Triple Threat

Today, I'm going to attempt to blog about a few completely unrelated subjects in one post. Cool? First subject: Otto, the escape artist. On Friday evening, Hubby and I came home from the gym and were greeted at the door by our mischievous pup. This would be wonderful if we trusted Otto to have free reign of the house. We do not. He managed to escape from his crate by opening the zipper that he had previously weakened by chewing some of the teeth off. The damage was minimal. We actually expected much worse for his first home alone experience. He chewed the corners of a couple books, but they're still readable. Unfortunately, one was Catching Fire (you Hunger Games fans know how upsetting that is)! He also got ahold of my running gloves, one of hubby's shoes, and his leash. Luckily nothing was damaged beyond repair. When we left for church this morning, we barricaded his crate against the wall with the couch so he wouldn't be able to get out, even if he opened the damaged zipper. That didn't stop Houdini Dog. He somehow opened the undamaged side zipper. Otto made himself comfortable on the couch and chewed the crap out of his retractable leash. At least we know he's a smart dog, even if he's destructive. On a good note, Otto's eye seems to be healing well from his "puppy tacks." It's a good thing he's not trying to scratch it because, you guessed it, he destroyed the second cone we got him by running into the stone wall. Smooth, Otto.

Second subject: Zone Paleo. This section is probably only interesting to those who care about diets and nutrition. If that's not you, skip this paragraph. ;) As I've previously shared, hubby and I have been "following" a Paleo-ish diet for the past several weeks. I was hoping that my general avoidance of grains and dairy would help me shed some "I ate too much junk over the holidays" body fat. I was also hoping this high protein diet would boost my strength and overall health. What I've actually found is that I've gained a few pounds! Now I know the whole "muscle weighs more than fat" saying. But, my jeans aren't just tight from more muscle. I have been getting stronger, though! Friday, I dead lifted 160 lbs. and bench pressed 90 lbs. That may not seem like much, but I'm only 5'3", and they were both pr's!

Paleo has been great for helping me eat more protein and produce while greatly reducing the amount of grains and dairy in my diet. The piece that I've been missing is portion control. I think my biggest Paleo error was that I was eating lots of sweet fruit and nuts, which are at the top of the Paleo food pyramid. So, I decided to combine Paleo with the Zone diet. I'm not the first to think of this. Many Crossfitters eat a Zone Paleo diet because it's better portion control than just eating any foods that are considered Paleo. Zone is based on the idea that you should eat the macronutrients of protein, carbohydrates, and fat in a 40:30:30 ratio. What I love about Zone is that it lists foods and portion sizes that you should be eating and ranks them from best choices to worst. If you are looking to improve your eating habits and/or lose a few pounds, I highly recommend checking out this website. Also, Zone may be more appealing to you because it does not require you to completely eliminate dairy and grains. Something that blew my mind: 10 cups of raw spinach has the carbohydrate equivalent of 1/3 of a banana! Needless to say, I've been eating a lot more spinach and a lot fewer bananas.

Third subject: We got a motorcycle! It's a '92 Yamaha FZR 1000. It's a sport bike, so maybe it's not as cool as a Harley. But, we'll have fun with it, (safely, of course) and it will save us some gas money when Hubby takes it to work instead of the gas guzzling Bronco. Pictures and updates to follow as soon as we see some of that beautiful weather in Spokane that everyone else in the country has been enjoying! Share the love, Midwest!