Finding Strength in "Everyday" Muscles

When I woke up this morning I had sore muscles in places that I've never felt before!  Gina was kind enough to some on the spot training and teach some outer thigh exercises in class last night.  In addition to feeling sore there, I am sore in the lower back muscles and inner thigh, too!  I often forget that everything inside my body is connected in one way or another, so doing "outer thigh" exercises works many, many different muscles.

As I go about my day I do a lot of moving from sitting to standing, bending over (to pick up the baby or toys he spreads around the house), squatting down (to catch said baby from smacking his head on something), etc, etc.  Sometimes I just kind of throw my body around, relying on my joints - knees, elbows, wrists - to be the bearer of the weight.  Today I slowed down these movements and really felt the muscles engage in each one.  I tell ya - it's making me feel strong!  All day long I've felt myself use different muscle groups in my every day tasks.  Going into the third week of 6FIT, it's so nice to feel "old" muscles return, and to feel new ones emerge.

You should try it too! If you find yourself sitting at a desk throughout the day, try sitting up really tall (as if someone is pulling your hair straight up to the ceiling) and sit in this good posture for as long as you can feeling your abs and back muscles really engage.  Or the next time you go to stand up, feel your thighs, hamstrings, glutes and then calves really pull you to standing position.

I know they are random, but these are my thoughts for the day!  I just returned from a 30 min jog to kick start this week of CARDIO!  At least 30 minutes a day of heart pumping, sweat pouring activity.  Even though I was dreading it alllllllllllllll morning, I felt so good afterwards.  I think Connor and Hurley appreciated the time outside too : )

If you have experience pushing a jogging stroller - what's your technique?  Do you run in between the back wheels?  Push the stroller to the side?  I'm sure I look like a basket case running down the street pushing the stroller with one hand and holding Hurley's leash in the other barreling down the middle of the street!  Oh well - it was 10 points well deserved today!!

Oh, to be a cave woman!

This week's challenge is tough.  We are trying to eat only foods that you can hunt, gather or grow.  As if I were a cave woman living in the Rock Ages.  And that is tough when you are surrounded by pre-made, full of delicious dairy and sugar fillers meals or foods found at the grocery store.  That means no bread, no yogurt, no cheese - a few staples of my everyday diet.  I slipped up a few times (a handful of goldfish here, oatmeal cranberry cookie there) but for the most part I am proud of having eliminated "filler" foods from my usual diet.  To be totally successful at this, we are focusing on things that are hunted (meats, fish - cooked in their natural form with no breading or frying), gathered (oats, quinoa, rice, eggs) or grown (fresh fruits and veggies).  It helps to shop the perimeter of the grocery store OR the local farmers market!

On top of that, the foods of the week (we get extra points of we each a serving of these each day) are clementines (yum!) and kale (uh ...).  I'll admit, I still cannot bring myself to sautee a pan of kale and eat it in a bigger quantity than one bite.  But, I did make it last night and even eaten straight from the pan it's not all that bad!  Cooked greens are just not something I enjoy as a side dish.  So I tossed it into our lasagna soup last night to try to hide it a bit and it was a huge hit!  The whole family enjoyed 2 bowlfuls of soup.  I've copied the recipe here for anyone who wants to try it, with the substitutions that I made to make it hunt, gather, grow approved.

Lasagna Soup, adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (original recipe can be found at http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2011/11/lasagna-soup.html)

INGREDIENTS
Soup:
1 pound italian sausage (I used ground chicken instead)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (optional - I left out so it wouldn't be too spicy for Connor)
3 tablespoons tomato paste (I just used 1 whole 6 oz can)
1 (28-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
2 bay leaves
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I only used 1 carton = 4 cups and it turned out a good consistency)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or 2 tablespoons dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 pound fusilli noodles, cooked and drained

Cheese topping: I COMPLETELY OMITTED THIS to make it hunt.gather.grow approved (and save a few calories!!)
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:
In a large 4-quart pot, add the Italian sausage and cook over medium heat, breaking the pieces up with a wooden spoon or spatula while it cooks. I prefer the sausage in fairly small pieces. After about 3-4 minutes, add the onion. Cook the sausage and onion together, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is cooked through and the onions are soft,a bout 5-7 minutes. Drain any excess grease, if desired. Stir in the garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes and tomato paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the diced tomatoes with their juices, bay leaves and chicken broth. Add the basil, if using dried (if using fresh basil, add it in the next step).

Bring the soup to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste and the fresh basil, if using.

If you are using the cheese mixture, mix all (except shredded mozzarella) ingredients together and set aside.

*Right before serving I also added about 1 c of small diced raw zucchini and 1 c sauteed kale to the soup.  They were a nice addition - made it a very hearty dish.

To serve, put 1 - 2 scoops of noodles in a bowl.  Ladle with 2 - 3 scoops of soup on top of the noodles.  Add a dollop of cheese mixture to top, if using.  Then sprinkle with shredded mozzerella and serve immediately.

*My portion was just soup - no noodles or cheese.  For hubs and baby I served noodles with soup and some shredded mozzerella on top.  It was a very filling meal!

Another favorite moment of this week was my completion of the Wednesday stretch challenge.  Each day of the week we have a little mini challenge to complete for extra points.  Some days it's food related, some days it's exercise related.  After some really awesome, intense "bad to the bone" workouts this week (thanks Gina!), I had a long stretch session after a hot shower last night.  I'm talking holding a series of 12 - 15 stretches for 1 - 2 minutes each.  It's so worth it the next day.  I slept AMAZINGLY well last night and only woke up a little bit sore, but it feels great!!

Adjust as Necessary

The kickoff for 6FIT was so strong.  Everyone was anticipating their teammates and started pre-registering for the first weeks classes.  I admit, I was a little nervous!  I have a new role this time around in trying to express what 6FIT is / means / does for me.  Also, having done the program last fall I thought that I might have "learned all their is to learn about a healthy lifestyle".  As in - I know what to do, I just need practice doing it.

And then just like that "life stuff" happened!

My brother in law needed last minute heart valve repair surgery and I really wanted to fly out to Texas to help out my sister in law with their 4 amazing kiddos.

At home I had my calendar filled with virtual classes and my refrigerator stocked with grapefruit and celery (sorry hubs! hope you enjoy them!)  On the flight out here I had to make a mental choice.  I could:
a) just give up the workouts and the healthy eating and succumb to the "whatever happens, happens" mindset
or b) make a new plan

I chose b.  On the way home from the airport I asked to swing by the grocery store and grabbed some grapefruit, celery and fresh produce to at least supplement whatever meals the family would be eating (I am staying with my in-laws).  Of course I didn't want to feel like it was all about me, me, me and approach these things selfishly, but I have realized that sometimes you do have to stick up for yourself in letting others know what is important to you in the eating and fitness genre.  And of course everyone has been super supportive and understanding.

So I had a plan.  I woke up today, ate my grapefruit and went to my suitcase to take C on a walk ( I LOVE morning workouts!  They always give me a brighter attitude and healthy boost of energy for the day.  Even a 20 minute walk is better than nothing at all!).  I opened my suitcase and searched high and low only to realize - I forgot my running shoes!

Seriously?! 

So I amended my plan again.  Mari, my mother in law goes to this rockin' hour long water aerobics class 3 days a week, and this morning she had a class and invited me to come with her.  I did and it was SO fun and SO tiring! Treading water for an hour AND doing exercises on top of it?! 

Here we are in day 3 of the 6 weeks, and already I have learned a major lesson.  You can do all the planning in the world for healthy eating, fitness and overall lifestyle.  Sometimes, life stuff happens.  And that's ok!  It is still important - I would even say imperative - to take time for yourself.  Leave the situation and take a walk.  Or make a conscious choice once a day to say "no thanks" to coffee, cookies, cheesecake - whatever your guilty pleasure is - and replace it with a piece of fruit or some veggies.  It's those little things that will make a big difference in the end. 

After all, the goals of 6FIT are two-fold; getting into shape now and creating personal habits for a healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life!

Just Ask

Over the weekend I had an awesome visit with 2 of my best girlfriends for our annual "Girls Weekend".  I knew our afternoons of shopping would burn a few calories :), but probably not enough to off-set nights of gourmet food, endless glasses of wine and chocolate to go with it.  So in the morning I tried to eat a big breakfast including eggs for protein to get the best start to my day.

After shopping and walking around San Francisco, we ended up at a really fun wine bar to end the night.  The wine flights were spectacular (I enjoyed a nice last horrah of a white flight in anticipation of drinking only 1 glass of red wine after dinner during 6FIT - my heart will thank me later!).  I couldn't help but notice that not one of the small plates on the menu was a main vegetable dish (except for the greens in the 2 salad offerings)! We chose to share a few small plates: a cheese platter, root vegetable chips with dip and pizzeta.  After finishing the root chips we had practically the whole bowl full of french onion dip leftover so we asked for some more chips.  And when those were gone there was still delicious dip waiting to be consumed.  So in a completely non-Kristin like fashion (the wine couldn't have had anything to do with it), I asked the server to ask the cook if he could provide us with a raw veggie platter.

And he did!  And he cut them in cute little bite size pieces AND it was the cheapest thing we ordered.  Although alongside the shaved asparagus he also added some shaved green onion pieces which we unfortunately discovered by thinking they were asparagus.  Do people really eat raw green onion?

Anyway, I was proud of myself for asking for a healthy option out at a restaurant.  It's not something I've ever done before, but as Connor starts eating solid foods I know I will want to ask more often.  It drives me CRAZY when I see the options for children's menu include only yellow and brown foods!!!

So next time you're out at a restaurant and in the mood for carrot sticks (with or without dip or hummus) instead of chips and salsa, don't be afraid to ask for it!

How I Know Gina

Facebook is sometimes overwhelming, seemingly invasive and TMI, but most of the time a walk down memory lane.  I love staying connected with old friends through Facebook.  That's how Gina and I re-connected after becoming friends waaaaay back to high school!

As most of my friends know, my memory is usually foggy on the details of events (thanks Sarah, for pointing out in my first post the mistake I wrote about honeymooning in Hawaii when really I honeymooned in Mexico, HAHA!).  So I will try my best to recollect my first interactions and start of a friendship with Gina, but she'll have to correct me if I'm wrong :)

I remember we had at least 2 classes together, French (with a kooky teacher) and Math.  I hated math and was really bad at it, so I blocked all those memories out.  But French class is another story!  For whatever reason, one of our assignments was to create a skit (about what - who knows?!), and Gina was either my partner or in my group.  I went over to her house to prepare and for whatever reason, our skit started with this music playing:

Now picture this music with me dressed as the Hunchback of Notre Dam and Gina walking out, both of us bouncing to the beat and sort of snapping our fingers like rappers!!

HA!  I kid you not!

This is how I know Gina.

I also have a really sweet picture of us together after one of her ballet performances (The Nutcracker?) that I can't find anywhere but if / when I do, I will share it with you all!

Meet the CA Spokesmodel for DanceFIT Studio's skype virtual fitness classes!

My name is Kristin and I am the California Spokesmodel for DanceFIT Studio's skype virtual fitness classes!! 

Let me introduce myself.

The picture on my blog was taken in Hawaii in November of 2007 while I was on my honeymoon.  I was on top of the world!  In some ways, that was.  A beautiful wedding, married to the man of my dreams and happy with the way I looked for the first time in many years.

But the shape and size of my body was being created from not eating breakfast (and during most of the week - lunch, too) because I was so stressed out all the time, drinking energy drinks to keep myself "energized", eating dinners out most nights of the week because I was too exhausted to wait until I got home to eat, let alone cook dinner at home, and sleeping every spare second I had.  You see - I hated my job.  With a passion.  I cried a lot and I let my frustrations consume me.  And thus, it took over my eating and fitness habits as well.

A look back before the years of the dreaded awful first-job-out-of-college days:

In high school I was a swimmer.  In true high school fashion, I wanted to be like the best kids on my team, so I mimicked their workouts and eating habits.  Because I was swimming year - round, I was always active and never really paid attention to my body type.  I wasn't tiny, I wasn't huge.  I was just me and that was fine.

In college I was a rower and I was a decent athlete.  I made the Varsity team my Freshman year and the next year was in the head position of the boat.  We were a "heavyweight" team (versus "lightweight" rowers who have to have a combined body weight of all 8 rowers under the allotted weight in order to compete).  All the emphasis in my 3 years of rowing was on gaining muscle and increasing the power of the boat.  There was little, to no emphasis on healthy eating.  So I just ate whatever, whenever!

After the wedding I finally got my wits about me, left the dreaded first job and went into "new wife" mode.  I cooked all the time.  Big, hearty meals.  And it wasn't until a year after I was married that I realized how my portion control was way off.  My husband eats more than I do, as he should since he is bigger than me.  When we ate meals together I would serve myself as much as my husband and when he got seconds, I did too.  This is going to sound crazy but I found that if I stopped eating, he would too and then I thought that he would still be hungry on my account!  Who knows where this came from.  Anyway, it took a long time for me to change these habits.  Years.  And let's not even get started on the quantity and frequency that dessert was consumed in those first few years of marriage either....

Fast forward 3 years - I'm pregnant!  My lifelong goal was to be a mother and it was finally happening!  But I wasn't going to let the weight creep up me.  I was going to walk the dog every day!  And do prenatal yoga!  And I did : )  You see - the problem was that my exercise to food intake ratio was SO off that I was literally tricking myself into thinking I had burned more calories than I actually had.  An average walk for me was 2 - 3 miles - not too shabby for a wobbly pregnant lady!  Now when I say walk, I mean a leisurely stroll.  No increase in heart rate (might stress out the baby!).  And prenatal yoga was merely stretching.  But after one of these "vigorous workouts" I would treat myself to a second sandwich for lunch (no kidding!) or a huge slice of apple pie after dinner.  There was just no method to the madness.  And so I gained 40 pounds in the pregnancy and was seriously anxious to get it off the day after my son was born.

As soon I had the doctor's clearance to start working out again, I started in on a 90 day DVD workout program.  6 days a week I did my workout which varied from cardio to an upper body weight workout to yoga to a martial arts type workout.  It felt great to get my blood moving again, but at the end of the 90 days I had only lost about half of the weight I gained.  I still had 20 pounds to go and was at a loss.  I thought for SURE this extensive (and expensive) DVD system would be the key to getting back to "normal" and it only took me half way.

Then one day I was drowning my sorrows on Facebook, and I saw a post from Gina that she was offering a complimentary class that night for her BalletFIT class.  I had seen many similar postings before.  In fact, I had already "liked" DanceFIT Studio on Facebook and was so envious of Gina's tiny figure and her ability to bounce back into shape after having kids.  So I gave it a shot.  I have zero dance background and zero coordination but if it worked for her and so many other strong supporters of the studio, I wanted to give it my best shot.

And I LOVED every minute of that class!  There are three reasons why virtual workout classes with DanceFIT studio are so amazingly awesome:

1.  You don't have to leave your home which means you can throw your workout clothes on 4 minutes before class starts and still be early :) 

2. Unlike DVD workouts, the instructors of the virtual classes give you feedback and you can ask questions or ask for clarifications (such as "should I feel this in (this body area)"? "that hurts my (body part) - can you offer a modification?", etc).  This is invaluable in a workout - and saves you from injuries and giving up on a workout because it doesn't feel right or hurts you.

3. You are part of a team.  You can choose to see the other members in your class or not, via Skype settings.  You can see that others are pushing themselves too and not giving up, and that just might be what keeps you going for that last set of 20 reps.

Every week I look forward to my Sunday and Wednesday evening virtual class.  It's 45 minutes of "me" time where I don't have to think about my to-do list, work, family, or anything other than giving my body the exercise it needs to keep me healthy.  My son is 10 months old now and we live in California, so we walk outside often.  Most weeks we get out at least 3 mornings along with our 4 year old German Shepherd.  One morning a week I hike around the foothills of Palo Alto with some other mommy friends and their babes in strollers as well.  Hiking with friends makes the hilly 1.5 hour workout fly by (more on this later)!

I am also happy to report that my eating habits have improved drastically thanks to Gina's 6FIT program.  This 6 week program focus on eating 6 fruits and veggies per day, increasing your water intake to at least 60 ounces a day, working out 6 days a week with 6 teammates to motivate you.  Since I am a "remote" danceFITTER (DanceFIT Studio is located in Brookline, MA) I obviously did not meet my teammates, but I was still encouraged and motivated by them through our daily charting of food intake and exercise.  This is a point based system, so for those who don't like to lose, the better you eat and the more you exercise the more points you get!  There are weekly prizes and an overall prize for the winning team.  6FIT starts up again next week and I am SO excited!  More on that later :) Specific changes to my diet from this program include:

- a better awareness for incorporating different types of vegetables into each meal.

- eating fruit as a dessert (because it is naturally sweet this can be really satisfying if you give it some time to let your body adjust from artificial sweeteners!)

- eating more naturally, such as quinoa or beans as protein instead of red meat or chicken.

- drinking water as a means to wake up each day, hold off that '30 minutes before dinner snack', or wind down from an intense workout.

Through this blog I plan to keep the past struggles and mistakes in the past.  I was intimately honest with you about my fitness and eating history and will reference it often to help keep myself on track to a healthy lifestyle. Maybe you share some of the same situations, or maybe not.  Either way, it would help me tremendously if you would follow along in my journey.  Please leave comments or suggestions in the comments box - I welcome them with open arms.  

Thanks for stopping by!

(For more information on DanceFIT Studio, 6FIT or virtual classes, check out the website at  www.dancefitstudio.com)