My Fitness Pal

"If Everyday Were Like Today, You'd Weigh 102 lbs in 5 Weeks." - My Fitness Pal

God, I love when my fitness pal tells me how fast I'll be fit and thin if I stay on track like I did today! And for that reason, the instant gratification I get even though I can't see my results yet, I find this app totally addicting! It's the easiest way I've found to track my calories and my exercise to get to a weight and fitness level where I want to be.

It's so easy to use. You put in your weight, your goal, your activity level, and set a calorie goal per day. Then, you enter the foods you eat and the exercise you do each day. Fitness pal tells you if your on track and your progress each day.

What's better is you can find your friends on facebook, or from your phones contacts, and share your food and exercise diary. Or, you can chose to keep your diary private. I like to share mine, and I enjoy getting snack ideas from my friends.

Before I started using fitness pal I would sometimes not eat enough before going to the gym, and get dizzy or tired. Which can be dangerous. On fitness pal, I can literally see if the breakfast I ate is going to be enough to get me through my gym workout. If my breakfast was 300 calories and my gym workout burns 500, that's a good thing to know.

I used to also think I was eating healthy, without understanding how many calories are in things or the breakdown of how much fat, protein, sugar, sodium I was getting each day, and what I still needed. Now I can see all of that on my fitness pal. I can actually look at the nutrition in my food and see if I need to eat more protein for dinner, or if I have extra calories to have that piece of cake for desert.

Whatever your using to track your progress, it needs to work for you. There are a lot of other aps and websites out there that work in ways similar to the fitness pal, and you should find the one that is a good fit for you. By tracking your progress in every meal, and every workout, its easy to stay inspired and on track. It's also impossible to lie to yourself when you see your not!

Losing Your Fit Factor in a Relationship

"I don't know how girls in relationships can let themselves get so fat."- things I used to say... until now.

I admit that like many people over the past year, I have fallen of the wagon as far as working out. I have always been a single girl and had and the drive to hit the gym everyday and stay fit- MORE Than fit- in addition to my regular gym routine I've always done yoga, and either boxing or gymnastics on the side, as well as have many active hobbies. So how did this happen?

Why do we do this ladies? Why is it when we get into a relationship staying fit is so much harder? Well, I have a few theories:

• First, our men eat more than we do, and we eat with them. Men are always hungry and they eat a lot. I found myself eating so much more than I normally would. And while my boyfriend eats pretty healthy most of the time, eating significantly more food more often is not good for staying fit! So I recently decided that it's ok to just say i'm not hungry if he is, and to say i'm full when I am. 


• Second, I like to workout at night, and that's the time I now spend with my boo. My usual gym time is now taken up with my significant other. I go to his house at night, we eat dinner, we watch a movie, we go to bed. I used to go to the gym at night, and while over the last year I wouldn't say I've let myself go by any means, I certainly have not been nearly at my most fit shape. In fact, I'll admit that I will make it to the gym a few mornings in a row, and then just drop off all together for months.

The realization- "OMG, I'm like... getting fat!"

 

These things might be simple realizations, but they took me a longtime to come to. I don't think I realized I was becoming out of shape till I'd already been out of the gym for almost a year. It hit me when I put on a BIKINI and actually looked at myself. While I'd say I am a very good looking girl, I'm thin, I'm generally tan, I just didn't look fit..... and that's when I realized.... I have "the relationship syndrome" that other girls have and I've always criticized them for.

 

So I've decided to take up my blog again and to start trying to get back into not just adequate "relationship" shape, but to get FIT.

 AT HOME WORKOUT

 

Almost everything I do at the gym, I can do at home. At the gym, I mostly workout with free weights and run on the elliptical. I can get just as good a cardio workout jumping rope, running, doing step ups, jumping jacks, etc, and I also have a lot of workout equipment at home (though nothing crazy). And the bonus is that it's cheaper than the gym and more convenient.

I LOVE MY GYM BOSS TIMER! 

You will need a good circuit timer if you wanna get into working out at home and get results. Timers keep me on track, and force me to pre-plan a workout and complete it. I have a gymboss timer, which I love! I can set it for two varying time intervals which rotate in sets. For example I can have a 1 minute interval, followed by a 30 second interval which repeats however many times I want, or whatever. Right now, I am programing it to give me 30 seconds in between each exercise to get prepped for the next and take a breather. I highly recommend the gymboss timer. You can get it here: buy a gym boss timer

I am choosing 5 of the following activities each day and working it in a circuit 3 times, with 30 second breaks in between each. when I was in better shape, I'd do 30 seconds in between each set, and add ankle weights to jump roping, and the legs/ butt workouts, as well as increase my time to at least a minute for each.

cardio-
jump rope- 1 minute
step ups- 1 minute (on chair or step)
jumping jacks- 1 minute
1/2 mile run- at end of circuit.

core-
plank- 1 minute
side plank- 30 seconds each side
push up jumps onto yoga blog- 1 minute

legs/ butt-
jump squats- 1 minute (10 lbs in each hand)
side  step squats with a band- 1 minute
lounges- 1 minute

arms and chest-
on yoga ball- triceps- 30 sec. chest press-30 sec. (10 lbs in each hand)
biceps/triceps with a band- 30 seconds each
lunges with bicep curls- 30 sec. (10 lbs in each hand)
squats with a military press- 30 sec. (10 lbs in each hand)
lawn mowers- 30 seconds each side

(lawn mowers- I do these in a lounge for added difficulty and core work)

Some of these are really hard and can be modified to be easier: Especially the jump squats, the plank, and push ups. If it's too hard, and it was for me the first time, I recommend doing it in a girls style push up position on your knees. Similarly, if you can't hold a body plank for one minute to go down to a girls style push up position and hold it, but, don't drop it!!!

If the jump squats are too hard- hold a a wall squat, but don't drop it!! 

Spin Class

"Get up out of the saddle, double time, for all those times you wish you could be working out and you couldn't!" -things they yell at you in spin class.

So, I took my FIRST spin class this weekend, at Santa Cruz Power Fitness. I was expecting it to be super tough and literally exhausting, but it actually was not what I expected at all. Spin class just sounds super intense to me. I've walked by spin classes before and seen all those crazy people sweating bullets on their bikes for longer than I'm pretty sure I could even ride a bike down the street.

...But here's the thing, it's not like riding a bike down the street, it's like riding a stationary bike, because that's what your doing!

Also, I've said it before, but I'm not a big cardio person. I hate it and I usually have to kind of trick myself into doing it. I honestly really didn't think I would get that great of a full workout from spinning. I mean, I figured it would be just one really long cardio workout. But, it wasn't!

The Truth About Spinning
It's not so intense of cardio that you can't do it, believe it or not. Spining has its bursts of cardio, but also is a good muscle workout too! I am actually even mildly sore in my legs today from it, which is a big deal for me! I think riding a stationary bike for an hour, is way easier than people think, and especially with all the motivational stuff they yell at you in class, the music, and constantly changing what your doing on your bike, the time goes by pretty fast! By the end I could still breathe, my heart rate was up, but not TOO high, and I did get in some new muscle work. All in all, pretty good!

I'll definitely be going back for more.

If you haven't tried it, I highly recoomend that you at least give one spin class a shot to see what it's all about! It's well worth the time.

The one thing though, my butt was killing from the uncomfortable seat. Maybe try sitting on a towel? I don't know. Also, to be fair, I do have a rather large tush, so that tiny seat could barely accomodate me. If yout hinny is tiny, it may be a whole nother story.

Cleansing

Seriously, Have you ever seen a fat hippy? That's enough to convince me that cleansing and detoxifying are legitimately important.

When you're body is full of junk and stress you just can't lose weight and workout is hopeless. Keeping your mind and soul healthy, are important factors for maintaining a healthy body. I honestly don't know why but it's definitely true for me. I've done juice cleanses from time to time, and used epsome salts, and acupunture, as well as had some cupping done to remove toxins and stress from my body. All of which I love and believe keeps my body working smoothly. Also, btw, you can't overlook the importance of getting regular or semi regular massages! It's a good detoxifier, but it is seriously dehyrating, and time consuming. :-/

 The most important things with detox are that you make sure you are not over doing it, and that you are staying hydrated!!!

Anyways, I was searching the internet for a detoxifying bath recipe (since I've been serously stressed out, and I haven't been able to workout all week since I was in a car accident last week where I'm pretty sure I suffered some form of whip lash because I've been achy all over! Ugh!) when I stumbled on this little gem I just HAD to share...

DETOX:
Holy Moly... I generally don't believe in quick fixes, but I stumbled on this and I just had to share it. Disclaimer: I've never tried it. But I just had to post it, because I just know I'm gonna want to find this one again in a pinch!

"wrap recipe from the Six Senses Spa at the Evanson Hua Hun:"

INGREDIENTS (Adjust quantities according to your body size)

• 1 oz (20 gms) ginger
• 3 oz (80 gms) turmeric
• Handful of rice
• Warm water as required

METHOD

1. Grind together the ginger and turmeric.

2. Powder the rice to a coarse, grainy texture.

3. Add everything to the warm water and mix till it makes a thick paste.

4. Massage the paste all over your body in circular motions, paying special attention to areas with fatty deposits such as thighs, stomach, hips and upper arms.

5. Leave the paste on for 20 minutes* and then rinse off with warm water. Follow with a moisturiser of your choice.

 * You can increase the recipe’s potency by wrapping your body (or at least the problem areas) in plastic sheet or strips of cloth.

How she says it works?
By stimulating circulation and reducing water retention. Kinda the same way that accupuncture for weightloss works I guess (which, by the way, is awesome if you have problem areas, and the results will likely be much more long lasting than any body wrap)!

 view the full article at http://thebeautygypsy.com/how-to-drop-a-dress-size-in-20-minutes/

BE CAREFUL! I believe in the power of detox, but I also think it can be dangerous if not used properly. If you do this, please make sure you stay hydrated!!!

Alcohol

Let's face it, you're an alcoholic, but it doesn't mean you need to wear a beer belly around.

I'm a girl who likes to drink. I work in field where alcoholism is the norm, and half of the rules governing the profession are on how to deal with such problems. I'm not an alcoholic by any means, but I enjoy a drink, and what I do not enjoy is the high caloric intake of fluids. I like to get my calories in my food, not what I drink. I'm not drink-orexic, what I call girls who literally consume all of their calories in alcohol and call it not being anorexic.

GROSS.

I'm also not fat

ALSO ... GROSS.

I enjoy an espresso martini from time to time, I'll admit, just as I enjoy a diet coke from time to time. But I try to never drink anything over a hundred calories, unless it's from my home juicer ;)

While we are on the subject of juicing, I love to use my juicer to make bloody mary's, sangria, and margaritas. I don't feel bad about the calories at all.

Basically,  my rules are the following:

• drink it straight, or mixed with soda water or water with a squeeze of citrus.
• if i get drunk durring the week, i do twice as much cardio on the weekend.
• if i do indulge in a high calorie drink, just have one.
• drink beer extremely rarely
• drink soda extremely rarely
• I can have as much red wine as I want (because I'm Italian).

also here is a great link for low cal cocktails :) Enjoy! http://greatist.com/health/60-healthier-drinks-for-boozing-030712/

Staying Motivated

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." -Mahatma Gandhi

Finding motivation to get up and workout can be soooo rough. I try to tell myself that even on a lazy day, I can do something. When I'm at my breaking point, I remind myself that every second makes my body better. It works for me. Finding inspiration is key.

 

 

 

 

 

Jumping Rope

"Cinderella,  dressed in 'yella,  went upstairs to kiss a fella..." Come on, don't act like you don't know this one.

You will hear me say it time, and time again! I'm in love with jump roping! There is nothing better for you than jumping rope! I'm obsessed with it! It's fun, and it really is a great workout. Jumping rope is a FULL BODY workout, and nothing burns more calories for a longer duration of time! Studies show that jumping rope for just two minutes can boost your metabolism for the whole day!

The act of jumping rope will only burn about the same amount of calories as, say, taking a run, for example. So, at first, it's hard to understand why everyone is so into it. BUT, the key to the jump rope secret is that it can increase your metabolism and work every muscle in your body.

...Literally, every muscle in your whole body is activated while jumping rope!!

My secret-

Since jumping rope is really tiring, and cardio is really not my strength, I like to work it in between weight circuit sets which helps to maximize it's impact and because i need a breather to recover (Honestly, I could probably jump rope for a about 5 minutes before I'd just pass out)!This works like a tabata workout, or a high-lo workout. intervaling intense cardio with weight training maximizes calorie burn.


Also, John Basedow does it, maybe.
I've heard, from a reliable source, that John Basedow goes to the gym and can be seen there just jumping rope for hours. Seriously, that might be true.