Let's Talk About Zone, Ba-by!

Zone: the best way to get fit, but not always the easiest!

After attempting to dial in on the Zone a countless number of times, I think I've finally got it by the balls. And I say that with every proud muscle fiber in my body!

When I first started training CrossFit back in December of 2007, I was advised by my very knowledgeable trainers to change up my diet if I want to make awesome gains; I did not hesitate one bit. Luckily, 7 months prior to CrossFit when I had begun shedding off those 37 pounds I had gained, I cut out alcohol, grains and starches. This helped give me a great head start on learning to cut back on what Zone calls 'unfavourable' foods. Now all I had to do was cut out juices, milk products and some fruits and I was good to go! Easy peasy, right?!

Well, it wasn't that easy at first, unfortunately. You get this overwhelming feeling of hunger, like you are depriving your body of it's bare necessities. I felt like a heroin addict in withdrawal! There were times where I thought, "Jeez, is this what REAL dieting is like?!" But I still hadn't had it down right just yet, I was not completely dialed in. There were missing parts of the equation:

1. Hydration
2. Timing meals
3. More measuring, less eyeballing

I was never a huge water drinker for pretty stupid reasons - one being that I didn't want to look bloated. How stupid is that! That's girl mentality for you. I realize that it wasn't the water that was bloating me, it was the foods that I was eating. I'd begin a workout, and less than 5 minutes into it my mouth would be dryer than the Sahara desert - talk about cotton mouth! Now I drink the equivalent of 8-12 bottles of water a day - that's 1-1.5 gallons - and I can still fit into my smallest pair of jeans - go "figure!"

Timing my meals was hard because I lacked hydration. My stomach was only ever full of food and never water, and my workouts were effected because of this. Sometimes I would plan to go in and do a workout for 5:00pm and eat slightly prior to this time so that I would have fresh fuel in my body; but sometimes I would get held back at work or school and not be able to get there until later. What I did in this case - and what I most definitely should not have done - is wait to eat until after my workout, no matter how long the wait was. Essentially I would starve myself because I didn't know what time I'd be in to work out. What I did to correct this is, no matter what, I eat every three hours, right on the third hour. For example, last night I went to the movies, and right at 11:40, I cracked open my Tupperware of chicken, my 6 almonds, and my nectarine. I get weird looks all the time, but I'd rather get weird looks for eating healthy any day than get weird looks for smoking cheap crack!

Measuring is so important, I can't stress that enough. My first few attempts at Zone I measured only about 50% of the time, and the results were just the same: half-assed. It's kind of like math - it is math. If you constantly practice you will memorize the equations and steps to the point where you don't need to refer to the text. It takes about two weeks to dial in on the measuring, but I would suggest sticking to it for twice as long, just to really hammer it into your brain; that way, you'll ace it every time.

Now that I am a certified level I CrossFit trainer I have taken on the responsibility of teaching myself - and it's very rewarding to be able to take the knowledge I have acquired through reading, watching videos and reading peoples' comments on the main site, as well as learning from Eric, Mark and Dave, to name a few, and apply it all to my own training.