Beginning of the End - Part 3

I had a pretty severe groin injury on August 5th.  

It was misdiagnosed as an inguinal hernia but turned out I tore the pectinius muscle away from the pubic bone.

The pectinius is one of the 5 adductor muscles and this particular one runs from a connection at the hip to a connection at the pubic bone.

Anyway,  I did a lot of research on recovery from this injury and learned that l-leucine, a branch chain amino acid is one of the muscle building proteins that really speeds recovery from soft tissue injuries.....

So besides consuming low fat protein and tons of veggies.... 

I started a heavy regimen of 3 - 30g / serving per day protein supplements....

The idea was to build back the injured muscle and put on more muscle to boot.

And that has worked..... from a low of 166 - 168, I've put on about 5 pounds of muscle and a couple of pounds of fat and am now weighing in the 172 - 174 range.

With a lot of the gains coming in my upper and lower thighs.

Back to the process of moving and finding nostalgic things like these socks....

And an art project my daughter and I had done 15 years ago!

Really love the thin cut New York Strip steaks from HEB.... here accented by some fresh diced Fuji apples.

Continuing the CrossFit regimen....

Aaaah..... the Back Squat.... now that's something I can do!

And ascending rep deadlifts with 225#.....now that's different!

That was a tough workout....

Texas over Mustang....

Nice combo!

Blackened Pork Chop with a beautiful salad with avocado, chocolate almonds and my new High Energy favorite - Baked Sweet Potato!

With a massive portion of kale added.

How's that working for ya Bud?

Pretty freaking good!

The Beginning of the End - Part 2

So as I was saying, this Life Inventory Vetting process began back at Thanksgiving and was basically a full time job for the 3 weeks from then till closing.

I was up at 5:00 - 5:30 every morning and going through stuff and throwing away some, setting some aside for Helping Hands, some aside for family and keeping the rest.

But..... in the evening at least 2 - 3 days a week....

I was at CrossFit WMD doing my CrossFit workout and watching others do their's.

In the last month or so at CrossFit WMD, I saw an influx of new members - including a group of Gung Ho Young Guns.....

And this is one of them showing great form in a heavy Overhead Squat.

Power and / or Squat Snatch.... Oh boy... Never done it.... this oughta be fun!

And then a Workout to use the Strength Movement!

Kinda in the middle of the pack but just happy to be here!

And enjoy a post workout meal of Holmes Pork and Venison sausage mixed in with a lot of kale and spring mix!

And the sorting process goes on..... day after day..... room after room!

I honestly don't see how people ever move especially if they have full time jobs.

I mean I didn't have a lot of stuff and still it took me over 2 weeks to go through the sorting, packing and disposal process!

This is a 3 minute Paleo meal -
Thin cut chicken breast highly seasoned with my African - Moroccan spice mix over spring mix with a Chocolate Whey Protein Isolate mix on the side.

Found the "Welcome Home" sign and decided to put it up as kind of a reminder of how much I have loved this house.

Mixed nuts, fresh banana and grapes with a drizzle of honey and a dusting of cinnamon.....

An excellent Paleo "dessert"!

And another quickie in between meal meal of chicken breast and sweet potato and creatine....

Eat this 2 hours before you workout and you can blast through nearly anything they throw at you!

Meanwhile back at the CrossFit WMD Ranch.....

We get another healthy portion of Core Complex and MetCon!

I had this Young Gun Chick named Lauren chasing me for the last 800m but I had held a little back and turned the dogs loose and sprinted the last 200 meters.

This is the kind of workout that leaves you thinking.....

It was a Good Day!

The Beginning of the End - Part 1

So What's Up with this "Beginning of the End" title?

Well - as anyone knows who has been reading this blog, I have had a grand plan for lifestyle and residence location change that I have been executing over the past couple of years.

The last step of this plan was to sell my primary residence and begin a month to month temporary residence in cities in the Northern and Western states until I found a place that I couldn't live without.

When I signed a sales contract on my house the week before Thanksgiving, the closing was set for the Friday before Christmas meaning I had to go through everything in the house and weed out what I wasn't moving to storage.

The next couple of pics are a good representation of that process.

Room by Room, Closet by Closet, I got everything out and went through it to determine what I couldn't live without and what needed to move to a new owner.

One of the things that I wasn't gonna let this highly stressful, transitional time derail was my Lifestyle Foundation of Healthy Food and Working Out.

I was determined to keep up with  my Paleo meals - I won't even say Diet - because it's not... it is simply a Lifestyle Plan for Eating.

Pretty Typical High Volume Paleo meal here - New York Strip and Tilapia Fillets over Spring Mix and tomatoes - radishes - shredded carrots and a side of wilted kale all dressed with Balsamic Vinegar.

And here's a meal out at El Jimador - Al Pastor (Pork) Street tacos with charro beans..... yes the corn tortillas are not part of a Paleo diet but they just go so well with the meal I had to have them.

Back to Basics - thin cut New York Strip - seared in a cast iron skillet for a minute and a half on each side with a good portion of wilted kale and baked sweet potato and a Creatine mix - Fresca combo to drink.

Tilapia fillet and a thin cut Chicken Breast topped with sauted banana over spring mix and sunflower seeds and blueberry almonds.

Part of the Process of going through everything is seeing Your Whole Life in pictures.....

This was a tough emotional time for me.... seeing my past and remembering the good times with every picture and collage I went through.

I narrowed everything down to just the essentials for what I needed to live in the house during the time between the contract signing and the closing....

Yes - one of the essentials is my cast iron skillet and Paleo cooking!

Spring mix and tomatoes meets....

New York Strip, Kale and Baked Sweet Potato.

Believe it or not.... this is all the stuff I had in my kitchen that I didn't need.... and believe me I had already weeded out a lot of stuff....

This is part of the reason why America is so stressed out all the time....

We clutter our Lives, our Minds, our Whole Lifestyle with a bunch of Stuff we DON'T NEED!

This is why moving every 3 - 4 years is a good idea.

It forces you to reset your Lifestyle Operating System and Update to the New You and the New Life in the New Location.

It is all a part of your own.....

Discovery.