Need a kick into gear to ensure you’re still feeling healthy and happy in the New Year? The Sweat Pink Holiday Sweat Challenge is coming! As an ambassador, I’ll be getting tips each Sunday. Stay tuned for more on how we can support each other through the holiday season!
Because positivity is one of my top 5 strengths, I’ll start by sharing some happy news … I’ve been named a Sweat Pink Ambassador! The SPA program is run by the good folks at Fit Approach, and it’s another example of using social media for good in encouraging women to stay active and fit. (Guys, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the tips too!)
It was good timing for this to happen as I’ve needed a push to refocus on fitness. That was apparent on my run this morning with Fort Bend Fit. I’ve been following the “Little Half” program, designed to get those of us who started in the summer with the marathon trainers, but have been sidetracked, to catch back up.
I showed up for Little Half 2 weeks ago for a great 2 mile run. I felt optimistic about running a half marathon in late January with 16 weeks to train. And then last weekend, first I didn’t feel well on Saturday, and my sweet furchild Ava got sick and that ditched the plans to make up my run Sunday.
So, today’s 4 miles wasn’t pretty. I did my usual 1/1 run/walk for 24 minutes, and noticed a slight ache in my calf…and switched to walking for fear the dreaded hamstring injury was rearing its head (remember my injury went into the insertion point in my calf). I walked for 12 minutes, then ran/walked again for another 8, then walked again until running 2 minutes at the “finish line.”
IT. WAS. TOUGH. And it made me realize a few things:
I want to hear from you … when have you re-evaluated a goal, and how did this turn out for you?
(Repost from one of my favorites, Adult Ballerina Project)
Many adult ballet dancers take a break for various reasons like work, family and school obligations, health issues and financial constraints. Returning to ballet after any hiatus is often difficult. Even harder for me was deciding whether or not to return. Until 10 months ago and despite having Morton’s Neuroma, I attended 2-3 ballet classes […]
Source: To Return or Not?
(Repost from one of my favorites, Adult Ballerina Project)
I haven’t talked much about my running recently, but HQ and I recently got back into it at the end of the August and have been running an average of three times a week, slowly working our way back into it (and trust me, it’s felt like a struggle some of the time in Philadelphia’s […]
I may have found something I love better than Nutella:
Disclaimer: I won $100 of Justin’s nut butter products thanks to their sponsorship of the weekly #bibchat on Twitter, run by the fine folks at BibRave. I’ll be reviewing my stash over the coming weeks so I wanted to be upfront about the source of my products. If you ever wanted to know what $100 of Justin’s looks like…
But I digress. So, after unpacking everything into my pantry, organized by expiration date so I could prioritize what to try first, the Chocolate Hazlenut Butter squeeze pack was up first.
I was greeted with this text on the box: “Quick question: Do you eat cake frosting for breakfast? I didn’t think so. Neither do I. Yet some chocolate hazelnut butters have more sugar than cake frosting. Really. You can check. I’ll wait… see? So this is a warning that my chocolate hazelnut butter may not taste like what you’re used to – sugar. What it will taste like is a delicious combination of premium hazelnuts and organic chocolate for an addictive, skip the bread and eat it with a spoon delicacy.”
I was already intrigued! The description is right on though. Of course, I couldn’t get the idea of frosting out of my head as I squeezed my first taste out, as that’s what it looks like. That changed to, “this tastes like healthy frosting” on my first bite. Then halfway through the packet…”duh, Nutella is chocolate hazlenut spread!”
Except this was not as sweet, which was a plus. Because I love Nutella, but it can be too darn sweet sometimes. A quick analysis of nutrition labels clued me in to why: sugar is the top ingredient in Nutella. The hazelnuts are the top ingredients in Justin’s spread. Sugar is #3, and it’s organic cane sugar at that. The oil is farther down on their list than Nutella’s too. Also, Justin’s is gluten free and vegan as it skips the milk of Nutella, so that makes it possible for my friends with those dietary restrictions.
Nurition facts wise, calories and fat are fairly even between the two, and Justin’s has a little more sodium (due to sea salt). But Justin’s is a clear winner with less carbs, more fiber, less sugar and slightly more protein per serving.
One product down and 8 more to try. It’s my goal to try each one solo first, and then on other foods (breads, fruits & veggies, etc., though Justin is right here, you can skip it on this flavor!) … and I’d love to hear your ideas for how you would use each flavor!
It all started with this article. The concept: working out 450 minutes a week makes a longer life. That’s a little more than an hour a day.
So for May, I challenged my friends to join me in aiming for an hour a day. It was nice to have buddies in the adventure to check in on, so thank you ladies for joining in!!
The beginning of the month was pretty hectic at work with the end of the school year approaching, so most of my minutes were walking Ava. This did make me pretty aware of how much exercise she gets too (25-40 mins a day, depending). She’s gained a few pounds now that she’s living the good life, so this was good for her to get moving!
I never did hit 420 minutes in any one week. I got close twice with 396 and 398. My total: 1678 minutes, an average of 54 a day. But what did I learn?
So what’s next? I plan to get as close to an hour a day as I can most days this summer. I know some days that will be tough, so if I aim for it most days, I’m probably still doing well overall. And with a more regular work schedule this summer, it’s back to heartier breakfasts, packed lunches and homecooked dinners. That’s the best way to eat as clean as possible 🙂
What’s your summer plan??? I’d love to know!
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about routines. Or more accurately, the lack of one my life seems to have had in the area of nutrition and exercise.
Sure I’ve celebrated my wins in these areas, but it’s just as easy to let life get in the way and get them off track as anyone else.
As a summer approaches life for me tends to get a little more routine, and I’m okay with that. As much as I enjoy being a busybee and on the go, I also like the sense of some structure in my day-to-day life.
I have a list taped to the inside of my medicine cabinet which lists morning and evening routines. This list was created along time ago, before I had a dog and when I still had a fish. Needless to say, for those reasons alone it needs a little revising!
I’ve spent some time pondering which routines have worked for me in the past, and which ones have not, trying to figure out where to go from here. One routine that I revisited yesterday was my Sunday ritual: make sure to get a full night’s sleep, read the paper in the morning, workout at the gym, grocery shop and cook, and of course attend Mass. It was the first time in weeks I had executed all this, and it felt great!
Some other routines I’ve contemplated revisiting include everything from time outdoors on Saturdays, to the really basic concept of putting on workout clothes the minute I get home so I have no excuse but to do something active before I go to bed.
I know I’m more successful the more I can stick to basic routines. Things like making sure I pack snacks for the office, or booking time on my calendar for a workout, make me more successful in putting my health as a priority.
So, which routines work for you, and which would you like to add into your life that you aren’t doing now? I want to hear from you!
I knew my latest 24 Day Challenge was going to be different when, as I was falling asleep at the end of Day 1, I realized I didn’t take the before photos. I did the before measurements, but not the photos. Oops #1.
It would not be the last Oops of this challenge. If you’ve been following my health journey the past year, you know that typically, I lose about 6 pounds over 24 days of eating clean, avoiding processed foods, exercising and taking supplements. You also know that I don’t even take all the supplements suggested by the plan. Since I take synthroid every morning to boost my thyroid gland, I don’t take the thermogenics in the package (in fact, I order my items separately vs. the pre-packaged set)… I don’t need even more tweaking of my gland, thank you very much!
This time around, I lost 3.7 lbs. And I’m pretty darn happy about it.
Why, you ask? (After all, it’s not what I thought I would do!) A few reasons:
I share all this because I know I’ve had other friends do this challenge, or similar challenges, and maybe your results weren’t what you had hoped they would be. But, progress is progress, and I feel learning something through it is the true goal, not the number on the scale. I was reminded journaling keeps me accountable, and going far over the calorie count I’m supposed to attain definitely affects me.
Most importantly, I learned that truly, I should try and stick to this level of eating clean and exercising as much as I can, whether I’m on an official challenge or not. Just like a muscle that weakens without use, nutritional balance can easily go out the window and is trick to get back on course.
So, who’s ready to challenge themselves to a healthier LIFEstyle?
So when you #fast for #ashwednesday, the @myfitnesspal app sasses you. There needs to be a religious holiday setting 🙂 and for the record, I was over 1000 calories! #catholic #lent
Technically, I’ve owned my Fitbit Flex (and Aria scale) for 18 months, but 2014 was the first full year I owned it, and I had set out at the beginning of the year to hit 10k steps a day. So, how did I do?
So, what are my takeaways?
So if you have a Fitbit or other device, what results are you seeing?
The Healthy Houdat 