So since these two events basically happened a couple days apart from each other, I thought I would just do one write up about them together.
First comes the Whole30 Challenge:
As I stated in my previous post about this, I had been in crossfit for a year and had been getting stronger and faster with the running regimen I had on top of doing crossfit as well. And I thought why not try something new and try on the Whole30 Challenge.
The before measurements consisted of:
Height: 6′-2″
Weight: 208lbs
Body Fat: 15% (I thought I was worse)
Benchmark WOD Time: 5:29 (800m run, 30 Air Squats, 30 Push Ups, 30 Sit Ups, 10 Strict Pull Ups for time)
So I was completely ready to go paleo and try this whole thing out. I’m not going to lie, it was really hard at first to cut a lot of the things I did out of my diet, but I learned through the month that I was actually able to do it. What I was most scared about was how my diabetes would be effected. Seeing as how I have this workout regimen where I do two a days. I would go to crossfit 4-5 times a week and then I would do whatever run was on my list for the day on top of that. So what I was most scared about was that I would go hypoglycemic while I slept which would be followed by cold sweats and a diabetic seizure to where the only way I would be okay is if the paramedics were called. It’s happened before (and by that I mean it’s happened more than once).
But I was completely able to do it!
I changed my diet from three meals and two small snacks a day to six small meals a day. I also started doing the paleo Fresh Meal Delivery program as well. I had the pro portion (2x protein) for 2 meals a day, six days a week. That would be my lunch and dinner. I would also have a bottle of Kombucha for lunch as well. And for breakfast I would have (4) eggs and coffee. And for my in-between meals I would have a cup of vegetables and either chicken or fish. And I would have another (2) hard-boiled eggs and half a Urawk bar for snack before my workouts. And if my blood sugars were low before I went to bed, which was basically every night, I would reduce my basal rate (the amount of insulin I receive every hour from my insulin pump) about 50-75% and I would eat either an apple or banana with some almond butter drizzled with honey before I went to bed.
Changing up my diet completely changed the game for me. I had more energy and was able to power through workouts that before I would just have mediocre results. I ended up getting a 5k PR (from 23:51 to 22:41) and I was actually starting to look slimmer and see the changes myself! And best of all, my blood sugars had gotten significantly better!!!
With the same type of workouts/runs I was currently doing with my previous diet, my body was going under so much stress and with the minimal amount of food I was eating it would just start eating away at my muscles, which would impede any progress I was bound to make while on a proper diet. And putting my body under that amount of stress would not only impede any proper muscle growth, but would also cause my blood sugars to sky rocket as well. I would usually come home at night with blood glucose results of about 250-400. When the normal range is about 70-120.
I was ecstatic. Everything was coming together, my blood sugars were great, I was finally starting to feel better and I was noticing the results as well!!!
So one month flew by and it was time to re-test.
Height: 6′-2″
Weight: 214.4lb
Body Fat: 13.5%
Benchmark WOD Time: 4:55
My dude John from the Body Fast Test Tank was so surprised that I had to do my test twice! In only one month I dropped 2lbs of body fat and gained 8.8lbs of lean muscle mass!!!
I am definitely going to keep on this new lifestyle change. It’s not a juice cleanse, it’s not a pill, it’s no miracle cure, it’s just clean eating and putting in the work for the results you want.
That aside, I am definitely throwing back peanut butter and protein shakes into my diet. I tried every other nut butter out there this month, but it’s not just the same, I miss peanut butter way too much. And it’s honestly extremely hard trying to reach the amount of protein my body needs for lean muscle mass growth. I need to eat about 3300 calories a day and about 260g of protein. I was barely hitting 230g everyday when I was eating the six meals. So just one protein shake a day would definitely help me reach that goal. And after talking to John since he was so surprised, he told me to stay doing the same thing I was and come back and test again in a month to see if it really was that significant of a change. He even said that he was going to run some numbers and email me a little later this month because he was so astounded that I gained that much that fast.
Top two are before, bottom two are after.
Protips:
-Do this with your box or your gym or just a group of friends.
-This way if you feel like you’re about to fall off the wagon, you have people to talk to and they can console you and keep you motivated.
-Stay focused and the results will come. It didn’t take a day to get you the way you are and it won’t take you a day to change you. Be patient, stay motivated and you’ll get where you want to be!
Competitors WOD Part 2:
This time around the competitors WOD was at Crossfit Miami Lakes and it was the day after Halloween!!!
Got there a little early so I can get a stretch in and get a little warmed up.
That day I had on me my black ranger panties, my Hylete compression socks, my Inov8 F-Lite 240s, some Rehband knee compression and some wrist wraps.
The first WOD was 1 rep max of a complex of a power snatch & a hang squat snatch.
Now I hate anything over head, but you have to work on your weaknesses right? Got a couple warm up snatches in and then I was ready to go. We had 20 minutes to find our one rep max. I started with 65lbs, got it pretty easy. Then 95bs, did that one easy as well. Then 115lbs, this is where I started to have problems. The first time I tried, I got the snatch, but when I tried to get the hang squat snatch I just fell back. The second time I tried I got the snatch again, but locked up on the squat. I was over thinking it. I was thinking of the weight too much and it was getting in my head. I took a breath, shaked it out and went for another try… AND I GOT IT!!! I was so happy. We still had a couple minutes left so I thought why not try for 135 lbs. And boom! I got it. Ended up finishing that first WOD with a PR in my Over Head Snatch and Over Head Squat Snatch!
The second WOD was a Team WOD. 3 rounds of 30 pull ups, 40 kb swings (70 lbs/52lbs), Ring Dips & 60 Wall Balls (20lbs/14lbs). I was on a team of 4 and you were able to split the reps whichever way you wanted, you just had to complete the reps. My team decided we would do 5 reps a piece on the first three movements, then do about 10-15 on the wall balls. There was a 20 min cap and I believe we finished in about 14-16 min. We worked really well together. Couldn’t really get any pictures of this one at all because of how fast these movements were progressing.
The third WOD was another team WOD. 10 min AMRAP of 20 Squat Cleans (155/105) & 40 double unders. Which was followed by a 2 min break and another 10 min AMRAP of 20 Thrusters & 40 Double Unders. Which was followed by a 3 min break and finally a 10 min AMRAP of 20 Clusters [which is a squat clean into a thruster (115/75)] and 40 double unders. This one we decided we would do the same thing each round. We would take on 5 reps a person and go from there. The first circuit went great. We got about 3 rounds in total I believe. The second circuit went the same, but I started to get fatigued and I don’t know what it was, but my arm was locking out and I was feeling it. The first round I got 3 reps in before I had to stop and the second round I got two more in. I didn’t do any the third round, but we still finished three rounds. And finally on the last circuit I was back. I was able to do the 5 reps of the cluster per round and we finished strong with another three rounds. And I was exhausted.
It was another great WOD and weekend and I definitely can’t wait to see what’s to come in the future.
Samurai Piggy 