Tag: weight loss

Real Clothes

I don’t know what real clothes look like anymore. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I feel like I’ve forgotten how to put myself together. After spending four weeks in yoga pants, five days a week, and desperately avoiding having to put on clothes other than sweaters or leggings, I now can’t even remember what I used to wear to work on a daily basis. Damn you, yoga teacher training and general laziness.

I’ve had a few interviews in the past two weeks and it’s been a struggle to force jeans onto my legs. And I’ve lost 6 pounds in the past month (yay!), so it’s not that they no longer fit! To quote the poet Cher Horowitz, they’re just “so binding.”

I had an interview today for a temp job in the HR department of a fashion company and when I went out it was a fashion company, my first thought was, “oh shit.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to convince these people that I gave two fucks about fashion when I clearly don’t. I ultimately decided upon a 5+ year old black wrap dress from Old Navy with black boots and a hot pink leather jacket. 

(Let’s not talk about how the recruiter gave me the wrong address for their offices and the offices are actually located an hour+ away from me via subway. In the end, I chose not to go or to reschedule. Because the fashion industry sucks and Whitehall Street is really hella far away.)

How should I rectify the situation? I thought an inventory review of my closet was in order. IS in order. Meaning, I have yet to do it. But I will. Soon enough. After a season of leggings and sweaters, I have no idea what else is left in my closet. Does that happen to anyone else?

Nevertheless, here’s to trying to dress like an actual human being again. 

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Today It Starts

Today J and I are going on a low carb and sugar diet. We’ve eaten about a small army’s worth of tortilla chips lately so we’re taking some time off. Gretchen Rubin mentioned in “Better Than Before” how she cut carbs, which she didn’t like much anyways, and lost a ton of weight.

I’ve also started and am loving “Unprocessed,” about a woman who didn’t eat processed food for an entire year. I really want to try baking my own bread sometime so I can know that it’s not full of wood chips.

Going “no carb,” though, is just not in the books for me because literally all of the food I like has carbs in it. Fruit? Yes. Yogurt? Yes. Fuck. 

I googled Tim Ferris’ Slow Carb Diet recipes and they all look pretty heinous. Like, really gross. So, if you know of any low-carb recipes that I have to try, let me know! Also, if you have any tips from your experiences with this kind of eating, let me know.

As a friend would say: Here. We. Go.

5 Reasons Running May Not Help You Lose Weight

OK, nevermind.

Remember how I’d been going to the gym and using the elliptical 4 mornings during the week? Well, according to the above article that may have fucked up my metabolism and have a part in screwing up my weight. 

BUT… but… I ran 5k twice last week and I almost enjoyed it and I’d like to keep doing it at least once a week. I ran for 31-33 minutes at a time so I’m thinking that might not be overdoing it too much. 

This above article really drove home the need to do more weight training. I went to an Ashtanga/Iyengar-heavy yoga class last night and aside from my Saturday morning class, I’m going to do my best to stay away from Vinyasa/Power/Fire/Body Assault yoga classes. 

And then, this morning, I used my arm weights and did a couple free weight exercises and then put on my Barre DVD and worked on the arm module and about half of the core module. I’m going to use the shit out of that DVD.

This morning I also noticed that eating cold foods in the morning don’t sit well in my stomach. Back to oatmeal for me! #protein 

5 Reasons Running May Not Help You Lose Weight

And Just Like That

I posted last week about changing up my fitness routine and I did. I stopped doing 30 minutes of the same thing three mornings a week and it’s been awesome. 

Instead of 30 minutes on the elliptical, I’m now doing 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of hand weights (is that what they’re called? I don’t know). I feel like the weights get my heart going faster than the elliptical. I miss out on that last 10 minutes of Morning Joe, but that’s okay. The news is crap anyways. 

I also resolved to start doing my barre DVD (at least the arms part) regularly again – meaning 2-3 times per week. I’ve re-introduced crunches (on a medicine ball) into my routine too. 

I cooked last night and have a bunch of food ready to eat so no more eating lunch at Dig Inn (because while it’s better than Schnippers, it can’t be all that good to eat regularly). 

Remember: if you want to change your routine, you can. Just like that. 

My Post-December Detox

I eat pretty well on a regular basis. Ask my boyfriend. He’s continually astounded by how well I eat. I don’t think it’s THAT good, but he does, so let’s go with that. But then the month of December comes and the snacking goes to shit.

December is always a difficult month – lots of crap to eat in the office and then the holidays come and you’re told to splurge because “it’s the holidays,” and then before you know it, you’ve gained 5 pounds. Let me first say that 5 pounds is no reason to get your panties in a twist. Honestly, between water weight and what we’re eating on a daily basis (did you eat a burger last night or a salad?), I don’t think it’s crazy to fluctuate in the 3-5 pound range from week to week. (Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor. I’m just going off my own experiences and things I’ve read.)

Even though I was making my own lunches (and oftentimes my own dinners), exercising regularly (5-6 days a week), and living in a city where your feet are your main mode transportation (I ❤ you, NYC), I think my weight still went up a bit in December. At the beginning of the month I was still hopping on the scale every few days. But after I realized that the number was making me feel like shit, while I didn’t physically feel like shit, I thought that I’d better cool it. At least for December.

And so that’s what I did. I splurged, ate what I wanted (but not to the point of sickness), exercised a lot, and didn’t step a foot on the scale. If I felt sluggish one day, I’d work out some more (having a gym in my building’s basement is the best). But now… now December is over, New Year’s Day is over, so it’s time to get my eating back on track. There won’t be cookies and chocolate in the office anymore so this should be relatively simple. Here’s my detox plan…

Replace coffee with green tea: I’m not totally getting rid of coffee – I love making coffee in the morning. The process is almost therapeutic for me. I love the smell and setting the timer for steeping. The only thing I don’t really like the taste. Of the coffee. So sue me, but whatever, that’s why there’s honey and whipped cream. I’ll continue to drink coffee in the morning because it’s my crack but I’m going to go back to drinking tea first (which is something that I always used to do before I started getting into the groove of using my Fellow). I’m generally of the belief that drinking caffeine on an empty stomach is a recipe for feeling like shit. It sends your digestive system into overdrive and bloats you.

Go to the gym three mornings per week: Thirty minutes on the elliptical and I’m golden. I was doing four mornings before the New Year, but I want to have two mornings to wake up slower, do my 8-minute flow, and drink my tea in peace.

Yoga at least 3 times per week: I’ve been doing yoga 3+ times per week since 2011. I’m going to continue this, obviously. Even if I’m not sweating after every class, it’s still beneficial to move and stretch.

Continue to make all of my own lunches: I need to make more turkey chili STAT and find a few new soup recipes. I’m going to keep eating warm, soft foods during the winter (Ayurveda, FTW). More risotto, too! 

Eat less dairy: Since I consumed my cheese for the year on New Year’s Day, I think I need to eat less dairy. Dairy is gross and pure fat. I’m going to go back to not keeping any cheese in my fridge and only coconut milk.

Drink 3 cups of green day per day: This is just good for your metabolism, so duh.

Bring snacks with me to work: You know what the best way to eat shit during the work day is? Not bringing your own snacks with you. Then you end up eating whatever is left around in the office kitchen, or going out to get a cookie or some other processed nonsense that will sit in your gut for an extra week.

Eat minimal processed foods: My guilty pleasure are the peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets from Trader Joe’s and those are processed, but I can pronounce all the ingredients, so I’m giving that a goddamn pass. I’m really into apples and carrots these days. 

Meditating: Always. Twice a day. I’m going to try to incorporate longer sessions into my evenings or weekends a couple of times a week though. It’s so important and so relaxing.

I think that’s about it. If you see me posting pictures of crap food on my Instagram, yell at me. 

Say Cheese.

My colleagues and I like to go to the Calexico cart in SoHo for lunch every now and then (meaning a few times a week, but I go about once a week). I always get a burrito with a side of crack sauce because: CRACK SAUCE. It’s so good. Calexico is fantastic Mexican food and it’s decently priced – about the same as Chipotle. But this past Monday I decided to switch things up and have a quesadilla instead.

Oh boy, did I ever regret that decision. Don’t get me wrong: It was delicious. In the moment. Then… then I wanted to die. I felt sick and bloated for a good two days after. It wasn’t tainted food (Calexico, you’re delicious, it’s not you, it’s me, I swear) it was that my stomach wasn’t used to all the cheese that I was eating.

Since I was diagnosed with a sinus infection in February, I’ve steered clear of dairy (well, mainly cheese). I still eat greek yogurt on the regular and mac’n’cheese sometimes, but never foods that are HEAVILY packed with cheese like this was. 

So, what’d I do? Stopped drinking the iced coffee that I was having in the morning (the iced part of it makes you bloat and slows down digestion) and exchanged it for green tea. Then I ate meals that consisted mostly of whole-ish foods: carrot sticks, zucchini, hummus, chicken, and pita (this is not really a whole food, I know, but it’s delicious). And some nuts. And guess what – the veggies kept me full and I felt great!

I also realized on MyFitnessPal that my fat intake was way too high compared to my protein intake. I have it set right now to 50% carbs, 20% protein, and 30% fat. I don’t know if this is the best settings for weight loss, so if you know, let me know. I only want to loose 5-10lbs that I gained over the horrendous winter, so if you have any suggestions over what the correct ration is, I’d love to hear it.

But I’ve learned my lesson: no more quesadillas or anything really loaded down with cheese. My insides cannot take it.

Food Stuffs

I lost about 40 pounds around 4 years ago. I started limiting my calorie intake and being much more active. I also started using MyFitnessPal, which is a rockstar app that you should definitely downtown if you’re trying to be healthy. You can insert your height, weight, weight loss goal per week, and what kind of lifestyle you lead.

I’ve apparently had mine set on a “nonactive” lifestyle and wanting to lose 2 pounds per week for a while now which was telling me to eat about 1,240 calories.  

As a result, I’ve been starving all winter. Like, legit starving. I spoke to one of my best friends the other day who works in the medical field and when I asked her if I was eating enough she gasped and said absolutely now.

I changed my settings on MyFitnessPal to an active lifestyle and I only set it to 1 pound a week. My new calorie goal? 1,840. I’ve been much less hungry over the last few days. 

There was no point to this. I just wanted to put it out there incase anyone else finds themselves hungry this winter. Check your app settings 😉

I know people say that when you simply run, you ARE a runner. Well, allow me to disagree but I run a few times a week and I don’t consider myself a runner.

At all.

I don’t dislike runners – some of my friends are runners. But to me runners are people who train for stupidly long distances for races that are WAY too long. I’ve run a couple of races (above is a picture of some friends and i at The Color Run last August) and I might run another in early February, but they’re not races I train for. I can’t see myself ever running over 10k. Quite honestly: I’d get bored. I get bored after two miles or gives miles at the very most. I don’t actually see the point in running races with ridiculously long distances. I guess it’s an ego thing for people (and I don’t mean ego in a necessarily bad way).

I run to stay fit and burn calories. That’s it.

Who knows, maybe I’ll run a 10k or half-marathon one day. But if I do it’ll probably just be on a dare, I won’t train for it, and I’ll see a puppy around mile 7 and get totally distracted.

For now I’m very happy running to stay fit and considering myself a yogi instead.