Zoning Out.....Or In.

I am finally admitting that I am one of the lucky ones. Call me a bitch, whore, whatever. I can eat whatever I want. I can and have done just that up until July 6, 2009. I said it. Whatever I want, when I want and as much as I want. So there. Granted, I have always had a love for moving, and doing so at high intensity at times. So it is quite possibly you might hate me for that too. Yes, I love to be active.

What happened on July 6th you might ask? Well, with my short triathlon season over, I started to wonder what was next. Damian, the head trainer over at CrossfitMN happened to mention the idea of getting me to the crossfit games next year. I totally laughed at him when he said this. Hilarious. Then I started to think, "Why the hell not? I know what my weaknesses are and if I worked on them, why would I not have a chance at going?" Once these thoughts went through my brain, I started to think about what I needed to fine tune in order to get me there. Well, when it comes down to it, my diet is something I have never given much thought to. So maybe it was time to do that.

The Zone Diet is endorsed by Crossfit. To sum it up, the goal of the zone is to keep the insulin/glycogen levels happy so you don't have your highs/lows throughout the day. It involves weighing/measuring food, getting 40% of my calories from carbs/30%prot/30%fat and getting it throughout the day and not just in three meals. My life was consumed by this process for about 3 weeks. I wanted to commit to this process for 30 days and re-evaluate after this time period.

In three weeks I lost 4 pounds which was not the goal. The goal was to feel better throughout the whole day (which I was experiencing for the most part) and not have those late afternoon sugar cravings (which I have not had since day 1). But, I wanted to maintain my weight. So, I had to re-evaluate prior to my 30 day period was over.

It is August 2nd and for a couple of days I have not been following The Zone exactly as prescribed. HOWEVER, I have learned so much from this process and will NEVER, EVER eat like I did before. It was a great learning experience for me, especially for when that time comes that I will NOT be able to eat whatever I want.

The Zone is a great model and I will follow a modified version for a very long time (likely the rest of my life). My performances at Crossfit have been stellar and I attribute this in part to the change in my diet. Now, for my most immediate goal.......Twin Cities Marathon with NO LONG TRAINING RUNS. Do you think this new diet will make up for my lack of training? Probably not, but this marathon is an experiment of sorts. More on that to come.