Choice

Life is crazy. Crazy busy. This post has been in development for over 3 weeks now. jeez!

Over our life span there will be over a million choices made by us.  in the early years of choosing to draw on the walls with markers after mom told us not to,  choosing a toy to play with (hello my little pony and care bears!) ...  from early friendships to our partner in life. choosing where to live, choosing to skip a class. Every day we are bombarded with choices to make about actions.


CHOICE is our greatest freedom in life.

If you're a facebook friend (or real friend, I think I have a few of those!) you have probably already noticed a big choice and change I just made. I'm not training clients as much now, because I took on a full time leadership position with lululemon! Super exciting, a new challenge and in the end the best decision for me. I absolutely love this company. As sad as I was to have to walk away from some great opportunities, I had to look at the bigger picture. This means my time while I have classes going on is very limited, and I'm learning how to epicly balance my life, be present at all times and not lose my mind.

I am living according to my gut these days, literally and figuratively. I eat what my body wants and does it good. I made choices according to my gut feelings. It has led me here and I have true conviction in my decisions.

Choose happiness. Choose fulfillment. Choose excitement.

Confidence

Freaking 13.1
NOT miles (that was fun to explain to a few people later!)
I was staring down this BEAR of a workout last Wednesday night, while studying for a mid term, finishing quizzes and writing a paper (yeah I multitask school work really well)

2 things:
1-Burpees always suck.. especially 40, 30, 20... you get the jist.
2- I hadn't done a snatch in almost 3 months from rehabing my back. and I don't ever remember doing it with 75 lbs. Let's just say im not good at snatches at ALL.

I was determined to get just ONE at 75 lbs.

I got THREE!

Guess what kids? This post is ALL about CrossFitt. And you're going to read it, and love every word of it. Now stop rolling your eyes and groaning, because its a freaking awesome story.

CrossFit is changing my life. I had dabbled in it here and there last year, but struggled to find coaches that really motivated me, taught me and that I clicked with. But since moving to DC, that has completely changed. I'm fully committed to my training with the amazing coaches at Crossfit Rubicon. Rubicon has given me this amazing gift: discovering I can do amazing things when I stare fear in the face and yell "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!" (put THAT on the wall Chef!) Guess who now runs laps with an 85lb sandbag and laughs the whole time? I conquered that doubt and now I know that I can get that bag up on my shoulder, every time. CONFIDENCE! So If I can get up three 75 lbs snatches when my goal was just one, then I have this inner strength just waiting to be unleashed. As dead as I was, I was on cloud 9 after finishing 13.1. I wasn't thinking about if I had stayed under a certain amount of calories, or if I had run enough that week to not gain any weight or stressing out about the fact that later that night I drank two swirl margaritas and ate a whole plate of nachos (celebratory cheat meal). I was relishing in my own personal victory. I wasn't competing in the open against or for anyone but me.

If you've known me at any point in my life or read any one my many blogs over the past 3 years, you know I have struggled with self-confidence and body image issues. I've never thought of myself as very strong, and really just a mediocre athlete. I compared myself to others. All of that, is gone.

CrossFit has taken this eternally body conscious girl wondering who she really was, and turned her into an animal... a strong women who stands up and says THIS IS ME and I don't care what you think. I no longer wonder if I can move the mountain, I'm just waiting to hear... GO!

Thank you and lots of love to the amazing cheering, coaching and "do it right" I get every day from Chef, Hronn, Jason and Ben. Because of you all, this happened:

My first 75 lbs snatch! (after 70 burpees and 30 snatches with 45 lbs too!)

And its funny.. first three posts this year:
Cheat Meals
Commitment
Confidence

My new three C's!!!

Committed

COMMITMENT

Oh that is a scary word in today's culture. With a 50% divorce rate and climbing, commitment-phobes are somewhat of a norm. I am no exception. But this post isn't about relationships.

I never realized the extent of my commitment-phobia until these last few months. Let's just say my commitment has a short term attention span. Rewind 4 years ago... I was very successful in my career, living comfortably and decided... eh... I can do better in this job, so why don't I give up consistency and move to a new region. The situation blew up in my face and I said peace out! (Still do not regret that decision to this day).

year and a half later... committed my entire world to marrying someone and giving up all of me. can we guess how that ended? most of you know. begin commitment phobia in relationships. (ok maybe this post is indirectly about relationships)

Rewind to September last year, just 6 months ago... pretending to be ok with a low commitment level relationship finally backfired and I was left seriously hurt with my best friend leaving the country a few days later. I was able to look at where I was in life from the outside with no one to distract me. In the span of one week I made a snap decision... move back to dc, go back to school full time and do not stop until I get my dream job (and oh boy is it a big dream with some enormous hurdles in the way). Two weeks later when the person who has just broke my heart came back around, I did not waiver in my decision. For once in my life NOTHING and NO ONE was going to stop me.

Fear of commitment is fear of losing, fear of pain, fear of failure, fear of losing oneself. That's it, plain and simple. It affects many aspects of our life, whether or not an event created a commitment phobia in that area or not. Guess what.. relationship commitment phobes are a product of two things: past pain (yup everyone is a softie) and drive to be a success in another life and not wanting to be distracted. Right now, I'm a product of both.

I have never been great at setting a HUGE goal for myself and stopping at absolutely nothing to get there. I have thought of some awesome things, but they were all goals influenced by other people. In the past 6 months I have found this new fire in me to believe I can do amazing things that before I never thought possible. And I'm going to freaking achieve them. I'm going to give credit to something that will make some of my friends roll their eyes and some jump up and down. Crossfit is this fire... hands down. The day I found it was the day I began to constantly move forward and begin to let go of fear. If you met me 5 years ago and told me one day soon I would throw 100 lbs over my head and do the crazy things I do every week... i would be rolling on the floor laughing. And that is me now. I have an amazing group of coaches at Crossfit Rubicon that have made me believe in myself. I'm a badass :) I'm an animal. Try and stop me.


Next commitment... I'm going to do a GORUCK! Once I get over the thought that it might kill me. If I survive that, then I think I will survive an exclusive relationship. oh yikes...


check these guys out:
Crossfit Rubicon
GORUCK

Cheat Meals and Change

I know right? First post in god knows how long and its about a cheat meal? Is that a chipotle burrito you see above? Why yes it is. And I proudly ate the whole dang thing my friends...

REWIND! There have been some MAJOR changes recently. Some of you are going to be whining "old news" for the next 3.2 minutes while others are going to get some whiplash from what I'm about to tell you...

I left Arizona.

Ha you thought I was going to say I got married, don't work out and live on carbs now right?!

Nope just suddenly decided back in September that I was ready to finish school... oh and I want to do it in one of the most expensive places to do that in... DC.  I'm over these awesome jobs I have, living in a state with amazing weather, people that I love. APPARENTLY that wasn't enough for me at 27 years old. Insert... you're crazy comment here.

Hang on... let me finish shoveling this flour tortilla wrapped, rice and cheese and sour cream filled chicken burrito (*gasp* you hypocrite!) into my mouth then I'll go on. I live for Sunday cheat day, just sayin. Coffee with *gasp* real milk and some type of pastry to start it off. (I went full fledged donut this morning....ermagerd.) Then I go for one of three things... burger on a bun, pizza or a legit burrito. Then its protein shakes for the remainder of the day. Boo. Ok let me continue this tangent... I support the concept of cheat meal or day or whatever. I've heard arguements on both sides, however, honestly the arguments against it don't exist much anymore. I am much better about this idea now though. When I worked in a restaurant, it was probably a running joke that I had a cheat meal once a day. But COMMON! I was surrounded by baked goods, fantastic pizza and sandwiches. Killer. Now I get me some nom nom gluten and dairy once a week. (Ok except this week but my dad was in town and we went to Zaytinya. If you've never been... OMG get on a plane to DC and go... right now). Luckily I no longer overdo it to the point of bloating and stomach issues, but the gluten can cause some super not fun breakouts. More like super unattractive. bleh. NOTE: if you have regular skin issues... seriously try going paleo or get your food allergies tested! Dermotologists and pharmaceutical companies are making a fortune off peddling BS acne lotions. If you're a vegetarian and have acne issues... then oh boy

Wow long tangent. MOVING ON!

Changes. They are hard. Emotionally and physically draining. That stupid 3 day drive across the country after a very emotional month of goodbyes that left me a depressed crying worthless person the last couple days I spent in AZ... reversed my progress of alleviated SI joint issues (tangent for another day). Then walked around New York for 2 days straight. By the time I landed in DC, my body was effed. CAPITAL F. Frustrating. So recap... move across country, start school full time for the first time in what 7 years? cant workout more than a couple days a week because of back and leg pain, and work... well let's not discuss that and pretend we did. Enter "lauren the emotional stress ball of tangled yarn" I need me a big pick me up!

Oh look its snowing... again. Well that was easy! five years old... right now. And its those little things that get me through the tough parts.

But this change... its gonna be AWESOME! It's difficult at first but I see down the road, and its freaking awesome. CAPITAL F. And I'm bringing back the blog. Not because anyone honestly cares about what is going on in my life, but maybe it will help one person. One girl who wants to be strong and be an athlete but feels the pressure to be skinny. Maybe I can inspire that one girl to be who SHE wants to be. "To thine own self be true"

I'm going to go on tangents. I'm going to post recipes. I will write my stream of consciousness and that will involve broken sentences. Get over it. I'm kinda funny. And no... I will not write about my not-so-existent love life. As I point to a few people in AZ who love to grill me on this *cough* that is just for me. I chose to not have it in my life right now, because I'm just too damn busy!

So in honor of today... "whatever you wanna go do, go do it. Nobody determines that but you" Ray Lewis

mmm go ravens??? 

-lolo-

Southwestern Bison Frittata

Southwestern Bison Frittata

1 Tablespoon unrefined coconut oil

1 small yellow onion chopped

1 jalapeno seeded and chopped

1 poblano pepper seeded and chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

1 to 1.5 cups of sweet potato skinned and shredded

1 lb ground bison

1 T chili powder

1 tsp chipotle powder

½ Tablespoon ground cumin

¾ c salsa (I use chipotle salsa from fresh and easy but verde salsa is good too) plus more for topping

Sea salt and pepper to taste

12 eggs

(optional garnish toppings: avocado, green onions and cilantro)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add peppers and onions. Sauté until onions are translucent.   

Add bison and cook until it has started to brown. Add the sweet potatoes and garlic, cook until sweets are soft.    

Add spices and salsa and stir in well. 

 

Spread out bison mixture in 9x13 baking dish. 

Whisk eggs then pour over the top of bison mixture. 

 Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until eggs are cooked through on top. Garnish with more salsa and optional topping of avocado, cilantro and/or green onions.

Grass-fed Meatballs and Veggie Succotash

These past two weeks I've been super busy working on some new recipes and cooking up some local fresh produce like a madwoman! Even made my first cooking video for my team at FunkFit (check it out here but be nice this was done at 1am!.) So here comes a Friday night, worn out from a long work day and I have quite the random mish-mosh of leftover produce.

Hmmm... what in the world to do with eggplant, kale, grass fed ground beef, roasted garlic... no way in hell i feel like grilling when its 106 degrees out either...

Racked my brain and VOILA! Here comes at you Trainer Lolo's Meatballs with veggie succotash. So so soooo yummy!

Grass Fed Meatballs with Veggie Succotash

Meatballs:

1 lb Grass fed ground beef

1 egg

1 Tablespoon almond meal

salt and pepper to taste

1 finely chopped garlic clove

1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (I fresh grind on a microplane)

Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Form into balls about 1 1/2 inches wide. Saute in a skillet in 2 T olive oil over med/high heat until outsides are cooked. Place on a baking sheet and bake in 375 degree oven about 10 minutes.

Succotash:

1 eggplant chopped into bite sized pieces

1 zucchini chopped

4 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms

1 small bunch of kale, leaves chopped

4 roasted garlic cloves (check out how to make these here and keep in the fridge for future use!)

1 Tablespoon coconut oil unrefined

Olive oil as needed about 3 Tablespoons

bay leaf

salt to taste

lots of black pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp dried ground mustard

2 raw garlic cloves thinly sliced

Heat coconut oil in a skillet after putting the meatballs in the oven over med/high heat. Add in veggies and roasted garlic cloves and saute about 3 minutes. Add in spices and raw garlic, drizzle olive oil and stir well. Continue to saute and add olive oil as needed until veggies are cooked through about 8-12 minutes. Remove bay leaf and serve with meatballs.

WOD 5/28

5 rounds:
12 Box Jumps (24")
9 Pullups
6 DB Thrusters (women 25s)

db thrusters an hour after a heavy shoulder trx workout... not too much fun!