Choosing the Right Social Media

Date: August 18, 2014

Author: astottler

Let me just preface this post by saying that I’m not going to stop blogging.

That being said, I’ve been feeling a little lacking in motivation lately. And then I started to wonder if it’s holding me back. If constantly focusing on food/fitness is affecting me or making me obsessed.

I also haven’t been as involved in the blogging community lately. I blame this on the fact that I read lots of blog posts during my commute on my phone, and it’s a pain for me to comment on my phone, so I just don’t.

And don’t get me started on the fact that anytime I open Instagram I get hungry.

After some thinking, I’ve decided to step back a little bit in certain ways. For one thing, my phone has zero ability to hold charge, and I can’t make it through a day even without browsing social media. So I’m kind of forced to stop using my phone to browse things during my commute because Googlemaps are important for me to get home within a reasonable amount of time (yayy public transportation), so there’s that.

So here’s what I decided. One of my favorite forms of social media, Instagram, has to go. It’s influencing me too much. When I find myself about to go out and buy a Quest bar, I know I’m in trouble. Not that there is anything wrong with Quest bars-I know a ton of people love them-but they turn my stomach into knots and they have nuts (and I know I’ve reacted to them before). So when an app has me on the verge of going out and consuming an allergen, I know it’s time to step back.

I decided to be more active on Twitter. I like Twitter because it’s a small place to keep track of everything, and it’s easy to keep track of what is going on in the world.

I decided to stop reading so many blogs on my phone (partly not by choice but by necessity), and instead read them on my computer, where I can comment, interact, be more mindful, and not get run over by a bus in the process (#commutingproblems).

I think to reignite the blogging spark I need to be more active and go out there and find and read new blogs, and comment on my favorites.

I also would like to be more representative of what I’m actually doing on my blog. I guess I partly feel less motivated to blog when I’m having ice cream every day and I’m supposed to be promoting health, but ice cream is part of health.

I also worry about posting my exercise schedule. I always worry I’ll be judged for what I do-I’m not obsessed with exercise, I just really like it. I like my Crossfit friends, and love exploring DC by foot on my runs. For me, I can run in the morning and then do Crossfit at night. But that’s just what works for me! (And I definitely don’t do that every day-just to be clear).

But I’ve found that talking about exercise on my blog is a way to express all my thoughts on anything exercise related without annoying the heck out of everyone in real life. I always have to hold myself back when I see my family or all I find myself talking about is my latest run or WOD.

So that’s that. I’m going to be discussing this more later, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on social media. And since this is a food and fitness blog, here’s some food:

Breakfast: Banana custard made in the microwave because I didn’t want to dig and find my pot.

Lunch was the typical green bean salad and milk, plus yogurt, sunflower seed butter, and a twist-nectarine! (Not blueberries like every other day for the past 2 weeks.)

And dinner was at the Whole Foods Salad bar.I normally get soup+bread there for dinner on Mondays, but after trying some of the garlic-y kale the other day, I’ve been wanting more! I need to do a copycat version-it is delicious! I had that topped with Southwest chicken and some other random salad bar items. And then I impulse bought a huge piece of corn bread and ate the whole delicious thing. Cornbread here is so much better. I guess since it’s sort of the South?

And thanks for sticking with this post!

Thoughts on social media?

Scenes from the Weekend

Date: June 16, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Father’s Day to the most amazing dad ever! (Since I know you will see this)- thanks for everything you have done for me-the hours spent at the softball field in catching in the backyard especially!

Since I’m a bit behind, let’s go through the weekend in pictures. Also- check out my guest post at Miranda Runs!

New shoes! I got them at the Nike outlet months ago and am finally breaking them out. I’m not sure how I feel about them yet-but I guess at this point it’s been almost a year since I got new running shoes…wow I was definitely not aware it was that long. The amazing shrinking power of spinach! I was mock Korean bowls for dinner the other night. I sauteed mushrooms and spinach with teriyaki sauce, then served that with garlic and herb quinoa-brown rice mixture and an egg.Obligatory cat photo. If you follow me on Instagram (which you should! fitnessissweet), you will be quite familiar with my cats. (But I swear that’s not ALL I post.)

I went back to Crossfit Saturday as well! We are still doing a ton of Intro stuff, but here’s a WOD for you all:

2′ on 1′ off

burpees

wall balls (ugh)

lunges

overhead squat (with pvc)

I got 166 reps total! So far I’ve only been going to Intro classes, but I intend on signing on for real, and hopefully doing more things. There is an on-ramp program where you go for a month and they teach you everything, in a more individualized way. I decided that even though I know the lifts, since it is individualized, it should be a good opportunity for me to work on my technique. Post-Crossfit Indian food buffet. I generally don’t do too well at buffets, so I tried to load my plate up with salad (it’s under the yogurt sauce).

After lunch, I FINALLY made it out to Whole Foods. I tried some new-to-me products:I have been out of my probiotic supplement for like 2 weeks now, and we haven’t been to stores that carry them. After reading about how awesome Kevita is on Lauren‘s blog, I decided to give it a try! It was good! I’m actually not a fan of things that are sparkly, but I enjoyed it! They also make coconut mango, but Whole Foods was out. I bet that flavor would be sooo good. I found this in the gluten free section, and I was pumped! I am kind of trying to avoid gluten, and I was looking for an alternative to put on yogurt to granola. Let me tell you-this stuff is delicious! It’s chocolatey, with the perfect amount of crunch! I can’t wait to try it in yogurt. I interpreted these to be a healthier version of Doritos, which they basically were. And another bonus-they weren’t neon orange! Haha.

Saturday night I also went to the fair with my best friends from high school!

Fair food:

In terms of healthiness, I certainly could have done worse!

My absolute favorite part of the fair is the pig races. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the pig races, basically, a whole bunch of miniature pigs or piglets run around a small track, while the crowd cheers them on.

We also went on the ferris wheel. I’m kind of afraid of heights, so I haven’t been on a ferris wheel in a really long time, and I had no idea what to expect. It was simultaneously awesome and terrifying. I may or may not have had a death grip on the pole in the middle the whole time though…The view from the top!

Since this is already pretty long, I’ll recap Sunday tomorrow. I have to go to bed-I have a big day planned! Early morning abs class plus some lifting on my own, and then my first Bikram class with a friend! I may go to spin in the evening with a different friend if I am still alive (doubtful). Any advice for surviving yoga in a 105 degree room? Hey, if I can play softball in that kind of heat, this should be fine, right??

Have you ever done hot yoga? Thoughts?

A Day of First: Kitten Nursery and Crossfit

Date: June 14, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey everybody! I just got a Twitter and Instagram so follow me at @fitnessissweet and fitnessissweet!

Yesterday morning was another early wake up call-I had the morning shift at the kitten nursery at the animal shelter. Before running out the door, I had a quick breakfast of yogurt with banana and sunflower seed butter.

As soon as I got there, we went right to work. We had to clean out the kittens cages, weigh them, feed them, play with them, and then set up their cages again. When we took them out of the cages, we kept them in cardboard boxes, and then carried the boxes to a table and took them out there to play and eat. They were pretty mischievous- the boxes were so hard to close because little paws and heads kept popping out!To put it in perspective, most of them weighed about .5 lbs. The next pictures are the group of kittens we took care of last. Since we were basically done after them, we had them out for longer to play and socialize with them. This group was fast asleep when we took them from their cage. Anyone who has had kittens knows this is a recipe for disaster! Kittens have this instant on switch that brings them instantly from 0 to 60! These guys were rambunctious! So much so that the little stripy kittens wouldn’t even eat at first, they were so busy playing! On top of that, they kept trying to wander around. When there are 4 kittens on the table and one of me, there are going to be problems! They kept trying to climb onto the windowsill. The white and striped one was quite the adventurer- somehow he made it off the table without me even seeing him get near the edge! By the time we were all done though, all the kittens were snoozing. We then went back to the other kitten nursery where the even younger kittens are. These kittens can’t really eat on their own, so we learned to feed them with a syringe. It was pretty difficult-the kittens were pretty fussy! I ended up finally being able to get some food in by wrapping the little guy up in a kitten burrito. I managed to feed him enough-he even went for the food bowl a little himself! Soon though, he stopped opening his mouth, and a minute later, he was fast asleep! Having a tiny kitten fall asleep in your arms is the best thing ever. I can’t wait to go back!

When I got home, I wanted a snack, which turned into a snacky early lunch.

Edamame Leftover sweet potato fried from dinner the previous night. Turkey roll ups-big leaf lettuce with deli turkey, onions, avocado, and ketchup.I also wanted to try and recreate the delicious iced tea from the previous day. I brewed Earl Grey tea with mint leaves, and then added ice, almond milk, and a touch of honey. I loved how refreshing the mint made it, so I concentrated on that aspect. Overall, it was good but nothing really like what I had had the previous day. I think it would have been better with coconut milk, or something slightly thicker than almond milk. And the Earl Grey tea flavor kind of overwhelmed the mint. But it was quite thirst quenching all the same!I then spent some time on the old blog, attempting to figure out Twitter. I sent this to my friend asking her what it meant my username was. #clueless

If you follow me on Instagram, you can see tons of cute cat pictures such as this one 🙂Before I knew it, it was Crossfit time! It was in a warehouse right next to an indoor batting cage where my high school softball team would occasionally practice.

First, let me just say- I loved it! Everything about it-I love throwing heavy things around. I really liked the warehouse atmosphere as well-it seemed very hard core (in a good way). If you are thinking about trying Crossfit, do not be intimidated! Everyone is super nice and of different fitness levels! We began with a warm up run and stretching with the regular class, and then another new person and I broke off with a trainer to be assessed and to go through a mini WOD. The WOD we did was actually one I had done on my own before,but a shorter version. I had had to modify it when I did it at the gym at school, and it was much harder yesterday.

10 AMRAP

100 m run

5 pull-ups (banded for me)

10 push ups (chest all the way to the ground)

15 air squats

I made it through 5+ rounds in the 10 minutes. I really, really loved the atmosphere. The workouts are very similar to what I did with my trainer at the gym in the past, and the atmosphere is more what I liked about softball conditioning with other people, except everyone actually cares about working hard!

The only thing for me is since I know all the Olympic lifts (there are very few Crossfit moves I don’t know), I would really like to try and skip some of the Intro classes and dive right into the normal WODs. I really don’t want to have to sit through classes learning the lifts I’ve been working on for the past 3 years. Plus, watching everyone throw heavy weights around kind of had me drooling-knowing I can do the lifts at the same weight that they are make same want to join right in! I totally could have done the normal WOD! I need to try and see if I can somehow be fast tracked at least a bit.

But I really, really loved it. I would say I’ve been bit by the Crossfit bug, but I know I’ve been obsessed for much longer! I’m going back again Saturday, and I seriously cannot wait!

Dinner was black bean soup from this Whole Foods recipe. We didn’t want to have to wait for the beans to sit, so we got canned, and probably didn’t add enough beans, because it was pretty liquidy (normally it’s pretty thick). Still delicious though! I highly recommend this recipe. HOWEVER. One major modification I made was using vegetable broth instead of water in the soup. It’s super plain without, but has a ton of flavor with!

My bowl was really weird/pathetic looking so I took a picture of my sister’s instead!Plus a side salad.After dinner, my wimpy mouth was burning! What better solution than frozen yogurt (with chocolate sauce)?What a fabulous way to end the day!

Have you ever done Crossfit? WHat did you think?