"Thor"
You have 20 minutes to establish a 1RM Deadlift. Start with an empty bar. Work up in any increments you like, but every time your hands leave the bar (ie at the end of any and all sets,) do 1 muscle-up. The muscle-up must be completed before you can make your next attempt.
It's Casey's last day! Come and rub his head for luck! We'll miss him!
Worth mentioning: a few months ago, NA called and said, "I'm at the wedding gown shop! Do I buy my current size, or 1 size down, or what???" I told her to order 2 sizes smaller. It arrived on the weekend; she's already having it taken in. Way to go!
At long last: Carolle's story.
The Miracle of Persistence!!
I've put off writing this story too many times. So now, with three years of effort under my ever-shrinking belt, as well as having reached a special milestone, I figured it was time.
According to "Conventional Wisdom" (otherwise referred to as CW by Mark Sisson, author of the Primal Blueprint), in order to lose weight, one has to practically starve themselves. I loved food way too much to make that sacrifice. In the past, I thought I had great eating habits: lots of fruits and veggies, whole-grains and low-fat everything. Then the cravings would take over in the evening where one cookie would turn into five and I figured that all the veggies would cancel out the entire bag of chips I ate. Right? I could never understand how I could be a bottomless pit when it came to food intake, while my healthier friends would absolutely feel sick eating even half of what I did. So, not willing to make that huge sacrifice of starving myself, I caved and stopped being overly concerned with my weight. I accepted that this was the way I would look. After all, life was good; I had an unconditionally loving husband and kids (Is love really that blind?), a great career, a supportive family and friends. But deep down I knew, despite the good blood pressure and blood glucose readings, that it would all catch up with me sooner or later. The day-to-day movement was such an effort; climbing stairs would leave me out-of-breath. I swear, being that obese was like doing a workout all day, in and of itself. Robb Wolf even mentioned in a podcast: "You'd be strong too if you had to lug 300 lbs around". Boy, could I relate.
My journey to better health started in March 2007, when an online ad caught my eye regarding "Morning Catalyst". I had heard of the guy running the program a few years back, via his then girlfriend, now wife, Robin, who managed the car rental agency I dealt with for work. She had great things to say about this guy, Chris Cooper, and how he's not just some fly-by-night trainer: "He has a university degree, and is qualified to train real, high-level athletes." She was his biggest advocate. Well, I'm no athlete, but what could I have to lose but a few pounds, I thought.
The way the program worked was that you could sign up for a monthly fee and have workouts emailed to you each morning. Your job was to do the workouts at home and email the results back daily. At a body weight of over 300 lbs, I was grateful for the privacy of doing the workouts at home. The actual exercises themselves proved a challenge as well. Doing squats below parallel was out of the question; the size of my legs wouldn't allow them to bend that far. Pushups consisted of bending my elbows from a crawl position, and dips were impossible. I'd mention this in my emails and Chris would invariably reply: "Just do it anyways". And so I did. Chris's weekly feedback emphasized your adherence rate rather than your workout results. I was proud of how consistent I was, regularly hitting 100%.
After a few months I finally met Chris in person and began personal training sessions. My fitness level improved exponentially but my weight loss hit a plateau at 25 lbs. It was time to be as accountable with my nutrition as I was with the exercise. So, I booked a consultation with Dr. Linda Benedek of Celebration Medical Weight Loss. The description of the weight management program sounded reasonable. Dr. Benedek started my six-month program off with so much food I was astounded. I was to record everything and balance portions. The challenge was getting 30% protein throughout the day which required a lot of planning. It was maintaining this balance that was the clincher. After months of changing my mindset and eating real food, I began to experience that wonderful sick feeling when I overate. A mere glass of wine would make me loopy. I had, in effect, retrained my body to reject junk. Goodbye hyperinsulinemia!
Meanwhile, during my nutritional diet makeover, I attended my first CrossFit session with the Saturday morning crew. Knowing I was to exercise with other people, away from my safe private haven at home, I was petrified going in– lizard brain in full gear. At first, I felt guilty and somewhat ridiculous taking so much longer than everyone else, considering how scaled my workout was. But a great bunch of CrossFitters cheered me on, long after they'd finished the WOD and it was their encouragement that kept me coming back. As I steadily got better, I became hooked on the CrossFit workouts themselves as well as having a blast cheering others along with the rest of the gang.
Another year has gone by since my introduction to Crossfit, and I’m happy to report that my good habits are entrenched. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m still not perfect and give in to junk cravings on occasion but after my splurge, I’m back to healthy eating and exercise. All of these lifestyle changes have given me a thirst for knowledge. I devour the latest fitness and nutrition books, surf online articles and blogs, and have fine-tuned my diet by following "Primal Nutrition". I’m a big fan of Robb Wolf's podcasts, follow the CrossFit Journal and check the Catalyst website religiously.
This could be called just another "before and after" weight loss and fitness story but it's really more of a "before and during" story. This journey isn't over yet nor will it ever be. After all there's always another goal on the progression charts taped to the wall behind the pull-up bars. I’ve written this update because I hit a very special milestone the other day, I lost my 100th pound! It just really ticks me off, that if I had known twenty years ago, what I know now, I wouldn’t have had to lose over 100 lbs in the first place.
So whether you’re CrossFitting with Whit, Adrian or Mitch, in a healing massage session with Jo, lifting with Ty along with fellow Barbell Bettys, sprinting with other burgeoning runners in Mike's Running Group or training with the ever-inspiring Chris, you can't help but make progress. I just want to say thanks to all of you, coaches and CrossFitting friends alike, for playing such an important role in my life. The Catalyst family ROCKS!!!
Carolle