Fit for Free

Whole life challenge update

I’ve decided to add two more challenges:

1.) Only drink coffee with breakfast. When I drink it later in the day, I get jittery and have trouble sleeping! But I LOVE the taste (and, let’s be honest, the buzz), so it’s tempting to have it mid-afternoon. I’m going to stick to tea.

2.) Eat more savory breakfasts. As much as I love oats/fruit/almond butter/agave, I think the more savory mixes (i.e., oat bran, chia seeds, unsweetened soymilk, pepper, olive oil, sea salt) keep me more even-keel all morning long. And they’re really tasty!

(P.S.: I cleaned AND stretched last night and felt soooo much better afterward!!!)

I’m heading off to the beach for the weekend in a few hours, armed with lots of healthy food since we have a grill at our disposal! (Read: CORN!!, veggie burgers, spinach, whole-wheat bagels, Trader Joe’s crunchy PB, oat bran, soymilk, apples, oranges).We’re staying at a dog-friendly hotel and I’m looking forward to lots of walks on the beach with Arthur

Good luck to everyone running marathons/half-marathons this weekend!!!!

Thank you so much for all your support (and unncessary compliments) on my last post. It means a lot to have your support! I’m so used to certain patterns of thought that they’re hard to kick, but I figure if I can “let something go” on here once in awhile, it can only help

Maggie has an awesome challenge going on that I’m joining. The goal is to balance out your whole life—not just bits and pieces (i.e. food, exercise, sleep, socialization, alone time—it’s all intertwined!). Maggie suggested challenges like walking every day, doing yoga for 10 minutes, eating organic greens, etc.

My goals:

A) To stretch for ten minutes every day of the challenge. I’ve been feeling pretty old and creaky the past couple weeks, and I know it’s because my office yoga class ended and I haven’t replaced it with anything! And as I’ve learned from the past few years of consistently doing one hour-long yoga class per week (sometimes more, but never less), a little goes a long way. Yoga/stretching always makes me feel calmer, too. (I might even check out one of Yoga to the People’s new cheap hot yoga classes!!)

B) To spend five minutes cleaning my apartment every day. I tend to be all-or-nothing about cleaning (I’m terrible about hanging up my clothes after I wear them, so they end up in piles everywhere!). As with yoga, a little daily cleaning goes a long way. Plus, it will make my apartment a more inviting environment to stretch in!

What can you do for 10 minutes that will help balance your whole life?

Many of you have expressed displeasure at the fact that, when you look through old pictures, you remember the things you struggled with at that time more than the fun you had. It’s true for me too. Part of me feels like I’ve changed SO much over the years, going from “out of control” to “in control” of school/life/weight/whatever, and when I used to look at old pictures, my varying physical state reaffirmed that feeling. But when I look back now, I see the same person year after year. The physical changes seem so inconsequential. And I’m going to use this post as an opportunity to LET IT GO—all the insecurity, all the “on-the-wagon”/”off-the-wagon” bulls@#t, and the hope that one day I will return to a prior state of being. As Diana put it in a comment on my last post, I’m kicking that bitch to the curb.

At the beach w/ sis & aunt, August 2003: felt fit but fat

August 2004: 30 lbs. heavier, felt out of control

Sonny & Vani as Yoko & John, October 2004: felt fugly

with sisters (on far right), Christmas 2006: felt like I had a decent level of fitness and tenuous hold on balanced eating

in Spain (far left), November 2007: felt bloated and sugar-addicted

with sisters (on far right) May 2009: felt GOOD. eating less sugar, exercising moderately, forgiving myself for "slip-ups." Writing on the blog. Moving on.

What are you kicking to the curb today??

Well, I’m at my parents’ house in VA for the weekend (to celebrate my sis’s 15th birthday and a friend’s wedding!) and unfortunately forgot my camera cord, so I can’t share pics of all the delicious food we’ve been eating (read: almond butter and apples, almond butter and honey-nut Cheerios, almond butter and bananas–I’m on a bit of a kick), or photos of the lovely hike I enjoyed with my mom this morning, or the yummy homemade “frappucinos” I’ve been whipping up (soymilk + coffee + ice + raw chocolate + sugar in the raw), but tomorrow I’ll be back in NYC and plan to post them ALL!

A few thoughts . . .

• My intuition is telling me to eat lots of fruit + nut butter these days. I am listening to it.
• I went to WW on Thursday after a 2-wk. hiatus and was up 2.6 lbs. (which I attribute to the two weekends away!), and yet my family keeps telling me I look like I am losing weight. I am really starting to think that the scale is a bad way of judging fitness. I feel myself getting in better shape, so I’m going to go with that!
• Sometimes, posting pics of all the food I eat on here puts food in the forefront of my mind more than I’d like. I’m trying to think about food less and LIVE more. So, I’ll only be posting pics when I’m in the right head-space to do it
• I need to change my expectations. Recently, I’ve felt myself reverting to this mentality: “I need to get back to where I was. I need to be ‘in shape.’ I need to be able to wear the clothes I wore when I was 19.”  It’s been awhile since I reminded myself why I don’t want to “go back,” so here goes: I was unhappy. I was obsessed with food and exercise. I wasn’t honest about my feelings. In short, I fundamentally changed who I was as a person, it was really confusing, and I’m still finding my way back. There’s nothing about my life that I need to “overhaul”–I already enjoy exercise and healthy foods. I just need to keep trusting myself, trusting my stomach, and trusting my cravings. I’m already in a much, much better place than I ever was, and it can only get better from here.

What do you need to remind yourself of today?

In other news . . .

• Ruby has joined me in living gym-free!! I can’t wait to read about it
• Zesty is giving away a blog makeover!!

FOOD

What a lovely day! Seems like a good one to do a day of food

It all started with a 6:30 wakeup call, 2-mile run/walk (mostly run!) with Arthur in the park (I think he enjoys the running ), shower, coffee, and my favorite once-forbidden breakfast cereal:

1 c. Swiss Crunch perfection with soymilk and a sliced banana

I’ve been craving this cereal lately and it tasted So. Good. Fulfilling a taste craving is one of life’s simple pleasures

I’d forgotten about this impulse-buy (which I’d eaten half of and left at work . . . sometimes you just need a 3PM chocolate fix!)

making my workday

So, when my b’fast wore off around 11:30, I made a little snack:

Gotta love the Macro setting

Afternoon eats were pretty self-explanatory . . .

leftovers: ~1/2 c. black beans, ~1/4 c. pasta, and ~1 c. mixed veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, onion), with salsa

Afternoon snack part 1: sweet sweet strawberries!!! Summer, I can feel ya coming . . .

Snack part 2: a handful of raw almonds and Newman's Own organic raisins (so much better than Sunmaid!!! They have an almost buttery texture.)

I did squeeze in a 1-mile walk during my lunch break, bringing the daily tally up to 3 miles. Once home (around 5:45), I knew I needed to re-fuel, so I had a few fun snacks

Just needed a taste . . .

Only 1/4 cup or so!

The last tbsp is always the best. I'll miss you, Dark Chocolate Dreams!

When I have Swiss Crunch in the house it's hard to eat anything else! Here, a serving with soymilk. I love these tiny Corningware bowls.

Sufficiently energized, I met up with Sarah for a lovely walk in Prospect Park! We walked and chatted and walked and chatted and met up with another friend of mine and, before I knew it, nearly 2 hours had passed! I love it when that happens (and Arthur certainly did too . . .)

After parting ways with Sarah so she could pack for her trip to MA, my friend and I walked over to her apartment in Prospect Heights (another 20 minutes or so) and made a yummy cabbage/tofu stir-fry for dinner. Behold the leftovers:

peanut cabbage stir-fry (served with tofu and a few unpictured Spanish olives as an appetizer )

+ 1.5 glasses of red

. . . and a hermie for dessert after the 20-minute walk home

I loved everything I ate today, and loved all the time spent outside. The running and walking IS taking a toll on my knees/ankles, though—I think it’s high time for a yoga class!!

STEW

I’ve been stewing a little bit for the past 24 hours, because after relaying my knee/ankle concerns to a friend of mine, she replied “well . . . people with our body type probably shouldn’t run.” I felt really offended by this. She and I are both on the tall/curvy side, which means we’re not naturally as aerodynamic/light on our feet as others might be, but I don’t think that’s a good reason to stop running when I derive a lot of satisfaction and mental release from it! It makes me want to keep running just to prove her wrong. But that’s not the healthiest reason to run. Argh.

Have your friends ever judged you for your fitness pursuits?