Monday, August 30, 2010

Knowledge is Motivation

Health

Health Comic

If you head blindly into a lifestyle change or diet without any knowledge in that area, you are setting yourself on a path to failure.

You aren’t going to see the right results [in the time frame that you want] therefore you will be unmotivated and you will give up.

Do you know these terms? Glycemic Index. HIIT. Basal Metabolic Rate. Glycogen. Lactic acid. Plyometrics. Isometrics. Posture. Core. If not, start doing some research! Okay, well you don’t have to get that obsessive, but it never hurts to know more and it’ll make your path to a healthier lifestyle a lot easier.

You can hire a personal trainer or take classes but one of my biggest motivators that got me to change my lifestyle (that was also FREE) were all the health and fitness blogs I subscribed to. All that addicting information opened my eyes to a whole new world that I barely knew anything about and I wanted more. I wanted to be part of it. I wanted to see if I applied all those tips and methods to my life, would it work for me?

Having knowledge suddenly made me realize how “easy” it was to achieve my goals and it provided me with the motivation that I needed because a clear path suddenly opened up. It seemed like there was no room for failure.

Unfortunately, there was. The only thing that could stop me was myself but luckily for me, one of my biggest fears is failure and I knew if I let that happen, I’m never going to let it go especially with all this knowledge that I now had.

It got me excited.

I was unstoppable.

And I still am. ;)

Are you?

2 loves

30 Day Blog Challenge
A song to match your mood.


No, I’m not missing anyone but I love blasting this song when I’m hitting the cardio hard with some crazy intervals. It’s not the fastest song but I love the beat and always gets me pumped up … and I love M-Flo!!

I use to be one of those people who would hate exercising and would come up with every excuse to NOT go to the gym. I’ve had a gym membership since I was 15 but sometimes I wouldn’t go for months even though they were taking $38 from my bank account monthly.

I didn’t start going regularly until I started to realize that working out had to be a priority. I couldn’t treat it as something that I could do, but it was something that I MUST do just like going to work, sleeping and eating. Unless my body wasn’t physically up for it, I told myself I had no choice but to work out, whether it be at the gym, at home or at 12am. Once you make it a habit and get into that mindset, you’ll learn to love it.

Anyway, this 30 Day Blog Challenge has been a major FAIL! I was so insanely busy the last week that I had no time to update at all… but then blogging isn’t my priority so I’m allowed to say that. ;)

6 loves

Thursday, August 5, 2010

02: Workout to Pig-Out

Health, Personal

30 Day Blog Challenge
A photo of something you ate today.

Ice Cream Sandwich

Ice cream sandwich; bought a giant box of these earlier this week and it’s almost gone.

Although I try to live a pretty healthy lifestyle, I encourage splurging occasionally and eating anything and everything that you love— and I’ve been craving these ice cream sandwiches all summer! I DON’T believe in totally cutting out everything because you’re just going to end up craving for it… and my favorite saying, what’s life without good food?! And honestly, I splurge A LOT.

BUT if you’re a long way off from your goals or if your goal is to be super ripped then you obviously shouldn’t splurge as much as I do. I reached my first set of fitness goals (weight) nine months ago so I’ve been maintaining ever since and all the exercise I do allows me to eat whatever I want… including lots of ice cream sandwiches. The only thing is that I don’t eat effortlessly because I work hard to give myself this pleasure.

If you want to eat whatever you want, be prepared to compensate for it down the line. You can either keep a strict diet with minimal exercise or my route,  eat a lot with lots of hard and intense exercise (a.k.a. best of both worlds).

Today was definitely a splurge day.

Dinner #1

Dinner #1

Dinner #2

Dinner #2

Delicious Cherries

Delicious cherries.

5 loves

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

01: My Foods and I

Food, Health, Personal

30 Day Blog Challenge
A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Katy

All gross and sweaty in the studio after my workout. Work was less stressful than last week, workout was a fun sweat-fest and then came home to NOT having to cook dinner (the best part)! The sister has so much free time this summer that I just give her my credit card and she does all the grocery shopping while I’m at work. Our house is stocked with fresh and healthy food and she even cooked honey-soy glazed salmon, yam fries and kale chips tonight. Life is good. ;)  Now, I wish someone would give me THEIR credit card.

Speaking about groceries, here is what my kitchen ALWAYS has to be stocked up on:

  • giant bag of baby spinach (pre-washed)
  • egg whites
  • skim milk
  • bananas
  • plain oatmeal
  • canned tuna
  • bags of frozen cauliflower in the freezer (one of my favorite veggies)
  • frozen berries

…and then everything else depends on what’s in season (especially fruit— LOTS of it) and the protein depends on my mood.

What do you always have to have in your kitchen?

5 loves

Thursday, July 22, 2010

It’s Your Life

Health

If you’re going to buy packaged food (which we almost all do), look at the ingredients. Think about the material the item is packaged in and what will happen to it once you’re through. Make sure you know what’s in there and not just what’s not. [Source]

$1850 sports bra?!

$1850 sports bra?!

  • Craving for pastries? If you feel like you’re going to DIE without one, get a piece of whole-grain bread/tortilla and sprinkle some sweet toppings on it like honey, organic maple syrup, low-fat cream cheese sprinkled with cinnamon, etc.
  • I read a lot of health blogs and come across yummy and healthy recipes often so I usually email them to myself so I always have it on hand in my Blackberry or iPod Touch. Google Mail labels are the shit.
  • My co-workers must thing I’m a boring nut. EVERYDAY I eat oatmeal for breakfast and salad (with egg whites and some kind of protein) for lunch. I’d die for oatmeal and my salads are yummy, okay. BUT then it’s a whole different story when I get home. *munchmunchmunch*

    The lymphatic system and the lymph capillaries helps in getting oxygen and nutrients to the cells by removing dead cells, poisons, toxins, and excess water from the tissue spaces around the cells.

  • That shows how important your lymphatic system is so learn how to flush it.
  • Fit Is One Thing; Obsessive Exercise Is Another
5 loves