From May 21 to July 2 I’ll be participating in a strength and nutrition challenge that my CrossFit gym, Crossfit BPM, is hosting. The purpose of the competition is for each of us to increase our lean body mass as well as decrease our body fat mass over a six week period. This past Saturday we had a meeting where he gave us more details about the challenge and we were able to get some great information from guests that he invited.
My Power Supply
Our little nutrition seminar started off with yummy samples and information from Alia who works for My Power Supply and she gave us samples of their banana bread and buffalo chicken w/ cumin and carrot salad yummmmmm. I actually have been getting my lunches every week through My Power Supply for about the last month and it has honestly been a life saver for me! Before I would go out to eat at lunch time and end up spending way too much money for crappy food and I would always be tired after lunch. Since switch to My Power Supply, I know that they use high quality ingredients, I’ve been spending less money on food, and I actually have lost about 2 pounds in the last month. Doesn’t seem like much, but I definitely feel like my energy is more steady through the day. I was pumped that this challenge was collaborating with them because that meant a discount for me during the challenge yay!
Melissa Murphy
Our coach brought in Melissa Murphy, a CrossFit games competitor, to talk to us about nutrition and dieting. It’s interesting because she is also specializes in psychology and eating disorders so it was cool to get her insights into creating a healthy relationship with food. She advocates a type of dieting called flexible dieting where the focus isn’t as strict on what you eat as much as if it fits into your daily allowance of macronutrients. Macronutrients, also called macros, are the main nutrients we need to survive: protein, carbohydrates, and fats. She gave us some general ideas about our macros as well as the best times to eat certain macros to optimize weight loss or muscle gain. She also works for Xendurance which is the brand of protein I’m currently taking and she recommended using the Fuel-5 supplement as well before a workout to get the carbs necessary for energy during the workout. I’m probably going to try that out but I’m a little weary of mixing the berry flavored Fuel-5 and the chocolate protein powder. My coach swears its good but we’ll see…
My Body Stats
I think out of everything from our nutrition seminary, getting my body scan done was the most exciting as well as nerve wracking. You can read more details about my body scan in this post My Body Stats Results but I basically confirmed the fact that I have fat to lose in my mid-section and it was really cool to see how much muscle mass I have. I know for a fact my results would have been way worse if they had done this scan back in September when I started CrossFit. I’m excited to see how my results will change at the end of this challenge!
My Strategy for the Challenge
Based on the information we received in our seminar as well as my body scan, I think I’m going to try to not stress so much about losing a ton of weight, but I want to focus on gaining more muscle and being conscious of what I’m eating. I’ve kind of gradually been making changes over the last year or so to eat healthier and cleaner so I am going to do a better job over the next six weeks of tracking my eating. I’ll be using My Fitness Pal and I’ve changed the settings to reflect my macro and calorie goals. Since rugby season is over right now, I’ll be able to do CrossFit everyday rather than just 2-3 times a week and I know that will make a huge difference in my body. Once rugby season started, even though our practices are intense, they are nowhere near CrossFit intense and I feel like I lost some of my momentum that I had been making in regards to weight loss and strength. I’m excited though to see how my efforts pay off over the next few weeks!
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