Intuition

With a guest post by Jamie “the Badger” Murphy

Three rounds for time of: – last week, but Jamie had started zoning about a week and a half before everyone else and I asked her to talk about her experiences as we head into the SWITCH next week…

Badger Gets In the Zone

I had always eaten fairly healthy, protein lover, lots of veggies and monitored my carb intake. I was never seeing the results I knew I was capable of. During the 30-day Paleo challenge I didn’t have one sip of alcohol, one grain, or one piece of gum. I was positive this challenge would show ridiculous results. I was fooling myself. After 30-days of self-discipline I lost 3 pounds…wtf. I clearly did something wrong here, overdosing on fruit and nuts maybe? I knew I needed to do something drastic to my diet, monitoring every ounce of food I put into my body. I had heard about zoning from Gretchen and Zeb during classes so I thought I’d see what it was all about. I came to Zeb prior to the group challenge, to ask his advice on my food choices and learn about zone. I was so excited about the entire concept and ready to get started.

The first week was a breeze. Measuring and weighing food was fun. Knowing that I was creating the perfect balance of protein, carb and fat made me feel 100% in control. After a couple days I was already sleeping better, had twice the energy and wasn’t hitting my “3:00 wall” at work.

I could tell I was loosing weight because my clothes were already fitting better.

The second week, however, turned into straight torture. I wasn’t JUST hungry, I was ravenous. My 1-block snacks were a joke, leaving me unsatisfied and in a bad mood. Then my 3-block meals made me uncomfortably full. I couldn’t win. I was going to bed an hour earlier than normal so I wouldn’t have to feel the hunger. Zeb kept reassuring me that “I wasn’t hungry” I was just experiencing my body craving insulin so I stuck with it. Despite the terrible hunger, I started noticing a difference in my workouts. Exactly as Zeb had mentioned, I felt “lighter” during wods, my body didn’t want to take breaks during wods. My least favorite activities such as squat snatch, burpees, and wall balls were easier and I suddenly liked doing them.

My turning point happened after a week and a half of zoning. I have been a member of PCF for about 8 months, and still couldn’t do a pull-up without the band. Everyone, including myself, thought it was a mental problem of mine. I loved that band so much, too much. After one random morning wod and noticed I felt really good and full of energy still so tried to do a “real” pull up. Out of nowhere, I was suddenly able to do a pull-up and was ridiculously easy!

I couldn’t believe it and had to show my new trick to everyone.

I then became zone’s biggest fan.

After two weeks I had my “cheat day” was so grossed out I couldn’t wait to get back to zone. I know what you all are feeling like this week but I PROMISE it only lasts during week 2, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I look forward to my future wods and the other crossfit milestones I’ve never been able to overcome. Zeb describes zone as “nothing short of life changing” and so far I couldn’t agree with him more:)  Good luck to everyone!!