Post-challenge Day 17

Today's meals

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash with fried eggs, black coffee
Lunch: Pork chops, ampalaya with eggs
Dinner: Tilapia and pechay cooked in coconut milk
Snacks: Singkamas, bananas, non-paleo cookies (M&M's, which my niece made, and peanut butter, which I and my son and nephew made)

The sweet potato hash recipe I'd gotten from Nom Nom Paleo was sooo good, if I may say so myself! It was also my first time to fry eggs, believe it or not. I rarely fry stuff because I'm afraid the oil will jump out at me and go into my eyes. Weird, I know. Anyway, it wasn't that bad. I followed the instructions and just waited until the eggs looked done. Et voilà!

Halfway through the meal was when I thought about taking a photo

With my mug of coffee on the side

Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Eggs

For the hash:

2 medium sweet potatoes, grated
Salt
Ground black pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Dried oregano
Dried basil
Beef fat for cooking

1. Place grated sweet potatoes in a large bowl and toss with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and basil.
2. Heat the fat in a skillet over medium heat. When it's hot, add the seasoned sweet potatoes.
3. Toss everything in the fat and stir-fry for a minute, then cover for a few more minutes while the sweet potatoes cook.
4. The hash is ready when the texture is soft.

For the fried eggs:

2 eggs
Salt
Ground black pepper
Coconut oil or animal fat for cooking

1. Heat the oil or fat in a pan over medium-low heat. Once hot, crack 2 eggs into a bowl and pour into the pan.
2. Season the eggs with salt and pepper, and cover for 2 to 3 minutes, depending on how runny you want your eggs.
3. Once they're done, slide the eggs onto your mound of sweet potato hash.

So, so, sooo good, I swear.

Post-challenge Day 16 + Mar 30 WOD: TGIF Bash

Today's meals

Breakfast: Leftover paleo pancakes, banana
Lunch: Chicken fingers, singkamas
Dinner: Leftover ground beef lettuce wrap, orange
Snacks: Banana, carrot and cucumber sticks, leftover paleo pancakes, raisins

One of the many things I've learned from doing paleo, having leftovers are good -- it saves you tons of time you'd otherwise spend planning and preparing your meal. Something I will do this weekend is prepare my food for the week (I always say I'll do that but I never do!).

WOD

The WODs today were on promo -- 2 for the price of 1! First, there was the "main bash," which was 3 rounds of:

- 25 double unders
- 25 hand-release push ups
- 60m sprint

Modification for those who can't do double unders was squat jumps. The 60m sprint was 6 laps of the box from end to end. My time: 7:16.

After a few minutes of rest, we did the "after-bash," which was a descending 30-20-10 ladder of:

- Kettlebell swings
- Sit ups

I used the 12 kg kettlebell. My time: 5:06 (or thereabouts, I don't remember exactly).

Was I ever so wasted after that. I didn't even have the energy to work on my double unders.

Post-challenge Day 15

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo banana pancakes, black coffee
Lunch: Hard-boiled egg, singkamas
Dinner: Ground beef (with adobo seasoning) lettuce wrap
Snacks: Paleo pancakes

I need to try new paleo recipes soon. My lunch and dinner is a cycle of burgers, chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, and fish. The lettuce wrap I'd brought to work was supposed to be paleo tacos, but I was too lazy to look for and try a salsa recipe. I did try a different seasoning, though, which was equally tasty. Next time I should try adding egg and some veggies too.

Post-challenge Day 14 + Mar 28 WOD: Tabata

Today's meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with tomato
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, singkamas
Dinner: Chicken fingers, fried eggplant
Snacks: Orange, carrots and cucumber sticks, boiled sweet potato

WOD

Today was Tabata Wednesday. A Tabata exercise is doing 8 sets of a certain exercise; a set is 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. For today's WOD, we did 3 different exercises:

- Sit ups
- Barbell floor wipes
- L-sit or hold

You compute your score by adding the lowest number of reps you were able to do for each exercise. For the L-sit, you use the least number of seconds you were able to do it.

My score: 8 + 7 + 12 = 27. Yuck!

Post-challenge Day 13

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter, ponkan orange, black coffee
Lunch: Fish fillet in non-paleo batter
Dinner: Green salad with fruits and nuts, paleo brownies
Snacks: Carrot and cucumber sticks, apples, singkamas, non-paleo rainbow cupcake, a piece of chocolate

I feel bad now every time I eat non-paleo stuff. I don't just mean physically bad, but also mentally bad. I know I don't want to go back to rollercoaster sugar highs and lows, so I definitely am not going back to how I used to eat. Maybe I just have to be more forgiving of myself whenever I slip.

Paleo Chicken Nuggets with "BBQ" Sauce

I stumbled upon this recipe from Multiply Delicious while filtering google results for paleo recipes. As usual, I tweaked a few things. Except for the coconutty texture of the "breading" it tastes almost like the real thing! This is the recipe I followed:

Chicken Nuggets

1/2 kg ground chicken
1 egg
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup + 1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
Coconut oil for frying
Salt and pepper

1. In a bowl, mix to combine 1/4 cup almond flour, dessicated coconut, and salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, combine ground chicken, 1/2 cup almond flour, onion powder, garlic powder, egg, and salt and pepper. Mix well until everything is incorporated. Form into balls and flatten a bit (so they'll look like chicken nuggets), then coat in almond flour and coconut mixture.
3. Cook in coconut oil and serve with "BBQ" sauce.

Paleo BBQ Sauce

3/4 cup 100% natural orange juice
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
10 Tbsp tomato paste
3 to 4 Tbsp coconut sugar
1/2 medium onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp coconut oil

1. Heat coconut oil in medium heat. Cook onion and garlic and saute until soft.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients except coconut sugar and simmer for 5 mins.
3. Add coconut sugar and simmer again for 10 to 15 mins.

Post-challenge Day 12 + Mar 26 WOD Another triplet

Today's meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, singkamas, iced black coffee
Dinner: Burgers, chicken nuggets, singkamas
Snacks: Paleo brownies, apples

I guess I paid the price for my indulgences during the weekend. Apparently, my tummy didn't like what I ate and a lot of it went down the toilet this morning. Note to self: Indulge, not binge! I admit I went a little crazy on the cassava cake and desserts at Old Vine. So I won't be doing that again anytime soon.

WOD

Call me a nerd, but I got a bit excited when I saw that we'll be doing dead lifts today. We were given a 20 min time cap to do 5 rounds of:

- 6 dead lifts (Rx: 95 lbs)
- 9 toes-to-bar
- 12 weighted push ups (Rx: 25 lbs)

I was a little iffy about going Rx on the dead lifts, but I figured it's doable since the time cap was 20 mins. I did knees-to-chest instead of toes-to-bar. For the weighted push ups, we had to put the plate on our back (like a turtle) and do regular push ups. I used the 10 lb plate, and even that became a struggle by the 4th round. Push ups, I will own you one day. My time: 8:46.

Post-challenge Day 11

Today's meals

Breakfast: Cassava cake, banana with coconut butter
Lunch: Non-paleo Asian lunch (Hainanese chicken, pad thai, fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce), cassava cake (it was really good)
Dinner: Fried catfish, chicken-pork balls in veggie soup
Snacks: Mochi ice cream, paleo brownies, apples, singkamas

One of my younger sisters is a fantastic cook. She's the type of person who can whip something up on the fly. So, when I saw the food she'd prepared for lunch yesterday, I knew I'd have to have another cheat meal. One thing I've learned post-paleo challenge is, you have to learn to indulge yourself once in a while. Indulge, but don't binge!

In the evening, I helped another sister make rainbow cupcakes. People at home have been complaining that I don't make/bake goodies anymore since I went paleo. So this weekend was rainbow cupcakes, and next weekend I'll be making peanut butter cookies with the kids.

Post-challenge Day 10

Today's meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with tomato
Lunch: Paleo chicken fingers, burgers, veggies from sinigang
Dinner: Non-paleo dinner buffet at Old Vine Grille
Snacks: Singkamas, paleo brownies, oranges, apples, banana with coconut butter

I have this group of friends, and we've decided that we will meet once a month and try different restaurants every time we meet. I was the one who suggested Old Vine Grille, because I remembered how good the food was when I had lunch there with the CrossFit moms. The dinner buffet wasn't really at the bad end of the non-paleo spectrum. Lots of paleo-friendly food selections, and it was very good so I don't feel guilty. AT ALL. I stuck mostly to the meats and veggies (salmon carpaccio, ribs, salad, buttered veggies) but I also helped myself to dessert (mango brazo de mercedes, strawberries and chocolate, cake).

Post-challenge Day 9 + Mar 23 WOD: Open 12.5

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Boiled sweet potatoes with coconut butter
Dinner: Paleo chicken nuggets, sauteed spinach
Snacks: Boiled sweet potato, singkamas

WOD

We really did the Open 12.5 workout today, which is the last workout of the Open event. When the event closes, the top 60 men and women go on to the Regionals. The Asia Regional will be held in Korea from May 4-6, and a lot of people at the box are excited because there's a chance that our very own Coach Pau might get in! We're cheering him on like heck!

On to the WOD...

From the CrossFit Games website

As you can see, it's no laughing matter. Rx for women was 65 lbs but I used a 45 lb bar, and for the pull ups I used the green band. I got up to 4 thrusters into the set of 15. My score: 61. Ugh!

Post-challenge Day 8

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas, paleo pancakes with coconut butter and coconut nectar
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, singkamas
Dinner: Slider burgers, stir-fried veggies
Snacks: Boiled saba, singkamas, paleo pancakes

So it seems we'll be doing the Open 12.5 workout tomorrow. It involves thrusters, which means more squatting. And my thunder thighs are getting to know squats all too well. That's not to say that I have great squats, but I'm more conscious about breaking parallel now.

Open 12.5, bring it on!

Post-challenge Day 7 + Mar 21 WOD: Chelsea

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Paleo banana pancakes with coconut butter and coconut nectar, boiled sweet potato
Dinner: Chicken fingers, friend eggplant
Snacks: Boiled sweet potato, boiled saba

For some reason, I'm not hungry after working out. Not sure if that's normal, but since the paleo diet believes in eating only when hungry, I don't eat a lot at lunch time.

WOD

I met a new girl today. Her name is Chelsea and she's okay, but she's very demanding! Another day, another benchmark workout at the box. This time we did one of the girls. It was these 3 exercises on the minute every minute for 30 minutes:

- 5 pull ups
- 10 push ups
- 15 squats

The rules are if you don't finish all those in 1 minute, the round doesn't count. We could sit out a minute but we can't sit out 2 minutes back to back. I think I did the first 3 or 4 rounds 5-10-15, but when I couldn't finish the round anymore, I scaled down to 4-8-12. There were a few times when I felt light-headed and dizzy but I did my best to keep going. My score: 24 rounds.

I looked at the board and saw that my paleo partner Dorothy got all 30 rounds! Yeah, she's super strong!

Post-challenge Day 6

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo banana pancakes with coconut butter and coconut nectar, black coffee
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, banana
Dinner: Burgers, curried cauliflower, sliced papaya
Snacks: Paleo banana pancakes with coconut butter and coconut nectar, singkamas, microwaved saba with coconut butter

My butt hurts from doing yesterday's WOD. I don't think I'd be this sore if I'd used the 45 lb bar but I think one of the guys I work out with was right -- if it's become too easy, go heavier. And now I'm wondering how it must feel to do Rx (95 lbs), which the champion powerlifter/CrossFitter Betina had done yesterday. Wow!

I always get bruises on my clavicle whenever we do cleans, thrusters, push presses, and all those lifts that require racking the bar on the shoulders. I saw this on Pinterest before, and now it all makes sense:

Not that I have a husband (or a boyfriend, for that matter)

Post-challenge Day 5 + Mar 19 WOD: Scary

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo brownies (they're all gone now!), banana with coconut butter
Lunch: Singkamas, boiled sweet potatoes
Dinner: Paleo chicken nuggets, fried eggplant, carrot and cucumber sticks
Snacks: Singkamas, hard-boiled eggs

When I arrived from the grocery, I got down to making paleo chicken nuggets using this recipe from Multiply Delicious. I finished in about an hour then I stored them in the fridge for cooking this morning. I tried a piece this morning and I found it rather bland. I'll probably add more salt or add some spices next time.

WOD

It's Miggy's birthday today, and the coaches had something "fun" for us to do during the WOD. Yeah, if by "fun" you mean doing 100 front squats for time. Because that's what we had to do! We were given a 20 min time cap to do:

100 front squats (Rx was 95 lbs)

But at the start of every 2 mins, we had to do:

- 2 pull ups
- 3 squats
- 4 push ups

In the midst of all that craziness, we had to shout, "Happy birthday, Miggy!" when we reached our 33rd squat.

That means taking note of how many reps you'd done at the end of every 2 mins, doing the 3 other exercises, then resuming your count. I used a 55 lb bar, and I'm proud to say that even though I'd set up a 45 lb bar in case I felt like scaling further down, I didn't use it! I guess it was also easier that we had squat racks because we didn't need to clean the bars anymore. My time: 11:42.

My body is still sore from doing Friday's 12.4 and Saturday's paleo baseline WOD, but what the heck. I love it; it makes me feel so alive.

Post-challenge Day 4

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo brownies
Lunch: Burgers, banana with coconut butter, paleo brownies, non-paleo Death by Tablea chocolate cake
Dinner: Fried fish, kangkong, bananas
Snacks: Paleo brownies, singkamas, bananas, walnuts, non-paleo mochi ice cream

The computer says it's already 12:51 am, but I'm still awake. I made paleo chicken nuggets for myself and Miguel tomorrow. I haven't tasted them but I hope they're good. I wanted to make the paleo BBQ sauce as well, but I think I'll do it on Tuesday morning instead.

Tomorrow, I'm going to ask the coaches to help me with my sit ups. And I'm also going to ask if they can work something out so I can do the SWOD (strength WOD) that people do on Thursdays. Because I really wanna lift heavy things.

Post-challenge Day 3 + Mar 17 WOD: Paleo Baseline

Today's meals

Breakfast: Non-paleo waffles with butter and coconut nectar, black coffee
Lunch: Meat sauce, carrot and cucumber sticks, paleo brownies (I almost couldn't eat because of nervousness about today's WOD)
Dinner: KFC chicken, chicken pie, a few servings of very non-paleo cakes
Snacks: Singkamas, orange

WOD

Just thinking about my time when I did the baseline WOD the first time makes me cringe. I know I shouldn't be comparing my time with other people's times but sometimes I can't help it. I just have to remind myself that I have a different body, fitness background, and set of genes from them. Because most of the people I workout with have been physically active since their teen years, whereas I only really started getting active 2 years ago.

Anyway... on to the WOD. As what we did last Feb 18, it was 3 rounds of:

- 400m run
- 10 pull ups
- 20 push ups
- 30 sit ups
- 40 squats

I remember during one of the runs I had difficulty pushing myself mentally. That's always the challenge for me -- pushing myself. Nevertheless, I finished in 23:35, which is better than my 26:44 the first time around. We also got our waists and hips measured, and I think my waist went from 28.5 (inches) to 25.5 while my hips went from 36 to 35. Woot!

After the WOD the challengers had a post-paleo potluck party. I brought the paleo brownies that I'd baked in the morning -- it was the ONLY paleo food on the table! Shocking. Most people had brought cakes, pizzas, and other stuff we couldn't touch while we were on paleo. And although everyone indulged today, we agreed that we were going to continue eating, living, sleeping, and breathing paleo.

My conclusion: CrossFit + Paleo = Results.

Post-challenge Day 2 + Mar 16 WOD: Open 12.4

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Sisig, orange
Dinner: Boiled sweet potatoes, hard boiled egg
Snacks: Carrot and cucumber sticks

WOD

For today's WOD we did Workout 12.4, or as I like to call it, WTH?!

From the CrossFit Games website

Rx for women was the 14 lb ball for wall balls. I used the 10 lb ball. I didn't get to do the jump ropes but if I'd been able to go that far, I would've had to do 270 single unders (90 DUs x 3). And after that, instead of muscle ups I could've done pull ups. So, my score: 150. I can't believe this is an AMRAP workout. Sheesh.

Oh, and about last Wednesday's workout, it turns out that we were given the wrong instructions for the lateral burpees. Because we were told that 1 rep was burpee, then side-jumping over the bar twice, and we found out this morning that 1 rep was burpee then side jump. So that's why the people from the earlier classes were able to finish under 12 mins.

Post-challenge Day 1

Today's meals

Breakfast: Microwaved saging saba with coconut butter
Lunch: Paleo chicken fingers, singkamas, some sweet chocolate-cheese-salt drink from Happy Lemon
Dinner: Paleo chicken fingers, carrot and cucumber sticks
Snacks: Boiled sweet potatoes, boiled saging saba, ponkan, banana with coconut butter, paleo ice cream

Now that the Paleo Challenge is over, all bets are off. I will try to be as paleo as possible and apply the "100% paleo 80% of the time" rule, but I will also give in to temptation from time to time. I wouldn't want to go back to eating the way I did pre-challenge, though. I know that eating too much sugar gives me a tummy ache, but more than that, I'm afraid to lose what strength I've gained (this will be tested on Saturday during the paleo baseline WOD) since switching lifestyles.

Anyway... not a few people have been telling me that they're worried because I've gotten skinny. But I didn't start working out because I wanted to lose weight -- it was because I wanted to gain muscle mass and get stronger. Maybe I just look skinny because the fat I'd had was replaced by muscle (I wish). What to do, what to do? I eat right, work out regularly, and I feel great! Why would I want to change anything?

Paleo Challenge Day 29 + Mar 14 WOD: "Floater"

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, leftover waffles, singkamas
Dinner: Boiled sweet potato, hard boiled egg, boiled saba
Snacks: Leftover waffles, boiled saba

WOD

The thing about CrossFit is, you can do an "easy" WOD one day then do a crazy difficult WOD the next day. Today fell under the latter category. It's not so much that it was difficult, but the time cap made it difficult for us to not DNF. We were given 10 mins to do:

15-12-9
- Kettlebell swings
- Lateral burpees

After that, we rested for 2 mins, then:

12-9-6
- Kettlebell swings
- Lateral burpees

I used the 12 kg kettlebell -- I was too intimidated to use even the 16 kg kettlebell! The board said that the 10 mins supposedly includes the 2 min rest, but even after the 10 mins was up we kept going anyway. Then we posted our times net of the 2 min rest. My time: 9:25.

Today is the last day we eat, drink, sleep, and WOD paleo! Woot!

Paleo Chicken Fingers

I'd bought chicken breast the last time I went to the supermarket, and instead of using Melicious' chicken spice blend which I usually use for chicken breast, I sliced them into strips to make chicken fingers. Because I miss Friday's chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce.

Again, I scoured the Internet for paleo "breading" recipes and found myself checking out The Paleo Mom's chicken fingers recipe. I made a few changes in the recipe and this is how I made it:

Paleo Chicken Fingers

1/4 kg chicken breast fillet, cut into strips
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp rock salt
3/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cumin
Coconut oil for frying

1. Rub some salt onto the chicken strips and let sit for about 15 mins.
2. Beat egg in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, combine almond flour, salt, paprika, curry powder, and cumin and mix to combine.
3. Heat some coconut oil in a frying pan. Dip the chicken strips in egg, then dip in the almond flour mixture, making sure to coat all sides.
4. Cook the chicken (about 2-3 mins per side). Place on paper towels to drain excess oil.

It came out a little bit too salty for my taste, so I probably should've omitted the salt in the almond flour mixture. I would've made some sort of dip if I'd had the ingredients and the time, but that'll have to wait until next time.