Fitness Femme

I've been a little behind on this blog.  I was doing well, but I've started to get super busy again.  Work is amping up, there are social events to attend, and I've got a wedding to plan!  As long as I have occasional days off like today, I CAN do it all!  

One of the things that tends to slide when I get busy like this is my ability to stay healthy.  So far I have not caught any of the crazy colds going around (knock on wood!), and I plan on keeping it that way. 

I joined a gym for the first time EVER!  The only times I have ever stepped foot in a gym was in college.  My dance friends and I decided we wanted to actually take the advice of our teachers and go to the gym to perfect our dance muscles.  I stepped into the gym twice.  The only thing I remember doing is maybe trying the elliptical?  Beyond that, I've apparently blocked most of the memories. 

For someone who is in her 30s and has never really been to a gym, I thought signing up for Planet Fitness might be a good idea.  It touts a "judgement free zone" atmosphere according to the commercials, and I figured I wouldn't be surrounded by women who are size 2 with rock hard abs and arms.  My jiggle when I run wouldn't be totally out of place...

So far, I've been twice.  I am impressed that there aren't a ton of people who appear to be crazy fit.  There were of course the obligatory muscle dudes by the free weights whose arms were close to the size of my head, but they all seemed very quiet and respectful.  There were of course a lot of women who seemed in their 30s or 40s trying to get back in shape, and there were the 40 to 50 year male set who were crushing the cardio machines (I'm always so impressed!).

I did watch one girl totally kill a workout with some weights.  She was thin, strong, and beautiful- jealousy material for sure.  Instead of feeling jealous, though, I have taken that as motivation.  If I can lose this fat jiggle that has appeared on me in the past year (I gained 15 pounds in a year and a half, thanks metabolism), I can conquer anything.

Some of you may laugh at that last statement thinking "losing weight isn't the hardest thing you'll ever do!" Well, it's close.  As a little background, I've been thin all my life.  Up until probably age 30 I never had to even bother working out.  My friends in high school would all comment at how thin and in shape I was.    I started running in my mid to late twenties and I would do that on and off but nothing serious.  I could always eat what I want, and then spend a week focusing on being a little healthier and drop the weight easily.  I've had 2 major break ups in my life that left me unfortunately unhealthy. My senior year of college, I broke up with my first real true love that wasn't a high school relationship.  Combined with other situations going on, my stomach became a mess and my diet became the diet that Emily from Devil Wears Prada uses "...and when i feel I'm about to faint, I eat a cube of cheese."  As much as I would love to say this is a joke, it's not.  Cabot Vermont cheddar was my cheese of choice. I lost a scary amount of weight and had everyone worried about me.

I had another break up that, although a hugely positive change in my life, left me feeling a little broken.  I had been in this toxic (admittedly on both sides) relationship that had eaten away at me for years.  I don't exactly know why I lost as much weight as I did.  I was eating at least 2 big meals a day, and I remember a lot of doughnuts and cheeseburgers involved, as well as one too many adult beverages.  So how I lost a ton of weight, I don't know.  Maybe it was the lack of sleep that followed me with the increase in caffeine.  Who knows? Either way, I wasn't the healthiest.

So all of a sudden, last year we had about a thousand snow days.  Fiancé and I only had one shovel between the two of us, so I wasn't shoveling.  We would hear the storm was coming so we would go and buy a bunch of "snowed in snacks", and that was great until it happened for a third time.  That plus my couch equaled ten pounds in a few months.  For the first time in my life, I actually started to need to work out.  

I ran and walked over the summer as best I could, but it didn't go as well as I had planned, not to mention all the bbqs and summer birthdays, and my mind being stuck in Engagement Land (<- pretty great place to be though!).  I finally got back to teaching and the weather held out long enough this year that I was running up until Thanksgiving.  And then another calorie fest occurred with the holidays!  

So that brings me up to now.  I know that I'm "one of those" that have signed up in the craziness of January.  But let me tell you, I will not be quitting this.  I'm sore and I can feel leg muscles getting pushed, but I am so excited to feel good again!  I feel accomplished when I walk away from a good sweat sesh, and if i can really make sure to keep my diet better, I will be losing weight in no time!  

I'm calling this plan Operation Wedding Dress, because that is my central goal- look good in a skin tight strapless dress!!  

Have you made any fitness goals this year?  

Mirror Monday

It's Mirror Monday!  Sorry I went off grid a bit last week.  My first priority has been training for a Thanksgiving day run with my sister.  I also came down with a random bug part way through the week, and my body was rebelling a little bit.  I was fine for the weekend, though, and I am happy to be back at everything.

So what do I see in the mirror today?  Oh do I see a lot...

1.  Excitement.  I am so excited for this week.  Today is my last day of work for a week.  I get 2 whole days to prepare for Thanksgiving, and I don't think I've ever had that much time.  It will have me going into Thanksgiving stress free.  Thanksgiving itself has me excited because it's my second favorite holiday.  I get to see my family and be with them, and nothing beats Thanksgiving morning smells and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  And of course, there are the few days I have off after Thanksgiving, where I kick off Christmas...  But I won't get into that now because I'm trying really hard to stick to Thanksgiving and not get into Christmas until it's time.

2.  I see the start of my healthy lifestyle.  This past weekend rocked my efforts a bit, and this week will certainly continue to do so, but I have to remember that everything is okay in moderation, as long as at least 2 meals a day are decent!  Running and strength training has helped with that as well.

3.  THANKFULNESS.  I have not felt this thankful in a while.  Not for a lack of things to be thankful for, but because I'm usually pretty stressed this time of year.  I have the most amazing fiancé in the world by my side on a day by day basis.  I work in the most incredible field with students and fellow teachers alike that inspire me every day.  I have a roof over my head, food on the table, and clothes on my back.  I have great friends who love me, and most of all, my family who always has my back with their undying support.  I could not be a luckier girl with a greater life.  We all have our daily gripes, but if you really sit down and look at the big picture- it's a beautiful life we live.  I'm hoping to keep this feeling, and continue to pull it up as the holiday season progresses!  

What are you most thankful for?

Foodie Friday

It's my first Foodie Friday!  Wahoo!

I didn't have any super exciting dishes to try this week, so instead I will tell you about how I have fixed my hatred for breakfast.

Let me start by saying that I love planning out meals for the week.  I typically cook up a bunch of chicken one night, and then throughout the week I cook different sides and sauces to go along with it.  For my lunches, I prefer to make a big pot of soup, and it can typically last me for a week.  I don't do that with breakfast (who wants to reheat eggs?).

Breakfast has always been an issue for me.  I don't like eating breakfast, aside from the occasional brunch, or a bagel as a treat on a really long, busy day ahead.  I'm not a morning person, and I'm lazy until coffee has set in.  I could be pretty happy drinking coffee and a glass of hot water with lemon for the rest of my days.  However, I'm very active.  I walk to work 4 days a week, I've been adding at home strength training to my days, and I teach dance all afternoon/evening.  With all that, I SHOULD be having breakfast.

In my browsing through Pinterest, I recently came upon an idea about making smoothies.  I can deal with smoothies, but it's such a pain to make them every day and have to wash out the hulking blender we have. That's why when I saw a pin about freezing a batch of smoothies in ice cube trays, I knew I had to try it.

I've been on this path for about 2 weeks now. Every few days I make a big batch of smoothie and put it in the freezer.  I pop a few out the night before, and let them defrost in my smoothie cup overnight.  In the morning, all I have to do is take the cup out of the fridge and it's ready!

This past week I actually tried using a mix with my typically smoothie.  The brand was Vega.  It actually had a lot of ingredients that I recognized.  The only thing is that it was SO thick!  It made my already decent smoothie pretty gross, and it would stick to the side of the cup, which caused me to have to scoop it off with a spoon.  Not my favorite.  I'll try the other 2 packets I got eventually and try to thin out the mix, but I will see.

The smoothie recipe I just made-

A large handful of baby spinach
3 small-ish apples peeled and cut
a lot of frozen blueberries
milk
vanilla spice tea
3 large spoonfuls of plain greek yogurt
a couple spoonfuls of shredded unsweetened coconut
a few spoonfuls of ground golden flaxseed

All I did was throw it all in the blender and mix it up.  The consistency is definitely thinner this time around, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'm just happy that I am starting my days off better with delicious smoothies that actually are very good for me.  I'm hoping that it's contributing to the fact that I have managed to stay healthy and not get sick.

Will you be trying freezing smoothies?  It's not a bad idea!

Mirror Monday!

So here we go!

This is my first Mirror Monday, where I look in the mirror and tell you what I see.  Then I tell you how I think I can build on that, or turn it around.  

Today I see exhaustion.  I see the remnants of stress and not sleeping.  Last week was a little rough.  I feel as though I let some work stuff get to me more than it should, and I pretty much feel like I didn't stop moving.  Even the weekend was busy with work, friends, and things to do.  

October is always a very busy month for me.  There's always a fun fall activity to do and friends start to realize that they haven't seen me for a while so they start to plan things.  I love being able to see my friends, but this is also the season in teaching when things start to pick up as well in various aspects.  It winds up feeling like I don't stop.  

Normally this would be fine, but for the past 2 Octobers, this also happens to be around the time that I stop sleeping.  I don't know if it's habit from years of working in the restaurant industry where I don't sleep.  I don't know if it's from the weather.  I also don't know if it's from my neighbors being more active at later hours.  Either way, I get less sleep than I would like.  Even if I go to bed at an earlier hour, I wake up at various points throughout the night.

So seeing all this, the best I can do is take care of my body.  My skin is currently riddled with a stress breakout, so I need to drink more water and eat better.  I need to lay off the bad food, and stick to what I know will nourish my body rather than cave in to a craving.  I need to sleep when I can, and spend my time wisely during the day.  Workouts will help with those lovely endorphins, and hopefully I can remain grounded. 

I think the biggest thing I need to remember this week is not to be too hard on myself.  I get frustrated when I get stuck on something with work, and I need to just remember to let things go.  I need to let things roll off my shoulders and breathe.  My brain usually does not like to turn off, so this is the time that I need to find ways to let my brain shut off.   I am lucky to have an amazing fiance whose hugs immediately relieve stress from my shoulders, and his sweet words are almost always a reminder of why I can't wait to call him my husband.  

Grounded.  That is my word for the week.