90 Day Challenge

Today, starts the 90 Day Challenge at the gym. What's this entail? 90 days...working out, watching my diet, no grains, no sugars, no alcohol, challenges to mark progress over the 90 days, and hopefully success at the end.

For those of you that don't know, I started going to Albany Crossfit (ACF) 8/22/11. It was a week after my 27th birthday, and I decided enough was enough. It was time to get in shape, start taking care of myself, and just become healthier person in general. When I started, there was all sorts of discussions about watching your food intake, how the Paleo diet is followed by a lot of Cross-fitters, etc. I listened, absorbed, and agreed, but wasn't ready to give up pastas, and the occasional dessert that I loved. I did give up alcohol for about 2 months, but that wasn't enough. I was seeing results, but I was not losing weight. The number on the scale at the doctors office read 225 before I started in August, and the week of Thanksgiving, 3 months into my crossfit-ing experience, the scale read the same number. Yeah, yeah, it's gaining muscle...but I wasn't satisfied.

My friend and fellow almost PharmD, Karrah, had been doing CF for a while, and she was always saying, go strict, do it, start small...and I still resisted...UNTIL...ACF announced the 90 Day Challenge. It would start 1/1/12 and go until 3/31/12. I thought to myself, this is it, this will be the push, this is how I am gonna get myself to a place I am happy and comfortable being in my own body for PHARMACY SCHOOL GRADUATION on 5/12/12!! That's right I'm gonna be a doctor!!

So there you have it, a rough outline of my past 4 months, why I am starting this blog, and oh yeah...I guess some goals would be helpful!!

90 Day Challenge Goals:

1) Run a 5k by the end (for those of you that don't know me...HATE would be an understatement of running)

2) Weigh under 200lbs...now this might not be realistic for 90 days...but it's a start, and I figure I have all of 2012 to get to where I want to be weight wise. This is a new way of life, a new me. We got time :)

3) Feel better and more confident about my physical self. The past few weeks I have been seeing all these dresses that I love, and I want to wear, but I don't think I could wear them or fit into them. And with Senior Week coming up in May right before graduation, I want to be able to wear these dresses that I am interested in...

Now, some of you reading this might know what the Paleo (or Paleolithic) Diet is, but for those of you that don't...the simplest way to put it is the "caveman diet". Here's a website that goes a long with the cookbook my sister gave me for Christmas.... http://www.primal-palate.com/

So for the 90 days...another goal is to blog daily about my diet, and my workout for the day, and any other information that I need to keep track of/ want to share with you...what I did for my "off" day, recipes that might be worth trying (even if you aren't on the Paleo diet...)

And with that...I end this first blog with:

First day of paleo eating has been uneventful...it's been a quiet day, and due to my wonderful new years eve, spent with 2 of my favorite people in the whole world, and getting home at 530am, I did not make it to CF. I did go for a run on the treadmill, nothing exciting, but I did do something :) I spent about an hour and a half between 3 different grocery stores trying to find the basic staples I need on hand to cook now (coconut oil, spices, proteins, etc). Hopefully I will get my shopping habits figured out in the next week or so.

Until tomorrow, Happy New Year!!