Not after it for aesthetics, buuuuuuuuut....

Today I needed to go the post office to send in the funds that I raised for Fight Gone Bad V.

At one point, I needed to discard some trash, which meant briefly stepping through the middle of the long line waiting to get to the service desk.

I jokingly looked at the people towards the back of the line and said, "I'm just going to cut in line right here. Is that all right with y'all?" Of course, I was kidding; just trying to brighten the mood of these people having to stand in line.

Imagine my surprise when the lady closest to me looked at me, put a big smile on her face, and said, "I'm definitely okay with that. You're pretty cute."

Another "Thank you" to Crossfit and a healthy diet. I can't even kinda remember the last time that anybody said out loud that they thought I was cute.

Mark

Car inspection, cops, & fitness

Funny story.

I took the truck in to get inspected today. As I sit there reading my book, this conversation happens: 

Guy 1: Says to me, "You a cop?"
Me: "No. Why?"
Guy 1: "You're wearing all black and are built like a cop."
Me: "Nope. I just like black. And thanks."
Guy 2: "Built like a cop? Man, the cops around here look like sh*t. This guy looks great."
Guy 1: "Yeah, you're right. No powdered sugar on this dude."

Thank you, Crossfit.

- Mark

My dietary changes over the last ten months

Over on the Crossfit forums, someone asked me about how my diet has changed over the past ten months of doing Crossfit. Figured I should make this a blog post as well, so here we go. This is a fairly good description of the before & after. "After" really started in either late November or early December 2009.

Breakfast
- Before: Cinnamon-raisin bagel with cream cheese. Maybe a banana as well. One mug of my fabulous home-roasted coffee. Sometimes the bagel was replaced by a bowl of granola with either milk or plain (good quality) yogurt.
- Now: Typical breakfast for me is 3-4 eggs cooked in bacon fat (usually scrambled, but whatever), maybe 4-5 pieces of bacon, veggies (usually either greens [kale, mustard, turnip, collard], zucchini/squash, broccoli, cauliflower, plus an avocado and maybe a handful of fresh berries. One mug of my coffee too. Sometimes the eggs are replaced by meat of some sort; pork chops or beef.

Lunch
- Before: Lunch with the work gang. Usually sandwiches at Firehouse Subs, burritos at Chipotle, Chinese food, BBQ at one of Austin's many joints, or something battered & fried. Common theme is that my lunches almost always had a bread component, either as part of the main dish (sandwiches) or on the side (fluffy roll with the BBQ, rice with the Chinese food). Iced tea with Sweet & Low usually.
- Now: Generally, I just look for whatever is on the menu that (1) has as few ingredients as possible, (2) has as much meat and veggies as possible, and (3) undergoes as little processing as possible to create. Grains are basically gone entirely. Every so often (maybe once every two weeks) I'll allow some rice and beans into a Tex-Mex meal if the main course is too skimpy. Big-*** salads are a big part of my lunch framework, as they usually meet all three of the above criteria.

Dinner
- Before: Whatever the wife was making, which meant (and still means, for her) pasta, pizza, burritos, tacos, ground-beef wrapups (flavored ground beef baked inside croissant dough), burgers. She's a pastaholic, so at least three meals per week had some sort of pasta component, either as main course or side. A near constant was grains. A few meals per week would have steamed frozen veggies.
- Now: Same general description as breakfast, although the eggs are almost always replaced by grilled, smoked, or baked meat of some sort. My wife still generally does her own thing for meals (see: pastaholic), but every so often she'll partake of what I have cooked if there's enough of it and she's too tired to make her own meal. Again, grains are gone. Usually just water to drink. If we eat out, I follow my lunch framework.

Other tidbits:

• The most common theme throughout my dietary change is that grains have basically been eliminated.
• I've never been much of a person for sweets or alcohol. Hence no mention of having eliminated them. I really have just about absolute zero processed sugar in my diet; can't even remember the last time that I added sugar to anything. I have a drink (usually a Bloody Mary) maybe once every 2-3 weeks.
• I don't weigh/measure any of my foods
• I don't really worry about P/F/C ratios. I don't even know what they are, nor do I care.
• My grill and steamer are my best cooking friends.
• I eat when my body tells me it wants me to. I eat until it says it's satisfied. This does not mean I pack myself full. I just eat until I don't want any more.
• It's an extraordinary rarity for me to eat anything from a package.
• With exception of stuff like spices, nearly all my foods come from the outer edges of the grocery store. I want my food to be able to spoil if I don't get to it quickly enough.
• I use some salt, but sparingly.
• I eat some fruit, but not a whole lot. Usually it's berries, peaches, nectarines, or bananas.
• Every 3-4 weeks (whenever I feel like it), I add nuts into my diet. Usually almonds and/or walnuts. These are usually just snacks.
• Some dairy, but very little and very rarely. Usually just a few swigs of milk or a cup of fresh yogurt. This even means no creamer in my coffee, which I have always taken black anyhow.
• I'm also on fish oil, Ca/Mg/Zn, Glucosamine/Chondroitin, Vitamin D, creatine monohydrate, beta alanine, and I have a PWO shake of Optimum Nutrition protein powder, mixed into plain water.
• I don't drink enough plain water and need to fix that.

Hope this is useful for some of y'all. I readily admit that not everyone is willing or able to eat this way, but it works for me.

- Mark

Hoping isn't enough

Heard in the office today:

"Man, I sure was hoping to have been in smaller jeans by now, but it just ain't happenin'."

Hope all you want, but (1) things don't happen by hoping for them, and (2) things don't just happen.

You make them happen.

And if they don't happen through your efforts, you learn why, learn what to do instead, and do that.

This may mean finding some humility, unlearning what you think you know, and following the knowledge of others who have walked your path.

Sauteed kale

Nature's scrub brush.

That is all.

Happy Friday.

- Mark

Don't lose weight. Get fit.

Throw out the scale.

Don't focus on your weight.

Focus on your health and fitness.

"Ideal" weight and "fitness" are not synonymous.

You want to be fit when you die. Whether or not you're at some arbitrarily-determined "ideal" weight is irrelevant. Be fit and strong.

That is all.

Oh, and eat real frickin' food. Not egg whites and protein shakes.

No, you don't GOTTA have _______

"I know I need to eat better, but I just gotta have my..."

• morning bagel and cream cheese
• mama's lasagna
• ice cream before bed
• Friday night beer bash with the guys
• pizza and movie night with the kids
• chips and salsa
• {my own weakness} chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and cream gravy

Look folks... you don't GOTTA have this stuff. You CHOOSE to have this stuff. And, when you CHOOSE to have this stuff, you CHOOSE to do it over CHOOSING to eat in a manner that supports your goals. You are, in essence, restating your goal as "I choose to have the level of health that comes with eating bagels, lasagna, and pizza." Don't try to pass your desire to eat junk as something that your body just won't let you do without.

So, really, stop all of the grousing about how you're getting too fat or not losing fat quickly enough. Eating garbage in order to be healthy makes as much sense as greasing up your shoes to run faster.

Paleo challenge - March 31, 2010

(This being March 31, this is the last of the Paleo Challenge food logs.)

Breakfast
- 3 free-range eggs scrambled in bacon fat
- several clumps of steamed cauliflower
- small yak cutlet
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 6
- cup of coffee, black

Lunch (Chuy's)
- Mexicobb salad. Salad greens w/ diced avocado, Hatch chili, egg, tomato, and cheese. Vinegar & oil dressing.
- iced tea

Pre-wod
- 4-5 strawberries

Post-wod
- 4-5 strawberries 

Dinner
- 12-15 shrimp
- ~ 1/3 plateful of steamed cauliflower

- ice water
- Fish oil x 5
- CaMgZn x 2

Paleo challenge - March 30, 2010

Breakfast
- 3 scrambled free-range eggs w/ green chili sauce
- 1 crown steamed broccoli
- small grilled pork chop
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- cup of coffee, black

Lunch (Cool River Cafe)
- Beef tenderloin salad; very good tenderloin on top of mixed greens, a tomato, and some cheese. Vinegar & oil dressing.

- iced tea

Dinner
- grass-fed yak cutlet (yes, yak, and no it didn't make me yak)
- one each grilled zucchini and yellow squash
- seven strawberries
- ice water
- Fish oil x 5
- CaMgZn x 2

Paleo Challenge - March 29, 2010

Breakfast (Kerbey Lane Cafe)
- good-sized chicken omelette w/ black beans & very small bowl of fresh fruit
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 2-3 cups coffee

Lunch (Opal Divine's)
- Newport Club Sandwich, minus the bread. Basically, a grilled chicken breast with cheese, a couple of slices of bacon, and sliced avocado.
- Grilled broccoli crown on the side
- iced tea

Pre-workout
- 5-6 fresh strawberries
- ~1.5 oz. beef jerky

post-workout
- 3 more fresh strawberries


Dinner
- crockpot bbq beef
- leftover steamed/sauteed turnip greens w/ garlic powder and red pepper flake
- ice water
- Fish oil x 5
- CaMgZn x 2

Paleo challenge - March 28, 2010

Breakfast
- two small grilled pork chops
- 1 crown steamed broccoli, w melted butter
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 1 cup coffee; black

Lunch
- didn't really lunch. Had a leftover salmon burger patty.

Dinner
- baked chicken breast & pork chop
- gobs of steamed/sauteed turnip greens w/ garlic powder and red pepper flake
- ice water
- Fish oil x 5
- CaMgZn x 2

Paleo challenge - March 27, 2010

Breakfast
- three eggs scrambled in coconut oil, w/ green chili sauce
- steamed cauliflower
- a few raspberries
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 1 cup coffee; black

Lunch (Z Tejas)
- migas w/ spinach, mushrooms, & avocado. Ate the black beans. Gave the potatoes to Rachel.
- Bloody Mary
- 2 cups coffee
- ice water

Dinner
- 1 1/2 baked chicken breast
- steamed cauliflower, w/ EVOO & paprika
- ice water
- Fish oil x 5
- CaMgZn x 2

Paleo challenge - March 26, 2010

Breakfast
- 1 small eye of round
- shrimp w/ kale
- 1/2 grapefruit
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 1 cup coffee; black 

Lunch
- beef fajita fixins minus the tortillas, beans, & rice

- ice water

Dinner
- 1 1/2 salmon burger patties
- ~ 1/2 head steamed cauliflower, w/ EVOO & paprika
- ice water
- Fish oil x 5
- CaMgZn x 2

some store-bought beef jerky while watching basketball

Paleo challenge - March 25, 2010

Breakfast
- two small eye of round
- sh*tload of sauteed/steamed kale
- 1/2 grapefruit
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 6
- 1 cup coffee; black

medium cappucino on way to work

Lunch

- pork bulgogi w/ side of sashimi (salmon, some sort of white fish, tuna)
- several cups of hot green tea
- ice water

Dinner
- ~12 shrimp sauteed with kale, red pepper flake, and garlic
- ice water
- Fish oil x 5
- CaMgZn x 2

Paleo challenge - March 24, 2010

Breakfast
- three eggs, fried in EVOO
- 1 steamed broccoli crown; ~ 1/3 plateful
- 1/2 grapefruit
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 1 cup coffee; black

another cup of coffee at work

Lunch (w team at work)
[forgive me Chad, Dale, and Mike, for I have sinned. Going out by myself wasn't really an option though]
- three pieces of pizza 

Dinner (Iron Cactus downtown)
- grilled tiger shrimp, steak, & veggie skewers
- ~12 grilled asparagus
- iced water & iced tea

- 3 Corona beers at some piano bar (gaah!)

Paleo challenge - March 23, 2010

Breakfast
- two small grilled eye of round
- 1 steamed broccoli crown; ~ 1/3 plateful, with about 1 Tbsp EVOO
- leftover mustard greens; about 1/2 cup
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 1 cup coffee; black

another cup of coffee on way to work

Lunch (Mimi's Cafe)
- Chicken picata w/ double helping of steamed asparagus
- several glasses ice water 

Dinner
- two small grilled eye of round
- 1 large steamed broccoli crown; ~ 1/2 plateful, with about 1 Tbsp coconut oil

- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- ice water
(and, yes, this is basically a recap of what I had for breakfast. Lazy dinner.)

Paleo challenge - March 22, 2010

Breakfast
- leftover grilled pork chop with green sauce (jalapeno pepper & tomatillo)
- three scrambled eggs w/ same green sauce
- 1 grilled zucchini
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 1 cup coffee; black

Lunch (Bone Daddy's)
- That #7 Club Salad again. Smoked ham and turkey in typical salad fixins. Left off the croutons and fried onions. Vinegar & oil dressing.
- several glasses ice water

Pre-workout munch 
- several pieces of beef jerky
- ~4 oz. fresh blueberries

Post-workout munch
- remaining ~2 oz. blueberries

Dinner
- two salmon burgers
- mustard greens sauteed in bacon fat, then steamed for ~5 mins and served with the crisped bacon (not a heck of a lot of flavor, but mustard greens are pretty good for ya.
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- ice water

Paleo Challenge - March 21, 2010

Breakfast
- leftover grilled pork chop and a little bit of grilled turkey breast
- ~ 1/2 plate of steamed broccoli, with about 1 Tbsp of melted butter
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 1 cup coffee; black

Lunch
- didn't really have lunch. Had a few handfuls of walnuts while I was out shopping with my daughters. That, and (drum roll please) one small bite of cheesecake.


Dinner
- 1 1/2 baked chicken breasts with salsa
- steamed broccoli and a little bit of steamed kernel corn

- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- ice water

Paleo challenge - March 20, 2010

Breakfast
- grilled pork chop
- 3 eggs scrambled in tsp of bacon fat, topped w green chili sauce (just crushed chilis & tomatillo)
- sh*tload of kale w garlic & red pepper flake
- handful of blueberries
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 1 cup coffee; black

Lunch
- ~10-12 medium shrimp
- leftover kale and zucchini
- 1 apple


Dinner (First Chinese BBQ)
- roast duck & chicken, skin off
- a lot of Chinese broccoli w/ oyster sauce
- a few bites of snow peas and carrots
- hot tea
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- ice water

Paleo challenge - March 19, 2010

Breakfast
- grilled pork chop
- about 1 1/2 large grilled zucchini
- handful of blueberries
- handful of almonds
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- 1 cup coffee; black

Lunch (Bone Daddy's)
- Leftover chili; ground beef, bell pepper, some red beans, onion, & spices
- ice water

Dinner
- grilled turkey breast
- store-bought meatballs (not exactly paleo, but I only had a few)
- two sauteed zucchini
-1 banana
- CaMgZn x 2
- fish oil x 5
- ice water