raising the bar

Anyone who knows me knows how much I work out and how much I love it!  I know, it's kind of a sick addiction, but it's better than many other things I could be addicted to.  My problem is not that I don't exercise enough... it's that I love to EAT!  And I don't always want some little salad... GIVE ME A CHEESEBURGER STAT!  (Oh, and follow that up with pretty much anything chocolate please)!

While I realize that I am not obese, I am not getting the results that I should be getting considering I have been doing one of the hardest, best workouts out there (Crossfit baby)!!  So I am joining the SINS  (Strong is the New Skinny) challenge of making a pledge to be my healthiest self possible and keeping a blog about it.  Maybe no one will read it, but that's ok.  It's first and foremost for me.  I need to hold myself accountable and I'm hoping this will help.  If it happens to help someone else in the process, then it will make it even more worthwhile.

My plan is to keep a log of how I've been eating, share recipes with anyone interested, and to also keep track of my crossfit workouts.  I am still somewhat new to Crossfit (since August, 2010, with a break in between when I was moving and fighting illness after illness).  I'm still learning what everything is called and am building up to heavier weights and breaking my own PR's. (personal records).  I found out this past summer, after YEARS of pain, that I have tears in the discs of my spine and arthritis from my neck down through my lower back.  It has made exercise difficult at times, which is awful for me considering all the sports I played growing up and how active I have always been.  I have learned, however, that not exercising is NOT an option.  My back gets worse if I don't MOVE, so even when I don't want to work out I still have to get myself moving or I will suffer for it more later.  Some would say that Crossfitting may be a bit too challenging for someone in my position, but to them I say.... well I will keep my opinions to myself, but I won't give up CF!  It's amazing and if any of you want to give REAL exercise a try, feel free to come with me to a WOD (work out of the day).

If you are a teacher, I promise the stress relief from CF is well worth the "pain"! 

K, I'm off to the store to buy some healthy food choices... hopefully I am able to stick to the list I made, which matches the menu for the week that I concocted.  I'll post some of my food choices in my next blog entry.