Totally Accepted.

My last post discussed my recent body image problems, I was becoming obsessed with the way my body looked. I was never satisfied, but I have good news. I am officially over it. I love my body in every freaking state it’s in. As long as I’m happy, who cares what the heck anybody thinks. Society has truly crippled the minds of women. We see these flawless women all over television, magazines and social media.  We are constantly comparing ourselves to them. When in reality, a lot of the times it’s not real. Let’s start being more focused on being beautiful on the inside. How about that?

In other news, I’m extremely excited to talk about my new fitness challenge with Fitness Guru Mr. Turner (Instagram @fitness_guru__). He’s doing awesome free workouts/personal training EVERYDAY  for the entire Houston community this break. He sets out to change this FAT city, even if he has to do it himself. Pretty awesome.

My friend and I met up with him today for a free work out. And I must say, he killed me softly. We did bear claws, crab walks, squats, sprints, and some other exercises  I don’t know the name of. Lesson is, he was not playing. LOL  Before the workout began he gave us some diet restrictions for the next 30 days. These restrictions include:

No juices

No added artificial sugars/ingredients

No dairy

No fried foods

No alcohol

No nuts

Must also drink a gallon of water a day.

Sounds crazy, but I’m one day in and feel great. For dinner I had sautéed shrimp and vegetables. Super easy and fits the challenge guidelines. I truly suggest you all join this challenge. I can’t wait to see my progress. Good luck guys. I must drink a gallon of water a day.

Here’s a  quick 5 minute work out from his Youtube channel.

-Fitty Fatty

How to Burn More Calories Working Out

Hello fit friends! Ever feel like you worked your butt off during a work out, but when you looked at your calorie count app  you only burned a small amount of calories? I’ve came upon this problem recently. I ran a mile yesterday and I only burned 92 calories. Granted I could have ran longer to burn more, but I had things to do.

http://statusfitnessmagazine.com/

So here are a few things you can do to  burn even more calories on your next work out.

1. Turn the air conditioning off OR add another layer of clothing. Simple. You sweat more in warm conditions, which means more calories are being burnt. If your working out outside I recommend adding some extra layers of clothing before working out. Feel the burn!

2. Add in high intensity intervals. When you work out at a comfortable rate don’t expect your burned calorie count to be high. During your work outs go hard for 1 minute then switch to a moderate pace. Do this all through your work out and the calories you burn will be great. Plus you burn more in less time. Pretty sweet.

3. Start fast. When you exercise at a faster pace you’re more likely to keep the intensity throughout the workout. Thus, burning more calories in return.

4. Eat a snack. Eating a low calorie snack, such as a banana will give you the energy you need to beast your work out.

5. Run on incline. Running on incline forces your body to work harder, and therefore more calories are being burned. So find a hill and truck it!

Get Active

-FittyFatty

Make Running Fun!

Running is my absolute favorite exercise. There is just something about running that boost my energy. It’s such a rush! Now, I know that a lot of people don’t find running as awesome as I do, but it’s important to realize that running has so many benefits.

The Benefits of Running

• Boost your mood
• Lower risk of breast cancer
•  Lower risk of stroke
• Recommended exercise for people with diabetes
• Helps reduce cholesterol
•  Helps reduce high blood pressure
• Aids in weight loss
•  Relieves Stress

My advice to you:  Put this exercise into your work out regimen. However, running can get a bit boring, even for me. After multiple runs, I have accidentally came up with ways to make running  even more fun!

1. GO ON A SCENIC ROUTE-  Running through scenic places makes the run more interesting. It takes the focus off of running and places the focus on nature around you. This alternate focus will lead to a longer run, which means more calories burned. It’s  site seeing while burning calories at the same time. What better than that? I tend to stray away from running on tracks and treadmills. Nothing against them, but I just can’t stand being locked into one place.

2. RACE STRANGERS- One day while I was stretching I saw this guy running that was in pretty good shape. I hadn’t decided on which route to take so I decided to follow him. Creepy right? LOL We were on opposite ends of the street so I don’t think he noticed. Anyways, I kept up with him, and ended up running faster than I anticipated. I soon realized he was running to the White House so I made sure I beat him there. He never knew we were racing, but it sure added a spark to my daily run.

3. RUN YOUR ERRANDS (LITERALLY)- Do you ever feel like there’s not enough time in the day. How can I go grocery shopping, pick up some new pants, and get a work out in. Well easy, run there. Instead of spending money on the metro, I run to most of my destinations. For example I would run to Urban Outfitters to catch a sale, then to Whole Foods to pick up some groceries and walk back with my items. This is an easy way to kill two birds in one stone.

4. TAKE A NEW ROUTE- I love discovering new things when I run. For awhile I would take  specific routes for my daily runs. Except one day I decide to turn down a street that looked interesting. I ended up running into a Whole Foods, my favorite store. I had no clue it was even there. I also ran into a farmers market along the way too! So take a new route. You’ll never know what you’ll find.

A new trail I discovered running in Georgetown.

-FittyFattys

Can’t Find Anytime to Work Out? The Solution.

I know a lot of people are busy with school, internships, work, and so on. Trust me I know, I have all three. And it is very difficult to find time to work out on a busy schedule. However, there is a very simple solution to this. Just do it! There is a meme that says ” a 1 hour workout is 4 percent of your day. Now, let me be honest here. There are some days where I feel like I can’t push a single hour out. But I learned to break that hour up. For instance, this morning I woke up early and watched a show on Hulu while doing a very intense cardio work out. Which is listed below. Then I was gone from 9AM to 8PM for class and internship. When I came back, I went for a run and workout my legs and core. And now I’m currently writing this blog, and will be studying for a test right after. LOL (bad me) My point is, you make time for the things that are important to you. So, if losing weight, toning up, or just leading a healthy lifestyle is important to you, make it a priority. Just do it. I mean, what’s stopping you?

1. Jumping Jacks

2. Burpees

3. Squat Jumps

4. Ski Jumps

5. Mountain Climbers

6. High Knees

7. Scissors

8. Football Quick Feet

9. Planks

10. Dance!

Do each of these for 1 minute.

Overview:

-Break up your hour work outs throughout the day if you’re in a time crunch.

-Schedule time to work out.

-Just do it!

PS. I’ve also found that being more active leads more activeness, but on that same note being lazy leads to more laziness. So which do you prefer?

Oh and you can find quick awesome work outs on YouTube. Click here to get great links to YouTube workouts!

http://fittyfattys.com/2013/08/15/bad-weather-youtube-work-outs/-FittyFatty

The Best Fitness Apps for your Smart Phone!

I am guilty of downloading too many useless apps on my Iphone. Especially fitness ones. I have had everything form the Butt Workouts app to the Ab Trainer X app. Luckily I have recently cleared my phone of all those unnecessary apps and just kept a few of the good ones. After all was said and done, I was only left with 3 fitness apps. I simply adore them.

Fooducate. This app helps you track your health by telling you what is actually in your food. Fooducate will even provide a grade for you. The grades range from A to D. I personally try to always maintain As and Bs. This app also has a scanner so you can scan different food products barcodes. Once you scan the product, Fooducate will bring up all the nutritional value of that item. It’s a great app for grocery shopping.

            

MyFitnessPal. This apps helps  keep track of  calorie intake. Now, I know a lot of people don’t like counting calories, but it has helped me a bunch.This app is just something to keep you conscious of your calories you consume. MyFitnessPal is also a food diary, so it’s a great way to keep track of the foods you’ve consumed throughout the day. The best part about this app, is that also keeps track of your carbs, fats, fibers and proteins. Ahhh. Now you see why I love it?

            

Runtastic. This app keeps track of your workouts, whatever they may be. Runtastic keeps track of the calories you burn, times your workouts, and is also a GPS!

               

There are many elements to each of these fitness apps. So why not give them a try? Have fun.

-FittyFatty

Work Out of the Day!

42 minutes on the elliptical at a moderate rate

Burned 420 Calories

22 minutes on Stair Master doing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) 86 Floors

Burned 230 Calories

1 Hr of Body Combat (high intensity cardio class)

Approximately 430 Calories Burned (according to the Fooducate App)

Post Work out meal

Grits w/ Spinach and Chicken. Was delicious! More details later.

-FittyFatty

Work out of the day!

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)  on the Stair Master. 140 flights in about 30 mins.

Cool Down- Elliptical for 5 minutes.

Burned 400 Calories

     

 TRX exercises. Worked arms, back, thighs, and core.

Estimated Calories burned 150

Post Work Out Snack            

Grapes, strawberries, blackberries, toast, and boiled egg.

That was my work out of the day. What’s yours?

Bad Weather? YouTube Work Outs.

It’s a rainy day. Thunder, lightning, flash flood warnings, the whole nine.. Can’t go to the gym. So go to YouTube!!! In school all I did was YouTube workouts and honestly I have seen better results from YouTube than when I went to the gym. Full body work outs really help you tone and shed pounds. I promise.

Tip of the day:  The absoulte best thing to type into YouTube for AWESOME workouts is: HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training- This gets your heart rate going!

Here are some links to some great fitness YouTubers! Get ready to sweat. 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/user/insanehomefatloss

http://www.youtube.com/user/blogilates

http://www.youtube.com/user/mdloughy

http://www.youtube.com/user/LivestrongWoman

http://www.youtube.com/user/SegwayBeskydy

http://www.youtube.com/user/superherofitnesstv