A Fresh Start

Somehow I ended up with 3 blogs. It started with "Laney's Blog", a somewhat pathetic attempt at letting out some frustrations that had built up inside over a few months of dealing with some communication issues with my mom. After about 10 posts of unsatisfying, poorly written, sentimental crap, I gave up on it. Then I started keeping track of all of my training on a new blog "Laney's Gymnastic Training" (I know, very clever names). Then, after being a little "off" with my diet over the winter, I decided to Zone up again and hold myself accountable by tracking all of my food intake on yet another creatively named blog: "Laney's Food Blog" (sheesh! booooring..). Finally, after some inspiration from my new favorite pseudo-friend (basically, a girl I came across online, she has no idea that I exist, but I wish we were friends) Melissa Byers and her blog Byers Gets Diesel, I am combining all of my blogs into one (hopefully, eventually cool) blog.

I read this article by Melissa about CrossFitting and Zoning as a woman and it struck a chord with me. I have never had any sort of eating disorder or disordered eating to speak of, but I have struggled (and still do) with my fair share of body image issues. Entering into CrossFit was easy and enjoyable for me. I seriously lacked upper body strength (just like everyone who doen't train it that much) and I was tiring of the same old training for myself and for my clients. CrossFit lit a fire under my ass to change the focus and philosophy of training. I ate it up. Then I started The Zone diet and immediately saw changes in my strength, workout performances, and physique. It took a while to figure out the amount of food I should eat, and in the meantime I was starving and wanted to punch everyone in the face. Finally I settled in on a good block prescription (10-12 blocks per day, triple fat blocks) and I was cruising in The Zone. But soon enough, it started to consume me. While Melissa's article is full of her confessions of being a control freak and deprivation of proper nutrients for the sake of getting leaner, my experience is not as intense. None the less I still experienced (and continue to experience) the guilt associated with "cheat meals" or days when I'm a little high on the carb side. What she writes about is a way to remove yourself from that. The Zone gives us great structure for our diet, but if you have ever had any sort of weird emotions attached to food and eating, it can become a not-so-healthy-obsession.

Currently I am trying to switch to a more Paleo type of diet (Paleo with a few high quality, nutrient dense grains like wild rice and quinoa here and there, plus some yogurt once in a while). I have been back in The Zone (strict- read: measuring and weighing) for about 3 weeks and I feel a little bit of the obsession coming on. I don't really want to keep track of everything I eat every day. Because the reason I am doing it is so that if I "mess up" one day I can make myself feel bad for it. I'm pretty sure that's not the point of tracking your food. So, I'm doing away with my food blog. It's monotonous to say the least and it's self-depricating. Food should not make a person feel this way. I know what the portions I should eat look like and I know which carbs are "favorable" and which aren't, I don't need to look at the block sheet every time I cook. Furthermore, if I want to make a batch of gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free cookies, I should feel good about it- after all they are the closest thing to a Paleo treat that I can think of.

The one thing I will continue to track meticulously is my training. This, when it's all said and done, is where I see the fruits of my labor. This is what I am passionate about. So expect this blog to contain a wide array of topics from gymnastics to CrossFit to recipes to family drama to exciting news about Rip City Fitness because this is The Good Life.