Cardio for the Anti-Runner

I used to HATE running. I couldn't fathom why people would run track or cross country in high school. In college, I had friends who would go out running on sidewalks, treadmills, and trails and I really just didn't understand the appeal of people putting on shorts and tennis shoes to weary their legs over a number of miles and for what? Granted, I eventually started buying into the importance of cardio and the health benefits that come from running but, to this day, I prefer running on a treadmill (I like being able to see how far I'm going, how many calories I'm burning, and how fast I'm going at any time) and I can only run outside when running a 5k or some event like that and then it's more for the "free" t-shirt and competition rather than the actual running. 

- Side note: I did run the Disneyland Neverland 5k (the Tinkerbell Half Marathon was sold out) and if there is one place that I LOVE running outside it's Disneyland. If I ever do a marathon, it will be at/through a Disney Park and I will love every sweaty second of it. - 

Once I realized the benefits of running, I started running a mile or two on a treadmill a few times a week. All I would do is get on the machine, set it at a speed and run until my miles were up. Problem was, I wasn't seeing results. Yeah, I could run for a while but I didn't see myself losing weight, losing inches, losing anything. The only thing that I lost was the time that I spent doing result-less cardio in the gym. I kept at it for about three years and then I started hearing this hype about interval training. Intervals claimed to have "better results in a shorter time" and I'd "burn fat faster." I figured I'd give it a try and I was cautious at first because I don't tend to buy into quick fixes but I did like the idea of spending less time on a treadmill. I started with a Fat Burning Run (http://pinteresttrainer.blogspot.com/2014/02/fat-burning-run.html) and it worked! I replaced my 3 miles on a treadmill with a 20 minute, 1.8-ish mile run and I burned more calories and could see results on the scale and tape measure. 

Now, I'll be honest. There are some days where it's cardio time and I do not feel like running. Just because someone is able to run, doesn't mean they love it. Somedays I still hate it. On those days, I use this:

The Treadmill Shredmill Workout

There are three non-consecutive minutes where you are running (you can do that :-) but the rest of this workout mostly stays below 4.0 mph. Originally, as I am with most workouts, I was skeptical. But I finished this workout the first time and this is what my treadmill told me:

Four hundred twenty calories?!? And virtually no running?? This is great!!! The reason that this works so well is that, even though you aren't walking very fast, you're walking up some sweet inclines, burning calories, fat, and working your booty. :-) I've done this workout a few times now and I am dripping sweat afterwards every time. My husband hates running more than I do and I'm trying to get him to try this (I'll let you know if that ever happens haha). I decided to take out my Wednesday rest day and replace it with this treadmill shredder and it's great because it's mostly a walk so I can still do a run the next day and my legs don't feel like jello.

 It makes you sweat but it doesn't make you run!

Pinterest WIN ;-)

Simple Sunday Meal & Save Yourself the Carbs

It seemed like every Sunday when I was growing up our family would have spaghetti for dinner. This was probably for a couple of reasons: 

• It was a really easy meal to put together
• It was so easy that my mom could assign me or one of my 7 siblings to make it without worrying about the state of the kitchen after the fact
• We had 10 people in our family so we bought noodles and Prego in bulk and always had the ingredients on hand
• It was a dinner that almost everyone liked (one of my brothers had a problem with the tomatoes in the sauce and would painstakingly pick out every single one before he would eat anything and eventually my mom agreed that as long as he ate a bite of the sauce, he could put butter and salt on the rest of the noodles. Which he was fine with. He used a LOT of butter. We're talking spoonfuls. Although there was that one time that he took a spoonful of margarine and ate it like it was ice cream…but that's a story for a different time.)

So now that I'm trying to get on board the "healthy train" and trying my hand at carb cycling, it makes it hard to enjoy my traditional Sunday spaghetti without getting a pit in my tummy and feeling a little (sometimes a lot) guilty. But there is a way!

Spaghetti Squash!!!

"How to Save 130 Calories on Your Bowl of Pasta"

I found this pin, tried it and I love it. (I don't know if the 130 calories is accurate because it all depends on portion size but I'll do a comparison of spaghetti squash vs noodles at the end.) Instead of cooking up some spaghetti noodles, I cook a spaghetti squash and it's just as good but so much healthier! 

Using spaghetti squash is almost just as easy as using noodles too. Instead of throwing noodles in water for a while, you put a squash in the oven for an hour and you're good! Well, almost. :)

Good things require work and good things require patience, right?

Here's how I make my spaghetti squash:

**I am including pictures but please excuse my use of an iPhone camera and my terrible kitchen lighting**

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Stab the spaghetti squash repeatedly all over with a knife (this will make it so the pressure that builds up in the oven can be released easily instead of exploding and making a mess for you to clean).

2. Place the squash in a pan or tray on the middle rack of the oven for 60 - 75 minutes (this is where the patience comes in. Noodles cook faster, yes, but this is worth the wait. Also, you don't have to check it to make sure it's not boiling over, over cooking or undercooking, and you don't have to throw it on a wall to find out if it's done).

3. Remove the tray with the squash from the oven, wait about 5 minutes for it to cool a bit (be careful and use oven mitts because it will still be hot!!) and then cut in in half length-wise.

4. Using a big spoon, remove the seed from the middle of the squash.

5. Take a fork and separate the "noodles" of the squash and dish onto a plate. 

6. Cover the spaghetti squash with sauce of your choice (I am a HUGE red sauce fan so for me it's marinara) and enjoy!! 

**Thank you for not judging me on my photography skills or lack thereof**

Comparing 1 cup of spaghetti squash to noodles this is what I found:

                     Squash (Based on Wikipedia and verified by Dr. Oz)                 Noodles (Based on Barilla Spaghetti Noodles)
Calories                                          31                                                                                                        200
Total Fat (g)                                   0.6                                                                                                        1.0
Protein (g)                                      0.6                                                                                                         7
Carbs (g)                                         7                                                                                                           42

Judging by these few nutrition facts, if you are trying to get your protein in for the day, the noodles would be the way to go. But if you're trying to get your protein from this food group, there is whole other discussion we need to have. (Eat a string cheese. One string cheese has 8 grams of protein and doesn't have the calories or carbs.)

BUT if you're looking for a way to enjoy pasta-type sauces and recipes without the carbs and calories, substituting spaghetti squash is a GREAT way to go. :-) Happy cooking!

Embrace Your Rest Day

Ah, the Rest Day. Sometimes my favorite day of the week (sometimes it's not because I feel like I should be out doing something). There are a lot of reasons that rest days are good and important and I thought this pin summed it up nicely:

If you're going to the gym and really working your body, you NEED a rest day at least once a week (sometimes you need two, listen to your body and it will tell you what you need). I take a rest day on Sundays and on Wednesdays. (Sometimes I switch my rest day to a different day depending on scheduling or what day I'm supposed to wash my hair - yes, I plan out when to wash my hair. When your hair is as thin as mine, you do whatever you can to make it as healthy as possible which includes making sure you don't "over wash" it. Life with thin hair is tough.)

There are a lot of different Pins that lead to sites that tell you why you need a rest day and, to me, it comes down to this:
1. It gives your body time to REPAIR itself. When you're working out, your muscles are tearing and they need time to heal. Your rest day gives it that time and helps prevent injuries that happen from overexerting your muscles.
2. It lets you mentally REJUVENATE. I don't know about you, but it takes mental energy for me to go on a run and tell myself not to stop until I hit my goal. It takes mental energy to understand and tell myself that I'm not actually hungry, I'm just bored and want to be eating something (I'm a snacker and a sucker for samples). It takes a lot of mental energy to go for those last 15 seconds of a plank. Your rest day lets you take a break from that, focus on other things, and rejuvenate that metal energy so you don't get burnt out on your workouts.
3. You get extra REST time. Life is busy, and I know that I tend to let sleep be one of the first things to go from my schedule. I'll get up earlier or stay up a little later just so I can cram everything into my schedule. On my rest days, I get to take that extra hour or so and can stay curled up in my bed or cuddled on the couch with a pillow. And because it's a rest day, I can embrace it and not feel guilty :-)

There are plenty of active things that you can do on your rest day that aren't strenuous work outs but you're still moving your body. You can go for a walk, clean your kitchen, do some stretching, things like that. When you get into a habit of working out all the time, your body wants to be moving and doing things but remember to take it easy on your rest day and don't feel guilty for taking a day off!!!

Back Fat to Back Fab

For as long as I can remember, I've had "wings." You know, the fat under your arms that bulges out over your bra and over a swimsuit? And then there's the bra-strap bulge that pooches out over your bra in the back that you can see even when you have a t-shirt on? You know what I'm talking about.  **If you don't know what I'm talking about, then don't worry about reading the rest of this post and be very, very grateful that you were born with nicely sculpted underarms.** I have tried for years to get rid of these - I've done push-ups, arm circles, lifted weights, etc. Eventually I just figured that it was something genetic and the only way to get rid of it was to have lipo or develop an eating disorder (no, those weren't actual options, I'm just trying to say that I had basically given up on ever being able to get rid of my bathing suit bulges). THEN I found this on the Pinterest. It's a work out consisting of 4 exercises that work those specific areas. I was skeptical but I've only done this 3 times and I can already see a difference. Crazy, right???  Here's what I do: 1) Pull-ups: 30 reps (I'll be honest, I can't do more than 1, maybe 2, pull-ups on my own so I use the machine at the gym that decreases the resistance so I'm only pulling up half of my body weight) 2) Push-up Position Row: 30 reps. 15 on one side, 15 on the other, then 10, then 5, and you're done. 3) Superwoman: 6 reps. Hold the position for 10 seconds, rest for 5. It will only take 90 seconds. 4) Lat Pull Down: 30 reps. 
After the first time I did this, my arms felt fine. Then the next day, I thought they were going to fall off my body. My husband leaned over to gently squeeze my arm and it was…tender to say the least. But then the day after that I had to go back to the gym and do the work out again. I started on the pull-ups and, while I was still super sore, I actually felt stronger. It was weird but an awesome feeling!! My plan is to keep doing this 2x a week in between some cardio. I'm thinking that next week (week 3), I'll increase the reps to 40 for 2 weeks and then go back to 30 reps and increase the weight. We'll see how that goes but I'll keep you posted. Let me know if anyone else is trying this and if you're having success!