Doing the Chicken Dance

Date: November 1, 2013

Author: astottler

And by the chicken dance, I mean the whole “running around like a chicken with its head cut off thing.” That’s how I’ve felt this past week. Heck, I went to make a note about that thought earlier today, only to find I had already made one…which I don’t remember making. It’s been one of those week-I’ve been so sleep deprived I can barely see straight. And I didn’t even have any midterms this week. Next week I have 2. Eeek! I’m currently enjoying a well thought out Friday night-I’m not even being sarcastic, I’ve been looking forward to this all week! I’m in Philz coffee and I’ve been studying Biochem for the past couple of hours while sipping an iced chai tea.

A large iced tea. It’s been one of those weeks-totally necessary! Thank you to Kaitlin for introducing me to Philz. We had a little blogger meet up here a few months ago, and I was obsessed with iced chais for months after. I love the atmosphere here-it strikes me as being super hipster, in a good way. They make everything by hand in a very complicated way and it’s awesome.

I also like the music here-it’s more my style than just pop, kind of alterntive. Although I can’t stand listening to music while I study because it’s so distracting! Anyways, I’m actually really, really enjoying my Friday night. I LOVELOVELOVE the things I’m studying. We’re doing carbohydrate metabolism and that’s kind of my favorite thing on the planet. I retrieved a poster I made back in high school to study.

I’m such a nerd. I bought a big poster board today so I can make a bigger and more detailed version. I have every intention of hanging it on my wall once I’m done studying it. I need to draw one out for sugar metabolism as well! Since my roommate is writing an essay about how sugar is a drug, we decided to give it up for a week, starting most likely on Sunday. It seemed like a better choice than showing how sugar is a drug by attempting to overdose on it. I wonder how many pounds you’d have to eat for it to actually seriously make you ill? Anyways, I’m starting today with avoiding sweets, although I won’t start completely avoiding sugar until after my long run. But I’m getting so far ahead of myself. Let’s back up a bit, shall we?

Last night (Halloween), I made Anne‘s microwave pumpkin cookie. You know I’m all about low sugar, microwave options. I didn’t have ground flax seeds so I used some chia seeds and egg in place.

I also don’t know how she got hers to look so small. Mine looks like a bowl of oatmeal!

I served mine on a plate, topped with THE BEST THING EVER. Apple butter infused greek yogurt.

My roommate is on the full-fat dairy train, and I have to admit, it is pretty delicious. This was the creamiest thing ever. And since we’re drowning in apples from the CSA box (which we’re most likely going to cancel because we can’t keep up 🙁 ), we’re making applesauce this weekend with no sugar, so that would be just too amazing in greek yogurt.

My hall ended up having a little Halloween party, so I peeled myself away from my work, threw on a sombrero, and joined in on the fun.

You don’t need a real costume if you have a sombrero, right? Plus, there was guac. We already decided we’re having an epic cinco de mayo party. And my roommate and I ARE going to try to make a guacamole hat, like the ones in Despicable Me 2. It was fun to actually celebrate Halloween a little, but it was a questionable decision because I had to stay up late and finish my lab report.

I’ll a little concerned about my long run tomorrow. I have not been treating my body well these last few weeks-I’m sleep deprived and have been subsisting on a diet of mostly coffee and sugar. It’s not necessarily that I’m craving sugar, but then apparently when I’m tired, I have zero ability to plan. Take today for example. I was super tired and running out the door, so I grabbed this for lunch.

A pear. That was a really dumb thing to do, given I wouldn’t be able to get any food between classes, so I had to power through a 4 hour lab powered by just a pear. That’s not a great way to treat my body! Plus I’ve eaten a lot of sugar this week-and it’s left me with a pounding headache every day. I’m already feeling much better at the end of today because I haven’t had sugar today.

I stopped by Trader Joe’s for dinner, and for some reason, my foggy brain picked out this wrap. Which is weird because it’s not something I would typically get, but it got the job done just fine, and I’m in an awesome mood now.

I also restocked on dried mango. My mom brought me some, but you can never have too much, right?

I stopped by the drugstore for my poster board, and what was Halloween a day ago is now taken over by Christmas. My thoughts?

Seriously?

OMG I really want to start decorating my room for Christmas. I used some restraint though-it’s too soon!

We’re going to have epic Halloween decorations, but I’m planning on spending all of Thanksgiving break planning that out.

Ok, that’s all I have today. I need to walk back to my car. In the dark-that’s kind of sketchy because it’s far. I’m actually feeling a lot better about tomorrow’s run, because I feel way better now than earlier today. Wish me luck-I’ll let you guys know how it goes!

*Edited to add-Ok, it really wasn’t sketchy. I parked a block from downtown…

When you get busy, what’s the first thing in your life that goes to hell?

For me it’s laundry. Heh. Speaking of which, guess what I desperately need to do tonight?

How to Do Halloween College Style

Date: October 30, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! Now that I don’t have any super pending due dates, and it’s not super late at night, as promised, I’m getting a little more creative with today’s post. Just a note-clearly when I’m super frustrated with my homework and Apple’s STUPID version of excel, the best thing to do is blog.

So, without further ado-here is how you do Halloween-COLLEGE style.

1. Make your muscles scream with this workout!

This is definitely a shoulder burner. This is a WOD I did over the summer-the prescribed weight is 65# for the thrusters. JELLO ARMS. I swear I had every intention of doing this today, but I did a million and three push pressed last night at Crossfit, so anything overhead was NOT going to happen today. So enjoy this one for me! It’s a quickie-just add to the end of your workout for a little conditioning. Speaking of workouts, I’m thinking of occasionally posting weekly workout logs so you guys get a sense of what I’m doing.

2. Make your friends scream. Don’t shower after said workout. (For the record, I swear I always shower before class!)

3. Want an easy last minute costume idea? Be Frankenstein. Try this workout!

You legs will be so sore I GUARANTEE you’ll be walking like Frankenstein. No costume needed!

Note: Best done 1-2 days before Halloween for maximum Frankenstein-walking effect.

4. How to avoid eating too much candy-alternatice title: learn how to create a black hole. Place outside dorm room in building filled with college students. It’s amazing how fast it disappears.

5. Make a haunted house in your dorm room. Forget scary “eyeballs” and “brains.” My three week old dirty tupperware is MUCH scarier.

6. Dress up as a 12 year old dressed up as a zombie and go trick or treating. (Ok, I’ve never actually done this myself.)

7. Make your own version of a “zombie run.” Why pay money to be in a race with zombies when you can create your own? SImply dress up as a zombie and chase after ~~unsuspecting victims~~ runners. You’re just helping them run faster, right? Best done at dawn or dusk. Or in the complete darkness of night.

8. Use treats to your advantage. Passing out candy to your dorm? Make it count. Last year I passed out these-

On the surface, it clearly made sense since I was a baseball player and the Giants were in the process of winning the World Series. However, I also had the mission of converting everyone to Giant’s fans so this was my way of getting that whole “subliminal mind control” thing to work its magic.

This year? We passed out Halloween candy. We’re clearly trying to break the curve people! Sugar messes with you brain, right? It’s midterm season-I need all the help I can get!

9. Spend all night in the library studying. Which is what I’ll actually be doing. The struggle is real my friends.

At least I have a friendly face to keep me company!

Have a great Halloween everyone!

Are you dressing up? What are you doing for Halloween?

New Loves and Eating a la Dorm

Date: October 8, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Monday everyone! I got a great night’s sleep last night, so I woke up well rested and ready to tackle the day.

Being the smarty that I am, I totally forgot to pack my lunch until I was walking out the door. Down side? I had to wait until after class and going to the lab to eat. Upside? No tubberware to sit on my desk and grown weird things.

A hummus salad, plus a million snap peas and a ThinkThin bar. Trader Joe’s has BY FAR the best snap peas! I ate a ton at dinner as well, and between that and freeze dried mango, I’m going to have to make a return trip soon!

After lunch, I headed out to get some Ochem work done. Guys. I have a new favorite place to study-my favorite cafe. It’s in the basement of a building, and they have amazing quick breads. Ok, maybe this new study place won’t be the best for my health, but it was perfect! Of course, I had to try their pumpkin bread. No shame.

I was there near closing-they close up the cafe, but there are still tables and chairs out in the open (inside). It was perfect-quiet, fairly deserted, and I had a table to myself to spread out. I liked that there were fewer people there than at the library-this may be my new study spot!

Which leads me to my next point. Being back at school has kind of facilitated a lot of reflection. Last year was rough. There’s no way of getting around it. I really realized that I’m in a really good place right now, both mentally and physically. Sure, I’m still working off the Freshman 15 (or for me, post-crew 15), but I have much better eating habits, and I know that in time I’ll get there. Being an athlete was hard-and this is going to sound kind of bad (sorry Mom and Dad), but I feel like one of the experiences I really missed out on last year when I was rowing was being a student. I have a tough class schedule with a lot of work, but I’m not stressed because I know I actually have enough time to get my work done. Before I went to college, I always imagined myself in a grandiose library or coffee shop for hours-something I simply never had time for last year. I have a lot of work this week…so I simply went to a cafe and worked for hours. It’s amazing to actually have time and energy to do all the reading, and take the time to understand the problems. While at times I miss rowing like crazy, I know it just wasn’t good for me to spend that much time doing. I feel like I have a good balance right now-I don’t have a ton of extracurriculars, and while I feel like “Oh, I should!”, I really don’t need that in my life right now. I’m happy where I am, and nothing really calls out to me. I guess I do a lot of things on my own-Intramural flag football, Crossfit, yoga, training to teach spin. Plus, I’ve had the time to just sit down with people in my dorm and TALK. Sure, there were a few nights last week where I didn’t get enough sleep, but some of the time was spent bonding with my hall mates over our love for guac parties. And that’s important too. As far as eating habits go, I’m in a better place also, but I’ll elaborate at that at the end.

Crossfit tonight was…interesting. I went to the later class, which I really liked because it gave me more afternoon time to work on Chem and it was less crowded. The strength portion was right up my alley- low reps and HEAVY. We went to 90% max back squats, 1 rep every minute on the minute. The WOD was a weird one-liners, atlas stones, and pull ups. First of all-I’m never going to the later class again if there’s any running involved. It was DARK. We had to run to faint chalk lines in the dark parking lot, and it was…interesting. I didn’t die. So there’s that. Atlas stones are definitely not something I’ve done before. You basically pick up a heavy concrete ball off the ground and onto your shoulder. These were hard! My “baby ball” got confiscated halfway through the workout, and it took me several tried to get the technique down for the heavier ball.

GUYS. I a literally SO CLOSE to being able to do a pull up. I can basically do a kipping pull up-I’m sure I could do it if I spent a little time trying and getting my timing down (I only tried like 2 times and was only inches away). I want to be able to do pull ups SO BADLY. I’m going to do a little work on the assisted pull up machine tomorrow after spin.

I also want to discuss dorm eating a little bit. I’ve been avoiding the dining halls a lot more this year-or I get back after they’ve closed (like tonight). I don’t trust myself to make good decisions on a regular basis-it’s just easier and less to worry about if I don’t put myself in bad decisions. With that being said, my eating habits are definitely more on the snacky side. I just focus on getting a total of all my food groups in, and to refuel accordingly after workouts. For example, tonight I wasn’t super hungry so I made hot chocolate with almond milk and a scoop of protein powder (and cocoa and honey).

For a vegetable, I ate a ton of snap peas. These were my carbs:

This is one of my more unconventional meals-I do a ton of egg scrambles too, although dinner is usually at the dining hall.

I would like to cut down my sugar intake a little, especially the later at night sugar-I struggle the most with any free food. It isn’t conducive to sleeping, and isn’t really necessary. I don’t really have many sweets in my room (besides pumpkin pie filling and pumpkin butter), so it’s really just the sweets available in life. I’m not super concerned though-my mood is for the most part good, which means I’m not eating enough sugar to screw up my hormones. College really just is about making good choices-not necessarily perfect choices. For example, I skipped out on cookies at my sorority meeting, but I’m getting boba with my sister later tonight because we haven’t talked in weeks. It’s also about planning ahead-packing enough food to get me through the day.

And onto ONE last topic-my love for running. I actually have fallen in love with running. This love didn’t come until I was running my last race.

Throughout the training for my first half, I really had to will myself to get out there on those runs. Now, I don’t mind them at all-and I look forward to the long runs. It probably helps that I’m in way better running shape than when I began training for my first half-but I’m really loving my runs. I seriously felt like I was FLYING on my 9 miler. And I cannot accurately describe how excited I am for my race coming up. I’ve gotten so much faster and stronger since my last one! Looking beyond my half…I kind of don’t know what to do with my life. I have some short races planned-I want to PR my 5k in December, but beyond that, nothing. I kind of don’t want to lose all the endurance I’ve built, but my body could probably use a break. I’m tentatively searching for a half for late winter/early spring. Another thing-my running would probably be better if it was my priority…and while I do love it, weight lifting really has my heart. This means my runs are usually with more tired legs, which stinks at the time, but come race day when I’m well rested, it definitely helps!

WHEW that was a lengthy post! I’ve paused 2 times writing this, and now it’s late so…that’s all folks!

What difference has a year made in your life? Favorite form of exercise? MUST DO race suggestions? I kind of want to do Rock n Roll Las Vegas…

WIAW #dormlife

Date: September 24, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Wednesday! As we all know, that means it’s time for the fabulous party hosted by Jenn.

This is my first WIAW from college. First, let me just state that I hate the furniture in my room this year. It’s dark and small and immovable. So basically it’s impossible to stay organized. So I’m blogging from my headboard-less bed next to a giant pile of books that travels from my desk chair to my bed regularly because my desk and shelves are full. Such is life.

But let’s get on to the day of eats. Today was an example of both how college life doesn’t have to be unhealthy, and how it can be unhealthy.

I started my morning with a few dates pre-run. I had a 4 mile run scheduled today, and decided to do speedwork. I ran a mile of warm up and cool down(half a mile to the track, half a mile on the track). I then did 400 repeats for 2 miles. I haven’t really done these before, but they seemed perfect given all my recent foot issues. Having rest time was crucial for my foot and it actually felt really good. I liked these, but I think I prefer the 200 distance way more.

Post run, it was breakfast time. I think this here is an example of how hard I tried to make dorm food look pretty/interesting. Plus, you all can admire my new dorm pet (aka my plant).

I am well stocked on fruit right now since I only just got here, and it’s a lifesaver. Unripe melon gets old fast.

I had one class this morning before eating some food I packed. The original plan was a salad with a hardboiled egg, but there wasn’t much left in the dining hall last night, and I was at a loss for dressing.

Plus the lettuce looked kind of old, so I tossed it in favor of some of the veggies from my fridge.

After my Physics lab, I headed to one of my favorite places to eat on campus for some mystery bread. This stuff is so good-oh how I missed it!

So why, you ask, is this one of my favorite places on campus? They have the most amazing selection of quick breads and baked goods. I pretty much always stick to the same thing since I love it, but I’m sure something pumpkin will have to happen soon.

(This is only a fraction of what they have.)

Today was a pretty snacky day. Besides what’s shown, I also had a Thinkthin bar, dried mango, multiple types of cake….more on that in a minute.

I went back to Crossfit tonight. I did like it better-that could be because the WOD had rowing, and any WOD with rowing has my heart. It was rowing+thrusters+pull ups. Hopefully in time this new box will feel like home, but it’s just not the same as my old one.

Dinner tonight was a little different-I passed on the gross looking salad this time and went for other random veggies instead.

Grilled chicken, a taste of mashed potatoes, some type of Greekish salad, and citrus beets. Not going to lie, my expectations were way too high for those beets. But hey, dining hall food isn’t really supposed to have flavor, right?

I was all set to type up this post when I got a call from my sister. She and her boyfriend are training for a marathon, and they had just finished their 18 mile run….miles away from their apartment. Being the nice person that I am, I picked them up in my tiny car. (I usually say my car seats 2, or 2+3 others with no legs.)

Despite the little detour in my night, I did score some groceries.

While tonight I haven’t accomplished as much as I might have liked, I finish class at 12 tomorrow and have allll day to spend in the library.

I feel like it is definitely possible to eat well in college, but it does take some discipline. Today I started to fall back into old habits a little bit. I guess one thing to consider is that it is okay to indulge occasionally, but you need to pick and choose, and other delicious things may come up later in the night (like pumpkin cake-not passing that one up). One big thing for me this year is I’ve avoided the dining hall for breakfasts, and I’ve packed lunches. As for breakfast-it’s just too hard for me to pass up pancakes and muffins everyday, and I know they make me feel awful. I’d rather keep food in my room and start the day off on the right food. As for lunches-last year I got in the habit of buying, but the serving size was almost always too large, and I felt bad throwing stuff away. Plus, it’s easier to pack something cleaner.

So that’s that-my first few days back! I promise to try and keep my pictures interesting, even if that means buying a lot more plants. Or a puppy.

Have a great Wednesday, and eat something good for me!

How did you/do you stay healthy in college? How do I keep my room organized when there is zero space?

Trying Too Hard

Date: July 20, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I’ve been meaning to post this since Wednesday, but I never got around to it/didn’t want to make a different post super long.

First, I want to start out by saying I’m kind of uncomfortable talking about my dietary guidelines. I can’t exactly explain it. Maybe I feel really vulnerable. Mostly I feel kind of silly. I feel like I have a lot of “WOW I just figured out this amazing style of eating and it’s going to be awesome and I’m going to do it and it’s going to solve all my problems, abolish world hunger, and bring world peace…” Also, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I can’t stick to anything. At least in terms of my eating habits. I’ve had a few no-sugar challenges that were successful, but I never completed them. I only really stick to my weekly goals for a few days. Remember Operation: Get Healthy? Yeah, that fizzled out. What I’m saying is, I feel stupid for having all these failed a-ha moments, only to restart on something new. I’m a food and fitness blogger, aren’t I supposed to have everything together?

Well, now I’m done. I’m done trying to fit other’s eating habits into my own life. I seem to love giving myself food restrictions-Paleo, no sugar, gluten free. I guess in some ways it just makes things easier. And maybe it’s an excuse to eat as much as I want- I’m Paleo, so if I eat 3 tons of wild buffalo I’ll be healthy, right?

I never had these types of restrictions in the past, and I was a lot healthier. I guess when you’re looking for a quick fix, it’s easier to say “Ok, I just won’t eat this and everything will work out.” I’ll be 100% honest. College destroyed my eating habits. Rowing didn’t exactly help, because I was burning so much I could literally eat anything and not gain weight (never mind the fact that I felt awful).

I finally got my blood work back. It seems unlikely that I have a gluten sensitivity, so it’s likely I’m suffering more from portion control than anything else. (Also-my allergy test came up negative for nut allergies, but I was expecting that. Given nuts just give me SUPER bad acne, it didn’t exactly seem like an allergy thing. Maybe it’s something hormonal-I’m still going to avoid them.)

It’s likely that I just crash my blood sugar my eating too many carbs. I’ll do another post on this soon-I just want to refresh myself on the science of it and look over my old nutrition notes first. In short, everyone has a different point at which a certain amount of carbs will crash their blood sugar, mine might be low.

So instead trying some food group restrictive eating pattern that leaves me desperately craving pancakes (I swear my love for pancakes only came about in the past year), I’m just going to eat food. I’m not going to avoid gluten, I’m not going to be Paleo. I’m still going to try a Whole30 for a week when school starts (just because I’m curious and I won’t immediately get in the habit of eating pancakes every day). Lately, I’ve just been working on incorporating lower amounts of carbohydrates into my diet.

When I try a particular, restrictive style of eating, I end up either going crazy with the foods I can eat, or completely giving up and gorging on what I’ve missed. The problem with this is somehow that style of eating and kind of fizzled out my passion for nutrition. Now, I’m trying to eat more like I did in high school, and already this past week my passion for nutrition is returning. I haven’t cut out food groups. But I’m eating more moderately in terms of portions as well. And I feel awesome. I find myself craving healthier foods. I feel like I’m eating more like I have in the past, and that makes me happy. The only food I might ever consider cutting out is sugar, in the form of a no-sugar challenge. However, I see no need to do that now. I’m not struggling with my sugar intake. I find myself wanting a square of super dark chocolate as my sweet, and I’m ok with that.

I love nutrition-it’s something I want to spend my life working on. It’s part of why I started this blog. Yet I haven’t talked nearly enough about it as I would like. I intend on doing some more research-I love the metabolism aspect of everything, and how our bodies process food. Plus, I really should have found some papers for one of my professors on sugar….I want to spend some time doing some research on my own. Maybe I’ll come up with a new style of eating-who knows. But it won’t prevent me from eating my pancakes.

My first topic to figure out is how many carbs I should eat (i.e. how many pancakes I should eat) to fuel my workouts but not crash. I don’t want to talk too much about my fitness goals right now, but I’ll give you a hint-I need to be able to do an actual pull-up.

Just to summarize, I feel silly trying out all these new styles of eating, only to ultimately fail. I feel like as a health and fitness blogger, I should have my life more together, but in reality I really don’t, and for now that’s ok with me. Saying no to pancakes is not an eating style that is going to work for me in the long run, but maybe I can succeed by eating one pancake instead of five. To be, healthy eating is all about balance. So, no more broad proclamations of my new greatest thing. The new theme here is moderation, and eating to fuel my athletic performance. After all, sports are how I got interested in nutrition. I don’t need to try so hard. I just need to put my passion into use.

How do you feel about “diets”? Do you avoid any foods? What works for you?