Well, we are half way through this challenge!
I woke up at 4:45 this morning and went to CF at 7:00:
Bench Press
6-6-6-6-6
3 Close Grip immediately followed by:
3 Regular Grip
WOD:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Man-Makers (25/15)
25 Double-Unders after each set of MM's (4 X singles)
My max with the close grip bench press was 77# X3. I had never done those before so I don't have anything to compare it to, but my last bench press was on Sept 28 and I did 85# X 3. They said we shouldn't be able to do as many close grip, so I guess 77# seems okay.
I finished my WOD in 23:23, which was about average. I used 10# weights, because they were out of 15#. And I did 100 singles (for a total of 1000), because I'm still not proficient with my DUs. It was a great workout, and Tony, my coach from the Paleo Challenge, told me today I was looking really good! He hadn't seen me for like a month and commented how my upper body had really nice definition. He could definitely tell a difference, he said!
Well, let's take a look at my mid-program check up and see how I'm doing with my goals. Here were my goals as of Day 1:
1. Lose 6 pounds
2. Run a sub-7 minute mile (w/o hanging on treadmill)
3. Do 3 pullups without assistance and learn Kipping
4. Do 40 CF Pushups without rest.
1. Since I gained 3 pounds in the first 10 days of this program, technically I will need to lose 9 pounds. Fortunately, I have lost 7 and am 2 pounds from my goal as of this morning. I'm hoping to lost that by next Wednesday. I am going to my parents next Wednesday, and I'm trying to mentally prepare myself. If I can walk away with maintaining, I'll be ecstatic. We will see. If all goes well at my parents (which I have high hopes), I'd like to lose an additional 4 pounds by November 13. That would give me about 3 weeks. It's hard to say if 1.25 lbs/week is realistic, as at that point, there's not much weight left to lose. I will revisit that once I get to my original goal.
2. The sub-7 minute mile...well, from my blog yesterday, clearly, this will be a tough one. I'm hoping that once I'm back to healthy, it will not seem so impossible. I've been running it at 9.0 mph, which means I get done in 6:45. Originally I was hanging on to the treadmill for 4:45. Currently, I am at 3:05. If I can cut another minute off that and be down to 2:00, I'll feel pretty good.
3. 3 Pullups - I'm at 2.5 right now, so I think I can get this. The kipping has been challenging for me, but I haven't worked on it that much. My focus has really been the 3 pullups. I'm okay if I don't get the Kipping, but the Pullups I have to get!
4. 40 CF Pushups - These have been more challenging than I was anticipating. The most I have done in good form is 23. Considering I started at 18, that doesn't seem like much progress in a month. I will start doing these before my CF workout instead of just working on them in my gym workout. Hopefully that will boost my progress.
With all these things, I also want to take note of my strength and stamina, as that has suffered this last week. I want to make sure that it's just because I've been sick and not because of my weight loss. I am feeling better, though yesterday, I had to lay down for 45 minutes. That mile seemed to really take a lot out of me. I didn't even have an appetite. Hopefully, I will be free of this cold this week and I can get an accurate gauge on my strength and stamina.
Overall, I am feeling very good about this program, particularly because I am finally losing weight. I think the key to that is the following (in order of impact):
1. Staying in the 1000-1100 calorie range with whole foods (Prot26%, Carbs38%, Fat36%)
2. 2.5T Coconut Oil/day in place of all other fat (seems to keep me satisfied, cravings at minimum compared to nuts as fat source)
3. Consistency - No cheat days/weekends (I don't know this, but I think one piece of dessert or one moderately bad meal in a reasonable portion would be ok, but anymore would be a problem. I'll have to test/monitor this once I get to my goals.)
4. Weighing every day - helps hold me accountable and keeps me "consistent" and "motivated" (as long as I'm making progress anyway)
5. Working out 6 days/week at a high intensity for at least 4 of those days
6. No grains/starches for last meal (possible impact)
7. Working out on an empty stomach (possible impact)
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