gym snob

The funny thing about this is I go crazy with diet and exercise once a year, and then gain it all back.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  I have absolutely no right to be a gym snob!

Never the less

I can't stand the little girls who get on the elliptical with absolutely no resistance who go ridiculously fast.  

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There is something called a flywheel in these machines.  Once it gets going, it uses momentum to propel you forward.  On the lowest resistance you aren't doing any work--the machine is doing it for you!!  So while you're trying to look awesome going super fast, you're not doing anything for your body.  

I totally respect if you're doing stations or whatever and only want to do 10 minutes on the machine.  Don't get on, do a mile, and get off.  Go for time, not distance.  I think that's one of the most common mistakes for people in gyms.  Just go home.  I'm trying to put in work, and I'm wasting energy being annoyed with you.  

piece and love,

kayla

kitchen cooked croutons

I was trying to look up prices of a bag of croutons, but if you know me, you know I don't like research.  Any time I need to know anything, I ask Boyfriend to look it up for me.  ;)  Regardless, why would you want to buy something with 100 preservatives when you could use this?

And obviously some whole wheat bread.  One slice of bread makes nine croutons.  I mix a little bit of all of the above, toss in my bread squares, and throw them in my 425 oven.  Just leave them in there until they're as crunchy as you want.

Sorry about the glare, my camera ran out of juice.

piece and love,

kayla

meal replacement

I suppose I should update you on my shakes from this post.

I gave them to my mom.

I do vigorous exercise, and I just don't think they're meant for people who exercise as hard as I do.  By the third day I was so dizzy I couldn't even walk into the kitchen without holding on to something.  Here's my theory.  

The shakes were keeping me SO full, that I couldn't fit enough water into my body.  I was losing a ton of water as sweat, therefore, dehydrating.  I was miserable.

A friend told me I should use one scoop rather than two per shake, but by that time the thought of drinking another meal was nauseating.

Oh well.

The first of the month is getting closer!  Boyfriend had to get on the scale for class, and has lost 4 lbs.  :D  

piece and love,

kayla

yummy in my tummy

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Big news, guys.  Domino's was giving away a medium one topping pizza to students with a Domino's app for $2 today, and today only.  I don't have a smartphone, so Boyfriend and I cheated the system.  Oh well!  

Don't lose faith in me.  I'm still dieting, if you want to call it that.  I look at all the nutrition facts before I go anywhere.  I just couldn't possibly pass up a $2 pizza.  

So here's what I did.  

I got thin crust rather than hand tossed, saving me 390 calories.  I also got fresh green peppers rather than pepperoni, saving me 230 calories.  Those are two easy substitutions that saved me an entire meal's worth of calories!  These are the types of tricks I've adopted into my lifestyle to work towards a healthier me.  Indulgence is essential, but be smart about it.  

Click here for Domino's nutrition facts.

piece and love,

kayla

study break

That's right, y'all.  I'm working towards minimized stress this semester.  That means watching lectures on the second day of classes.  Spongebob is on mute for some company, and my new soda is diet sparkling green tea.  It's wonderful.

piece and love,

kayla

first day jitters

To this day, I still get nervous every first day of class.  My 6th semester of college starts tomorrow, and it is going to consist of Management & Organizational Behavior, followed by Advanced Accounting.  Fun, huh?

Maybe you remember that I was going to take a class called Marriage and Family.  I wanted to take this to broaden my knowledge of relationships.  I read the syllabus, and learned that I would have to write a 10 page paper.  10 pages! For a class that's not in my major!!!  Heck no, Joe!!!  I dropped and enrolled in Plane Trigonometry.  I'd rather do 1000 math problems than a 10 page paper.  Call me crazy, if you'd like.

piece and love,

kayla 

my workout

Since Boyfriend is gone, my workout is much more simple so I'll let you know what I do.  I've just been focusing on cardio the past few days, because no one will see your rock hard muscle if it's under a layer of fat.

Here it is.

Stretch, obviously.  Just do it.  Don't question me.  I get on the elliptical and the machines at my gym have a TV.  Watch TV on your butt at home, or burn some calories while doing it?  Duh.  So, I love that.  And there are different programs on it that will automatically change your crossramp (incline) and resistance.  I've been doing the Interval program.  On the low interval it's programmed at 4 and 4.  I bump it up to 7 and 6 immediately.  On the high interval it's programmed at 10 and 10.  After 30 minutes, I bump it to 10 and 13.  The last 3 minutes of my hour workout I do 20 and 20, which is the maximum.  I made sure to pay attention this time instead of fleeing from the gym, and in one hour I burned 562 calories.  

I feel like this will be a lot more meaningful to you once I have some results, but they say stay off the scale if you want to make this long term.  I'm trying with all my might to fight everything I've known in the past.  So bear with me!  Bare with me?  Whatever, our language sucks.

PIECE and love,

kayla

just one more thing

I know I wrote already today, but I've been watching YouTube since I got back from my workout and I have to make one little comment.  I was watching MszJackieChu over here talk about things that damage your hair.  She said try to avoid brushing your hair and finger comb it instead.  You've seen this picture before, but let me just show you again.

This is natural, guys.  How in the crap do I finger comb this?  

piece and love,

kayla

interracial love and yoga

Last night I was watching Chopped.  If you've seen the show you know they do a little I'm this chef at this restaurant, if I won the money I would do this, yadayada before they actually cook.  So this guy was talking about himself and I noticed that he's in an interracial relationship.  This may sound really bad, but every time I see an interracial couple I want to fist pump.  In my head I feel like we're connected in some way.  Like we're in this together.  Forgive me if that sounds terrible, but I feel like you probably know what I mean.  My relationship endures stares and comments, and in reality, I forget that we're a different color.  I want to tell all the stares and comments to save it.

Anyway,

I do this every morning.

It's fairly easy and awesome.  The 10 minute session gives me peace in the morning, and it's good for my sore muscles from my real workouts the night before.  I feel better and that's the most important thing.  I can't wait until I can do a more advanced video. 

piece and love,

kayla

they're here!!

My shakes are here, guys!!!

I got a canister for them, because it's much more attractive on the counter than the bag.  I tried my first one today and it was actually pretty good.  I'm super excited.  Boyfriend and I are only weighing ourselves the first of the month so I'll let you know how it goes then.

I made these super yummy "healthy" desserts I wanted to show y'all, but we ate them all.  So I'll just tell you about them.  I mashed one banana and mixed it with a spoonful of peanut butter.  I sandwiched this mixture between a graham cracker broken in half, and stuck them in the freezer.  It makes 6 by the way.  They are absolutely wonderful.  Being that it's the first of the month, I'm assuming everyone is on the health kick and these are an awesome alternative to ice cream sandwiches.  Go try it!!

piece and love,

kayla

:)

I'm practicing being skinny by walking around in my sports bra.  Here's the thing.  I want abs.  New year's resolution, goal, aspiration--whatever you want to call it.  I can't wait to be healthy.  

I've ordered the ViSalus-Body by Vi-whatever you want to call it shakes.  They should be arriving next week.  I can't tell you how excited I am!  I've been spending hours upon hours on YouTube watching people's results and whatnot.  

Last night was Day One of workouts.  With Boyfriend's help, I'll be happy in no time.  I'm keeping a food journal until I get the shakes in.  If you haven't heard of them, they're a meal replacement with tons of vitamins.  I'll update you on weight and all that jazz once I get going.  

piece and love,

kayla