February: Gluten Free

I am constantly coming up with ideas and goals that I want to set and accomplish and they seem to be all over the board. There are really only a handful that I end up going through with. That said, I have newly decided that I want to make a resolution for each month this year, while still sticking to the original resolutions I had. I will dub January the kick off of the new year and therefore the month where I started putting my new years resolutions into action. February is going to be gluten free month. I'm practically ready.

I went to the grocery store and bought some brow rice bread and tortillas but I also bought some veggie chik'n patties and veggie breakfast sausages...not realizing that these contain wheat and wheat gluten until after I had gotten home and thrown away the receipt. It's going to take me a little bit to get the hang of not eating gluten, but I think once I have it down I will be able to stick with it for awhile. I am thinking possibly til summer, but who knows. I am not allergic to gluten (that I know of) and I do not have celiacs disease. I am just so curious about this feeling people tell me that you feel when you stop eating gluten. A girl in my class that is extremely intolerant to gluten and cannot have any contact with it whatsoever was telling me how surprised you would be by some things caused by gluten. From skin conditions to headaches and even depression, can all be caused by gluten. I've been told it takes ~3 months for your body to realize and process the shift to gluten free so if I adapt easily enough in February I will continue on. I am very excited and curious about this change. I like challenging myself.

I've been extremely busy lately. 

I had my first fashion show this last weekend. It was fun and quite the experience but the event itself was unfortunately very unorganized and overall a little bit of a disappointment. I feel so happy to have friends and family that care for me. I couldn't help but apologize to them and feel guilty, especially for making them pay to come to such an unorganized event. I really do feel like I could've organized that event better...not to be cocky or anything. But everyone told me they were happy to go, also for the experience, and that they were happy to be there to support me. I love all my friends and family. They've all helped me become the person I am today.

I have a few tests to study for these days. I had some roommates move out and new ones moved in. I am still working on my fitness goals and also trying to buckle down on a business plan and decide what I want to do when I graduate school in 8 weeks!!! 

I've included my work out of the day (WOD) from yesterday below. I can definitely feel it today. I added a few things to challenge myself and I've found that I am definitely getting stronger in my push-ups and pull-ups!

>Side Lunge on Bosu with dumbbell curl --10 ea side
>Dead lift, straight leg, 30# --15
>Squat with dumbbell shoulder press --10

>Pull-ups (mod. as needed) --10
>Push ups (mod. as needed) --16

I'll be sure to keep ya'll posted. Keep up with all of your hard work and new years resolutions!

Yesterday's WOD

single arm dumbbell bench press 30 secs each side

single arm reverse flies with dumbbell 30 secs each side

pull-ups (assisted) 30 secs

push-ups (assisted) 30 secs

isolated side lunges with dumbbell curl 30 secs each side

bulgarian squat (one legged squat with dorsi flex) 30 secs each side

cross-over step-ups (make sure to step-up and down with the same leg) 30 secs each side

*Complete 3 rounds, with 1 minute of rest after each

Of course, don't forget to warm-up and cool-down :)

>I pushed myself hard on this one, to the point where I felt like throwing up. Now that's when you know you've got a good work-out in. Remember to push yourself but don't go overboard. You are the only one that knows your limits. Don't forget to breathe through everything! Breathing let's your body know you are okay even if you are hurting and/or pushing it super hard!

On the Countdown!!

Already less than 10 weeks of school? Okay! 

Dang the days are passing me by quick! I am so excited, I feel like March onward is just an opening of a whole new chapter in my life. 

This past week has been amazing! I never would have thought it could have gone over so well...
I worked out every single day except for Friday I took a little break. Dancing is a great way to work-up a sweat and get your cardio on! Why not throw your own dance party in your bedroom where you can bust out all of your favorite moves and sing along to the music, pick all the songs...its a win win situation if you ask me.

I learned a bunch about stretching this week and am definitely trying to incorporate that into everyday routines, just adding it on to my work-outs. 

My weekend wouldn't have been complete if I hadn't made some more cheesy collages for my liking! I made a real nice one with a friend on Saturday with lots of magazine clippings, but I also made this one and currently have it as my background on my computer: 

"Make Everything for that Pool Side Moment"

I want to be fit for summer this year! My goals are totally realistic with the fitness level I am now at and I have 4 months (minimum) to complete this goal and 5 months (maximum) til June, where the summer sun [usually] starts shining. The goal more specifically is toning my body to the point where you can start to see outline of muscle in my shoulders, stomach (abs), and thighs. It's going to be so much easier than I ever thought, at least after this week that is how I am feeling.

After this week I feel like I am starting to become a tiny bit obsessed with working out, which I suppose is a good thing being that it is what I want to make a career out of. Maybe the word obsessed isn't exactly right, it sounds almost negative, but I feel like I love working out more than ever. My body starts to feel tight and uncomfortable if I go without working out for just one day and I feel this way even more if I don't incorporate some stretching into my life a little bit every day. 

How are you all doing on your new years resolutions?
Are you sticking to your goals?
Are your goals realistic?

If you want to talk about anything I'm all ears!
I love helping people anyway that I can and I want as much practice with anything and everything in the next two months before I graduate, so please, throw something at me!

:) I hope to post a very delicious recipe for Potato Leek Soup soon...until next time.

MAKE THIS WEEK BETTER THAN THE LAST!

10th Week of School....9 to Go

That's my kitty.
I wanted to post a cute little picture and thought I'd include this one. It's just after I got her in February 2010, she was 6 months old then.

Today I got 'snowed in' at the house I nanny at. They live on a hill and I don't have snow tires or very good brakes. The boy I nanny also stayed home from school today because all he ate yesterday was dinner and therefore his stomach was not happy with him all night. We've been watching movies all day and basically being lazy. I've been trying to read up on my school stuff since I missed the day, but my attention spand is short. 

Yesterday I talked to one of my teachers about my goals to make sure I am on the right path to accomplishing them. For the most part I am...If I could keep up with the work-out routines on the weekends and not eat a bunch of crap food. HOPEFULLY this week/end will be better. 

I completed a nice full-body work-out yesterday and I'm feeling it today! Especially in my abs. I was just thinking to myself yesterday that I want to start working out my lower abs more...I think I found the secret. An ab roller. I incorporated one into my workout and I am feeling that oh-so-good-pain in my abs just where I want to today. 

Below is the work-out..Feel free to modify however you feel needed.

10 Pull-ups
15 Push-ups
30 Stability Ball Crunches
15 (each leg) Cross-over Step-ups
5 slow/well done ab rolls (with an ab roller)

*Complete 3 rounds with 30 seconds of rest in between each
Remember to cool down and warm up!

Boot camp style work-out

Jump rope for 15 seconds
10 sumo squat kettle bell swings
15 moving planks
50 curtsy lunges (25 each side)
Bicep curls, shoulder press and Arnold press -- 10 each
Quick feet (works best with ladder, but improvise!)
Hold boat (15 seconds)

*3 rounds, 30secs-1 minute of rest in between each

Don't forget to warm yourself up - get that heart rate up!
& cool down - help get your heart rate back down!

 

1 of 12 Weeks Complete

Sunday night, ending my first week of the last twelve of school. Eleven more to go.

It was a pretty good week. I tracked what time I woke, what I ate, when I went to sleep and my workouts everyday. Paying close to attention to how long my stomach stays full from meal to meal and how what I eat makes my body feel. So far I have found that eating a starchy-ish lunch at 11:30am will keep me full through the afternoon (until ~6 or 7pm). I worked out 5 days this week, took 1 day off completely and took another day to spend time stretching, spending two minutes on each stretch; because in school we learned that the minimum amount of time to make a difference on a muscle when stretching it is 2 minutes. Yes this seems like a long time! But I've found if you relax, put on some tunes and also get a timer you can just set the timer, really relax and get into your stretch and just wait to hear the timer buzz.

I think I want to continue with this and make it a regular pattern.
Work out 5 days per week, take 1 day off and take 1 day to stretch.
I have told myself (and successfully held myself to it) last week that I would take a half hour to work out every day after school that we didn't work out hard in class.
I continue to do this until I graduate school.

Going back to my regular diet last week was surprisingly easy and my body took it really well. I thought I would have horrible cravings and that it would be hard to eat small things every few hours, but it wasn't, it came easy. However regardless of not having the cravings I still ate like crap the last two days (Saturday and Sunday). I want to curb the habits of eating horribly on the weekends. It is too easy to do but I know it can also be easy to break.

Also, come February I think I want to try a gluten free diet. It is going to be hard, because I love bread, but I've been talking to a few friends about it and reading a bit about it online and I think it is completely do-able. If it comes easy enough for me in February I want to continue on with the diet for a few months and see how my body feels, then test how my body reacts if I switch back to a gluten based diet. 

This next week I will try to post a little more, at least with my daily exercises, to try and keep a little motivation up for you readers out there. 

remember:

"Just a little bit a day gets you a long way."

Another New Beginning

The start of another new year. Time to resolve something, right? I personally just love setting goals and feel like this a great time to really get a lift off on things. There is a lot of extra motivation going into the last 3 months of school! I have roughly 4 official 2012 new years resolutions.

The first one is to drink less. It's not that I drink a lot, but I do drink. I want to cut it down to a goal of maybe 4-6 times per month. I am going to make a mark on my calendar whenever I do drink so I can total it up and see where I'm at by the end of the month. It is not only for health reasons/benefits, but to save money too!

I also want to decrease my body fat percentage and increase my lean muscle mass, particularly targeting my thighs and core. I am very excited to work on reaching this goal! It's probably the biggest goal of mine and ties in directly with things that we do in and for school. Towards the beginning of December my body fat had decreased to ~19%. I am not completely positive on what a reasonable body fat percentage goal might be so I am just going to have a goal to decrease it as much as possible and see where I am at by the end of three months. How might I make sure to stay on top of this?

Well, that is where my third goal comes in. I am going to pay more attention to my eating habits and change them as necessary to be more beneficial to my over all day. I have previously touched on this a bit, but in school we talk a lot about paying attention to the way the food we eat makes us feel, how long we stay full, the energy it gives us, etc. I bought some instant oatmeal to be able to make in the morning and I think I am going to make smoothies to take with me in the morning and drink once I get to school, since that is the time I usually become hungry again. Additionally I would like to cut my intake on fats, unnecessary sugars and carbs, such as candies, chips, chocolates, etc. I definitely want to watch my intake on carbs coming into the new year!

I got a stability ball for Christmas so I plan on using that tons in my work outs to come in this new year. In general I would like to stretch more and just keep eating healthy, in a strict way, but when I am strict about eating it just comes naturally and I enjoy eating that way, rather than it actually being a strict diet or something. 

Coming into the second half of school I am now known as a returner. We will be spending the first three weeks or so going over how to measure circumferences, body fat percentages, work with clients, etc. etc. Touch on all the basics. I want to keep dibs on myself every three weeks. Re-take measurements and all that. I am no longer expecting to reach my weight goal, with the regular fluctuations in the last weeks I feel like my body may be at a point where I am starting to build lean muscle mass and am no longer losing a lot of fat. As long as I work hard towards my goals I will consider rewarding myself with the tattoo that I want.

I was invited to go to LA with my aunts to visit a cousin that lives down there for a weekend after I graduate. As much as I really want to go, I've decided to pass up the opportunity. I would rather save my money for certification exams to come after I graduate. I may even have to put my tattoo on hold if it ends up costing too much, as I suspect it might. I am going to give myself a price limit, so I don't over-do it. But I have so many travel plans I want to do this summer and they are so more important to me than getting a tattoo. I can get this tattoo at any time in my life. It is to last forever anyway, why not wait?

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays and do well sticking to your goals and resolutions this new year. I am here to help, let me know if you have any questions or I can help you in anyway. Best wishes to you all. Happy new year, 2012!!