minimalism: design, fitness, food, spaces, and things.

what a trip. even though this was my fourth time doing the open, i learned the most this year. in 2013 i was brand new to crossfit, couldn’t do most of the things, and overall had no idea what i was even getting into or even what the open was all about. 2014 was really just beginning of when i began to take competition a little more seriously. and in 2015 perhaps i took it a little too seriously. i got more wrapped up in it all and found myself upset if i didn’t get a certain score or beat a certain person. 2015 wasn’t much fun—partially because i was out of my home gym for 3/5 of them, but mostly because of my perspective. 2016 was a lot different from 2015.

“Across all divisions, 120,459 athletes in total performed at least one bar muscle-up with 25,306 of these coming from women.

This includes 246 women aged 50-54 completing an average of 7 bar muscle-ups, and 217 of the younger teen girls (14-15) completing an average of 9.

That’s a lot of women with bar muscle-ups, especially when the general public (per The New York Times) thinks women can’t do pull-ups.”

—CrossFit Games

Neat.

Still I'm feeling like a vagrant in my own town. I'm like an awkward conversation

(tyrant kings, needtobreathe)

—

I rarely go out to eat. I watch what I eat and count macros and going out to eat makes that pretty difficult. But this past weekend after a weightlifting meet, I decided I didn’t want to cook and I wanted to eat some really good food that I rarely get to do and maybe try a new local restaurant I haven’t tried yet. I’m sure I could have asked a friend to come with me, but truthfully I didn’t want to bother. I got home around 6, left around 7, and was home by 9. The whole night was on my own terms. I didn’t have to wait and go at a time that worked for someone else. I didn’t need to decide on a place to eat with anyone else, I made no decisions based on someone else. I did what I wanted.

The whole night I felt like a complete stranger in my own town. Eating alone in a restaurant never phases me when I’m traveling. I love it, actually. To be able to walk in, get seated at a table or even just at the bar, order and eat food completely alone. It’s a powerful feeling that not many people feel comfortable doing anywhere, let alone in their own town.

I didn’t hate it though and maybe that’s why I felt like a stranger. So few people ever go out to eat alone in their own town and maybe more people should. 

Ten lbs and 5.25 inches I joined #teamWAG @workingagainstgravity. I had done flexible dieting before but never to this extent and never with such accountability and encouragement. 

No major changes to my diet (except maybe more carbs and a little less peanut butter, but not much!) No major changes to my fitness regime. 

Just one thing, and a lot of learning. Tracked all the food I ate diligently and very rarely gave in and cheated significantly (not to say I didn’t eat any junk food—I just made sure to account for it). Weighed everything. Learned that measuring is not nearly as accurate as the scale. 

Working Against Gravity has both redefined how I view food and how I eat and has definitely given me way more energy to put towards my workouts. I’ve always been hardcore about hitting the gym because I love it, but when your progress is elevated because your nutrition is on point and you have people behind you wanting you to succeed, you do what you can to not let them down. I'm leaner and lighter than I've been in years (likely since high school—I am 29 fyi), my lifts either remain the same or have gone up. Since starting with the group my RX handstand push ups have improved, other gymnastics including ring dips, push ups, pull ups, and ab exercises also have improved. My endurance and cardio stamina feels better most days (and having asthma, I have struggled with this and don’t have a great engine).

2015! I hate yearly wrap up posts because they always sound the same to me so I’m going to keep this brief. I feel like 2015 was a pretty significant year without anything significant really happening. 2015 was a year that had to happen.

I learned a lot. About a lot of things. About myself.

I learned about food and nutrition more than I ever have before. 

I learned about what I really care about... and what I don’t care about.

I learned what I want.

I learned what I’m good at... and what I’m not good at. 

I learned about being a competitive person and how to put in work.

I learned more than ever about who i am.

One of my favourite healthy breakfasts. Call me basic, but anything pumpkin is always good. It doesn’t even have to be fall for me to like something pumpkin flavoured...  Anyway.  I love carbs for breakfast, but straight carbs for breakfast doesn’t like me. So I threw in some liquid protein—egg whites—to balance things out. Flexible dieting is fairly easy to maintain and it ensures you’re getting the right balance of macronutrients, or carbs, protein, and fat (as well as getting enough of the other micros). 

Adjust serving sizes of ingredients as you need but this ratio of ingredients works pretty well. And always weigh things when you can! It is much more accurate and actually a lot easier than measuring. Measuring cups are a pain in the butt. Simply put your bowl or plate on the scale, add things, and then zero the scale before adding each thing.

—

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. —

This one time, a little less than two years ago, I made a comment about my quads getting bigger and a certain pair of (very non-stretchy) jeans not fitting. They fit in the waist how they usually did but I could barely fit them over my legs, let alone move.

Being the typical weightlifting crossfitters that I was surrounded by, one person proceeded to say this was a good thing, and who would want "skinny, good-for-nothing, bitch legs" anyway? Big, strong legs were in—among this crew. Strong is the new skinny. Focus on what you can do, not what you look like. Blah blah blah.

At the time I fell for it, agreed that I wanted the gains and told myself I didn’t care that my skinny jeans didn’t fit as long as I was getting stronger.

The conversation continued and I jokingly mentioned that when I add 50 lbs to my deadlift (175 to 225#), and 40# to my back squat (150 to 190#) this person would have to buy me a new pair of jeans because I will surely no longer fit into the ones I have now. Well.

I reached that deadlift goal in September and I reached that back squat goal this week.

But. I’m smaller than I’ve ever been. I can still wear skinny jeans. I weigh about 10 lbs less. I’m inches smaller than I was then. I think I look much better overall and my gymnastics skills are better. I have stronger legs than I’ve ever had but they are still “skinny” as some people would say.  Through the art of strict flexible dieting and counting macros—giving my body the nutrients it needs to perform its best and nothing more—I’ve found something good. Oh and I eat frozen yogurt, [high protein] waffles, and more carbs than I have in years regularly and never feel deprived of any food. I actually have a better relationship with food than I’ve had in years. So. 

this week i casually said out loud to a coworker that i wish i still had a digital SLR camera because i miss taking real pictures. iphones aren’t the same kind of fun.

he then proceeded to offer to lend me his old canon 20D—super old, i know. but hey, any camera with real settings is good. he also said he hasn’t used it for years and probably never will so doesn’t expect it back anytime soon. 

neat. 

i won’t let my flaws, my insecurities, my injuries, or all of my present troubles define me.

i won’t be defined by the macros i eat or the number the scale says i am. it doesn’t matter. 

it doesn’t matter if in the last couple of months i have fell apart. i’m full of imperfections. human.