Aug
5th

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

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 everything out 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 lots with lots of hard and intense exercise (a.k.a. best of both worlds).

Today was definitely a splurge day.

Dinner #1

Dinner #2

Delicious cherries.

Aug
4th

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

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?

Jun
5th

Never underestimate the intelligence of your body. It’s a product of millions of years in evolutionary development.

Here are some of my random thoughts and also tips/quotes I’ve collected over the last couple months and shall leave you with while I’m on vacation. Please feel free to debunk any myths or if you need credit for the quotes.

Nothing tastes as great as skinny feels. – Kate Moss

• …but that doesn’t mean you should be an idiot and starve yourself. Just apply it to your fitness goals. “Skinny” doesn’t look good per se but lean and toned does!
• Stop thinking about calories and start thinking about nutrient density.
• Respect your food and think about it as source of life-fuel rather than something to get anxious and obsessive over.
  
• Buy fun and pretty lunch containers so making/packing lunch will be more fun.
• Eat fruit instead of drinking it.
• Spend the couple extra dollars and buy your veggies pre-cut and/or frozen if you are too lazy to prep them. Frozen fruits and veggies have the same amount of nutrients since they are frozen after being picked— at their peak ripeness!
• Cravings usually last no longer than 10 minutes… so wait it out!
• I grew up eating rice with tons of side dishes so now I have to eat everything with rice (or another carb) on the side. A great alternative that I love is cauliflower rice/mash.

Knowing your body shape can help you customize work out routines, particularly if you lift weights. Hourglass-shaped people should take care to include a varied abdominal routine, to help maintain their small waists. Pear and inverted triangle shapes can do additional exercises to help increase muscle in their more narrow areas, and reduce bulk in wider places, giving them all-over shape balance.

• If you’re going to workout anyway, why not just push yourself to your maximum potential? I always want to say something to people on cardio machines and hardly breaking a sweat at level 1 and going as slow as a snail since they are wasting their lives away but then I’d probably want to punch you in the face too if you said that to me. On the other hand, they motivate me to work harder.
  
• If you’re going to starve yourself, prepare to get fat.
• People with food scales and measure every ingredient they consume are crazy and wasting time. Getting that into it = getting stressed out = harder to keep weight off.
• Restricting calories increases stress hormone, making it harder to keep weight off…
• Diets don’t last. Once it’s over, you’ll revert back to your old habits a.k.a. yo-yo-dieting. Stop dieting!!
• You notice people who obsess over counting calories and jumps on every single fad diet are always the ones with weight problems, insecurity issues and/or eating disorders?

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. – Mark Twain

• The more you read, the less you know. It’s great to know but don’t get too caught up on information you read about (especially online) because there are always ifs and buts which will only stress you out and make you feel hopeless (eg. You need to eat carbs to replenish after working out but you’re on a low carb diet! What?!).
• If you’re feeling strong and healthy because your routine works for you and then someone comes in and says you’re doing it all wrong, ignore them! Everyone’s bodies are different. You need to find out what works for you.

• Being skinny is just as bad as being fat.

  As in skinny-fat; when you’re all bones and covered in a layer of fat with no muscles in between.

  Over-training is just as bad as no training.

  As in an imbalance between work and recovery.

There’s lots of people in this world who spend so much time watching their health that they haven’t the time to enjoy it. – Josh Billings

• My philsophy: eat anything you want but in moderation.
• Restrictions will eventually make you crack.
• Non-negotiable law: fat-loss requires a caloric deficit overtime.
• “Overtime” = weight loss requires a lot of PATIENCE. If you’re dropping the pounds too quickly, chances are that it will only be temporary.
• Always assume you are burning LESS calories than you think while exercising.
• Aways assume you are eating MORE calories than you think.
• “Stretching” and “warming up” are two entirely different things.

Dessert is metabolic suicide.

• Eating dessert after dinner causes insulin spike = all the calories you ate at dinner turns into fat. Instead, eat dessert at another time like in the afternoon.
• Turn your body into a self-efficient metabolism machine by LIFTING WEIGHTS.
• You don’t want to lose weight. You want to lose body-fat.
• I always though ab rippers, rockers and other ab machines are a waste of time and money. Toned abs = diet, posture, genes and simple core-strengthening exercises like Planks.
• Your abs are a muscle and needs rest too. Don’t train it everyday because you wouldn’t do that for any other muscle group.
• Hamstrings holds up your butt. Pecs hold up your boobs. Work those muscles hard and don’t be afraid to lift heavy— even if you’re a woman!
• Good carbs = fruits, veggies and whole grains. Evil carbs = packaged with 50 different ingredients you’ve never heard of.

A man’s health can be judged by which he takes two at a time – pills or stairs. – Joan Welsh

“Genes do not determine disease on their own. Genes function only by being activated, or expressed, and nutrition plays a critical role in determining which genes, good and bad, are expressed.” -T. Colin Campbell Research

May
9th

Apr
26th

EDIT: Check out my Top 10 Exercises Pt.2!

My favorite exercises changes every couple weeks but here are my favorite at the moment (not in order since they target different muscle groups). The first 3 are my absolute favorites and will always be on the list.

All these are compound exercises which works more than one muscle group in your body but I only noted one of the main ones. Click on the links to find out more. The most important thing when doing any exercise is POSTURE so make sure you know what you’re doing before you actually do it a.k.a. GOOGLE.

1. Bench Dips (triceps)
   My favorite compound + bodyweight exercise to work your triceps which is a muscle I’m obsessed with because I have a huge fear of turkey arms. It also works your pecs and delts.

   

2. Planks (core)
   Better for your posture than regular crunches but the only downside is that planks are HELLA boring so I have to make sure I have a good song playing on my iPod before starting one. A “strong” core should be able to hold a plank for at least 2 minutes.

   

3. Stability Ball Hamstring Curls (hamstrings)
   You want a nice ass? Then you should work your hamstrings… what do you think is holding it up? This exercise is way better than the Leg Curl machine; it uses your bodyweight and you’re also working your calves, glutes, abs, obliques. Compound exercises are the way to go!

   

4. Jump Lunges (lower body)
   This is a modified version of the lunge where you jump to each lunge position. It’s also a great fat-burning exercise because it’s an intense cardio workout. I absolutely DREAD doing these (even more than Burpees) but I feel so satisfied when I’m done. Try adding dumbbells for an extra-challenge.

   

5. Superman Back Extensions (back)
   Great for stretching and strengthening your back as well if you have lower-back pain.

   

6. Upright Row (shoulders)
   Great for toning your shoulders and also works your biceps and traps. I like to use a bar over dumbbells though.

   

7. Face-Down Bench Kickbacks (triceps)
   Fight the turkey arms!!! :@

   

8. Barbell Squats (lower body)
   Can’t leave the good old squat out of the list. This compound exercise also works your core and back and should be essential in all workout routines.

   

9. Mountain Climbers (full body)
   These may seem easy at first but trying doing them more reps, a certain amount of time or in a tabata routine… I swear you’ll be dying in the corner afterwards but you will thank yourself for doing them. You can also try different variations like adding “twist” to work your lower abs.

   

10. Hanging Leg Raises (lower abs)
    When I’m bored, I hang out on Boyfriend’s pull-up bar… and add some leg raises while I’m on there. I wish my core was stronger though.

    

What are your favorite exercises?