Whole 30 Part 2, the Sequel

After my initial Whole 30 experience I went into a transition phase and continued to follow Whole 30 principles and added in a few "cheat" days.  My "cheats" were just a little ice cream!  For my evening snack I added a scoop (OK, maybe a little more at times) of vanilla ice cream to my fresh berries. I stayed completely away from grains, and found when I ate legumes bad things occurred. I am still abstaining from alcohol and my drink of choice is still black coffee and water.  I tried some coconut water, not a fan. After 60 days using the Whole 30 principles I am happy to say that I am now at supreme fighting weight.  I weigh in at 85kg and my body fat is 9%.

Here are some random thoughts about the second phase.

Decreased strength in the dead lift and the bench press as I finished up the second round of Dan John's time honored Easy Strength program.  Considering I dropped 16 pounds of bodyweight this was expected.  My chin up and bodyweight movement strength increased, again I shed a bowling ball so this was also expected.

Edgy and angry.  HMM, this wasn't good but I struggled the entire month of February with anger issues.  The simplest things set me off, human incompetence set me off.  I'm not sure why this happened.  I have personal issues, I know.  I have demons and serious faults that I struggle with daily.  At this point I am not going to analyze myself but I am going to get things corrected.

Get the hell out of this cold weather, my body screamed all month.  This is the first year in many that I did not take a trip south out of this gawd awful winter weather in Western PA.  Where the hell is Al Gore and his global warming?  All politicians are liars.

In hind site I overtrained the entire month of February.  I did too much, tried to fit too many programs into my schedule and just plain burnt myself out.  That needs corrected.  When I get bored I train.  KB classes 6 times a week and lifting 5 times a week is a recipe for disaster and it hit me big time as I caught the nastiest flu/cold that I have had in over a decade at the end of the month. I was vulnerable to catch this virus/bug as I was run down, burnt out and over stressed.

I don't do sick well. There is a reason you get sick and I don't do it well.  My body shut down, it said enough, rest for 8 days.  Why? because I couldn't do anything but lay in bed, that is how sick I was.  Here I am, 6 months with out alcohol, just got myself in great condition and I end up with the flu?  Why me?  Why not me?  I learned a very valuable lesson. Slow it down.

Am I trying to cram so many 'wasted' years into the last 1/4 of my existence.  Mid-life crisis, or just finally realizing that time marches on (quickly) and the only thing we all have is time, but we just don't know how much we have left.

Reading the book the 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferris turned me onto the best roasted chicken technique, now I love roasted chicken.  I also consumed more fish in the past 30 days than I did since I was living off canned tuna and fresh peaches back in the summer of '79 while in the Marine Corps in Southern California (simpler times).

Coffee is my new addiction, although I have cut way back in the past week and a half.

At time my mind kept playing a continuos loop of me sitting at the City Bar in the Aria Hotel and Casino at 5:00 in the morning, drinking top shelf small batch bourbon in weird shaped glasses for free, and smoking a robusto cigar while playing video poker (very slowly).  I felt comfortably numb, the aroma and taste of the thick cigar smoke intoxicating, and I was winning on the video poker machine while consuming $15.00 a shot whiskey on the house.  I had no place to go for the next 48 hours and I was feeling very blissful and content!

I'm kind of liking my lifestyle change when it comes to eating.  So for now I will stay the course.

If you have nothing to lose but unwanted fat and inches from your body I suggest your "google" the Whole 30 and get going.

Stay Strong and Stay Healthy, Al  al@ironsolid.com