love weightlifting

As a young woman I fell into the misconceptions of weightlifting. I thought I was going to turn into a bulky hulk of a manbeastwoman and that it was going to stunt my growth. Obviously that was not my goal. When I first started weightlifting it was because I wanted to play volleyball in College. Therefore, I reluctantly signed up for weightlifting when I was a Junior in high school. (do we see a reoccurring theme here? me doubting, dragging my feet, and then finally seeing the light...saying, "siiiiiiiighhhhh, FINE, YOU WIN")

There were 3 girls in the class, THREE, I was one of them. There were 17 boys. Thankfully us girls stuck together, supported each other, pushed each other, and cheered each other on. We had LOTS of FUN learning and weightlifting. I discovered that I actually enjoyed being strong and challenging myself to pick up heavier and heavier weights. I discovered that I did NOT turn into a manbeastwoman, but in fact I had curves where I wanted curves and my clothes fit better. I also became giddy with excitement when I discovered that I could actually lift MORE than some of the boys in class! (boo-yah!) My self confidence grew and I wasn't afraid to tackle difficult problems, especially outside of the weightlifting room that had nothing to do with weightlifting at all!

Crystal Mcrenyolds from CrossFit Central
Top 10 finisher at the 2009 CrossFit Games

I went to college, played volleyball, my weightlifting went down a bit, studying and playing volleyball went up. I graduated, found a job, sat at a desk and forgot about weightlifting. I didn't have a lifting partner to go with me. I fell out of the routine. I even forgot how much I enjoyed it. I became a treadmill, elliptical, aerobics class kind of girl. Sometimes I was the "lets pick up the 5lbs and curl it a few times and put it down" kind of girl, sometimes I would pick up 8lbs or (gasp!) 10lbs if I was "pushing" myself that day (what the heck happened to me?!?). I played volleyball in adult leagues. I got bored with the gym. I stopped going. I kept playing volleyball, injury after injury, after injury until finally it hurt too much to play. I was sitting on the couch every night, eating takeout, watching TV, doing NOTHING active. boorrrriiinnnggg.

Homer Simpson from "The Simpsons" television show by Matt Groening
and if you don't know that...uhhh, you probably won't get my sense of humor and have been living under a rock...

When my husband and I went to CrossFit and I saw the barbells and bumper plates...I was inspired. I remembered the old me. I wanted to see what I could do, what I could become once again.

I couldn't run very well at all! Sucking wind, gasping for air, red faced, belly and blubber bouncing every which way (yuck) and slow very very very slow. I couldn't do a pull-up without excessive help. A situp was difficult. Heck, when we started CrossFit tying my shoe was difficult! Seriously, my belly would prevent me from getting my foot close enough to my hands! I had to do this odd foot up on a coffee table/chair push knee out to side and attack the shoe movement. But I could liftweights. I could pick up heavy things and put them down. It was such an exhilarating feeling to deadlift and to be able to do it well and have people say "You're so strong!" It made me feel beautiful again.

I saw the weights and I knew that was the place I needed to be. Education built-in, A regimen was built-in, lifting partners were built-in (and not all of them boys! yay!), and community support built-in.

Which brings me to these to articles that I think everyone should read. One is about letting go of your misconceptions when it comes to lifting weights. The second one is about childhood obesity and weightlifting. Which applies to not only children, but teenagers, and adults as well. If you're overweight or obese the last thing you want to do is hop on a treadmill and run for 30 minutes (well unless your brain is wired differently than mine is...go for it). 

Anyhow, my point is  no matter what YOUR GOAL is - to burn calories or improve your heart health, or fit into your skinny jeans - a great way to get there is get into weightlifting.

12 reasons why women (and men) should lift weights

Weightlifting can be helpful for obese kids

Give weightlifting a chance. Let go of your misconceptions. If you don't know how to lift weights properly, find someone who does and can teach you.

Links, Links, Links!

Now that I’ve given you the run-down on how I got into Paleo. Here are the websites that have helped me immensely. I decided to start with the websites as its free information and you can decide which books you’d like to read, or not. I’ve tried to label the sites Paleo or Primal so you know what you are getting into. (Primal is a less strict version of Paleo.)

 image creator (scottchan)

Should you follow Primal or Paleo??? Well, that all depends upon YOUR GOALS, what you want to obtain, and what are willing to give up???

What is Primal? Read Mark’s Primal Blueprint 101:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/

What the quick and dirty? Go to the link above, scroll down and you’ll see the header “Is it Primal?”

*****Now onto the links!*****

www.marksdailyapple.com

Primal

Mark also has a wonderful book called “The Primal Blueprint” - read it! That’s where my husband and I started. I love how accessible he makes the lifestyle. I believe he coined the term “Grok”. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/about-2/who-is-grok/

www.robbwolf.com

Paleo

I really enjoyed his book, “The Paleo Solution” – READ IT! He even has a sense of humor so it’s a good read. If you search around on his website under “tools” he has a food matrix (no more boring dinners!) and other helpful things to help you get started. Robb Wolf has been featured on many specials, talk shows, etc. Just a couple of weeks ago he was on ABC Nightline.

www.everydaypaleo.com

Paleo

I love her! She had GREAT meal, snack, lunch, etc. recipes! She is a crossFitter and Mother of 3, if she can make it – so can I! She has a book coming out April 25^th (My birthday! Yay! A coincidence? I think not!) :)

http://whole9life.com/

Paleo

 I love the “tough love” they give you. Plus they have a wonderful 30Day plan called the Whole30 plan. However, I think they might make you pay for it now.

http://www.health-bent.com/

Primal

Another site I look to from time to time for dinner ideas. I also enjoy their food umbrella (vs. pyramid) BUT they have too many desserts/sweets AND focus on showcasing them as well. I hate sending people to this site because the first images you see are of cookies and cakes…to me it’s a slippery slope because you don’t want to eat too much fruit or sugar because it spikes your insulin. That in turn keeps you in that cycle of craving sweet stuff, not only your body will hold onto unwanted weight/belly fat with. I just think its sending the wrong message. You want to eat food that is nutrient dense, most bang for your buck. I don’t care how you make it, but whoopee pies aren’t going to be nutrient dense. Personally, if I’m going to have a dessert, then I’m just going to go for it and make it my “cheat”.

Side note- I’ve noticed that Whole9 and Health-Bent don’t like each other. From time to time they take shots at each other. It is pretty funny once you figure it out. It is because Whole9 is strict and Health-Bent is lenient with their recipes.  Whole9 also takes shots at Mark Sission/”Grok”/Primal for being less strict than they are. I like that Mark doesn’t get caught up in and and doesn’t fire back. He does his own thing.

We aren’t crazy, we just aren't mainstream!

image creator (jscreationzs)

Other articles that I find informative and nice to pass along to others (especially non-paleos who don’t understand why we eat the way that we do)

The science behind the diet (why we aren’t crazy):

http://girlgoneprimal.blogspot.com/p/show-me-science.html

Why grains are not as good as the food pyramid says they are:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/

http://whole9life.com/2010/03/the-grain-manifesto/

Who needs a pyramid? We have an umbrella!:

http://www.health-bent.com/nutrition/health-bent-umbrella

I also like:

http://girlgoneprimal.blogspot.com/

http://passthepaleo.blogspot.com/

http://thecookincutie.blogspot.com/

http://theclothesmakethegirl.blogspot.com/

http://catherinewalkerhart.blogspot.com/

http://paleogirls.com/

http://www.paleo-hacks.com/ I hesitate to send this link to people who are just starting out because there is SO much information (some of it conflicting). Also, there are some people on here who are crossfit haters. BUT it is great to see that there is a wealth of information out there following the lifestyle, crossfit or not.

How did I go Paleo?

People often ask me how I got started eating Paleo…Well first of all, I got dragged into it, I went kicking and screaming. It was not pleasant, I was not pleasant, but I’ve come out the other side better for it.

ALL the credit goes all to my husband and our CrossFit gym. We joined our gym in late April, about 3 days in, my husband was signed up for a month long Paleo Challenge. We often thank Todd for tricking us into it. Someone had dropped out and Josh received an email along the lines of “congrats buddy, here’s your team, don’t disappoint them!” Obviously they knew to dangle that carrot, and appeal to our sense of devotion and integrity when it comes to teamwork and competition.

At the time I was grumpy. I was not nice. I had been doing Weight Watchers for MONTHS with little results (7lbs lost, I told everyone it was 10lbs. not that you could even tell). And now we were about to do another diet! Harrumph!  

That's my husband's angry pout!

I told my husband if this was something that he wanted to do then HE would have to be the one to buy the groceries, and HE would have to be the one to plan the meals, and HE would have to be the one cook the food (arms crossed and pouty lip out). He agreed and…he even followed through on it!

I was still dragging my feet. I was still pouting. I ate Paleo for lunch and dinner, but I continued to eat oatmeal with fruit for breakfast and thought I was being healthy – ha! I was craving cupcakes and mac and cheese every day. My husband quickly saw results and didn’t whine about not having his evening dessert of ice cream. Others doing the challenge were showing results in the gym and in their clothing! They all looked amazing.

In my classic stubbornness, I decided I was going to prove them wrong. There was no way they could continue on this path. This was just a quick fix. So I decided to read the books and look at the websites. I read them so I could see their side of their argument and create a counter argument. I mean what I was taught as a child couldn’t be wrong. Right? The food pyramid is totally awesome. Right? What doctors had been telling me for years couldn’t be wrong. Right? Those commercials regarding healthy food couldn’t possibly be driven by the bottom line and be guiding me the wrong direction…?

A funny thing happened. As I was reading those books, I started relating to the books. The books actually made sense. They were logical. They talked about history (yay!). As I read the books I would say “that’s me! That’s me too!” Oh no! I was turning into one of them! After eating Paleo and reading about Paleo for a few weeks… I began to open my mind and instead of going into it with a “white-knuckle on the constant verge of sabotage” type of attitude, I changed to a “let’s do this 100% and let’s wait and see what happens” type of attitude. And honestly, that’s how I still approach the way I eat… “Let’s wait and see”

My husband and I are not 100% a 100% of the time. I would say we are more 80/20. Even then sometimes we are more 90/10 or 70/30. It just all depends. We’ve noticed that if we stray too far from the 80/20, we feel physically ill and sluggish. Sometimes we might even feel like we have caught a cold. The bloat in my belly comes back and my IBS will act up. I have a physical motivator to eat real food, other than my weight.

The one thing I think most people need to learn is WHY do they eat the way that they do? Because someone told them to when they were in the 3^th grade? Because that’s what their family has “always” done? HAVE they "ALWAYS" eaten that way? What about a few generations back? WHY does the food pyramid say to eat so many whole grains? WHY do we NOT eat grains? Just something to think about…

So why do I eat Paleo? I eat this way because I want to choose nutrient dense foods for my body. I want get the most healthful bang for my buck. I want to treat my body right. I want to THRIVE, not just survive.

CrossFit - Greg Glassman on the CrossFit Matriarchy

I'm not the only one who values the strength of women!