"Will Run For Bacon" - MissJecka's Journal page

[MissJecka]

I suppose it's time for me to start writing here. I have a blog, but it's not a primal/paleo-only blog, so this will be a nice haven for me to go through everything fat-eating and fat-burning without boring or overwhelming my blog-readers!

I haven't finished the day yet, so I'll wait until tomorrow to post my food and activity that I'd done. Instead, here's a bit of background. (Be warned: I tend swear a lot. )

In the spring of 2008, I weighed 173 pounds. At 5'6" and female, this wasn't good... neither in health nor appearance. Though I'd always had high cholesterol (my parents love to remind me how my first blood work at age 7 showed I had a total count of 310!), whether 120 pounds at age 14 or 173 pounds at age 21, I knew my body reflected my lack of health even more than the numbers from bloodwork. I had to start where I could: stop eating crap and get active.

In the 2 months before starting my first post-college job, I was home alone most of the day while my parents worked; so, I took it upon myself to go bike-riding and finally do something I'd always hated and been bad at: running. I followed the Couch-to-5k running program and although I didn't finish all 8 weeks of it, paired with a "healthy" diet (which I'd later find out was nothing more than Calorie-restricting) resulted in 13 pounds of weight loss.

Figuring I'd be 160 pounds forever, I gave up... until my job sent me to San Francisco and put me up in an apartment across the street from a lake that had a 2-mile running path around it. One random afternoon in April 2009, after work when there was nothing on TV, I got up and went for a walk. It took me 35 minutes to do the 2.5 mile walk (1/4 mile to the lake, 2 miles round, 1/4 mile back) and according to my heart rate monitor, I had burned over 400 Calories. I had exerted myself so much for such a small distance... to this day it amazes me!

That day created a fitness monster. It started off with walking, then intervals of walking and running, and eventually by the end of my 9 month stint in California, running the entire 2 mile loop. Paired with more obsessive food-weighing and Calorie-logging, I thought I was the queen of healthy living. I'd even dropped an additional 15 pounds and 2 pant sizes!

Upon returning to my original office, I joined a gym for the first time. I was a Zumba pro and was obsessed with Spinning classes. I'd spend at least an hour and a half every night after work at the gym. On Saturday mornings, I'd get to the gym for a back-to-back-to-back 900-Calorie-burning cardio-fest of Zumba (one hour), Spinning (one hour) and strength-training (half hour, at least), sometimes followed by a cool-down of a 2-mile walk on the treadmill. Hell, I ran my first 5k (and many more afterwards) and a 10k. How fucking awesome was I??

After a year of plateauing at my 145 pounds, I got a personal trainer. I continued to obsessively count Calories and weigh my food, eating 6-7 small meals per day at perfectly calculated intervals. If it was 10am, you'd better bet I was putting some mini cheddar rice cakes into my mouth, even if I wasn't hungry. Why? Because it was time for my morning snack, of course!

I was dabbling into veganism at this point as well, eating so much tofu, seitan, rice milk, and quinoa that you'd think I'd start growing daffodils out of my ass! My personal trainer beat me to a pulp 3 days a week for a year and, in the end, I hit my goal weight of 135 pounds in January 2010. I was ecstatic!

weight.jpg

For financial reasons, I quit the gym and decided to join a running group to train for a half marathon. I bought some gym equipment for home (dumbbells, yoga mat, etc.) and did yoga with friends who were actually instructors (i.e. FREE classes!). Still counting calories and eating perfectly-portioned and scheduled "mini meals", I ran my first (and only) half marathon in March 2011 in an impressive 2:09:somethingsomething. The medal (along with my 5k and 10k ones) is still proudly hanging on my living room wall today and was the last medal I've gotten.

Then, something happened.

Over time, I started gaining weight back (even though I was still Calorie-counting, eating "healthy whole grains", and cutting out the fat). I started missing periods in the autumn of 2011. I got heartburn for the first time, which resulted in acid reflux and esophageal erosion. I couldn't eat without getting sick, and it was like that for over a week. I vividly remember looking in the mirror and thinking that my stomach looked pregnant (which freaked me out because I was missing periods a lot at the time!) - I was so bloated and uncomfortable and I had no idea why. I couldn't exercise because of this either. The doctor told me to keep a food log to see if anything was triggering it diet-wise, so I did. She also gave me pills to heal my esophagus. Although the doc never told me if my diet was the culprit (since the pills seemed to help) I was told by a friend to read Wheat Belly and suddenly my eyes were open.

Almost at the same time as my beginning to cut out wheat from my life, life itself took a turn and I quit my job to move back to the east coast. The boyfriend and I packed up and I left my vegan friends in mid-June 2012. Oh, if they could see me now...

A couple of weeks after the move, I went strict paleo/primal. Yes, I know there's a difference, but I don't care about the labels. I've read so many books including Primal Blueprint, Paleo Solution, and others, and my life is different, but simple:

Eat local, if possible.
Eat organic, if possible.
Eat real food: grass-fed meat and poultry; wild seafood (and being in New England is awesome for this!); tons of produce; yummy fats like nuts; delicious coconut.
Cut the crap: wheat, pre-packaged foods, refined sugars.
Eat less-crappy stuff less-often: dairy, rice, legumes.

Is this primal? Maybe. Is this paleo? Maybe. Whatever it is, this is me.

Although my boyfriend is very much wheat-addicted (he is extremely picky... he doesn't eat ANY fruit and hates eggs!) he fully supports me, and that's all I want!

Even though my half-marathon is in the past and I probably will never do one again, I still run every week. At the moment, I'm training myself to do the Tough Mudder in in May 2013 because I obviously want to be a badass.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'll probably use this space to talk about my food and some of my fitness stuff, but any and all major life stuff and recipes will be in my blog.

[MissJecka]

Yesterday's foodage:

B (which will mean "brunch" for me, more often than not) = Granny Smith apple, almond butter, home-made carrot/curry/coconut soup, cod, bacon, and home-brewed iced coffee.

D = Rotisserie chicken breast and wing (no skin... not a skin fan...), coconut aminos, one huge locally-grown zucchini, half an avocado, followed closely by a "frappucino" made with coconut milk, coffee, unsweetened cocoa powder, about 5 hazlenuts, and a ton of ice all blended up.

Exercise = 2-mile single-hill run + lower-body strength training

Mood = 8/10

Sleep = 9/10

[unsuperb]

Good luck with your Tough Mudder training! I've done two and they are so much fun!

[MissJecka]

Good luck with your Tough Mudder training! I've done two and they are so much fun!

Thanks! Any tips?

[lastditcheffort]

Love the title of your blog ... too funny!

[MissJecka]

Love the title of your blog ... too funny!

Thanks!

[unsuperb]

Thanks! Any tips?

For training or running the event? I always aimed to just have fun with it, so my training style reflected that. Things I always regret not doing: spending more time on monkey bars (I have limited shoulder mobility/strength due to previous injuries), playing in freezing cold water, more hill runs (but that might be a west coast race thing, as they love to incorporate the mountains out here). A lot of the obstacles are "easy" to get through with the help of others which is the intent of TM, so don't get stressed if you start feeling like you're not up to snuff!

[MissJecka]

For training or running the event?

The event itself. I've run other "mud races" in the past, but they are all shorter (5k distance... -ish) and have less intense and fewer obstacles. I ran those by myself, and every time there were folks 100% willing to help me. A team at the very end of the Mudathlon I did "adopted" me and let me finish with them as an unofficial member of their team. So, I'm hoping that my teammates this time around are helpful... especially with my crappy upper body strength!

Anyway, Friday / Saturday / Sunday...

Had a 20% kind of day on Friday:

B: Apple, almond butter, leftover carrot soup with chicken, home-brewed iced coffee.
Snack: After synagogue, I noshed on a teenie piece of challah and a sip of wine. Whoops.
D: Hamburger (no bun), plain kefir mixed with coconut milk, a ton of almond butter (whoops).

Saturday:

B: Ginormous savory zucchini pancake (one whole zucchini, 3 eggs, 3 tbsp coconut flour, spices galore, a bit of coconut cream) topped with two slices of bacon and half an avocado.
Snack: A ton of locally-grown carrots with home-made dill sauce to dunk them in.
D: Chicken breast, chicken drumstick, carrots, home-made baba gannoush, chocolate avocado "pudding".
Exercise: Ran 2.5 miles, core/back strength training.

Sunday:

Exercise: 12 mile bike ride first thing in the morning, eating B at my halfway point.
B: Two hard-boiled eggs, three slices of bacon, leftover baba gannoush, carrots, leftover dill sauce, granny smith apple.
Snack: Home-made chocolate-coconut-hazelnut butter. (Have I mentioned that I have a problem with nut butters. Working on phasing them out...)
D: Home-made spicy chicken chili with rainbow chard chips, followed by the rest of the aforementioned hazelnut butter.

[unsuperb]

The event itself. I've run other "mud races" in the past, but they are all shorter (5k distance... -ish) and have less intense and fewer obstacles. I ran those by myself, and every time there were folks 100% willing to help me. A team at the very end of the Mudathlon I did "adopted" me and let me finish with them as an unofficial member of their team. So, I'm hoping that my teammates this time around are helpful... especially with my crappy upper body strength!

I didn't run either event with a team but always had other people help me out when I needed it (pretty much no way to get over some of the Berlin walls without help, likewise the event called Everest is near impossible without building a chain of people/using t-shirts). Teamwork is strongly encouraged, whether or not you know each other, which I really like about Tough Mudder. So don't be afraid to ask for help! I can't imagine your team mates wouldn't help you out, it's not about a time after all. Pace yourselves in the beginning (pretty obvious, but each time I would watch teams race out only to have to start walking halfway up the hill charge). In the end, I would say a lot of the obstacles are more mentally challenging than physically challenging.

[MissJecka]

Hmm, I'm bad at this journal thing. I'll just talk about yesterday (Tuesday). Monday is a blur.

B: A cup of plain kefir in the morning, as I want to give probiotics a chance.
L: 1/2 chicken with mashed butternut squash and grilled zucchini.
D: 1/2 chicken (I ate a whole chicken, apparently!) with sweet potato fries and grilled veggies.

The dinner gave me a crazy upset stomach. The meal was from a restaurant, so I'm thinking the fries were fried in some kind of canola/soybean/peanut oil or something. Regardless, my stomach is still feeling quite icky even the next day, and I already drank some kefir at hopes that it eases things.

Exercise: None. Took a rest day, happily.