If a composer creates a composition, then I have just gotten serious about being a Body Composer. I'm going to create the body composition I want.
My gym,
CrossFit Richardson is having a 45 day paleo challenge. At first, I decided I was not going to participate. My reason for that is quite simple: Sometimes structured competition triggers the anti-authority button in me and I rebel against the process I CHOSE to be part of.
I know, that sounds a bit crazy. I'm okay with that. I just have a very strong reaction to being told what to do in any form. I have, on more than one occasion, felt myself rebelling against the process I freely chose to sign up for because somehow it felt like the rules themselves, or perhaps the organizers themselves were telling me what to do.
So at first, I was going to pass until John Marshall said (jokingly I believe!) "You're just scared." I laughed, thinking there wasn't much that I'm scared of so the statement seemed a little funny. But in truth, it's obvious I'm scared that I will not handle the anti-authority rebel response that a competition sometimes triggers for me. Well, that, and I'm scared of needles, but that has nothing to do with this post.
I realized that I was, indeed, scared. Damn! John's a good coach and a good friend, so on the spur of the moment I decided to compete. The competition is twofold for me. First get rid of fat, build muscle, stay paleo with no cheats for 45 days, and kick ass in the gym. Second, use it as a tool to temper my anti-authority bullshit. If an automatic response isn't serving me, then it serves me to learn to exercise control over it and not have it be automatic.
Which is all a VERY long way to say that I'm now enrolled in this 45 day paleo challenge. I was already eating strict paleo, and haven't had a cheat meal of any sort in 15 days. That's gotten me from about 194 to 191 in those 15 days.
Now to get really serious for a while, I'm committing to having no cheat meals whatsoever during the next 45 days. I probably haven't gone 45 days without ice cream in my life, so this will be kinda cool. Heck, including the last 15 days as well, this will create 60+ days without ice cream or candy. And to keep me honest I will post weekly updates on Sunday that will list my daily weight for the previous 7 days, a brief description of my activity for each day, and a food log.
At the end of the 45 days I will have a daily log of my weight, exactly what I ate, and I will have some "after" picures to go with the "before" pictures John took today.
Since paleo can mean different things to different people, here's my food requirements for myself. I will eat some or all of the following: meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts. In addition, I will allow myself 70% or greater dark chocolate as a fat source, up to about 250 calories/day. Argue whether or not it's paleo if you want, but it's a useful source of fat and sometimes just 50 calories of dark chocolate is useful to keep me from totally derailing. I will minimize it during the 45 days though.
Most of my protein will come from beef, sardines, and salmon. I will target a minimum of 190 grams of protein per day. Most of my starchy veggies will be sweet potato, and only consumed post-workout. I will cycle the carbs. On intense workout days, such as weightlifting or CrossFit I will have a PWO meal with protein and 100+ grams of carbs. On rest/active recovery days I will restrict carbs to less then 40 for the day.
I have not kept a food log, but my first log of weight entries will go up this Sunday. After that, I will post each Sunday with all the data for the preceding week.
Thanks, John, for the push. It's just what I needed.