Tag Archives: motivation

Thankful/Food Rant

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I had this whole post planned on how I was going to be sappy and talk about everything that I’m thankful for, but then I decided to go on a food rant instead. I’ll get to the sappy stuff later!

I read this post, “Nutrition is Science” this morning from my good friend Rachele over at Strong Process. It’s worth reading the whole thing because she is a genius, but the last section stuck with me the most:

“If you’re confused about what to eat, it’s not because science is confused. It’s because the people interpreting and blaring the messages are confused. It’s because the food industry wants you to be confused so they can continue to sell you crap-in-a-box. It’s because celebrities and their know-nothing trainers are trying to get you to pay attention to them. It’s because fill-in-the-blank “expert” wants to make a million dollars on a book touting an amazing new diet where you eat only snozzberries juiced carefully into mystical water from a secret spring in Asia (I made that up, it doesn’t really exist…yet).  

Don’t be confused. Nutrition IS science, but it really isn’t that complicated when it comes to what you put in your mouth. Put REAL food on your Thanksgiving table and be grateful for how biologically equipped your body is to make use of it. Then, based on the laws of physics, you probably can’t actually burn all the calories you will consume (~4500kcal), so you should probably plan to go for a run…“

So, this Thanksgiving, do yourself a favor. Don’t buy into the whole gluttony thing. I’m not saying don’t splurge and have some mashed potatoes and stuffing and pumpkin pie, I’m talking portion control. There is NO need to load your plate up so much that you can’t see the actual plate, or go back for seconds (unless it’s dessert.. kidding! Or am I…?) Take small, itty bitty portions of everything. This way, you can sample everything without feeling deprived, and I imagine that your plate will fill up pretty quick.

Don’t use the holidays as an excuse to hop off the bandwagon. We have more than a month to go until Christmas. Are you really going to constantly be saying “oh well it’s the holidays” so you can eat like crap? Do you really bust your ass ALL year long just to let it go to waste and then make another New Year’s Resolution to lose weight or get healthy? Come on, people. Remember, EVERYTHING is a choice. No one is forcing you to go to holiday parties and stuff your face with cookies and eggnog. No one is forcing you to eat 4500 calories on Thanksgiving. Like Rachele said, the messaging is telling you to do that. The messaging of the media and the tradition of the holidays. I say, start a new tradition. So many of you are already on a path to better health and happiness. Your lifestyle has changed. So break the mold. Go for a run or go teach a spin class this morning (check). Grab your family and go for a walk after dinner (double check).

Ready for the sappy part? It’s not really even a sappy part, since I’m clearly not in a sappy mood, but I want you (and me) to remember the true meaning of Thanksgiving today. It’s not about stuffing our faces, or stressing about the holidays and materialism and fitting into our pants the next day. It’s about surrounding yourself with people you love and care about, and letting them know how thankful you are for having them in your life. No matter what if you’re vegan, Paleo, vegetarian, raw-dieter, food always has a way of bringing people together, so embrace spending time with your loved ones today. And embrace and be thankful for YOU. We often take it for granted how lucky we are. That we’re some of the few that are dedicating ourselves to live a long, healthy live. That we appreciate and cherish our bodies and our minds. That we even have food on our tables to be sharing with our families and friends. Seriously. This sounds so corny, but it’s true. Sometimes it hits me really hard how lucky I am- not just with my health, but with my family, my friends, my boyfriend, my new career… We get so caught up in our own little bubbles that we forget to see the big picture sometimes, and forget how fortunate we really are.

I just realized that I didn’t have a picture in this post, so here’s one of the people in my life I’m most thankful for.

What are YOU thankful for today?

-Emily

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Weekend Recap

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When I woke up this morning, I was so sore that I could have cried.  And, no, it wasn’t one of those “OMG I am so sore but I can still function so it’s okay” types of soreness.  Instead, it was one of those “OMG I might need to call for help because there is no way I can get out of this bed on my own” types of soreness.  But, let me tell you, it was WELL worth it.

Saturday my sister and I did the Spartan Sprint at Fenway Park.  At first we were slightly nervous/scared sh!tless because we’ve heard they were pretty hard and muddy.  Since it was 30 degrees out, rolling around in mud was not on top of our ‘to do’ list.  But, it ended up being a ton of fun!  There was LOTS bleachers, climbing over obstacles and lifting heavy things.   After the race, we hung out, got lunch with our parents and then cried on the couch for the rest of the day.

My sissy and me after the race. Go us!

And now for Sunday!  Probably one of the most fun, scary and challenging days I’ve had in awhile.  A couple of weeks ago (during our 10K race), my workout/life partner, Stacey, and I decided to sign up for our first CrossFit competition together.  Since we had been making pretty decent progress in the gym, we figured it would be something fun to try.  As the weeks passed and the competition got closer, I got more and more nervous.  The whole “what the hell are we getting ourselves into” stage started setting in.  Woof.

Stacey and me pre-WOD #1 (www.crossfitflorian.com)

Saturday night I felt like a 6 year old before the first day at school.  I tossed and turned, worried about what the day would bring, how we were going to do and what would happen if I fell flat on my face during a bear crawl.  I seriously had the most ridiculous scenarios run through my mind.  Then I started freaking out because it was late and I couldn’t fall asleep.  It brought me right back to my elementary school days.  Finally, I turned on my sound machine, opened the boring book I am reading and then fell asleep.  Phew.

Sunday morning started extremely early.  I was up by 6 and out the door around 7:15.  We got to the gym, registered and then hung around for what seemed like hours.  At 9am we had the athletes meeting.  That’s when sh!t got real.   We went over the movements, what was expected of us and what we could expect from them.  Stacey and I had a couple hours to kill until our first heat at 11:15.  Within the hour leading up to our first WOD I think both of us nervous peed 3-4 times.  The first WOD was a 3 rep max ground to shoulder.  We were both shooting for 105#.  We started with a couple of warm up sets, went WAY to fast during them and started to get a little tired.  Thankfully, our coaches were there on the side lines cheering us on, giving us advice and telling us to slow down.  As time progressed, my nerves chilled a little bit.  With a couple minutes left I nailed an ugly 115# clean.  I was super excited since it was a PR for me.

Our second WOD was a 4 minute workout consisting of 1 minute of max lateral burpees, 500 meter row and max lateral burpees in the remaining time.  This one was purely a sprint and sucked.  I thought it was the worst 4 minutes of my life until I encountered WOD 4.  But, it wasn’t ALL that bad.  I somehow managed to get 34 burpees so I was happy.

Row/Burpee/Row WOD, Goooo Stacey! (www.crossfitflorian.com)

WOD 3 was a 12 minute chipper that included 3 minutes of max front squats, 3 minutes of max box jumps, 3 minutes of max push presses and 3 minutes of max KB swings.  This one was my favorite.  I actually enjoyed the WOD.  I forget what we got for a score, but it was around 360 reps.  I’ll take it!

Then WOD 4 happened.  Definitely something I would like to forget about.  It was an AMRAP 6 of 50 foot bear crawls and tire drags.  Everything about it sucked.  I hated it and never want to do it again.  I don’t even remember what we got for a score because I blocked that memory out of my brain.

Ew, death after bear crawls (www.crossfitflorian.com)

And now for the exciting part!  Stacey and I placed first in our division! WOOT WOOT!  I could not be more proud of us!  When we initially signed up, our plan was to challenge ourselves, try something new and be proud of what we accomplished.  For us, this competition was bigger than just winning.  It was a chance to put ourselves, mentally and physically, to the test.  It was a way to prove to ourselves that we can do something amazing.  The whole winning 1st place thing was just an extra bonus/excuse to lay on the couch all night (“But Dad, I can’t put my dishes away, I just won 1st place in a CrossFit competition, do you even know how exhausting that is?!”).

Woot woot, First and Second place representing! (www.crossfitflorian.com)

And now for the slightly sappy part.  CrossFit has taught me that I am capable of so much more than what I give myself credit for.  It has taught me that I can do amazing things if I just trust and believe in myself.  CrossFit has given me a level of confidence both in and out of the gym that continues to blow my mind.  It is something I do to challenge myself, better myself and learn about myself.  It is somewhere I go to clear my mind, cheer up after a bad day or just go HAM for the hell of it.  CrossFit has made me appreciate everything I have and everything I am capable of doing.  And for that, I am extremely thankful.

What inspires you?  We wanna hear it!

-Erica

Words of Wisdom

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Today is my last day of work. One of my closest friends and co-workers made me a card with this quote on the front, and thought it was only fitting to share it with all of you out there who have/are experiencing the same thing as me…

And then another one just sent me this…

And now I’m off. Shutting down the computer to corporate world. I’m heading to DC for the weekend with my boyfriend and some friends for a weekend of celebration and relaxation, then it’s off to the new gig next week. Normal blogging will resume then, I promise!!

Have an AWESOME weekend

-Emily

 

 

Exercising EVERY DAY for a year?!

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I’m so sorry that I’ve sucked with posts for the past week. Things have been CRAZY and I have some VERY EXCITING NEWS that I can’t WAIT to share with you all, but can’t share it just yet!! But it’s been keeping me busy.

Ironically, today’s post is about making time to stay fit (like I said, ironic, but keeping fit and blogging are totally different.. right?)

Last week, I realized I had 8 workouts in 4 days. Totally didn’t even realize it until Friday and I was dead and couldn’t figure out why. And then I went to Lululemon during lunch so I could take a spin class after work, making it 9 workouts in 5 days. Whoops. But here’s the thing- I honestly didn’t realize I was working out so much. I think of working out as fun, I don’t think of it as a chore. Even though it’s also my part time job, it’s also my new social scene. For real. I think it’s more fun to go and workout with friends and grab dinner after than just going out for drinks. Does that make me totally lame? Probably. Do I care? Nope!

I recently joined up with Tribesports. Have you guys heard of them? It’s based in England, but I think it’s gonna take off here in the States. It’s an online community that encourages you to do engage in physical activity and challenges. You can sign up for different challenges, post your progress, complete challenges, make friends, the whole 9 yards. And you get awesome emails with British quirkiness “Do take a look around and sign up for some challenges, quite nice, yes. Lets get a spot of tea and crumpets afterwards, yes” Okay, maybe I made up that part, but whatever. It’s a great idea and concept, and I think y’all should GET INVOLVED! And link up with me :)

 

One of the new challenges they’re doing is to do 30 minutes of physical activity every day for a year. Right off the bat, that might seem excessive. What about rest days? Are you really supposed to work out EVERY day for a year? But re-think exercise here for a second. Exercising doesn’t have to be a super intense, heavy sweat session every day. You can go for a walk, do some yoga, take the stairs instead of the elevator, carry the groceries home instead of hopping in the car. Just do something. I signed up to do the challenge and am so far sticking with it. Who’s with me? Do you think you could do 30 minutes of physical activity every day for a year? I might not hit the 30 minute mark every day, but I want to do SOMETHING every day. Get that body moving. It’s so important.

I promise.. more exciting news and JAMS and Hotties to come this week!! In the meantime.. who’s ready to work out for a year? :)

-Emily

The Good Ol’ 5:00AM Mental Struggle

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After all my big talk about “no excuses” the past few weeks, I found myself coming up with a million excuses as to why I shouldn’t go to CrossFit this morning. Let me walk you through my little internal struggle from the past 24 hours:

8:30PM- My leg is still bugging me from spin this morning. I think I pulled a muscle. Let me check the WOD for tomorrow and see if it’s do-able.

8:35PM- Wall balls, handstand pushups, and power cleans. Sounds miserable, but at least it’s not a ton of lower body. I’ll be fine. (chugs Advil)

10:00PM- Going to bed. My leg still kinda hurts. Maybe I won’t go in the morning. I’ll set my alarm for 5:45 just in case.

4:50AM- Wake up to go pee, less than an hour before my alarm goes off. Kind of enough time to fall back asleep, but not quite. Will I be sluggish? Should I turn off my alarm and skip it? My leg doesn’t hurt anymore. Is it raining out? Damn you stupid bladder.

5:03AM- WHY CAN’T I FALL BACK ASLEEP?

5:45AM- Alarm goes off. I guess I did fall back asleep. Peel myself away from my new roommate (boyfriend) all snuggled up and cozy. Bastard gets to sleep for 2 more hours.

5:47AM- It’s raining out. It’s dark out. Bed is comfortable. Boyfriend is still sleeping. I should just skip it. Should I skip it? I think of how mad I’ll be at myself later on if I stay in bed and say “fuck it” and jump into my already laid out workout gear.

6:00AM- Drag myself out to my car. 100% humidity and already 80 degrees. And it’s dark. Almost hit a car as I back out of my driveway. Become disgruntled as the radio tells me there’s traffic on 93S. Should I just turn around? Clearly this WOD is not meant to be..

6:23AM- Traffic lady LIED to me as I made it to Reebok in record time. I do some stretching and check out the WOD for the day:

6:33AM- As we start warming up, I tell myself there is no way in HELL I’m doing 30 rounds, or handstand pushups, and decide that I will do the Level One option instead (15 rounds, modified pushups)

6:47AM- Lindsey tells me to give the handstand pushups a shot using a box. I agree.

6:50AM- The workout begins. After the first few rounds and correcting my form/getting into a groove, I decided it wasn’t so bad.

7:05AM- I get to 15 rounds, and am absolutely drenched in sweat, but look around the room and see everyone still going at it. I decide I will look like a total wuss if I stop now, so I tell myself I will go 5 more rounds, and switch to straight pushups.

7:10AM- I finish the next 5 rounds just as Lindsey comes over to correct my form on my power clean. I tell her I’m done, that I did 20 (I feel like I’m going to die at this point). She gives me an “okay, cool” look that wasn’t as rewarding as I was hoping. I was hoping she’d be like “OMG YOU ARE THE GREATEST CROSSFITTER TO EVER LIVE and you should definitely stop now”. She wasn’t demeaning or disapproving at all, but there was something in her eyes that told me I could keep going.

7:11AM- Okay, 5 more rounds. I’ll get to 25.

7:15AM- 25 rounds done. Most people are finishing up at this point, but I’ll be damned if I get to 25 and am not going to push myself to get to 30.

7:20AM- I finish the 30 rounds and walk away feeling like I really accomplished something. And I did. More than the physical intensity of the workout, I was more proud that I got over my mental battle and pushed myself to do something that I didn’t think I was capable of doing- something that I almost didn’t even get out of bed to do. The workout was super intense and I definitely struggled through parts of it, but there is something SO motivating about CrossFit. I know this isn’t news to anyone who has been doing CrossFit for awhile, but if it weren’t for the people surrounding me, I probably would have stopped at 15. You look around and see everyone busting ass, pushing themselves past their limits, encouraging each other, helping each other out, sweat pouring, music blaring, endorphins flying out of control… it’s pretty damn inspiring to say the least.

7:45AM- As I get into my car on the drive home, still dripping in sweat and sitting in my own swass (attractive), I bask in that amazing post workout bliss. I imagine that I look like a fitness model with a nice glow and misty skin, just finishing up a casual run on the beach. (Realistically, I am sitting in traffic driving through Mattapan, looking like a hot mess and the humidity is not helping my cause). My body is tired but mentally I’m alert and energized. I give myself a pat on my sweaty back.

8:15AM- I arrive back at my apartment and wake up my boyfriend, who is groggy and slept through his alarm… and I’m pretty f-ing happy that I didn’t sleep in.

What gets YOU out of bed in the morning?

-Emily

Top 5 Excuses

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As you can tell, I’ve been on a “no excuses” kick lately. It’s frustrating hearing people complain about their weight or how they look, but refuse to eat well and exercise regularly. It’s not rocket science, people! But- we’ve all had days or weeks when it really is hard to motivate yourself to get to the gym or choose a salad over a burger with fries, so I thought it would be helpful to look at the top excuses for avoiding be healthy and practice some tough love so we can avoid excuses fo-evah! Without further ado… here are the top 5:

Hands down, this is the #1 excuse. But let me let you in on a little secret- NO ONE has the time, they MAKE the time. You get up an hour earlier. You go for a jog during your lunch break. You do crunches before you go to bed. You run up the stairs at your office. You do 4-15 minute circuits throughout the day instead of dedicating an hour to go to the gym. You buy workout DVDs to do in your living room while dinner is cooking, or while your toddler is sleeping. There are 24 hours during a day. If you really wanted it, you’d find the time to get a workout in.

Sleep more!! With the exception of mothers of newborns (because I heard you just don’t sleep for like 6 months.. reaaally looking forward to that…) it shouldn’t be too difficult to go to bed an hour earlier. Although it is super tempting to stay up until 3AM and watch 5 episodes of Game of Thrones (internal struggle on a nightly basis) you NEED to wind down and get sleep. As much as you can. Preferably 8 hours a night. If that’s not in your cards or isn’t do-able, may I introduce you to something called fruits and vegetables? It’s shocking how much more energy you have after eating a meal with loads of veggies vs a plate of fried food or a sandwich. Healthy food + exercise +sleep= more energy. Oh, and there’s always this little thing called caffeine…

This is another one of my favorites. “Oh, I don’t exercise because I don’t like going to the gym. It’s, like, soooo boring” Well yes, I’d have to agree that going at a glacial pace on an elliptical while reading US Weekly and slowly killing brain cells could get a little boring. So, don’t go to the gym! We’re lucky enough to be living in a time period where boutique studios and new workouts are hot, hot, hot. Find something else you like to do- whether it be yoga, Crossfit, Pilates, swimming, kayaking, walking, jogging- WHATEVER. There is bound to be something that you enjoy doing. It might take you awhile to find it- that’s half the battle. Take as many classes as you can, try as many activities as you can, and find what works for you. Once you find something you truly love doing, it’s a piece of cake. I mean.. a piece of banana? Piece of fruit? What’s the healthy alternative for this saying? Now I want cake. Which brings me to my next excuse…

Guess what? There is ALWAYS going to be temptation around you. Always. For the rest of your life. So buck up now and get used to it and pick your battles. I’m not saying never have a piece of cake at a birthday party again, or never have a drink, but use some self control. Especially if you’re at the beginning of a new diet, you have to stay strong during the first two weeks. Those are the toughest. If you are already making excuses as to why you can’t eat healthy, then you’re not setting a good precedent for the rest of your diet. Want some tough love? This is one of my favorite excerpts from the Whole 30 Challenge that I always think of whenever I want a cheat:

“You never, ever, ever HAVE to eat anything you don’t want to eat. You’re all big boys and girls. Toughen up. Learn to say no (or make your Mom proud and say, “No, thank you”). Learn to stick up for yourself. Just because it’s your sister’s birthday, or your best friend’s wedding, or your company picnic does not mean you have to eat anything. It’s always a choice, and we would hope that you stopped succumbing to peer pressure in 7th grade.”

No, it’s not easy. It’s not easy to wake your ass up at 5am in the middle of the winter and bundle up in layers and plow the snow off your car just so you can drive to your local Box or spin class. It’s not easy sacrificing nights out on the weekends because you’re training for a marathon. It’s not easy to look at a huge piece of cake and all your friends and family eating it and not take a slice (can you tell I want cake today?) If getting in shape were easy, EVERYONE would be in shape! But it’s not. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and NO EXCUSES. But guess what. It gets easier. There is a giant beaming light at the end of the tunnel. The longer you stick with your healthy habits, the easier it is to say no to cheat meals and days off at the gym. Your friends and family will understand that you are a certified crazy person and will stop giving you a hard time for not staying out til 3am drinking and eating drunk pizza. And you never know- maybe they’ll jump on board the crazy train too :)

What do you guys think? What are the most common excuses you hear? Am I missing anything? What are YOUR top excuses for yourself? I think mine is “….but it’s dark chocolate…!!”

Happy Friday!

Emily

 

 

 

 

 

Sexy Guest Post: 30 Day Challenge

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A couple of months ago, one of my oldest friends, Colby, sent me a message on Facebook saying that my blog had inspired her and her boyfriend, Grant, to get healthy and try the 30 Day Paleo Challenge. I was so touched and happy for her. We’ve gotten messages from people about how our blog has helped inspire them in some way, which is incredible (we looove getting those messages!!) but it really hits home when someone close to you is inspired by you. It means a lot, especially coming from a friend. Most of my friends are now scared of me and think I am crazy. So sad.

Anyways, I asked Colby to write a guest post about her experience with the Challenge and how she’s doing since then. In true Colby fashion, she got it to me 3 months later….. ha! But it’s a great story and definitely worth sharing for some inspiration if any of you need some extra incentive to try it out! How many times can I say inspiration in this post?

“A little over two months ago, my boyfriend Grant and I decided to embark on the 30 Day Paleo Challenge. There were a few synchronistic events that lead us to give it a try. Grant and I, for a while, had been talking about ways to feel better and be at our best, we just didn’t have any tangible information to do so. We’re both musicians and spend all of our free time writing and recording, rather than cooking and working out. We both have athletic pasts, however, and kept circling back to this new notion of changing our habits and leading healthier and more productive lives.

Around  the same time in March we both heard news of close family members experiencing some health issues. It really started to sink in how much food, exercising, medicine and general lifestyle affects us not only as we are now, but what we’ll be like as we age. We started talking more in depth about how we can’t keep getting away with our eating habits. Living in Brooklyn is no cheap picnic, so grabbing a slice of pizza or eating a bagel is the quickest and most inexpensive meal. But it was starting to weigh us down more and more. I’ve always complained about my belly and feeling bloated and I was sick of doing nothing about it and expecting things to change.

With Emily’s blog at our fingertips, we became serious about trying the 30 day challenge. In her original post she had a quote that really struck a chord with me, “It is not hard.  Don’t you dare tell us this is hard, Quitting heroin in hard, Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black Is. Not. Hard.” It’s the no-bullshit attitude I needed to quit my whining and get it together. Plus, having Grant by my side made it an easier commitment.  We’d keep each other en pointe and motivate each other to keep going.

Grant typed up a list of Paleo foods we could eat and I printed out a calendar for the month of April. I should also mention that when we decided to do the challenge we also signed up to work with a personal trainer 3 times a week. We figured if we were going for it, we should really go for it. No more sleeping in. No more late night snacks. No more carbs. No excuses.
 Our experience the first week was, as they warned, shaky and full of my cranky comments. However, once we were past that first week it was an easier routine than I thought. We had our trainer rooting us on, and each other to lean on. We researched paleo food blogs and discovered amazing recipes that were easy to prepare (chowstalker.com, againstallgrain.com, paleorepublic.com). The further along we were, the more exciting it became to come up with meals. I really thought I wouldn’t have the will power to give up dairy and carbs, but with the combination of working out and sticking to the diet, we didn’t want to stop feeling so damn good. We had a better time sleeping through the night and more energy throughout the day. The last week almost flew by because we were so used to our new habits. The only aspect of the challenge we didn’t commit to was staying away from alcohol. We allowed ourselves a glass of wine or whiskey every now and again which, we felt, only hindered our results slightly. I think the hardest part for us was knowing what to do once the challenge was over. Our plan was to stick to a modified Paleo diet, with the exception of a few foods like beans, granola, yogurt, and brown rice (in moderation). But with no challenge hanging over our heads, we are easily swayed. With a more laid back approach, there’s been a few cheats here and there but our bodies are way more influenced by it now. We definitely have a gluten sensitivity and feel the affects of poor food choices as soon as we ingest them. This sort of “punishment” keeps us from eating all the bad foods we ate before. We also still try and see our trainer a few times a week or at least run on the track in our neighborhood as often as possible. Committing to this challenge really jump-started new goals that have still, three months later, kept us on a new and better routine.”

So there you have it. I think it’s safe to say that if two super cool, super busy musicians living in Brooklyn can do it, so can you. Oh and they happen to be wicked talented, so check out their newest track here or down below :)

 

Let us know if you have an inspiring story to tell. We’d love to hear it!

-Emily

Giving yourself a kick in the pants

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Some days suck. Really bad. When that alarm goes off all you want to do is crawl back into bed and sleep through the whole day. I had a great internal struggle with my alarm Monday morning. It went off at 6am and I was like HAIL no, shut it off, and rolled over. As I started to snooze, I told myself I would get up in 45 minutes and do abs and pushups in my apartment before heading to work. Then my heart started racing and my mind started whirling. I was getting anxiety thinking about if I didn’t go to the gym, I would regret it later. Then I was telling myself that my body needed to sleep, I needed rest. Then I was mad at myself because I knew I had a long day ahead of me at work and would feel much better if I got a sweat in. Then I realized how comfy I was in my bed. Then I was mad at myself again. So I gave myself a kick in my ass and got out of bed. The entire internal debate took 3 minutes (it felt like a half hour).

I’m sure this is nothing new to you fellow AM fitness peeps. As much as I was looking forward to working out, and knew that I would function better throughout the day, sometimes it is SO hard to drag yourself out of bed. You have to think about the end goal. Once you’re physically up, you’ve already done the hardest part of your workout. The rest will be a piece of cake. Think about how exhausted you’ll be at the end of the day, and how much well you’ll rest that night. Think about how much more mentally alert and energized you’ll be throughout the entire day. Think about the payoff. I only had a half hour at the gym yesterday morning, but it was so worth it. I did 15 minutes on the stairs, then a back and ab circuit. Even though it was quick, it felt great, and naturally I was sweating like a beast. So next time you’re feeling that hesitation of crawling back into bed.. don’t. Sorry to quote Nike, but just get up and do it.

SIDENOTE: I haven’t been to the gym in awhile since I’ve been spinning a ton and doing random other workouts, but holy hell. I never realized how MISERABLE people look at the gym! People were legit yawning and were in half zombie like states on the treadmils and ellipticals. There was this one woman lifting who clearly had no idea what she was doing. And don’t even get me started on the dozens of people who were reading magazines or watching TV while doing cardio. No wonder so many people hate “working out” or going to the gym. They haven’t found something that works for them, that they truly love. There are SO many different kinds of niche fitness activities, you just gotta find your own. People get so bogged down by the idea of doing half hour of cardio on a treadmil, half hour of weights, and then stretching. B-O-R-I-N-G. Get out and try something new! Chances are, you can find something you love to do that takes less time and will have you working out harder than you imagined you could. What up, spin and CrossFit?

So there’s my two cents on working out. How was everyone’s weekend? It was GORGEOUS up here in Boston. I was down the Cape for the whole weekend, where I got to spend lots of time outside. I also taught my second class down there and it was awesome. Everyone that was there last week came again (a good sign.. I thought I scared them away) plus some newbies! I’m thinking this is going to be a fun summer.. :)

My kitchen sink scramble Friday night- Kielbasa, sweet potatoes, broccoli, peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and salt and pepper. So delish!

PERFECT beach day! 

Topped off with a gorgeous sunset and Vanilla coconut milk “ice cream” with berries, trail mix, and dark chocolate chunks

Hope everyone is having a good week so far and giving themselves some big kicks in the pants :)

-Emily