Exercise Your Ears.

Sometimes my weekend trips to the gym are nearly too much to handle. People are packed in there like sardines, everyone vying for the one open treadmill, gym rats asking you, "How many more reps you got?", it can be a truly stressful and often annoying experience that I endure because I need the exercise. Okay, I'll be fair, sometimes it's not half-bad! But quite often, the only solace I find it escaping into my headphones. Good music really makes a workout WORK for me. It helps me stay motivated when I am feeling tired, pushes me to go a little bit harder when I feel like calling it quits, encourages me to keep a steady pace, and, of course, drowns out the rest of the people!

Recently I looked up exercise and running playlists and found a few good ones, so I thought I'd share!

NPR Ultimate Workout Mix

2012 Huffington Post Running Playlist

The Ultimate Workout Playlist

Good Housekeeping Jogging Playlist

I got a lot of really great song ideas off these and am now working on creating my own amazing playlist! I hosted a radio show for nine years and really miss selecting music for everyone to listen to, so when I finish my own I'll post it and everyone can enjoy!!

This song is the one I ALWAYS put on when I need a good jumpstart. Happy sweating!

Veg-Head.

We all know that we need to eat at least three to five servings of vegetables a day--which can sound like a lot, but in reality it can be so easy to achieve! One of the most useful things I've been doing since I started the AAY! Nutrition Program back in January is chopping up and bagging my veggies for the week every Sunday night. It is amazing how much time it cuts down on later in the week--and I've found when I have pre-cut red bell pepper to reach for when I'm hungry, it is so much easier to surpass that bag of chips on top of the fridge.

Vegetables are also super versatile and can be thrown into so many everyday recipes. People think vegetables are boring or not very tasty, but they don't have to be! Here's some things I like to do to ensure I'm eating enough veggies, and enjoying myself while doing so:
-add kale or spinach to smoothies (yes, it turns the frozen drink a sort of ugly green color, but you cannot even taste a difference)
-add shredded cabbage to salads
-sprinkle baby carrots with cinnamon (okay, this sounds weird, but I swear, they're delicious!!)
-steam cauliflower and then mash it--it's better than potatoes!
-make zucchini chips (one of my most brilliant finds to date!!)



WAIT, CHIPS?! That's right, CHIPS. Healthy! Homemade! On my nutrition plan! How do you do it, you ask?! Let's begin..

I had a leftover zucchini from a 3-pack I'd bought and I noticed the other morning it was starting to look a little sad. Better use this tonight, I thought. Zucchini is one of those veggies I tend to overlook--it's not bad, but it is kind of dull. When I got home after work that evening, I was HUNGRY. Too hungry, you know what I mean? The kind of hungry where you want to eat every piece of bread in the house and you need sweet and salty and definitely something crunchy to go with that. I opened the fridge and saw that little zucchini, and figured I should find a way to make it taste delicious. So, I turned on the oven to 425 and sliced the zucchini into thin rounds using the mandoline. I put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and sprayed it with olive oil and then laid the zucchini rounds down so they weren't overlapping. I gave them a little spray of oil and crushed some black pepper on top. Then I let them bake for about 15 minutes, flipped them, baked another 10 or so, and they were done. PERFECT! Okay, like two of them burned a little, but the rest were ah-mazing. Crunchy like a chip, but healthy like a vegetable, because, oh right, that's all they were! One cup of zucchini only has 20 calories.  Which means I had my "guilty" pleasure snack for only 20 CALORIES. I was so proud, and am so looking forward to making more!

TRY THIS! You will not regret it. You can also do it in the microwave--I learned this the next afternoon when I just had to have more! Put a piece of parchment paper on a large plate, spray with oil, lay the rounds down, spray, top with black pepper, and microwave for around 6 minutes. BUT BEWARE. There is a really fine, delicate line between done and burnt when you microwave them, so I kept checking to make sure they were okay.

Now you know all my secrets. I hope you love 'em, too!!

One run at a time.

The other day I had a particularly awful shift at work. People were being negative, being mean, being aggressive. As much as I just wanted to go home and curl up in bed, I knew my gym clothes were waiting for me in the car. So I sucked it up and went running at the Silverlake Reservoir. It's a nice little loop, something like 2.2 miles, and I've only ever run it once before--I've really never been much into outdoor running, I'm usually a treadmill type of gal. But it was perfect, just what I needed: some fresh air, some good music on my headphones, and some heavy breathing. Of course, there were points when I thought, "Am I actually running right now? Is this too slow to be considered a run?" So, let's be fair, perhaps I was JOGGING. But I was doing something!

I went home, and, feeling the high of exercise, sat down to eat my snack. And then I just wanted to keep eating and my mind was playing tricks on me, giving me the thoughts of, "Oh, you went running! Treat yourself!" This is SUCH an easy trap to fall into. I've done it millions of times. But it is so utterly counterproductive! I ate too much and felt heavy and full and disappointed. I didn't want to sit with this feeling, so what did I do? I put on my shoes and went running out the door. What?! I have never, ever in my life done this--especially not at night. Sure, I've taken walks--power walks even--after dinner or when I'm feeling antsy or like I need to indulge in a little self love, but I've never gone running. It felt so good! Of course I'm not proud that I was driven to do this thanks to overeating, but I think it's a GIANT LEAP in the right direction. I am not sure how far I went, but I think it was about 3 miles, and I cannot tell you how good it felt.

...and the next day I felt like my legs were going to fall off.

"A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise." 
-AA Milne

Cute Organics

I think this is such a cute little chart--useful, too!!

I think I can, I think I can..

I've been doing a lot of research on WILLPOWER lately. Sometimes it feels like I don't have any! Some days I succumb to all the temptations around me. Well, I'll be fair to myself, I don't really eat ALL the things I sometimes want to, but I have had moments of mishap.

Here's a list of ways to increase willpower that I am finding helpful during this journey:
*NOTE: these are in no way, shape, or form the RIGHT things to do, they are just some things that might be helpful methods of strengthening your willpower muscle...

-anticipate roadblocks and plan for these problems
-eliminate negative influences
-avoid temptations whenever you can
-make small, manageable goals and remind yourself constantly how important these goals are to you
-set up a rewards system for yourself for achieving even the most minute goals (but FOOD IS NOT A REWARD!)
-commit to your goals verbally to as many people as you can--it helps you stay accountable
-use keywords and little phrases to keep you motivated and working toward your goal--say them over and over in your head when you are feeling weak
-just as we utilize rewards when we do something good, remember that there are consequences when you make negative choices--for me, I tack on extra workout hours, but not as a punishment, just as a consequence for not sticking to my plan
-be kind to yourself, and don't just give it all up because you ate poorly one day, or didn't exercise enough one week--it takes time to get where you want to be!!

Okay, so I'm still working on ALL of those (errr, especially that last one about not beating yourself up!), but I'm getting there.

To be or not to be...

Sometimes I struggle harder than other days. Sometimes I tell myself I'm doing awesome, when, really, that's a lie. Sometimes I am too hard on myself. Sometimes I'm easy as hell. But I keep trying, I keep going, and I'd like to think that in the end that is what matters most.

My boss told me I was going to get super fat when I quit smoking cigarettes. Then the other day he commented that I hadn't even gained any weight yet. I was proud to tell him I lost--even if it is only a very few pounds--but it was one of those times I wanted to say, "Haha! Proved you wrong!"

One time I asked a therapist if I was bipolar. She said if I was that aware of my feelings, probably not. Do you think sometimes labeling things is actually counterproductive? Like, if you say you're not good at math, then you just keep believing it, and, maybe, you stop trying to improve, because you've said you aren't good at it. Or, maybe, you have to prove, in a sense, that you aren't good at it. So you don't really try at math anymore. Or you avoid it as much as you can. I don't want to do that with weight loss and getting healthy and fit. I don't want to keep saying it is so hard and that it's never going to happen to me, because I fear it'll turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. I fear it already has.

For me, it's a lot bigger than the food itself. It is way more than just eating less and working out more. It runs deeper, courses through my veins, my very being, consumes me. It is my addiction. It is my prison. It is my life, though, and I really have to just

Sometimes, well, a lot of the time, I tell myself to fake it 'til I make it. This might be one of those times.

Abs-olutely!

Tomorrow is Monday which means weigh-in day. I loathe the scale, I dread the scale, I fear the scale.

I confided in my boyfriend my fears about tomorrow. While I had a pretty good week, and really worked my butt off exercising (eight and a half hours worth!!), I don't know, I just don't feel like I lost anything. And my usual reaction when I get on the scale and see a number that hasn't budged, or, even worse, one that has gone up, is to cry and feel like a failure.

And, come on, I know I shouldn't. There are SO MANY factors that go into your weight on any given day, and, hey, maybe I am actually gaining some muscle! But I know myself, and I know the shame spiral those trivial numbers send me into.

So Bryce suggested I do some ab work to make myself feel better. No, I don't think that fifteen minutes of crunches is going to help me drop more weight by 7 AM, but it most certainly was good for my mental health.

And he even held my feet down for me..