A Little Experimentation of My Own

So, I had a follow up appointment with a doctor here in Franklin at Vanderbilt Bone & Joint in regards to my little stress fracture in my foot. And the verdict wasn't what I was hoping for. He said all my bone regrowth looks great, but the fact that I am still having some discomfort when performing certain activities concerned him. I could choose to follow his advice based on this one visit, or go get an MRI and be certain. I chose not to mess with the MRI. I really hate having to go to the doc. Seems like such a waste of time. ANYWAY....doc said no running until May. LAME. But I can do a lot of walking. If I can do that and my regular CrossFit workouts without discomfort, then I can start running before May. Considering my CF training involves lots of heavy weight, box jumping and jump roping, I'm not sure it's the best thing for my foot. But I. CAN'T. GIVE. UP. CROSSFIT.  It's like, one thing that I'm decent at. Not Games decent, but decent as in putting up respectable times using prescribed weight (sometimes more than Rx'd).

So, with that in mind, I am making a few adjustments to my training and lifestyle for a while. Yesterday was kind of a bum day for me. One of those days where you kind of pout and throw a pity party and bemoan how lame you are. Yeah, that was my day yesterday. Then I read this totally motivating post from fellow CrossFitter and Paleo eating machine, Melissa Joulwan. She linked up a great article from Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple entitled 17 Reason's You're Not Losing Weight. And not that I'm all crazy thinking I'm so overweight, but I'm still not where I'd like to be. So I decided to implement a few changes and see how it affects my body composition. After reading Mel's list I was inspired to start my own. Starting today, I'm adding the following "experiments":

1) Walking- crazy, right? But getting 3-5 hours per week of low-level activity (only 55-75% of max heart rate) is a super awesome fat burning activity. And since I can't run right now, this is a great time to see how walking can benefit me. My goal is at least 3 hrs per week, and with the weather warming up, should be totally do-able...now, if I could only overcome my fear of those evil red wasps that lurk all over this neighborhood! If you see a girl walking around Westhaven in a beekeeper hat, it's me.

2) Core Work daily- Obviously things aren't quite the same in the core area as they were about 2 yrs ago before I was with child. This is one of my biggest complaints. That even though I have lost most of my baby weight, I have this mushy grody belly skin. And I know the only thing that can fix it is diet and core work. Or a surgical procedure, but that is like cheating, right? So, I have to commit to daily core work, even if it's only 10-15 minutes.

3) Intermittent Fasting- I had heard some chatter about the topic but never really investigated it. Until now. I am intrigued with the idea and curious as to how it will affect my metabolism. You can read more about it here if you wish. But essentially it is the practicie of periodic elimination of meals for several hours. Different people will practice it in different ways, some skip one or two meals, some do a 12-hour fast, some a 24-hour fast. There's no wrong way to practice IF. It is very flexible. If you are new to the practice, it is recommended that you start off slow. I plan on taking this approach by picking a day to eliminate one meal and see how I feel. If it goes well, I will elimante two meals the next time. I hope to work up to a weekly 24-hour fast period, with flexibility. Keep the body guessing!

4) Whole30 Round Two- Yes, I said it. I embarked upon my second attempt at TheWhole30 starting today. Wish me luck!!!! The one exception is I AM allowing myself red wine. Yesssss :) It's great at reducing stress, which can also be a barrier in weight loss (increased levels of cortisol).

So, this is my list. Please ask me how I'm doing! It will help keep me accountable. Also, I'd love to hear any "experiments" or changes you'd like to do or have done for yourself that you were really stoked with.