Today is my birthday.  I had planned on celebrating it with some sweet potato hash, coffee, and the paper at Montey's Blue Plate, but last night's festivities got the best of me, and I think I'll be staying in with my coffee and paper this morning.  That said, our celebration was totally worth it, even if it did cost me a SOM.

The night started with dinner with the roommate and "family" at their favorite local bar/pub, Mickey's.  Not only did the family buy me my steak salad dinner, they also picked up my 2 NorCal Margaritas.  This is where I will stress the importance of being a regular somewhere. Not only were the folks at Mickey's happy to make us a NorCal maragarita, they've now incorporated it into their repertoire, which means we can order it by name.  It is also quickly becoming a fave among the folks around here.  Post-dinner we headed back to our apartment for a housewarming/birthday cocktail hour.  Appropriate attire required.

Several pitchers of Sangria later, and our houseguest brought out 3 bars of fantastic chocolate (including a bar of Mexican chocolate), and some tiny tarts for dessert. Considering it's my birthday, and the chocolate and booze was totally delicious, I'm going to consider this a quality use of a SOM.

I made a classic mistake yesterday: going to the grocery store hungry.  The key to eating clean and feeling good is preparation.  Actually, I'm pretty sure that's the key to succeeding at anything. So sometimes, I have to ask myself, why do I make things so hard for myself?

Yesterday, I went to BJJ for a semi-private lesson, and then ended up going to class after that, too.  3 hours of BJJ on top of my regular commute to and from work and I was hungry. Of course, I didn't really have all that much to eat in my house, so I decided to stop at the local co-op. Clearly, I was not thinking. Here's what I got: 2 zucchinis, a bag of carrots, a package of unsweetened banana chips, coffee, a lb of 100% unsweetened chocolate pieces, seltzer water, and some crazy paleo bar from the coop bakery made of sesame seeds, almond butter, coconut oil and coconut.  I'm not even sure what I was thinking when I picked up these ingredients.

A normal person would go home and make something with protein that is delicious.  Maybe an zucchini and carrot  basket with a fried egg on top.  Unfortunately, I was too hungry to think and tore into the paleo bar (which was meh, but sooo nice to be eating) and a bottle of seltzer right there in the parking lot.  This is not what it means to be prepared, folks.

Luckily, the gals over at Sweet Cheeks have your back. They too are on a clean eating challenge and have come up with some wonderful shopping lists with delicious recipes attached.  Assuming you want to enjoy your eating experiences more than I did last night, I highly recommend heading over and taking a look.

So I was derelict in my duties and didn't put up a kick-off post. Day 1 was rough. I'm not going to lie.  I woke up too late to go to the strength class at Monkey Bar Gym. I still have mixed feelings about the class, but since I need to workout 5 times a week for the challenge, I figured it would fill the void.  Being too late, I decided to kick off the burpee challenge with 100 burpees for time in my backyard.  10:42 excruciating minutes/seconds later, I called it a day, showered, and biked to work.

At work, I realized I, too, had failed to meet Meagan's checklist for success and didn't pack a lunch.  A quick trip to Chipotle for a salad with veggies, meat and guac, and I was good to go. While not the most prepared start to the challenge, I was getting by. 

Unfortunately, that's when my body decided to rebel and the migraine set in. A quick bike ride home, and I was in bed by 6pm, and out till 7am. At least I know I got enough sleep.

Day 2 went much better. I didn't pack a lunch, but had plenty of snacks: celery with guacamole, and bumps on a log with almond butter.  More than enough to get me till lunch.  Around 3:30, I realized I hadn't yet eaten and went back to Chipotle for another delicious bowl of meat and veggies. One cup of coffee later, and it was a bike ride home in a thunderstorm to unpack some more boxes, then off to brazilian jiu jitsu for the first time in over a year.

For those of you who have never gone to a bjj class, let me tell you -- your first day back after any time off, let alone a year, is rough.  Your muscle memory doesn't really kick in.  You feel awkward.  You *know* you know the next move, but you can't remember what it is.  I knew this was going to happen, and wasn't really looking forward to my first day back. That said, it was totally worth it.

I showed up about 5 minutes early, checked in with the front desk, then headed to the mats.  There were about 20 people there.  Most in their 20s, and all male. No one said a word to me.  I thought, this does not bode well.  1 minute before class began, a woman blue belt, showed up.  Class started on the dot, and we began a 30 minute conditioning warm up. We were told not to stop moving, even if waiting in line for our turn in the rotation.  Run in place, do jumping jacks, whatever, but you had better be moving.  If someone was caught not moving, everyone had to do 10 burpees.  Suffice it to say I got my burpees for the day in. 

The warmups were extensive, but I was pleased that I was strong enough to do everything except the handstand to front rolls, handstands to back rolls, (I'll get it someday, I swear), and had no problem with endurance. About 10 minutes in, we were doing 3 push ups, then jumping through with our feet to a prone position. I was jumping through when I felt an awful pop.  The mats had moved and my little toe had gotten caught in the mat.  It was bent in a 90 degree angle in completely the wrong direction.  I thought it was a little weird, but was sure it would fix itself.  I finished the rotation, jogged back to the front, and noticed it still hadn't moved. I reached down, pulled it out, and popped it back into place. The joint and the entire right side of my foot turned purple -- I had dislocated it. Ignoring my toe, I finished up my warmups.  On our water break, I asked the other woman in the locker room if she had any tape. After looking at me like I had 3 heads, she said no. 

When we returned, our instructor, a black belt, paired us up to work on passing the guard.  He paired me with Kelly, the other woman.  She seemed a little friendlier this time around, and we worked our 5 passes.  I was pleased that I knew all of them, though some of them were more ingrained in my mind than others. After that, we were paired off again and rolled for 6 minutes with different partners.  Because there were so many people, we rotated rounds on and off the mats.  After 3 rounds, our 90 minutes were up, and it was time to go home.

Overall, I felt awkward and out of practice, but I definitely wasn't the worst. The fundamentals are there, but the secondary steps are lacking. At the end, one of the brown belts asked me if I would be interested in helping him by serving as the 3rd person in a private lesson he's giving another woman. He said it would all be very basic for me, but that it would be great for her to have a partner.  There was no way I'm turning that down.  Between that and just a general feeling of accomplishment of making it through all 3 rolls with my first dislocation ever (even if it is just a toe), I definitely can't complain.  It's been a slow start, but I've made it through.  And really, that's what matters. 

Or, in my case, for not flubbing it on Day 1.

1. Make sure you have enough food at home that you have no excuse to eat out/eat poorly. [ ]
2. Find ways to make the commitment easier [X]
(I have made sure that my other two officemates are going with me to crossfit tonight-if I feel like I am motivating them and not just me, it is a lot easier. Also, knowing Tricia is going through this, too, is helpful, in that I can't lie to my [former] roomie! That would be wrong and bad.)
3. Establish goal posts to reach along the way. [ ]
4. Look cute. [ ]
(This may sound weird, but I think that finding "cute" [or at least not "I feel fat" workout clothes helps me stay motivated. If you think this is malarky, I won't be offended. This will have to wait, as tonight I use my last clean sports bra/workout pants, and when you reach the last ones, inevitably it's not pretty.)
5. Get pumped about the workout. Today's workout involves one of my favorites: the press! What comes after that in the WOD I consider my penance for eating southern food yesterday in excess. Either way, I'm excited to get back on track. If it's hard, it will be that much more rewarding. Or something.

this girl is about to start one of her own.  It's high time to get back into gear. While moving, I tried to eat paleo, but I was nowhere near the 80/20 mark.  This means my poor little stomach is very very SAD, and now that I'm in a new place, with a new job, meeting new folks, it's time to kick it into high gear on getting back into fighting shape.

Because living paleo means making it work for you, this challenge is less strict than the Whole 30.  But the point of it is to solidify this as a lifestyle, and I think the rule changes get me on that path. So here goes.



The Food:

• Basics: Eat meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fat, no sugar.  (No grains, legumes, or dairy.) Nut and dairy disclaimer -- I'll be cutting dairy except for heavy cream in my coffee. This challenge is about solidifying the lifestyle. And that's part of it for me.  I'm also going to restrict nuts as much as possible.  They upset my stomach, and I need to find more reliable snack options.  I may still use some almond butter here and there, but no more buying of nuts for nuts' sake. 

• Special Occasion Meals: Out of 100 days, you may eat 20 "special occasion meals."  No more, no exceptions. This is less than the infamous "80/20" rule.  By that rule, you'd get up to 4 non-paleo meals a week (assuming you eat 3 meals a day.) That's too much.  I figure 20 meals over 100 days (300 meals) is much better, and fairly realistic.  Personally, I'm going to make a point of not wasting any SOMs on processed foods.  If it's a special occasion, it had better be celebrated as such. 

The Workouts:

• Short and Fast: Workout hard 5 times a week. While I won't have crossfit here anymore (though locals tell me they know some folks. . . ), I'm going to shoot for 5 days a week of lifting/muay thai workouts. 

•  Long and Slow:  Build long, slow-paced walks into your routine. Following Mark Sisson's advice on low level aerobic activity, my daily commute is going to become integral to my well-being.  Currently, I live about 2 miles from my new job.  So far, I've been walking to work, though I intend to start biking.  In the winters, I'll take the bus. My commute, plus all the walking that comes with living in a real city is bound to add up. Unless it's a dire storm, there's no excuse for me to drive anywhere now. 

• 100 Burpee Challenge: Complete the 100 burpee challenge. You may have remembered Meagan's successful completion of the 100 burpee challenge.  Watching her rock it for 100 days straight makes me wonder if I, too, could exhibit that amount of perseverance.  From Unfit to Crossfit is also planning on starting on June 1, so I'm on board.  Rumor also has it that Crossfit Genius may be starting something soon. . . 

The Community:

• Recipes: Try 1 new recipe per week. Per Meagan's suggestion, we will be creating and posting a new recipe each week.  We're still posting on the Crossfit Genius Paleo Cookbook, but we'll link here.  (Also, can I tell you how much I love the fact that googling "generally badass paleo" brings that up?)

• Social events: Attend (or host) 1 social event each week.  Humans are social creatures.  We need social interaction to thrive. Or at the very least, to help reduce stress.  Because I've moved, and because it's easy to just throw myself into my work and ignore the world around me, I'm building a social component into this challenge.

• Blogging:  Post or check in once a week.  I've been derelict in my blogging duties.  Because this challenge, the move, and the new environment should be giving me plenty of fodder for new blogging goodness, I'm aiming for a new post every week.

So that's it.  The 100 day challenge.  Perfectly reasonable, and definitely do-able. While I'm starting to eat paleo again immediately, challenge officially starts on June 1.  Who's with me?

Today marks the end of the 100 day burpee challenge that I engaged in. Because I have such a supportive gym, guess what today's WOD is?

The 100 day challenge has stunk. At around day 55, I started thinking, "OK, thanks, I get the idea, I've built up my burpee strength, I think I can quit now." There were more than a few days, I'll admit, when I had over 100 burpees to do because I'd missed the day(s) before, whether because I was on the road or it just slipped my mind. I lost many workout days to catching up on my burpees.

So now it's over, and like any goal you set for yourself, I'm glad I proved I could do it. I'm glad my burpees are strong--no more squat thrusts for me, thankyouverymuch--but I am so ready to get back into normal lifting and WODs and joining in with the rest of the gym.

And, just in case anyone was worried I was going to start slacking now that I'm not doing burpees at every turn, today Whole 9 posted their 30 day challenge again. Who's in with me? (I was looking for an excuse to go to Bourbon Steak this weekend anyway...)

It's been a stressful few months for me.  I don't want to admit it -- I think we all lead stressful lives -- but some things have been getting the better of me. And that means I haven't been doing as well on the eating, sleeping, having fun, working out front as I'd like. I was pretty hard on myself about it, because I know I can do better.  Thankfully, several people have pointed out to me that I'm using the wrong rubric -- I've been comparing myself to me without stress, and that's not fair.  Really, I should be comparing myself to someone with equal amounts of stress: someone else in the middle of changing pretty much everything about their life.  We can only juggle so much, and if people keep throwing more balls up in the air without giving an extra hand to keep them going, we're going to drop some.  So, I've dropped some stuff. It makes sense. 

While I've been trying to pick everything back up, I've started thinking -- what is it that I really want? What is the purpose that is driving my actions? I know there are all kinds of good reasons for being healthy, but I'm not very good at doing things just to do them.  I try to choose my actions to keep in line with a goal.  And for now that goal is to get back into "fighting shape."

I can hear you now. Fighting shape? What are you talking about?  As much as I like to remember the brief periods I dabbled in boxing and muay thai, I'm a lawyer not a fighter. (Though if I were a client, I'd hope they mean the same thing.)  Like the term "home," "fighting shape" means a lot of different things to different people.  So here's what it means to me.


Being in fighting shape means

• feeling strong when I walk into a ring, be it a physical, legal or personal arena;
• being rested and alert enough to face any challenge;
• being guilt free about the choices I make and the values I hold to walk with swagger no matter where I go;
• having a corner of talented folks who have my back;
• having a gameplan, but being able to change it depending on what my opponent throws at me;
• not being afraid to get hit.

It's simple stuff really, things I'm sure everyone wants.  But it's a heck of a lot easier to think about preparing for a fight than preparing for life, so I'm going to stick with the analogy and roll with it.  Strangely, just thinking about it in these terms has helped me come up with the plan to get where I want to be.  I'm rolling out a new personal challenge soon, and would be delighted if anyone else wanted to join.  Details will come shortly.  For now, just know I'm glad to have y'all in my corner.

I hate it when you go to say, a Mexican restaurant. You tell them they don't need to bring you chips. And then you order a steak fajita salad, hold the cheese, hold the disgusting taco shell, add a side of guacamole, please.

And you're eating it, and it's OK. Because it's paleo in theory, what it lacks in sizzle, it makes up for in virtue. And you're patting yourself on the back, "I avoided all potential landmines! Hell yes!"

It's not you're back in your office and it's three hours later that you realize: whatever it was that you ate, it was not paleo-friendly; you're f**king starving, then totally sleepy, in a way that you just never feel when you've had a good paleo meal.

And then, you have a second realization: G-ddammit, I paid $8 to feel this way.

I couldn't help it. Everyone's been talking about it. The critics are finally eating it. I couldn't get it off the brain. I had to know -- what would a paleo/primal friendly Double Down taste like? Unable to wait a moment longer, I decided it had to be made tonight. And because Meagan is the best roommate ever, we made it happen. Here's how we went from this:

to this






       Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1.5 cups pecan meal/pieces
• 4-6 strips nitrate-free bacon
• Monterrey Jack Cheese
• pepper
• salt
• chili pepper
• Avocado (optional)
• Tomato, sliced (optional)
• Romaine lettuce (optional)

Fry up the bacon and set aside.  Leave the bacon grease in the pan to use later.

Cut the chicken into tender-sized strips.  Find 3 bowls or containers big enough to dunk your the tenders into (I used tupperware.) Beat the eggs and place in one bowl.  Place the almond flour in the second, and the pecan meal in the last.  Add any seasoning you want for your tenders to the pecan meal.  We used salt, pepper, chili pepper and garlic.



Take one tender and coat it in the almond flour until completely covered.  Dunk it in the egg, and place in the bowl holding the pecan meal.  Turn the tender until coated and place onto a clean plate. Do the same for each tender until all are battered.




Heat up the bacon grease over medium high heat until it is just starting to smoke.  Fry tenders in the grease, about 3 minutes each side, depending on the size of your tender.  Make sure you have enough grease in the pan that the tenders are swimming -- if not, they will stick to your pan and lose their crust.



Remove tenders and plate with toppings.  For the original Double Down, place 1 slice of monterrey jack cheese and 2 strips of bacon.  While we plated one this way, this wasn't our favorite.  Both Meagan and I favored avocado instead of cheese (to make it truly paleo) and added some tomato.  I found the Double Down even more delicious and easier to eat wrapped in Romaine (and with some hot sauce for kick.)





The Double Down is good. It feels sinful -- anything deep fried does.  But while it was tasty and filling and insanely fun to make, it's not really that different from what us paleo-ites eat anyway.  Chicken, nuts, bacon? All sound  pretty normal to me.  So if you're looking for a new flavor combination, or something that's going to blow your mind, don't try this.  But if you're looking for something fun to get your non-paleo friends attention, give this a go.  I can't imagine anyone could argue that the paleo version is NOT tastier than the original.
Meagan's Take: It was too much. Clearly, KFC wanted to be talked about, and it succeeded. But whilst I love avocado, tomato, bacon, and paleo-style fried chicken, there was just no need to put them all together. In fact, I'd say that the problem is too much fried stuff going on at once for the Double Down to be enjoyable in its entirety. And really, if you're eating bacon, it would be a shame to not enjoy it!

Thinkgeek shows us how much:




Download the "You've got a friend in meat!" ringtone here.