2015: New Year; New Resolve

All right, the holiday fun is over - time to return to clean eating tomorrow since vacation will be over and it's back to the work routine. I won't pretend that I didn't enjoy indulging in some gluten- & dairy free treats over the last couple months, but I've had my fill of gf/df apple dump cake and eggnog pumpkin pie. Oh, and the rest of those Doritos from a party (for shame!). And eating out. And ALL the candy. I'm finding that the more crap I eat, the worse I feel about my ability to achieve my goals. As the Whole30 authors say, It Starts With Food - it really does. I have not ventured onto the scale lately since I'm afraid of what it will read, but definitely not feeling as lean as I was pre-holidays... Time to fix that.

First, 2015 goals:

• strict pull-up by the Opens in March, then kipping pull-ups
• toes-to-bar
• 300# deadlift; 220# back squat; 125# snatch
• drop some bodyfat to help with pull-ups (which means reining in the carbs)

I've decided that I'm not going to torture myself with a strict 30-day Paleo/Whole30 Challenge to kick off the new year - it makes me crazy to have to cut out every tiny bit of sugar (just don't feel like making my own breakfast sausage for a month again to avoid 1g of sugar). I'm pledging to adhere to the following rules, which I feel are sustainable for more than just a 30-day resolution:

1. remain gluten- & dairy-free
2. keep my carbs under 100g on rest days (more veggies than fruit) 
3. aim for around 200g -250g on WOD days
4. only have starchy carbs before/after WODs
5. eat 180g of protein/day to support my muscles
6. drink at least 3 liters of water/day
7. be asleep by 10pm every night
8. commit to my pull-up progression program 3 days/week to finally get that strict pull-up (and hopefully shed some fat to lighten the load a little)! 
9. NOT be a slave to the scale! Just rely on how clothes fit & reflection to measure progress
10. plan & prep my meals so I'm not forced into last minute bad decisions eating out

So, this weekend, I've been doing some prep work: 

• portioned some leftover Swiss steak and roast beef for meals
• portioned out my snacks of 4oz turkey breast and fruit for work
• made some copycat Chipotle Mexican Grill's Honey Vinaigrette - delicious!
• marinating chicken breasts for salads
• prepped some pork tenderloin for pulled pork in the slow cooker tomorrow
• found a bunch of slow cooker recipes for free with my Amazon Unlimited trial - lots of good stuff in the Kickass Paleo Chicken Slow Cooker series - need to print them out before my trial expires!
• Brian went shopping for lots of meat to make some other slow cooker meals, and lots of veggies and fruit for sides and snacks

Let a new year of continued progress begin! Only 8 more months until 40! Time to get my fittest!