There are a lot of w's in my post title huh? Apparently I'm in the mood for a good alliteration this evening! Today I had a little "me" time and got a massage and a manicure. Thanks to Groupon, my hour-long deep tissue massage was only $25...how can you not love that right?! Since I knew I wouldn't feel like working out or have time to after my couple hours of pampering, I planned on doing a workout first thing in the morning so I could still fit exercise time in for the day. I rolled out of bed this morning and first did my favorite YouTube AM yoga video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xfqio9l3x4 I've followed this video a bunch of times, and I always feel so stretched out and ready for the day after it! Harley moved her blanket to be right on top of my yoga mat, and then ... [Read More]
workouts
The Institute for Integrative Nutrition
Hi friends! Anyone else psyched for Thanksgiving? It's 4 PM on Tuesday and I'm already done with my work week! Tomorrow my hubby and I are heading down to San Diego for the rest of the week, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's crazy to think that I haven't been back to San Diego since moving from there to the Bay Area earlier this year -- which was already 7 months ago. I adore SoCal and my friends there, and we have a lot of fun things planned! First up, my weekly autumn slim down recap: With the exception of indulging a little bit more than I had planned on last weekend, the past week my eating has been super healthy and my workouts have been great. I've really been enjoying writing down my workouts on a daily basis. It allows me to look back at the whole week and recognize ... [Read More]
Total Body Rowing Circuit Workout
Happy, happy Friday! As usual, I'm looking forward to the weekend. Then next week I have a 2-day work week, and then I'm heading down to San Diego to spend some time there and celebrate Thanksgiving. I'm excited! Onto workouts... You may have noticed that when I talk about the workouts I've done in a week, I often mention rowing. It's a form of exercise that I started doing a lot of earlier this year. I find it to be really efficient and an awesome form of cardio, and I actually talked about some of the benefits of rowing in this Girls Gone Sporty article. While I'll sometimes do intervals of rowing/resting, I've recently gotten really into incorporating rowing into circuit workouts that last 45-60 minutes. I feel so sweaty and accomplished by the end of them, and I especially ... [Read More]
Ditching the Scale This Week
"Trust your first instincts, they're always right," the spunky yoga instructor at Yoga Inside Out said to me during a sweaty power yoga class I took with Gina last week. The instructor was talking specifically about my lack of decisiveness in finding where to place my hands during a pose, but I took her little reminder with me when I left class and applied it to life in general. Last week I was having a hard time on the weight loss front. I was working my butt off in my fitness regime and practicing portion control with my eats, but I kept stepping on the scale and seeing not a teeny bit of change. By the end of the week, I realized what I instinctively wanted to do: ditch the scale for a bit. It was only throwing my game off mentally, and the scale certainly does not tell the ... [Read More]
Leg Burner Interval Workout
Hi there, and Happy Hump Day! Over a week has flown by since my last autumn slim down update, so today I'm filling you all in with how things have been going the past week. Since my main thing with toning up is portion control and keeping my calorie intake around 1,400 a day, I'm happy to say that I've been right on track with that and lost a bit over 2 pounds from last Monday to this one. I indulged a bit on most days, but all in moderation. A few of my sweet tooth eats included a lollipop on Halloween (though I remember Blow pops being better?!), a mug of hot chocolate, and these pumpkin pancakes with dark chocolate chips: Sometimes eating pancakes for dinner just does the soul good! As far as workouts go, I fit in lots of good exercise time last week. One of the days I really ... [Read More]
How Much Exercise Do You Fit in Weekly?
Hi and Happy National Nut Day (I kid you not)! I always find random food holidays to be amusing, and this morning I found out about today's holiday via Twitter. Cashews and almonds are my favorites! I love to top my yogurt bowls with them or eat nuts with fruit for a snack. On National Nut Day I can't forget about my nut butter obsessions. Peanut butter, almond butter, hazelnut butter.... I never get sick of them! I actually just bought cashew butter to try, and I'm a little afraid of how much I'll probably love it given my fondness of cashews in general. Week 1 Recap: Eats Since talking about my plans to shed a couple of pounds last week, I decided that I'll do a weekly recap as a way to share my journey with you all. I'm happy to say that my first week went really well. ... [Read More]