Month: March 2013

Tips to Stay [Relatively] Healthy on St. Patrick’s Day

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Hey there! Can you believe that tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day? After seeing this delicious treat on my friend Meredith’s blog, I was immediately jealous that I hadn’t thought ahead to do anything creative! Oh well… Maybe I’ll add some green food coloring to my wine or something! For anyone who lives in the Boston area, I am guessing that 80% of you are planning on heading to Southie for the parade. I am embarrassed to say, that in my 5 years of living in the Boston area, I have YET to make it to Southie for their annual parade. Shame on me!

parade

 

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I announced in class last night that we had to work extra hard since most of us would be partaking in some type of celebrations this weekend. At the end of class, I had a member come up to me and ask if I had any tips or suggestions for what to drink in order to be a little on the healthier side. It got me to thinking that some of you might find it helpful for me to post a couple of tips/suggestions to keep in mind when going into whatever festivity(ies) you may have lined up.

  • Stay Hydrated

We all know that we tend to get dehydrated when drinking alcohol, especially when we are drinking in excess (we forget to drink water when we are drinking since the alcohol makes us think we are not thirsty).  If you hydrate well BEFORE you drink, it will help keep you in better control that day and help lessen the hangover you might have the next day. Also, try to have a glass of water in between every drink… every little helps! I usually try to carry a water bottle with me as a helpful reminder.

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  • Pace Yourself

If you’re going to be drinking all day, you don’t need to pound 4 beers or a couple of glasses of wine in the first half hour you’re there! Try to space out your drinks to 1 drink an hour for the heavier stuff (hard liquor and wine) and maybe 1 beer every 30 mins or so. I have totally been guilty of getting to a party and drinking way too quickly to “catch up” and let me tell you, things never end as well as I want them to when that happens.

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  • Bring Snacks

I generally don’t “forget” to eat, but I’ll admit that when alcohol is involved, sometimes it does slip my mind for a bit (until I sober up a little and want to binge eat on late-night pizza). It’s a good idea to bring a couple of snacks with you to make sure you’re staying fueled and to try to soak up some of the alcohol;) My favorites are Luna bars, goldfish, animal crackers, etc.

gold fish Luna

 

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  • Avoid Sugary Drinks

As good as a big margarita or pina colada or other fruity mixed drink may taste, they are PACKED with calories.  Alcohol has enough calories as it is, so I try to avoid those drinks (I’ll always have a margarita at a Mexican restaurant, but limit it to just 1).  I usually stick to wine (I am a total wine-o and order wine even at the bar) or Sangria (you can make it so it’s not too sugary), Champagne or Prosecco (duhhh) or vodka and soda water with a lemon or lime.  These are the best ways I have found to drink, but leave out some of the calories. Personally, beer makes me full and feel gross, so I would rather drink more slowly and drink something that I enjoy. If you like a different type of booze, just make sure your mixers are low or zero calorie because drinking those calories is just silly!

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Have fun!

Even though I try to always be mindful of what I am putting into my body in terms of food and drinks, we all have to let loose and have fun every once in a while without beating ourselves up too much. I always tell myself that if I have an “off” day or get a little heavy-handed with my late night snacks, the next day will be a new day and after a workout and some clean eating, I will be all back to normal.  Afterall, the best hangover cure is a workout!! You may think I am crazy, but trust me on this one, it works! I do feel badly for others around me as I am sure they can probably smell the Chardonnay seeping out of my pores. Sorry;)

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retoxing

Questions for you: What do you do to try to stay “healthy” when enjoying drinks and partying? What’s your best hangover cure?

Is the Weekend Already?

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Hey there! Anyone else doing the happy Friday dance? Actually, that’s a lie, I haven’t done the dance because today feels like anything BUT a Friday.  With all the travel I have been doing lately, I can’t seem to keep my days straight, and the fact that I had to get up, straighten my hair, put on a suit and go into the office (I work from home on Fridays so my dress code is generally nothing more than pj’s or Lulu) was what really threw me for a loop.

interview(old pic from last year, but I looked exactly like this today… except I wore a skirt because I am ALL about the skirt suits lately! Also, pardon the mess in the background. I swear I am neater than that!)

I had a meeting with a prospective client today, hence the need for going into the office and dressing in non-Lulu attire.

Speaking of Lululemon, has anyone else seen that they have expanded their bathing suit line?!?! Ugh. This is not good for me! But, to be honest with you, the prices are actually more reasonable than I expected, and these ones have SPF50+ protection built into them. I would like to find a store to try one on before I buy one- has anyone seen these at the store lately?

Lulu top lulu back

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(for anyone who is taking notes- I’m probably a size 2 or 4 on the top and a 4 on the bottom… any color is fine… 😉 )

And, I think I finally found the gym bag I have been looking for!

lulu bag source

I’ve been on the hunt for something that is durable, stylish, and can handle a heavy load (laptop, lunch bag, gym clothes, workout binder, etc), and I think this could be it! I need to check it out in person, though.

Back to yesterday… I get so side-tracked when I talk about Lulu!

My friend JP and I went to lunch at Papagayo yesterday and I had forgotten how good it is there! The only unfortunate thing about going there for a work day lunch is that I can’t enjoy a tasty margarita! (ok, I guess I could have one, but I would not feel right about it- Catholic guilt!) My meal made up for it, though.  I got the Veggie Enchiladas and was really impressed with the amount of veggies in them!

papagayo

Not long after lunch, I had to leave for the day to take care of this:

ticketUgh, What a thing to find when I walked to my car yesterday morning. It was my fault that I forgot to get my car inspected, but I mean, I was PARKED… how can they ticket for that?! And for $50? Common, City of Somerville. The only plus side of this is that the Acura dealership waived the inspection fee for me since I bought my car there last year.

I ended up getting to the gym with about an hour and a half to spare before it was time to teach my kickboxing class.  Since I wanted to get some strength training in, I decided to take the TBC class prior to teaching my class. Felt great to have a long gym sesh in after two weeks of travel.  As good as the TBC class was, my kickboxing class was AMAZING (however, eating a Mexican lunch was NOT the brightest idea before a double session workout)… there were 20 REALLY hard workers and I can’t even tell you how happy that makes me.  When I took over this class back in the fall, it was a Cardio Conditioning class and only averaged about 6-8 people per week.  Now that the word has gotten out that it’s kickboxing, more and more people have been coming every week (and, boy does it make it easier to teach when people know how I teach and know some of the moves!). Love it!

Phew! Did you make it this far?

When I got home from class tonight (definitely going to share the workout that we did with you– great mix of cardio and strength and the time flew by!), I made pizza!  My favorite Friday night meal.  I didn’t take a picture, but it looked similar to this.

024Mmm. It’s just so good! And even though it’s pizza, you’re definitely saving calories by making it yourself vs. ordering out.

Tomorrow morning is my first weekend of teaching Cardio Kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA- can’t wait! The class is packed and the energy is high… get ready YMCA members- we are going to work hard tomorrow:)

Questions for you: Favorite meal to make? What are your weekend plans?

Wellness by the Water Retreat

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Oh boy am I excited about this! My friend Athena recently invited me to join the Boston Bloggers Group on Facebook. As a “newbie” blogger, I was thrilled to have the chance to be in connection with so many other bloggers in the area. It’s great to be able to have the chance to be informed about all of the neat events that are related to my passion of health and fitness.

I just signed up for the Wellness by the Water retreat in Boston on May 19th!! Not only am I excited to have the chance to spend the day surrounded by all things related to health and fitness, but I am excited to have the chance to share this opportunity with you! (ok, ok, I am also excited about the gift bag full of goodies and discounts, too… I’m a sucker for free things and a good deal!)

wellness by the water

Anyway, so the retreat is from 9-4 on Sunday, May 19th. You should definitely go check out their website for all the details, but there are going to be a bunch of different health and fitness professionals to speak with and sessions to attend. I’m personally looking forward to the Nutrition Lecture as I think it is an area where we can all improve in (I should’ve majored in Nutrition…) and the Boot Camp because I am always looking to learn about new moves and exercises that I can incorporate into my own classes!

The early bird special of $139 is only offered until TOMORROW, so if you’re even thinking you might be interested in attending, I highly suggest signing up before the price goes up and before the tickets sell out.

Let me know if you sign up and I look forward to meeting the other bloggers in the Boston area!

NYC in a Flash

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003Within a blink of an eye, my quick work trip to NYC came to an end. I’ll spare you with the details of what I did for work while I was there because I’d much rather talk about the hotel, the food and, of course, the wine!

We stayed at the Andaz Hyatt on Wall Street and I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed! This part of the city was totally flooded just a few months ago (the gentleman checking me in said the water would’ve been up to my knees!), so the fact that they were open was impressive from the start! I am generally not big into the minimalist/modern style, but these rooms were amazing!!

hotel

Everything was sleek and stylish, but I think the best thing of all was the complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. The sure way to my heart is a constant supply of treats:)

The runner-up feature for the room was surely the products and the bath tub/shower combo. I mean, look at that thing! I definitely skipped out on the post dinner drinks in favor of going back to my room to take a tubbie (yes, I said that.). When I grow up, I want this exact tub/shower combo. For sure.

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009(Just testing it out)

Dinner, however, was not something to skip over. We ended up going to Harry’s which is right in the heart of the Financial District. My sister was supposed to meet up with me for dinner since she was on site nearby, but unfortunately her flight from Boston was delayed and she had to cancel:( Luckily I had coworkers with me!

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I had a lot of trouble deciding what I was in the mood to eat, but finally decided to go a little on the lighter side. I hadn’t really had any veggies all day (the horror!), so I got a side salad to start and the Short Rib Sliders for my meal. Omgoodness were these good! I don’t tend to gravitate towards beef, but for some reason it was totally calling my name last night. The red onion marmalade and garlic aioli was the perfect addition to these little nugget sliders.

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012Whenever the waiter asks if anyone wants dessert, my line is always “can you please bring a menu so I can just look?”…. probably 7 times out of 10 I end up persuading someone to share something with me. Last night was no exception.

013A “make your own sundae” Ice cream sundae dessert… sign.me.up! There were strawberries, toasted coconut, walnuts, fresh whipped cream and hot fudge- I died and went to ice cream heaven (I only need a couple of bits and am satisfied… that is how I justify having ice cream every day!).

As I mentioned earlier, post dinner, I skipped out on another round of drinks in lieu of taking a bath… great decision on my end, because I was able to get up and do this very sweaty workout

018Perform each move for 60 seconds and do 3 rounds if you have time. I only had time to do 2 full rounds and for the 3rd round, I had to drop to 30 seconds for each move (secretively, I was more than happy with this… I was dead!). Let me know if you try this:)

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After a long day in the office today, I made my way to LGA around 5pm. I totally sound like a loser when I say this, but I LOVE the food/bar at the Delta Shuttle Terminal.  They have this veggie Panini that I am seriously obsessed with. And, what goes better with a veggie sando? Wine, of course.

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And here I am, back in Boston and back to the normal grind. I hope I am done traveling for a bit because I miss my members and my classes:(  Can’t wait to be back for kickboxing tonight (hoping my shoulder holds up).

Questions for you: What’s your favorite thing to find in a hotel room? Airport food- love it or hate it?

60 Seconds Stations Workout

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Hi, hi, hi!

While I am in NYC for work, I wanted to share a workout that I have been loving lately.  It’s tough, but what I love is that there is no chance to get bored and it can be modified very easily.  Not to mention, it is totally doable at home! I note that we used a bench for the cardio and weighted bars for the strength, but if you are at home and don’t have a step and only have dumbbells, that is totally fine!

Stations workout

 

Instead of resting in between each set (note: the “sets” are the rows in the table above), I had my members do 25 pushups.  Nothing like doing 100 pushups as an “active” rest;)

If you prefer to pick one set and repeat it 4 times (instead of doing the different sets), that is a sure way to exhaust your muscles and “feel the burn” (yeah, I just said that… ).

If you need modifications, let me know. Also, if you try this, let me know what your “choice” exercises were for each station… I love seeing how creative people get:)

Now, go get your workout on and have a great day!