Last night Eric and I watched the Fast and the Furious. I made it though about the first 45 minutes and then I lost interest! lol. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the eye candy, but I had a few things on my mind.
Mainly, what goodies I might bake for the race sale! I loved all of your suggestions and I fully agree that my bars and granola would be huge hits. The only thing I have to test this week is whether my Glo Bars fare well in warm conditions. I am going to order individual packaging so I can prepackage all of my goods beforehand and tie them with a nice bow. I also love the idea of attaching my business card through the ribbon! Genius!
As for a flyer, I hope I am going to have enough time to put one together because I think it would be great to give out. I am still waiting to hear from the race director and how it is all going to work (i.e., who will be selling them, etc). Obviously I can’t be there to sell everything as I am in the race!
This morning I had a standing breakfast: Green Monster while I baked!
- 1 1/4 cup unsweetened Almond Breeze
- 3-4 cups spinach
- 1 T natural peanut butter (I bought some last night and let’s just say it has been WAY too long since I have had PB in the house!!!!!!!!!)
- 1 T flax
- 1 scoop Hemp powder
- 1 squirt Kyolic garlic
- 1/2 banana
This smoothie combo was da bomb!!!
And I really need to start buying regular natural peanut butter more. I haven’t bought it in over a year and a half because I was always buying Almond Butter for the health benefits, but wow regular ‘ol PB is like no other!!!
Let’s just say I didn’t have as much luck with my Vegan Oatmeal Raisin cookies!
Today I used my new organic sucanat sugar instead of brown sugar and I had some major crumbly batter on my hands. I added some coconut oil, but they couldn’t be saved. The cookies that resulted were still good and held together fairly well, but they aren’t up to Glo Bakery standards! Back to the drawing board!
Before:
After:
I sampled about 1/2 of a cookie. :)
Sigh…
I am a VERY tough cookie (critic!!!!). :D
Yesterday I received a great question asking me to talk a bit about how I came to enjoy exercise!
Juie says:
TELL US!! How did you learn to enjoy exercise!?!
You should make a post on it!!
p.s. u have such a passion for exercise and we would all love to hear about it and how you made it such a passion and why you enjoy it so much!!
You inspire me!!! :]]
Growing up, I was always very active in sports- I did track, played volleyball, fastpitch softball, figure skating, ballet, swimming, etc. I was always happy when I was doing something that was competitive. I am competitive by nature and I love a good challenge!
The sports that I played gave me various levels of internal and external challenges. I had challenges set by myself and challenges set by my team or my coach or even the spectators! I thrive on this type of motivation to keep me going.
And I loved me some rollerskating (and then eventually rollerblading when I was cool enough!)
This was at Christmas in Florida:
Because my personality is competitive, it was no wonder that I quickly started to dread my workouts in the gym for many years. I didn’t offer myself too much varity and generally stuck to the same workout day in and day out. Part of what I used to love about being active was missing for many years. I saw exercise as a means to an end. Something I had to get through just so I could feel better afterward. Now, of course, there are many days that I still struggle with this feeling and I will be the first to admit that I don’t always want to hop on the treadmill some days! But I am learning to enjoy the process much more.
When I set a goal of running my first race and raising money for charity I felt exercise come alive in me again. I felt like I had a goal and my competitive nature made me work hard to get there. The past 2 months, my Bikini Body Boot Camp Challenge has also had a wonderful impact on me! It has given me something to shoot for and to hold myself accountable. It has been fun doing the challenge with all of you and feeling like we are a team!
Recently, I also started doing the 30-Day Shred. I bought it way back in January but was unable to do more than 1-2 workouts due to my injury. I am loving the challenge that the Shred is giving me, and I also enjoy taking my measurements every month or so to see how my body changes- no scale necessary! It has reaffirmed to me that strength training is a very important part of overall health (and one that I neglected for a LONG time!!). I love feeling strong now and I find myself wondering how strong my body can get and how this will benefit my cardio workouts!
I think when it comes down to it your personality plays a key role in what you will enjoy with exercise.
If you are a highly sociable person, you will probably be miserable on the treadmill or elliptical, but you will probably come alive from the energy of a group in a group class.
If on the other hand, you are an introvert, you may enjoy long runs on your own, but cringe at the idea of running a race with 20,000 others.
There are so many factors that go into it. I always say it is fun to make a list and see what you come up with:
For example, answer the following questions:
- Do I like being on my own or with people?
- Do I have a competitive nature?
- Am I a morning, afternoon, or night person?
- What do I dislike most about my current exercise?
- When in my life have I enjoyed exercise the most?
- What activities or sports did I enjoy as a kid?
I think it is always important to look back to when you were a child to see what you enjoyed. As a child, we didn’t have any preconceived notions of what exercise should be, how many calories we burned, or what we HAD to do.
Today’s question: Do you currently enjoy exercise? Why or why not? What type of exercise do you enjoy the most? What do you dislike the most?
Don’t forget tomorrow I am unveiling my BEFORE and AFTER BBBC changes!
Goodluck Meghann in her marathon this AM! And congrats to Heather for completing hers!!
These are great exercise tips. I recently bought the 30-Day Shred also, and I couldn’t believe just how much I felt the burn in such a short workout!
Morning:)
Growing up I was very overweight and HATED all things exercise but that all changed when I started my fitness quest 15 years ago..
I LOVE to workout and can easily do hours of cardio and weight lifting. My favorite workout is a long run and spin classes..and lifting heavy weights. It’s an accomplishment to see my muscles grow and that is reflected in the mirror when I lift. As a woman it’s rather empowering and my competitive side certainly enjoy this!
On a side note..I could totally see you developing a natual skincare line. Just a thought!
B
I wonder if adding some natural molasses might help the cookies? (brown sugar is sugar with molasses)
Really interesting post! I’m not sure if I necessarily agree on the introvert/extrovert point, however. I consider myself more of an intro but my favorite form of exercise is my group spin class. I find group exercise extremely motivating and empowering. I remember learning back in my college days (was a psych major as well) that introvert and extrovert have to do more with how one “recharges” so-to-speak, rather than simply whether one enjoys the company of others or not.
I started Level 1 of The Shred and I think I did something to my knee because it feels like it has been twisted. I really enjoyed it and want to move on to Level 2 but I need my knee to recover quickly!
I enjoy simple walking in the outdoors and lifting weights makes me feel strong. During my eating disorder, I viewed exercise as the need to lose weight or calories but now I view it as making myself stronger! I’m so glad I could make that mindset switch. I hate squats though. Grrr…
I totally agree that personality is key in choosing an exercise routine you’ll be able to stick with. Translation: I am getting bored of the elliptical.
I had to laugh at your GM/baking combo. I’m finishing a green lemonade as I’m baking cookies (for clients) right now.
I enjoy exercise, and it helps to think of it as helping my body and making it stronger and healthier. For example, when I’m on a long run and things hurt, I think of how happy my heart and lungs must be to be working so hard! :) I also enjoy races (so fun with all the race-day adrenaline!) and things with measurable goals and components, such as the 30 Day Shred, which I’m starting tomorrow! So excited. Good tips as always, Angela.
HelpMeghanRun.com
I just love organic PB. I have a jar of organic PB AND organic almond butter in the fridge at all times! :)
Thanks for sharing your exercise story with us Angela. As for me, I just love walking, running, yoga, and pilates to clear my mind and refresh my outlook. However, I don’t mind sharing my exercise time with others. There are definitely days that I love being in a group setting and discussing, not only exercise, but other similar topics and interests. Some of the best friends can be made while joining groups, running races, and exercising outside the home!
We have a lot of the same thoughts on exercise. I love it, but I often love it even more on my own terms. Meaning, I like to decide what I will do for the day – not someone else, which is why Jillian telling me to work out every single day with the 30 day shred did not mix well with me. I do LOVE her workout dvd though. I just love how challenging it can be.
I love exercise. I can’t go more than a day without some sort of movement, even if it’s just walking for an hour or so.
I have recently been getting bored with weights, but that’s because although I love feeling stronger, I am horrible at pushing myself in the gym. Also I don’t know lots of different moves and I’m just getting plain bored. But I’m going to be starting a really active job this week, so that should really help me just switch it up for a bit.
I love exercise as well! I do need variety though. I love to run but when I was training for my marathon, toward the end I just wanted to bike, hike, play tennis, etc. I have also recently started strength training and can see the difference it makes. Good luck with the cookies!
Good post about enjoying exercise! I think if people choose exercise they enjoy, and don’t push themselves to the point of misery, moving is really, really fun!
Those cookies look tasty, sorry they weren’t up to your standards :(
I love exercise! In fact, I struggle more with taking rest days than I do getting in a work out ;-) It wasn’t always that way though. As far as personality goes, I’m a bit of both, a social person and an introvert. So I do both! I love walking or running alone but I also enjoy group classes and hitting the road with a friend or two. Races energize me even more being in those big crowds. Its important to find what works for you and not to do what everyone else is doing or what you think you should be doing. Great post!
I love to do competitive sport. I played the whole 90 minutes of a soccer game yesterday in the sweltering heat as a midfielder…now ask me to go and do a workout in the park for that long and i’d tell you to go fly a kite. It’s all mental. I am learning to love running…
When I was a teenager, I ate horribly and was really inactive, so I went through adolescence with about thirty pounds of protection between me and the rest of the world. Now I eat much better (and maintain a healthy weight), but I’m still pretty inactive. I really enjoy weight lifting because I love feeling strong, but I don’t do it often enough because I loathe those cardio machines but feel guilty hitting the gym without them. Lately, I’ve been trying to think of more fun ways to get the heart pumping, so I’m revisiting all the stuff that got me active as a kid, like tag and hula hooping. (Actually, I just wrote about this exact thing in my blog a few days ago..!) Exercise is way more fun when it’s a game rather than a chore, and I can do it by myself OR with friends that way.
I’ve been trying to get into workout DVDs, too. I just tried Jillian Michaels’ Burn Fat, Boost Metabolism on Monday, and that is one serious workout! It’s length and intensity intimidate me, though, so I haven’t tried it since. I’m thinking of trying the 30 Day Shred because I can’t stop reading great reviews of it, and it’s shorter. (Plus, it gives me a goal to look forward to.) I’m really impressed with Jillian’s DVDs and can see why she has her fame.