Saturday in Pictures

Here are some fun pics my BFF Lauren and I took in Laguna Beach yesterday...

You can check out Lauren's photography here.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Strawberry Refreshers!

Here is a delicious, alchohol-free summer drink for you!

Strawberry Refreshers!

This drink DOES contain sugar, but it is sooo good and I have to share it with you. 

Here is the recipe (for two drinks): 

12 Strawberries

Soda Water

Mint leaves

Simple syrup (To make: 1 cup boiling water, add 2 cups of sugar, stir until dissolved)

Ice

Strainer

Crush the strawberries and mint leaves, add desired soda water, add one ounce of simple syrup, add ice, shake shake shake, and then strain all of the ingredients into a glass. 

Have a happy Sunday!

Half Marathon Training Plan!

After MONTHS of debating, and running, and reading blogs, and pretending to be a runner, I finally signed up for my first half marathon!

The Los Angeles Rock N Roll Half Marathon

I am running it with my good friend Danica, and I simply can't wait! 

(Danica with her BF at my rehearsal dinner!)

Because it's on October 28th, it's Halloween themed! 

People dress all crazy like...

 

I started "training" about a month and a half ago, but I pulled my Achilles tendon (or strained it...not sure which!) and it has taken a while for it to heal. Luckily, after a month or so of icing, stretching, and strengthening, I am happy to say that I can run again! I spent 20 minutes running last night (albeit very slowly!) without ANY pain!

 Now, I know I can't just jump into full-on training again, but I am definitely going to start to build my mileage. 

The training plan I designed for myself allows six weeks for my body to get back to the "running shape" it was in before...aka five mile runs about twice a week, with shorter distances in between. I am not a professional coach or trainer,so I built this training plan off of Hal Higdon's book Marathon (a great read if you are interested in becoming a runner!). I definitely modified his plan, as I added higher mileage toward the end, and also incorporated more strength training and cross-training.

Also, note that I am not running this for SPEED. I want to keep my body healthy without injuries, so while I originally planned on running it in 2:00, I am now shooting for a 2:30 half marathon time. 

Here is my 14 week 1/2 Marathon Training Plan!

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Total

Week 1

X Train

Rest

X Train

Yoga

2.5 Miles

2 Miles

3 Miles

7.5

7/22-7/28

Pilates

Pilates

X Train

Week 2

2 Miles

Rest

3 Miles

Pilates

3 Miles

Rest

4 Miles

12

7/29-8/4

Pilates

X Train

Pilates

X Train

Week 3

3 Miles

Rest

4 Miles

Pilates

5  Miles

Rest

4 Miles

16

8/5-8/11

Pilates

X Train

Yoga

X Train

Week 4

4 Miles

Rest

4 Miles

Pilates

5 Miles

Rest

4 Miles

17

8/12-8/18

Yoga

Pilates

X Train

X Train

Week 5

4 Miles

Yoga

4 Miles

Pilates

5 Miles

Rest

4 Miles

17

8/19-8/25

Yoga

Pilates

X Train

X Train

Week 6

5 Miles

Rest

4 Miles

Pilates

5 Miles

Rest

4 Miles

18

8/26-9/1

Yoga

Pilates

X Train

X Train

Week 7

6 Miles

Rest

4 Miles

Pilates

4 Miles

Rest

6 Miles

20

9/2-9/8

Yoga

Pilates

X Train

Pilates

Week 8

4 Miles

Rest

4 Miles

Pilates

6  Miles

Rest

3 Miles

17

9/9-9/15

Yoga

X Train

X Train

Pilates

Pilates

Week 9

8 Miles

Rest

3 Miles

Pilates

6 Miles

Rest

3 Miles

20

9/16-9/22

Yoga

X Train

X Train

X Train

Week 10

10 Miles

Yoga

4 Miles

Pilates

5 Miles

Rest

3 Miles

22

9/23-9/29

Yoga

Pilates

X Train

X Train

Week 11

11 Miles

Yoga

4 Miles

Pilates

5 Miles

Rest

3 Miles

23

9/30-10/6

Yoga

Pilates

X Train

X Train

Week 12

12 Miles

Yoga

X Train

Pilates

4 Miles

Rest

3 Miles

23

10/7-10/13

Yoga

Pilates

4 Miles

X Train

Week 13

13 Miles

Yoga

2 Miles

X Train 2 hrs

5 Miles

Rest

8 Miles

28

10/14-10/20

Yoga

X Train

Pilates

Yoga

Week 14

Pilates

Rest

5 Miles

Hot Yoga

2 Miles

Rest

1/2 Marathon

20

10/21-10/27

X Train

5 Tips to Eat Yourself Skinny!

Look Better Naked Day 3! 

Good morning!

Day 5 of the Look Better Naked challenge!   

Eat Yourself Skinny with these tips and tricks: 

1. Eat CLEAN!

Eating clean is one of the MOST important tricks to toning up! 

What is clean eating? 

Avoiding ALL processed/chemical-infused food. You can identify "unclean" food by the label! If you don't know what an ingredient means (like tripotassium phosphate), you probably shouldn't eat it! 

Read the label! See what you find...

And this includes many "healthy" cereals, pastas, and breads! 

So don't forget to read labels!

Eating clean consists of eating fresh produce, lean meat, 100% natural whole-grains, and some dairy (depending on how processed it is).

Meal Example:

Grilled lemon & thyme salmon with brown rice, green beans, and asparagus

While eating clean, great substitute for sugar is setvia, trulia, or agave nectar. These sweeteners don't spike your insulin levels! 

2. Graze!

Eat throughout the day! This keeps your metabolism revved and working all day long, so you can effectively burn MORE calories while you are sitting! 

Snack on Superfoods like: 

Oranges

Almonds

Veggies & Hummus

Berries

Snack Option:

(Cucumbers with spicy dijon mustard)

(Celery with tomato-pesto hummus)

For meals, think protein and fiber. These will keep you full!

 Fresh whole beans are a perfect example of an all-natural food that has BOTH protein and fiber! They keep you super full! And remember...the darker the bean, the more nutrients it contains (if it hasn't been processed). 

If you find yourself super hungry and don't know what to do because you feel like you are going to binge: 

Go for a glass of non-fat organic milk! Milk kinda grosses me out, but it has protein, sugar, and natural fat that will hold you over until you get home. I keep a carton for myself at work in case of emergencies!  

3. Drink TONS of Water Along with Green/White Tea!

 Water is SO SO SO SO important. Drink it all day every day! Drink water even when you are not thirsty! I carry a 33 oz water bottle and try to re-fill it three times a day!

Green and White teas are FILLED with antioxidants! If you aren't into caffeine, buy the decaffeinated version. Caffeine can, however, help in giving your metabolism an extra boost that will help you burn more calories! A good time for caffeine is when you first wake up (with breakfast), and before a work out. Just be careful! No one wants to be a slave to an addiction (I say this as a caffeine addict myself :) )

4. Mix Cardio WITH Strength-training!

I am NOT a certified personal trainer, nor do I know everything about exercise. However, I do know what works for me. 

Mixing cardio with strength training gives ME the best results for my body. 

This means doing a cardio session before a strength workout, or interchanging them throughout a workout. 

Example 1: 

30 minutes of running

30 minutes of Pilates (my favorite form of strength training)

Stretch

Example 2:
Run for 10 minutes

Lift for 10 minutes

Run for 10 minutes

Pilates for 10 minutes

Run for 10 minutes

Stretch

 If you are JUST starting out, do not exceed what your body is capable of. Ease into harder workouts as you progress!

If you are active and work out all the time, PUSH YOURSELF! You can always run faster, stretch deeper, and train harder. 

5. Don't Compare

 This may be the hardest trick of all! Be the best YOU can be. There is a difference between being inspired and being insecure in comparing yourself to others.

Hope these little tricks help you today! 

Sweat Dirty

Motivation for you: 

 

Fitspiration 

Look Better Naked Day 3: Clean Eats

Hi guys!

The weekend kick-off to the Look Better Naked plan has begun!

The cleanse has been great! Luckily I can eat meat, so the protein has definitely helped keep me full! 

Here is what a few of my meals have looked like: 

P.F. Changs Curry Vegetables with Brown Rice

Spinach Salas with veggies, hummus, and kidney beans (lemon squeeze and balsamic for dressing)

Ezekiel Bread with peanut butter, raw honey, and raspberries!

Honestly, eating clean not only tones, but it makes you feel SO GOOD. Seriously! I have been so full of energy! 

(or, it could have, of course, been the coffee!)

Au revoir!

The Look Better Naked Invitation!!!

Hello Beautiful Readers!

As you can see from my arm-flailing, I am so so so excited to share that I will be going on an incredible 30-day journey called Look Better Naked!

Being the Women's Health Mag fan that I am, I noticed a lot of publicity regarding the Editor-In-Chief's new book Look Better Naked. Of course, the front cover drew me in almost immediately, as it looks like this:

 

This front cover is great-marketing-in-your-face. Way-to-go Women's Health Mag for hiring intelligent people.

Anyways. I picked it up to see what all the fuss was about, and was surprisingly impressed. While it DOES focus on losing weight and toning up, it ALSO focuses on body image and self esteem! Which is AWESOME! 

 

THE DIET: (I hate diets. I really do. Mostly because I am terrible at keeping them):

Here is my I-Hate-Diets-Face: 

Although my hatred of dieting runs deeply through my food-loving veins, I know that a little structure will do me some good! 

The LBN Diet consists of these "rules": 

• A two-day cleanse that kick-starts the eating plan. The purpose of this cleanse is to (in my opinion) banish sugar cravings, as the only sugar it allows is one cup of berries in the morning. It mainly consists of veggies and protein, with unlimited green tea (thank the Lord I can still have my caffeine!)

• Five meals a day (Bfast, lunch, dinner, 2 snacks)

• Low-cal to no-cal spices and flavorings (this is KEY to curbing cravings!)

• UNLIMITED green tea, water, fat free milk, and veggies

• Fiber, lean protein, healthy fats

Those are the staples of the diet.

I will be following this "diet philosophy" for 30 days! This is my challenge.

Here is how I will be doing it:

 Look Better Naked gives daily meal plans, but I do not think I will follow it in detail because there is not enough room in my fridge to hold all of the ingredients the meals call for! It is literally a different recipe for EVERY meal, which is crazy to me. However, I will definitely stick to the philosophy behind each of the meals (for example, if the dinner for Monday calls for salmon, and I have chicken in the fridge, I will use chicken instead). The meals are FABULOUS, so I will definitely make as many of them as I can!

THE WORK OUTS: 

LBN is definitely written for women who are trying to jump-start a new lifestyle (aka women who are out of shape!), so the beginning workouts are relatively simple. It consists of:

• Working out four days a week, two hours total per week
• Two 24 min. interval workouts
• Two strength training sessions that last less than one hour

The book gives all of the workout details, including pictures and great instructions on flow and form. I will not be following this portion of the plan, as I am training for a half marathon and mixing Pilates, yoga, and strength training into my workouts in ADDITION to running.  So, if I obtain amazing results, keep in mind that I will be working out MORE than the book calls for, as it is written for women who do not exercise regularly!

Essentially, I am excited to embark on this 30 day journey because this journey is all about FEELING BEAUTIFUL IN YOUR OWN SKIN, which is SO SO SO important.

Being sexy starts with feeling sexy :)

If you want to come along and participate in this plan, EMAIL ME! I will send you all of the details of what I will be eating and what workouts I will be doing.

YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO!!!