Tracking! Or: I’m a data nerd, Part I – Fitocracy

Posted on 2012/01/29 by Jen

Supplement Insight! Inspirational Stories! Live the Lift Life!

So, I recently ordered 5 lbs of Now Sports Whey Protein Isolate from Bodybuilding.com (it was cheaper than Amazon at the time). I’ve been having post-workout protein in some powdered-to-liquid form since college, when Drew’s trainer discovered I just don’t like eating the damn stuff in consistent quantities. He promptly shamed me into buying some nasty-ass soy powder from Edwards in Madison. Gross. It was all chalky and smelled and my lacrosse-playing, swimteam-culting floormates were all like “What are you an action hero?” which was kind of funny, because I was a fencer, which had the reputation of being the AV Club of sports teams.

Anyway, long story short, ten years later, I unpacked the massive orange jug and discovered that not only had Bodybuilding.com sent along a complimentary packet of creatine (uh…what?), but they also sent along a pretty legit, albeit a little preachy/creepy, Diet & Exercise Log.

Oooooh, girl, you did not just try to send me a paper-based diet and exercise log.

My first foray into software diet & exercise tracking came with a beautiful semi-legit copy of Crosstrainer.ca in 2002 – which, I believe, was actually designed to run a personal training studio at the time. It was so f-ing awesome, I never turned back to paper. THERE WERE GRAPHS AND CHARTS.

Since then (and when I could no longer fudge copies of Crosstrainer), I’ve tried the gamut, with a few standouts, including CalorieKing as my 2005 favorite (when I was all “CALORIES ARE ALL THAT MATTER!”) and The Spark winning my heart for a bit in 2007 until all its bells and whistles overwhelmed me. I have friends that like FitDay, too. However, I started looking for something that would track this new semi-hobby of mine (I’m not sure it’s a hobby yet…jury is out…although I am freaking blogging about it. I just keep telling myself it’s to organize my thoughts.).

Methodology: We’re looking at six points of data: Exercise Tracking, Crossfit-Friendly, Social-media friendly, Mobile-friendly, Nutrition Tracking, Cost. These are not unweighted catagories, but I’ve yet to figure out what is more important, except that if it’s free, it wins more than something that costs something unless that something that costs something is cheapish and awesomeish. Also, Nutrition tracking, for me anyway, is probably less important right now. Anyway, I’m not a social scientist, and not really the most qualified person to gauge if something is Cross-fit friendly or not, so most of this is bullshit anyway. Let’s go!

Here are the current contenders: Fitocracy, WODClub and Beyondthewhiteboard (I’m doing this in three parts to save your eyeballs and my fingertips) Continue reading →

Thinking about doing Kelly

Posted on 2012/01/28 by Jen

From the Crossfit Subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/crossfit/comments/oy5t5/do_all_the_girls/

Goddamn, I’m sick. I mean, I WODded yesterday, but it’s now clear to me that I was in a delusional state induced by Tylenol Cold & Flu Daytime and Mucinex. And anyway, it didn’t really count because I did my Thrusters all wrong (as push presses…) and mostly felt like Weaky McWeakling. WODing with one of the wonderful but also ridiculously fit and shirtless Crossfit Nyack coaches didn’t necessarily help that feeling. My WOD had its analog in the nonsensical work emails I sent on Wednesday while high on industrial-grade Nighttime Flu medication. They went something like this:

So, you get the picture. THAT BEING SAID the comic above still made me laugh because it combined reddit with hyperbole & a half with crossfit jokes (aside: I plan to make my millions on a crossfit joke book). Today, Crossfit Nyack says they’ll be clapping me through Kelly. Non-Crossfitters, Crossfitters name their workouts after girls sometimes. I’d like to think that their naming scheme is similar to the server naming scheme of Jonathan Reams who, last I worked with him, was naming all of his servers after girls he’d never met. This only became weird when he’d meet girls with one of his servers’ names. Cos “Hey, I have a server named after you…” is not exactly the first thing you want to hear when you meet a cute guy in a bar. In this case, Mr. Crossfit would meet a nice girl named Kelly in a bar and say “Hey, I have a workout that makes people want to die named after you…” and despite his rock-hard abs, outgoing personality and winning social network, Kelly would probably want to shrink into her sparkly shirt and Louboutins and find another bar.

But now, we’re back to the issue at hand: to WOD while it’s pretty obvious that without medication I am, in fact, still recovering.

To WOD or not to WOD — that is the question. Whether it ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer five rounds of rowing, box jumps and wall ball shots on Tylenol Cold while acting as a typhoid Mary for my box, or to take arms against this hacking and general feeling of unwell and by opposing them, to stay in bed — to sleep.

Ok, I’m cutting myself off. Enough of this. I looked up how long one is likely contagious with a headcold and I’m pretty sure I’m in the clear. I’ll head in and see how I feel when I get there.

10:07 AM EDIT: Worst idea I’ve had all week. I mostly just felt crappy and whined at everybody. Who kicked the sleeping turtle, indeed! I’m going back to bed.

Paleo Hot Chocolate! Or: Sweeteners

Posted on 2012/01/26 by Jen

So, there’s about 7 dozen recipes for “Paleo Hot Chocolate” if you search google for it – thanks to 7 dozen ladies like me trying this thing and craving something other than tea or coffee for a hot beverage. I’ve been out of commission for a second day thanks to a horrible sore throat and while Celestial Seasonings teas are super-great, one more cup of Red Zinger really wasn’t feeling all that awesome to me. I was watching Downton Abbey (the show that confirms for me that I am, in fact, a girly girl, underneath it all), lamenting missed work, missed classes and missed gym time when the thought of the sugar-free Swiss Miss packets in my pantry snuck into my head.

Before we all start throwing our hands up in the air and yelling our heads off about preservatives and lactose and the horrors of powdered hot chocolate (I really have been watching too much Downton), this is where we stop and think about the glycemic index. UGH.

So, I learned about the glycemic index when? Probably about a year ago – spikes in blood sugar and all that. I don’t quite understand it without re-reading things about it first – I don’t think I’ll ever understand it unless I actually make a serious and academic attempt at studying nutrition, but my basic understanding is that sugar causes glycemic spikes, or something of that nature, in your blood, which affects how you metabolize or exercise or just kind of live. Affects how? Well, apparently too much of a thing with a high glycemic index is bad bad bad according to folks who work out – not just paleo folks, but it seems like folks on the zone, and all sorts of other strange and interesting eating plans don’t like things with high glycemic indexes. Bad how? You know how diabetes is your body’s inability to regulate the release of insulin so you can metabolize sugar? Well, the less complex a sugar is, the easier it is for your body to break it down and the quicker it all rushes into your blood stream. The less complex a sugar is, the higher GI rating it has as well – and this relationship is not coincidental. Anyway, whether I have it wrong or right, this whole thing has its basis in diabetes, which no one wants. It’s rated 0-100, with 100 being bad (very high GI) and 0 being good (low GI). Meats and vegetables are in the 0-15 range. The M&Ms you said no to are going to be close to 100. Or something like that.

Half a can of Coconut Milk & a mug of water

So, back to our packets of Swiss Miss. Eew. Just Ew. Let’s forget about those. They’re for apocolyptic emergencies only, and since we have ingredients that may be able to make something better, we’ll give it a try.

two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

So, here’s my theory:

Unsweetened cocoa powder
Coconut milk
Water
Vanilla Extract
AAAANNNDDD…
Here, we’ll be using Agave Nectar.

A few seconds of pour of agave light/blonde nectar to taste

IS IT PALEO? Technically, I’d say no, but then again, some of the 7 dozen ladies who have tried this have also tried stevia. Is stevia Paleo? Cordain and Mark Sisson don’t say anything technically negative about artificial sweetners, however, their general stipulation is that they are OK if what you are eating is beneficial to your diet. I would agree with that. On the other end of things, should you be mimicking something that is solidly off your diet – like my constant ethical troubles with the ever-evolving paleo-ish butter cake? That is a call only you can make.

There is a great article here on “Smoking Candy Cigarettes.” Which is kind of what we’re doing when we’re having paleo hot chocolate and paleo-ish butter cake. The cocoa powder and coconut milk aren’t necessarily BAD for me, but they’re adding no fiber to my diet and not too many vitamins, minerals or protein and adds LOTS of fat and some sugar (if you’re not using stevia), and I don’t really need either of these today as the other things I’m eating are pretty balanced. So, I am, in this case, Smoking Candy Cigarettes. Sigh.

So, I’ve done the job that few other of the 7 dozen ladies who have attempted paleo Hot Chocolate have not: I’ve given you all the information I have on whether or not this is paleo, rather than just calling it “Paleo Hot Chocolate” and letting you think that I’ve done the legwork. The thing I’m telling you I’m about to make PROBABLY IS NOT STRICT PALEO, or primal, or whatever else you’re doing. If you want to do it right, go back to the pantry, get out your bag of Red Zinger and close your web browser. If you want to fudge a little without feeling like a real cheat, read on.

One capful of Vanilla Extract and STIR

So, Agave Nectar. I don’t have stevia in my house. I probably should, but I know that if I did, I’d use it more often than I use the agave nectar (GI 27-41), or the honey (GI 75), or the maple syrup (GI 54!), or the coconut sugar (GI 35-55). Agave nectar has it’s own set of problems though – it’s more processed than honey, coconut sap or maple syrup and way less “primal” – not something that cavemen would have likely had around. In my case, I’ve got agave nectar, maple syrup and coconut sugar. Sure, agave nectar is processed, and sure it’s 80% fructose (a whole other bag of worms), but it’s what I have and I have a sore throat and I want a damned hot chocolate! I DO have Splenda, but I don’t even want to begin exploring the “splenda paleo” Google search because I have a feeling everyone will give a sound “No” for how chemically and processed it is. I’m really making a blind judgement call, here. True, coconut sugar has more minerals and good stuffs for you, but it has a higher GI than agave nectar – and more calories now that I’m looking at the packaging. So, we’re going with Agave nectar – because today I’m caring more about metabolism than history.

Whenever you’re cooking, you should be tasting as you go, so if you want to go ahead and use Splenda or Stevia or Maple Syrup or your Aunt Ethel’s Sweet’n'Low, you go ahead and add it to taste in place of the agave, but don’t say I wasn’t all “INFORM YOURSELF!” Cos I was.

So, how did this project turn out? It was decent! The Agave nectar turned out to be a bit too tangy for the comfortable fattiness that hot chocolate is supposed to create in your mouth. I think next time, I’ll acquire some Stevia or use Coconut sugar. Maybe the coconut sugar can do a little bit to offset my Candy Cigarettes habit.

Smothies! Or: How Coconut Milk can keep me sane

Posted on 2012/01/25 by Jen

So, I think one of the biggest problems for me (As we just discussed in my previous post on butter) is lack of dairy. For many folks, it’s the gluten thing. No problem for me – I don’t live and die by waffles or bread or things with flour – I can get around this. Now, cheese, milk, butter, yogurt and other things dairy are another story altogether. I’m pretty sure cheese is my favorite food group. If I could re-organize the food pyramid, cheese would have its own little section. And milk? Good lord, how to live! How to LIVE!?

This was all a little dicey for me until I discovered the wonder of coconut milk (in my case, bulk coconut milk!). It’s creamy, great for curries, baking, protein shakes, soups, frosting, and all sorts of other things where one would normally add dairy (except in your coffee…I can’t seem to make that one substitution work…). Tonight, for example, I was feeling sorry for myself (head cold! missed work and gym and ski racing!) and since I couldn’t have ice cream (oh, ice cream…and sorbet…how paleo has forsaken me by forbidding you…), I decided to try a blueberry-grapefruit-ice-mango-carrot-coconut-milk smoothie. Well, other than my decision to add grapefruit, it was amazing. A few seconds in a blender, and I had something that was pretty darn close to a creamy sorbet (seriously, leave out the grapefruit….don’t listen to me when I add things like grapefruit to smoothies…seriously). Thanks, coconut milk!

Butter

Posted on 2012/01/24 by Jen

So: butter.

Wait: but, first, we have to talk about cake. So: cake. Remember that time I made a cake? So, I’ve made it twice more since then. During my third round of making the cake (6 ounces 100% bittersweet chocolate, 4 bananas, no nectar OR sugar), my baking companion looked at the blog I stole this recipe from, looked at my ingredients and said: “But is butter allowed on this diet?” Ugh. I knew I’d have to deal with this.

Loren Cordain’s The Paleo Diet doesn’t actually mention the word butter – one can assume it’s not to be considered, and therefore not worth mentioning. However, search for the words “butter paleo” in Google and you have all sorts of commotion about the stuff. True, it’s dairy, so strict paleo: THIS CAKE IS NOT FOR YOU. Sorry. I follow recipes, but I’m not a wizard and believe strongly in the power of butter. I’m not really interested in finding some other strict paleo substitute because if you’re strict paleo, you probably shouldn’t be trying to eat chocolate cake. This will only get you into trouble, so move along. Let those of us willing to fudge it a little for an occasional birthday feel OK about ourselves having not used flour or any of the other bigger nasties.

That being said, butter needs to be talked about. Just because many folks are like “yeah, whatever” with butter and paleo, doesn’t mean that your CROSSFIT COACHES are like “yeah, whatever.”

I made one of the wonderful folks at Crossfit Nyack this cake (second attempt) for her birthday last Thursday because I’m pretty sure her 8AM classes were the best part of my two week Christmas break. Not that my Christmas break was bad. The classes just made it a little nicer. Anyway, I got a hug out of it and she was really happy, which was what I was going for. I told her what was in it (because I figured she might have been paleo-ing) and was clear about the butter – because I knew it was a thing.

Fast forward to Saturday and I caught a ride with her and another coach to a travelling WOD a few miles away and she offers us the cake, prefacing it with the fact that the other coach has not yet tried the cake because he’s being strict paleo and he doesn’t think cake can be part of that. I shrugged. No biggie. But, she does get him to try the cake (politeness? I feel a little bad now) and it went something like this:

Awkward.

The lesson from this is that we shouldn’t call this a paleo cake. “paleo butter” is a heavy Google search term for a reason. Call it a paleo-ish butter cake. Then, everyone is on the same page.

So, “paleo and butter.” I dunno. Sure, we can try coconut oil or some other thing that will keep the banana and eggs together, but I’m just too damned lazy. I’ll start calling this a butter cake. Solved.

Taste the meat, not the heat

Posted on 2012/01/23 by Jen

Hamburgers. They’re so damn easy. They’re so damn American. They’re pretty Paleo, too.

I think most folks think grilling hamburgers is the ideal cooking method. I can see where they’re coming from, but I live in an apartment and it’s 32 with snow on the ground. We will be frying our hamburgers. True, you can broil them (healthier! Paleo loves healthier!), but, honestly, fried hamburgers are something special, even when they’re 90/10 (which these are!). So, because we’ve purchased 90/10 ground beef, we let ourselves fry them. It’s like having a diet coke ice cream float. Sometimes, you have to lie a little to yourself.

The problem with “lean” meat, even when it’s ground beef, is the lack of fat. Its benefit is also its downfall.

Let’s all be honest with ourselves. These burgers would taste way better if they were 80/20. However, we’re trying to be healthy. We cut down on the animal fat. So, how to make up for the flavor?

A very good friend taught me to make hamburgers when I was still dipping my toe in the shallow end of the vegetarian pool (no fear! no longer!). He put everything in his hamburgers, but I did notice a few constants: pepper, Lowry’s Season Salt, egg, onion, garlic, worsecetershire sauce and hot sauce. Turns out this is a pretty good mix for hamburgers. Some folks like the straight ground beef, and that’s great if you have a ridiculously good cut of meat (why did you grind it again?), but I bought this on sale at Stop and Shop, so we might as well add a little flavor.

Tonight, I fried in olive oil, Rachael Ray style (two circles around the pan! I hate myself for my familiarity with her oeuvre). A splatter screen is a must. If you don’t have one, get one before you attempt to pan-fry your hamburgers. Or, get ready to add grease-scrubbing to your WODs. Haha, I made a CrossFit joke!

So, fry your burgers. You don’t know how to fry burgers, google it. I’m not Gordon Ramsay. I’m here to…I dunno what I’m doing, but I’m not here to teach you to fry burgers.

Since we’re not using buns (sniff!), adding other fun things on top of our burgers is a must. Tonight, we made guac from a soft avocado (thanks, Stop and Shop!), RealLime juice, salt, and pepper. Tasty, easy, cheap. Ground beef and avocados were made for eachother. This is a fact. Wikipedia it.

Lastly, mustard. I was not born in the Midwest, where, apparently, my hamburger-with-mustard kin exist. I grew up in New Jersey where folks put ketchup on their burgers. However, in my house, you eat mustard on your burger. Good f-ing mustard. With seeds. Yum.

Sure, you can also add in tomato, lettuce, pickles, and whatever floats your boat. I’m lazy, so I just went with the essentials: guac and mustard. Finished off were pre-cut (thanks, Stop and Shop!) oven-roasted Butternut squash with paprika, red pepper, salt and olive oil. 350 until it’s soft. Easy. If that’s not your thing, this squash-and-apple recipe looks delish and easy.

So, where we used to get Subway on a night like this, we’re now making an easy, almost mindless (save for the dishwashing) dinner that is tasty, colourful, and hopefully nutritious. If only this cast iron stuff was easier to clean…sigh.

Thesis

Posted on 2012/01/21 by Jen

There’s a reason I called this Save Me From Grad School. I need saving. I’m a thesis away from an M.A. in English Literature with a concentration on early twentieth century American shiznit. My thesis will be on early twentieth century Jewish-American Literature.

No, I’m not Jewish. It’s OK, though. It’s what I like. Yes, I work in IT and spend my days worrying about data flow. It’s OK. I can be good at two things.

I tell people I want this degree like some girls I know want a really expensive purse. In my case, this purse is tens-of-thousands of dollars, but whatevs. I want this thing so bad, it hurts.

So, thesis. I’ve been avoiding registering for my thesis because I hit a wall. In December, I was done. Done. DONE. Done with a capital D and an exclamation point. Except thanks to the sunk costs cognitive bias, I wouldn’t say this to anyone. And I’ve worked through it. I joined a new gym, stopped eating anything that wasn’t a vegetable, fruit or discernable as meat (thanks, Tim Ferris! Thanks crazy CrossFit folks!) and working off three years of late-night readings, six-credit semesters, marathon paper-writing weekends and something that resembled a nervous breakdown in Spring 2011 (I actually did ask my therapist if he thought it would be OK to voluntarily check myself in somewhere. He, thank god, advised against it). In addition to my ridiculous mental decline, this has also taken the physical form flab and my rapid decline from respectable 8-minute-miles to my sad and lumbering 12-minute-miles.

Today, I did two WODs at Crossfit Nyack. Well, if we want to be technical, I think I did 3 WODs. I showed up at the gym at 8:10 AM with Jo Sinclair’s The Wasteland in my hand. I read The Wasteland until I caught a ride to the “throwdown” we were doing in Chestnut Ridge. And, I remembered why I’m doing this in the first place. I love this shit. I love Jo Sinclair. I love thinking about theory and narrative and all that goes with it. I just need to take a huge gulp of air and register. I went to the throwdown, worked out, came home, took a nap, and went back down to the gym and killed myself. It was spiritual. It was almost a ritual. Actually, it was more like an exorcism.

Afterwards, I came home, sat down, emailed the graduate director at Lehman, checked the start date for the Spring semester (January 27! I’m not too late!), and picked up The Wasteland again. If I can do three WODs in a day, I can write a 60 page thesis and be done with this motherfucker.

Watch out, Jewish-American literature. I’m coming to mess you up.

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

Posted on 2012/01/03 by Jen

photo credit: yoppy

WARNING: THE PHOTO TO THE LEFT WAS NOT WHAT I ATE FOR LUNCH. IT’S FROM SOME PERSON’S FLICKR. I’M STILL TOO SELF-CONSCIOUS TO PHOTOGRAPH MY FOOD FOR THE SAKE OF A BLOG. SOMEDAY.

Well, first day back and work and I knew this would be a challenge. Lunch. Dun Dun Dun.

Riverdale is a great place to work. One of the reasons that is true is free lunch. FREE LUNCH. And there’s chefs that prepare it. Not a catering company, not Aramark. My co-workers, employed by the school, make the lunch everyday, with love. I’m serious. This is a rarity even in the most posh of schools. And it’s pretty good. Most new employees gain a healthy freshman 15 upon commencing work here. We’re all thankful to the chefs and cafeteria workers – it’s nice to have them as members of our community and the food reflects that. Everyone at Riverdale looks forward to the relaxed social moments of lunch. Or, at least, everyone I know.

That being said, trying to live without processed foods, foods with gluten & grain and foods with lactose is almost impossible. Sure, there will be hardboiled eggs occasionally, or the soup of the day will be vegetable or seafood something-or-other (and they do label for lactose and gluten!), but for the most part, I find lunch each day to be a special challenge. Sometimes, there is something easy like Roast Beef and string beans or Fish and Winter Vegetables. However, sometimes, not so much. Today was especially bleak. As my co-workers chowed on what looked to be a pretty bad-ass baked ziti, I picked slowly at a scoop of egg salad and a scoop of tuna salad, trying to think hard about how mayonnaise fits into this thing I’m doing (the egg salad is pretty bad-ass, too…I was just worrying). Is it OK? Of course, I also had some baby carrots, a granny smith apple and an orange (I was staaaarving), but it just didn’t feel like enough and the smells of cheese and gravy were just so good.

Of couse, none of this was helped by the prevalence of post-holiday foods. Welcome back, Jen!

For Realz This time

Posted on 2012/01/03 by Jen

Today is January 3, 2011. I’ve been eating some form of paleo-ish diet since I read Tim Ferris‘ 4-Hour Body in July. Starting in December, after a brief chat with Matt at Crossfit Nyack, I read Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution, cut out legumes and added a bit of fruit back into my diet (praise Jesus!). However, I’ve had a LOT of cheat days and have lost, in total, about 6 pounds with no idea about fat-loss or leanness gain (is that even a thing?). Time to come clean. I bought a composition notebook, people. I’m not fucking around anymore.

Yesterday was a false start (ummm, wheat chex and skim milk for lunch til my stomach hurt). But, today is the day. Also, today is the day I go back to work, so the general fuckery of vacation is officially over. Also, I have to start my thesis soon, so even food logs seem amazing and fun comparatively.

Adventures in Chocolate Cake

Posted on 2012/01/02 by Jen

I don’t remember where I found this recipe for paleo chocolate cake, but for some reason, despite the fact that I wholly dislike chocolate, I spent $15 on bittersweet chocolate at Old World Market to make this cake. I’d also like to note that I had no bananas and had to purchase those as well. So, I did NOT make this with overripe bananas. Just regular ripe bananas.

To be honest, I don’t even know how “paleo” this cake is. While it is mostly banana and butter (paleo? jury seems to be out), it also has 70% bittersweet chocolate. Given, the recipe called for 81%, but I’m pretty sure both types have regular old non-fructose sugar in them. So, I don’t know. I may have to do it with 100% baking chocolate next time and find some other way to add sweetness without failing at texture.

The cake came out OK. A little soppy straight out of the oven – the primary ingredients were butter and banana – but OK. I dumped it out of the pan too soon and I’d like you to now know that it was very crumbly (no strong gluten strands to hold the damned thing together!)

Eating it the next day for breakfast (what? I usually have a banana…a banana covered in butter, cinnamon and chocolate can’t be much worse, right? RIGHT?), it was much better – the texture of a good chocolate truffle, I think. Not like I eat all that many truffles (see above on generally disliking chocolate), but I think the texture is almost spot-on. Best to let the butter harden before eating. There is literally a stick of butter in this thing.

This may be evidence that paleo is not really made for baking. Or baking is not made for paleo. One of those is right. Either way, I got a chance to try the East Rutherford School District cast-off Home Ec double-boiler I’ve had since 2004 (it works so well!) and learned how to cream butter (I’m sure this is a much more satisfying task when one is using actual sugar).

Make this cake and impress your paleo friends! Your non-paleo friends…that might be another story.

Save Me From Grad School

Crossfit, Paleo, and other things that are keeping me sane

Monthly Archives: January 2012