The Grab Test

It's been roughly three weeks. According to my goals, I should be down 3 lbs (at least).

I weighed myself this morning.

154.6 lbs.

Seriously??

But I felt skinnier. So like most mornings, I stood in front of the mirror to see what I looked like. I looked at myself head on. I looked at myself from the side. I turned my back to the mirror and peeked over my shoulder.

Then I tried to grab all the extra fat on my body with my fingers and when I ran my hands down the sides of my waist, they fell onto my hips in a way they never have before. When I tried to grab the fat on my waist, there was barely a pinch. Then I did a few squats and practiced my form (Cross Fit has me hooked) and I noticed the shape of the muscles in my thighs.

I don't know what's going on with the scale but I do know my body is changing and that feels good.

I need to buy a tape measure.

- Nash

Some Highs and Some Lows

Since I've started this blog, I haven't really lost any weight. The very first week I dropped a 1 lb. but since then my weight has stayed the same + 1-2lbs on any given day. This is pretty disappointing for me but I also know (or think I know) why this is the case. I have been doing a great job of working out consistently and am hoping to get to the place where it's a habit (I've heard it takes 21 days to build a habit? Not sure if this is just an urban legend though), but the one thing I have NOT been doing a good job with is my eating. And by not doing a good job, I mean I've been eating WHATEVER I want. To be honest, I'm sitting in Barnes and Nobles right now sipping on a lovely caramel frappucino (LIGHT). Although I can see small changes in my body over the last few weeks, I know that I should be doing a lot better and my eating (and drinking habits) are to blame.

I've decided to spend some time really learning about nutrition and proper eating habits. I'm hoping it will help me approach meals and eating with more purpose and really understand the significance of what I'm eating, what I should be eating and how it will all impact my body. I've heard lots of skinny people talk about "eating clean" for a while now so my starting point is to find out what that really means. I picked up this book by Tosca Reno today and plan on reading it over the next week:

If anyone has any suggestions on other books related to nutrition and healthy eating, I'd love to know them.

In the mean time, my trip to Puerto Rico is looming in the distance. With two weeks left, I'm still hoping to drop a couple of lbs. To get the most immediate results, I'm going to cut back on my carb and alcohol intake and continue working out. My workouts this week have been as follows:

• Monday -- Rest day. It felt weird not working out but was much needed after working out 6 days last week.
• Tuesday -- Ran 3 miles at 9:30 pace + Cross fit workout. In Crossfit, we learned a new weightlifting move, Snatches, which is definitely going to take some getting used to. Then we did sets of back squats, overhead presses and pull ups. I increased my weight for back squats by 15 lbs, from 55lbs to 70 lbs and increased my overhead press weight by 10 lbs, from 30lbs to 40lbs. For pull ups, I did one set of 9, one set of 7 and one set of 5. I couldn't really compare accurately with this exercise however because I used two bands (green+red) for all three sets when during my first time I used a green band for two sets, and a green and red for my last set. Either way my numbers increased so I still think its an improvement.
• Wednesday -- 2 miles at 9:01 pace + 33 minutes on the elliptical (interval training with resistance of 3 and 7)
• Thursday -- I was supposed to run 3 miles but wasn't able to get it in. I did make it to cross fit for a good workout even though I was feeling sluggish (def wasn't my best CF performance). Warm-up: Run 1 lap, 15 squats, 10 T-Pushups, 10 JPUs, samson stretchThen we learned the technique/form for clean and jerks, which is a staple of olympic weightlifting. The movement seems a little awkward but I'm sure I'll get used to it. The main workout was 8 x :15 - L sits and hand stands followed by 5 rounds (timed) of a sprint + 15 wall balls. I was moving extra slow and was the last to finish.

I have 3 miles planned for today with an elliptical workout, Cross fit + 2 mile run for tomorrow and a 4 mile run on Sunday.

Although a major goal of mine is to lose weight, I also want to develop an overall healthy lifestyle. You only get one body and I want to make sure that mine still works 60 years from now. My grandmother suffers from Parkinson's and over the years her mobility has drastically declined. My grandmother was never overweight but she was also never very active nor athletic. I often think about the ways in which her physical health, particularly as it relates to her mobility, would be different if she had lived a more active, healthy lifestyle. I'm going to try and be less motivated by vanity and focus more on really trying to adopt a better lifestyle.

More updates coming soon.

-Nash

Hot Body Friday

The soon to be Kim Humphries.

Curves do a body good.

Week Round up

6 days of working out.

12 miles run.

3 Crossfit workouts.

1 spinning class.

= Happy Nashley

Running/Cross fit Update

I am very proud to say I've been working out a lot. Last week, I managed to workout 5 out of 7 days. This week I'm on schedule to work out 6 out of 7 days. I've followed the schedule I posted on Sunday exactly and have a four mile run on deck tomorrow. I may work on some of the cross fit moves I've learned after my run.

I said before that I was going to try the schedule I listed out and make changes as necessary. So far I think the schedule works well and the only thing I'll change is my mileage as I prepare for the half marathon. I may try a different spin class because the one I attended was just OK. The workout was pretty good but the instructor was just playing songs on her ipod, literally shifting from one to the next, no transitions or anything. Also, the music was bleh. I felt kind of bad but half way through the class I took my ipod out, put on my armband and blasted my own music so I could keep going and get hype. I guess that's kind of rude but she wasn't giving me much to work with and I didn't want to walk out of the class.

As far as cross fit goes...I have a love/dread experience. I always leave feeling glad that I came (and bootcamp workouts are nothing compared to the regular workouts I see other people doing) but I promise you...EVERY SINGLE TIME I enter the gym I'm thinking of reasons that I shouldn't be there or excuses to leave early.

Tuesday's Cross fit workout:

Warmup (x2): Run 1 lap, 10 goblet squats, 10 jump pull ups, 10 push ups, sampson squats

Workout:

Back squats 3x5 (55lbs) -- I felt like I could do more but my form was messy and I was trying to get that right.

Overhead pushups (30lbs) - It felt pretty easy and I knew I wanted to do a lot more next time.

Pull ups -- did 3 sets of 5 with this green rubber band thing that made it easier followed by....

30 Burpees - Burpees are the spawn of satan. I hate them. 30 Burpees. Timed. Did I say I hate burpees? 3:03. Gotta do better.

Oh and for the record, crossfit does NOT care about black girl problems. It started raining after I had finished my first lap of warmups. Thought that meant, I could skip the second lap. I mean...it was raining? No. No I couldn't.

Thursday's Cross fit Workout:

Warmup (x2) - 1 lap, 16 walking lunges, 10 jumping pullups, 10 t-pushups (i did them on my knees) samson stretch

Workout:

On Thursday, we learned the basics of L-Sit and Handstands and then did a 8 rounds of both holding for 12 seconds each. I couldn't lift my legs all the way up but i could hold my legs high at my knees so that's a start. I tried the handstand facing away from the wall and climbing up. Didn't get all the way there but did pretty well

We followed this with dumbbell push presses and kettlebell swings timed. 4x12. I finished first at 3:40 but my weights weren't very heavy. 17lbs for the kettle bell and I started with 15lbs for the dumbbell push presses on the first two sets and then switched to 5 lbs for the last two sets. I wanted to do 10lbs but there weren't any more for me to use. I felt ridiculous with the 5lbs but i made sure my form was perfect and my arms still burned after everything we did.

Today's Cross fit Workout:

Warmup (x2): Run 1 lap, 10 goblet squats,10 inchworms, 10 JPUs, samson stretch

Workout:

We started by learning how to do dead lifts. We did 3x5 on top of two warm up sets. I did 3 sets at 90lbs and then my instructor said it looked easy so I moved up to 115 lbs. At 115 lbs., i still had my form and my instructor thinks I can handle more weight.

Next, we did dumbnell thrusters and ended with 3 rounds (timed): 1 lap, 12 dumbbell thrusters (I used 10 lb weights)

I came in last place :/ The run slowed me down more than the weights did. I felt like my legs were moving so slow on each lap. It was definitely a tough/great conditioning exercise and Im looking forward to doing more deadlifts.

I haven't dropped any more weight yet but I am feeling very good about my commitment to exercising.

I'm slowly starting to feel my body wanting to workout and I'm slowly getting over those mind farts where I can make myself workout even when I dont want to and get a good workout in. Also, thanks to cross fit, i now have things to do in the gym after I run and exercises i can practice at home.

I'll update tomorrow on how my runs have gone. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

-Nash

What I've been eating....

I've said before that I generally think its easier to lose weight when you prepare your own food. I LOVE to cook but sometimes it can be hard to motivate especially after being at work all day. I was feeling pretty motivated yesterday for some reason, i think because I was looking forward to the organized workout plan I made for the week and decided to cook. ALOT. Enough to last me a couple of days. I spend a lot of time surfing the internet and came across this DELICIOUS chipotle marinade recipe on So Delushious! The recipe took me a total of 15 minutes and I made it with Skyy Citrus Vodka because that's all I had in the house.

And a huge round of applause to the oldest blender in the world. Don't judge me. It works. The marinade was great and I plan on using it on LOTS of different things - baked chicken, shrimp, pork. I put some on red snapper last night and it was yummy. Chrissy Teigan (the So Delushious person) is a model and those girls have to be skinny so I figure she knows what she's doing (I hope). I made a small serving of the sauce using only one can of adobe chiles and still have a ton left to use for the rest of the week (when I'm in DC, I'm usually on cooking for myself). The sauce has a ton of flavor so I only put a tablespoon on the fish and baked it and it tasted great.

Dinner

After reading some older posts over at Thin Thighs & Sweet Potato Fries, I decided I also wanted to try out spaghetti squash. I followed her directions on how to make the spaghetti squash but made my own sauce from this recipe at Smitten Kitchen with some frozen veggies. Spaghetti squash is...interesting. I definitely wasn't expecting the crunchiness of the texture because it really comes out looking like spaghetti or hashbrowns (my mom actually mistook it for hashbrowns in the fridge and had a RUDE awakening lol). In my opinion it tastes nothing like spaghetti BUT it is good with sauce and so low cal I'm definitely going to play around with ways to make it.

I've also been spending ALOT of time with my beloved crockpot. I'm obssessed. It's something I think every single woman should have. When I got home from my workout on Wednesday, I seasoned some chicken legs with lawrys, garlic and rosemary and dropped them in the crockpot on high heat. That took no more than 15 minutes. I hopped in the shower and then headed out to meat my cousin for sushi (I LOVE SUSHI). When I came home four hours later, this is what it looked like:

I left it in the pot for a couple more hours while I did some laundry and watched netflix. Turned out great. Seriously, if you don't have a crockpot - GET ONE.

- Nash

The Plan

So I've been trying to figure out what my workout plan/schedule is going to be instead of just flying by the seat of my pants and I think I finally came up with something.

For starters, I picked a new half marathon to train for since I won't be doing the Minneapolis race. I'll be doing the Outerbanks Half-Marathon in Nags Head on November 12th. Nags Head is beautiful, the race is mainly flat and I'll have 13 weeks to train (more than enough time). I'm going to use the same training program I used for my first half marathon and slowly work my way up while mixing in Crossfit workouts, spinning and a little Insanity. The half marathon training program requires me to run 4x/week and crossfit is for an hour 3x/week. During 2L year I started spinning and loved it. I haven't done it in a while but think itd be great if I could take a class 1x/week. I'm not sure exactly how I want to fit the insanity workouts into my routine but def think they will be great on days when I can't make it to the gym and want to work out or on days when I'm feeling like something different.

I'm going to try this schedule for the week and see how things go:

• Monday - Spinning
• Tuesday - 3 miles + Crossfit
• Wednesday - 2 miles + elliptical
• Thursday - 3 miles + Crossfit
• Friday - OFF
• Saturday - Crossfit
• Sunday - 4 miles

I'll see how this feels for the week and adjust as necessary. I'm going to start tracking my calories on Lose It! If I limit my calories to 1626 calories, I can reach my goal weight (135 lbs) by Dec 26 at a rate of -1 lb/week.

I'm super excited to work out this week because I'll be listening to Kanye and Jay-Z's collabo album, Watch the Throne, which drops in 30 min. Good music makes for great workouts. It also feels pretty good to have a plan.

Here's to a week of great workouts and great decision making.

- Nash

Hot Body Friday

Let me go for my run.

NOW.

-Nash

3 hours until day 2 of crossfit...

and I'm dreading it. Mostly because my body is sore all over. I'm walking like I have arthritis. I swear the workout didn't seem THAT bad while I was doing it but my body is surely telling me otherwise. What is that saying that really fit people say, "pain is weakness leaving the body"?? I ran 5 miles yesterday on the treadmill during lunch at around a 10:10 pace and felt OK but today not so much.

I'll let you know how Day 2 goes.

-NASh

Happy Hour

Happy hours are dear to me and I generally proscribe to the wise adage, "It's happy hour somewhere in the world." I attended the same undergraduate institution that Animal House was based on so my college years were filled with games of beer pong (with a paddle tho - anything else is NOT pong, but beirut) and $2 margaritas any time of the day at Molly's because zoning laws prohibit happy hours in New Hampshire. [Sidebar: if you're ever in Hanover, New Hampshire and not on a diet, please go to Molly's and enjoy the best bread you'll ever have in your life. You might as well have a couple of margaritas too since they're only $2.]

Unfortunately, drinking can make you very fat. The problem is, who doesn't want to drink and have a good time with their friends? If I was the naturally thin type who could eat and drink without any worries, my go to drinks would be Margaritas, Side cars and Jack or Makers and Gingerale, with the occasional vodka tonic/gin and tonic. ( I know I just named five drinks but different occasions call for different drinks!) I'm not a big fan of red wine, but I do like my fair share of riesling and pinot. Since my metabolism was the last one to be picked during a game of kickball, I can't have those sugary/calorie filled drinks and still reach my goal weight. As a result, I've been spending some time trying to figure out lower calorie cocktails that still taste good.

Here are a couple suggestions on how to make what I think are the "classic girl on a diet" drinks BETTER :

The classic "girl on a diet" drinks:

Rum + diet coke

Vodka + Soda

I've ordered these drinks often in an effort to be skinny and fun, but deep down I generally think they taste pretty bad.

Vodka Soda ---

Vodka soda tastes a little better if u squeeze several limes in but generally they're pretty bleh. Crystal light makes these little to-go packets of drink mix that are perfect to take with you to happy hour. I think the pink lemonade one is the best and goes really well with a flavored vodka like ciroc coconut. Mix in one of those packets with your vodka+soda or add some vodka to a glass of water+crystal light and you actually have a d-mn good drink.

Rum + Diet ---

I drink diet coke by itself but drinking it with rum ruins what is already a pretty subpar experience. However, Rum (or your dark liquor of choice) + COKE ZERO is a MUCH better experience. As most people know diet coke, doesn't taste like regular coke at all and it was never supposed to. It was just a diet drink Coke Zero actually tastes almost exactly the same as regular Coke and makes for a much better mixer. I haven't run into any places that have Coke Zero on fountain but who says you can't bring a can with you when you go out? Worse things have been done (like that time my friend brought tequila in a water bottle to the bar).

Here's to having a little fun while losing weight.

Cheers!

-Nash

I did it.

I signed up for Crossfit.

After spending some time researching crossfit places in the DC area, I picked the one with the website I liked the most and signed up. I was shocked by how expensive it is. Most places I looked up charged around $200/month but since I can easily spend that much on a good night out partying with my friends, I figured I should definitely be willing to invest that in my body. A lot of the places offered free introductory classes on Saturdays but I'm pretty impatient (which should be obvious from my grammar/spelling errors here) and Saturday seemed way too long to wait.

Today I started a four week Crossfit boot camp - It's 3 classes a week (Tues, Thurs, Sat) for an hour. When I arrived at Primal Fitness I was definitely surprised. The gym is in an old firehouse and is....minimalistic. There were some weights lined up against the wall, some ropes hanging from the ceiling, a couple mats and a couple tables. Oh and it was HOT...like...slavery hot. I was sweating before we even started. There were big industrial fans but no AC and it was 90+ degrees and humid in DC today. Apparently, this is part of the Crossfit experience and may be something I learn to love? There were three other people at bootcamp - two men and one woman. Today was pretty light since it was our first day and we did some talking about crossfit in general but the workout definitely challenged me.

***

The Workout:

We started with a warm up. The warm up (x2) was a lap around the block followed by 10 pushups (I did knee pushups), 10 squats, 10 jump pull ups and 2 Samson stretches.

Then we did some stretching before our first workout.

The workout was called a "1/2 Cindy" and was done so that our trainer could get a sense of where we were endurance wise. In 10 minutes, we had to see how many rounds of 5 jump pullups + 10 pushups+ 15 squats we could do. It sounds easier than it was. I made it to 7.

***

Overall it was a good experience even though there was a point when my stomach felt a little funny. I know the next workout will be longer and more intense and I'm actually looking forward to a little bit of the pain. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm planning to weigh in at the end of the week since I got a little off track during the last week of bar exam study. I'll also update with a post of how I've been eating....

If you want to know more about Crossfit, check out Determined to Be Fit. I absolutely love this blog. The creator does Crossfit and A LOT of running and is in PHENOMENAL shape.

-Nash