Fitness Milestone, Paleo and a little Crossfit

I finally reached a great milestone in getting healthy and fit.

Down 10 pounds!  Here's a picture comparison...

I took the picture on the left at my absolute heaviest.  I was pretty sad from a deployed husband, ate comfort food and couldn't bring myself to work out.  Then I decided to stop making excuses and to get back to healthy.  It's definitely taking longer than I would have liked BUT I'm getting there slowly and surely.  The photo on the right is me yesterday after stepping on the scale and finally seeing 10 pounds less!

What have I been doing?

Crossfit and Paleo.

As for crossfit , I've been doing it for about 2 months now.  I did a month in December after my on-ramp in November, but then I went TDY for two months and it threw me off a bit.  I started back hard at the beginning on March when I got home and just after a month of getting back into my groove, the results are so encouraging.  I went from cleaning 55 pounds in December to 115 pounds in March.

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A couple that crossfits together, stays together. 

The best part is my husband joined the gym too so we're both working out and getting stronger.  I LOVE that we're a crossfit couple in every sense of the term.  Many times you'll find him at the end of a WOD coming over to me and cheering me on until I'm done or vice versa. That's exactly what teamwork is about.  I'm so blessed to have this man be involved in my life in so many different ways.  I'm doing things I've never thought I'd be capable of doing.  I no longer have a goal to squeeze into a size 4 or look skinny in my bathing suit.

I want to be strong.  I want to out-lift my husband one day.  I want to have muscle to show-off in my bathing suit, not ribs and tiny arms and legs. I want to be fit in every way one can be fit. Running, lifting, swimming, biking, climbing ropes and walls.  I know I'm definitely on my way.

As for the eating part, which in my opinion in 90% of a healthy battle, I'm doing pretty good at too. We just finished a 7-day paleo challenge with best friends of ours and as a result we've decided to stay on it.  We know we'll eat pizza, bread and cake every once and awhile but we've striving for an 80/20 lifestyle.  We mean by this is sticking to paleo 80% of the time while still leaving 20% of the time for indulging or special occasions.  We LOVE getting back to the basics with eating and our bodies are really taking a liking to our simplistic diet as well.  Below are some favorite new snacks we've started making!

Salt and vinegar kale chips

Fried plantain chips in coconut oil and fresh guacomole

Example of our lunch: Kale salad with homemade vinaigrette dressing/ground turkey, cilantro, salsa stuffed baked red pepper

Best part is it's ALL yummy and paleo!

We completely cut out soda (hardest part!!) and switched to tea, no artificial sweeteners, bread, crackers, chips, cakes, no preservatives (which has been so tricky, read ALL the labels), legumes, soy, dairy (so we switched to almond milk and organic cheeses), alcohol, pasta, and grains.  Those were the items that greatly affected our daily regime.  I feel healthy, have high energy and have regular bowel movements which rocks!  I'm a firm believer that food is the body's best preventative medicine.  Yes it's tough but our bodies are worth it.

I go in for a bodpod analysis in a couple weeks to see if I've made it out of the "overweight" BMI category, fingers crossed!  Last time I checked in August 2013, I was at a BMI of 30 which is classified as overweight.  I'm hoping with the strength training and weight loss that I'll be below 26 which would put me in the "normal" category for my height.

Starting to see some traps peak out! Good bye back rolls!

I'm going for healthy and strong finally.  I'm ten pounds down and on my way.  Cheers!