Archive for the ‘Challenge’ Category

Waking Up to a Good Day

Posted: August 2, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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After not sleeping much the past couple of days because of work and Ramadan, I managed to sneak in 7+ hours of sleep last night. I woke up feeling great and ready to tackle the day. Rest is key. Finding a way to get your rest is even key-er(?). If your rest and nutrition aren’t up to par, what you do in the gym is pointless. Last night I disconnected myself from everything, even shut my phone off at 10.30 pm (whoa what??). I prayed Isha and taraweeh at home and then it was off to bed.

Sahoor

Since I made guac last night, I was pretty excited about Sahoor! I made scrambled eggs with 2 eggs and 3 egg whites. I mixed in diced tomato, onions, sea salt, and some chili powder. Oh and of course, I placed a healthy serving of guac on my plate.  I washed it down with another 1.5 liters of water.  Breakfast of champions.

Workout

Again I was talked into doing the met-con when I had wanted to work on olympic lifting strength work. Oh well, I did ok. I modified the workout slightly to make it easier:

Row 400 meters
3 Rounds
15 Pull Ups
15 Kettle Bell Sumo Deadlift High Pull
15 Hand Release Pushups
Run 200

Originally I thought I could run 400m (1/4 mile) but my throat dried up too much so I cut that in half. The rest was fine. I didn’t feel too dizzy but I was losing my grip on the pull up bar faster than usual.  The hand release push ups are tricky. The first time I heard about them, I thought it was going to be easier than regular push ups. Turns out you lose all momentum when you touch the ground and raise your hands. They require a lot more stamina. If you have never tried them, try 15 or so right now, they’re fun. This was around a 12 minute met-con for me so it’s longer than the other ones I have done. I survived though so my body must be getting used to this! The fact that I slept well last night played a huge role in my performance today. I made a video to show the movements in case you want to try this out:

Iftar

Tonight I was able to have dinner with the whole family and we all shared some paleo food. A couple of days ago I made Steak Bites served on Carrots. I had some beef left over from that day that I had to use today so the dish resurfaced, this time enough for the family. Everyone loved it and the remarks I got (as usual when they try Paleo) were “Wow it actually tastes good”. Well, yeah! I’m not making cardboard over here. I’m proving every day on this blog that eating healthy doesn’t mean that you eat rabbit food all day. I have always been a food fanatic and don’t settle for just mediocre taste. If it’s going in my mouth, whether it’s ice cream or Paleo food, it better taste good! I have found that there are tasty alternatives for all of your favorite junk food dishes. For instance in this recipe, carrots replace rice. In doing so you have cut out tons of sugar, numerous grams of saturated fat, and countless amount of simple carbs. If I can do this, anyone can. Create that mind set, create your goals, and push your self to a healthier lifestyle. It doesn’t take long until you aren’t craving fried rice and pizza every night, trust me.

Anyhow, so my plate looked pretty similar to the other night except well, I had something left over from yesterday…. GUACAMOLE:

And with that, I am sadly out of guacamole. Time to make some more! If you have favorite foods (non-Paleo) that you want me to make using healthy stuff, comment and I will try it out. I plan on trying some unique things out this weekend!

Case of the Mondays

Posted: July 30, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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It’s Monday, weekend is over. The opportunity to sleep in is gone sigh. Oh well, time to make the best of it. I had another sleepy Sahoor this morning. Nothing too exciting food wise. I had some of the left over pasta and then had the same omelette I usually make, 2 eggs with 3 egg whites and onions/tomatoes. I drank over a liter of water. I also had a paleo muffin that I made the night before. I needed to eat more though considering I had workout tonight but we’ll just blame that on a case of the Mondays. It’s interesting though, I found myself craving coffee today when normally I never drink coffee. For those that are coffee drinkers, coffee can be Paleo compliant but it has to be drank black. No sugar or cream! Personally, I prefer the alternative of Teavana tea. They have some great flavors and most of them have really good health benefits. I recommend checking it out.

Here was tonight’s workout:

Back Squat
1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 1 (weight should be 95% of your 1 rep max)
 
then…
5 Rounds
5 Push Jerks, 145 lbs
25 Double Unders

I did ok in today’s workout. I was interested to see if I had lost any strength since Ramadan started. I was able to back squat (around 300 lbs) 95% of my 1 rep max without too much trouble. This was great news for me! I did feel a little weak for the rest of the workout but that’s probably because I didn’t eat enough this morning. I wasn’t able to do the push jerks consecutively after the 2nd round because of dizziness. I started to drop the bar and start from the ground. No big deal.

Biggest take from today is that my strength hasn’t gone down!

For Iftar I made a beef dish today, Bunless Burger. I have ground beef patties that I keep frozen for busy days like today. I can pull them out, put them on the stove or microwave them and I have something to eat. The patties are mixed with tomatoes, chaat masala, paprika, chili powder, salt, egg, and lemon juice (uhm, it’s a little spicy if you can’t tell). I put the patties on top of a bunch of lettuce, added some tomato, cucumbers, and spicy mint mixture (chutney) to it. I ate it with a fork and knife while I drank another liter of water.

I was still a little hungry so I munched on a few blueberries later. I also snacked on some gluten-free jalapeno hummus with baby carrots. I like spices if you haven’t noticed.

I promised a good beef dish and I know this wasn’t exactly spectacular. I will make something good with beef at some point this week. Scouts..honor?

 

Game Plan Juxtaposition

Posted: July 28, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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For CrossFitters, a workout at the gym can affect your mood and your whole well-being for the day. A good workout can relieve even the greatest stress on an athletes mind where as a bad one lingers around like bad gas. Yesterday was one of those bad days. I modified the met-con to make it a bit easier since the programmed one was fairly long. Here is what I did:

3 rounds for time
Run 200 meters
10 Push Press 95#
10 Toes to Bar
2 Rope Climbs (15′)

Aside from not running fast enough, keeping my rhythm while doing toes to bar, or maintaining proper correct technique while climbing the rope, I just couldn’t keep my intensity up. I came home frustrated and feeling weak. It took me a little while to compose my self even when I got home. I started to write a post about the experience last night but I had writers block from the frustration and weakness I was feeling so I decided to leave it for today.

I was able to sleep in today, finally (actually) catching up on my sleep and had a thought occur to me. I had somewhat of a game plan coming into this and here I am 8 days into it, completely disregarding it! Instead of doing more strength WODs, I’ve taken on some difficult met-cons all week. All the while, lying to myself about being rested enough. I had 4 solid points that I wanted to stick to on my game plan post and I find my self already disregarding a lot of them. I think ambition is getting the best of me. I see a fun WOD on the board and I feel like I should be taking it on. When I walk into that gym, it’s as if I forget that I haven’t eaten or drank anything since 4 am or how little I’ve slept this week. It’s the power of CrossFit and it’s a great feeling but I need to keep my circumstances in mind. Time to refocus.

Now that I’ve let that out, time to talk about what I ate last night. I made chicken with eggs and cauliflower:

    • 1/2 lb chicken breast, diced up
    • 2 eggs
    • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
    • 1 tsp of chaat masala
    • handful of cauliflower, chopped up
    • extra virgin olive oil

This was very easy to make. I added the oil to a hot pan and then dropped in the cauliflower for it to satuee. In the mean time I marinated the chicken with salt and chaat masala for some kick. Once the cauliflower was starting to soften up, I added in the chicken and stirred it around. Once the chicken was done cooking, I placed it on a plate, added the remaining guacamole I had left from the day before, and added some vegetables to it:

1.5 liters of water washed it down. I snacked on a bowl of watermelon a little later in the evening. Simple enough. Now if I can only stick to the game plan for everything else…

Focus!

TGIF

Posted: July 27, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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It’s Friday! Jummah Mubarak to all. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a Muslim holy day or the fact that I know I get to sleep in tomorrow but I feel great. I had a solid breakfast, decent amount of sleep, and a lot of water intake. I still have to work on going to sleep at a decent set hour though. Not sure why I can’t seem to do that. Any suggestions on creating a sleep schedule would be much appreciated.

Quick update on times – Sahoor today (cut off time to eat) was at 4:41 am and Iftar will be at 8.25pm.

I did change up how I regulate the amount of water I am drinking and that might be what’s helping my energy level. Last night I drank a 1.5 liter bottle of water after Iftar and then I filled that bottle up this morning and drank another 1.5 liters. I ended up drinking a few more glasses outside of that but this way I know that I am getting at least  100 ounces of water for the day. Every drop of sweat counts when I workout in this heat so I need to make sure I hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

Sahoor was pretty similar to yesterday but I added an extra egg since I didn’t have anything leftover from the night before. Also, instead of avocado I added the guacamole I made last night. Eggs and guac = amazing. I have had a few non-guac eaters make a face of disgust at me when they see it but I urge everyone to try it. In fact I urge everyone to make it themselves. It’s so simple and really is one of the best snacks, health and taste wise, you can have.  TRY IT!

Oh and yes, I know the toast isn’t Paleo. It’s wheat bread but it’s still no good. I will probably only have it for another day or so until I try out some Paleo substitutes this weekend. The substitutes will include the oxymoron I talked about the other day. Stay tuned!

Week 1, Check!

Posted: July 26, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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And just like that, week 1 is in the books. I was able to eat Paleo all 7 days and worked out 5 of the days. I even tackled a couple of days of travel. I have received incredible support from you guys and that is honestly what is keeping me motivated, especially on a day like yesterday when I almost didn’t work out. So thank you all!

So I went to sleep early after yesterday’s day of fatigue. I woke up much more energized and was able to put together a great Sahoor meal. I needed it today too with my schedule at work. Today is a rest day from working out so I will be able to rejuvenate even more. I should have no excuses for Friday’s workout. Can’t wait!

Today’s food selections might have been the best Paleo meals I’ve made yet. They will for sure make an encore appearance at some point. For Sahoor I had Scrambled Eggs with Avocado and Salsa:

  • 1 egg, 3 egg whites
  • 1/2 a ripe avocado, sliced
  • 1/4 of a tomato, diced
  • 1/4 of an onion, sliced
  • 1 piece of toast
  • 4-5 Tbs of salsa

I placed the egg and egg whites in a hot pan with extra virgin olive oil and mixed in the tomato and onion. I stirred it up until the egg was cooked. I placed the mixture onto a plate, poured the salsa on top of it, and added the avacodo and toast to the meal. I had left over Chicken Apple from last night that I added to the mix. Here is how it turned out:

For Iftar, I decided to keep the chicken in the freezer for today and try some seafood out. I decided to make Almond Crusted Tilapia:

  • 2 strips of tilapia
  • 1/4 cup of almond flour
  • 1/4 tsp of ground cilantro
  • 1/4 tsp of ground cumin
  • 1 lemon
  • chili powder (that’s if you like it spicy)
  • sea salt
  • ground pepper
  • coconut oil
  • shredded almonds
  • some sprigs of cilantro

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the almond flour, ground cilantro, and cumin in a bowl and set it aside. Season the tilapia with lemon juice, sea salt, and ground pepper. Then, coat the tilapia with the mixture you made earlier and place it on a pan that is greased with a little bit of coconut oil. Bake it for about 12-15 minutes. When you serve it, sprinkle some shredded almonds on it and place the cilantro on top for presentation.

I made some more gaucamole tonight as well. I used the same recipe I used the other day but left out the garlic. Gaucamole is one of my favorite snacks so I made enough to snack on for a few days. Here is how it all turned out:

As usual I added some mixed salad to the plate along with the gaucamole. I opened my fast with a few dates and drank a liter of water with the meal. This is by far one of my favorite Paleo dishes now. I’ll have to figure out how to top this tomorrow!

Day 7, week 1, in the books. God willing I will stay focused, especially with all of your support and tackle these next 3 weeks! Goodnight!

Master the Fatigue

Posted: July 26, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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Fatigue got the best of me last night so I didn’t post the workout or what I had for Iftar but I’m back with some extra energy!

With the lack of sleep catching up and another busy day at work, I was a little nervous about the workout at 7.30pm and preparing a Paleo dinner. I felt the fatigue but I pushed myself to go to the gym. The thought did cross my mind for a quick second about skipping the workout but I pushed that out of my head. I told myself that if I could get through this workout, I could sleep easy and then rest the next day. I made it home in time to change for the gym and start dinner preparations. However, since the days are getting shorter and Iftar was going to be at 8.27pm, I was in a bit of a schedule bind. Luckily my sister stepped in and finished making my dinner once I left for CrossFit. Thanks Sis!

This workout was taken from the masters competition from the CrossFit Games this year. Factor in my lack of sleep, food, and water to the mix and it made for a difficult workout. I took longer breaks in between reps than usual but even holding on to the pull up bar became a challenge. I didn’t have a solid game plan of how I was going to scale this down but half way through I knew I couldn’t finish the whole workout. My coach had me scale the reps in the second half.

For time:
10 Deadlifts (275 lb)
20 Pull Ups
30 Box Jumps (24″)
40 KB Swings (53 lb)
50 Double Unders
40 20 KB Swings (53 lb)
30 15 Box Jumps (24″
20 10 Pull Ups
10 5 Deadlifts (275 lb)

I didn’t feel any weaker which made me happy. I was able to deadlift that weight for that many reps without a problem. I felt the exhaustion though and that made me take longer breaks to feel less dizzy. I made a video of the workout so if you aren’t a CrossFitter you can see what the movements look like. It’s purpose is to show the flow of the workout so I edited out my breaks and complete reps.

For Iftar I made another chicken dish, Chicken Apple. Here is what it took:

  • 1/2 lb-ish of chicken breast, diced
  • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
  • 1/2 of ground pepper
  • 2 Tbs of coconut oil
  • 1/2 1 large apple
  • 1/2 Tbs of Chaat Masala

To make this, you season the chicken with the salt and pepper. Heat up a pan and add the coconut oil to it when it’s hot. Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes and then grate an apple into the pan. Stir it up until the chicken is done. Place it into a plate and sprinkle the chaat masala on top. I added some fruit salad to the plate as well as lettuce and cucumbers.

I made this with half an apple, but looking back, I should have used a full apple. It had a bit of sweetness to it but the full apple would have given it the altered taste I was looking for. The chaat masala dominated the sweetness of the apple so I mixed in the fruit salad as I ate it. I managed to drink over 1.5 liters of water too. I snacked on some small plums after dinner as well.

Since sleep was getting the best of me, I decided not to go to the mosque for Taraweeh prayer. Instead I did my prayers at home and called it a night. Day 5, done!

Sleep Adjustment

Posted: July 25, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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I knew this would happen sooner or later but looks like lack of sleep is catching up to me. It doesn’t help that I skipped on sleeping well the week leading up to Ramadan. I don’t sleep very much as it is but the timing of Sahoor has really thrown me off. I also am not a napper. It comes down to self discipline though and it can be done. I just need to be in bed by a predetermined time instead of challenging my brother to a FIFA tournament or deciding I can make progress on a work project at midnight. Time to refocus and plan better!

With that said, Sahoor this morning was a challenge to get up for. I cracked open 2 eggs and then added about 3 egg whites to a pan. I added some diced onions, tomatoes, and chili powder and mixed it all up. When it was nearly done, I diced up some precooked chicken patties and added it to the pan. I washed it down with a glass of cranberry juice, a few glasses of water, and a protein shake. I performed my morning prayers and went straight back to sleep until I couldn’t hit snooze any longer (stupid app that makes you do math problems to shut off your alarm).

It was a quick breakfast but I think it will do. I am excited about the workout that my gym has posted for today. My only concern is the amount of water I drank. I don’t think it was enough so I will have to see how I feel and make adjustments to the workout as necessary.

Home Turf

Posted: July 24, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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I want to start by saying that I appreciate all of the positive feedback I’m getting. Every remark is making me stronger in this venture and is really motivating, so thank you! If you want to receive updates when I post entries, add your email address in the box to the left

So just like that, the quick trip is over and I deem it pretty successful from the challenge point of view. I was able to eat pretty Paleo and use what was available in the hotel gym to perform a CrossFit workout. I made it home right before the last CrossFit class of the day at my gym so I was able to join in on the fun. Today’s workout was:

“Cindy”
AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 20 mins 10 mins
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats

I modified this classic CrossFit workout to be 10 mins instead of 20. I managed to complete 9 rounds. I felt a little dizzy after round 7, probably because of all of the walking in the heat today and lack of sleep, so I decided to end at 10 mins. I might have been able to go for more after a minute or two of rest but I decided not to push it yet. I can feel my body adjusting to working out without food and water so I’m hoping I can start tackling more difficult workouts soon.

For Iftar, I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare so I whipped up some quick Coconut Chicken. It took almost no time to prepare so it’s great for a busy day. As usual, to open my fast I had 3 dates. Here is how the coconut chicken was made:

  • 1/2 lb chicken breast
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/8 tsp of sea salt
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tbs coconut oil

Almond flour is a real treat for Paleo eaters, it almost feels like cheating. It’s a gluten-free substitute for flour and tastes great. I’ll attempt some Paleo muffins this weekend using almond flour. Healthy muffins, sounds like an oxymoron but we’ll see how it turns out.

Anyways, to make this you place the shredded coconut, almond flour, and sea salt into a bowl and mix it up. Crack the egg into a small bowl and beat it. Dip the chicken into the egg bowl and then coat it with the coconut/almond flour mixture. Heat up a pan and put the coconut oil in it. Place the chicken on the pan and fry it until it’s cooked. Simple and done! Here is how it turned out:

It had a great sweet taste that you don’t expect when you think chicken. It confused the taste buds for a minute. I added some salad to it and chugged on a lot of water, including a Vita Coco Water to restore my electrolytes. It was a lot of food so I didn’t finish it. I did get hungry later on so I’m eating the rest of it now. So much for leftovers.

So I know this has been a lot of chicken dinners but I promise to switch it up with some beef coming soon. Stay tuned!

Ramadan on the Road

Posted: July 23, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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Today was the first day I had to eat out this Ramadan. The plan was to carefully research and find a Paleo friendly place. However, life happened and there was limited time to find the perfect place. My fate was left in the hands of Yelp and it landed me in a Irish pub with more baseball memorabilia then the MLB Hall of Fame. It was too late to turn back so I had to make do with what was available. Turned out to be ok. I was able to watch the Nationals game (Go NATS!) while I scoured the menu for something somewhat Paleo friendly. For those of you who have eaten at Irish pubs, you know that finding something healthy is nearly impossible. When you are faced with a situation like that, you have two viable options. Almost every restaurant will have some sort of salad selection. Pick one that is heavy on the greens and contains some sort of protein in it (avoid 6 lbs of ranch dressing). After all of the walking today, I was spent and a salad just wasn’t going to cut it for me. So the next option is to head on over to the gluten-free portion of the menu. Gluten is a type of protein that is added into grains and wheat to add texture, flavor, and thickness. It’s also difficult for the body to process, so for a healthy diet it’s something that should be avoided. Most restaurants will have gluten-free options these days so be sure to ask for it.

I ended up getting a shrimp dish that was served with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, a healthy serving of broccoli served on top of linguine. It had some oregano and other spices in it and it looked like it was made with olive oil. I later had some mixed fruit to satisfy the sweet tooth.
No pictures of food tonight, the food came out right as Iftar hit and I wasted no time attacking it.

The Workout

You and I both know, traveling is one of the best excuses to skip a workout. Not for a dedicated CrossFitter though! As a CrossFitter, when you travel to a different city, there is almost always a CrossFit gym that you can drop in at. They will almost always take you in as if you are a regular and it’s fun to see how other gyms operate. However, a couple of things hindered that option for me today. One is that my schedule simply didn’t match up with the workout sessions of the local gym. Second, as a drop in, I’m not so sure how a coach would feel with me making up my own WOD as a guest if they had an intense met-con programmed. So this leaves me with two options. I could either do another body weight workout in my room, or… the dreaded hotel gym..

Ignore the grandma on the elliptical and avoid eye contact with the guy doing 600 bicep curls and you will be just fine:

“Hotel Woes Chipper” for time
15 dumb bell thrusters 70#
10 push ups
15 dumb bell push presses
10 squats
15 med ball thrusters
10 sit ups
15 dumb bell cleans

With this day in the books, time for the hard part. Waking up for Sahoor and finding a place to eat at 4 am…

First Weekend Complete

Posted: July 22, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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The first weekend of Ramadan is over and am I the only one confused where the time went? I figured I would be at home on a rare unscheduled weekend and that I would be counting down the minutes. SubhanAllah, time passed and here we are at Iftar. Food time. Alright so some of you saw a teaser earlier on my Facebook page about what was for dinner:

The result, Chicken Fajita with Guacamole. The end result, or I guess the beginning before I devoured it:

This is a pretty straightforward dish to make. The guac was from the night before and made a nice addition. Here is how it was done:

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb of chicken breast cut in to small pieces
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt (optional)
  • 1 Tbs of coconut oil
  • 1/2 onion sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper sliced
  • 1/2 of a lemon
  • 1/2 of a lime
  1. Combine the cumin, oregano, chili powder, and sea salt into a bowl.
  2. Mix the chicken pieces into the bowl and mix it around to make sure all of the chicken is coated.
  3. Heat up a pan and when it’s hot, put in the coconut oil
  4. Put the onions in the pan and let it saute for 3-4 minutes
  5. Add the chicken in and stir everything up. Let the chicken cook for about 10-15 minutes while stirring.
  6. Right before the chicken is done, add the lemon, lime, and red bell pepper to the mixture. Stir it up for a few minutes
  7. Serve with a mixture of vegetables and guacamole.

I usually use extra virgin olive oil but decided to switch things up today and use coconut oil. Coconut oil is known for its many benefits regarding digestion, weight loss, skin care, and immune system. Also the salt is optional here. If you do want salt, try to use sea salt. This is a lot of food so plan to store some or share with someone else. In 20 minutes, you have another Paleo friendly dish.

The Workout

Today’s workout is a body weight workout. These type of workouts are great if you are on the go or don’t have access to equipment. You don’t need a lot of room either so if you are going out and aren’t going to have time, a public bathroom should be more than enough space to get this done haha.

10 rounds for time

10 push ups

10 squats

10 sit ups

Not a lot of technical movements going on here so just make sure you warm up your major muscle groups and get your heart rate elevated before starting. If the push ups become too much or you can’t do push ups, drop to your knees and do them that way. If you still feel this will be too much, you can reduce the workout from 10 rounds to 6. Remember the goal of these works are high intensity, so push your self to do as much of this as you can unbroken (without taking rest).

That’s a wrap for day 3. I’ll be on the road for the next couple of days for work so I’ll be tackling the challenge of eating out as well as working out on the road. Stay tuned!

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