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R&R

Date: June 2, 2013

Author: astottler

How’s everyone’s weekend going? On the one hand, I feel like I’ve had a very productive weekend. On the other hand, I also feel like I have spent a good deal of it sleeping, although sleep is definitely productive in my book! As I said before, last week was kind of a rough week, and it is finally watching up to me! Or maybe this whole quarter of not sleeping enough (and for no good reason either, now that I’m not doing crew! Oh well, Spring quarter here is a thing-it is super relaxed!).

Friday night, I dressed up and actually wore heals for my sorority’s fancy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I’m not really sure what I think about the Cheesecake Factory. To be honest, it kind of intimidates me! My sister is in my sorority, and since we were sitting together, she suggested we order an appetizer of guac. And we all know that is one thing I am not going to pass up on!

I since we had an appetizer, I ordered an interesting sounding salad for dinner. It had a bunch of different veggies, including beets. I am convinced that I can like beets, I just need to find the proper preparation for me. I was about to dig in when I exclaimed to my sister, “Oh no, I’m being a bad blogger!” I then proceeded to grab my phone and snap a picture. This picture does not do this salad justice- it was massive!

I wasn’t planning on having any cheesecake, but after a few bites of my sister’s mango key lime cheesecake, I was convinced.

For the record, before taking this picture, I warned her it was going on the blog! The cheesecake was delicious but SO RICH. We saved the leftovers to take home to her boyfriend. However, my sister reminded me AFTER the cheesecake that we still had to run that time. Heh.

I was very concerned for the run, but it turned out to be fine. We ran on a Friday night during prime party time, and it was interesting to run by party-goers. We got a whole bunch of “Why are you running now?”

Saturday was a fairly productive day, at least in the morning. I had plans to work out after lunch, but then a 4 hour nap happened, and I ran out of time before my evening events. Hey, if I am going to sleep for 4 hours, I obviously need it! Hence the R&R. I’ll have plenty of time for exercise in a week!

First on tap for Saturday night was a banquet for my dorm. We all dressed up and enjoyed a dinner of non-dining hall Greek food!We also did Superlatives which was a ton of fun! Some of them were hilarious, and all of them were spot-on. Surprisingly, mine was not “Most Likely to be Awake at 5am.” Here’s mine:

How cute is that?

After dinner, we watched a slideshow. We saw pictures from move-in day in the fall! It was so sad! The saddest part though was a song. There is a guy in my dorm that writes parodies of popular songs, with the parodies being about how awesome out dorm is, and then performs them with his guitar. We listened to all the songs from this year, plus a new one that was sooo sad. I am going to miss all these people so much! I never really realized what a great community I have in my dorm.

After that, I went to a sorority party planned by the pledges. We used my theme idea-neon. Hey, I’ll take any excuse to wear workout clothes!

I slept unusually late this morning, and am considering taking another nap. I don’t know what it is!

Also, I just wanted to clarify something. I’ve posted before about my No Sugar challenges, and I want to discuss a little bit about the reasoning behind them. It isn’t because I believe sugar is an off-limits food that should be avoided at all costs. I’m all about eating whatever you want as part of a balanced diet. It’s not that I think “Oh no, if I eat any chocolate, I’m going to gain so much weight.” The reason is that I have a really bad physical reaction to sugar. The worst is it makes me literally crazy-it completely alters my hormone levels. It also raises my body temperature. Yes, I actually get a measurable fever from sugar, I’ve tested it. I have trouble thinking clearly as well, and I get stomachaches a lot of the time. It also has this very addictive hold over me- whenever I eat it, it is hard for me to stop at a reasonable amount. And the newest thing- since I’ve been eating sweets this week I’ve had this nagging headache, which is really irritating. It can’t be a coincidence that it started exactly when I started eating sweets again. So that’s my rationale. I have a very strange and purely physical reaction to sugar, and most of the time it just isn’t worth how it makes me feel. In the future, I don’t intend to never eat sugar again, but I feel more sane when I avoid it!

(Because this post didn’t have many pictures!)

Do you have a food that makes you feel yucky?

Almost Done!

Date: June 1, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Friday everybody!

I can’t believe I only have 3 days left of classes! How crazy is that? What’s on tap for me in these next few week? I have 3 finals, only 1 of which I am actually worried about. My half marathon training continues-more on that in a minute. This weekend I have a sorority fancy dinner, a pledge class planned party, a banquet for my dorm, and sorority initiation. Next weekend I have Kitten Nursery orientation! For those that don’t know, I am volunteering at an animal shelter this summer, and I will be working with kittens-so unbelievably pumped. Throwback to Charlie’s kitten days!

This week I have been in a bit of a food and exercise rut. I’ve missed quite a few workouts due to schoolwork, and I haven’t been feeling that great since schoolwork=not sufficient sleep, plus my allergies have been bothering me. I’ve also had a weird headache, which might be allergy related…it is really stupid though because it is likely that my allergies will improve if I change my air filter….but I have so far been too lazy. Whoops!

As far as workouts go, I got some good stuff in Tuesday. Wednesday was devoted to paper writing and studying. Thursday was morning spin. Today I got in a quick weight lifting workout-nothing too crazy, just to get the blood pumping. So what is the common factor that is missing from my week? That’s right, half marathon training. So far I’ve missed 2 runs, but given that it is midterm/finals season, I’m not too concerned. It is still week 1 and the runs are still short. I want to make one of them up today, but I might do that later tonight after my fancy dinner because I feel like I literally just showered, and don’t particularly care to shower yet again. It is sad that being freshly showered (aka being too clean) has prevented me more than once from doing a workout…

But now on to eats! Yesterday, I went to 4 coffee shops, and spent time working in 3 of them. Don’t worry, I did not get coffee 4 times. Otherwise yesterday’s post would HAVE BEEN LIKE THISSSSSSS.

Here is some deliciousness from the past couple of days:Salad with hard boiled egg, garlic hummus, and some type of corn salad. This was surprisingly delicious- I’ll need to recreate it this summer for sure!I made a chicken burger at the dining hall with a piece of grilled chicken and a whole wheat english muffin. I don’t know why I’ve never done this before-it was so good! Plus a vat of ketchup on the side. My side of the dining hall always runs out of ketchup, so I had to run to the other side to grab a bowl of it. Yes, a whole bowl of it. If I was going to that much effort, I didn’t want to run out!Yesterday morning I didn’t feel that great (thanks 4+ hours of sleep) so after spin, all my body was craving was a green smoothie. I put a ton of spinach in, and this was still tasty! Spinach, yogurt, peaches, strawberries, banana. I think the key was using water to blend it instead of milk. Sidenote- I topped my egg whites with cream cheese to make them more interesting. However, I first topped them with whipped cream on accident…not feeling that!
/>Yesterday’s cappuccino. I had to share this picture because in taking it, I spilled my drink everywhere. The things I do for you guys!Delicious salad- blue cheese, apples, pears, walnuts. I also realized yesterday that if I want any hope of going to the Healthy Living Summit, I need to stop shelling out so much money on expensive salads and fancy coffee drinks. More delicious mystery bread. I have absolutely no clue what is in it, but it’s sooo good. I know it at least has sunflower seeds, carrots, and raisins. Not sure what else though. I need to ask sometime! Hey, I’ll take another excuse to go back!

This afternoon has been pretty low key so far. I am expecting a fun and busy weekend though! I have 3 days of classes, and then Dead Day. Yes, one day (welcome to college…), and then finals! Finals are Fri, Sat, Mon, Tues, Weds, but my first isn’t until Monday. Hope everyone has an awesome week!

Do you ever skip workouts?

Reflections on My Freshman Year: Food and Fitness

Date: May 30, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I had such a great time with the party that is WIAW yesterday! Now back to regularly scheduled programing.

Since I have less than a full week left of classes in my freshman year, and about a week and a half until moveout, I thought this would be a great opportunity to reflect on the healthy living journey that was Freshman year- the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

I guest posted for Avery a little while ago about tips for staying healthy in college. I came up with the list through some trial and error. And error. And error. I’m going to go through the journey that brought me where I am today, including future plans. Hopefully my experiences will help those of you making the transition soon!

I came into college planning on walking on to crew. I had always wanted to try it, and I am never one to pass up on a new and intense workout. I also came into college in phenomenal shape- probably the best shape I’ve been ever. Throughout high school, I loved nutrition and had my healthy eating figured out well enough. In addition, I had been training for a 10k all summer, which I completed the weekend before move in. Since most of my friends began college a month before me and softball ended around the same time, I had literally nothing to do for a month except workout to my little heart’s desire.

(Right before they left.)

I did my training runs, spin classes, weight lifting with a trainer, and agility training with a trainer. I worked out 2-3 hours a day, partly in preparation for crew, but partly because I loved these workouts, and knew I wouldn’t be able to do them when I got to college. No lie-the thing I was most sad about leaving was my gym and weight lifting trainer.

I spent the fall rowing crew. I loved it. I was with all walk-ons, and since I was in such great shape to start with, I was one of the fastest. I loved being on the water, despite the brutal 5:15 am wakeup call every morning. I was in great shape again, though I didn’t lift weights as much. However, I fell into the trap of a new eating situation. I ate like crap. I never gained the freshman 15 because I was working out a ton, but I wasn’t fueling my body that well and didn’t feel that great. I would have morning practice, and then go back and gorge on pancakes with syrup and muffins galore, and then leave with a stomachache and an energy crash. And, it was sleep deprivation at its finest. But I loved what I was doing (rowing, not eating crap), and it was a great way to meet people and maintain fitness.

I started having problems around the holidays-I absolutely love the holiday season, and am super into the holiday spirit and doing everything associated with that. This was the first time I really got homesick- I went home quite a bit around the holidays to do things like decorate the tree and make gingerbread. I think these emotions led me to eat as much holiday food as possible to try to fit in all that I had missed or was missing.

By the time it was finally Christmas, I was in a food-induced misery because I felt so awful. And as we know, sugar messes with my emotions…a lot. By the time I got to training camp (a few days after Christmas), I had lost a lot of what was left of my healthy habits.I was only home for 10 days at Christmas before training camp in San Diego. This was where the walk-ons mixed in with varsity, Olympic athletes an all. I also found that while everyone else was getting faster, I was actually getting slower. I was in such great shape when I got to school that I really had no room for improvement. However, I returned from the trip stronger and more confident. Winter quarter was extremely difficult for me. I was spending 5 hours on crew, taking hard classes, and getting maybe 6 hours of sleep a night. In addition, I didn’t like varsity’s workouts as much, and felt I wasn’t getting as much out of them, despite the time commitment I was putting in. I also missed doing my own workouts, which I had had time and energy for in the fall. The only way I could go to a Spin class was if I woke up at 5, finished my erg early which was only kind of possible given when the gym opened, did the spin class, and then ran. I did that maybe once. My eating habits once again weren’t great- I feel like I never really “fixed” myself from the holidays. In addition, I finally discovered a likely nut allergy, and a major problem with crashes after eating certain types of carbs. Since I had zero time or energy, I was kind of isolated in my dorm. My classes were really hard for me, and I had no time to put in to them. I could barely stay awake in class. I was really struggling. After my first Ochem midterm, I seriously considered quitting, but I loved the team, working out hard, and the athlete status. And then I got sick. One afternoon, I felt sore all over. We had a freezing cold practice on the water, and I could not warm up from it. The next morning I had a 100 degree fever. I tried to do my morning erg, but it wasn’t happening. I made plans to make it up that weekend. Then, the next morning I was still sick. I was struggling to figure out when I’d make up all these missed workouts. Before I knew it, it had been a week, and my fever was up to 103, leading to a trip to the ER. Long story short, I had Mono. And strep throat. And a cold, which led to an ear and sinus infection. And stomach flu. All at once. It was awful. I had to go home. I couldn’t get out of bed for weeks. I have never been that sick. I had to drop Ochem and math, but given how much I was struggling, this probably saved my GPA. I barely finished my last 2 classes with some extensions and really difficult days. For 2 weeks, I could barely eat at all. First, it was the stomach flu. Then, it was the swollen organs that made my stomach the size of a pea. I must have dropped at least 10 pounds during this time, although a lot of it was muscle.

When I gained my appetite back (before I was better), I went a little crazy, indulging in all the I couldn’t eat in the previous weeks and all the food from home I had missed out on all year. Fro-yo was an everyday thing.

I regained my sweet tooth that I had lost while I was sick, and boy did I gain it. Losing and then gaining weight rapidly kind of messed up my eating habits further. Around this time, I made the difficult decision to not return to crew. Mono was a wakeup call: what I was trying to do was not healthy. And although I do miss it, I know I made the right decision.

Soon, I was able to work out again, and boy was it hard. When you can’t even sit up in bed for weeks, imagine how hard a sit up is. I started with yoga, and didn’t lift weights until later (due to organ swelling). I wish I could say I figured out my eating habits, but the illness really messed me up.

At the beginning of this quarter, I had such a great time- I could talk to friends until 1am, and it wouldn’t matter because there was no morning practice. Late night food parties? Sure, why not? Yeah, those habits caught up to me pretty quickly. When I finally eliminated sweets a few weeks ago, I felt way better. Now, I would say I am eating much healthier than before, but the lack of 5 hours of crew everyday is catching up to me a little bit. I never seem to have problems getting workouts in- I love them! But Id be lying if I said my eating habits are where I want them to be.

As you can see, this has definitely been a year of ups and downs. I am currently suffering from lack of a sport- softball consumed my life all through high school, and rowing replaced it until now. I always thought that a sport was what was holding me together-before I was cleared for crew, I was going insane. Now, I am going a little bat-shit crazy, haha. I really hope my little journey helped some of you. Going home for a long time when I was sick really helped me- buh bye homesickness! However, as you can see, I am not where I want to be. So what does that mean?

Instead of taking a ton of classes this summer, I want to take some time to myself. I am taking only 5 units because I don’t want to be burned out. I want to spend this summer finding my happy place with food and fitness, and I want to put some serious work into the ol’ blog. My class schedule is going to be much more intense in the fall, so I really want to figure myself out before then.

Despite the rough patches, I can honestly say I had an amazing freshman year.

What was your freshman year of college like? Did you struggle at all?

WIAW-First Edition

Date: May 29, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Yay! I am finally doing What I Ate Wednesday!

Thank you Jenn for hosting! You’re awesome!

I had a whole meal plan for today, but it kind of broke down later in the day. Luckily, I still have some photo-worthy shots!

I began the morning with a 45 minute Spin class, which was fantastic, as always. Then, breakfast!An obviously super photogenic biscuit from the dining hall. A Harry and David pear and a hard boiled egg. Yes, I did try very hard to make this picture somewhat appealing. My gummy vitamins and calcium supplements. Yes, I am in college, and I still take gummy vitamins. Every since I had mono a few months ago and was popping 30 pills a day, I have wanted to avoid swallowing pills at all costs.

A much needed Cappuccino from Coupa. I attempted to use the coffee machine, but there were no cups, so I walked across the street to the actual cafe. The milk foam is way better from the real place. And let’s be honest, that’s the only reason I drink this. I had to bike with my drink. I felt like one of those cool college kids biking around with their fancy coffee drinks. However, I was very aware of any tiny bump I went over. As much as I love the idea of a scalding cup of coffee exploding onto my hand…

A basic salad with Dijon vinaigrette, which I added 2 hard boiled eggs to. Random dog in the library. Soo cute. I miss my dog!

After class, I headed to the gym for a workout. I started with 4×5′ on the erg. I did the sets at stroke rate 22, 24, 26, 28, and each set had a faster split than the preceding one. Then, I did 10 minutes of abs. I’m loving this ab workout.

I followed that with a 15 minute Crossfit style workout. Originally, the workout calls for 20 minutes, AMRAP, with 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, and 15 air squats. I can’t do pull-ups, so I do this on that pull down bar thingy. I wanted to have fewer rounds, but still get a good workout, so I changed it to 15 minutes, with 5 pull downs, 10 T push ups, and 15 goblet squats with a 25 pound dumbbell. I was rather sweaty.

And then, it was FINALLY time to try my new Spin shoes! Here is the piece I was missing:So if you are buying Spin shoes, make sure you have this!

The shoes took some getting used to. The weight is on a slightly different place, and it was a little odd at first, especially out of the saddle. I especially loved them for doing sprints though. I felt like I could go much faster. I was on the bike for about 30 minutes. Tip: before you attach yourself to a bike, know how to detach yourself. Yeah. I spent a good 10 minutes looking like and idiot trying to figure out how to get the shoes off the bike. In case you’re wondering, you twist. Oops. Post-wrokout fuel, plus pre-workout this morning. These are just ok, but they’re perfect for before a morning workout.I was blown away by the veggie options at dinner today! I had a garden burger over salad, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted carrots, and cabbage.Plus some extras:And a studying snack (I have an impossible Chem midterm on Wednesday):For those of you that don’t know, I’m just coming off of a 3-week no sweets challenge. The last 2 days have been interesting…I haven’t gone crazy with the sweets, but a) they’re not as good as I remember and b) I definitely did not miss how they make me feel….

As a study break snack, I had some dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, and this creation:Yes, I am a college student and I eat everything out of paper cups. This was inspired by my protein cookie creation of the other day. All it is? Sunflower seed milk (yes, it exists. No, I would not recommend it. Almond milk is better), unsweetened coconut, and a mashed up ripe banana, all heated up in the microwave to make a gooey, not too sweet pudding-like thing. I added a small square of dark chocolate, but I enjoyed it more plain or with a touch of sunflower seed butter. Better without chocolate? That’s a sure sign my tastes are changing! I finished off the rest of the banana (I only used half) with some sunflower seed butter.

I love making non-dessert desserts. Especially of the microwave friendly variety. In paper cups. No shame. At least this is just slightly more photogenic than my old creation- mashed banana and dark cocoa powder in the microwave (yes, in a cup).I cant wait for the baking/food freedom of summer! I have a banana bread creation in mind- look out for that in a few weeks!

Have a great day, and Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

…And the World Didn’t End

Date: May 28, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

First of all, Happy Memorial Day everyone! I want to take a minute to remember all those who have made sacrifices to our country.

memorial day.gif

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My day has been rather low-key. I actually got to sleep in today, and got 10 hours of sleep! When was the last time that happened?? Unfortunately, my allergies were going crazy this morning. Naturally, that would happen the same day I run out of tissues…I’m not sure what I might be allergic to or why it is such a problem all of the sudden, but it sure is annoying!

I planned to take some homework with me to the dining hall so I could grab brunch and then do work until I was ready for the gym. I ended up having a larger brunch than planned, so I was there for a good two hours, reading about Darwin’s finches (I’m in a class about evolution).

Upon arriving at the Spin bikes, I quickly realized that I was missing part of the shoe that would be integral in using my new shoes. I guess there is some clip that screws into the shoes. I am obviously so knowledgable. My wonderful mother went out and bought one for me though, so whenever I see her next, and I will finally be able to try my shoes!

(Source)

It looks something like this.

I did a short workout at the gym- 2 sets of 10 minutes on the erg, with the stroke rate 18, 20, 22, 24 for 4′ at 18, then 3′, then 2′, then the last minute at 24. I followed that with 10 minutes of abs. Why was my workout short? Because today kicks off my half marathon training! I am going for a 3 mile run with my sister pretty soon! In 10 weeks I will be running 13.1 miles!

I spent most of today doing laundry. Unfortunately, after my first load in the washer, there were no dryers free, so I attempted to hang everything in my room. Luckily, now everything is in the dryer! I usually do laundry early in the morning before everyone is awake, but I slept in today so that wasn’t really an option.

The only other noteworthy thing from today- I ate dessert. I’ve gone more than 3 weeks without, but I finally caved. I had a chocolate avocado cupcake and some dark chocolate. And you know what? Nothing happened. Sure, I feel a little sick, but the walls didn’t crumble around me, and I didn’t eat an entire batch of cupcakes. Nothing tasted quite as good as I was expecting. I also realized that I am probably eating too many sweets that aren’t technically desserts, like muffins and pancakes. I intend to continue avoiding sweets after this-I just don’t feel that great; however, if something is amazing, I might try it. The biggest downside- I had wayyy too big of a snack recently giving I’m running in 30 minutes. Ugh. Oh well, what can you do? Sorry I don’t have any pictures from today. I’ll compensate like I normally do, with an adorable kitty picture! (And only 2 weeks before you guys get ‘fresh’ kitty pictures!)