I'm just tip-toeing in quietly to wish you all a happy new year. I hope your head isn't pounding too hard from all the partying. May this be your year. xx
Ssshhhh....
I'm just tip-toeing in quietly to wish you all a happy new year. I hope your head isn't pounding too hard from all the partying. May this be your year. xx
How to Achieve your New Year's Resolution for 2010!
Five, four, three, two, one... Happy New Year!
January 1st is just around the corner and it’s time for you to make New Year’s resolutions. Some like to think that this is an opportunity for a fresh start. About 45 percent of American adults make one or more resolutions each year. Among the top new year’s resolutions are: weight loss, exercise, managing finances, debt reduction, etc. Research shows that less than half of New Year’s resolutions are achieved as the year goes on. Here are a few tips to achieve your 2010 New Year’s resolutions!
1- Be realistic when setting the goals.
2- Set specific goals.
3- Write down your goals on a paper/diary so they become more real to you.
4- Set up a plan to reach your goals throughout the New Year.
5- Identify your level of commitment.
6- Have a positive attitude.
7- Remind yourself of your goal as often as needed for you not to lose track of your ultimate objective.
8- If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight, then join the Get Slim Challenge. The challenge helps you to become accountable and you have to report your weight loss progress every 30 days.
Meret's Blog #6:
Not really conducive to outdoor workouts
Unfortunately, I was not able to stay through the end of the slim & strong bootcamp. I'm kinda upset about that because I was feeling stronger and am pretty certain I built up a nice amount of muscle over the past few weeks (I'm definitely noticing my hammies!!!). I'd been planning on finishing up, doing measurements, and then going on vacation to Maine, but because of the blizzard that had been announced, my parents left earlier than planned and I had to leave with them to avoid having to pay for a bus up (if I could even get out of the city). Anyways, so right now I'm planning to just maintain whatever progress I've made in the best way possible and then do my measurements when I get back to NYC in early January. Also, I'll have 3 extra classes that I can schedule to get back into the hard-core workouts as soon as I'm back.
I've set a personal goal for myself to work out every day that I'm in Maine. This should be pretty challenging since it's too cold to work out outside (uhm...it's FREEEEEEZING!!! Did you take a look at that pic?!), but I also don't really have the money to spend on a temporary gym membership...or, rather a membership to the wellness pavilion, as it's called here. Anyways, it's about a 40 minute drive away, and with the snow projected here, I can't even be sure I could make it there regularly. So, I went to the basement to find out what kind of fitness equipment we have here. Turns out, because my brother used to be a pretty small guy (back in middle school HAHA) there were actually some dumbbells that I could use. I'd also brought my jump rope and the resistance bands from boot camp. So, this is what I came up with for my first workout:
Unfortunately, I was not able to stay through the end of the slim & strong bootcamp. I'm kinda upset about that because I was feeling stronger and am pretty certain I built up a nice amount of muscle over the past few weeks (I'm definitely noticing my hammies!!!). I'd been planning on finishing up, doing measurements, and then going on vacation to Maine, but because of the blizzard that had been announced, my parents left earlier than planned and I had to leave with them to avoid having to pay for a bus up (if I could even get out of the city). Anyways, so right now I'm planning to just maintain whatever progress I've made in the best way possible and then do my measurements when I get back to NYC in early January. Also, I'll have 3 extra classes that I can schedule to get back into the hard-core workouts as soon as I'm back.
I've set a personal goal for myself to work out every day that I'm in Maine. This should be pretty challenging since it's too cold to work out outside (uhm...it's FREEEEEEZING!!! Did you take a look at that pic?!), but I also don't really have the money to spend on a temporary gym membership...or, rather a membership to the wellness pavilion, as it's called here. Anyways, it's about a 40 minute drive away, and with the snow projected here, I can't even be sure I could make it there regularly. So, I went to the basement to find out what kind of fitness equipment we have here. Turns out, because my brother used to be a pretty small guy (back in middle school HAHA) there were actually some dumbbells that I could use. I'd also brought my jump rope and the resistance bands from boot camp. So, this is what I came up with for my first workout:
Circuit 1 -- 3 times:
2 min jump rope
15 squat with shoulder press (12 lbs dumbbells)
15 push-ups
20 tricep dips
leg lifts with the resistance band (20 forward, 20 backward, 20 sideways....on each leg, so 120 reps each circuit)
25 sit-ups with (12 lbs dumbbells)
30 russian twists with dumb bell (12 lbs dumbbell)
Circuit 2 -- 3 times:
10 push-ups
50 mountain climbers
10 push-ups
50 jumping jacks
All in all it took 45 minutes.
Then, yesterday I did the full Slim & Strong Circuit that Ariane had emailed to us. It took about 50 minutes to get through it twice. I felt really accomplished! If I can keep this us, I think I can at the very least maintain my progress, perhaps even move forward a bit more. Unfortunately, my diet's left something to be desired, though it's not been a complete disaster. I'll do my best!
Both of the above workouts were really productive and got me working pretty hard. It's great to just know that I can work myself out without the gym and without the energy of the people there. In fact, it's really empowering. It's one of those things that I was never able to do before and that will make a big difference on days where I don't have the time to do my regular work outs. Yay!
Slim Tip for this Holiday Season!
Get Slim Challenge Finalist Libby Sarles couldn’t be more proud of her accomplishments in 2009—losing 43 pounds in only 90 days with the help of Slim was the highlight of this year. She shares her tip on how to avoid overeating during this holiday season.“Take Slim with you to get-togethers where there is a potential for food pushers to overwhelm you or where you feel tempted to overeat. In fact, take two or three packets with you so, if necessary, you can fight the urge to succumb to social pressure to over-fill the plate—two before and one right before you're pushed to go up for seconds.”
--Libby Sarles, Canada
Meret's Blog # 5:
#$*)%## PAIN #&%$*$%&
OMG. Ariane is out of control. She's been possessed! My ass will never be the same (hmmm...perhaps that's not entirely bad? Though I hear I have a good one ;-) ). I couldn't walk down the stairs to the subway after bootcamp this morning - my legs were that wobbly. The water bottle was almost too heavy to bring to my lips.
We did 200 donkey-kick-type exercises on each side IN ONE GO (for reference...after 50 you kinda wanna knock yourself over the head with a dumbbell). Afterwards, all 15 of us bootcampers collapsed in a whimpering heap. Instead of going into child's pose, which is what we typically do to stretch out, it was more like we fell into the fetal position wondering how our lives had come to this. And, meanwhile, Ariane is happily doing these exercises alongside us...and GIGGLING. WTF.
Donkey-kicks, countless squats and squat jumps, even more lunges, tons of rows, chest presses, pec flies, ab exercises galore, and just to really finish us off 200 push-ups. I'm so scared of next time.
Recipe of the Week! Enjoy this Holiday Treat!
Cranberry Pumpkin Bread Ingredients
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup egg substitute
1 (16 ounce) can whole cranberry sauce
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray two 8x4 inch loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray.
2.Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon and ground cloves in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.
3.Mix the egg substitute, cranberry sauce, pureed pumpkin, vegetable oil and grated orange zest together. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened. Pour batter into the prepared pans. Sprinkle the top of each loaf with the chopped nuts.
4.Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let loaves cool for 10 minutes then remove from pans. Can be made even lower in fat by substituting 1/3 cup applesauce for the 1/3 cup vegetable oil.
Nutrional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 209 Total Fat: 4.9g
Source: Allrecipes.com
Meret's Blog #4: A Kick in the Rear
I can accept the 250 push-ups, about 300 mountain climbers, over 100 crunches and sit-ups (not counting any of the other ab stuff), but when you do so much glute-work that your ass feels like someone hooked you directly up to a lactic acid IV, that's no fun anymore. I thought I was just about ready to walk out of class (you know, in the form of a "bathroom break," perhaps?). Yes, you read correctly, I, a Social-Workout-certified bad-ass was ready to walk out. Well, I didn't. But, Ariane: what was that?!
Also, I should mention that I think it's really funny that those innocent-looking resistance bands can kick my ass quite effectively.
Meret's Blog #3 - Working Out. Seriously
WORKING OUT. Seriously.
This morning we had our first full-hour workout session. It was pretty great, actually! I was working hard, my muscles were burning and my heart pounding. Pretty much all the exercises use your own body weight, which makes the circuit easily replicable at home -- especially if you have resistance bands (which conveniently come in the goody bag you get!). I really like that, since that means I now have a new way of doing a workout at home when I can't make it to the gym or simply don't feel like trekking to Manhattan from Queens on the weekends. We did tons of push-ups, all different ab and back work, tons of variations of squats and lunges and a low weight, high-rep upper body circuit. We kept moving for the full hour. Great way to start the morning!
Also, I should mention that in addition to the bootcamp workouts, I've been keeping active on my own! Here are the highlights:
Monday: bootcamp + 10-min run (AM); 30-min cardio intervals (PM)
Tuesday: 45-min spin class
Wednesday: my first ever, self-created circuit! I did the following circuit 5 times:
2 minutes jump roping
30 step-ups onto the bench
20 tricep dips off the bench
20 thrust-ups
15 push-ups
rest 90 seconds
Each full circuit took 10 minutes, so I worked for 50 minutes. Then, I did a mini ab routine (which I did with a 16 lbs medicine ball):
25 crunches with toe touches
30 russian twists (legs off the ground)
20 leg raises (straight leg)
Thursday: 15-min run, then 60-min session with my personal trainer
Friday: bootcamp (AM), 60-min pole dancing (PM) -- please don't be fooled: pole dancing is an intense workout! You're lifting your whole body weight!
Saturday: I'll be at the 9am Central Park Bootcamp class with a friend of mine!
This morning we had our first full-hour workout session. It was pretty great, actually! I was working hard, my muscles were burning and my heart pounding. Pretty much all the exercises use your own body weight, which makes the circuit easily replicable at home -- especially if you have resistance bands (which conveniently come in the goody bag you get!). I really like that, since that means I now have a new way of doing a workout at home when I can't make it to the gym or simply don't feel like trekking to Manhattan from Queens on the weekends. We did tons of push-ups, all different ab and back work, tons of variations of squats and lunges and a low weight, high-rep upper body circuit. We kept moving for the full hour. Great way to start the morning!
Also, I should mention that in addition to the bootcamp workouts, I've been keeping active on my own! Here are the highlights:
Monday: bootcamp + 10-min run (AM); 30-min cardio intervals (PM)
Tuesday: 45-min spin class
Wednesday: my first ever, self-created circuit! I did the following circuit 5 times:
2 minutes jump roping
30 step-ups onto the bench
20 tricep dips off the bench
20 thrust-ups
15 push-ups
rest 90 seconds
Each full circuit took 10 minutes, so I worked for 50 minutes. Then, I did a mini ab routine (which I did with a 16 lbs medicine ball):
25 crunches with toe touches
30 russian twists (legs off the ground)
20 leg raises (straight leg)
Thursday: 15-min run, then 60-min session with my personal trainer
Friday: bootcamp (AM), 60-min pole dancing (PM) -- please don't be fooled: pole dancing is an intense workout! You're lifting your whole body weight!
Saturday: I'll be at the 9am Central Park Bootcamp class with a friend of mine!
Meret's Blog # 2: Nutrition workshop conflict, aka diet burn-out
When walking to the copying machine the other day, I saw one of our students (who's very slim and appears pretty healthy, btw) eating a Big Mac and having a soda (I'm sure there were fries too...somewhere). And, my reaction was interesting: it was not "OMG what are you eating?!" or "Who eats that crap?!" It was more along the lines of my mind going completely blank, in the kind of "I'm stupefied"-way. I just simply didn't seem to grasp the concept that people eat that stuff. Then, I realized, I ate that stuff not terribly long ago. Then, I realized I haven't eaten any type of fast food (save the occasional late-night, post-delinquency slice of pizza) since FEBRUARY.
It just kinda hit me how much I've changed my eating over the past months. Instead of eating 2 giant carb-heavy meals a day and crappy-food-snacking (think cookies or chips), I eat 5-6 meals a day, make sure I have plenty of protein, veggies, fruit, healthy fats and have cut out pretty much all simple carbs, sweets and other junk food. Yes, sometimes I "stray," but it's never for long and the damage is never bad. But, lately, I'm just tired. It's like I have mental burn out: I don't want to count protein. I don't want to count calories. I don't want to be the food police, judging everything I eat as "good" or "bad." I simply don't want to have to THINK about food.
This is actually the reason why I recently picked up "Intuitive Eating." I'm just no longer in the frame of mind where I want to think about food and nutrition - clearly, it's only a matter of time before this obsessive mindset makes me burn out and becomes no longer maintainable. Why should my brain be analyzing what to eat, when eating is a natural process? It should be second nature. I want to listen to my body and feed it what it needs to maintain my active life-style. I want to truly enjoy food and not feel guilty about it. Why don't I trust myself to intuitively KNOW what I need? Should I really be following some prescribed ideal? Do I really need an "expert" to tell me what to eat, when he or she is not the one who's in my body? Why don't I trust myself? Why is this so difficult?! Ugh. I'm annoyed.
I'm a healthy eater. I've reinforced healthy eating habits for the past year and I feel better than ever, but at some point I need to draw a line and acknowledge that I can and should trust my food decisions and give myself permission to eat according to them, without the associated guilty feelings. So far, "Intuitive Eating" has been very insightful and a lot of the negative eating behaviors and thoughts that seem to be prominent in our culture, definitely apply to me. I'm excited to implement some of the suggestions that the book outlines to help you "honor your hunger" and "make peace with food." However, now in light of the nutritional workshop, I'm having a bit of a conflict. I'm having a hard time reconciling the fact that I want to eat in this more "intuitive" way, with the fact that I'm supposed to be following the nutritional guidelines Ariane highlighted the other day during the nutritional workshop. The funny thing is, I think I eat that way anyways, naturally, so maybe I just need to stop overthinking it. What do you think, Ariane? Oh, I should mention that I really liked Ariane's straight-forward approach to the subject of nutrition. She's clearly very knowledgeable and I particularly liked that she emphasized that "these are only guidelines and averages" and that we should be "listening to our body."
It just kinda hit me how much I've changed my eating over the past months. Instead of eating 2 giant carb-heavy meals a day and crappy-food-snacking (think cookies or chips), I eat 5-6 meals a day, make sure I have plenty of protein, veggies, fruit, healthy fats and have cut out pretty much all simple carbs, sweets and other junk food. Yes, sometimes I "stray," but it's never for long and the damage is never bad. But, lately, I'm just tired. It's like I have mental burn out: I don't want to count protein. I don't want to count calories. I don't want to be the food police, judging everything I eat as "good" or "bad." I simply don't want to have to THINK about food.
This is actually the reason why I recently picked up "Intuitive Eating." I'm just no longer in the frame of mind where I want to think about food and nutrition - clearly, it's only a matter of time before this obsessive mindset makes me burn out and becomes no longer maintainable. Why should my brain be analyzing what to eat, when eating is a natural process? It should be second nature. I want to listen to my body and feed it what it needs to maintain my active life-style. I want to truly enjoy food and not feel guilty about it. Why don't I trust myself to intuitively KNOW what I need? Should I really be following some prescribed ideal? Do I really need an "expert" to tell me what to eat, when he or she is not the one who's in my body? Why don't I trust myself? Why is this so difficult?! Ugh. I'm annoyed.
I'm a healthy eater. I've reinforced healthy eating habits for the past year and I feel better than ever, but at some point I need to draw a line and acknowledge that I can and should trust my food decisions and give myself permission to eat according to them, without the associated guilty feelings. So far, "Intuitive Eating" has been very insightful and a lot of the negative eating behaviors and thoughts that seem to be prominent in our culture, definitely apply to me. I'm excited to implement some of the suggestions that the book outlines to help you "honor your hunger" and "make peace with food." However, now in light of the nutritional workshop, I'm having a bit of a conflict. I'm having a hard time reconciling the fact that I want to eat in this more "intuitive" way, with the fact that I'm supposed to be following the nutritional guidelines Ariane highlighted the other day during the nutritional workshop. The funny thing is, I think I eat that way anyways, naturally, so maybe I just need to stop overthinking it. What do you think, Ariane? Oh, I should mention that I really liked Ariane's straight-forward approach to the subject of nutrition. She's clearly very knowledgeable and I particularly liked that she emphasized that "these are only guidelines and averages" and that we should be "listening to our body."
Make Smart Choices during this Holiday Season!
As we approach the end of each year, we are encountered with festivities such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Not only we enjoy giving thanks for our lives, Christmas gifts, and the goals we set for the year to come but we also enjoy the delicious meals, candies and cookies— and that is when you begin to enter the danger zone.We’ve just been through with Thanksgiving and if you ate a little bit more than you should have, don’t be discouraged and don’t let yourself indulge in excessive eating for the remaining of the year. Don’t give yourself the excuse that it is ok to keep eating that Thanksgiving leftover until the next holiday is here. Or don't keep telling yourself that your New Year’s resolution is to start a diet and lose weight.
During this holiday season, make sure to commit yourself to eating right today, not tomorrow or next year. If you feel that you fell off the wagon, don’t give up. Re-commit yourself and keep making better food choices. Also, don’t forget to drink Slim before your main meals.
Meret wins a month of Slim & Strong!
Meret recently won a month of Slim & Strong after completing SocialWorkout.com's Eat Sweat Blog Challenge. She must have done a heck of a job keeping up with her workout challenges and diet feats to get this. So, now she has to endure another month of torture and hopefully great changes.
Meret will be blogging about her experience, but first let me introduce her by posting her "before" picture for the world to see :-)
A couple of weeks ago, as part of the October Challenge through www.socialworkout.com (if you haven't yet, check it out and sign up! It's amazing and tons of fun!) I won boot camp for a month! OMG, I was almost salivating when they were talking about the prize and when I actually got it...it was awesome! Of course HOW I was given the prize was almost as awesome as the fact that I got it...basically, they "had to give it to someone who they know would be able to handle it..."
So, I should mention that while I'm super-excited about the bootcamp, I'm entering it as a bit of a skeptic. I have no doubt that the workouts will be challenging, but I'm not coming into this without having had a regular workout schedule for a while or with eating habits that will make Ariane wanna cry. Instead, I've been working out 5-6 days a week for the past 10 months, 2 times a week with an amazing personal trainer, and I've already hugely overhauled my diet. Yes, I'll stray from the "one true path" that I know to be a healthy life-style occasionally, but overall I'm healthier, stronger, happier and in better shape than I've ever been. I've completed races, taken up tons of new activities from boxing to pole dancing, and have recently become enamored of the twice-a-day workouts. So, yes, I hereby challenge Ariane to give me all she's got, to kick my ass, and to help me tweak my lifestyle in a way that will push me (and my progress) forward.
Today was the day, the beginning of the 6:30am Brooklyn Bridge Bootcamp Slim & Strong Program. I live in far-away Queens, which means I got up at 4:15am (ew), had a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit and was out of my house by 5:15am (need I say it again: ew). First, measurements were taken, which resulted in a minor shock to my system as I had to acknowledge the full extent of my falling off the wagon since late summer. I'm back up to 27% body fat (another ew) from my low of 22%. Sigh...well, what can you do. It was the reality check I needed. Ariane wants me to get back down to 24% by the end of the month-long bootcamp. I think I can get there...who knows, if I really buckle down with my eating (which is precisely where I've been messing up), I might even surpass that goal. But...let me not get ahead of myself.
Before starting the workout, we did an initial physical fitness test, which I think I did pretty well on. I did 36 marine-style sit-ups in a minute and 41 knee push-ups in a minute. Finally, we began the actual class. It was definitely a different experience from my usual workouts with Trainer Mike. With him, my heart right stays high throughout the session even when we work the weights. He also chooses weights that are heavy and that I can do only about 12-15 reps with. During this class, my HR didn't really get too high, and we used much lighter weights while doing tons more reps. So, while according to my heart rate monitor, my calorie burn wasn't high (about 350 in 50 minutes, since we started late because of measurements) my muscles were, indeed, BURNING. We didn't break between resistance exercises, so it was like super-set upon super-set of weights. The focus was on core, arms and back with some squats thrown in for good measure. I really liked Ariane's sense of humor, the fact that she remembered everyone's names and made sure to give each person some 1-on-1 time, and the constant reminders that she wants to "kick our ass."
After the bootcamp, I did a quick 10-minute run and then headed to work. I felt good, and refreshed from my active start into the day. Though I definitely have the feeling that the soreness will sneak up on me later. A few hours later, I headed to the gym for a quick 30 minutes of extra cardio.
Meret will be blogging about her experience, but first let me introduce her by posting her "before" picture for the world to see :-)
A couple of weeks ago, as part of the October Challenge through www.socialworkout.com (if you haven't yet, check it out and sign up! It's amazing and tons of fun!) I won boot camp for a month! OMG, I was almost salivating when they were talking about the prize and when I actually got it...it was awesome! Of course HOW I was given the prize was almost as awesome as the fact that I got it...basically, they "had to give it to someone who they know would be able to handle it..."
So, I should mention that while I'm super-excited about the bootcamp, I'm entering it as a bit of a skeptic. I have no doubt that the workouts will be challenging, but I'm not coming into this without having had a regular workout schedule for a while or with eating habits that will make Ariane wanna cry. Instead, I've been working out 5-6 days a week for the past 10 months, 2 times a week with an amazing personal trainer, and I've already hugely overhauled my diet. Yes, I'll stray from the "one true path" that I know to be a healthy life-style occasionally, but overall I'm healthier, stronger, happier and in better shape than I've ever been. I've completed races, taken up tons of new activities from boxing to pole dancing, and have recently become enamored of the twice-a-day workouts. So, yes, I hereby challenge Ariane to give me all she's got, to kick my ass, and to help me tweak my lifestyle in a way that will push me (and my progress) forward.
Today was the day, the beginning of the 6:30am Brooklyn Bridge Bootcamp Slim & Strong Program. I live in far-away Queens, which means I got up at 4:15am (ew), had a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit and was out of my house by 5:15am (need I say it again: ew). First, measurements were taken, which resulted in a minor shock to my system as I had to acknowledge the full extent of my falling off the wagon since late summer. I'm back up to 27% body fat (another ew) from my low of 22%. Sigh...well, what can you do. It was the reality check I needed. Ariane wants me to get back down to 24% by the end of the month-long bootcamp. I think I can get there...who knows, if I really buckle down with my eating (which is precisely where I've been messing up), I might even surpass that goal. But...let me not get ahead of myself.
Before starting the workout, we did an initial physical fitness test, which I think I did pretty well on. I did 36 marine-style sit-ups in a minute and 41 knee push-ups in a minute. Finally, we began the actual class. It was definitely a different experience from my usual workouts with Trainer Mike. With him, my heart right stays high throughout the session even when we work the weights. He also chooses weights that are heavy and that I can do only about 12-15 reps with. During this class, my HR didn't really get too high, and we used much lighter weights while doing tons more reps. So, while according to my heart rate monitor, my calorie burn wasn't high (about 350 in 50 minutes, since we started late because of measurements) my muscles were, indeed, BURNING. We didn't break between resistance exercises, so it was like super-set upon super-set of weights. The focus was on core, arms and back with some squats thrown in for good measure. I really liked Ariane's sense of humor, the fact that she remembered everyone's names and made sure to give each person some 1-on-1 time, and the constant reminders that she wants to "kick our ass."
After the bootcamp, I did a quick 10-minute run and then headed to work. I felt good, and refreshed from my active start into the day. Though I definitely have the feeling that the soreness will sneak up on me later. A few hours later, I headed to the gym for a quick 30 minutes of extra cardio.
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