Summer of Fitness

Without fail, there’s one boy who can always make my day better — my 21-month-old cousin.

Lately, I’ve found very little time to exercise and, as a result, I’ve been feeling like a failure. But while I was home during the weekend, I was fortunate enough to play outdoors with my favorite little kid. His favorite thing to do is to play outside and be pushed around in his cozy coupe (one of those little kid cars) when he isn’t making himself dizzy by spinning in circles or running around.

As I pushed him around the backyard in his cozy coupe, I began to realize that, in a sense, I was getting exercise. It had never really occurred to me before that running around with my cousin could be considered low-level exercise. It’s too much of a stretch to consider it a substitute for working out; that’s why I consider its difficulty level low.

My cousin is active and he’s always on the go. We sat down only a few times during my afternoon with him. I didn’t just jog or walk as I pushed the cozy coupe, I ran and made abrupt turns, at which he laughed. Every time I stopped, he would look up at me with those big brown eyes and say “again.” When I sat down later that evening, I could feel the day’s activities in the backs of my legs. It didn’t compare to running, but I could tell that I had spent the afternoon running around.

I had another great time with my cousin realized afterward that I’d had a great day of exercise. Yet again, he was able to brighten my day.

I’ve been told that once you do something for 30 days, it becomes a habit. Even though I’ve been running for over 30 days, it still hasn’t become something that I go out of my way to accomplish.

The past two weeks have been the busiest for me and I haven’t been able to maintain running three times a week. Two weeks ago, I didn’t run at all; however, I forced myself to run three times last week. Even though I was busy and stressed, I knew that I would feel slightly better if I ran. Despite the minor setbacks, I did feel better.

The first run of the week wasn’t too bad. It seemed difficult at the time, but it would be nothing compared to what I would experience in the days to follow. The second run of the week was the most challenging. It may have been that I ran back-to-back days, but my legs haven’t ached that much since I first started running back in May.

To my surprise, the third day was the best. I still wasn’t interested in running because I had so much racing through my mind and had a lot to do. While I was running, I cleared my mind of everything I was thinking and was stressed about. I only focused on my breathing. It was my second best run ever because it will be hard to compare to the feeling I experienced after running the 5k. When I returned to my apartment, I felt less stressed and happier than I had been all week.

My schedule for the week doesn’t seem too busy as of now, so I’m hoping to have time to run more — granted, if I have the motivation.

The weather during the past week has been all over the weather board. One day it was hot and humid and the next it was chilly.

I’ve been struggling with running in the mornings but I’ve been able to work in some evening runs. I enjoy the morning runs more so than the evening runs simply because I start the day off feeling better and more refreshed.

When I’m not running at night, there’s nothing I enjoy more than sitting on my balcony reading. The only thing missing is an ice-cold drink to cool me from the summer heat.

I’m a huge fan of milk shakes but I want something a little healthier, so I looked around and found a recipe for a papaya-banana smoothie. Not only does it sound delicious, but it’s easy to make too.

Ingredients:

1 cup of milk

1/4 cup of Greek yogurt

1 teasponn of pure vanilla extract

1 small ripe banana that is peeled and sliced

1/2 large, ripe papaya that is peeled, seeded and chopped

1 cup of ice cubes

Combine the milk, vanilla extract, yogurt, papaya and ice cubes in a blender. Blend the ingredients until smooth and voila, it’s ready to serve.

Source: foodnetwork.com

I’m not sure what most people think of when they are at the dentist. As I was sitting in the chair last week, I thought back to last summer when my dad and I were supposed to run a 5K. Our plans were ruined when I had my wisdom teeth taken out a few days before the race.

Since it was about this time last year I had my wisdom teeth removed, I started wondering when the race was. As luck would have it, the race would be happening in two days.

When my dad came home from work that evening, I sprang the news on him — we were going to run the race. Unless, of course, he wasn’t willing.

On race day, I thought about forgetting the whole thing and sleeping in. The 6 a.m. wake-up call came too early after a late night out. As I hit the snooze button, I thought about how disappointed my dad would be and how much I had been looking forward to it. I turned off my alarm and rolled out of bed. It was going to be a long day, but at least I would have accomplished something I always wanted to do.

As we registered for the race, I started getting nervous. I’m not a fast runner and it was going to be my first race. Even though my dad ran in the race several times before, it was his first race in a few years. Neither of us seemed to be too prepared for the 5K that was ahead of us.

My dad has always been a runner, so I felt like I was slowing him down. He didn’t complain when I said I needed to walk. Instead of trying to race against each other, we kept the same pace, crossed all the checkpoints at the same time and finished with the exact time.

It wasn’t easy. After the first half mile, I was beginning to doubt my sanity for wanting to enter. It seemed like every runner in the 5K portion of the race passed us. I felt even worse when the 15K runners passed us like we were standing still.

Two things kept me going when I felt like giving up: my dad staying optimistic and saying that we were doing well and the people standing on the sidewalks cheering us on.

Knowing that we still did a good job, even if we were the last ones, was satisfying enough for me to push through to the end.

As we neared the finish line, I asked my dad if we could we raise our arms (like first place runners sometimes do) as we crossed the finish line. We probably looked goofy, but as they said our race numbers and time over the loudspeaker, I felt amazing. We both ended up finishing last in our age division, but it doesn’t matter.

Bottom line: We entered the race and finished, and although I expected it to take us an hour before we crossed the finish line, it took less than 45 minutes and as of now, we plan on entering it again next summer.

Even though summer is only halfway through, running the 5K with my dad will probably be one of the highlights — which made the 6 a.m. wake-up call more than worth my while.

The combination of humidity, a sour mood and hunger pains were the last straw; I ended my fast a day early.

I’m not going to stand on a soap box and preach that everyone should try fasting. It wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done and it made me feel weak and irritable. After fasting a few days, I don’t feel weak. I feel like I’ve started my body a new and healthier path. The first meal I ate was a salad. Instead of dripping salad dressing over the lettuce, I dipped the tip of my fork in a small dish of salad dressing then ate a forkful of lettuce – it cuts back on the amount of salad dressing consumed.

Even though it was extremely muggy last night, my workout buddy and I wanted to go for a run. We braved the weather and successfully finished a two-mile run. The highlight of it was when we ran through sprinklers after a mile. It was refreshing and cooled us down enough to finish our last mile. We finished by jumping in our apartment’s pool to cool down.

The thought of getting sweaty after 10 minutes of being outdoors normally would discourage me from running, but it made cleansed. Running has become one of my favorite ways to relieve stress. Adding the sensation of feeling disgusting actually made me feel more clean. I spent the rest of the night making sure that I stayed hydrated.

Learning these different ways to feel cleansed hopefully is helping me continue on the healthy path.

I’m attempting to fast and detoxify my body so that I can start fresh. When I go back to eating, I’m not going back to my regular food consumption. In starting this summer of fitness, my intent was to start a healthier lifestyle, which has had bumps along the way (as I expected). Along with getting healthier, it goes without saying that I planned on losing weight since I would be living a more health-conscious life. I feel like eating healthier and losing weight go hand-in-hand.

I’ve remained strong while I’m out of the house, but last night I faltered.

While I was at work, I started thinking of what food I want to eat on Thursday in celebration for my success. I shouldn’t have done that because it started me thinking about giving up, even though it hadn’t even been one day. My friend had the same problem. Since we were on the verge of giving up, we decided to go in search of a popsicle maker. We planned on making water popsicles, even though it would just be a glorified ice cube.

Our attempt to find one ended in failure. We only looked at one store, but by that point, we were discussing what food to eat. We were ready to throw up a white flag and surrender to what our bodies wanted: food. We couldn’t decide whether we wanted Chinese or ice cream. As we walked out of the store and the heat hit us like a tidal wave, our decision was made. Even though ice cream is unhealthy and we could have opted for frozen yogurt, we didn’t care.

Even though the first day was challenging and we crumbled, we aren’t declaring defeat.

The second day has been a little more bearable. I’m trying to remain strong. I’m determined to stick it out two more days. My stomach can grumble, but I’m focusing on my mood. I knew that I would probably become ornery, but I expected to be worse than what I am. Let’s hope my mood doesn’t worsen in the next few days.

This week is going to be about purification.

My workout friend and I have decided to try something new and somewhat scary for me – fasting/detoxification. When she first approached me with this idea, my first thought was, “I’m going to become anorexic for a week?” However, I’ve come to learn that that’s not exactly the idea, but I was definitely not alone in being misinformed.

Based on the different Web sites I’ve browsed about detoxifying and fasting, they are have one common theme: Fasting will help you lose weight fast, but once you go back to your old eating habits, you’ll gain the weight back. I think it’s common sense that if you stop eating then eat again, you’re going to experience a fluctuation of weight.

There are different types of fasts according to detox.org: juice, water and lemonade, among them. My friend and I will be trying the water fast. We will be starting on Monday and ending on either Wednesday or Thursday. As someone who has poor eating habits and doesn’t eat much, I’m anticipating only slight trouble with fasting. Normally when I get hungry, I’m not a pleasant person. I’m irritable, short tempered and snappy. We even joked about making it easier with things such as “water popsicles,” and although it doesn’t sound too delicious, it will at least trick us into thinking we’re eating when in fact we are not.

Since the fast is only going to last a few days, I’m hoping I don’t become too much of a nightmare … time to find out I suppose!

This week has been one of my worst weeks for exercising. I’ve been busy with work and trying to catch up with friends. Although I haven’t had time to work out as much as I would like, I have been eating healthier. Since some friends are visiting this weekend, I’ve been looking for snack recipes. Normally, they would be happy with a bag of chips, but I want to try and incorporate healthy food. I could always pick up carrot and celery sticks, but I would like to show case what I would call my “increasing cooking skills.”

While looking through the different recipes on the Food Network Web site, I came across one that has always seemed tempting to try. I think that now would be as good of a time as any. Chicken kebabs are at the top of my list to cook tomorrow. The recipe calls for grilling the chicken, which will give me the perfect excuse to use my George Foreman grill. It will be my first attempt at making kebabs, not to mention my first time using my grill. Read: This experience could end in disaster or in success.

As a note, I modified the amount of chicken that was to be used. The recipe called for two pounds; one pound for the kebabs and then one pound that could be grilled and unused for meals later in the week.

Here is the recipe that I’m going to try:

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray

Wooden picks

1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced into 1/2 inch think slices

8 to 12 scallions

1/4 cup of reduced sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon of honey

2 teaspoons of dark sesame oil

1 teaspoon of grated ginger or ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon of sesame seed for garnish

Directions:

To begin, coat either an outdoor grill or stove-top grill pan with cooking spray. Preheat between medium and high.

Place three chicken strips about half an inch apart. Place a scallion crosswise over the center of the chicken pieces. Wrap the chicken over the scallion one by one and secure each strip with a toothpick. Repeat these steps until all the chicken has been used.

Whisk the soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, garlic powder and ginger in a small bowl. Keep half of the bowl as dipping sauce and brush the other half over the chicken-scallion skewers.

Grill the kebabs five to seven minutes and occasionally turn the chicken until its grilled all the way through.

Use the sesame seeds to garnish the dipping sauce to serve with the skewers.

Enjoy!

source: foodnetwork.com

I’m back in the game.

Since I spent the past four days recovering, I thought I should try running again. The only thing I lacked was motivation. I considered using the humidity as an excuse. I knew that if I didn’t run last night, it would be more difficult for me to get back in the swing of it.

My side was in a little bit of pain before I started. I stretched longer before and after the run this time. I hoped that by stretching longer, I could prevent more stitches.

It was one of the more brutal attempts, but it didn’t hurt as much as I had expected. I surprised myself by running the entire time we planned. It felt good to run again despite the pain in my side. I went strong for the first half mile, but then I started getting hot and wanted to turn around. If there had been a slight breeze, I would have enjoyed the run more. The humidity was enough to make me consider sitting down and taking a break. Combining any level of humidity with being hot and sweaty leads to an unhappy Krystle.

Halfway through the run, the pain made a comeback. I ignored it and planned on slowing my pace toward the end. After half of the run, my workout buddy and I started losing our morale. To try to boost our spirits, my friend played music on her phone. It helped make the last mile more bearable. I’m hoping that I don’t lose our motivation because of the summer heat. I knew that it would get hot and humid, but I think I underestimated the weather.

As difficult as it was to get motivated after a couple of days off, I’m glad I decided to run. When I woke up this morning my side was only slightly sore. I’m going to start easing back into working out so I don’t overdo it and get injured in another way.

Even though I had a busy weekend, I was able to recover from my injury and to find new motivation and new recipes.

While I was visiting my grandma, we were talking about ways I can improve my path to a healthier lifestyle. She suggested I look at some of her magazines. I ended up taking two Good Housekeeping magazines home with me.

In the June 2009 edition of Good Housekeeping, a couple of articles caught my eye. The first one was the main story about women who lost a large amount of weight in a safe way. Reading their stories about their struggles with weight and how they were able to turn their lives around made me feel good. Reading and seeing pictures of the women gives me hope that I will one day be able to say that I lost weight and live a healthier life. These stories motivate me to stay on track because it will be worth it in the long run.

Another article that caught my eye was the quick meal recipes. The article included meal recipes for meals that require only five ingredients as well as the nutritional facts.

The meal that appealed the most to me was one of the unhealthier dishes. Because you can’t judge a book by its cover, I decided to look at the recipes instead of the pictures first. One of the meals that didn’t look appetizing at first glance sounded like something I might add to my list of recipes.

I grew up fishing and eating the day’s catch, but I understand that not everyone enjoys fish. The roasted salmon with summer squash only takes 30 minutes before it’s ready to eat. As I read over the ingredients, it didn’t seem too difficult. But after I’d read the instructions, this recipe lost its appeal – I think it requires too much work; although, if I ever have the craving for salmon, I might give it a try.

For those interested, here is the recipe:

1 lemon

4 pieces (6 ounces each) skinless salmon fillet

4 salt and pepper medium (8 ounces each) summer squash (zucchini and yellow), each cut diagonally into half-inch slices

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves plus additional sprigs for garnish

1. The oven needs to be preheated to 400 degrees. Grate half a teaspoon of the lemon peel and squeeze three tablespoons of lemon juice.

2. Place the salmon pieces in a 13 × 9 inch baking dish and sprinkle the lemon peel over the salmon. Add one tablespoon of lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Roast the salmon for 14 to 16 minutes or until it is almost translucent.

3. While the salmon is baking, place a steamer basket and one inch of water in a four-quart saucepan and boil the water. After the water has boiled, add the squash. Steam the vegetables for about eight minutes or until they are tender. Once they are steamed, put them in a medium-sized bowl and combine them with tarragon, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/8 teaspoon of ground black pepper and the remaining two tablespoons of lemon juice. Arrange the squash, salmon and tarragon sprigs on dinner plates.

This dish provides four servings. Each serving contains about: 275 calories, 37 grams of protein, eight grams of carbohydrates, 11 grams of total fat (two grams of saturated fat), three grams of fiber, 93 milligrams of cholesterol and 375 milligrams of sodium.

Source:goodhousekeeping.com