Lazy Chicken and Some Goals

First, the lazy chicken.

This is really, really lazy. Everything you need:

Chicken thighs (that's 4.5 pounds or so - about 15 thighs)

Herbs de Provence

Yellow onion (this would be really good with a Vidalia, too, but this is what I had around)

Package of dried mushrooms - I like shiitake for the smoky, bacon-ish flavor, but you could use whatever

Couple cloves of garlic

Unpictured kosher salt

...that's it.

Liberally coat your chicken thighs with herbs de provence and kosher salt. Use lots of seasoning and a decent amount of salt, and use your hands to really get in there and make sure the chicken is coated thoroughly and evenly.

Smash a few cloves of garlic and peel off the skin - I used four or five.

Slice onion into rings and arrange in a single layer on bottom of crockpot. Dump mushrooms over onions and toss in garlic cloves. Pour in chicken. Cook on low for 4.5 hours (yes, that's all).

And that's it. No liquid - the chicken generates more than enough juice by itself. If I had skin-on, bone-in thighs, I'd probably have browned the skin first, but I didn't...so it was a season-and-crockpot meal. This would be a great candidate for something to make in the morning before work, IF you have a crockpot that will shut off after 4.5 hours - it's really easy to overcook chicken and dry it out.

When there were about 15 minutes left on the chicken, I tore up some collard greens and cooked them with a slice of bacon, kosher salt and pepper.

Lazy chicken, completed:

Easy, lazy, and very tasty with collards on the side.

And with nothing on the side. I picked at that chicken for an entire week, between lunches at work and extra-lazy dinners (sensing a theme here?).

So, this past Monday started another CFCC BCCC. This time around, my goals are to be stricter with my eating to really lean out, and then to (probably through trial and error) figure out what I need to eat in order to maintain that level of body composition.

Ideally, I would lose enough fat to drop at least one more size and about an inch and a half more off of my waist. At that point, I think I'd be satisfied, and it would be something I could sustain without being incredibly restrictive all the time.

Performance-wise, my goals for this 30 days are to continue to improve my deadhang pull ups, to master kipping pull ups, and work on bodyweight skills (pistols, push ups, handstand push ups). Leaning out is definitely going to help with this. Longer term goals are still a 300lb deadlift (or 2x bodyweight, which may come first if I keep dropping weight).

Tuesday night I had my first meeting with Erin to review my food log and discuss my goals. She warned me - and I in turn warned my husband - that I was in for a cranky 30 days. This week's dietary changes: no nuts (not a big deal at all), no chocolate (gasp! not even on weekends!), no cream in my coffee (except on Saturday and Sunday mornings...SUPER GASP!), and experiment with making bone broth and substituting that for my usual afternoon snack of buffalo jerky (iiiiinteresting). I'm also under strict orders to be IN BED by 10pm, which is going to be a challenge, since at least three nights a week I'm at CFCC until 8:45 or so - right now I'm usually home by 9, walk the dogs, make a quick dinner, play with my pups and then in the shower by 10, asleep by 10:30. We'll see how this goes.

After our meeting, I stuck around for the 7:30 class. Foolishly. On the plus side...I climbed a rope (not all the way to the top, but a good 10 feet or more). That was an achievement. And then we did a hero WOD that I'd never heard of before - "Dae Han." 3 rounds for time of 800 meter run with a plate (45/25), three 15' rope climbs, 12 thrusters (135/95) - with a 25 minute cap. I scaled the rope climbs to 15 strict pull ups with a light band and used 65 pounds for the thrusters - in retrospect, they didn't feel too tough and I probably should have done 75 or 85.

So how did it go? Well, let me tell you something about running with a bumper plate. There's no good way to hold it. As soon as we started the run - within 15 seconds - we were all like "AW CRAP." I started with it behind my head, over my upper back, but it kept hitting me in the back of the head. I yelled "THIS IS STUPID" before switching it to over my chest...and then tucked under my arm...and then back to my back...repeat ad nauseum. Or for the six minutes or whatever it took me to run 800 meters. The pull ups were slow, but legit, and the thrusters were pretty easy - I was able to do 4 or 5 at a time without any issue. But that run. OH, that run. 2 rounds in 21:57. I could have gotten another 400m run in but I just did NOT want to.

My back is killing me tonight from those runs (or awkward shuffles, whatever). Time for a little more foam rolling, shower and then my 10pm bedtime.