Yep, that’s right! I had the awesome opportunity to do a radio interview with CrossFit Radio’s Justin Judkins about my experience with CrossFit and transitioning from a gluten-rich, processed-food-laden diet to the Paleo lifestyle.  Had a blast chatting with him about my experience cooking tasty Paleo food, and I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to spread the word.  Take a listen if you have a moment! It’s a free MP3 download on the CrossFit Journal website (Episode 206).

Bonus: Also interviewed on this episode is Annie Sakamoto, basically a legend in the CrossFit community!

Listen to the interview here >>

PS – For all my fellow CrossFit Central clients & coaches… the article’s currently got me listed as a Dallas Central client, but it should be fixed shortly. 🙂

Team Tryptophan Chowing Down

Another crazy week down!  Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of hosting some fellow CrossFitters from CrossFit Central at the house for a Paleo potluck dinner… we’re all on the same Lean Turkey Challenge team (Team Tryptophan!), and we’ve been focused on amping up our workouts and dialing in nutrition leading up to the holiday season.  It’s been a great experience so far – met some cool new folks, trained with some awesome coaches, and I’ve even whittled the waist down just a bit over the past five weeks.  We had seven folks join in the fun on Tuesday, and everyone brought a yummy Paleo dish to share – woohoo! Here’s what we had:

• Paleo Spaghetti (Squash!) and Meatballs — Jay
• Cauliflower Fried “Rice” — Heather
• Homemade Almond Crackers — Kristin (sound yummy… check out her recipe!)
• Fresh Greens Salad w/Avocado — Jessica
• Brussels Sprouts with Apples & Ginger — Wendy

The food was absolutely delish, and I’m totally snagging the recipes… yum!  I made a few things as well:  oven-roasted chicken legs and thighs, spicy roasted pecans with cinnamon (which, by the way, I could NOT. STOP. EATING.), roasted sweet potatoes with apples, proscuitto-wrapped figs, and flourless chocolate cake bites.  We had a great time hanging out and sharing our CrossFit/Paleo stories – looking forward to the big end-of-challenge competition on Saturday… bring it on!! Go Team Tryptophan!

Jess and Kristin getting things going...

Hi guys!  More yummy food posts coming soon, but I would like to take a minute to tell you about the Fight Gone Bad 6 event happening all over the world on September 17.

On Saturday, September 17, CrossFitters around the world will come together to endure 17 minutes of one of our most grueling workouts in honor of the incredible men and women who have committed their lives to serving our country. For 17 minutes, we will push ourselves further, challenge ourselves deeper, feel the doubt and wonder if we can make it, but then remember why we are there and appreciate fully those who we are there to honor.

I’ll be doing Fight Gone Bad for the first time this year in Las Vegas, NV, and I would be incredibly grateful of your support in this endeavor.  I’m shooting to raise $500+ for the event.

Raised funds are pledged to provide full college scholarships for the children of fallen soldiers, and every little bit helps. If you have the ability to support this cause, you can make a real and meaningful impact on two phenomenal organizations (Special Operations Warrior Foundation and CrossFit Foundation) that provide immediate and measurable support to families needing it most.

Able to Donate?

Click here to visit my personal fundraising page. Thank you so very much!

The Fight Gone Bad 6 Workout

In this workout, athletes rotate through five stations of different challenges. The competition is done in five rounds, with each athlete spending 1 minute per station per round with a 1 minute rest between rounds, all for a total of three rounds. The stations are:

• Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
• Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)
• Box Jump: 20″ box (Reps)
• Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)
• Row: calories (Calories)

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for a good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Will you support my 17 minutes?

Just flew in from London, and boy are my arms tired…  I mean my brain. I mean my neck. I mean pretty much every part of me.  I just got back from a super-quick business trip to London over the weekend, and my poor body doesn’t know what hit it! Here’s what the last four days looked like:

• Flew out Thursday night and arrived in the UK on Friday morning (sat in the cheap seats, so I only got about 1-2 hours of sleep)
• Worked from the hotel during the day Friday and was able to drop in at CrossFit London for a jet lag-busting workout (more on that below!)
• Worked all day Saturday and took my team out for a fab dinner at the Spice Market (short ribs! slow-cooked ribeye! yum!) in central London
• Spent the entire day Sunday flying back to Austin (long, long day, but… I did get unexpectedly upgraded to business class on the Heathrow-JFK flight – woohoo!)

Needless to say, I’m ready to get back into my food and workout routine – that much travel is just hard on the body.  I will admit that I wasn’t 100% Paleo over the weekend, although I was pretty darn good.  My biggest non-Paleo indulgences were dessert on Saturday night at the Spice Market (it was simply too good to turn down!) and a couple of pints of lager with my team.  When in Rome, eh?

I did get to enjoy the very Paleo-friendly English breakfast during my stay… these guys do bacon right:

English Bacon and Eggs... Yum!

One of my very favorite parts of the trip was getting to drop in at CrossFit London over in the East End.

Read More…

I would bet that those of you out there who’ve undergone a significant physical transformation (losing weight, gaining muscle, even changing your hair color…) have experienced this:

Even though you’ve changed dramatically on the outside, you still feel like the same old (pudgy) (sluggish) “you” on the inside.

Even though I know intellectually that I look different than I did a few months ago, a lot of the time I still battle that internal negative self-talk that comes from years of being dissatisfied with my physical self. I have days when I feel like the girl in the picture – I hit the gym ready to kill it, KNOWING that I am powerful and strong. But, there are a lot of days when I still feel like I’ve always felt… pretty strong, but too soft and scared to really push myself physically. It’s funny… a few times since I’ve lost the weight, I’ve caught a glance of myself in a store window and not realized it was me.

My brain is just having a tough time reconciling old me (on the inside) with new me (on the outside). It can be tough to internalize and embrace after so many years of insecurity, and I know that working on this mental piece is going to be just as important as diet and workout to make this a lasting, lifelong change.

So, when I had the opportunity to bid on a portrait session with Tim Bougie of Bougie Photography about a month ago (as part of the Silent Auction for CrossFit Central’s ongoing Habitat for Humanity build), I jumped on it… and won! This was right around the time of my most recent body comp, where I learned that in just two months I’d dropped a full 12% of my body fat… I was looking for a way to document all the hard work and help work on that mental piece – really looking at things from an objective standpoint and internalizing them.

Read More…

Ladies, this one’s for you.  I have had a life long love-hate relationship with headbands.  Love the idea of keeping the fly-aways in check while pounding out a 400m run or rocking out some pull-ups.  Hate the fact that every headband I’ve ever encountered either a.) didn’t not in fact work, or b.) made my head hurt. Really bad.

Enter Sweaty Bands.  A lovely colleague and fellow athlete introduced me to Sweaty Bands a few months ago, and they’ve changed my (workout) life.  Tons of colors, multiple styles, and they actually stinking work without giving me a migraine.  Can’t recommend them highly enough!  Get ’em online at sweatybands.com (super-fast delivery) or check ’em out at bettysport here in Austin.

Me and my wonderful hubby, P.J. Life is good.

Hey out there… my name is Nicole Tanzillo, and I’m a foodie.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved cooking, baking, and most importantly, eating.  My tastes varied from the simple pleasure of (gasp!) Kraft Deluxe macaroni and cheese to the more sophisticated experience of truly amazing sushi to the caffeinated joy of a crisp, cold Diet Coke.  I’ve always enjoyed cooking and baking, and I even had my own successful cake design business for a few years (Wicked Cakes).  I regularly cooked five course meals filled with pasta, cheese, and carbs, and I loved hosting a good dinner party.

What did all this get me? 

30 extra pounds of fat on my frame, constant heartburn, sleeping problems, and chronic allergies.  Despite the fact that I was a pretty regular runner, I just wasn’t able to keep up with the excessive consumption, and my health was suffering.  While I was content to live this lifestyle in my 20’s, I could see that this was not a sustainable lifestyle.  I recognized that this was not the kind of mother I wanted to be, and that I was limiting my own potential and happiness across all facets of my life.

Keep reading…