates used the 45. I would. have. died.)

The 30 pull ups was probably the hardest part for me. I did the first five really good but the rest were a wash. My chin technically made it up to the bar but I was jumping and flailing around like a crazy person. Exhausted doesn't begin to describe how I felt after Jackie got done kicking my butt all over that gym. Like I said, she's a very mean girl.

Aside from Crossfit, I feel like there's something I need to be honest about. My diet. I've been really trying to be good and not eat bread, processed sugars or any other forbidden foods. I filled my fridge with meats and vegetable and some fruit this week so that I wouldn't eat junk at home. However, over the past two days around 3:00 I get this feeling that if I don't run to the bakery and eat as many donuts as possible I will not survive to see another day. Maybe it's sugar withdrawals that I'm going through. I have no clue. But will somebody make it stop! My boss told me that he was calling Major Pain if I didn't stop. It's really that bad! So, fellow healthyish eaters, what do you eat for a snack? Comment here, text me, Facebook me, send Pony Express, Ups... You get it. I eat so well 95% of the time but these afternoon cravings are about to do me in!

On a good note, I've been making smoothies for breakfast to drink alongside my bacon and eggs and they are quite delicious. I highly recommend them if you have problems getting your fruits and veggies in every day. I put a cup of mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries) with a giant handful of baby spinach, half a banana and approximately 1/4 cup of coconut milk in mine and it was delish. Adam doesn't like a strong banana taste but I do and I wasn't sharing so I put it in there. Polly got what wouldn't fit in my cup and she agreed that it was good.

I am afraid of what tonight's workout will be so I'm not asking around. I'd rather be shocked than dread it for the majority of the day. Besides, when I'm nervous it makes me pee a lot.

K bye,
Sunny

Redemption and a Video

In my last post (found here) I told you of my great disappointment. The day that I walked out of a Crossfit class because of something being off within my person. Well, on Monday I had my rematch.

We started off with dead lifts. As I've mentioned before, I'm stacked down bottom so my legs are usually pretty solid. I "breezed" through those (if one can breeze while lifting very heavy weights) and awaited the second segment.

The second segment sucked. It was shoulder presses and pull ups. Two of my most favorite things. I used the "baby bar" which is 30 lbs. versus the regular bar (45 lbs.) but that didn't make things go any smoother. I blew through the first reps but after the pull ups, my arms were shaking and each movement was a struggle. I should also note that this particular day was exceptionally humid and I looked (and felt) like someone had dumped water over my head.

Once we finished with the Workout of the Day (WOD) we did a "Cashout". My definition of cashout is this: a torturous activity that one must complete before being granted permission to leave the premises.

Guess what the cashout was...

You're so smart! ROWING!!! This time it was for 3 minutes and we were measuring calories.  I vaguely remember Eric issuing something that sounded like a warning. I think his words were "This will blister your heart and lungs."

Now, being a logical person I would think that one wouldn't want to blister one's heart and lungs. Surely he wants us to take it a little easier and move at a more comfortable pace.

Nope. Blister away baby! And blister I did. Somewhere around the last 30 seconds that familiar headache began to set in. I rowed through it, stubbornly refusing to stop until the clock dinged. And don't you know it stopped and I had only burned 30 calories?! Thirty calories! That's not even a donut!

If that doesn't put what you eat into perspective then I don't know what will! After the rowing we went for a 400 m run which was actually quite nice considering the cooler weather. That, and rowing makes running look like a picnic by the lake. Now that is saying something!

When I got home Polly and I ate tons of leftover grilled chicken from Sunday to celebrate my success. I may still hate the rower, but at least I know that I can do it without having to stop and/or die.

Now, as a special treat I give you a crossfit video. One of our members actually takes a lot of awesome photos of us and posts them to his website. This video is a compilation of different work outs and you'll see me, struggling away, somewhere within its contents. So, if you've wondered what Crossfit looks like- here it is!

Also, this is the link to Ashley's website. You may recognize some of your friends here.


I've had a lot of people ask me about Crossfit and how I do it. Well, if it isn't apparent through my blogging, I barely make it through each class. It is a constant struggle to push myself and not give up. I eat (a little) better than I did before and I go into the workouts with a positive attitude. The "I can't do this" mentality won't get you far. The first visit is free, so I really do encourage anyone considering it to go ahead and give it a try! If you think that you have to get in shape before you go then that is just silly.

You'll never be prepared for what Crossfit throws at you.

Dum da dum dum DUMMMMM!!!

Muahahahahaha,
Sunny

Berries and Cream

This is a recipe given to me by my mother-in-law. She always has the most delicious to eat, simple to prepare desserts and this one fits the bill. This is not, I repeat NOT a paleo recipe. Nor is it healthy. In fact, it will probably send you to an early grave. However, it is as close to heaven as my taste buds have ever come. Of this I am sure. This makes an excellent dessert for a pot luck supper or the holidays when you have many guests and little moolah. Without any further ado, I give you Berries and Cream.

Ingredients:
-1 package cream cheese
-1 medium container cool whip
-1 can eagle brand milk

-1 angel food cake
-2 cups berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc.)

Instructions:
1. Combine the cream cheese, cool whip and eagle brand milk in a bowl. Mix until well incorporated and smooth.
2. Tear angel food cake into small chunks.
3. In a trifle dish (or large bowl), put a little cream on the bottom, then add a thin layer of cake, then berries. Repeat until it's all gone.

I actually used more than 2 cups of fresh strawberries but that's just because I had them. Fresh Georgia peaches would be a great addition as well. We did not have one smidgen left over from Sunday lunch, either. It's that good!

Now, go make this and eat it. Then go to Crossfit for a week. Without ever leaving!

Off I go-
Sunny

Sunny and the Rower

I have been doing really well with my Crossfit attendance. My first week I went to 4 classes. The second week I went to 5. Week 3 started out strong with 3 classes and Friday made four. Well, three and a half.  Against my better judgment I attended last Friday's class. You know. The one where it's really intense and I'm way out of my league? Yeah. That one. I had advance warning that the workout for the day was a real doozy but I went anyway. No pain no gain, right? From what I heard it would be tough but doable so I felt confident that I'd tough it out and make it through it.

Things were going great until there was a break in the itinerary. Major Pain brought out the two new rowing machines. I saw them when they were still in boxes and I could tell that he was a little too excited about them but when he pulled them out my heart started racing and I wanted to puke.

"I'm going to divide you up into teams of three and you have to row for 1500 meters. Winners get barbeque sandwiches from Southern Heritage and losers do 25 burpees."

Uhhh.... duh I want a sandwich! I was put on a team with two very fit gentlemen and immediately apologized that they were stuck with me. I rowed second and was up against Brandy, my hair dresser and Crossfit buddy. All I remember about this experience was intense burning EVERYWHERE and checking to make sure that I was ahead of her. Looking back, this wasn't the best strategy. I should have paced myself instead of rowing like a maniac. During the last 200 meters I developed a headache at the base of my skull that intensified until I was done. I'm guessing it had something to do with the lack of oxygen to my brain. I kind of forgot to take deep breaths. Whoops! When I stood up my forearms were permanently frozen and I had little red bumps covering my arms. I'm not really sure if the two were connected but I seriously felt like something was not okay with my body at that point.

I know. I'm being dramatic. The rower kicked my butt but at least I won a sandwich! I didn't care so much about the sandwich as I did the burpees, though. As much as I wanted to jump up on top of elevated objects (remember this day?), I didn't think that my seeing spots was conducive to a good workout experience so I peaced out and headed home to recover from my traumatic rowing experience.

I didn't feel too great when I woke up on Saturday so I layed out of the 9:30 class and took it easy.  Besides, we had major cleaning to do to prep for the Mother's Day lunch on Sunday that we had so thoughtfully planned Friday afternoon. I may or may not have made "Berries and Cream" for dessert and Ohmylanta. You don't even need to know the recipe. Just know that I licked the beater clean. And the bowl. Polly didn't know what to think of this behavior. I may have licked the can of sweetened condensed milk, too. Maybe.

Today is most likely going to be a twofer day, so stay tuned for Sunny and The Rower: Redemption as well as the recipe for Berries and Cream as soon as I stop drooling on myself.

-Sunny

Mental Block

I'm sure that by this point I've mentioned my knack for blocking out painful memories.  It's usually just things I've done that have embarrassed me in one capacity or another that I actively forget. Caroline likes to make sure that some things are always remembered but, for the most part, I'm left to my own devices to forget those things I deem fit for forgetting. Things like falling in public (at a bus stop in front of 100 people to be precise), telling a co-worker the wrong schedule (guilty. many times over.) and other things from my childhood that I want to just. go. away.

Well, I'm staring at my clock at Crossfit time is rapidly approaching. I'm not even done blocking out the last class and another one is hot on my heels. It seems that I am so effective at this "mental blocking" that I made myself forget how much I do NOT like heights. Rails are my life. Stair rails, porch rails, walkway rails, etc. I love rails. They keep me safe and prevent my stomach from falling through my feet.

Last night my fear of heights came running at me. Running like Daniel Day Lewis did after that moose in the forest and there were no rails anywhere around.

I am heights and I am going to make you want to vomit!

Y'all. I am such a sissy. Like, embarrassingly so. We had to do burpees and then jump (both feet at once!) over an object of our choosing. Naturally, Dr. Death chose a bench (show off). I thought that the line on the floor should be sufficient but Eric told me I could jump over a "utility block".

The utility block looks like foam but weighs as much as cured cement. It took me a couple of minutes to loudly roll it over to my area and once I got there my legs were on FIYAH. (Here is a link to one.) When it came for me to jump over said block, fear consumed me and I wanted to puke. Not only do I hate heights but I am also morbidly afraid of anything that could potentially break my two front teeth out of my head- and this qualifies. I had visions of my feet catching the block and throwing my forward. Teeth first.

I thought that by telling Major Pain my qualm that I would be exempt from block jumping but he just laughed at me and told me to do one. So I did. There was a collective "Oh my God, Sunny" from the peanut gallery when I sailed over the block so I shut up and went about my jumping and burpeeing. (I use the term sail loosely but I like to imagine that I am graceful.)I am not lying when I say that I said "please, Lord" in my head every single time I went to jump over that heavy little box.

I made it through somehow and decided to do some abs after class seeing as how I don't really have any right now and MP is constantly telling me to tighten them. My friend Brandy and I did a few random exercises but boredom got the best of us so we kind of shuffled around aimlessly until we arrived at our final destination.

Meet Final Destination

This isn't an exact replica of the equipment at our gym but it's close enough for blogging purposes. Basically, you put your feet under the two bars on the right and put your butt dangling off of the platform up top. You drop backwards (in a controlled motion) and bring yourself back upright using your abs.

Two problems with this. 1) I dont' trust the foot things to keep me from crashing to the floor and 2) HOLY CRAP BATMAN I felt like I was 1,000 feet up in the air and 3) my teeth could be injured in the process of #1 (I know I said only two). I seriously don't know why my fear of heights has chosen this time in my life to make itself known but it is showing OUT big time. I scurried down from my perch and decided that bicycle sit ups it is for this girl!

So, I haven't even overcome this mental handicap and here comes another class! I really don't know why I'm so scared. It's not like I'm climbing rail-less stairs or anything. As tired as my quads are I am praying for some sort of leg work that doesn't involve vertical movement.

Now, I am going to mentally prepare myself for what will probably be a non-traumatizing experience.

Holla,

Fraidy Cat

Carrot Banana Muffins

My first venture into Paleo baking yielded great results. I made these muffins last night and they made my whole house smell like banana bread. They have no sugar and I used almond flour whereas I normally use all-purpose flour in my baking. I did not make this recipe up myself so this is more of a review than anything. I'll link to the original site below.

Carrot Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups blanched almond flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon celtic sea salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 cup dates, pitted

3 ripe bananas

3 eggs

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

1 ½ cups carrots, shredded

¾ cup walnuts, finely chopped

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon
2. In a food processor, combine dates, bananas, eggs, vinegar and oil
3. Transfer mixture to a large bowl
4. Blend dry mixture into wet until thoroughly combined
5. Fold in carrots and walnuts
6. Spoon mixture into paper lined mini muffin pans
7. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes

Notes:
*I found my almond flour at Kroger in the organic section up near the bakery. It came in a 1 lb. bag and it is labeled "Almond Meal". It is expensive so I'm looking into ordering a larger quantity online.
*I didn't have any sea salt so I substituted with kosher salt and it was fine. I didn't  quite add a whole teaspoon, though.
*Use your food processor to shred your carrots before you do anything. This will save you mucho time and energy.

Make these soon. They're an excellent snack or addition to your breakfast. They do not taste like health food! Promise!

I found this recipe here, she has excellent recipes and they're gluten free! I will be reviewing many more of them, no doubt.

Happy baking,
Sunny

Overboard

Has anyone ever seen the movie Overboard with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell? In the movie, Joanna (Goldie Hawn) falls off of her yacht and is "rescued" from a hospital by the carpenter who had remodeled her closet. She had treated him quite horribly and he got her back big time when he took her home to be "mom" to his gang of boys. She suffered from amnesia so she was none the wiser. She went from living in the lap of luxury to living with the dogs. Literally

This cracks me up!

What does this have to do with my usual Crossfit talk, you ask? Well, the boys are obsessed with this comic character "Doctor Death" and it's the only thing they can read. Last night, I met Dr. Death and he turned out to be a she.

Let me backtrack and tell you a little bit about her. We went to school together and actually sang in the same all girls choral group. She was, and still is, extremely sweet and soft spoken as well as very athletic. Before yesterday I knew her only as Whitney.

But all of that changed. Yesterday may have been the most exhausting workout I've done yet. It didn't involve as many reps as others we have done but it worked our arms until I could barely raise them and then it worked them even more. I could barely open my car door or drive home if that tells you anything.

Whitney turned into Dr. Death while we were warming up with some bench presses. My last memory of bench presses was in the 9th grade when my friend Claire and I were so weak that our feet would come off of the ground as we fought against the 45 lb bar. I don't remember whether or not we were able to actually lift it.

Well, friends, not much has changed! When I would say "I can't do it" Doc would reply "One more" in her sweet little voice. I'll tell you firsthand that it's a lot harder to say no to her than it is to Major Pain. I'm not quite sure why, but I'll let you know when I figure out. I remember thinking that my throat was about to go through some serious trauma when I struggled to lift the bar but Dr. D saved the day and helped me up. My partner for this portion was pumping through them with no problem. Showoff.

Anyway, Dr. D had us hang cleaning (video here) and pushuping our arms off. There weren't any kids in earshot so you can imagine the things that were being said! When I tell you that my arms felt like they were on fire I am not exaggerating. We finished off with 3 minutes of burpee hell and we were dismissed. I knew that I would be sore today but I had no idea to what extent.

To put it simply, my arms and shoulders hurt when I breathe. I had to take breaks when I was blow drying my hair this morning and I've got my keyboard shoved so far up against my monitor that everything is going to go off of the back of my desk (so that I can rest my forearms and elbows on the desk).

I invited a pal of mine to join us last night and she loved it so she'll be joining me again tonight! Woohoo! Even though I dread leg nights I'm hoping my arms get a break!

You'll hear all about it tomorrow!

-SJM

Indian Chicken

This dish is a compilation of recipes that I have found online that claim to be authentic. The original dish is called "Butter Chicken" but this is so far removed from traditional fare that I call it Indian Chicken.  Some people don't allow any dairy in their diets when they're doing Paleo but I do so that's that. I have made this recipe many times and it turns out great every time, even when I leave ingredients out by accident or substitute other things.

Spicy Indian Chicken

Ingredients:
-4 boneless chicken breasts, cut up into cubes
-5 cloves of garlic (or 1 heaping Tbsp of minced garlic from a jar)
-1 teaspoon salt
-1/2 tsp black pepper
-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
-1/4 tsp ground coriander
-1/4 tsp ground cumin
-1/4 tsp cardamom (ground, not the pods)
-Juice of one lime
-1 onion, chopped
-1/4 cups butter
-1 can tomato sauce (14.5 oz)
-1 can diced tomatoes
-1 cup heavy whipping cream

optional:
-Sriracha sauce
-plain yogurt or low fat sour cream

Cooking Instructions

1. Place chicken with the garlic, spices and lime juice in a large Ziploc bag or a bowl. Stir to cover chicken in spices and marinate 30 minutes to 3 hours. Can be done overnight in the fridge, too.

2. In a large skillet or dutch oven, melt the butter until browned and add in the onion. Stir it until browned and translucent. Add chicken and cook until brown and cooked through.

3. Once chicken is done, pour tomato sauce and diced tomatoes over and stir. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Just before serving pour in the heavy cream. Serve over spaghetti squash or rice.

Notes:
-Adam doesn't eat onions so I leave them out now that we're married. They are an excellent addition but not central to the dish so don't fret if you have a picky eater.
-I have substituted the heavy cream with yogurt and sour cream with great success. You want your sauce to be a light orange color. You can also leave it out if you just want the chicken and tomatoes. The world is your oyster!
-I add in a swirl of Sriracha right before I add the cream. It gives it a nice kick. If you are afraid of the heat, squirt a little bit on your spaghetti squash (I mean a very small amount. Like, half of a dime IF that much) and mix it in to see how you like the flavor. This stuff is HOT!
-The combination of spices is important! Try to get them all if you can!

Spaghetti Squash: cut squash in half and microwave in a plastic bag for 6-8 minutes until it shreds easily and is tender enough to eat. It may need to go in for longer if you have a larger squash. I love this stuff and it reminds me of the cellophane noodles at a noodle house I used to frequent in Atlanta.

Again, I am not a chef nor am I a Paleo expert but when I decided to change the way I eat, this recipe came to mind. I often serve it with a green vegetable on the side (broccoli, asparagus, zucchini...). Adam loves it, and that's saying a lot!

Let me know how you like it if you try it!


-Sunny

Paleo

When I started researching Crossfit I kept coming across "Paleo" this and "Paleo" that. I finally got tired of being ignorant on the subject so I did what any brilliant mind would do. I googled it which led me to my favorite reputable source on all things academic: Wikipedia. Here is the article I found. Needless to say, I was wondering what in the Sam Hill Dick Cheney had to do with anything. I quickly discovered that what I was looking for was the Paleolithic Diet.

Simply put, it's the caveman diet. If you can't find it in the woods or kill it in the wild, don't eat it. Eliminate refined sugars (or all sugars, for that matter), grains and processed dairy. Now, "refined sugars and processed dairy" are my made-up terms for this explanation. If you want a more scientific description go look it up and the information will abound.

I went to a semi-Paleo diet for a week and I could really tell a difference. I was less bloated, I didn't get as hungry as often and I had more energy. This, coupled with the fact that I can eat unlimited bacon, really sparked my interest in changing over to this type of diet. My philosophy when dealing with food is "the closer to nature the better." Butter? Sure! Margarine? Yeah right! Heavy cream? Yay! RediWhip? Get real. Get it? Good.

When I started looking up things that I could cook that didn't include steak (nothing wrong with steak) or grilled chicken (nothing wrong with that either) I realized that 95% of the stuff made me want to vomit. I mean, come on. Beef heart stir-fry? Cow tongue kabobs? I knew that if I was going to do any cooking, it wasn't going to be by these recipes! So, I'm going to start posting recipes as I come across them. Most of them are ones I've been doing for a while but will be adapting for your Paleo culinary pleasure. I am not a chef. I can cook but I usually adapt recipes rather than make them up myself. Everything I will post is absolutely 100% doable. And I promise it won't taste like health food. Unless it is health food in which case it will be clearly labeled as such. New recipe coming soon.

-SM

The Big Kids Class

Growing up, I always looked forward to the first day of school with a little too much excitement and anticipation. I would lay out my outfit the night before, right down to socks and panties. My backpack would have been packed three or four times to make sure that everything was organized just right. A restless night of sleep and nervousness were also part of my ritual. Something about going somewhere I had never been and doing things I had never done before made me excited and nervous all at once. I thought that I'd left all of that behind me when I was finished with school.

Nope! I sure didn't! On Friday, I went to the big kid's crossfit class. I wanted to puke when I woke up and could barely eat a piece of bacon for breakfast. Driving there I felt like I was going to pee in my pants. (Just keeping it real folks). I knew that when  I got there the anticipation and fear would go away but the getting there was the hardest part.

Well, I made it. And it was rough. Eric was overly enthusiastic about the workout when I got there so I knew that it was sure to be a doozy. The fact that it was named "Hell"en ( Get it? Helen?) solidified my opinion. And hell it was. (They name the workouts after women, btw.) Before class got started I considered ducking out but Adam's friend Paul was in the class and talked me into toughing it out.

**I realize that for non-Crossfitters, it is difficult to understand some of the terminiology so I'll be linking to videos and products to help clarify. When you see a word that is blue and underlined, click on it to follow the link to a video/picture of what I'm talking about.)

We started the workout by figuring out our Dead Lift maxes. That part wasn't too difficult since I've got the muscle tone of a newborn. In five minutes I had my max so I sat back and watched the rest of the class. As the weights got heavier, the grunts got louder and the sound of bars being dropped on the ground echoed throught the gym. It was intense. Thankfully, I was sipping on my Springtime water watching from the safety of the benches.

Now for the workout. First up, we have the Kettlebell. You can find cute ones that look like this, or you can find the ones that we use that look like THIS. Not only are they intimidating to look at but those suckers are heavy! I got to use a baby one but that didn't make the burn any better. Cellulite be damned, I was squeezing everything in my body to get that thing to where it needed to go. I more or less started the movement by placing it between my legs and swinging it up to eye level. You would think that it is all about the arms but it's really your pelvis and glutes that are feeling the burn. At least that's what I was feeling and we know my form isn't perfect.

After the KBs we did pullups. I've talked enough about pull ups for you to know that I hate them and they hate me. Pull ups were followed by a 400m run and then repeated. Three fracking times.

During the running portion I always pass get passed by others who yell out encouragements like "good job!", or "keep going! You're doing great!", to which I usually respond "You lied to me!" or "I'm defriending you!". (Sorry about that Robyn, I'm not really defriending you and I appreciate the water you poured on me afterwards! I was in the heat of the moment!)

The one and only reason I went on Saturday was because it was picture day at Crossfit DGA and MP said that it would mean a lot to him if everyone was there. So I went. And I sweated my butt off. Literally. After pictures (which took all of three seconds) we were divided into teams of three to complete the Workout of the Day (WOD). Here is a picture of the board. It looks like heiroglyphics at first but I'll decipher it for you.

The left side of the board has the teams and the number of reps they did. I am on team #2 and somehow I didn't bog us down too badly. We did pretty great, in fact! The right side of the board is the actual workout. This doesn't include the squats, lunges and run we did to warm up. I really wished they only had one "T" in their last name. You'll know why in a minute.

For the curious, here is the breakdown of the workout.

Squats: aka Air Squats. Basically you just do a bunch of squats. With 3 team members that meant 133 per person. We were timed so were knocking them out pretty quickly.

Clean: Power Cleans. Here is a video of someone doing one with the same weight I did. Just kidding. I did way more. Not.

Overhead Lunges: Lunges holding a weight above your head. They are every bit as fun as they sound. I was supposed to do 100 but I squeezed out 75. It was a painful 75, I promise.

Toes to Bar: Mine were more like knees to boobs but here is what they're supposed to look like. I also swing like a monkey when I'm doing them. One day I'm going to lose my grip and go flying into the wall behind me.

TGU: Turkish Get Ups. MP and Rich (the bossy manchine who loves his nickname, btw) said mine were about halfway correct but I was trying so they let me slide. Here is what they look like. I have a theory that a dentist made these up because, seriously, if that kettlebell falls on your face your teeth are TOAST.

Sea Lions: Oh, the sea lions. I didn't get to these (darn!) because we ran out of time. In case you're wondering, this is what I do not look like doing them. (Excuse the stupid video. It's the only one I could find that didn't have actual sea lions in it. The first few seconds of the video should be sufficient.)

There were 1,030 total reps and our team did 754 in the time allowed. That means we did 73% which is awesome considering we had about 20 minutes to do it.

Dude. I felt like I was going to vomit, cry, pass out, die and laugh all at once. Add to that the fact that the photographer stuck around to get some video footage and I was DONE! I am terrified of the video he got of me because, seriously, I was struggling!

We were actually doing this specific workout to help raise money for one of our Crossfit Families whose house burned down last week. What happened to selling wrapping paper and cookies! Or t-shirts? Everyone likes t-shirts!

All jokes aside, there aren't enough words to describe the feeling of accomplishment I had after the workouts on Friday and Saturday. Going into a gym full of people who have been doing this way longer than I have was intimidating to say the least. I wanted to leave before I had the time to embarrass myself, but I'm glad that I stayed because I would have never known that I can do it.

I'm going back for more tonight and I'm taking fresh meat with me! Yay!

Holler,
Sunny

Ps. I've been looking up Paleo recipes but they all look like vomit. I'm playing with the idea of posting my own modified recipes so stay tuned!

Cause and Effect

Since I had an off day yesterday and have nothing to add other than my arms still hurt like you know what and I bought a kitchen full of fruits, vegetable and meat yesterday, I figured I'd share some of my favorite recent Polly pics. These could probably be split up into several different posts but I'm lazy so I uploaded them all at once.

"Helping" me stretch for Crossfit.

I actually took this picuture while sweeping and mopping the floors! It's no great mystery as to why I can't keep a clean house.

Cause...

and effect!

Before...

During...

Aftermath.

Who knows what she's doing here.
She is forbidden to go into the shower ever since the dreaded razor incident.

Someone broke into the house and shredded my legal pad!
Polly was waiting at the door to tell me all about it!

Hunting for lizards on the deck.

This morning. She was sticking her legs in my side pushing me off of the bed.
This is what I wake to most mornings.

Polly and her dad.

I miss these days!

I don't know how I deal with the endless path of destruction but I can't imagine life without her!

TTFN,

Polly's Human

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

This post isn't really about anything but I don't think I need to say a whole lot. I can RELATE to this kid!

Preach, sister. Preach.

The Purple Bruise on my Knee Really Compliments my Green Skirt

Yesterday as I wrote the latest post, I started to fear that I was running out of material. Surely they can't change each class up so much that I always have new stories to tell. Right? When will I ever learn.

Before class even got started I encountered Boy Wonder at the water fountain. He informed that me that he had read my blog (uh oh!) and when I asked if he was going to kick my butt he said something along the lines of  "probably".

Remember the pull ups from yesterday? The ones that in no way even remotely resembled proper technique? The ones that I was certain were going to pull my shoulders out of socket? Well, during the pre-warm up period, who did I spy doing pull ups as a warm up? Boy Wonder!!! And he was doing them correctly! Without jumping or kicking his legs like a crazy person! Not that I do that or anything.

Okay yes I do. I am such an epic failure.

Moving right along. Everything went as usual until I learned that we would be doing handstand push ups. In order to do these, one must kick themselves up onto the wall as if they are doing a cartwheel or something of that nature. Once one's feet hit the wall, they then bend at the elbows until their head touches the floor and then bring themselves back up again before kicking off of the wall and bringing themselves back onto their feet.


Well. We all know how coordinated I am so I'm sure I don't have to tell you what happened. Or, more appropriately, what didn't happen. I am not sure where my fear came from but I was terrified of injuring myself. On the first try, I got my feet up but my landing was less than ideal. The result is a lime sized bruise on my left knee that thwarted my plans of wearing my brand new No. 2 JCREW pencil skirt that my best pal hooked me up with over the weekend. I thought that the purple of the bruise and the green of the skirt would complement one another nicely but since the right knee doesn't have one to match, it threw off the symmetry. Black pants it is!

So that you know I'm not exaggerating!

I'm sure that I don't need to tell you that boy wonder, also known as D, was doing the handstand push ups with relative ease. I just pretended that he wasn't there and that I had perfect form. Life is easier when I'm in denial!

We did power cleans and push ups but the real torture came in the form of "toes to bar." The idea is to suspend yourself from a bar that hovers above your head as if you are going to do a pull up. Instead of pulling up, you pull your feet up, using your abs, until your toes touch the bar. In theory your body should be bent in half. Mine looked more like a pike than anything. And not a good pike. It burned so I felt confident that I must be doing something right.

By the end of the hour my arms were stinging furiously and my lower back wasn't faring much better. I think it was all of the glute squeezing we did during the push ups. When I got home I couldn't even lift Polly onto the bed. I dropped her the first time and the second time I just kind of boosted her butt enough for her to be able to claw her way up.

I know, she's a standard poodle and has incredibly long legs. It is an unexplained mystery as to why she can't jump on the bed but she's spoiled rotten so I put her up there. She is, however, able to jump off at the spur of the moment and whine in my face until I get up and put her back up. I have ruined her beyond help.

Today is my rest day so I will enjoy sitting my butt on the couch and watching Law and Order: SVU to my heart's content tonight!


Off to fight the good fight,
Sun Dizzle

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today marks  1 week for Crossfit DGA and I (me? myself?). Should I buy it flowers? Chocolates? One week ago I decided to do something good for myself and I went to my very first class. One week ago today my butt didn't hurt, my abs weren't sore and I didn't have sunburn on my face and chest. I also had significantly less energy and 10 less friends than I do today. One week ago today I had yet to experience the humiliation that is Sunny doing upper body anything. Push ups, pull ups, shoulder presses, if you can name it I am terrible at it. One of Papa's favorite games it to try to get me to do a push up. He thinks that it is just hilarious that I'm completely incapable of doing one! I am stacked on the bottom so I can do a reasonable amount with my lower body even though I haven't been consistently exercising, but I really am a weakling up top. I've come to accept it. Major Pain is hell bent and determined to change it.

As luck would have it, we did upper body last night. All of my least favorite things rolled into one action packed hour. During the shoulder presses, everyone kept telling me to squeeze my butt cheeks together to help me lift the weight but all I could think was that if I did that, my pants would get sucked into my crack and my cellulite would show through the spandex. Everyone knows that when you tighten the cheeks, the cellulite plays peek-a-boo. It is unfortunate but it's a fact of life. I made it through the shoulder presses somehow, butt cheeks un-squeezed, only to be faced with "thrusters".

Thrusters are a combo shoulder press and squat. You hold the bar in rack position (dangerously close to your clavicle with ELBOWS UP!!!) and squat. On your way up you squeeze those cheeks together and "thrust" the bar upward over your head. (I probably screwed up the description so MP or Mrs. MP will have to correct me in the comments below.) I got to the point where I didn't care who was behind or around me because I was squeezing my glues like there was no tomorrow. I did NOT want that bar coming down on my head! After what seemed like a million billion reps, we were allowed to move on to the next segment: pull ups. I could have done worse but I have lots of room for improvement. To finish up we did planks with sprints in between.

The plank position = DEATH. And, there were mosquitos biting me adding heat to the fire that was my core.

 My sprints were more like a slow jog but after holding the plank for 30 seconds my arms and abs were unhappy and uncooperative. I vaguely remember having to hold my arms in t-Rex position during a few of the runs because I couldn't move them without searing pain shooting through them. I may have looked like an idiot but my arms didn't hurt!

In all seriousness, the workouts are intense. They are exhausting and grueling but that's what they're supposed to be! After only one week I have found that I am more focused at work, I have more energy to when I get home in the evenings and I'm more motivated to eat well because I don't want to undo all of my hard work. An added bonus is that it is easier to wake up in the morning because there is usually something that hurts and the pain will wake you up! This morning it was my quads that did the waking. Yesterday it was my abs.

Back to the grind I go,
Sunny