fitness

Need an oil change?

Most people know that cars need routine maintenance; gas to make it run, and consistent oil changes.  Then there are a select few that religiously get the tune ups, the engine flushes, tire rotations, break inspections, the things that a car can continue running without, but not for very long.

This is how I feel about the human body in some regards.  Most people know that you have to eat to survive, the better the fuel the better you perform, and most people will workout once in a while because they know it is good for them.
But unlike a car, we can’t get a new body when our current one breaks down from improper maintenance, or trade it in when we want a new body style. This is why it is SO important to take care of the one we have!
Just like you would take your car to a mechanic for the things that go beyond your knowledge or skill, I firmly believe everyone should see a personal trainer, or some other guru of what I like to call “natural preventative medicine” to learn how to make and keep your body at its best.
We only get one body, and unlike the car I have that I am very terrible at maintaining, I want to do everything I can to make sure my body performs at its peak for as long as it can.
You know you need to work out and eat healthy, but do you know why you need a certain type of carb or protein after a workout?  Have you ever thought about the flexibility of your spine or your hip mobility?
I used to be a pretty average gym person.  I would go, stretch, do some cardio, and do some weights… but there is so much more than that that should happen to get results and reap the benefits of fitness!
There is an overload of information out there on fitness and nutrition. There are always the latest fads, new workout crazes, but there are also the tried and true methods of how to keep your body healthy and at its best.
So, if you want to keep your “engine” running at its peak, take the time to do the maintenance and find a credible professional you trust to help you out and show you the way.  
Remember, you only get one body, and there is more involved in maintaining it than gas and oil changes. 
10 Foods that help you burn more fat

Healthy Buddha: 30 Day Running Challenge!

Borrowed from an amazing blog that I follow here on tumblr, the 30 Day Running Challenge!!!

healthybuddha:

  1. When did you start running and why?
  2. Why did you continue to run?
  3. What ultimate running goal would you like to accomplish?
  4. Tell us about your first race or when you plan to start!
  5. What’s your favorite distance to run or race and why?
  6. To you, what’s the hardest thing about running?
  7. Who…

Healthy Buddha: 30 Day Running Challenge!

Recipe of the Month: Baked Tomatoes with Quinoa, Corn, and Green Chiles

This recipe really tested my skill level in the kitchen. Broiling, carving, bagging, this one was certainly an adventure.

The shopping was all pretty straight forward, until I got to the “Poblano chiles”, because, according to Meijer, they are “Poblano Peppers”. Enter, exhibit A:

Alas, I believed it to be the same, so off to the check-out we went, and from here on out they will be referred to as “peppers”. This actually wasn’t the first “interpretation” I made on this recipe, for example:

“Place tomatoes and tops, if desired, on a jelly-roll pan”

What the H is a jelly-roll pan? Google tells me it is just a baking sheet, so all systems were a go.

The broiling turned out to be way easier than I thought it would be, since it was just a button on the oven next to “bake”. I used to be under the impression that broiling was a fancy way to boil something in a frying pan. Oh, how adult-hood is changing me.

Post-broiled peppers, blackened skin acquired.

I was a little unsure about putting the broiled peppers into a paper bag, but then realized it was probably to dry them out, making the skinning process easier.

A Horrocks bag sealed with drink mixers is kind of the same thing the recipe asks for. Paul tried to take a picture of me putting the peppers into the bag, but said my face looked too disturbed.

Skinning the blackened peppers, by the way, not annoying at all! Just kidding, it was a total pain in my butt.

The tomato carving was the most nerve-wracking part for me. I was deeply afraid of failure in this step, but, I am happy to report that I was very successful! I envisioned a massacre, but it was very much like carving a pumpkin. Just don’t stab through the bottom (or a side) and you are all good.

So cute!

I actually did the tomato carving first, that left the pulp to pretty much drain itself while I was preparing the peppers, onion, and corn. By the time I was ready to go back to it, I had very little pressing to do.

Confession time: I didn’t rinse my quinoa. I never do. I am a second child, I ate stuff off of the floor, got pacifiers straight out of the dirt, and shared my ice cream cones with the dog. I doubt my life will be saved now by rinsing quinoa. It always turns out just fine!

I questioned whether the last step was necessary or not. What major difference could 1 and a half minutes in the broiler make? Paul, in all his wisdom, told me that baking will cook it all of the way through, and the extra broiling will crisp the top. Thank goodness for adult supervision while I’m cooking.

Ready to go into the oven!

What a flavor-full turn out! Even if you don’t like tomatoes, eating just the filling will satisfy you without an overwhelming tomato taste. And it looks so impressive and presentable!

The only thing I might change is the quinoa to corn/onion/chili ratio. The mixture turns out to be mostly quinoa, but I believe it could be have a stronger flavor with more of the corn mixture.

All in all though, this seems like a very tedious recipe at first, but is one that can be mastered after just a few swings at it.

You can find the full recipe here: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/baked-tomatoes-50400000121356/

The recipe I will be tackling next, a little more in my comfort zone skill wise, is a beet salad. It will be my first go around with beets, so we will see how it goes!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!  i will post about my vacation sometime this week, I promise!

Not having the best of weeks…

I don’t know how else to put it other than I am struggling.  My weight doesn’t seem to want to budge (in fact, it has crept up a few pounds), and it is just deflating.

I pulled up my official race photos from my last half-marathon and was almost instantly brought to tears.  I hated what I saw.  It was one of those moments when I felt embarrassed to be me, to be walking around looking like this every day.  

I get mad at that, and then I get even more mad because I just don’t get it.  I understand that everyone is different, everyone is built different, and we all gain and lose weight differently, but I try SO HARD.  I lead an active, healthy lifestyle, and it seems that even maintaining my current slightly over-weight figure is hard.  Losing seems IMPOSSIBLE!

On Saturday alone, I took a group coaching class at the gym (a.k.a. a total ass kicker), rode my bike and then swam laps.  This was after more bike riding and a killer strength training session on Friday.

I run a very fine line between keeping a healthy mind-set about it and sliding into a very negative and unhealthy mind-set.  At the end of the day, I will always do right by my body and not jeopardize or compromise my health, but it is a struggle to keep my head up about it.

On today’s agenda, I have a bike ride, a run, and a strength training session at the gym.  The workouts will help make me feel better.  And next week, I will be at my cottage all week where I can run, bike ride, and swim to my hearts content.   It is such a relaxing place where I can refocus and get some positive energy flowing again.

One thing that I struggle with in regards to this whole thing is that I am in the bestconditionof my life but not in the bestshapeof my life.

So, today I will try and focus on the fact that I am healthy, I am strong, and hopefully soon the rest will fall into place.

Possibly one of the strangest days of my life

So back to my exciting weekend: Saturday was a trip! And by trip, I mean a visit into realities that are so far from my own.

I hope any reader out there picked up on the warning that I will pretty much talk about anything and everything in this blog, and this entry will just be one of those extra special glimpses into my life.

I started my day with a trip to my home town to attend the baby shower of one of my oldest friends.  I have known Karen since middle school and can still remember the first day I met her, laughing at our goofy teacher in computer class.  We always had the greatest time together, becoming inseparable and even leaving the public school system together to attend a parochial high school that my brother went to.

I had the privilege of standing up in her wedding two years ago, and after more than 6 months of trying, she and her husband finally got pregnant with their first child.  I couldn’t be happier or more excited for her.  

She and her husband moved to Philadelphia almost a year ago now, so when I got the invite to her Michigan based shower, I was ecstatic (no girl should go a year without seeing one of her best friends).  It wasn’t until I was driving there that I had to remind myself that this wouldn’t be our usual, careless hang out and catch up session… it was a baby shower, one of the most awkward things for a single girl like me who has no children and cannot picture them in her foreseeable future.  To me, any midday, non-work related social gathering that occurs on a Saturday or Sunday that doesn’t include alcohol is way out of my comfort zone.  A baby shower falls under this category.  After all, I was the friend at the shower that still had sharpied numbers on my hand from the bar the night before.

Note that I am not a huge drinker, but again, as a single twentysomething, alcohol is usually a mainstay at any event.  My parting text before leaving to my heterosexual soul mate was, “there will probably be balloons and no wine” (I HATE balloons…it is my weird phobia).

Excitement was restored when I arrived and was able to sit with 3 beautiful classmates of mine from high school.  It was so great to see these familiar faces, but I soon felt like I had sat down at a Russian only speaking math convention (not speaking a lick of Russian and being terrible at math).  All 3 of them being mothers to 1 if not 2 beautiful  children, the conversation naturally turned to breast feeding, breaking water, bed times, upcoming recitals and the highs and lows of motherhood and marriage.  

Natalie, an amazing woman who I was very close with in high school, kept looking at me and laughing because I clearly looked lost and out of place.  It was so strange that I graduated with these women, am the same age as them, but felt like I was from a completely different planet.  I had nothing to add about “which city was THE best for young families to build houses” or “whether a child should sleep in your bed or not”.  How does a person our age even afford to build a house?  I can hardly build up a canned goods collection in my cupboards. 

“Which gift is yours?”  I was asked by a woman sitting at our table, as she nodded toward the table loaded full of presents.  ”The one that’s not wrapped” I said, shoveling cake into my mouth, my stuffed lamb sat staring back at us, perched on top of the children’s book, just screaming, “bought by the single, non-mommy”… typical I suppose.

All in all, it was so great to see my friends and the beautiful women they have grown into, but it was good to come home to my bachelorette pad and a life I can relate to… well, I was safe for a few hours anyway.

That night, I had a the unique opportunity to see 2 of my co-workers and a good friend of mine compete in a figure show.  Never having been to a figure show, I had no idea what to expect.  I thought I had a vague idea, but it’s like that saying from the old MTV show “The Diary Of…” that said “You think you know, but you have no idea”.

The show was kicked off (25 minutes late) by a woman belly dancing while balancing a sword on her head, bending and twisting, and humping the air from a kneeling position.  I am pretty sure she was cross-eyed.  I wasn’t sure at this point what I had gotten myself into.  She was followed by another guest “poser” who was a short man in his 50’s wearing a dog collar and a leather thong with studded fringe hanging daringly over his butt, which he repeatedly turned and shook at the crowd.  He was dancing so hard I thought his dog collar was going to pop off.  I give them both major credit though, because they owned their performances and had clearly put a lot of work into their physiques… I just wasn’t prepared.

The show continued onto the women’s competition, and again, a world of credit is given to these women because they looked amazing, but dear God, I am pretty sure I was born in more fabric than these women were wearing.  I wanted to pop fresh bottles of Tylenol to use the cotton to string together a bigger outfit for them.  They would walk out, pose, then pivot to face the back of the stage in order to stick out their butts to show off their hamstrings.  At one point, there were 6 perfect asses just staring at me.  Had my boyfriend been there, I would have shot myself… I don’t need him knowing that asses like that actually exist in the greater Lansing area.  I like to thinks he believes that all asses look like they have taken fire from a meteor shower.

It honestly felt like a horse auction.  Contestants would stand up there and people would shout for their favorite.  I kept waiting for someone to yell, “$100 on number 3!”.  Again, though, it is a tough sport requiring a perfect diet and hours of dedication in the gym.  God bless em.  I couldn’t help but feel that I could have saved my $25 and felt like shit about myself at home.  Not to mention the fact that the MC kept announcing the “winner of the 2002…”, he didn’t get the memo that it was 2012.  Poor guy was either nervous or high. 

It was so worth it though to see my friends up there.  All of their time at the gym, struggling through the bland diet and sacrifice of any sort of social life paying off as people screamed for them on stage.  It was so motivating to see these people (as crazy as it was) showing off the product of their hard work.  It made me think twice about the drinks I was order that night to recover from the ocular rape that was the belly dancer and thong shaker. 

So, for now, I have had a sneak peak at mother hood and body building, and though motivating and fascinating, neither are for me at this particular juncture in life, but I have learned to never say never, so I wont cross them off of the list of possibilities.