Tag Archives: technology

It’s not goodbye, but see ya around!

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Dear Double Chinners,

When I started this blog over four years ago (wow!), I felt inspired and compelled to chronicle my journey from fat to fabulous. When I started blogging, the ‘fabulous’ part meant that I’d reach my goal weight and flutter off into a land of thinness, where I could eat chips and dip with no ramifications (I still wish for that!). As the years wore on and the journey remained a journey and not a destination, I started to grow a little bit bored of the whole “losing weight” thing. I’ve accepted that my struggles with reaching a healthy weight will be something I’m constantly trying to achieve, and that’s okay.

I decided over Christmas this year that I was ready for a change. I was planning on writing my traditional New Year’s post for this blog, and I was looking back at last year’s New Year’s post. I had already been feeling stifled this time last year, and even wrote that I was considering starting a new blog, since my “weight loss blog” has really been nothing but a “weight maintenance, sometimes loss, and sometimes gain blog”. I was feeling like I was falling out of love with blogging, and that sucked, because I’ve been blogging since I was 14 and I LOVE blogging. So I took some time away from the blog to think. We didn’t break up, but we took a break. And that break was exactly what I needed to decide that while I’m not done blogging, I need a breath of fresh air. I need to get out of the box that I put myself in, and step into a new place– one that’s huge and large and limitless and lets me talk about whatever the heck I want, like travel or makeup or fashion or weight loss with PCOS.

And so, my friends, LaLaLyssa.com was born. I noodled for awhile on a new blog name, and settled on LaLaLyssa.com for a few reasons. First of all, I had purchased AllLyssa.com as a play on words, to be everything and ALL Alyssa, but then I learned that Allyssa.com (one less L) was a porn site. Yeah, no. Too much potential for awkward typos. I was going to blog under my business site, AlyssaCurran.com, but I liked the idea of a cutesy, separate land for all my ramblings. And so I chose LaLaLyssa.com, for a few reasons:

1) I choose to live my life embracing quirkiness, and sometimes I feel like I’m in LaLa Land.
2) I live IN La La Land (Los Angeles).
3) I used to name products, and one of my favorite things I’ve ever named is a popular toy line that starts with the prefix ‘Lala’.

VisitMe

So there you have it. The Double Chin Diary isn’t going away, but it’s going to quietly simmer on the backburner. Every now and then when I want to write about weight loss or fitness, I’ll probably write a post over here, but will link to it from my new site as well. As I said before, my journey with weight loss is far from over. Despite the number on the scale, I’ve made some amazing progress towards being a healthier me — like being able to walk amost 60 miles in 3 days, and more importantly, learning to love myself despite my weight. I hope you’ll come over and check out what I’m up to at LaLaLyssa.com, because I love hearing what you think. I’ll always be grateful to the Double Chin Diary for giving me a taste of what being a ‘real blogger’ is like, and for opening the door to many exciting and awesome opportunities. I also plan to one day write a book, and that was the reason I started this blog — because I knew one day, I’d have an “after” to match my “before”, and I’d call it the Double Chin Diary. This isn’t goodbye — it’s just see ya later 🙂

The Double Chin Diary Siggy

 

Fitness goes mobile: my favorite iPhone fitness apps

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Did you guys know that 30% of people say their phone is the first and last thing they look at each day? Holy guacamole. It’s true for me, as my iPhone is my alarm clock. While sometimes I hate feeling like I’m tethered to the “electronic leash” (aka, why I loved going on so many remote camping trips last year), I have to say that my iPhone is incredibly convenient in many ways. One of the top ways I’ve used my phone recently is to help me get into shape. Here are my favorite fitness apps of the moment! If you have a smart phone, give them a try and let me know what you think.

1) While me and My Fitness Pal sometimes go days without seeing each other (I’m on a 5 day streak now! Let’s hope I keep it up), this app is incredible. It’s very rare to find a food item that hasn’t already been calculated for calories, fat, protein, carbs, etc. In fact, I find MyFitnessPal a better app than the Weight Watchers one, though in all fairness, it’s been about a year since I used the WW app. I’m back onto counting calories/carbs, and having a digital diary of what passes my lips is really helpful for making good food choices. I also like the little surge of victory when I add in my exercise for the day. Add me – @lyssacurran! My Fitness Pal is free.

2) I’ve just recently started using Couch to 5K again because at one point in my life, I’d like to be able to run a whole 5k without stopping. I like the friendly voice and idiot proof interface that tells me when to run, when to jog, etc. I like that you can skip ahead or stay behind if you don’t feel “ready” to advance to the next level, and you can play your own music while you run. Free in the App Store.

 

3) My friend Julie and a few others have swooned over the Yoga Studios app, but for some reason I kept forgetting to download it. This weekend I finally remembered, shelled out the $2.99, and commenced yoga in my backyard after doing a run. I love the calm voice that guides you through the positions, the no-nonsense video model that helps you twist and bend, and the soothing wind sounds and gentle music in the background. I also like that you can customize your classes, schedule reminders, and build your own classes. Super cool — this app has already helped me find my zen twice this weekend!

4) Sometimes you just don’t want to work out. When I get that “arghh nooooo i’m lazy” type feeling, I try and think of the quickest way I can do SOMETHING. Anything! Enter the 7 Minute Workout app. You don’t need anything except yourself to do these workouts, and before you know it, seven minutes is DONE! Usually by the time I finish one set, I’ve overcome my laziness and am ready to do a second. There’s a results tracker and activity calendar so you can applaud yourself for your efforts,  and during the workout, a timer and voice tells you when to start and when to finish. The voice even says “Almost there!” so if you’re suffering during burpees like I do, there’s a glimmer of hope that you’re near the end.

So there you have it – my four favorite fitness apps. Do you have any of these? Am I missing any? Share in the comments so we can all be fabulously fit through our phones!

Friend Makin’ Monday… on Tuesday!

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Hey Folks! The inspiration fairy has not visited me for tomorrow’s post, so I decided to go back to an old favorite – Kenlie’s Friend Makin’ Monday!

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Ten Questions

1. Describe the kind of home you would live in if money were no object.  I think location would definitely be Malibu – and I’m seeing a large, colonial or Cape Cod style home with amazing natural light, a huge yard with space for a garden and fences high enough to let the cats explore, an in-ground pool with a diving board, and gigantic bay windows looking out to the sea. Oh, and the kitchen would be HUGE with a granite island and a Viking range with a massive stainless steel refrigerator. I’d also like a secret garden bursting with blue and purple hydrangeas, climbing vines and a romantic wrought iron table set up next to a trickling waterfall where I could have my morning tea. Yup. Sounds good.

2. Are you more conservative in your actions or more rebellious? This is a hard question for me because I can be a goody-goody in a lot of ways, like I hate being late, and will bite my tongue rather than provoke a conflict over something petty, but I’m rebellious in that if I know something is WRONG I will stand up for what I believe, even if that means attracting negative attention. I’m also rebellious in that I work hard to always be my authentic self; on my blog, at work, with my friends, with my family. I have a pretty outgoing personality and I’m not shy about expressing myself, which some people would say is rebellious because it sometimes means making an ass of myself. I’m also very blunt and have been known to shock with my crude sense of humor and blatant honesty – in that way I’m a great friend to have because I never blow smoke up people’s arse, and it makes me a good employee because I can’t tell a lie to save my life!

3. Would you go to Mars even if it meant you could never return to Earth?  Haha. As much as I’d love to see Mars, I want to stay on Earth for now. Until intergalactic travel is FDA and FCC approved, I’ll stay on this Planet. 😉 Isn’t Mars the really, really hot planet anyways?

4. Name one song that makes you want to dance every time you hear it. “The Bird Song” by Florence and the Machine. It’s actually a pretty morose little song about a bird, but I always put this on when I’m unloading the dishwasher and boogie around.

5. Share one thing that you wish you could go back and do differently in your life.  I wish I would have learned about nutrition and health much earlier in my life, as I believe I’d have an easier time losing this weight if I had been more aware of a proper diet and fitness. It’s shocking to me that the girl who I am today never orders french fries on the side and spends at least every other day in the gym – and at one point this girl regularly ate pints of Ben and Jerry’s and wouldn’t know a transfat if it poked her in the eye. This did a lot of damage to me – one I’m going to spend years undoing.

6. Share at least one accomplishment that people wouldn’t expect you to be proud of.  I’m learning to say no. This is a weird one for me, because I love to help people, and I’m a very nice person. However, the past few years, constantly saying yes started to affect my stress level because I was always taking on too much. In the past year I’ve been so fortunate to have been approached with SO MANY opportunities, but I’ve also been fortunate to learn when I’m biting off too much. I now recognize that when I’m at my max capacity I don’t put out my best effort – and to me, not giving something 110% is really frustrating. Finishing my master’s degree, running this blog, working full-time, writing for freelance clients and trying to get healthy, all while trying to maintain friendships and a relationship, has not been easy, but I’m learning to navigate “no” much better than I used to.

7. Describe one delicious thing that you’ve eaten lately.  BUSTED! My mother-in-law will be here tomorrow night, and it’s her BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday Shirley, I love you! Anyways, I made her some delicious chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter buttercream. I’m not gonna lie, I definitely licked the bowl out more than I should have. Hey, nobody’s perfect. 😉

8. If you had a theme song that would play every time you entered a room, which song would you choose?  “Somewhere over the rainbow” by Iz, because I walked down the aisle to it and it’s sooooo pretty and is all about dreams coming true and living a calm, happy and centered life. And the line “where troubles melt like lemon drops”, isn’t that just perfect? Don’t you want your troubles to melt like lemon drops? I do!

9. Had technology enhanced your life, or has it over complicated your life? I think the answer to this is honestly both. I’m a child of the Internet, and I looooove the Internet, but I definitely grapple with the irritation of social media crises erupting at 3 AM, or when my iPhone decides to crap out in the middle of recording an important interview. I love technology and would never, ever willingly get rid of it, but I have to say, it does cause a lot of trouble! But on the flip side, I’m lucky enough to have a tech-focused career, and the industry itself is fascinating, fast-moving, and always ripe for adventure. So if I had to lean more towards one option, I’d say enhance.

10. If you could get paid to do any job, which job would you choose?  I’d be a writer, which makes my heart happy, because I do get paid to be a writer. Writing has always been my “safe place”, and I find that words can do so much – inspire, inform, entertain, persuade, disappoint, excite, aggravate, convince, compel… You name it, words can do it. When I got my first copywriting job at a toy company writing instruction manuals, my first thought was “How lucky am I? People all around the world are going to read my words. So what if they’re words about how to put together a toy car?! I’m getting PUBLISHED!”. My long-term career goal is to become an author, and I’m hoping the little old Double Chin Diary turns into my first book. 🙂

Ok – that was FUN!  Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions!  Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments. If you don’t have a blog, pick one question you like and answer it in the comments, I’d love to know more about you.  Thanks for reading! <3