So, still stuck in my plateau. It's been a couple months now, and it is growing frustrating. Granted, I put a little dent in my stride when got a little friendly with booze a couple weekends ago (a couple drinks on a date night Thursday, a couple more at a show on Friday, and a couple drinks Sat afternoon at our CrossFit End of Opens BBQ and then again at another show that night...). Okay, A LOT friendly. That's pretty out of the ordinary for me - I typically only have drinks once/week a couple times/month.
So, I recommitted to eating clean after that weekend so I could try to drop a couple pounds before Festivus. It's been 2 weeks of pretty clean eating (I didn't even have a drink a my Book Club on Friday, but did indulge in some potato chips...), but no progress on the scale. Grrr. Maybe now that Aunt Flo has come and gone...
The coaches at our box offered to start doing 2-month break-out sessions in small groups for people who have some goals they want to work on. I jumped on board, and was assigned a great coach - one of the owners, a former body builder who was on his way to the CrossFit master's regionals until an injury sidelined him. So he knows a thing or two about training and nutrition! He suggested I follow more of a Zone macronutrient ratio (40% carbs/30% protein/30% fat) instead of the more low-carb/high fat ratio I've been following (averaging 20% carbs/30% protein/50% fat). So, I'm going to try to add a few more starchy-carbs in, especially right post-WOD, and see if that changes things. He also suggested trying intermittent fasting, which I also just read about in Chris Kresser's book, Your Personal Paleo Code. These are my 3 goals:
- Bust through this weight loss plateau and lose a couple pounds (tweak ratios to follow Zone, maybe do so intermittent fasting)
- Make progress toward first strict pull-up (do some eccentric work 3x/week, more volume with just red band)
- Work on mobility for IT bands to prevent future knee issues (need to stretch and foam roll EVERY DAY)
Coach Glenn is also a big proponent of having a meal prep day (or two) each week, which we've been in the habit of doing for a while now. We had a good prep day on Sunday:
- chicken & bacon cooked up and portioned for salads (and salads & homemade dressing prepped)
- pulled pork from the crock pot with sides of coleslaw (w/ homemade mayo) and cauliflower
- great big frittata sliced up for breakfasts
- son's lunches packed
- fruit portioned out for us and the kids
I also started making and drinking bone broth. It's supposed to be really good for you since it contains so many minerals and collagen, especially for healing the gut and helping with joint issues by reducing inflammation. So, I cooked up my first batch using the Whole9's recipe with a rotisserie chicken carcass (although it's probably crappy quality since it's from Sam's), and it is pretty delicious. I've been drinking cup a day like a hot tea before bed. Last night, I got the bones from the T-bones and rib-eye from dinner with my Dad and sister - these bones are from a local family farm, so they should be a little better quality. I'll cook up that batch tonight and see if I like chicken- or beef-based better.
My left knee is finally coming around, just in time for Festivus. Yay! I was actually able to do a WOD with 200m runs yesterday, which I could not have done a week ago since the back of my knee was still really tight. I still can't bend my left knee quite as far as my right since there's still a pain on the outside, just below the joint, but it's far better than it was. I went to see the ortho doc again, and they gave me a topical steroid that I use instead of the Mobic (maybe I'll make the switch once I run out of this 3rd round of Mobic). And they prescribed more PT, but not sure I'll go if I can really commit to the IT band mobility stuff - why pay for it at PT when I can do it myself?!
At Coach Glenn's advice, I finally ended up buying some knee sleeves, and have worn those at 2 WODs now. They definitely do feel like they give me some support, and DEFINITELY keep my knees nice and warm because they are ALL sweaty when I take them off! I got the original Rehband Model 7051, which is apparently discontinued now in favor of a thinner material. All of the reviews that I read said this older model offers more support since it's thicker. I ordered mediums since I was just barely into the large measurements, and some people have said they'll stretch a little (and I'm hoping my legs will continue to shrink a little more!). So they're definitely on the tight side - it's a little bit of a struggle to get them on and off! But once they're on, they don't slip, which I was concerned about. I was able to run 1400 meters and do a ton of double unders without needing to adjust them once. While wearing them, I finally dared to practice some box overs and wall balls. The box overs felt ok, but the wall balls still got a little pinchy on my knee - I'll just keep staying away from squats until Festivus to heal a little more before then.
