Monthly Archives: April 2013

Miracle Socks

Date: April 8, 2013

Author: astottler

Hey all! Looks like I have 2 days to recap, huh? FIRST. Let me just say that after practicing soccer Friday night, I was expecting my calves/front of my shins to be SUPER sore. After I was done practicing, I immediately put on my compression socks and wore them all night. I woke up Saturday morning amazed. Zero pain. My dad wore them for his soccer game for the first time today, and he is a fan as well. I just can’t say enough about how wonderful they are.

Here’s Friday Night’s dinner:Chicken curry salad. It was alright. There was one spice that was really strong that I wasn’t a huge fan of. And it ended up being chock full of walnuts, which my face suffered from. Boo.

Saturday morning was yet another yogurt bowl with sunflower seed butter and cinnamon apple bread. By the way, the cinnamon apple bread is just Whole Foods Gluten Free Cranberry bread, but we didn’t have cranberries, so we used apples. After breakfast, my dad picked me up for one last tune-up before tomorrow’s practice (eeeee). It was actually really painful. Not kicking anything for a long time mixed with lots of kicking all at once is not good. The heel/achilles was starting to hurt, and I bruised my ankle from kicking so much. I went to brunch afterwards for a Mexican feast. No guac yesterday though. 🙁 That’s the only reason I like brunch on Saturdays!Yes that is a biscuit on top of my salad. I have a weakness for biscuits…The salsa was SUPER spicy. I really should remember this…I had to move it out of the way and my mouth was still on fire. Also not pictured was half a waffle with blueberries. It looked something like this:Sorry, this is a disgusting picture. For some reason all my waffle pics are pre-blueberries. Which is boring. I obviously didn’t have peanut butter though.

Saturday was my rest day. It was a pretty low key day. I started a new book, “Homer’s Odyssey.” It’s about a little black cat who is blind. I’m a sucker for black cats. And I decided an inspirational and heart-warming book is just about what I need right now. Still working on that whole “changing my life” thing. And not going to lie, I checked the ending to make sure it doesn’t end with the cat dying, like so many “heart-warming” stories do. It cannot be qualified as heart warming if I am bawling my eyes out!

Other fun from yesterday: I went out to dinner with my sister. I wanted to steal the car, which requires her bringing it to me, so we decided to get something to eat in the process. We went to my FAVORITE restaurant in downtown Palo Alto, Lyfe Kitchen. If you live in the Bay Area, TRY THIS PLACE (Gina). It’s super healthy and delicious. I’ve gotten something different every time, and loved it each time. There are a ton of things I want to try as well.(How cute is this? They have an indoor herb garden.)(Me being a good blogger and taking tons of pictures.)

I went with a quinoa wrap, which included veggies, edamame hummus, and avocado. It was served with hot sauce, which I surprisingly really liked. (I’m not a huge fan of spicy things.)My sister ordered a goat cheese flatbread pizza, which was delicious as well.It had notes of pomegranate, which added a touch of sweetness and extra flavor.

My sister’s boyfriend lives in an apartment with a full kitchen, so I kept hearing stories of all the amazing things they were cooking up on a regular basis. “Oh, today we made scones.” “We had the most delicious quiche yesterday.” “We made the most amazingly rich gelato.”

Needless to say, I invited myself over to crash one of these baking parties sometime. ANd last night was just the time. I didn’t technically invite myself over this time, but it was probably implied. So what was the culinary delicacy on the menu last night? Lemon basil cakes. My sister has a couple of lemon trees outside her dorm, so we picked a bunch beforehand. Somehow I got stuck squeezing all the lemons (although somehow I expected this). My sister was in charge of ordering us around. How perfect. Haha. Me and the sis. SUPER old picture. This is from when I visited her at her freshman dorm! (Ok, so 2 years ago…)

The recipe made cupcakes. We had muffin cups, but no muffin tins. #Collegeproblems. SO we improvised. Good idea?You tell me.

They were still delicious though! It was a lemon cake sprinkled with sugar and lemon zest (zested by yours truly), resting in a basil lemon syrup, topped with fresh whipped cream. Not too shabby!

This morning I was up bright and early to go to spin. I had a quick breakfast before leaving. Since I had to get there early to sign up, I did some ab workout beforehand. Spin was really tough today! i was panting the whole time.

Afterwards, I made a mango run. To Whole Foods.Mangos on mangos on mangos.

Another thing I picked up at Whole Foods? Vanilla Chobani. Can you guys believe I’ve never had Chobani before? For some reason I was under the impression it was higher in sugar than other yogurts, but that’s not true. Whoops. I can’t wait to try it tomorrow! I also picked up a post-workout snack. French toast and scrambled eggs with guac. Let’s be honest, I got teh eggs just so I’d have a vehicle for my guac. More veggies when I was back on campus.

So I had a fun afternoon. When I returned the car to my sister, I somehow managed to lock myself out. Yippee. I got people to let me in the building, but all the RAs were gone (they have a master key) and my roommate was gone for the weekend. Yay. Alllll my homework was in my room. And my phone had very little battery. So what do I do in a situation like this? Walk across campus for froyo. Yes, my bike key was on that keychain. Ugh. I don’t know if I’ve ever had chocolate yogurt at Fraiche, but it was amazingly good. Like it actually surprised me, it was so good.

By the time I got back to my dorm and did some work in the computer cluster, someone was there to let me in. YAY! I was locked out for about 2.5 hours. But it wasn’t the best time to get locked out, because there were very few people in or around my dorm. More veggies. 🙂 Brussels sprouts with garlic and herb laughing cow. Kefir with cereal and sunflower butter.A square of raw dark chocolate.

That all was supposed to be dinner, but it was kind of early and I wanted to see my friends, so I ended up going to dinner later, so now I’m basically stuffed. Social eating is probably not the best for the waistline!

As strange as it is, I have no workout planned for tomorrow morning. Soccer practice/tryouts in the PM. And given my current stamina, I’m gonna need all the strength I can get! See you all later!

What is healthy?

Date: April 6, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Before I get into the meat of this post, I want to talk about carrot juice. It’s strange, after my workout today I was seriously craving muffins, pancakes, waffles. And unlike you lucky people with kitchens, the only options were at the dining hall, so not the most healthy. I seriously considered making a pit stop on the way back to get some, but strangely enough, the thought of carrot juice was my saving grace. The thought that I could drink carrot juice when I returned was basically enough to convince me to keep on walking.

My first class of the day was Psych, so I guess it makes sense that I was thinking this, but was thinking about the “healthy living placebo.” There are a lot of “health food” items. Some are super good for you. Some parade around as health food, but are they really? That’s not the point though. A lot of eating well and feeling good is in your mind. If you consider it a health food, you will most likely feel good and be happy, whether or not it is actually better for you. If you ate an Oreo, how would you feel compared with eating an Organic Chocolate sandwich cookie? You’d probably feel better after the second. What we think of what we do plays a huge role on how we perceive our health and how we feel. So I’m saying eating “health foods” is great, especially if you feel well. I was thinking about this because I honestly have no idea whether that carrot juice was really good for me. According to my nutrition professor, juicing takes out the fiber and a lot of the nutrients. Is this true? Not enough is really known. But I feel like it is healthy, so I’ll do it!

Now for the meat and potatoes. Heehee. I had to.

While surfing blogs, I came across this post: Get off the Internet. I really, really recommend you guys read it, because I think it definitely is something that needs to be said. People blog for different reasons, and about different things, which is awesome. There is a really cool online community of healthy living bloggers. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE blogging, and I love reading all your guys’s posts as well. But there are some blogs or posts I read that make me uncomfortable. I guess they hit a little too close to home. I can see the unhealthiness and the obsession ( I don’t mean this in a judgmental way, and this is a total overgeneralization). I’ve been there. It’s especially sad to see it in the bloggers even younger than me. The fear of any type of fat in food. The obsession over calories/how much consumed/how many burned. I used to be more like that. I had a HUGE interest in nutrition, and was always concerned with what I ate. I was a fat-o-phobe. I would favor a “health food” that was low fat (but often higher sugar, didn’t know to look for that). I fell into all the traps. I would obsess over food. And look at where it’s got me. I’m not going to lie, I’m fairly screwed up. My extreme interest in nutrition has made it impossible for me to read my body’s true hunger/full signals. I have a horrible response to sugar, and yet I am a full-blown sugar addict. I am a perfectionist, yet I often fail. I have so much anxiety associated with every meal, and I admit I think about food a lot. But it’s different now. Probably not in the best way, but I just don’t have the energy to care about all that stuff anymore. I don’t have the energy to resist junk food and sweets, because I’ve done it for so long.

I can understand Lisa’s necessity to get off the internet. Does constantly looking at food blogs make me think about food more? Probably. Getting off the Internet some is probably a good idea. I think her post was something that needed to be mentioned, because I could totally understand it, although from a different perspective. Seeing all your guys’s delicious food makes me hungry! But cutting back and focusing on real life is incredibly important as well. Enjoy life. Enjoy the moment. (But don’t worry I’m not leaving you guys.)

What do you think about the effect of healthy living blogs?

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!