weight gained again. Paleo time?

Earlier this month I got down to the 250 pound range for the first time in a couple years. And now I'm back into the 260's again. I love food, I hate dieting. I'm getting frustrated. I lost 20 pounds in a few weeks of starting Olympic weightlifting and have now become stuck, bouncing around between 258-262. I think I'm going to try the Paleo diet again. Perhaps just until I lose this extra 30 pounds and I get into the 105k weight class. I've had great losses when I get onto the Paleo diet, but I also end up with the worst cravings in my life, which often times ends up causing me to binge and gain all my weight back and then some.

Oh how glorious it would be to be back into the 230's.....

CrossFit games 2013 rankings

Well I finished the 2013 CrossFit games. It wasn't pretty.
Workout/ world ranking/ South West ranking
13.1/  35,822/ 2,391
13.2/ 44,856/ 3,443     
13.3/ 44,271/ 3,629
13.4/ 45,763/ 2,990
13.5/ 44,464/ 2.844
overall I placed 40,230th in the world. And 2,639th in the South West.

I've been in a Paleo and fitness competition for the last 9 weeks. As of yesterday I'd lost 29 pounds and was within 9 pounds of my short term goal of 220. My diet hasn't been a problem all year. It's as if I've been a normal person in regards to my eating, which I know I'm not. But yesterday I fell off the diet wagon. One of the things I've learned is never allow myself to get hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. If I do any of these I end up turning to food. I've been working a lot of hours recently. By recently I mean like just shy of 8 years. Anyways, I got off of a 16 hour shift and was so tired couldn't even get off the couch to go to bed. But I sure as hell could get off the couch to eat. So yesterday I fell off the diet wagon. I was hoping to regain control of my eating today, but no such luck. Hopefully tomorrow.........

Speaking of being tired, I've worked 12-16 hours a day 24 out of the last 28 days. The last 2 days in a row I only got 3 hours of sleep. I've been tryingto sleep all day. I don't even remember what a good night of sleep feels like. Crap I'm tired. I'm too tired. I'm so tired my body can't sleep. Man, I wish my body would just go to sleep.
I

Paleo diet gains and mistakes

In early January I started working out at Zia CrossFit. Immediately I fell in love with the workouts and environment. After almost a month of working out there I was getting stronger, faster, more endurance, and more flexible. But every time I tried to lose weight by counting calories like I did when I was training for triathlons I became overly hungry very quickly which would lead to me falling off the diet wagon, overeating and gaining even more weight. My buddies BJ and Will who are competitive Olympic weight lifters, strong man competitors, and owners of zia CrossFit took some time to teach me how they ate, which is Paleo. They eat meat, vegetables, fruit, and small amount of nuts. They eat until they are satisfied, and never count or restrict calories. They eat 1.5 ounces of protein for every pound of lean body mass.

GAINS:
So far since I started eating Paleo on Feb 3, 2013 I've ate an average of 3,051 calories and 235 grams of protein each day. I've burned an average of 539 calories a day from working out, which is about half as much as I did when I was only swimming, biking, and running. Since Feb 3rd 'veI dropped from 252 pounds to 237 pounds. 15 pounds in 5 weeks while eating as much as I want. What's even more exciting is the strength and muscle gains I've made. While dropping pant sizes and losing fat I've gained 3 inches around my chest and back, and have set new PR's on my power clean, snatch, front squat, and clean and jerk lifts.

MISTAKES:
I was warned by BJ and Will not to cut fat while eating Paleo. Recently I decided to try and speed up my weight loss so I cut 500 calories a day out of my diet. I didn't cut fat, I just lowered how much I was eating each day a little. Withing 2 days I was grumpy and struggling to finish workouts.

WHAT I LEARNED:
Don't cut calories when eating Paleo. When I cut calories I feel like crap and perform like crap. I'm making great gains in strength, endurance, and weight loss by eating Paleo. I need to be patient and let my weight loss and performance gains continue. If it aint broke, dont fix it.

P.S.
Don't think I've given up on multisport. I'm still running and cycling. Not as much as I used to. Just enough to finish them comfortably- not necessarily quickly though. Triathlons and duathlons are still my passion. My races will be the Atomic Man duathlon in White Rock NM (April), The Spring Fling Triathlon in Rio Rancho NM (April).

strong enemies suck

I'm in a competition with another blogger. It's a diet, health, workout, etc, competition. Until I beat him he's my enemy. The enemy is strong, knowledgeable, and tough as nails. But that's alright 'cause I'm going to smoke him anyways. There's no way I could lose to this guy:

Yup, those are his shoes. Purple shoes. I cant lose to a dude who wears purple shoes. If I lose to him it makes me less than the man who wears purple shoes.

I lost 7 pounds in the 1st 11 days of this competition. But for some reason my weight loss has come to a screeching halt. I'm stuck, platoed. I've still been eating 100% Paleo and doing CrossFit, but no more weight loss, which is disturbing because I still have a lot to lose. Unlike my competition I'm chubby, which is a nice word for fat. I think the reason I've stalled is because I haven't done any base building cardio since last Saturday. Long slow days are the best way to burn fat and train the body to use stored body fat. So tonight after CrossFit, after I took the kids to the park, after I cleaned out the hamster cage, after I fed and watered the rabbits and Guinea pigs, after I did the dishes, after I finished the laundry and folded it, I rode my indoor trainer and watched a the biggest Loser on TiVo. I didn't feel like it but I did it anyways. I gotta do something! I can't lose to the dude in those shoes! Besides, I really want to NOT be the fattest guy competing in the triathlons I race in.

BTW, I never thought it was possible, but I found something I hate more than burpees. Wall climbers. They suck. Rather, I suck at them. I did ok for the 1st 7, but after that I was HORRIBLE.  I couldn't do them to save my life. I know they dont look hard, but try a set of ten and you'll see. Better yet try 4 sets of 10 like we did today and you'll develop loathing! From now on before the daily WOD I'm going to do a few sets of the 2 things I'm worst at in CrossFit. Pull ups and wall climbers. If I do them every day before my WOD I should get better at them soon. At least that's my hope.

Paleo competition days 5-11

I'm really enjoying eating Paleo and being in this Paleo competition. I'm getting great results with weight loss and I'm still making gains with strength and endurance. I weighed in this morning at 239, so far in 11 days I've lost just shy of 7 pounds. Normally I'd say that's to much weight to lose to quickly, but I'm eating a ton of calories each day. Usually over 3000.

In the last 2 weeks our Suburban broke down and it cost us $2,500 to fix. And we just got a bill from the IRS claiming we owe them $3,600 for the 2011 (so much for hiring a CPA to do our taxes). Consequently I'm going to have to start working 6 days a week, 12-16 hours a day until I can get us recovered financially again. That means I'm not going to be able to work out as much as I have been, but I'm going to do my best to continue eating 100% Paleo.

Here's a log of how I've been doing daily with the Paleo competition:

Day/  
calories ate/  calories burned
points earned for the day
Workout.
Lifestyle point earned

Day 5
Feb 14/
 3532/  1090
I maxed out my points today.
For training I did: CrossFit, biked 1 hr 20 min. Didn't feel that was enough for a bonus point so I rode my bike on my indoor trainer for 30 min, then rode my mountain bike to work.
For lifestyle point: I read the bible and did a CR bible study.

Day 6
Feb 15/
 3336/ 917
I maxed out todays points.
Training :CrossFit + 1 hr bike.
Lifestyle read the bible and read Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall

Day 7
Feb 16/  1917/  1686
I maxed today's points.
Biked 1 hr 30 min + 39 min run with sprint until muscle failure.
Watched a kids christian movie about death and heaven with the kids and had a discussion after.

Day 8
Feb 17/
2493/  0
5 points earned today, no working out today, I needed a day off.
I cleaned the yard, fixed up one of my daughter old bikes and gave it to a neighbors kid.

Day 9
Feb 18/ 
2488/  0
5 points earned today.
No workout.
Took the kids to the zoo and played kids board games that night.


Day 10
Feb 19/ 
4153/ 268
5 points earned.
CrossFit.
Cleaned and rearranged the bedroom for my wife, hung a piece of art for her. Cleaned out and rearranged the shed. Got rid of a bunch of stuff for a garage sale.

Day 11
Feb 20
3978/ 213
5 points earned.
CrossFit.
Instructed my sons BJJ class.

day 4 of the Paleo challenge

<sup>I'm on my way to work and am taking my meals with me. I can post the days food and exercise points since I know ahead of time what I'm eating.

5 points earned for the day. 1 for eating a paleo meal, 1 for Paleo all day, 1 for working out, and 1 for a life style change, 1 for taking fish oil.</sup>
I ate 3834 calories. I burned 325 calories working out. I ate 258g fat. 58.1g carbs. 324g protein.

For the lifestyle change I read the bible and did a bible study called C.R.

day 2 and 3 of the Paleo lifestyle competition

On Saturday I found out there was going to be a diet, exercise, and lifestyle competition at my gym, so I stopped taking Garcinia Cambogia Extract. I felt it would have been cheating if I was taking a hunger suppressant while doing a weight loss challenge. After I stopped taking them it took me longer to fall asleep than is normal, but I still slept well. No other side affects that I can see.

Here's how the competition is going so far:

Day 2

<sup>5 points earned for the day. 1 for eating a paleo meal, 1 for Paleo all day, 1 for working out, and 1 for a life style change, one for taking fish oil.


I ate 3192 calories. I burned 325 in exercise. I ate 88.5 g carbs, 220 g protein, and 232 g fat.

For my change of lifestyle instead of kicking back and doing nothing during my daughters 1 hour gymnastics I took my boys out and had them practice hitting baseballs and I ran around and fetched them. I had to have ran 5 miles in that hour and squatted down 500 times picking up baseballs.

Day 3

I weighed in the morning at 244.

6 points earned today! 1 for eating a paleo meal, 1 for Paleo all day, 1 for working out, 1 for fish oil, 1 for a life style change, and 1 for a 54 minute run after a CrossFit workout.</sup>

I ate 2694 calories, burned 959. Ate 159 g of fat, 50 g of carbs, 267 g of protein.

For the lifestyle change I ran during my sons Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, when I'd normally just veg out for an hour. And I read the bible before I went to bed. It's ironic because the point I got for running is also when I earned my point for a particularly hard or long workout.

day 1 of the Paleo lifestyle competition

Here's how I did my 1st day of the Paleo lifestyle competition.

Day 1/ Sun Feb 10^{th.
6 points earned for the day. 1 for eating a paleo meal, 1 for Paleo all day, 1 for working out, 1 for fish oil, 1 for a particularly long workout, 1 for a life style change
weighed in the morning at 247}
Calories eaten 3152/ calories burned 1649/ protein 248 g/ fat 221 g/ carbohydrates 41.3 g

Exercise
Workout #1
Bike 1 hour 52 minutes
Run 25 minutes 10 seconds
Workout #2
20 minute repeat super set of
push ups, side planks, pull ups , planks
Lifestyle change:
turned off the TV and read the bible
Breakfast
2 eggs
4 oz ground beef
50 grapes
20 oz coffee
1/3 cup milk 2%
Snack
1.5 oz broccoli
4.1 oz country pork ribs
20 oz coffee
¼ cup heavy cream
Lunch
4 oz Ground beef
1 oz cheddar cheese
20 oz coffee
¼ cup heavy cream
Dinner
Turkey wing
3.3 oz Turkey breast
4.1 oz turkey skin
1.6 oz squash
Late night snack
Fish oil

Paleo lifestyle competition

After going to a functional nutrition class at Zia CrossFit some of the gym members decided to start a Paleo lifestyle competition (one of them is http://isuckatcrossfit.com/). It's going to be a 9 week competition.

Here's how the points system works:

1 point for eating at least 1 meal Paleo in a day.

1 point for eating the entire day Paleo.

1 point for lifestyle change, such as reading for an hour or playing with the kids for an hour instead of watching TV.

1 point for eating fish or fish oils

1 point for a particularly tough workout, such as riding my bike 70 miles, etc.

negative 2.5 points per cheat per day.

plus 2 points per pound of weight lost at the end of the competition.

plus 2 points per body fat percentage lost at end of the competition.

There's a max of 40 points per week.

We have agreed to allow coffee and small amounts of dairy. I'll keep you updated as we go along.

Garcinia Cambogia Extract, appetite suppressant, emotional eating, and triathlon

Below the links is my post. The links are my posts about Garcinia Cambogia Extract:
Day 4 of Garcinia Cambogia Extract trial:  http://cody-the-clydsdale.blogspot.com/2013/02/test.html


Recently I watched an episode of Dr Oz where he explains how Garcinia Cambogia Extract helps people to lose weight, curbs appetite, and helps prevent emotional eating by increasing serotonin levels. This interested me because I'm an emotional eater and I've gained a lot of weight the last year. I've tried unsuccessfully more times than I can count to get back down to my race weight. So I've decided to try exercise and eating a Paleo diet (again) with Garcinia Cambogia to see how it works. I'll post my results here.

Last year I'd heard on the Dr OZ show that Saffron extract helps with appetite suppression, I'd tried it, but it didn't work for me. It was AMAZING at suppressing the appetite, but Saffron extract didn't help me at all because it doesn't help prevent emotional eating. Supposedly Garcinia Cambogia extract does.

FYI, I went to three stores before I found some Garcinia Cambogia extract. Since Dr Oz had it on his show and said great things about it it's been sold out and hard to come by. It was $24 for 60 pills at the vitamin shop I finally found it at. When I got home I Googled Garcinia Cambogia extract and found most sites sold 180 pills for $24.99. So if at all possible buy them online. You can buy 3 times as many for the same cost and not have to drive all over the place.

Below is the article I found on Dr Oz web site. It almost sounds too good to be true!

What Is Garcina Cambogia Extract?
Garcinia Cambogia is a small, pumpkin-shaped fruit, sometimes called tamarind. Though native to Indonesia, it is also grown in India, Southeast Asia, and West and Central Africa. It has long been used in traditional South Asian dishes, including curries and chutneys. Many also use the fruit for curing fish and preservation.

Adding this ingredient to meals is considered to be effective in making meals more “filling.” In some villages in Malaysia, garcinia is used to make a soup that is eaten before meals for weight loss because of garcinia’s appetite-blocking abilities.

This plant offers one of the least expensive herbal supplements on the market. The ingredient from the rind of the fruit could hasten your weight-loss efforts. The natural extract is called hydroxycitric acid (HCA), and researchers claim that HCA can double or triple one’s weight loss.

With proper weight-loss efforts (dieting and exercising), the average person taking HCA lost an averagw of 4 pounds a month.

Garcinia may also be great for emotional eaters. Those who participated in the study showed an increase in their serotonin levels; hence, it may also improve mood and sleeping patterns.

How Does Garcina Cambogia Work?
The HCA extract from garcinia cambogia supplement aids in weight loss by doing two things: It helps to block fat, and it suppresses your appetite.

HCA blocks fat by inhibiting a key enzyme that your body needs to make fat from carbohydrates: Citrate lyase. Usually carbohydrates or sugars that are not used immediately or stored in other forms are converted into fats. When HCA inhibits citrate lyase, the fat-making process is halted and the production of LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglycerides decrease.

HCA also suppresses appetite by increasing serotonin levels. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in your brain that makes you feel good. It’s a target of many antidepressant medications. Having low levels of serotonin may make you feel depressed or anxious; it drives many people into emotional or reactive eating. By increasing serotonin levels, HCA improves mood and suppresses the drive to react to stressful situations with food. As you eat less, your body senses this and it releases stored fat in your fat cells.

Many studies have shown promise. One randomized placebo-controlled study followed 60 obese persons for 8 weeks. With a calorie-restricted diet (1200 kcal/day) and an HCA dose of 1320 mg/day, the experimental group lost an average of 14 pounds (compared to 6.1 pounds in the placebo group). The participants also noted reduced appetite.

Is It Safe?
The plant and its fruit have been eaten safely for years. The HCA extract is also likely in safe amounts.

However, don’t take this supplement if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you are taking a diabetic medication (like insulin or glyburide), talk to a doctor before taking this to make sure this is right for you, otherwise this supplement may allow your blood sugar to fall even lower than normal.

Those taking a statin (a cholesterol-lowering drug) should use this supplement with caution because it can increase the risk of harmful side effects, like rhabdomyolysis or muscle degradation. Those with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia shouldn’t take HCA because of the risk of worsening dementia.

How Much Should I Take?
You can buy garcinia cambogia extract in health food stores or online. When looking for a supplement, look for “garcinia cambogia” or “GCE” with at least 50% HCA (active ingredient potassium). Some experts believe that the newly available HCA potassium salts are more effective than the other HCA formulations.

Take 500-1000 mg before each meal, and make sure to take no more than 3000 mg total per day.

When looking for supplements, make sure you can see and review the list of ingredients. Do not purchase if you can’t see any ingredients. Furthermore, there should be no fillers or artificial ingredients.

With no other changes, you may lose 2-4 pounds within one month. However, it is highly recommended that the person taking HCA also find time for moderate exercise a few times a week and eat properly portioned meals. Let the power of the HCA supplement work along with making healthier choices.

Also, understand that no pill is more effective than maintaining a regular exercise regimen and a healthy diet.

Problem solved?

In Dec I had started the Paleo diet. It's a diet that you can eat all the lean meats, fruits, & veggies you want with no limits on portions or meal frequency. Limited amounts of nuts. On the Paleo a person isn't allowed ANY sugar, vinegar, dairy, grains, potatoes, corn, or anything that is processed at all. Not even canned tuna, or veggies because that is considered processed. Let me tell you, you lose a TON of weight! Along with the weight loss I also had an inability to think or concentrate well, I was moody, irritable, inability to sleep well, and I had HORRIBLE cravings. I emailed coach Pete and told him the side affects I was having and he replied "That means your missing something important from your diet". Simply put and dang good point coach! I should of realized it from the get go, all the signs were there. I blame my inability to see or think about how badly my diet was affecting me on my poor diet:)

The past 3 days I've decided to add some dairy and brown rice into my diet while keeping as much highly processed foods out. No wheat, bread, pasta, sugar, chips, etc. I'm eating every 3 hrs and if I get hungry in between meals I eat enough raw vegetables to stop my feeling of hunger. The last three days: NO CRAVINGS, sleeping well, thinking clearly, good quality workouts. Hopefully the problem is solved and I'm on my way to a lighter, healthier, faster, Iron me....

Ooops, not sure what happened here