Synchronized Crunching and Eating for our Abs

Yesterday was yet another gym and dinner date with Bianca.  This time she asked if we could do abs, so that is what we did, a ton of ab workouts and a half hour on the arc trainer to finish it off.  I also may have went early and ran 2.5 miles before she got there because, why not?

We did burpees, butt ups, bicycles, side planks, v twist sit-ups with a weight, planks, regular crunches, and standing side crunches with a 25 pound plate.  The only thing I couldn’t do was the planks because I still can’t put much pressure on my elbow.  darn… But that made it easy for me to make sure that Bianca didn’t lift her butt up to make it easier, and I got to smack it every time she did.

Tired Bianca after her 3 one minute planks

if only we had a third person there to film us,  our reflection in the window was hilarious because we were synchronized the whole time.

After we were done working out we headed back to my apartment to have an entire dinner full of foods that are good for the mid section that I got from a Women’s Health article and a few other articles online.  After all they say abs are made in the kitchen don’t they?

I basically wanted to include greens, nuts, dairy, beans, organic soy, oats and whole grains, berries, coconut and olive oil, and chia seeds and I somehow did it.  Actually I shouldn’t be surprised that I did it, that is really just a balanced healthy meal isn’t it?

I saw a recipe in fitness magazine for a kale salad that actually incorporated a lot of the things listed and even better it actually sounded good.  I searched and searched online but could not find a link for the recipe so I had to take a screen shot of the magazine (thanks to my iPad subscription for making that easy)

 

I added a bit of garlic to the tofu croutons however and lemon to the dressing because it was kind of flavorless.  I don’t know if I just didn’t get enough juice from the grape fruit or what, but the lemon kicked it up just right.  I also soaked my hazelnuts over night and dried them in my oven.  And for added protein added cannellini beans.

i love that there are dollar bills in this photo so random

Also whoever decided that the cutting grapefruit over a bowl thing was an easy task is crazy, it was so hard.  I destroyed my grapefruit, no pretty segments for our salads.

Yum!  but that salad is not complete!  We forgot the shaved romano cheese!

much better!  Thanks to Bianca for stopping at a fancy Manhattan cheese shop to get it, the salad wouldn’t be the same without it!

For dessert I made a mixed berry crumble.  I looked up recipes for an idea of how to make it but didn’t really follow one, so I will just list what I used, this is for two.

Filling

• fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries
• 2 tbsp Chia seeds (1 tbsp for each)
• quick drizzle of maple agave syrup (maybe 1 tsp tops on each)

Crumble topping

• 1 packet of Kashi go lean hearty breakfast cereal
• 2 packets of Monk fruit in the raw
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbps coconut oil

pack the filling into the ramekins very full as they are going to condense down then top with the crumble topping.  Mix the topping with your hands to get all the stuff mixed together, the heat from your hands will melt the coconut oil enough to make sure everything is well combined

Bake in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes, but keep an eye on them so that you don’t burn the top.   Let it cool for 5 or so minutes, and the chia seeds will help thicken up the juice!

A lot of the recipes I found online had you add flour and sugar to the berries.  Why!?  Aren’t berries sweet enough on their own.  I wanted to omit the flour so I went for the chia seeds and it worked pretty well!  I was also toying with the idea to put a little balsamic vinegar with the berries, but I totally forgot because we were so hungry, but I think I am going to try it next time!

oh no!  Bianca is done and I didn’t make extras!

No Bianca! It’s Mine!

Behind the scenes action shot!

We only use the high-tech stuff here, poster board on a chair.  Thats how you get it done in a small Brooklyn apartment.

 

 

Bianca Squats for Stuffed Peppers and Raw Carrot Cake

Tuesday Bianca came over for another gym day and dinner.  It’s fun to work out with her because she is gung ho for everything and fun to talk to during cardio.  We worked arms, and I made her do some squats lol. I even have proof!

The other best part about Bianca coming over is I get to try out recipes that Jake wouldn’t totally be into.  So I made vegan stuffed poblano peppers with fresh tomatillo salsa that I based off of a recipe I found in the Martha Stewart Meatlesscook book.  Her recipe included goat cheese, which I don’t like at all, and really it didn’t need it so I skipped it.  I also added the farro because i thought that would be a better addition.

I roasted the peppers on my gas stove which made my apartment smell interesting, luckily it was like 50 degrees outside and I could open my windows.  After I roasted the peppers and peeled them, I made a batch of farro and sautéed it with fresh corn and black beans with a bit of the salsa and packed that into the peppers.

What is farro you say? It’s a gluten free grain.  Now before you think I am hopping on the gluten-free diet trend I am not.  I wanted to change up my quinoa obsession and I figured a heartier grain would be good for this dish.  It has kind of a nutty taste and its just really good.

For the tomatillo salsa, I boiled 5 tomatillos to make them soft then drained them and put them in my blender with a couple cloves of garlic, half a jalapeño, a ton of fresh cilantro, and the juice from 1 and a half limes.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper of course as well.

Of course no meal would be perfect without a dessert so I decided to try a raw carrot cake recipe that I found on a blog.  And by recipe I mean an idea because you know I didn’t follow it.

For this I grated one giant carrot, then realized how juicy the carrot was, so I ran the second one through my juicer to get a dryer pulp.  But I think I liked how it had two different textures, a coarse grated carrot mixed with the finer carrot pulp so if you can do that I would suggest it.  If not grate both but squeeze out a lot of the moisture or it won’t stay together.  Then I added about a cup of raw walnuts (soaked and dried in my oven of course) about a cup of dates, and 3/4 cup of unsweetened dried coconut.  Blended that all together then pressed it into heart shaped baking cups.  Oh! and don’t forget the cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg!  I did, and had to do it all over again lol.  I know a lot of people think carrot cake isn’t carrot cake without the raisins, but I can’t stand raisins so they were omitted in my version (and it was still carrot cake to me!).

messy kitchen

For the icing, the original called for cashews, which honestly sounded really good, but Bianca unfortunately is allergic to cashews so I made this out of coconut milk instead.  Did you know that if you put coconut milk in the fridge over night it thickens the creamy part of the milk and it separates to the top.  It ends up almost like being coconut cream (only without all the added junk when you buy it pre-made)  I scooped out all the coconut cream put it in my blender with some maple flavored agave, vanilla powder and a little vanilla extract.  Then I whipped it together and it made a super fluffy icing kind of like a cool whip consistency and it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

I am totally making that raw carrot cake for like every occasion now, I think anyone would like it no matter what kind of diet they have, it didn’t need to be made with flour or baked, and it didn’t need any extra oil or hydrogenated fats to make it delicious.  Give it a shot, you will probably really like it!  Even if you are one of those people that don’t believe in mixing vegetables in with your sweets… you know who you are…

 

Gym buddies and a Dinner Date

Today my good friend Bianca Alexis came by after she was done work and we had a work out day and I made dinner for us.  I am sure by now you are noticing a trend that I like to feed people, I love to cook and it is way more fun cooking for more than one person!

Bianca loves her cardio so I wanted to get lots of strength in so we concentrated on arms and back.  The gym was packed so we didn’t get to do everything in my plan but we got most of it done, plus a half hour of cardio and burned well over 700 calories.

As I have said before Bianca and I were both goth club kids so we share a lot of the same clothing choices, we both bought the same underarmour capris in our signature colors and have planned for months and months to work out together in them and take pictures.  Fast forward to today and we finally got to do it, although by now my pants fall down when I do strenuous cardio and when I bend over which makes me sad… they are my favorites!

We both have good calves in our shots lol.  And this was AFTER our workout so don’t go all judge-y that our hair is out of place because it should be! We worked our butts off!

After the gym we came back to my place and that is where the magic happened.  Not that.. food!  Bianca is an omni, but she is open minded so I made an all vegan meal.  The highlight was the sriracha marinated sweet potato “fries” which were AMAZING!!!

I didn’t follow a recipe of course, but it was super easy!  Just chop up a few sweet potatoes into fry shapes, then throw them in a ziplock bag with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, TONS of chopped garlic, and even more sriracha and shake it up! I let them sit in the fridge while we were at the gym, I don’t know if it made a difference or not.  Then I laid them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment (easy clean-up!) and baked until they were done.  Don’t ask how long because I don’t know haha, I just cooked them till they were soft and had some burnt spots, I mean brown spots.  To dip them in (and because you can never have enough sriracha!) I mixed sriracha with some roasted garlic veganaise.

I also went for my other staples, sautéed kale with garlic and lemon and mixed vegetables (red, green and yellow pepper, zucchini, red onion, and cherry tomatoes grilled on my George Forman grill.  And of course on the side I had to make a fresh juice so I ran some watermelon and mint through my juicer!

No meal would be complete without desert so Bianca stopped at Dean and Deluca and got us each a cute tiny chocolate.  It literally tasted like christmas… dark chocolate with caramel, cinnamon, and cloves, yum!

Ps. Notice my photos getting better?  I built this little light box today out of cardboard, poster board, tissue paper, and tape lol…

But who cares what it is made of, it really made a difference!  The other difference… I didn’t take the photos, Bianca did… she is more handy with the digital camera than I am not to mention I am a little out of practice (meaning a lot, its been years since I have picked up a SLR)

Today was an awesome day, bummer it is pouring now, and I have to clean up my cooking mess, the worst part of cooking.

So thanks to Bianca for coming out to Brooklyn to visit me, and taking the photos, and helping me with photoshop, and my lightbox and the chocolate!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I fell off the wagon (kinda)

Happy New Year!!

Jake and my first photo of 2013

No, I didn’t abandon my blog, and no I didn’t quit.  I just let life get in the way a little bit, but thats okay.  My last post was about the teeny kitten that I found.  I let her get in the way of my gym time because I felt bad leaving her home by herself for so long on days that I had to work.  Now that she is bigger and more independent I am back to going to the gym 6 days a week about an hour and a half each day.

8 weeks old and already a trouble maker

I also let the holidays get in the way a bit, the shopping, the gift wrapping, the cooking, and spending time with mine and Jake’s family.  I mean honestly I don’t really think it got in the way, I just think it was a good time to relax and enjoy my time with people other than the stinky sweaty people at the gym.  I of course didn’t lose any weight in fact I gained a smidge back, but nothing to really be angry at myself about.  I was at about 42 pounds lost, now I am back at 40.  Still a number to be proud of for sure.  And like I have said before most of my goals with my weight-loss is to still be happy while doing it.  It is not worth losing a ton of weight if I can’t still enjoy eating things I like or have fun every once in a while so for me I am satisfied with my results.

Rainy day in Rockefeller Center in front of the Christmas Tree

I know I talk about my heart rate monitor a lot on here, but really it was probably the best thing that I purchased for my weight loss.  I have the Polar FT60 and I love it.  It keeps track of all of my calories burned and time I have spent at the gym.  I only wish I bought it sooner.  Either way I logged at least 245 hours in the gym since July 9 which I think it pretty awesome.  I realized last night that I can reset that back to 0, so I did and now I can’t wait to see what I do for the entire year (well minus the first 6 days of the year, whoops!  I also want to get better about wearing the S-1 foot pod, I just wish it didn’t go through batteries so fast.  That was why i stopped wearing it in the first place, I would always get to the gym, go to turn it on and it would be dead.  The one thing that I did change about my HRM is I upgraded (at least to me) to a different transmitter.  I bought the T31 coded transmitter and it makes wearing the monitor so much more comfortable.  This one is flat and doesn’t have anything to snap on so nothing can get undone, and it is also more comfortable when I am using machines that I rest my chest on.  I still wear the fitbit zip all day, but I really don’t use the numbers for much, I just kind of like seeing how far i walked for the day.  I don’t think the calories burned are as accurate as my heart rate monitor so I only use it as a guide.

My gym totals since I bought my heart rate monitor

So what else do I have planned for the new year aside from keep going?

I started looking into more runs to do.  So far I have 4 that i definitely want to do, I just wish I had someone at my fitness level to do them with.

I know my sister and I are of course doing to do the Muck Fest MS again because it was so much fun, and for a great cause.

I am also REALLY excited for The Electric Run so that I can bring out all of my old neon “cyber goth” clothes!

embarrassing but a perfect example lol AND no tattoos!!!

There are a few other mud runs that I am looking at, the Spartan Sprint which is 4 miles but the obstacles look pretty tough, and also the 5kFoam Fest looks amazing!  I just wish it was longer than just a 5k. The only tough thing about doing all of these is taking off all those Saturdays from work, sorry clients… don’t kill me!

So I guess the final question is did you make a new years resolution?  I didn’t, I just want to continue on the path that I have been on, for almost a year now, and I think I want to lose another 40 pounds and I should be good, maybe 50, but I think 40 is my minimum goal.  What about you guys?

 

 

 

My Week in Instagram, New Shoes (Again!) Plus A Mini Goal

This week I almost was going to say that it was uneventful but as I was typing it I realized it wasn’t totally boring.  Tuesday my friend Julie brought me as her guest to see a live taping of the Wendy Williams Show.  I have honestly never watched the show, I know her whole “How you doin” schtick but thats about it, but I figured what the heck, why not get up at 5.30 am to go be in an audience lol.

7.30 am in line

Apparently she always does an “Ask Wendy” segment so while we were in line the show’s pa’s were yelling at us to write down a question and turn it in on our way to to the holding area.  I had one, which was apparently a good one and they almost chose me to ask it on the show, but I think when they saw the name Kristin Jackson they were thinking a different type of person was going to show up and they looked a little shocked haha, needless to say I didn’t get picked, phew, i really didn’t want to ask a question anyway. And no I will not tell what it was haha.

After the show we went to lunch at a restaurant in Chelsea called Cafeteria.  So good!  I had been craving a good veggie burger for days and Cafeteria fit the bill completely.

Vegan Veggie Burger with Parmesan Truffle fries! heck yeah I ate those fries!!

Getting up that early in the morning you definitely get a ton done lol, after lunch since I was in the city and it was only like 1 in the afternoon, I figured I would run over to Jack Rabbit and get fitted for some new shoes.  I wanted to see if I could try a different brand because I wasn’t too sold on the cushioning on the Brook’s Adrenaline12 that I have been wearing.  Plus I pretty much tore through them already and I only got them the end of June!  But I guess going to the gym 6 days a week will do that to a shoe.  And lets face it, they were ugly!  So this time I am trying the Saucony Hurricane 14’s

First I would like to thank Saucony for making me a pretty(ish) shoe that is good for stability and comes in wide width (stupid feet).  Towards the end of wearing the Brook’s I noticed that they were getting way too wide, if I did a side lunge or something my foot would slide in them so hopefully that doesn’t happen to these.  So far I like the padding in these a lot better, and the guy who fitted me said that they are encouraging me to be more of a mid-strike runner, rather than a heal runner.  Apparently in the Brooks I run all kinds of wacky and am a mid-strike runner in my right foot and a heal runner in my left!?  Which kind of explains why I was always just getting shin splits in my left leg.   So bottom line, I am happy, I got a pair of black and pink running shoes that fit my feet correctly!  If I love them I am so going to buy another pair to last me through the summer when all the shoes go back to being ugly and white.

My next mini goal to conquer…

I just just hit the weight i was after I finished my juice cleanse, so I am up to 37 pounds lost, I would like to make it to 40 pounds by Halloween.  My weight loss has definitely slowed down so 3 pounds in less than a month is going to be tough, but I have been putting a ton of extra time into the gym.  So much that I have already reached my heart rate monitors weekly goals for everything, and I still have tomorrow to workout so I am going above a beyond and hopefully the momentum will continue.  On Wednesday we closed the salon so I took advantage and went to the gym over time

Yep that says 2 hours and 46 minutes, and yes I burned 1081 calories, I did about an hour of strength and cross training, then the arc trainer, elliptical, and treadmill!

So hopefully I can get these 3 pounds off by Halloween!  Hold me to it!  Typical goth girl, I lose weight for halloween when most girls try to lose weight for “bikini season” lol but i don’t know, I think those sexy halloween costumes are way less forgiving than some bathing suits!

The one bonus of me losing weight in my mid-section so slowly is that right now it looks like i have hips, but once that is gone straight square little me will come back. wahh wahh

 

 

I lived and laughed through Muck Ruckus 2012

Saturday of course was the 5 mile mud and obstacle race that I entered called Muck Ruckus in West Orange, NJ.  I convinced my sister to run it with me and then with less than a week before the run my cousin Sean decided to run it with us!  Muck Ruckus was a charity for multiple sclerosis which our mom has as well as Sean’s mom so it was definetly a charity that was near to our hearts.  It made me feel good that not only did i raise money, but since I got my sister and Sean involved we raised triple the amount that I would have by myself.

The day started off super early, I had to be at Penn Station and on a train heading to NJ by 8am, and our wave of the run started at 11.30.  Sean and his wife picked me up (she has an awesome blog called Welcome to Deluxville) and then we met my sister Ashley and her family.  Even my mom and dad showed up to watch us!

my dad giving us a pep talk lol

The obstacles started out immediately.  When we got to the first one Ashley, Sean, and I just thought it was a few dirt hills, then we get to the top and to our surprise they were slides into mud!  They wasted no time getting us dirty at all.

one of three

first slide down into the mud

One of the issues with the dirt hills were the rocks.  Sliding down the last one I hit a huge one that hurt so bad which Sean’s wife caught on camera lol

my cousin Sean

Ashley

This obstacle was towards the end of the run, by this time we were probably at around 4 and a half miles and completed i think at least 18 other obstacles!  This one we had to jump off the platform into 6 feet of muddy water, it was a little scary at first so we hesitated, but it was pretty fun after we finally did it.

This was the second cargo net we had to climb, I wish I had a picture of the first one, it was HUGE!

This one was fun, it was a giant swing that you had to stand on and make it swing then you just had to jump off into about 4 feet of water!

the photo that was posted on the website to hype us for the run

Our actual obstacle didn’t have knots on the end!  I was at such a disadvantage because the ropes were so short, so not only did i not get to get a high enough grip but without a knot at the end i just slid right off as did my sister.

show off! lol

And crossing the finish line!  Our official time was 2 hours and 46 seconds.  I finished in 392 place out of 731!!!  Pretty awesome!

Wet and tired, but it was so much fun!  All three of us are going to do it again next year!  I have to give my sister credit for finishing as well as she did.  Not only was she not well trained for something like this, but she also had a baby in January!  And Sean signed up less than a week in advance so he didn’t get to prep much either.

I was so excited that my heart rate monitor was water proof so I could wear it for the run, this way I could track my heart rate, (I’m not going to lie, I kind of ignored it hehe) but most importantly I could see how many calories I burned during it.  I wasn’t expecting it to be over 1000 calories, but that is pretty exciting!

The one bummer was that I broke out in a rash on my hands after the race.  I have a latex allergy and i don’t really know what i touched that was covered in latex, but my hands are still all red and itchy and its Wednesday!!  Next run I am totally going to wear gloves to protect my hands just in case.

After the run my boyfriend Jake had a match in Staten Island.  Since my sister and her family were up from Philadelphia for the run they figured they would go see Jake wrestle.  The one problem was, my sister and I were covered in mud so thanks to my “black card” membership at Planet Fitness we stopped into a gym right around the corner from the venue and showered really quick.  I have to say that alone made my $20 membership worth it for the month haha.

My niece Casey and her dad Andrew modeling a lucha libre mask

Dirtbag Dan, Benjamin Quinn, and my bf Logan Black walking out to their match

And still the No Limits Champion hehe.  If you want to check out a match go to the Warriors of Wrestling site and check out when the next one is.  They are super fun (even though I am a little biased)

Now that I finished up that run, I have the Color Run 5k Sunday August 26th which I am super excited for.  It might not be muddy, but it is still dirty!  If you have never heard of it check it out, it looks awesome!  The two NYC dates sold out in less than 24 hours!!!  And now that I got my sister hooked to the mud runs, she wants to do The Hell Run in October so hopefully we get to do that one as well.

My week in Instagram and my 6 month gym anniversary

This week marked the 6 month anniversary at the meathead gym that I go to.  Even though I started this whole journey a bit before I signed up for this gym, I didn’t start being super consistant about it until I signed up there.

In the last 6 months I have lost 32 pounds and dropped 5 dress sizes.  Pretty crazy and awesome.

I really have to give credit where it is due to my boyfriend Jake, he has helped me so much along the way and has always given me feedback on how I am doing and encouragment when I need it.  He is my own personal trainer and I don’t think I would have seen as much progress if I didn’t have his help!  We go to the gym together at least once a week, but we only just started actually training together which is even more fun so hopefully we can continue doing that as much as possible.

arm day with Jake!

arm day for me = huge fat burning day. The highest percentage I have done so far!

look who is building a tricep!!!

Jake took this picture for me when I was doing rope pushdowns (I think that is the right term haha) to prove to me that I am progressing.  He is my cheerleader for sure.

the foot pod that didn’t count my milage…. boo

I was so pumped for this foot pod to track my milage and today I went to the gym twice, ran both times and it isn’t showing up in my stats, I can’t figure out what I am doing wrong.  I have to say, while I do LOVE my Polar stuff, they really give you horrible directions, and it really takes some time to figure out how to use it all correctly.  I have read, and re-read the instructions for this foot pod and I just can’t figure out how to get it to track my milage.  Tomorrow is one of my running days so I hope that I can get it to work.

week 3 stats!

This week was a tough one, I wasn’t feeling well Tuesday-Thursday so I was pretty easy on myself on Tuesday even though I planned on working super hard because I was working out with my friend Bianca Alexis.  Then on Wednesday and Thursday I had to skip the gym.  I ended up working out with my trainer Friday and Saturday so definetly got in some good workouts, especially today.  In order to reach my calorie goal, I went to the gym, not once, but twice.  I went in the afternoon with Jake to do arms and some sprints, then after he went home I walked over to Planet Fitness to get some more cardio in since I was basicly 1 and a half work outs short for the week.

I didn’t lose any weight, but I would say being able to see my muscle is some good progress I suppose.

Tomorrow I am waking up early and doing a photoshoot with my roommate Lydia,  so I totally should be getting my beauty rest, but instead in true night owl form, I started writing this blog instead of just doing it later.  Can’t wait to post the new progress photos! so keep and eye out!

What a Longggggggg week

amazing color and style i did at my salon

This week has been super eventful and packed so I haven’t been able to update my blog, but have kept up with my workouts and stuff, in fact worked harder.  I was decently busy at work and also hired a trainer that I worked out with twice last week.

My trainer, Alex started with me on Tuesday morning.  He did more cross training stuff with me, but did a pretty good job showing me some new moves to help get me out of my slump.  I woke up the next day with super sore legs, so sore that I walked noticibley funny, and i made it worse by wearing platform flip flops so i just walked awkward all day.  I worked out by myself Wednesday then Thursday I was back with Alex again at my meathead gym which was fun.  Friday and Saturday I went to Planet Fitness by myself and did intervals on the arc trainer and abs.  Sunday is usually my day off from the gym because I usually stay at Jake’s house for the weekend and his gym won’t allow guests (lame!)  but this weekend Jake stayed over beacause one of my best friends, Tina was in town so we all went to the gym together Sunday and Monday.  Sunday I did an arm day with Jake which was really fun, we usually don’t work out together because a lot of the stuff he does I can’t do, but I definetly want to try to do that more with him.

my stats for the week thanks to my Polat FT60

I really worked out 8 sessions but on the first day with Alex I didn’t wear my heart rate monitor, and on Sunday when I was doing a bicep curl the monitor unsnapped and fell off and didn’t count it!  I’m super excited because I ordered the S1 Foot Pod to track my running, so I can’t wait to see next week what it says!

Tina came up to not only hang out, but also to see Jake wrestle, he had a match Saturday night which turned out to be really fun.

Jake is front and center ❤

For the main event every minute a new guy entered the ring, and the only way to be disqualified was to fall out (or be thrown out) of the ring.  It got pretty crazy, but it was really exciting, I was glad I got to go to this one.

If you live in the New York area, and you like wrestling, you should totally like the Warriors of Wrestling’s facebook page and go to a match!!

We also got to see the new Batman movie, shopped in Time Square, and ate at one of my favorite restaurants (and the place Jake and I went on our first date) Wild Ginger.  yum!

I tried out a recipe for a protein peanut butter cup that my roommate Lydia found on a YouTube channel called Lean Body Lifestyle

I followed his recipe however I used my vegan protein powder by Vega.  The vega protein needed a lot more water than if I used a whey protein, so mine came out a little thicker, but its still pretty good, I can’t eat a whole one, it filled up a whole cupcake wrapper!  but i will definetly make them more once i finally finish the two that i made haha.

skinny, skinny fat, fit fat, or just fat…

photo from Equinox

I have been reading all these articles that have been coming out about being “skinny fat” which is the term used for normal weight obesity.  It is basicly saying that you should not only be concerned about your weight but the distribution of your weight of fat to muscle.  You could be super skinny but have very little muscle mass, in fact if you are a woman with over 30% body fat (25% in men) you are considered obese no matter what size jeans you fit in.

Its kind of crazy to think about… I never really noticed many people that fit that mold, until i started going more regularly to Planet Fitness.  At my “meat head” gym everyone there is super huge and muscley and fit so I had nothing to really compare things to, but at Planet Fitness there are people of all fitness abilities.  The other day when I was on my beloved arc trainer I saw first hand just how unfit skinny people really can be.

Two girls got on the arc trainers next to me, one had to be no bigger than a size 4, the other maybe a 6, obviously way skinnier than I am yet there they were huffing and puffing and struggling after only doing a few minutes on a very easy setting.  In fact they were so out of shape they got off after about 10 minutes, breathing heavy and complaining about how hard it is.  Then I look at myself, who is considered over weight and I could run circles around these girls, I do 45 minutes- an hour on the arc trainer when I am on it and by at least the last 15 minutes I am doing it at high intensity on the hardest level.

Its just kind of crazy to me, and honestly not fair at all that this happens.  Here I am working my butt off and its only coming off slowly and there they are not struggling with their size but struggling to be active. I mean really i suppose i would rather have it my way…. maybe.

So sure I want to be smaller, but definetly not like those girls.  So back to the gym.  Back to the treadmill and the arch trainer.  and back to the strength training for me.

Planet Fitness Brooklyn

So this week the Planet Fitness finally opened near my apartment…  Whats so great about  it?  It is as cheap as 10 bucks a month and it is huge! and new… and clean.  What’s not so great about it?  Its not a gym built for Jake so we can’t go there together, and i guess being 10 dollars a month brings in a few people that are not that great.  I am hoping that as the excitement winds down so will the crowds, after all I am sure that is part of their business plan, over-selling memberships and hoping that half of them hardly come.

So far I have gone there three times.  My first impression what not too favorable but I have to admit they just opened so it must have been hectic.  I had actually signed up for the gym in January and had been waiting since then for it to open.  It finally did while it was in Arizona so I went a few days after its grand opening.  When I got there I just wanted to sign in but the girl at the desk was not that welcoming and made me wait in the same line as the people learning about the gym and signing up.  So I seriously stood in the line for a good 30 minutes which ate away at the amount of time that i had to work out.  Once I finally got in I headed straight up to the third floor to hop on a treadmill and start going as I only had a half hour left to get anything in.  First thing I noticed was that there were a ton of machines which was awesome, but because there are so many the machines are so close together that sometimes you and the person next to you can’t hold on to the same handles at the same time.  I Think they would have been better off taking one of each machine out and given each machine an inch of so more space really.  Other than that I like it a lot.

I also found a new love for the arch trainer.  Its like an eliptical but all the issues that I had with an eliptical are gone.  I always noticed that if I am on an eliptical for too long it makes my toes feel numb.  I know that is not a feeling I should have while I am working out lol, but beause of the limited choices of cardio equipment at my old gym I would do it so I wasn’t always just doing the treadmill.  Being that I am a teeny 5’1 sometimes I have a hard time on certain brands of elipticals because my stride was too short.  That would put more stress on my knees and the sides of my calves would often hurt the next day.  The arch trainer so far as aleeved all of those issues AND added bonus, it burns more calories than a standard eliptical. win win.  Plus everyone at the gym hasn’t figured out it amazingness so they are always empty hehe.  I do wish that Planet Fitness invested in the total body arch trainer and not just the model that only works your lower body, or at least half and half… but eh what can you do.

Now that I am in a newer, bigger gym I also started on being more consistant with my strength training which I know I needed to start a long time ago, but I am just not patient enough to wait for equipment like I had to at my old gym.  I did my arms Saturday and legs today, tomorrow abs.  sexy.

I guess I keep saying old gym, but I am still a member there, I have a soft spot for those “meatheads” and Jake can work out there and honestly my favorite gym day out of all 6 days is Monday when he comes with me, so I am always going to go back there, just not every day.