Post fast labs and crossfit anniversary

     In one week, I will celebrate one year of doing crossfit workouts of the day (WODs). I've taken one week off this year. Otherwise, I have done 3-6 WODs a week with a little jogging, a mud race, & 10k trail run thrown in for good measure. It has been a great year of humility, pain, fatigue, misery, accomplishment, increasing mental/physical fortitude, stamina, and health.
     I have learned so many new and different movements and exercises this year. My flexibility has improved and I've started doing yoga once a week. I also incorporate many of these stretches into my warmups and cool downs. I am amazed how stiff and rigid my joints had become due to my sedentary job and lack of self maintenance.
      This year of increased activity and self awareness was capped off with the crossfit 7 day juice fast. I completed it about ten days ago. The fast was a great experience that I plan to do at least twice a year, if not quarterly. It helped me become more aware of my emotional connection to food and face those emotions when my drug was unavailable.
     I went to see my doctor last week for the first time in about 15 months. He told me that I was the healthiest person that he would see all day. That made me feel incredible! My weight was down 20lb from last visit (lean mass is up at least 10-12lb). My systolic blood pressure had fallen nearly 40mmHg! However, the biggest change was my blood chemistry.
     Now, keep in mind, this was after a week of nothing but fruits and veggies, followed by some pretty big "thank God I'm eating again" chicken wings and beer. So, not ultra clean living, but a metabolic reboot, mostly sensible paleo meals, and some regular trash food for five days after the fast.


                                  Nov 2010                                                          Feb 2012
Cholesterol mg/dL          198                                                                      148
triglycerides mg/dL         164                                                                       51
LDL calc                        104                                                                       67
calc VLDL                      33                                                                        10
HDL mg/dL                     61                                                                        71
   
Everything improved! LDL (bad) was down and HDL (good) was up. I am truly shocked. I feel very good about how far I've come and I look forward to the road that lies ahead.