July 2018 - Volume 17
Taking Control of Your Nutrition – Coach Dell
I have had several people ask in the last couple of months what they need to do to help their nutrition along. Most conversations are about losing weight or the desire to see abs, so that will be the focus of the first Nutrition Not-Seminar at the end of the month. Our goal with these info sessions is to give our members some helpful guidelines, tips, and support for them to make a plan to take control of their nutrition journey. To quote Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “A goal without a plan is just a wish”.
The first step in any plan that includes weight loss is that calories in must be less than calories out! This is where a food log comes in. If you are just guessing then you have no data to work with. Have you ever actually measured a serving of peanut butter? It is not as much as you think! If the idea of weighing and measuring is overwhelming, then use a visual guide to help with portions.
The other part of the calorie equation is consistency. Personally I do a decent job during the week and then go overboard on the weekends, basically cancelling all the hard work from the week before.The best advice if you mess up on a weekend is to just get right back on track! Don’t beat yourself up, remember this is a lifestyle change not a starve yourself for 6 weeks change.
You also have to make sure you are eating enough to fuel your body for your workouts. A word of caution though, doing CrossFit doesn’t mean you have free license to eat whatever! The workouts are tough and leave you gasping but that doesn’t mean you burned 1200 cals in 15 minutes. This was the mistake I made my first 3 years of CrossFit. I’d work hard at the gym and then just eat whatever I wanted and then be frustrated that I wasn’t leaning out or meeting my goals. Be realistic in how many calories you are burning (and eating) in a day.
Let’s talk abs and muscle definition for a minute. All muscle definition is dependent on the layer of fat covering them! You can’t “spot train” your abs and have them magically appear. The ab muscles will grow but unless the fat layer is lessened, they won’t show any more than they did before. I’m fond of the sayings “abs are made in the kitchen”, and “you can’t out train a bad diet”. Cliche`? Yes. True, double yes! So, that takes us back to the calorie equation.
If you plan on attending the first Nutrition Not-Seminar, I would encourage you to keep a food journal for at least 3 days. You can use My Fitness Pal, a notebook, My Macros App, whatever works for you! This will give us some data to work with and help you develop a plan to meet your goals!
The Importance of Goal Setting
Today I want to discuss goal setting and how it plays an important role in your everyday routines. I feel like this is an area that is all to easily overlooked, but has the greatest impact if we are unable to achieve the things we believe we deserve. Most of us look to someone in our everyday and use them as a template for how we ourselves would like to be one day. The fact of the matter is, we don’t fully understand the sacrifices they’ve made to put themselves in this position. In this article I would like for us to think about what we want to achieve and then break it down in such a way the helps us focus our efforts daily, and not just look at the overall big picture.
For this article we are going to use pull-ups as an example. Most of us either had strict pull-ups and lost them, or have never had them but want to get them. Either way let’s start by saying that the goal for this particular article is to achieve 10 strict pull-ups in one unbroken set. If I approach most athletes to ask them about how to achieve this, I always ask how long will they wait for the results? Are you going to give yourself a day, weeks, months, a year to get these pull-ups? Most everyone responds the same, I don’t know. My point to this is that if we don’t know what target we’re aiming for, how could we ever expect to hit it? So set a time in which you want to achieve this goal. Nothing is going to come easy. It will take discipline and determination. Understand that if you aren’t willing to give these, you will fail.
So we know what our goal is, and we know how long to give ourselves. Now let’s break this down to see what we do that helps us get closer to this goal, daily. We can’t just go to the gym everyday and do pull-ups with the hopes of getting better. Somethings may work that way, but this isn’t one of those. Most of us would probably need to seek out a coach for some direction. Work with them to help you put a plan together that will help you get these things! Each day we continue to train as we normally would, but before or after the WOD I would spend some time focussing on different movements that will help me achieve this goal. The next place I would focus my efforts would be on my diet. If you also have a goal of losing weight this would be the perfect time to focus on that as well. Losing weight is going to have a positive impact here as you are shedding those unwanted pounds, but also it’s easier to do bodyweight movements with less bodyweight. If you need proof, put an extra 5# in your pocket and try doing your pull-ups.
No matter the goal, spend some time figuring out how to get from start to finish. Be consistent with you strides moving closer to achieving that goal, and don’t be so easily discouraged. Look around the room and pay attention because one day you will look over your shoulder and see someone else starting right where you did. Go get em!!
- July 19th – Punchcard Social at the Columbus Bar (family side) – No actual punch cards but just an evening out for dinner and drinks! Join us at 7:15 pm.
- July 28 @ noon – Nutrition Not-Seminar! This will be the first of hopefully several info sessions on nutrition. We will start with a discussion of the Zone diet. Will there be handouts? Yes! Powerpoints? Yes! Is it a seminar? NO! (It’s totally a seminar). See the Members FB group for more info!
- Aug 3rd – First Friday Free Community WOD – Join us for a fun WOD at 5:30 pm followed by a pitch in!
- Aug 11 – Indy Quest Adventure Race. This is an urban 6 hour race which would be great for beginner racers! https://www.indyquestar.com/
- Sept 1 – Return of the Nutrition Challenge! This one will wrap up before the Thanksgiving Holiday.
- Oct 13 – Festivus Team Comp! It’s not too early to register your team! Click here: https://festivusgames.com/register/29521/
Member Highlight – Lindsay Baughman
- How long have you done CrossFit?
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About 6 years. I took a 7 month break after graduating college to due to commuting and working night shift.
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- What is your favorite CrossFit movement/WOD/lift?
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My favorite WODs are definitely Holleyman and Annie. Favorite movements would deadlift, cleans, and jerks.
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- What is something that most people at the gym wouldn’t know about you
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I’m working on my master’s degree to become a Family Nurse Practitioner.
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- What is a fitness goal you have for the upcoming year?
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I’m working on doing more mobility but I’m also trying to find a good balance between fueling myself for performance and enjoying the tasty things in life. My ultimate goal is to stay healthy.
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- What is a hobby you have that is NOT CrossFit related?
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I enjoy working out in my yard, reading, and playing with my cat Dexter.
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- What advice would you give someone who is afraid to try CrossFit?
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Give it a chance and see if it’s something that you enjoy. Whatever training you do, make sure it’s something enjoyable!
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- Tacos or Pancakes?
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Pancakes with chocolate chips and peanut butter!
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Protein Packed Pancakes
This month I’m going to share a couple versions of pancakes that are higher in protein and lower in carbs!
The first version is one I found in a cookbook I purchased back when I first started trying to clean up my diet, appropriately titled “The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook” by Tosca Reno.
INGREDIENTS:
- 6 egg whites, beaten until fluffy
- 1/2 cup low (or no) fat cottage cheese
- 1 scoop protein powder
- 1/2 cup oatmeal, uncooked
- 1/4 cup wheat germ
- 1/4 cup flax seed
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Place everything except the egg whites in food processor and pulse or blend until mixture is uniform.
- Pour blended ingredients into bowl and fold in egg whites.
- Cook like usual and top with your favorite toppings.
Version 2: I’ve not personally tried this one yet but it is up next in my rotation! I found it here: https://ifoodreal.com/cottage-cheese-protein-pancakes/
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup egg whites
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 yellow banana (if over ripen use less stevia), medium
- 1 cup quick oats
- 2 scoops (66 g) protein powder, unsweetened (if using sweetened reduce amount of stevia)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp stevia, powdered
- Cooking spray
INSTRUCTIONS: This one says to just throw it all in the blender and mix! Then cook like normal for pancakes.
Version 3: The simplest of them all! I found this one here: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/oatmeal-cottage-cheese-pancakes-43072. To make, just blend all together and you are ready to cook!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1⁄2cup oatmeal uncooked
- 1⁄2cup cottage cheese
- 1teaspoon vanilla
- 4egg whites