My CrossFit Journey: End of Month 1 (Progress)

It is a good job I don’t take myself too seriously because I am about to open myself up to some more banter from  my mates! I said I would update people on my progress including pictures at the end of the month – so being a man of my word….

First of all, here is my start of January picture

**DISCLAIMER – ok the lighting in the second picture is better BUT the facts are there**

And, here is what things are looking like right now…

I have lost 2kg in body weight BUT have increased lean muscle mass. We are all capable of changing our body shape, losing weight, shedding excess fat loss and ALL WITHOUT fad diets, weighing food etc. If you are interested in shedding a little fat here are a few things I have done that may help you:

• Mainly eat whole foods – if you can pull it from the ground, take it off the land or out of the sea and with a bit of a wash and some prep it is ready to eat then it is a good choice.
• Try to reduce sugar and processed food intake – I would be a liar if I said I didn’t eat the odd cake, we all love cake! BUT it isn’t a regular occurrence.
• Reduce alcohol intake – I have probably had 2 beers a week on average.
• Train hard for at least an hour 3-5 times a week – HIIT, CrossFit etc are perfect for this. AND you don’t need a fancy gym. In fact your living room would do!

I have NOT:

• regularly weighed myself on the scales – muscle weighs more than fat so if you are burning excess fat and exercising to build muscle you may be disappointed to find the scales not changing much.
• Weighed my food/counted macros – I LOVE food, and enjoy eating. I am not going to suck the fun out of it!
• Taken regular weekly pictures – If you frequently check your progress you will not notice it. These are the only pictures I have taken (5 weeks apart).

You may not look at my picture and think WOW, but remember slow and steady wins the race and progress is progress. Be happy and celebrate the small wins in life! It is healthier to make slower realistic changes that you can maintain than to go cold turkey, cut everything out of your diet and fall off the wagon!

As discussed in My CrossFit journey: week 1 (ground zero, kind of) and Aesthetic of Functional? my own personal focus for the year is what my body can do. So as well as making some progress on the body shape, which I thought would happen as a by product of this, I can celebrate the following:

• My body help create a baby!!! – a couple of weeks back I was ecstatic to share that my wife had her 12 week scan and we are expecting  a baby at the end of July/beginning of August.
• (see featured image) – I passed my CrossFit Level 1 Trainer course!
• I managed 34 consecutive double-unders in 30 seconds – SOOOO happy about this! They are my arch nemesis! The most I have ever achieved is 30 something TOTAL in an entire workout. This workout, in 4 rounds of 30 second efforts I achieved 113. Thank you @littlebigshimmy for all your help with these
• I managed 4 strict HSPU’s! (my aim for the year was 1!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend peeps and keep up your own fitness journeys!