Thursday Thursday!

On Tuesday, we went to Mas to celebrate our anniversary. Mas is one of the few Spanish tapas (small dishes) restaurants in the area and it’s quite tasty. We wasted no time and began drooling over the menu, picking out tons of creative dishes.

The food was delicious. My favorites were the salad, the artichoke dip, and the octopus. Lee and I both agreed that we ate a little too much but with all the tasty plates, it’s hard to resist.

We even got all dolled up

My new dress is from Urban Outfitters, cardigan from Splendid, and my booties are from Rack Room- go figure! Lee rocked the fresh from work look and looked quite dapper if I do say so myself.

Since we had such a delectable night out, I got up the next morning to hit the gym. I jumped back on the same treadmill from the day before, hoping to get some inspiration to complete the beast. Later in the evening, I did some yoga videos with my roommate on our DVD player.

After getting our zen on, I called it a night and did a little reading before falling asleep.

This morning, I woke up and headed to the gym for some treadmill incline walking. I woke up at 5:30 AM which I think might be the magic hour to wake up if I want to workout. After the gym, I had extra time (a first!) and enjoyed a few Lara Balls over some reading.

Are you a morning person? If so, have you always been or have you had to train yourself to be one?

Here’s a great post on techniques for waking up in the morning. Have a good one!

Inspiration on the Treadmill

I loved everyone’s comments about running tips from yesterday’s post! After work, I went home and jumped into my workout clothes before getting too comfortable and headed to the gym with my iPod packed with new songs.  Suffice it to say, going to the gym straight from work is the best because I’m ready to workout yet still have the whole evening ahead of me to relax. I ran on the treadmill and it was a killer workout. I don’t know why I’ve been avoiding that bad boy for so long. I came home, did some stretching and shoulder stands, showered, and fixed dinner.

My new favorite salad

It tasted as good as it looked too. Salsa as salad dressing is so delicious. I sent this picture to my boyfriend, Lee and he had quite the “compliment”!

Little does he know I’m on my way to becoming a master chef! 😉

Today is actually our 2 year anniversary so we are going out to dinner this evening. I squeezed a short yoga workout in this morning after diving into my bowl of oats.

Brown sugary oats

Is it terrible that I’ve been measuring out less oats so that I don’t feel so guilty about the tasty brown sugar? Oops!

Happy Tuesday!

Question of the day: What is your favorite song of the moment to listen to while busting it in the gym?

My iPod totally got me through my treadmill workout. I’m currently loving the Red Hot Chili Peppers and random hip hop songs from the 2000s. Ja Rule anyone?

Running through Mondays

Good morning! I’m trying to be a little upbeat to get me through this Monday morning. I woke up a little sleepy this morning after not such a great sleep last night. After my run yesterday afternoon, I was having a sneezing fit. I may be allergic to something or just undergoing a minor cold.

Yo quiero…you to feel better!

Anyways, I had a great run yesterday. As I was running, I was trying to think of helpful tips to get through a run. I was never a runner in school (besides one year of track in high school) and have never really loved running but I do love the feeling after a run. Here’s a short list of running tips:

• pick a course to run so that you don’t give up too early
• it’s okay to check your water every couple minutes
• lie to yourself by saying “only 2 more minutes” if it helps
• jam out to music
• take some time to think and relax (sounds cliche but it’s actually nice to have some time to your thoughts-how ‘zen’ of me)
• focus on how great you will feel after it’s over
• and if nothing else, make yourself feel cool…

Woo I’m mid-air!

I found that running on a course or specific route makes it a lot easier to get the job done. My run yesterday began with a long downhill to return a RedBox movie. It was kind of like going on an adventure. If you live near stores, definitely try including an errand in your run. After returning the movie, I had already run for 20 minutes. So naturally, I told myself “I’m half way done!” (40 more minutes…30 more minutes..same thing, right?)

When in doubt- smile to get through it =)

After my run, I did some yoga stretches and a quick ab workout. Then it was off to shower and enjoy the rest of my downtime on Sunday. I actually made spaghetti squash to have for dinner this week so I will report back on how it tastes and everything. 🙂

Here’s hoping my meal will look this delish – Source

This morning, I made it to the gym for a quick elliptical workout followed  by an ab workout. I got back to my apartment and had a mini whole wheat bagel with almond butter and apple butter. It was tasty.

Yum peanut butter – Source

I read an interesting article in the gym this morning about waking up early in the morning. I wanted to share a great tip that I’ve been using to help myself wake up earlier- turn the lights on so that your circadian rhythm knows it’s time to wake up.

My circadian rythm says it’s still sleep time

Have a great Monday and the countdown for Thanksgiving begins! (If that isin’t exclamation point worthy, I don’t know what is)

Interesting articles:

• Why Hostess is going under– Time Magazine
• Weight and alcohol – Women’s Health Magazine

A rambling not so sleepy Friday

Do you ever wake up feeling extremely tired? Are you human? Yes and yes, of course!

Well, I woke up feeling tired. I like to get my workouts done in the morning before work so that in the evening, I can relax. Lately, I’ve been having trouble with this because I don’t have nearly the amount of energy in the morning as I do in the evening and afternoon. For the past few months or so, I’ve been working out in the early morning hours but my workouts have definitely been subpar.

Sleepy, not-so-energetic me

Over the summer, I would stumble over to my gym (luckily it is within walking distance or I may never make it) and do a half an hour of moderate cardio on the elliptical or bike. The problem was I wasn’t really pushing myself to workout hard. I tried eating something small or a cup of juice before working out and nothing seemed to really work. I just felt sluggish.

So the months went by and I was working out every morning but not seeing very good results, meaning I still hadn’t lost my college weight and toned up. What gives, I thought.

prayin’ for energy

This week, I finally realized that when I wake up I just need to grab something quick to drink like water, brush my teeth, wash my face, and just jump over to the gym. (I got pretty bad about wasting 10-20 minutes of being sluggish in the morning before going to the gym.) I try and tell myself to hurry up and get going so that I can have it over and done with. When I get to the gym, I undoubtedly still feel tired but I’ve found a new trick to get my butt burning calories!

<dramatic, suspensful pause ;)>

The answer to my problem is simply a hard, and I mean muscle burning hard, workout and quick. If I tell myself that I just need to bust it for 15-20 minutes for an activity, I find that my energy somewhat returns (mentally perhaps?) and I can get a good workout in the morning. I got inspired yesterday morning reading Women’s Health Magazine when I came across a “crossfit-inspired workout.” See my Workout page for the specific exercise I did on Thursday, November 8. It made it so much easier to grab some energy for this workout when I told myself, only 15 minutes you can do this. Oh, and my music on my iPhone is always an instant pump up for me!

alright, I got this…

Working out is not always fun (is it ever?) but learning about what works and what doesn’t for your individual body makes it a whole lot easier. I’m not naturally thin nor do I jump out of bed in the morning (you can ask my friends and they will tell you how they sometimes hear my alarm clock before me- oops!) but I’m eager to find a good balance to living a healthy life through working out and exercising while being just a normal, relateable girl. I like to try new things in everything that I do in life. Exercising is definitely a major part of my life and I’m excited to start this blog to talk about how to make working out and staying healthy an easier task for everyone. I plan to document my workouts, tricks I find along the way, food recipes, and general life tips along my road of being just your average 20-something year old lady!

Big world so much to learn!

Oh, and this morning, I got a jump start on the healthy wagon with a good breakfast. I made pumpkin oatmeal. I used the recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie’s Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal with a few adjustments. I didn’t have any pumpkin pie spice and I also halved the recipe because I wasn’t super hungry. It was really good!

Quote for the day: “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” -Steve Martin

Keep it real y’all