Monthly Archives: August 2013

Who’s Excited??

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of regular posts the last couple of days. I felt kind of off-sort of like I was stuck in a rut. That kind of bothers me since I haven’t really felt like that all summer, but I did feel that way some during school. I just didn’t feel like DOING anything. I skipped Crossfit last night, but I did get my butt in gear for a nice walk, which kind of threw me out of the funk. I’m pretty sure the funk may have been partly because I ate too many carbs…they mess with my brain!

Anyways, now that I’m done complaining, I’ll highlight some pictures from the last couple of days and get onto TODAY!

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A pretty view of San Francisco from my walk the other today. Sad news-I finished my audiobook mid walk. This sure as heck beats mid-12 mile run, but meh. I feel a little nostalgic about that audiobook-it took me through my long runs of my first half marathon training!

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This dinner was not really supposed to be this. The plan was to make a quesadilla with this recipe. However, my mom had to brief the guy taking care of our cats while we’re on vacation, and before I knew it it was 9pm and still no food. Instead of going through the effort of making the tortilla, I just microwaved the leftover meat we were planning on using with a can of diced tomatoes and pepper, plus taco seasoning. I also whipped up some guac. Add a bed of lettuce, and we were good to go! I may have gotten a little seasoning-happy. This was SPICY. (Well, keep in mind all the seasoning was mild…#wimp).

Thursday morning was the kitten nursery. I really do love working with them.

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Followed by breakfast-it turned out to be much bigger than this but this is what I got on camera. Yesterday, I discovered I had 2 days to eat 6 mangoes. Challenge accepted. There’s one left. Image

I also took a “cat nap.” Haha…I’m going to miss that when I go back to school!

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Aaaand here’s some more food. Nothing too crazy. I want to get to today’s workouts!

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Ok, onto today! 5:45am spin was cancelled due to Labor Day weekend. Booo. But it did give me an opportunity to sleep in a little and make my own spin workout. I really want to be a spin teacher someday, and it’s been a while since I’ve made my own class. Plus, I want to do a post on my local fitness blog about HIIT training, but…I’ve never done it before. So that would be a little hypocritical. I’ve been reading about the benefits in the book I’m reading, and so many bloggers do HIIT training. I designed an hour long class, which included 18 minutes of HIIT training. I did 1:00 of intense, all out work, followed by 1:15 of moderate intensity. I did this sequence 8 times through.

OMG I was DYING. I have NEVER worked that hard on a Spin bike before. To get the true benefits of HIIT, you really need to go 100% max effort during the minute on. Whew. Ouch. And why did I put this at the beginning of my class? For the intervals on, I did a mix of high resistance fast speed, and pretty high resistance super fast speed. My legs hurt….

Anyways, in case you’re wondering, I thought I’d post the “class” so you can all go out and feel my pain. Sound good?

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Here’s the playlist I made.

And here’s the sequence:

(Song #)

1-Warm Up

2- Hill: increase resistance every minute and hold 80 RPMs

3-hill: heavy, hold 1:30 and then repeaters

4-first 2:00 downhill then start Hiit

5-9 HIIT then downhill

10-flat road endurance-hold 100 RPMs at working pace

11- hill- 30 sec intervals in/out of saddle

12- hill: heavy repeaters

13- hill: jumps (8 sec on saddle, 8 out/4 in/out, 2 in/out)

14- downhill, high speed (over 100 RPM)

15- flat road intervals

16- flat road intervals

17-cool down

*Repeaters- 20 seconds in saddle, 20 seconds standing straight, 20 seconds standing over bike

I followed this with 10 minutes of abs.

And then cursed myself for being dumb and not running BEFORE my spin workout. It’s one thing to not run before a 5:45am class, but when I could spin ANY TIME, and it’s not even early, I should run first.

4 miles were on the schedule for today. I actually did a decent portion of it on trails-which I hate but need to practice. It was pretty hot. And I did not choose my clothing very well. A big, thick, cotton t-shirt, already drenched in sweat. I was literally drowning in my own shirt. Eh. Oh well.

I decided to mix it up a little today shoe-wise and wear my Brooks. They actually felt better than I remember! Maybe it was my new inserts?

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The rest of my day will be spent getting ready for tomorrow- I’M GOING TO HAWAII! I leave super early (well, as a regular at 5:45am spin it won’t be too bad…), so I have to get everything ready to go tonight! I need to go to the library for fun books and to look for new audiobooks. I also have Crossfit tonight…legs rest up quickly! I refuled from my sweaty run with my post-workout recovery drink (aka homemade chocolate milk) which I made in my Vitamix so I wouldn’t have to heat the milk, and could add in an extra ice cube or two.

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In Hawaii, I actually have quite a few workouts planned. Which is probably good-it’ll keep me sane. I have 4-5 days of running, including 2 long runs. I’ve contacted some of the Crossfits in Maui, and will drop in for a class or two while I’m away as well. How cool is that??

I might pop in once or twice with a post while I’m away since I’m brining my laptop, but don’t worry-I’ve got you covered with some AWESOME guest posters while I’m gone! Like, really great. While I read the posts I kept wanting to comment!

I hope you all have a GREAT holiday weekend! I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures while I’m gone!

What are you doing this weekend?

Fitness Hacks

Hey guys! I’ve kind of been a rut all day. It could be the impending end of summer. Or it could be an overdose on carbs…Either way, I don’t have a ton for you guys today, but I DID finally get around to posting on my little local fitness blog. Confession-the guilt of not posting in a week or two was getting to me. 

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Either way, I did a post on “fitness hacks”- you know, ways to sneak in exercise, and quick exercise ideas for people with a busy lifestyle. If you want to see it in print, check it out here

Otherwise, read on and see it right here on the ol’ blog. Have a great day everyone, and here’s to hoping tomorrow is a good one. Kittens first thing in the morning shouldn’t hurt that one bit 😉

Many people claim they have no time to exercise, but I don’t believe that. Anyway can squeeze in five minutes a day, enough to make significant changes for both physical health and stress. Here are some five minute workouts:

 

Pick five different exercises and do each for one minute. An example workout would be one minute each of squats, push ups, sit ups, jumping squats, and lunges. 

 

Run around the block for five minutes. Simple, yet effective. 

 

Check out a workout video on youtube- search “five minute abs” and you are sure to find something to get that heart rate up and those abs burning.

 

Turn on your favorite song and dance around for five minutes.

 

If you are still not convinced you can spare five minutes of your time, or if you would like to sneak in some extra fitness, there are plenty of ways to do that as well. 

 

Do wall sits while brushing your teeth. To perform a wall sit, “sit” against the wall, as if in a chair, with your back flat against the wall. Your legs ideally would be parallel to the ground. Brushing teeth should take two minutes, twice a day. That’s four minutes of strength training right there! Work on building up your endurance-I’m sure your teeth will have never looked better!

 

While grocery shopping, park at the far end of the lot. Make yourself carry heavy grocery bags a little farther, or walk several extra laps around the lot.

 

Instead of reading a book, get the audiobook and take it on a walk around the neighborhood. This is a new favorite activity of mine!

 

While watching TV, do jumping jacks during the commercials.

 

Instead of walking around the house, do lunges around the house.

 

There are so many ways to sneak exercise into your daily routines! 

For additional workouts, you can check out the Workouts page on my blog.

WIAW-A Taste for Coffee

Phew. I am pooped right now! I have to wake up in 6 hours, but I really couldn’t miss out on the What I Ate Wednesday party-hosted by Jenn! This seriously does make Wednesday so much more fun!

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First, I just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading your comments on yesterday’s post. It was really interesting to hear all your perspectives!

Today was a really relaxing day. Kind of. I’m trying to cure my social media addiction before school starts, as well as soak in the last bits of summer. Therefore, I’m trying to spend more time outside and ditch the technology a little more. Yesterday I felt like I was in a computer-induced fog all day. When I spend too much time with my technology, time passes in a blur and I don’t really experience anything!

Anyways, I started my morning by waking up before my alarm (yay!) and heading to the gym for my first ever tempo run! I was a little nervous. Which was actually really silly-the run was only 3 miles, the splits being 10, 8:30, 10. And I know I can run 3 8:00 miles…so not sure why I was worried. I then spent the rest of the time before yoga doing some of my all time favorite lifts-back lunges off a step and single leg RDLs. 

I walked out of yoga feeling fantastic and totally at peace. It wasn’t quite lunch time, so I stopped into Peet’s for a cappuccino. Yes, I actually chose to drink coffee without desperately needing it! ImageThis is probably my favorite cappuccino-the milk foam was so smooth! It’s all about the milk foam with me 🙂 

I wish they sold extra small coffees though. I can never finish it-I was a low caffeine tolerance, and a high caffeine awareness. I was sad I couldn’t finish this, but realized my heart would be racing if I had tried. Sad. You better believe I cherry picked all the milk foam though!

To say I developed a taste for coffee is an exaggeration. I’ve developed a taste for cappuccinos….Which could become an expensive habit….

After sipping my drink and reading in the sunshine, I stopped by Whole Foods for some protein bars for my trip (I have quite a few training runs while on vacation, and vacation food before a training run=bad idea) as well as lunch from the hot bar. ImageI had some lackluster Chinese vegetables, a chicken potsticker, avocado and kale salad, and sweet potato polenta. I wish I had skipped the Chinese food though-the kale salad stole the show. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t like the citrusy salad, but it was perfectly light and summery. 

I couldn’t find ThinkThin Divine bars (which are chocolate and coconut), so I had the taste for chocolate and coconut. I happened upon these bars-they’re also gluten free!

ImageThey fit into my sugar standards for a granola bar (only 8 grams!) as well, so I was sold. These far exceeded my expectations-they tasted just like fresh coconut! The perfect sweet finish to my meal. 

Confession: I wanted to sit outside of Whole Foods to eat, but I opted to sit inside because my pictures would look bad outside. #bloggerproblems

I then sat outside on a bench to read some more. This was my view. Isn’t this a cute little neighborhood?

ImageLater in the day, I changed into shorts for a walk with my audiobook. 

So here’s a question-did I purposefully match my outfit perfectly or are those the only colors I own?? I’ll let you guess the answer to that one.

ImageI’ve been really enjoying these walks lately-I like my book!

ImageAfterwards, it was time for a snack before a possible softball doubleheader. 

I had a delicious farmer’s market nectarine, carrots with White Cheddar Laughing Cow, and one of these guys.

ImageI’ve fallen in love with the peanut butter flavor in the past, but the cranberry orange was just as good. If you see these guys- BUY THEM.

My softball game went well-it’s the playoffs, so we play until we lose. We won both games tonight, and were pretty hungry afterwards. My sister, her boyfriend, and my mom and I all went out for Bermese food in downtown Palo Alto.

You know you’re underdressed when the waiters pull out your chairs for you and place a cloth napkin on your lap…whoops.

The food was delicious though!

ImageImageImageWe were right next to a gelato place…Let’s just say it’s taking a little time to wrap my head around eliminating sugar for good. In good time my friends.

ImageBut for now-caramel chocolate and creme brulee FTW.

And since this is supposed to be What I ATE Wednesday, not what I DID, here are some more fun things from the past few days. 

ImageAsk and you shall receive-the recipe for banana chocolate chip custard is here.

I’ve been loving my snack plates lately-this one is an Asian pear from the farmer’s market, a fig, and carrots with White Cheddar Laughing Cow. This is my first time trying the flavor, and I must say-I’m a fan!

ImageDinner last night was a good one as well-Asian Lettuce Cups from the Cooking Light app, served with steamed snap peas and garlic and herb brown rice and quinoa. 

ImageAnd lastly-one of my favorite meals from the week. We bought green onion pancakes from the farmer’s market (seeing the theme here?), and served them with a fig and goat cheese salad (with leftover chicken).Image

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As you may have noticed, I’ve been kind of obsessed with figs this summer.

And I’ll leave you with that. Have a great day!

Do you like Farmer’s Markets? Favorite find? Do you ever unplug for a day? Are you addicted to social media?

What Makes a Good Blogger?

Quick note to my guest posters-I’m going to need your posts in the next few days! Thanks!

This a question I’ve been asking myself lately. What more could I or should I be offering you guys? I’ve come up with a few things.

1. Tackling the tougher issues. Frankly, I don’t really do this. Why? Maybe I’m afraid. I try to avoid controversy. Of the few posts I’ve attempting, I’ve tread very carefully. I’m scared of offending people. But with that fear, can I really be a “good” blogger? I get basically no negative comments on my blog. Which I guess is good, but maybe I should inject my opinions a little more? It’s not that I don’t have them. I suppose I’m just scared. I feel like things are mostly rainbows and sunshine over here on the blog. Which I’m fine with-when I started my blog, I wanted it to be a place for positivity. Specifically-I didn’t want it to be a place to beat myself up over food choices or body shame, so I’m happy about that. However, as my blog matures, some of the more serious topics should be tackled.

Why else might I not blog about these things? Maybe I’m young and naive. 

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Maybe those serious topics don’t even cross my mind. I am a relatively young blogger. Or maybe I need to take a closer look at things instead of glossing over them, pretending all is as it should be. 

What else makes a good blogger?

I feel like most of the most popular healthy living bloggers have already arrived at health. They eat what they need for their bodies (both healthy and unhealthy foods, but in a balance that works for them). They have it all figured out. 

I certainly haven’t. 

I really thought I did though.

ImageThis time last year, I had the healthy thing all figured out. I felt like I had for a few years. But this past year…

I feel like my first year of college chewed me up and spit me out. It knocked me around and pushed me down, but now I’ve emerged once again, standing. 

ImageI always thought I was a strong person, until this year. I feel like this past year broke me, but I’ll hopefully be a better person from it. 

My healthy habits that had been instilled in me for years vanished, masked by crew-my eating habits were bad but I exercised so much that of course I didn’t gain weight. 

But of course health isn’t it. Being in an environment with all new people, most of whom are freaking geniuses who are CEOs of their own successful start ups, or who have traveled the world making a difference, all at the ripe old age of 18. Classes were much more challenging that high school. I didn’t sleep. Eating was the last thing on my mind-except it wasn’t. I was focusing on my poor eating habits, just enough to stress me out, but not enough for me to make a change. Awesome. 

Winter quarter was dark-no sleep, high stress, poor school performance, crew stress-mentally and physically. Something was bound to break. And it did. I became the sickest I’ve been in my life, and then developed the worst eating habits of my life. 

Mono stripped my body of the nutrients it needed to function. After weeks of not being able to tolerate food, I ate. I just ate. My body craved food, desperately trying to restore itself. And that’s the story of how I managed to gain 20 pounds in just weeks. 

Spring quarter I’ve eaten worse than ever in my life-and gained weight faster than ever in my life. 4000 calories everyday will do that for you…

Also note-eating like a rower when you’re NOT a rower is not a good idea. 

ImageDo I blame the mono for the weight gain? Yes. But it wasn’t the beginning of the disruption of my health-not at all. You know, I had been patting myself on the back all year for not gaining the freshman 15, not gaining my usual holiday weight. Hah. little did I know what was coming for me….

That is the story of how I lost my health, which I am still trying to find. I’ve definitely restored a lot of the balance, but the damage is done and it will take a lot of hard work. I do truly believe that the experience will be for the better in the long term. I am stronger now than I was a year ago. Sure, several pounds heavier, but stronger. Yeah, being sick was awful. Gaining weight was awful. Feeling like crap all the time was awful. But I learned so much about myself. I believe that I can now pick myself off the ground, and continue on. 

So do I qualify as a perfect healthy living blogger? No. The above-mentioned unravel occurred during the life of this blog. But the restitching will also occur on this blog. What falls apart can be put back together-it has to be. What’s life without a little journey? The bitter only makes the sweet even better. ImageLife goes on. In 30 years, I want to look back on my illness and recognize it as a new beginning. Not the end of my healthy journey, but just a bump in the road, a fresh start. So do I have it all figured out? No! Maybe someday I will. Maybe not. That’s okay too. As long as each day I get one step closer, I’m happy. I have confidence in myself that I’ll figure things out. 

And when I do, I’ll make sure that my blog covers it. Because that’s the kind of blogger I am-not there yet, but someday. 

What makes a good blogger?

MIMM-Banana Chocolate Chip Custard

Hi friends! I originally had another post planned for today, but I’ve been hinting at a recipe for quite some time now, and it’s finally ready! What could be more marvelous? I hardly ever make up my own recipe so I think that qualifies for an entire MIMM post. Thanks Katie!

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 Microwave Banana Chocolate Chip Custard

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Ingredients:

  • 1 ripe banana

  • 1 T milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond)

  • 1/4 cup liquid egg whites of 1 egg

  • pinch of salt

  • 1/8 t baking powder

  • 2 T bittersweet chocolate chips (or any chocolate chips)

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Instructions:

1. In a bowl, microwave peeled banana for 30 seconds.

2. Mash banana.

3. Add milk and stir.

4. Add all other ingredients except chocolate chips and mix well.

5. Stir in chocolate chips.

6. Microwave on high for 1:15 or until cooked through.

Note: Different bowls and microwaves may take different time, so check every 30 seconds or so just in case.

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Enjoy! This is delicious, simple, and low sugar. Plus-it’s dorm room friendly! My dining halls at school always have bananas which are easy to grab for later, so this is perfect! To new college students-I also highly recommend keeping a carton of liquid egg whites (such as egg beaters) around- they make an easy protein rich meal any time,plus there’s no shell to sit in your trash can for weeks (at least if you’re me and don’t take out your trash NEARLY enough). 

If you want a silkier texture, add an extra tablespoon of milk-it might take a little longer to cook, so monitor that.

Try this! It will make your Monday a little more marvelous- I promise 🙂