Roll Outs

Date: April 18, 2013

Author: astottler

At my school, it is customary to “roll someone out” anytime they join any group on campus, and sororities are no exception. Roll outs involve the said group coming to your dorm room early in the morning and banging loudly on the door and screaming. Yes, this does wake up the whole dorm. I suppose that is the point. In case you’re wondering, a lot of times the groups have to climb in a VERY high window in the lounge. Since I’m always up early for workouts (and in the past, crew) I see lot of these people. Funny story, one day I saw my sister mid-window in my dorm while I was leaving…ANYWAY. On the calendar we got, today had “surprise breakfast-8 am) listed. Good thing too, or I would have been at the gym! I was up at 6:15 to lift weights. I began with cleans, and actually got within 5 pounds of my 1 rep max for full cleans, even though I was only doing hang cleans! I decided not to push it because I’m scared to drop weights here. Maybe next time! I followed it with the same Crossfit style workout I did last week, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 or bear complex and burpees. I started with a lighter bar (because last time I dropped down after the second set) but I improved my time by almost 5 minutes! Awesome! It was a quick and dirty workout. I was dripping and panting ], all in about 45 minutes. I got back with just enough time to get a shower in before my roll out. Yeah, good luck catching me asleep!

Most sororities here roll their girls out around 6, and get them black out drunk by 8. Yeahhh we didn’t do that. They took us to a nice breakfast with delicious pastries, and they gave me this:

SO CUTE. Breakfast was very carb-y, and I knew it would put me to sleep. Afterwards, I hit up the dining hall for some protein in the form of eggs and a little coffee. Yeahh my first class was interesting. I felt like the caffeine and carbs were at war in my body, one fighting to put me to sleep, the other to keep me awake. But I made it through. So maybe I can eat carbs if they’re always accompanied by coffee? Great plan, right?

For lunch, I decided I shouldn’t be spending so much money, and should take advantage of my meal plan, so I went to the cafeteria area to pick up a premade southwestern salad.

Truffles are on my meal plan too. 😉

I was sort of planning on an afternoon run and yoga, but my knee was bothering me a little. I think I did something funny when I was catching one of my heavy cleans in a squat. I guess the rest worked, because it feels fine now! Snack was a yogurt bowl.

I believe that is the end of my yogurt. 🙁

For dinner, I ventured to the far side of campus to experience the finest dining hall. It turns out it was faculty night there, so the food was extra good, and it is already the best dining hall on campus.

Salad, breaded salmon, brussels sprouts that are actually cooked (crazy concept, right??), and the famed honey biscuits (in whole wheat and regular form). Yum! And dessert was chocolate fondue with the all kinds of things to dip. No picture though, whoops! Plus, since this is a peanut free dining hall, they had sunflower seed butter. Let’s be honest; I could never have that as my primary dining hall, and I’m glad it’s far away. I’d be 500 pounds! They had a menu up…they have CINNAMON ROLLS for breakfast. We have…toast. Meh. I’m sooo full though.

When I got back, I spent about an hour talking/complaining to my roommate about Nutrition and why our government stinks in this respect. I love that we can have conversations like this. There is some program that we saw that delivers produce to your doorstep, and I think we’re gonna split this. Kale is on sale…kale chips anyone? Finally something I can make in the kitchen that no one will want any of, haha!

So, some of you may have heard of Run for Boston. The idea is you get a big group of people together wearing blue and yellow and hold up signs saying Run for Boston, and then post them on the facebook page. Someone sent an email out at my school, and it sounded like it was going to be a big event. It was after dinner, and Iw as running on a very full stomach (and I may have eaten a cookie literally 2 minutes before leaving) but I figured a little stomach discomfort was the least I could do (it ended up being fine, by the way)

I was expecting to get there and see a huge crowd of blue and yellow.

Nothing. All I saw were 2 people in blue running, and some frat boys pledging.

Shot gunning beers and then running in bathrobes and dresses? Why not?

I have never been so disappointed in my school as I have been regarding their response to the Boston tragedy. People talk about the “bubble” here, where you don’t really experience the outside world. I’ve never felt that more than with this. On Monday when I found out about the bombing, I went to the lounge to break the news to the people there. They knew. They just didn’t seem to care. I didn’t get it. How could their worlds not have shattered, like I had felt mine did? And today….really, no one could step away from their busy lives to show their support? I love my school, but my complaint is that they don’t seem to care about important events outside of school, and frankly I see that as a little selfish.

Either way, I’m glad I went.

Once I reached my destination, I decided to walk, because it offers me more time to think. I can never seem to get lost in my thoughts while running. I’m too busy thinking about running. Walking, however, is perfect. I don’t often walk in peaceful places, so this was the perfect opportunity to gather my thoughts.

I decided that not only is my body strong, but I could be getting more out of it. This Marathon tragedy has inspired me to really get into running and push my limits. I really want to do a long run on my birthday. I would LOVE to get a 10 mile run in, but given my birthday is coming right up, I’m not sure that is possible. So I’m going to run for as long as I can on that day. For the next couple of weeks I’m going to shift my fitness focus towards running. I’m nixing my timed mile on Friday in favor of a longer run. Since I ran a 5 miler last week, I think I’ll try 6 on Friday. Happy running!

What do you do while running? Think? Listen to music?

Yogurt Overload (Again)

Date: April 10, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! It’s Tuesdayyy. Gah I have to much reading this week. This morning I was up bright and early for a morning spin class. I wasn’t sure how hard the class would be, so going in I planned to kick my own butt. I don’t know if I was kicking by own butt or if the class actually was fairly difficult, but I was dripping sweat in the first 10 minutes. ALways a good sign.

For breakfast I made a delicious protein shake, and tried my new chocolate protein powder, which is Whole Foods brand, and actually quite delicious.

Also in the smoothie was cocoa powder, soy milk, a handful of spinach, a banana, ice, and a few frozen blueberries. If you guys like dark chocolate smoothies, dry added in some frozen blueberries. The subtly fruity flavor gives the impression of dark chocolate, which is my favorite. Also pictured is a hard boiled egg and fruit.

Naturally, I was running late for my 9 am, so I had to bike-sprint to class. After an entire spin class, my butt was burning! Whew. Today was another super windy day. I swear I was constantly biking into the wind. It has a much greater effect than you would think…On the plus side, my soaking hair was completely dry by the time I got to class…

Lunch was a delicious salad that included avocado, chicken, gouda, tomato, and asparagus. Yum!

After my last class was a snack, which I actually photographed today.

My mom texted me today: “US mango consumption has gone up 30% in recent years. Is it you?”

Yes. Yes it is me.

Also for snack:

After doing Psych homework, I took a nap. I definitely haven’t gotten enough sleep these past few days. But here’s the thing about naps. I cannot nap and then not eat a ton when I wake up. I don’t understand it. But it is unfortunate. So there went the afternoon run….

Kefir with peanut butter cereal and sunflower seed butter. And since the kefir bottles are teeny tiny, I had some of this:

With half a slice of zucchini bread and more sunflower butter.

But with a full stomach came the decision to skip yoga. The thought of yoga with a full tummy was enough to make me change my plans. Plus I have quite a bit of work anyways…And since I ate that all around dinnertime, it’s whatever. But I hate when my eating gets in the way of exercise. That is when I have a problem. Plus I think I’ve been going a little overboard on the sunflower butter and yogurt lately, because I’ve been feeling a little gross after eating it (my guess is large quantities of sunflower seed butter…).

Just a heads up, my eating habits are going to be a tad different for a few days. I have rush coming up this weekend, and let’s be honest. Sororities girls will judge each other based on their bodies. To avoid unnecessary bloat and fluid storage, I am going to avoid dairy and carbs for a few days so I look my tip top. Plus I should be avoiding grains anyways since they put me to sleep…So we’ll see how that goes. I can never seem to actually stick to these things…

So since it’s Tuesday, here’s an update on Operation: Get Healthy. It’s…eh. Workouts have been pretty good (until today) although I can never seem to get that afternoon run in. Eating hasn’t been good….Too much. Too much sugar. Way too much snacking. Snacking has definitely been my downfall, as today is evidence of. I really want to get back into running. (Also I keep thinking today is Wednesday…) My goal for this coming week is to run a little EVERY DAY. Now, before anyone gets crazy on me telling me how that isn’t a good idea, let me clarify. I mean at least just a bit every day. Like 5 minutes if it isn’t my main workout. I just want to get back in the habit, get back into running shape, and get faster. I think part of the reason I keep putting off running is that it is the place my out of shape-ness shows the most. I just feel so heavy. Yuck. I guess I don’t want to face myself…But hey, it won’t get better if I don’t try, right?

Real Athletes Wear Black Socks

Date: April 5, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I like how my blogger break lasted all of one day. Heh. I just have too much to say to you guys! Yesterday’s workout consisted mainly of cleans. Is it weird that I like hang cleans way more than full cleans, and I can probably lift more with hang cleans? I have trouble getting into the proper position on full cleans. I wanted to lift yesterday and not have my legs too sore today, because today was a timed mile! Here’s the workout, although I ran out of time to finish everything. Yes, I finally faced the erg for the first time again. I felt so uncoordinated but I guess that’s what happens. I don’t have that many pictures for you but here’s what I do have:The deliciousness that is a yogurt bowl. Vanilla greek yogurt, cinnamon apple bread, and sunflower butter. Plus more sunflower butter. SO addicted. But hey, my face is clearing wayyy up so that’s fine by me!Adorable mug.Chocolate Soy Bomb smoothie from Calafia. More on that in a minute!My dorm has make your own pizza every night. I tried it for the first time yesterday. It was pretty good for pizza, nice and hot. But I’m always surprised by the fact that I don’t rally like pizza…And I had to blot a ton of grease of the top of the cheese, although the pizza wasn’t super greasy overall.A TON of spinach in a microwave egg scramble with Garlic and Herb Laughing Cow cheese (this stuff is awesome).Regular (non-frozen) fresh yogurt with strawberry rhubarb puree and mango from Fraiche, plus a spice muffin. The yogurt was awesome! I was worried it would be too plain but the puree really makes it. And it’s not very sweet. The muffin was a bit too spice-y for my taste though. I need to get yogurt more often…I briefly considered how awesome it would be for me to make my own yogurt. And then realized I don’t trust myself to deal with all that bacteria…I would probably end up getting really sick.

So yesterday, I had a 9 am class and was done with my classes for the day by 10:15. I cannot begin to describe this kind of freedom. It was sooo nice. I love not having such a crazy tight schedule. Of course, I have work, but I have some hope of getting it all done now!

As a result, in the afternoon I biked over to Trader Joe’s with an empty backpack and big dreams. Haha. Really though, all I wanted were vegetables. I realized a lot of the time when I’m snacking a lot, all I really want is veggies but I didn’t have any in my dorm. That all changed. Although I used like half a bag of spinach in this morning’s breakfast. Here’s the haul:Special notice for the carrot juice and green juice. I tried the carrot juice this morning. It’s pretty good, surprisingly sweet, although there is no added sugar. I think I like it, but I think I’ll like it even more when I’m more used to it. Tonight’s dinner is shown as well: the curry chicken salad. I picked that up at Calafia, which happens to be next to Trader Joe’s.

This morning I ran my timed mile. It felt way better than I was expecting. 8:20. Not bad. I’m happy with that as a starting point, and I think I’ll be able to see significant improvement fairly quickly. I also did 3/4 of a mile of sprint 100 m/ walk 100 m. I would usually do this with a jog instead of a walk, but I’m still building up my stamina. I topped that off with an ab series:

Has anyone ever said something to you that just kind of stuck with you? One of my softball trainers told me “Real athletes wear black socks.” I don’t know why, but that kind of stuck with me. So I wore black socks for my timed mile. I’ll take all the help I can get. I definitely did that for my 6k tests too while rowing. I miss being an athlete, and rowing really wasn’t my sport because it didn’t really involve playing. Soooo…when a soccer player posted on facebook that the Stanford Club soccer team was looking for players, I jumped at the chance. But here’s the thing. I really miss soccer. I started playing when I was 5. However, I have not played in ohhh 4 years? And I’m horribly out of shape (thanks mono). Aaaand I’m practicing with them on Monday. Yes. I realize I am in waaaay over my head. But what’s the harm, right? It’s unlikely that they’ll take me but that’s ok. I have this weekend to get ready. Have I told you guys that After practicing soccer last week (I was practicing for Intramurals), the top of my foot and entire from on my shin was so sore that walking was super difficult. Well I went back out there today. And I’ll go again tomorrow, if I can walk. But guess what? I ordered Pro Compression socks (at a discount, thanks Julie!) and they came yesterday! My dad brought them when we went out to practice. So I’m wearing them now in hopes that they will prevent soreness. I got them for my half marathon in August, but hopefully they work for soccer soreness as well!

I was going to post about a more serious topic in this post as well, but it’s already pretty long so I’ll save it for tomorrow. 🙂

Have a nice night!

Owww

Date: April 4, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! Remember how I said I reduced my squat workout so I could walk today? SO glad I did. I started getting sore last night. On tap for the morning was a run. I ran the campus loop, which is between 3.5 and 4 miles, more than I’ve run since my illness by a long ways. I was super worried about blistering, given the fact that I had some after my first run back which was only 2 miles, but luckily, I was saved by the socks! I got these news running socks that are supposed to prevent blistering, and they worked like magic!After my run, I went to breakfast in the dining hall for the first time in a looong while. I figured, why not try their yogurt??Plain yogurt (vanilla is better but at least I don’t have to worry about sugar content!) with frozen blueberries and sunflower butter, which I brought myself. Yes, I’m that cool. I carry around a jar of sunflower butter. Plus potatoes on the side and a sample of chicken. I forgot about this new thing my dining hall has been doing in the morning recently. They have some kind of non-traditional, usually ethnic dish. This often includes some type of meat, rice, and beans. Today was Asian style chicken so I decided to try a piece. Not bad, although I’m still not sure what I think about having that for breakfast….

Anyways, back to the title of this post….I was sore this morning. No surprise there. But not THAT bad. I did my run. It felt ok. I could tell after my run though that the soreness was going to get worse. The worst is getting up and walking around after sitting in class for an hour. Oof. Nothing wrong with walking like a zombie for a few steps until my legs loosen up, right??

I was worried I’d be too sore for yoga! I felt better by the end of the day. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about soreness. I actually really like it (sort of). I feel like I didn’t accomplish anything with my workout if I’m not sore. This way of thinking is mostly derived from my love of weight lifting. My absolute favorite type of soreness is ab soreness. I don’t have a ton of great exercises to achieve this, at least when my core was stronger before I got sick.

Before I started lifting, my dad tried to describe to me how weight lifting soreness is different than soreness from other things. And it really is. It’s somehow deeper. It feels bruisier, and loosening up or rolling out doesn’t help all that much. Have you guys ever been so sore that you can’t stand rolling out because it is so painful? That is weight lifting soreness right there. I seriously miss my lifting sessions with my trainer (I was getting stronger for softball). I can never do quite as well on my own; at pushing myself, lifting as heavy, and making my own workouts. I mean, part of the lifting heavier weights is I am so self conscious about dropping weights when I am on my own (plus some things like squats are tough if you fail). It is so loud! Somehow it seemed fine when I was with my trainer, and I failed lifts all the time, but now I never go as heavy as I think will cause me to fail. I also miss the superior equipment I used with y trainer. He had access to bands, bumpers, and other fun stuff. Plus my school gym doesn’t even have kettlebells! I’m pretty sure the workouts I was doing were pretty similar to Crossfit, which is why I am dying to try it (how many times have I said this??).

Back on the topic of soreness. Funny story…over the summer I got my wisdom teeth out. I knew ahead of time that I wouldn’t be allowed to exercise for 10 days following the surgery. So what did I do? I lifted the day before to get maximumly sore so I would be sore for as long as possible while I was stuck in bed with chipmunk cheeks. And then I went to abs class the morning of, which kind of stunk because i wasn’t allowed to drink anything. Sidenote: If you have just gotten your wisdom teeth out, or for any reason are physically unable to chew, do not, I repeat, DO NOT watch Cupcake Wars on Food Network. BAD IDEA. I HAD to make chocolate pudding cake after that, which was basically liquidy chocolate cake, and was still super painful to eat but so, so worth it. Getting my wisdom teeth out was not terribly fun. I remember how much I missed salad. I couldn’t eat it for the longest time, and I ended up losing like 2 stitches to salad. Also, I was out for the surgery, and afterwards, I sent a beautiful picture of my puffy face to someone. But once the drowsiness wore off, I had no idea who I sent it to. Whoops. But for your amusement, here is said photo:

Wow, I am totally off topic…Let’s move on to lunch, shall we? I didn’t have a ton of time, and I didn’t want to wait in a long line. And I didn’t want something big or heavy. After walking around from place to place for like 5 minutes, and convincing myself I should get some veggies and not just yogurt, I settled on a Greek style wrap. I unwrapped it and ate the insides out, with a few bites of tortilla. And I resisted the urge to get dessert or a muffin. Yay!

Back at my dorm after class I had half a granola bar and 2 small mangos. Only 1 left 🙁 But they were getting a tad brown inside, hence why I ate 2 today. I CANNOT let these guys go bad!

Tonight was another yoga class. I have another few on tap for the next couple of nights. Loving this schedule! After yoga I headed straight to dinner to meet some of my novice crew friends from the fall! I love those guys! And I was excited to go somewhere different to eat. I’m too scared to go there by myself! They have guacamole. Every. Single. Day.Burrito bowl! It was so great to catch up with those guys! I think we need to make these dinners a weekly thing.

Soo update on Operation: Get Healthy? Eh. My workouts have been on target. Food? Room for improvement. I’m worried I’m not getting in enough veggies. I’m becoming addicted to sunflower butter, which is a problem because a) I don’t want to burn through my supply and b) I don’t want to cause some allergy from going crazy with it like I may have done with peanut butter (not sure if that’s a valid statement). I also haven’t been strict enough avoiding sweets. I’ve been pretty good about reducing my grain intake, but I faced some problems at dinner today when I reached for lemon merengue pie, and later some cereal. This left me with fierce sugar cravings. I had some yogurt and sunflower butter a little later, and even later a few small pieces of chocolate and some granola bar. When I got back to my room around 9, it was all I could do to keep from eating everything in my room. Reason #10000 why I don’t keep much in the way of sweets in my room. Soo I’m going to seriously focus on avoiding sugar, and grains as much as possible (I might need something to go into my yogurt to make it super amazing). I am going to try to increase my fruit and veggie intake, which should be interesting given that all I have in my room is half a bag of lettuce, 4 small celery sticks, 1 small mango, and a couple of oranges. I may hit up the grocery this weekend for some awesome produce. Anyways, I thin I need to really focus on myself for a few days, so I most likely won’t post for a few days, or read other blogs. I need to immerse myself in what I am doing, at least for a tiny bit. I should be back sometime this weekend, don’t worry!

A few last notes: not sure what tomorrow’s workout will be yet. My schedule works out perfectly to do a track workout, and I want to do a timed mile this week to see where I am at. My best mile time is like 6:55 or something but that was a few years ago and I haven’t done anything like that since. Plus I’ve been sick. When I timed a 2 mile jog, my better of teh 2 miles was like 9:30, but I wasn’t really pushing it and I’m better off than I was then. I think I’ll be happy with anything under 9 minutes for now. I thought this would be a good way to track my progress. HOWEVER. Tomorrow there is 90% chance of rain, which basically means it will definitely rain, so I think I’ll lift. I originally was feeling too sore for that but I think I’ll be good to go now.

Lastly, new week I’m rushing. I’m not sure I’ll necessarily join a sorority, but it should at least be a fun experience. Any advice from the sorority girls out there?

Were you/are you involved in Greek life?

Operation: Get Healthy

Date: April 3, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Well, I’ve officially had all of my classes! I am loving my schedule. It feels like I’m not spending as much time in class as last quarter, but that’s not true. And now that I am not rowing, I have sooo much time! It’s great. I feel so free. Last night I was able to get ahead on homework and hang out with friends. When a friend asked me if I wanted to go to an event with free gelato starting at 9, I could say YES! because I had time and didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. The event was actually pretty fun, even with a long gelato line. I “played” Twister with my friends. And by that, me and another friends were the “spinners.” And by that I mean “the manipulators of the twisted people.” Pshh who ACTUALLY spins the spinner when you can just shout out for people to do more ridiculous things? They don’t have to know. 😉

Afterwards, I worked on some reading, and went to bed when I wanted to, not because I had to (around 11).

Workout bright and early this morning though!

Since spin doesn’t start until next week, I decided to work on some weight lifting. And what I mean by that is work on getting my lifts to where they were before I got sick. I really want to do some Crossfit type workouts on my own, but my lifts simply aren’t there yet. I did a squat series where I do 2 squats every 30 seconds, at a heavy weight. Normally I do 8 minutes, but today I did 6 since I haven’t squatted for over a month and I would like to be able to walk tomorrow. I also worked on cleans and snatches, as well as some upper body strength work. I finished with a 5 minute sequence on the stepper. I have never tried one before, so I chose a premade workout. I was surprised that it was actually a good workout! I worked up a nice little sweat in 5 minutes. I’ve decided that 7 am is the best time to go to the gym here. And by best, I mean least busy. I had a 9 am class today, which is the earliest class you can have here. Few people have them, and they are dreaded (not really for me though), so nobody was awake yet. There were empty bars the whole time I was there, so I didn’t feel bad spending a long time on my workout.

Post workout I broke out the yogurt!Topped with leftover banana and sunflower butter. Yummm. On an unrelated topic, I think our fridge here is less cold than my fridge at home…so I’m guessing things won’t stay fresh quite as long. Class ended at 10:15, and campus was still mostly asleep. Since I’m going to be super on top of things this quarter, I headed to the library to get going on some work, since I didn’t have class until 1.

The best part about studying in the library is what is right outside the library. Coupa Cafe! It is probably my favorite place to eat on campus, which is lucky since there are like 5 of them here. For some reason, I’ve only been like twice this year. I guess I’ll have to go to the library more!

I was drawn in by the description of the hot chocolate. Although it was a beautiful day out and I was wearing shorts, it was a little windy so a bit cold (relatively speaking, sorry East Coasters). Here’s the description:

“abuela

a delicious silky rich hot chocolate drink made from

grandma’s strict recipe blending aromatic and deep

flavors of venezuelanbittersweet chocolate”

How could I pass that up?It was good! And not too sweet either. I decided to balance out the splurge by ordering a big ol’ green salad, with mustard vinaigrette. The salad was simple, but delicious.Coupa also has really awesome buckwheat crepes, but those are for another day.

After lunch I stayed outside with my reading. What a nice day!Gahh I love my new schedule.

When I got back to my dorm after class, I settled down for a quick snack. A mango plus a ThinkThin bar.Like this but German Chocolate.

Eating today didn’t exactly go as planned. It’s a little awkward because I have yoga at 5:55, smack in the middle of dinnertime. I ended up eating another snack after I awoke from a nap (another bad habit of mine…needing to eat whenever I wake up from a nap).

I sampled a few new granola bars. As in a broke off a small piece and shoved the rest in a ziplock bag (now I have a bunch of open granola bars…yippee). I always want to try new things RIGHT AWAY. I also enjoyed an apple with sunflower butter and yogurt (current count: 2).The apple overly dominated the sunflower seed butter, so I searched for an alternative.How cool is this? Trader Joe’s sells whole bags of these little guys, and I brought one with me and tried it on the apple. Delish!

I have yoga in about an hour. I had plans to run today but yet again, I’ve having trouble getting my butt running for some reason. My lack of motivation is specific to running though, interesting.

As I said before, today’s meals didn’t exactly go as planned. I was majorly lacking greens today, but I don’t have any. I really need to grab some spinach from the dining hall to have on hand. I had originally wanted to do some kind of scramble in the microwave for an early dinner, but no spinach kind of killed that idea. I actually am running tomorrow though, as my morning workout. I think in general I am more likely to complete a morning workout.

Wondering about the title of this post? Miranda is hosting a link up called “Operation: Prom Dress,” where she uses her upcoming prom as motivation to get back into healthy habits. Although I don’t have any specific events coming up, I thought I’d join in on the fun. Over the holidays (yes I mean Christmas holidays), I lost sight of my healthy habits. Add to the last quarter, which was a very difficult one, and I need a revamp.

I know I don’t usually talk about weight on this blog, and it’s not a topic I’m in love with and want to spend a lot of attention on here, I’m not where I need to be to be healthy for me.

My weight has been kind of crazy this past month. When I was sick, I could hardly eat anything for 2 weeks, and I could see myself losing muscle and flab, but I was still really heavy due to all the swelling of my organs (yayy mono). After taking an anti-inflammatory, I lost 10 lbs overnight in fluids. Then when I could finally eat again, I went kind of crazy eating all the foods I missed out on while I was sick, and foods I could only eat at home. Add to that Easter…and I’m not where I should be, especially given all the muscle loss. Plus this cycle did not exactly include healthy eating habits…

So given my recent illness which I am still sort of recovering from and my stray away from healthy habits, I am starting “Operation: Get Healthy.”

Goals:

1. Get into healthy habits again. This week is especially important because my new quarter schedule is the perfect opportunity to totally change around my routine and habits.

2. Clear up my skin. Yes, I love my peanut butter. But after being unable to eat it while I was sick, I am even more sensitive to it. A few peanut butter eggs set me off (and how much peanut butter is ACTUALLY in those??).

3. Get back in shape. My endurance flat out stinks. I swear, I only took 3 weeks off! Sheesh! I want to play soccer this quarter, and let’s be honest, that’s a lot of running. I’m definitely not there yet. I also want to do some Crossfit type workouts, so I need to get my lifting to where it needs to be. I want to be able to run 3 miles in 24 minutes again.

4. Get to a healthy place with my body. No numbers, but when I get there I have plans to get a new pair of shoes. 🙂

5. FInd my zen. I talked about this some last week, but I really want to be calmer and view the world differently. I want to experience everything! I also surround food with a lot of stress, and I really want to get rid of that. I think that is key to a healthier me. I know I’ll have less stress this quarter with more time, and I want to take advantage of everything. I want to really enjoy my classes (I basically have 4 science classes. SCORE).

Nutrition Plan:

1. Avoid sugar and grains. Everyone has their own nutrition philosophy. I personally don’t believe in eliminating grains. HOWEVER: whenever I eat grains I seriously crash my blood sugar, causing me to basically fall asleep. And sugar. Well we’ve talked about this before. It kills. I am a sugar addict. And I have terrible reactions to it.

2. Avoid snacking/late night snacking. I know having lots of small meals works for some people, but I always feel better when I stick to square meals, plus maybe some fruit. I certainly don’t recommend this to everyone, but it’s what works for me.

3. Avoid nuts. For my face’s sake.

4. Try not to be influenced by what everyone else is eating. This is a huge problem for me. When I see someone else eating something, I want it!

5. Listen to my body about what it wants. This is pretty self explanatory.

Exercise Plan:

1. As many yoga classes as humanly possible. Gotta find my zen!

2. Lift about 3 times a week. Hopefully soon I can start doing Crossfit type workouts.

3. Spin as much as is fun for me. Spin is so fun for me, so I’ll go when my schedule allows it. I want to be a spin teacher!

4. Run 3x a week, including long runs, speed work, and agility (for soccer).

5. Try new fitness classes. The yoga pass I bought includes random other classes like Pilates and Zumba.

6. Incorporate high cardio circuit type training.

Well, there’s the plan! Hold me to it! I’ll let you know how it all is going!