Week 4

Today is the beginning of the fourth week I've maintained a Paleo eating lifestyle (is it a lifestyle after 3 weeks?). Some stats:

I've lost 10 pounds.
I can totally tell I'm losing weight. Of course, I'm feeling impatient overall (I want to be thin...NOW), but it's happening before my eyes.
3 rep deadlift last night of 175#. This looks good in terms of me being able to DL 200 by January 1.
I'd like to bench press 100# by January 1, as well.

I'm joining 2 racquetball leagues in October. I enjoy it, and by joining leagues, I can assess how my CF-ing is going. Speaking of which, I need to do some serious box jumps to help my movement in rball. I'm beginning every work out with bench presses, and I'll end every work out with box jumps. We'll see how that helps!

It's My Birthday!

29 years young.

We went for a run tonight because I wanted to time my mile (so that I could have a way to compare to 30!), and I ran it in 11:54, which was 6 seconds faster than I hoped for...and probably 1:30 - 2:00 faster than I've ever run a mile before. CrossFit & Paleo are working...

1 Day from 29

I'm still waiting to hear back about my student loan; I've sent them additional information, so I'm not sure how long to wait before I call and ask for an update (it's been about a week so far). My loan is at $5,990 left to pay, so $5,000 forgiven would be fabulous. And I could pay it off by the end of the year, which is even better.

Should I establish other 29 --> 30 goals besides weight and debt? A certain amount of books to read? Hikes to take? Sites to see?

A post later may come...

Also, Day 14 of Paleo = I've lost 8 pounds so far. I'm 1 pound away from where I "ended" with WW in the Spring.

Major and Minor Updates

I'm about a week from my 29th birthday, so what better way to finish up year 28 than with a blog post?

Major updates:
* Well, I bought a house. My credit score had improved dramatically, I had the cash on hand (though not what Suze Orman would approve of...), and there was a perfect house. So, at the end of June, I closed on a house. I have one credit card left to pay off, which will be done in/by November.
* I sent in the paperwork to have (hopefully) up to $5,000 of my student loan forgiven -- being a teacher in a Title I school can have its ups, that's for sure! We'll see how much is ACTUALLY forgiven, though. Still waiting on that part...
* I started eating a Paleo diet last Monday. So far, I've maintained the "rules" fairly well (I DO still have cream in my coffee in the morning, though). Right now, I have 5 steaks thawing so that I can grill them and save them for the week...

Minor updates:
* Cyst burst this week, which was, to put it mildly, alarming. And excruciating. Ultrasound yesterday, so I'm not sure when the results will be in. I seriously doubt surgery is an option, though.
* I have picked up CrossFit workouts again -- very seriously. Same with running. And racquetball -- I will continue to be in racquetball leagues, as well, since I use the games each week as a "benchmark" of sorts with how the diet / running / lifting is working (am I getting stronger? am I able to jump in game 4? game 5? am I able to hit the ball as hard in game 4/5 as game 1/2?).