Tag Archives: fitness

Hidden athleticism.

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I have never been athletic.  While many of America’s youth spend their time in matching uniforms proudly running around with numbers on their back, I was never one of those children.  Well, I was once.  I think I managed a few months of soccer in kindergarten but the only thing I remember is the day I forgot to wear a different shirt for playing goalie.

I never entered onto sporting grounds again unless forced by P.E. (physical education) teacher in school.  I didn’t turn into a chunky monkey until puberty so it’s not like I could even blame my weight on why I avoided sports so much.  It just wasn’t my thing.  I was way more focused on doing extraordinary activities like choreographing dances to Jimmy Buffet’s song “Fins”. I could dance my fins to the left and to the right all night long but if I was told to run a mile in class, I could barely get around the track without wanting to drop to the ground and gasp for air like a beached sand shark.   As much as I despised any sort of sport-related physical activity, I did manage to build a firm appreciation of roller-blading.  Skating the streets of my towns helped build the awesomely firm leg muscles that I still have today.

Once I discovered my love of fitness when I lost fifty pounds and was working at a gym, I decided I should give sports another chance.  I’ve always had fast reflexes and have been pretty good at catching random objects that have been thrown at me so the logical choice was to try playing softball.  With help from one of the most influential guys in my life, my friend Aaron and I began meeting up to practice my throwing and catching.   I wasn’t great but I was determined and tried to gather a bunch of friends together to start a team.  That goal died quicker than Disney’s plan to makeover Merida from the Pixar movie, Brave.

With extra motivation from writing on this blog, I decided to enlist myself in P.E. classes at my college.   As many of our faithful readers know,  I enrolled in yoga, Pilates, and a half-semester tennis course.  I was excited to see how easily my body made progress in it’s strength and flexibility and knowing that my body can indeed be trained into athleticism has given me faith that I can do even better.

tennis

I’ve fallen in love with tennis and I’m even contemplating taking my racket with me across the Atlantic when I leave for Europe in a month.  How will I survive without the tight grip that my hands hold around the handle and the strings that bounce my affections in the form of a neon yellow ball?

I willingly played tennis four times last week and was eager to practice more in between days.  I even gathered phone numbers of my classmates to play with before I leave!  I plan on taking tennis again next semester but hopefully I’ll continue to improve over the summer.  Plus, I just love the cute skirts!

Do any of you play any sports?  If not, have you ever wanted to but found excuses of why you shouldn’t like I so often would do?

Alyssa is back from her glorious trip and will return with a blog to come!

 

 

Happy wishes for the rest of the week for you all!

 

AprilSignatur

My reflections on my no-weigh month

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In a couple days, it will be one month since I agreed to say no to the scale for a whole 30 days. The first few days of not weighing, I felt anxious, like I wanted to just hop on and see what was going on. Since I had started boot camp three times a week, I had a hopeful feeling that the number would be lower – but then I remembered all the times I got on that scale thinking the number would be lower, and it was the same, or up, and it put me in a crappy mood for the next hour or two. The reason I decided to go no-weigh for a month was that it was getting discouraging to see the number not move. One bad weigh in and I was grumpy for the rest of the day, tempted to blow off my eating plans or exercise, because why did it matter? All that hard work and I was getting no where.

After the first few days of no weigh, I felt free. I didn’t hop on in nervous anticipation every morning. The scale became less of a mood-breaker and more of an annoying piece of furniture taking up space in my bedroom. It was liberating not to worry about a salty meal the night before, or if my exercise had “caught up” with me. I loved it. I loved being no weigh.

To help me keep track of my progress, I took all of my measurements the first day of no-weigh. I checked in today and did a re-measure, and I can say that I’m happy with the way things are going. At the end of this week, I’ll weigh myself and see what’s up. I don’t know what to expect. My fitness habits have been great, and I’m accomplishing major things fitness wise – running a mile without stopping, getting through 60 minute cardio sessions without dying, enjoying the healthy flush and spurt of energy that regular exercise gets me. Considering that I’ve just started a new job and am in my last month of grad school, my mood has been amazing. However, my eating has been more spotty with the last few weeks of school. This week, there were many days when I worked an 8 hour day, came home and immediately started working on my thesis, finishing up at 1 AM, snarfing down a few slices of pizza or going out to grab a Vietnamese noodle bowl with my husband. I haven’t been able to put as much thought and preparation into my meals, but I’m hoping my diligent exercise efforts have helped balance it out.

We’ll see how my weigh in goes at the end of this week, but if staying away from the number didn’t do too much damage, I might consider weighing myself less frequently. Over this long, long process, I’ve learned that you can FEEL skinny, FEEL fit, FEEL good – and not lose weight. But maybe you gained muscle. Or maybe you’re bloated. Or maybe you didn’t go to the bathroom. Or maybe you forgot to take off your bath robe. There are so many variables to what affects the number on the scale – and after my no-weigh month, I’m learning to give those variables less “room” in my daily life. Life happens. I don’t need a scale to tell me my worth, or what kind of day I’m going to have. I will choose to be conscious of my health by the way I feel – how I’m sleeping, my moods, my energy level, the color of my skin.

Have you ever considered doing a “no weigh”? Why or why not?

 

 

Weekend Recap – Enchiladas, Hiking and SNAKES!

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Hello everybody! I hope you had a lovely weekend. I know I did! On Friday, Matt had the day off and so did I, so we were lucky enough to spend a day together with our dear friends Jason and Juan. We headed to their ‘hood, in west Los Angeles, where we ate a picnic lunch on the beach and then wandered into a restaurant store where I picked up a couple things that I’ll show off on the blog soon. The real treat of the day was when Juan made us homemade enchiladas for dinner. Now, according to Juan, enchiladas are only “Authentic” when the sauce is made from scratch, by boiling dried chilies and then pureeing them. Here we are tag teaming in the kitchen – me frying the tortillas, and Juan rolling them up.

Me and Juan rockin' enchiladas

Me and Juan rockin’ enchiladas

Here’s the end result – and HOLY GUACAMOLE, these enchiladas were amazing – I’d venture to say the best I’ve ever had in my life. The cheese oozed out of the middle and the bottoms of the tortillas were crunchy and salty against the perfect, slightly spicy red sauce. I wish smell-o-vision was real so I could have you scratch and sniff your screen to get a whiff of these babies. I love spending time with friends, and spending time with friends and delicious food is like heaven!

Amazing homemade cheese enchiladas

Amazing homemade cheese enchiladas

The next morning, I felt the need to burn off some of that amazing cheesey goodness, so Matt and I headed to a local hiking spot about 15 minutes from our house called the Victory Trailhead. It was a beautiful clear day, and despite the pollen polluting the air, you could see the blue sky for miles and miles against the rolling green hills.

Victory Trailhead

Victory Trailhead

The great part about this place is you can choose if you want a difficult hike, a moderate hike, or an easy hike. We went with moderate, opting for some steep hills to get the views, but took the nice flat path on the way back. We ended up hiking for about two hours total, and according to my Polar, I burned 700 calories!

Feelin' Fit

Feelin’ Fit

This hike felt good because while I was out of breath going up the hills, I felt pretty “in shape” compared to the last hike I did. I definitely started pooping out near the end, when my pace slowed down and I was draggin’. Good thing my head was down as I climbed the trail, because it helped me avoid stepping on this little guy!

ssssssnake

ssssssnake

While I’m always leery of snakes on grass trails, especially in rattler country, I didn’t expect to see one smack dab in the middle of the beaten path. He was a laidback little snake and posed for pictures before calmly winding his way back into the grass. According to Google, he’s a harmless grass snake and exclusively eats lizards and frogs. I was a lot less scared of him than the giant grasshopper that decided to jump on my thigh mid-hike. Matt had to flick him off me as I screamed “Get it off! Get it off!” in a shrill voice. I don’t do well with grasshoppers… some day I’ll blog about that, but I think that would only tempt the universe to make them flock to me even more. *shudder*

Anyways, it was a lovely long weekend – a great productive one to make up for next weekend, when I won’t be able to do much since I’ll be recovering from my first lipo surgery! I got a groupon for some targeted bicep and tricep liposuction, and I can’t wait to suck the fat right out of my guns.  …

APRIL FOOL’s, of course. As tempting as it sounds to just suck the fat from my body, I don’t have the funds or the guts to go under the knife. Anyways! Lipo, snakes and enchiladas aside, how was your weekend? Did you have a long one? Are you off today?

 

 

 

 

 

My newest fitness obsession

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Pink sweaty band shows off my post zumba glow!

Pink sweaty band shows off my post zumba glow!

Those who know me in person know that I’m allllll about shopping. If I’m stressed out, I can very easily reap the benefits of retail therapy; nothing calms me liking scoring a gorgeous pair of sandals for 50% off or finding the perfect knick-knack for my house. However, as much as I love shopping, I also love practicality – I refuse to pay full price for almost everything, and I always shop sales and clip coupons. Lately in my workouts, I’ve been having trouble with SWEAT. I’m not doing weak workouts anymore, and my bootcamp, boxing and body blast classes leave me drenched. I seem to sweat way more than the average chick (for example, April barely sweats! What gives?!), but I’ve moved past the embarrassed phase to more of the “It’s just my fat crying” type of attitude.

Pink and gray sweatband after bootcamp
Pink and gray sweatband after bootcamp

When you’re boxing, you’re wearing huge, bulky gloves, which means you have no finger movement. When beads of sweat are rolling down your forehead and dripping into your eyes, it’s not easy to weave between the thirty other women throwing jabs and kicks and try to dab your forehead with a towel. Enter my newest fitness obsession! I’d been thinking about trying some of the snazzy homemade sweaty bands for awhile, but on a student budget I couldn’t do it; no doubt they’re probably well worth their price as they’re homemade. I was browsing Marshall’s, and as I persued the fitness section, I noticed a stack of headbands. The brand is 90 Degree by Reflex, and they’re 60% cotton and 5% spandex. There is a silicone band on the inside that keeps it on my head, and because it’s a moisture-wick material, it keeps ALL of the sweat on my head OFF my face – which is awesome!

90 degree definitely didn’t pay me to write this – just wanted to give a shout-out to an awesome solution for sweaty chicks. They retail for $18.99 (WHOA – that’s a lot of money!), but at Marshalls and TJ Maxx they’re $3.99 (SCORE). A good friend of mine is a fellow maxxinista, and she picked up a few other colors for me when she was shopping. I now have… don’t laugh… five of them!!! I’m looking forward to accessorizing my sweaty self with a headband for every workout.

Blue sweat band and dorky smile after body blast!

Blue sweat band and dorky smile after body blast!

Have you ever found something that perfectly fits a utilitarian need and then gone out and bought a ton of ‘em?!? Also… any other sweaty gals out there? I feel a little lonesome when I look around my classes and everyone is delicate and dry. What can I say… I’m a bad a$$ beast! Ha! Have a great day!

 

Morning Bootcamp Recap

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Good Evening, or if you’re reading this in the morning, Good Morning! Well, I survived my early morning bootcamp and I’m here to tell the tale. It wasn’t easy getting out of bed, and I snoozed 10 minutes past what I should have, but I made it to the park and was so excited to see my dear friend Merrie. Greeting a smiling face always make a workout that much better. We started out with some simple warm up drills – knee kicks, butt kickers, squats and jogging around the tennis court. I handled the warm-up ok, but by the time we started SPRINTS, I was questioning my physical aptitude.

The hardest part of the class for me was all of the running. I’m not a runner, not sure I ever will be, and that’s ok. Sprinting across the tennis court was hard for me, but miraculously, I found myself not caring that I was among the slowest in the group. It’s taken me two years of blogging to get to a point where I’m not ashamed of my slowness when it comes to physical activity – that’s the reason I’m there. My weight loss or fitness is not a competition, and if I’m moving too slow for someone, they can kiss my booty. The only race I’m in is with myself! On that note, the teacher marked our scores for sit ups, push ups, squats, planks and “6 inches”, where you hold your legs six inches off of the floor with your upper body off the floor, as well. I am hoping to improve my scores in almost all of these categories, but specifically, push ups and planks. I don’t have a ton of upper body strength, and to get to a point where I can confidently hold a plank for 30 seconds rather than wobbling like Jello would be awesome! By the time we got to ab work and could lay on our towels, I was in heaven to take a “break”. One nice thing about doing bootcamp at a park is you get to be in nature, surrounded by the blue sky and chirping birds. It was a nice retreat from my usual gym time view.

So here’s the best part about bootcamp – it was hard and tiring, but afterwards, I felt SO AWAKE. I rushed home, showered and headed to work, but I didn’t have the same midday slump I usually get. I felt accomplished too, knowing I started my day with something good for me. It was also nice to come home from work and be “free” for the night, to do homework without having the “I have to go to the gym” looming over me. I am super sore right now, but I know come Friday morning when I rise at 6:45 again, my body will be ready for more. This bootcamp is three times a week for five weeks, so the bootcamp coupled with my T/TH zumba classes should have me ready to strut in my swimsuit in no time.

So tell me about your workout today! Did you get one in? What was it? How do you feel?

Geek chic after bootcamp with my glasses and stripey sweatband!

Geek chic after bootcamp with my glasses and stripey sweatband!

I’m not a morning person.

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Do not disturb!

Do not disturb!

Many, many moons ago, when a good meal was a bag of Doritos and a bottle of Sprite (gross), and a new eyeshadow color was all it took to rock my world (Ok, let’s be real,  I still get excited over new makeup), I rose at 6:45 every morning to head to “zero period” at school for band. I’d stumble into the classroom, yesterday’s eye makeup smudged in what I like to think was punk chic (but really, was just teenaged lazy), sit in my chair (never first chair, second or even third – fourth it was), shove the pieces of my flute together and warm up for a glorious hour of riveting symphonic music. I have NO CLUE how I managed to do this for two years of my adolescence, the time when teenagers are most grumpy and most in need of sleep. Now, when I have to rise earlier than 8 am, I feel like a kitten being ripped from its mothers teat, in which I’m the kitten and my giant, cal-king bed is the teat. Ok, so maybe it’s not THAT dramatic, but you get the point.

I remember sometimes, on particularly disagreeable mornings, my dad would spray us with a water bottle to get us out of bed – sounds mean but really, was quite genius, and a trick I’m sure I will use on my kids one day. When we got old enough to drive ourselves, the water bottle trick wasn’t an option, so I’d sacrifice my good student standing for a tardy-slip, or worse, a notice for detention, and choose to stay curled up in my warm bed. I’m definitely not a morning person, but I’m not really an evening person, either. I keep a pretty regular schedule of bedtime around 11:30 or midnight, and waking at 8 AM. On weekends, I usually sleep in until 9, and on rare occasions when I have nothing to do, which lately is never, I can sleep like a cat and eventually rise out of bed at 11 AM, feeling like a blushing teenager. And naps? Don’t even get me started. The only good thing about being sick this weekend was that I got to nap in a glorious spree. I’m not really a tired person and I don’t “need” naps, but wow, when you get the opportunity to have one, they’re awesome.

The point of all this, is by the time you’ve read this post, I’ll have already gotten a full hour of cardio in. I have only exercised ONCE in the morning by choice – and that was a rare Monday morning when I awoke at 5:45 AM wide eyed and bushy-tailed, and walked to my neighborhood doughnut shop to buy my husband a crueller. (I had egg whites. The things you remember.) This early morning rise signifies a change in me – not just in the fact that I’ll be awake when the sun rises, but that I’m actually tackling something I don’t like (early mornings) for something I want (fitness). There will always, always, always be excuses – but there will also be opportunities to squash ‘em. So tomorrow as I flip tires and do burpees in a frosty park, I might still be asleep and wishing I was in my gnome pajamas in bed, but the point is that I won’t be – I’ll be there, in the flesh, making a difference for me and my future.

Are you a morning person? An evening person? A kind of neither person, like me? Could you rock a 7-8AM bootcamp?