Monthly Archives: December 2015

Answers

Date: December 17, 2015

Author: astottler

I had an interesting day on Monday. As you probably know, I’ve been dealing with some sort of mysterious stomach condition since February. I’ve had tons of tests, and everything was coming up negative. There was one last test to try and since I was feeling significantly better I put it off until winter break because it took 5 hours. But the reality was although I was feeling better, I don’t feel like a normal person.

All this led to be fasting for 16 hours and then eating radioactive eggs.

It’s weird going to the doctor and having them feed you, right? I did a gastric emptying study. Basically, they fed me radioactive eggs that they can then track through my stomach with an MRI type of thing, over the course of 4 hours, beginning with a 30 minute long picture. The process was long and involved a lot of waiting, but was relatively painless. While waiting, I googled symptoms/treatments for delayed stomach emptying and found myself nodding along with the symptoms, so I wasn’t too surprised when the test came up positive for delayed stomach emptying.

After a follow up appointment, it sounds like this is likely what is causing the problems. Treatment is mostly managing the symptoms and changing eating habits. I basically have to avoid eating too much. I have to eat more mini meals throughout the day, instead of full meals. I’ve actually been pretty good about eating fairly light over break so far, and I think that has kept most symptoms at bay. So I will be eating lot of small meals, and soups (since liquid can be easier to handle).

Lunch today was a mini bowl of soup and a baby piece of cornbread.

I have mixed feelings about this. I’m glad to finally have some answers, but I’m nervous this lifestyle change will be either difficult to adhere to or won’t “cure” anything. When I think to how bad off it was when it first started, I can’t imagine that smaller meals would make a difference. Thankfully I am better than that, but the threat of that worries me. I just want to be normal! If mini meals might get me there, then that’s what I’m going to have to do. But I feel like at least for now the threat of a full on flare is still very present.

So what else have I been up to?

More soup-Greek lemon chicken. We added carrots and lemon juice. This was topped with chives and feta, and the feta linked all the flavors perfectly. On the side was Trader Joe’s Gluten Free cornbread (from a mix). I really liked it! With butter and honey.

My first ever flat white.

Peppermint hot chocolate with my sister from Peet’s.

Last night’s dinner: sage, chicken, and mushroom soup, with a gluten free rosemary roll on the side. The roll is from Mariposa in San Francisco. Yesterday my mom and I went up to San Francisco to go to the Ferry Building.

We started out with a gluten free lunch at Mariposa, and I got a turkey sandwich with cheddar and cranberry sauce.

We also stopped by the gourmet ice cream shop. I was hoping they would have olive oil ice cream like I had last time, but they didn’t so I settled for some delicious chocolate.

We wandered the shops a little bit before heading home.

Another food excitement—new energy bars! It’s nearly impossible for me to find bars that meet all my various restrictions, so when I saw a website for custom bars on Kaila‘s blog, I jumped at the chance.

I got mine with a date and sunflower seed butter base, and then had whey protein, chia seeds, chocolate chips, vanilla, and honey. SO delicious!

In terms of workouts, this morning I went to the track to do my simple 6x200m. Love the view from this track though!

The other night, I went to a fun Santa Themed spin class, which I dressed up for with Santa socks and a holiday bow in my hair.

I’ve also been going to my home Crossfit, which has been SUPER fun. My first workout back was Tuesday, and the WOD was 5 rounds of 400m run, 30 sit ups, and 15 back squats at 115#. This is exactly the type of workout I LOVE, and it was fun! However, I haven’t done a ton of back squats since hurting my shoulder (I think the first time I was able to do them was like a month ago?) so while the weight wasn’t too heavy, the underuse plus high reps has left me unbelievably sore! Man!

Currently, I am blogging from under both a cat and heated blanket. Winter break isn’t too bad!

Now It’s Christmastime

Date: December 15, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

It’s my first full week of break! The first part of this week has been spent doing not so fun things (I was on call for jury duty today), but this weekend was fun and definitely put my in the holiday spirit!

Finals over=champagne.

Friday night I went to my dad’s company Christmas party. I’ve actually been to more of my dad’s company Christmas parties than anyone in the company!

It was a lot of fun and the food was of course delicious! After appetizers and drinks, we had salads and then a family style meal.

I apparently missed snagging a picture of the meal, but of course I captured the flourless chocolate cake for dessert!

And then Sunday was the day of the Silicon Valley Santa Run! This is my 4th year doing it, and the race’s 5th year.

The race was at 3pm so eating beforehand was different. I had my typical yogurt bowl for breakfast.

And then oatmeal plus some chicken for lunch. Plus a couple of these guys: AMAZING. I’m obsessed with glutino’s regular yogurt covered pretzels and the peppermint ones are just perfect.

Then it was go time!

The weather report was not too promising, with rain threatening at the start.

We also brought psycho puppy for her first race experience!

It was maybe a bit cold.

I goal time was under 27:00, which I knew was very doable given I had hit that pace during a longer run earlier in the week. Unfortunately, my garmin couldn’t find me! I was running blind. In multiple senses, as about 5 minutes into the race the sky just opened up. It started pouring like crazy, and given it was already so cold, I couldn’t feel my legs or hands! And then the rain started to hurt more as it hit my skin than it should have. I couldn’t tell if there was hail on the ground or not, but then I noticed there were little balls of ice all over my shirt. There was nothing I could do but push through it; it was definitely the crazier race I have ever done because the weather just felt insane. Meanwhile, I had no idea of my pace but I think I was around where I wanted to be. From the ice, I couldn’t feel most of my body! My garmin finally found me with just over a mile to go, and the mile it clocked was right where my pace needed to be.

Unfortunately, I don’t know my actual finishing time. I’m 95% sure my official time was wrong because it clocked me crossing the start line 6 seconds after the gun start, and there’s no way that is possible. I would guess it was at least 30 seconds, as the start was super slow. It was an especially small race this year thanks to the weather, and since it was small and the start was slow I’m wondering if it picked me up too soon. Ah well. It was still fun!

There’s definitely something to be said for shorter races, especially when braving the elements!

After the race, we bought a cheese tamale and walked through the Christmas display.

Then it was time to go home. On the drive back I tried to take a selfie with Chloe but all she wanted to do was a) sleep or b)lick my face.

Now I feel in the Christmas spirit! In other news, I just found out that I got into the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in DC in April! It’s a capped race, so there’s a lottery to get in. I missed it last year but I got in this year and am SO EXCITED!

How do you get into the holiday spirit?

Fasted Cardio—Yes or No?

Date: December 14, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I’m on the other side of exams now and am enjoying some downtime. One of the classes I took this quarter was Exercise Physiology, and since I know more about it now than I ever will, I thought I’d do a couple of posts that might be relevant to your fitness goals!

Today’s topic is fasted cardio. I will go into the science both at a deeper and at a more surface level, so hopefully everyone will get a take away from it!

Fasted cardio is all the rage right now, especially for those training for some type of figure competition, or those trying to lose body fat. The theory behind it is that because your body has no carbohydrates to burn, it will use fat as fuel. Normally, glucose (carb) is stored in the liver in the form of glycogen, which can be broken down back into glucose for energy. Glycogen is what keeps you going on those long runs, until it is depleted (when you feel like you have hit a wall). In the fasted state, your glycogen is already depleted.

So the big question—in the fasted state, do you use more fat as fuel? Yes!

However…at what cost? I’m going to go into the biochemistry a little bit here—if that’s not your thing, feel free to skip it and just look out for the bolded sentences; those are the major takeaways!

Below is a depiction of glycolysis (green) and the TCA cycle. These are how cells create energy. Energy and energy equivalents are given off in various steps as a result of the chemical reactions.

When carbohydrate is broken down for energy, it goes to pyruvate. Pyruvate can then feed into the TCA cycle for two directions: through acetyl CoA or through oxaloacetate. Therefore, if some TCA intermediate runs out, the TCA cycle will continue. However, fats can only enter the TCA cycle through acetyl CoA. Some of you may have heard the phrase “fats burn in the fire of carbohydrate.” This is because carbohydrates feed the cycle from both sides, so even if fats are being burned, carbohydrates keep the cycle going if something runs out.

So what does your body do? It uses protein as fuel. If you do fasted cardio, you will break down muscle. Amino acids can perform gluconeogenesis, meaning that they can form glucose. Different amino acids enter at different places, but certain amino acids are glucogenic, meaning they enter the cycle at a place that will allow glucose to be made. After entering the cycle, they go from oxaloacetate, and then to PEP. From there, they continue on to make glucose.

What’s the takeaway? With fasted cardio, you do burn more fat, but it comes at the cost of breaking down muscle. Fasted cardio can have negative effects for weight loss because if you decrease your muscle mass, you will lower your metabolic rate (the rate at which you burn energy/calories) because muscles burn more energy than other body mass. Even 100 calories of carbohydrate prior to your workout can prevent this muscle breakdown. It may be beneficial to occasionally do fasted cardio, but the muscle breakdown/fat loss tradeoff is something you have to determine for yourself depending on your goals! Personally I generally don’t do fasted cardio because my body feels better with some fuel, and my stomach doesn’t like running without anything. If you simply aren’t hungry in the morning, there are plenty of liquid calories you can consume to fuel your workout!

Fasted cardio: would you or wouldn’t you do it?

3 Years

Date: December 9, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

It’s so hard to imagine that it’s been 3 years since I started this little blog. I was a freshman in college, still trying to figure out college life. Now, I’m a senior. I can honestly say that I’m a completely different person now than I was when I started my blog. New struggles have arisen, but more have been resolved. This blogiversary is especially bittersweet solely due to the fact that I am a senior, and I will be graduating this year (well, fingers crossed-still plenty of time to fail a class!). Having a blog through some of the life shaping years has been a blessing. I love being able to peak into my freshman self’s mind on a day to day basis, although some of the things I find certainly make me cringe!

(Also-look how far iPhone technology has come!)

In the theme of my blogiversaries past, I’m going to go through the 12 things that have changed in the past year.

My career path. As in, I have one. This time last year I was just starting to figure out I wanted to go to veterinary school, but had yet to take any steps to get closer to that goal. Between then and now, I’ve worked at a veterinarian, taken animal physiology, gone to pre-vet conferences, gotten a better sense of what I need to do, and am actually considering what specialty I might want. And I’ve never once doubted that this was the right decision.
Gotten really sick and totally changed what I eat and how I view food. In February, I developed what I lovingly call a mysterious stomach condition. From February to May, it was very severe and majorly impacted my life. From May-August it was significantly reduced but would occasionally flare up pretty bad, with the climax flare right before school started leading to a last minute endoscopy. Since then, I completely cut out gluten and it actually helped a lot—there are times I still feel off but I haven’t really had any all out flares. As a result of all this though, when I choose food more often than not I don’t choose it for the nutritional value, I choose it for how I think it’ll make my stomach feel. Choosing crackers over brussels sprouts may not always be the most nutritionally sound, but if that’s what I think is going to make me feel the best, I’ll go with that. I’ve also been forced to be super in tune with my body. I have certain senses about specific foods and I trust my body that what I feel won’t make me feel good is not something I should eat. That being said, I definitely don’t always listen to these because this girl likes her desserts too! At the senior welcome during a flare up.
I have become head over heels obsessed with cows. I realize this is a little less serious of a change, but everyone who knows me knows this. I studied them quite a bit last winter and think they have the coolest physiology. Maybe it’s because of my interest in nutrition or my complicated stomach issues, but their 4 stomachs are the coolest thing ever to me. At this point I’m not sure if/what specialty I would potentially want to go into, but I would tend to say either large animals or gastroenterology.
I turned 21. I’ve officially passed all the big adult milestone birthdays! In all seriousness though, this is a big one. While I’m not a big drinker by any means, being legal allows me to socialize and network in important ways that I wouldn’t otherwise. For example, at the IDEA conference, had I not been 21 I would not have had to opportunity to meet and talk to as many people.
I got a puppy and watched her grow up. This may not exactly be a change for me directly per say, but as someone who wants to work with animals as a career, it was a really good experience to raise a (difficult) puppy. I learned a lot and got some insight into the behaviors and changes to expect in a dog’s maturation. What a baby—and those huge feet!
I suffered my first serious injury. At the beginning of September, I did something bad to my shoulder. It is quite likely I partially dislocated it. It was really bad for quite a while. I could’t do ANYTHING. It’s still not 100% but doesn’t hinder everyday life and I can do most of the things I want to in Crossfit. This was a frustrating, humbling experience, especially since I spent the summer getting really strong; I went from PRing almost all my lifts to not even being able to lift a 2 lbs dumbbell overhead. This forced me to take a step back and reevaluate how I approach fitness. Feeding goats post-injury with my little left chicken arm because it hurt to have my arm straight.
Sort of a result of 6, but I reevaluated my fitness and training. I came to the realization that if I continued to put the stress I was putting on my body, I wouldn’t be able to do all these things I love 20,30,40 years from now. With my exercise physiology project training for a 400m sprint, I realized I could train more efficiently. I needed to run with fewer footsteps, and I needed to stress my body less with weightlifting/Crossfit. I decided I didn’t need to run as many miles, especially if I focused on speed and quality. I limited myself to only 3x/week of Crossfit. I did more spinning (see 8). My body responded amazingly. I felt so much fitter. My times on everything were improving, and when I went to my home Crossfit, I felt so light on my feet. (The irony of this is I feel tired/heavy/sore right now because I didn’t listen to my own advice last week!) I busted out the Turkey Trot 10k 30s faster this year, without killing myself. I also started doing my everyday runs faster just these last couple of weeks, and I’m actually able to do them. Less fatigue makes it possible for me to choose to run faster, and apparently when I choose to run faster I can do it! Yesterday’s run. Definitely didn’t know I had this in me.
I took a bit of a step away from the blog world. This was somewhat intentional and somewhat not. Part of it is other things have become more important. Part of it is I’ve gotten less motivated. But honestly, a big part of it is I feel like I have nothing to say or add. Because of said health issues+the college lifestyle, nutrition has gotten less important to me and talking about it on here sometimes feels inauthentic. I still struggle each day to eat well, and still haven’t totally solved the ideal way to eat in college. Or in life. And sometimes food is the most frustrating thing in the world to me, because either I want it and can’t eat it, or I feel terrible and think it’s from food but it’s so complicated and I have no idea why. I’ve also gotten really lazy about commenting on other blogs. This is mainly just because I’ve switched to almost exclusively reading them on my phone though!
I started teaching spin classes regularly. During this time, I got my own classes at 2 different gyms (one of which I had to give up this quarter due to my school schedule). I’m now teaching 2x/week at my school gym, and it’s been absolutely incredible. The first day, I was so nervous despite the fact I had been teaching at a smaller gym for almost a year. It’s hard to imagine that those nerves will ever go away, but now I’m definitely in my element. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching completely full classes, and I have regulars. The most rewarding thing to be though is all the first time spinners that have come to my classes. A lot of people will be a bit tentative and nervous at first, but I see them come back week after week and the difference is stunning. Clearly I was comfortable enough to wear a turkey hat to class.
I came into my identity as a leader. I truly think that a leader is in my personality, but I wasn’t always confident enough to take charge. The development of this characteristic is incredibly important in what I hope is my future career. I think a lot of this confidence comes from teaching spin and commanding a class. I love encouraging people to work harder and get better. I also find myself taking charge in other aspects of my life. Even with my friends, I have no problem planning an event myself (or inviting myself over). This summer, I went to IDEA World Fitness conference. On my own. The conference was incredibly rewarding and I had no problem flying myself out there and taking advantage of the workshops, the workouts, and the people. Even with my job this summer when I definitely didn’t know all the ins and outs, I happily talked to clients and led new employees through the ropes. As seen at IDEA World.
I saw more of the world. This summer, I travelled a lot! I went to DC with family (and reaffirmed that this is where I want to spend the year after graduation), I went to downtown LA for the first time (I had been to other parts of LA and SoCal a lot thought), I went to Hawaii, and I went to New York City for the first time! New York was awesome just because going is a key life experience that I had never had. It was fun to see all the things I had heard about and seen many times in movies. Friends fountain
I started to really appreciate my school. My first couple of years were demoralizing as I struggled through my biology and chemistry prerequisites. I questioned everything. I didn’t have much time for fun. My junior year was much better, and since then I’ve enjoyed my academics a lot more. Because I’m a senior, everything is becoming more real for me and I’m struck with the awe of an admit. I’m finally realizing how truly amazing it is here and how lucky I am. I’m appreciating all my schools traditions and quirks, and I made the most of football season this year! It’s crazy to think that in a few months it will all be over, so I’m trying to embrace the little time I have left. PAC 12 CHAMPS!

1 Day Until My Blogiversary!

Date: December 8, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Once, again, we are approaching my Blogiversary. 3 years…how did 3 years pass so quickly? I know I haven’t been posting as much as I would like lately but it’s finals week so it is what it is! Today I thought I’d throw it back and repost my blogiversary post from 2 years ago in preparation. It’s interesting to see how much as changes even since then! Expect an ACTUAL blogiversary post on Wednesday though! For more 12 days of Christmas, check out the tab!

12 Things That Have Changed in the Last Year

Today is the last day of Christmas! You know what that means? It’s officially my blogiversary! Yay! I hope you guys have liked these last 12 days of posting. I certainly have had a ton of fun writing them. And forcing myself to be creative in the kitchen-it’s been way too long since I spent any time there!

I want to use this last day to reflect on the past year. I feel like so much has changed, but I think it’s all for the better. If you’re curious, here’s my first post. It’s not as embarrassing as I was expecting. My next few those? Yeesh. (Why would I name a post 1,2,3, Testing?) Also, can we take a minute to talk about how my writing voice has changed? For some reason last spring quarter I was so sarcastic. Not that I’m not now, but I feel like every word was dripping with it. Interesting….Also-check out this food picture from one of my first posts…work of art right there folks.

So without further ado-12 things that have changed in the past year.

1. I quit rowing. To put it quit frankly, I was drowning. Fall quarter, it was such an awesome experience. To this day I miss the girls on my team. Winter quarter we moved in with varsity, and I just didn’t love it anymore. Plus, the time commitment increased-it was about 5 hours a day. I had a tougher class schedule, and was rapidly falling behind. Plus, after being one of the fastest over the fall, I just wasn’t improving and couldn’t keep up. This all took a huge toll on me-but that’s not (directly) why I quit. I was determined to finish the year with my commitment, or at least the quarter. My body had other plans though and I got a really bad case of mono (which actually changed my life a lot for many different reasons). Long story short-2 ER visits, crazy high fevers for WEEKS (101 on Advil and Tylenol), inability to get out of bed for 2-3 weeks, and ALL of Friends. Like, all 10 seasons. It was really awful and I had to go home-fun fact, while I had mono, I also caught the stomach flu, strep throat, and a week later, a cold and cough that developed into an ear and sinus infection. I think it’s fair to say that’s by far the sickest I’ve been in my life. At that point, it would be nearly impossible to gain my strength back in time for racing season, plus I took it all as a sign that what I was trying to do was just not sustainable for me. When I got back to school, I had such an amazing time because I actually had time for a social life, not to mention time to study (I know a lot of collegiate athletes do fine, but it just wasn’t working for me for a sport that I didn’t absolutely love.)

2. I ran 2 half marathons! I have entirely the blog world to thank for this. Before discovering this amazing community, the only people I knew who ran half marathons were my spin teachers, and it seemed absolutely insane. After seeing so many bloggers do it, it didn’t seem so unattainable, and here I am now, a half marathoner! Heck, I even ran 16 miles once! One year ago me would have thought that was impossible.

3. I realized that I’m semi-allergic to nuts. Or at least have a sensitivity to them and they cause my face to break out like crazy (or the newest thing-now they’re causing itchy rashes.) The irony is I ate peanut butter (only like a tablespoon) for the first time in many months the other day and now my skin is rebelling…ANYWAYS-this is kind of a big deal because if you read my blog way back when this was started, the amount of peanut butter I was eating was insane.

4. I got spin certified! This was something I’ve been really wanting to do for a while, but if it wasn’t for the blog world, I wouldn’t have had the courage to actually do it! This would have been so much of a better point if I actually had a job teaching already, but I can’t even THINK about that until after finals.

5. My outlook on life has changed. Blogging has made me so much more thankful for everything in my life, and I appreciate the little things so much more. I’ve always loved the holidays, but I never celebrated fall in the same way (or ate so much pumpkin…) Last year around the holidays I felt really homesick, but not at all this year. Maybe it’s because I’m older and have more friends, but I think it’s also because through my blog I can still celebrate.

6. My weight. This is definitely not something I discuss a lot here on the blog, but it’s definitely a change. I avoided the dreaded Freshman 15 in the fall through rowing and being too busy to eat any free goodies, but the stress of winter quarter and stress eating, then dropping a lot of weight while I was sick and gorging to put it back on plus some-and going a little crazy in spring quarter (I’m not talking alcohol calories, I’m talking giant yogurt bowl calories and late night snacks with friends calories), I wasn’t in the best place with my eating habits or body going into the summer. I’ve figured so much out since then, and am slowly getting back to where I want to be, but it’s definitely a process. I still haven’t totally figured out college eating-especially with all the free food and stress dead week offers-but I’m definitely in a better place and know I’ll get there eventually.

7. My training (aka my workouts) have changed drastically as well. When I was rowing, that was pretty much all I was doing. We did team weights and some running/spinning, but it wasn’t the same as hitting the weight room hard on my own, or going to my favorite spin classes-unless I wanted to wake up at 5am and add a spin class to my 2 hour erg workout (which I did once..never again). In general, I have to be training for something. I used to always be training for softball, then for rowing. Now-I guess it’s for running. I trained for 2 halfs (yay!), started Crossfit, and am now attempting to gain some speed for 5ks. I’m actually really, really enjoying 5k training. Running fast (ish) is fun! Plus it makes my feet much, much happier. I definitely still crave the long runs though! The thing about 5ks…I think I actually have the potential to be decently fast. I think if my training and my NUTRITION (heh heh) was on point, I would actually be able to go out there and race pretty competitively (i’m talking local 5ks, not collegiate championships). And it helps I’m still in an age group with relatively few runners…But I just don’t see myself ever being remotely fast in long distances like halfs.

Last year’s Santa Run 5k

8. I started Crossfit! It really is so much fun. I’ve always loved weight lifting so this is right up my alley. I really miss the people at my home box…only a week until I’m back there!

9. I just feel like mentally I’m in a much better place than I was last year. I’m not a freshman desperately trying to make friends, and although I’ve had a pretty heavy workout this quarter, I feel like I have my life together pretty well-something that when I was rowing was definitely not the case. Now I’m the person getting homework done days before it’s due (this does not apply to all my classes though…)

10. My fitness level has changed. Although only this weekend’s 5k will tell the tale…I was in really good shape last fall while rowing, I did actually lose quite a bit of strength though because I wasn’t lifting hardly at all. Mono completely killed any fitness I had ever gained-after not being able to even sit up in bed for weeks, EVERYTHING made my abs sore. I never really regained any of my running shape until I started training for my half though-since then plus Crossfit, my endurance has skyrocketed! I PRed my second half by 3 minutes, despite the course being much hillier. I think I would actually be in decent rowing shape as well-since I can’t mentally force myself to do another 6k test, I did a 3k test, and was right where I wanted to be without totally killing myself.

11. I have so many blog friends now! Though I haven’t met hardly any in real life, they really do mean a lot to me, and every single comment really does brighten my day and bring a smile to my face. I also feel so lucky to not have gotten any of those negative commenters. I really do love each and every one of you! I seriously do get so much joy out of blogging. I love interacting with all of you and I love following along on your lives!

#bloggerproblems

12. I am so much more confident than I was a year ago. I’m another year mature, sure. I drive myself around places and live as an independent adult. But I also feel like spewing my thoughts to a bunch of strangers on a daily basis has also helped this. Reading inspirational stories from so many beautiful and strong women has helped this. I’m confident in who I am as a person-sure my body isn’t 100% where I want it to be, but that doesn’t bother me-I know I’m getting stronger and will get there eventually, and for the most part I don’t stress about it. I think about how far I have come in the last year. I’m so much stronger than I was a year ago, physically and mentally. The experiences of the last year have shaped who I am today, and I couldn’t be happier, whether they were good or bad (like Mono-it stunk but made me stronger in the long run). And I couldn’t be more grateful to have you guys by my side. Here’s to next year!

One Year Ago

Now