Paleo-Zone and a severe loss of strength

The food I pack for myself and my husband on any given day is really a combo of Paleo and the Zone Diets. (Well, sort of. I mean no offense to the die-hard Zoners who religiously measure blocks of food and weigh their portions. I may get there eventually.) I believe in the Paleo principles (eating food we were designed to eat - meat, fruits/veggies, nuts/seeds ... and shunning food products created by man and machine). I also agree with Dr. Barry Sears' Zone concept about the importance of balancing meals across the macronutrients of protein, carbohydrate and fat. One of the largest contributors to today's obesity epidemic, in my opinion, is a diet WAY too high in sugar and far too low in fat.

Protein sources below: Eggs, pork chop, pork loin slices, chicken, shrimp
Carb sources below: Spinach, salad greens, tomatoes, broccoli, red onion, zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms, pineapple, nectarine, OJ (an unfavorable carb, but a carb nonetheless)
Fat sources below: Nuts, olive oil, avocado

Meal # 1: Two omega-3 enriched eggs (in cooking spray); small pork chop; sauteed spinach; swig of OJ
I know spinach for breakfast sounds disgusting, but it's just an easy way to get a serving of veggies in at breakfast. I put a little on a fork with egg and a bite of pork chop and you can't even taste it. A little salt and pepper helps too. Also- OJ is really just sugar water and I don't recommend it, but I made some the other night when I really wanted something sweet and the leftovers were eyeing me from the fridge. It was literally a SWIG, though. I should dump the rest out when I get home.

Meal # 2: Shredded chicken; unsalted mixed nuts; (1) nectarine
The best thing I do for meal prep is buy a rotisserie chicken each Sunday and dissect it for the rest of the week's meals and snacks. Sooo grab-and-go. Nut mix had a lot of peanuts in it. I ate a few but tossed the rest. (Remember peanuts are not nuts; they're legumes. Click here to read my post on why legumes are not Paleo). Nectarines are awesome right now and fruit is so packed with essential vitamins and minerals, it's just high in sugar so I try to only have two servings a day. All other produce is veggies.

Meal # 3: Mixed greens and baby spinach w/ rotisserie chicken, tomatoes, broccoli, red onion, olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Vinegar's not technically Paleo because of it's acidic effect on the body, but I'm a little more liberal with the condiments. Try to keep my strictness for the grains, dairy and legumes.

Meal # 4: Pork loin; fresh pineapple slices; avocado/tomato salad with olive oil
Grilled two pork loins Sunday night for use in lunches and snacks during the week. Makes it easy when you're assembling meals in the mornings to have your protein already cooked and ready to go. Fresh pineapple vs. canned - more vitamins, no added sugar. Remember Paleo shuns processing.

Meal # 5: Grilled chicken breast; skewer of grilled shrimp; roasted veggies; cucumber/tomato salad
To roast veggies, I just chopped up zucchini, red bell pepper, portabello mushrooms and red onion, tossed them with olive oil and popped in the oven at 400 for like 20 - 25 min. Just watch 'em and take 'em out when you like how they look. :) Tomato/cucumber salad is just chunks of those 2 ingredients plus a healthy drizzle of olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, some salt and pepper and fresh cilantro. (I buy this every week and end up putting it in everything. I LOOOOOOVE cilantro. Love it.) Salad normally has avocado in it too, but I was out. Not enough fat in this meal. I will be hungry later. :(

Meal # 5B: I was right; about an hour after dinner, I was still really hungry. So, I polished off another skewer of shrimp with a little tartar sauce. Some added fat would have really made a difference.

Workout: "Baby Cindy" -- AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 12 min. of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats. (The regular CrossFit "Cindy" is AMRAP in 20 min. They take it down a notch for the preggo's.) I do my pull-ups on the medium assistance band because I haven't quite mastered the kip yet. And my strength is so decreased now anyway that it's going to have to wait til post-pregnancy. Push-ups I normally do on my toes, at least the first few rounds. This time I had to drop to my knees after TWO! WTH?? Very demoralizing. And even on my knees, I was breaking them up into sets of 5's and then 2's! I was warned my performance would go down dramatically, but it sucks to find out they were right. Anywho - my goal was 8 rounds in 12 min. I got 7 rounds + 5 pull-ups and 3 push-ups. I was 7 push-ups and 15 squats shy of the goal. Oh well. Now is not the time to be pushing the intensity. But I do need to be pushing the CONSISTENCY. Back at it tomorrow.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful day in the life of a Preggo on Paleo ....