Oh, September

This month, is just not starting out on the right foot. Spending a bit too much money on cab fares, restaurants, and bars has got me in a bit of a financial crunch, but at least most of my bills are paid for this month, so that is good. The holiday kinda threw me off, and I realize that is a piss poor excuse to let my intentions go to hell, but it is what happened. In August I had worked so hard in getting my diet/exercise plan on track and I really made some strides, but it seems like I have not really laid the tracks for this month to set up my success, and as the old adage goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail” I had planned on doing what I so cleverly coined “Squatember” which is doing the 6000 in 30 days squat plan, that I have heard about from my fb fitness friends. I would certainly be lucky if I could get to 3000 this month, easily 1000 if I did 40 a day starting today. Perhaps, “Squatober” instead and have a banging booty for Halloween slutty costumes? Maybe, just maybe. Last night’s grocery shopping  unintentionally Whole30 approved even though I am drinking dairy with my coffee now, it seems as if I don’t really want to buy bread products, and I am having fun making my own, even if that is discouraged, I am not really tempted to buy stuff like this:

However, my boyfriend bought us “Redneck Sushi” from Zen and it was so tasty! Seriously if you are in the Austin area and you want to go to a cheap place that has a fusion twist on Japanese and Tex-Mex, it is freaking awesome. It sounds like that wouldn’t work,  but it seriously does:

I don’t know how to take very good pictures on my phone, the lighting was much warmer, but I am not sure what the best ISO settings are to get a softer tone and, how to better angle the camera for a well composed shot. If I had any extra money, that is what I would spend it on is photography lessons (oh and a new camera, as I had sold my DSLR back when I didn’t know I wanted to be a food/fitness blogger)

By the way it is National Yoga Month, and in Austin, it was Free Day of Yoga on Labor day, which of course, I missed because I was stuffing my face full of nachos at the movie theater, and shortly after that I slept for 16 hours until I had to come to work yesterday. Living the dream. There may be some yoga events that I can attend, but since I already have my membership to Sunstone, I think it might be redundant unless I can take some classes on Tuesday and Thursday!  Not to sound like an old person, but it is too damn hot in this town for it being so close to fall. Even though it is a temptation to eat, drink, and be fatty, I cannot wait for the winter. Especially, for walking it will be much better than this:

Saturday, it should rain, but these triple digit temperatures are for the birds, kinda makes me wonder why I pay for hot yoga at all, when I could just do the asanas outside with the same sweaty effect.

Whole 30 – Day 31

Good morning, early birdies. Who has two thumbs and is drinking coffee with coffeemate and a teaspoon of sugar? This gal! My god, have you learned nothing?? Nope, I feel so good that I surprisingly have zero cravings for fast food (right now) and I feel like I could easily integrate being gluten free. I have a little bit of anxiety about a “paleo” muffin I consumed and not made by me while on the Whole 30, however, as I noticed most of the muffin recipes  do contain honey. But, you know, if I was not concerned about the possibility of added sugars in the cured meats I ate, then why should I stress about something like that. Regardless, I feel like this right now:

Oh and just because Hyper Crush is rockin’ so much bass (I can’t even feel my face):

I really want to reward myself. Not so much with food, but perhaps a year membership to Planet Fitness. They are kinda ghetto, though, no classes or any amenities, but a crapload better than the gym in the apartment clubhouse, plus there is a Groupon today. Perhaps, I should more focus on my goals with the yoga, though. I can understand why people like to go somewhere to workout, though. In my not so distant youth, I would often go to the bar just to get out of my apartment, needless to say that this can get a bit expensive. But definitely can’t afford that anymore, so my since of wanderlust needs to be quenched with something, because even though we do have a workout area, it just feels like a mini adventure, plus I would feel smug as hell to be mayor of a fitness establishment on Foursquare. How very dorky! So, what is everyone’s experience with PF? I would only be getting the $10 (technically it would be $8.25) do you think that it is worth it? Since I have a few days to decide, I will do some further contemplation on it and decide what I will do. If they offer free wifi in the gym, it will be hard to say no, I can tell you that.

So, results results results. Happy to report that my waistline is about 25″ and that I weighed in at 117 this morning! Okay, so last time I weighed in about 2 weeks ago, I was around 119. Really only a net loss of about 2 pounds, but I am going to defer to this article in defense of such a low number. I was talking about the program and already I feel like an ambassador to It Starts With Food, recommended that my coworker at least check it out from the public library (I bought it before I realized that it was available for free) I can’t pinpoint what exactly is making my feel better, but certainly the combination has affected me. The diet plus yoga has done something,  and maybe the cardio and strength are not the biggest priorities (why the hell did I call my blog fitorama, then?) but I manage to squeeze in 10k steps and that is a daunting accomplishment in itself. Well, as Drake would say, “it’s far from over”:

Whole 30 – Day 24

Drunken yoga, well not really, but this is the third time in a row that I have had lightheadedness and diziness in my practice. One likely culprit is that I like to drink coffee before I go and I believe the heat combined with the activity combined with the dehydration from coffee and having not had any water for 9 hours made me feel pretty crappy. So, next week, even though it will be difficult, I will hold off on the coffee pre-yoga, and just  wait until work for my caffeine jolt. Unfortunately, I even think Yerba (yucky) Matte has this same effect on me. So, it is time to switch out the coffee for water. To my cred, been pretty diligent with my workouts from Jackie Warner.  To the best of my memory, Weekly Wrap-up:

Sunday:  Chest, biceps, Abs – cardio intervals
Monday: legs, shoulders, abs – cardio intervals
Tuesday:  Back, triceps,  abs – cardio intervals
Wednesday: High Intensity Interval training
Thursday: Full body circuit training (all muscle groups)

Everyday this week except for yesterday, I have gone to practice, and mostly I have been walking at an incline on the treadmill to get the rest of the 10k steps. First world problem alert, first world problem alert: it bums me out that the WiFi at the gym isn’t working properly on my tablet anymore. I would much rather read an article or e-book than watch TV. Towards autumn, I will more likely be out at dusk getting my walks, and hopefully I will be able to take them with a Jack Russel terrier!

It is a good thing that I am doing so much activity, too, because last night I had an monster hunger attack eating probably more but we will only post it as half a cup of walnuts (350 calories, yikes!!) and an extra banana right before bed, just so I can store all that sugar as fat, yee-haw. It was definitely a binge, a healthy binge, but a binge, nonetheless. I suspect that it could be some feminine hormones afoot.  But, back to coffee, because no one wants to read about my cycle, I have finally found a beverage that I can drink without any creamer which would help me save some calories. If you are not one for the taste of coffee sans creamer, try the Medium Roast Starbucks Keurig cups. Moving on to the lunches, I have been staying pretty sugar-free during the day by sticking to pre-cooked food, enter chicken and asparagus four ways:

Yesterday, no picture but it was the chicken and asparagus with no side. All of the meals are pretty satisfying, good mixture of carbohydrate, protein, and fat and towards the end of the day I don’t feel as if I am about to die of starvatio, so that is a plus. Tomorrow marks another milestone  for me, so stay tuned!

Day Twelve

Yesterday, fueled by sugar-free Red Bull (ironically something I would have to give up on this program), I finished ISWF, and I have to say, this book is amazing. The Hartwigs really give you all the evidence and motivation to get started on your inflammation free journey with diet. It really isn’t junk science either, as something like an alkaline diet is. It is actual research based information, and they have cited their sources. (about 15 pages in 8 point font!). A huge plus in this read is that it really lays out all the information for you to make your own decision about if you want to continue to be at risk for diabetes and other chronic ailments or if you want to try an elimination diet for a month just to see what the effects are. It is one of those “what do you have to lose?” situations.

The Whole30 plan is very easy to follow. For one month, eliminate the following: gluten, grain, legumes, dairy, sugar/sweeteners, alcohol and tobacco. It is as they mentioned the training wheels to making a lifestyle change, so that ultimately you can have a healthier relationship (ie: less cravings and binging). One of their grey asides was that if you are struggling with quitting tobacco that it may be easier to focus on this before trying to take on this challenge. Since I only smoke when I drink am a social smoker, this shouldn’t be a problem for me, however for my bf I would only make the deal with him that he does the smoking part since his is more habitual. The plan seems quite empowering because it also mentions that you really do not have to eat what you do not want to. Occasionally, I will get tempted by my SO to just have “one bite” of something that I know is not really good for me, I feel like I have been given the okay to be a little less polite and a little bit more selfish, but in a good way.

Because I am an over-achiever, hah!, I went ahead and read the parts about integrating this system in your daily life. The grey side-bar “That ain’t special” towards the end of the book really resonated with me as well. Most of us will encounter a situation where well-intentioned co-workers will bring yummy breakfast items into the office such as doughnuts or breakfast tacos. While those are rather thoughtful, they can be detrimental for anyone who is trying to eat clean. The authors remind us that these little treats which, in my case, can be weekly are not really great and that you should not be tempted by something that really isn’t worth it. For the W30 program, that is going to be especially helpful to remember. Just say no! But, enough with the negative, the centerfold of delicious food in the middle of the book has already enticed me to start making paleo-friendly meals:

I guess I would like more from the authors in their views of exercise, perhaps an addendum entitled “…and then you move around”, you know just to get their researched based opinions on exercise and what is best, but if I had to wager, I would say that they are a lot like Mark Sisson’s views on “Chronic Cardio” which would be a-okay with me as I prefer yoga over running any day, with the occasional spin class thrown in. Overall, I would highly recommend this read, and I will be reporting with daily results of my own personal experiment.

Day One

The journey begins. While anxiously awaiting for my Fit Bit to arrive, my quest to get sexy and fit does not wait, so despite getting a nifty flower for my accomplishments, I get sweaty and gross. Does cleaning count for exercise, Fitocracy doesn’t think so, but MFP counts it, so at least there is that. The “BodyRock” attempt was a moderate success, in that I did not have the equipment necessary such as the weighted ball to really make use of it. Also, I did not record my scores for the time. Note for next workout, and also go to our shoebox gym for the medicine ball. Standard walks around the building give me a slight caloric edge.

Speaking of calories, so far so good. Well maybe not so good, according to MFP, I have only consumed about 775 of the recommended 1200. This doesn’t surprise me, even though I ate half a snack bag of chili cheese frito’s, I still only had a smoothie for dinner and very little  lunch. Will probably need to eat a second time later, probably chicken. This is the attempt of mine to maintain eating “normal” after my multiple 1000 calorie days last week. The 5-day fast forward from the Cinch plan by Cynthia Sass was awesome for losing bloatiness of sodium  and shedding a few pounds, but highly unsustainable and not really sure I am digging the rest of the book. Definitely a good easy plan to follow (only 5 things: eggs, spinach, almonds, raspberries, and yogurt) for looking good on beach vacation, but as with all crash diets, never something to do long term.

In other news, learning to code Javascript. This would be something I could never do when cutting calories. In my experience, my brain will not motivate me to do anything unless it has a little bit of sugar. Jackie Warner can demonize it all she wants to, but she doesn’t work in IT, I do. At least instead of reaching for the oh so yummy high fructose corn syrup (oh that makes you not able to learn, did you hear? – google it) I opt for things like fruit and you better never ever tell me to give up my coffee, goddamnit.  Was able to give up Diet Coke for a week, back on the wagon, but refocusing on cutting out the alcohol. Hey you got to have one vice, right? After the birthday, also determined to quit smoking once and for all. Not going to lie, having a SO who puffs regularly makes it quite difficult.

Otherwise, just tired, hopefully the HIIT style workouts and a renewal to my health/wellness will make me feel better and what is the point of anything unless it makes you feel good, right?