Sweaty Betty Isn't Dead...y

If you thought that was the world's worst blog post title, you were right.

So a couple years ago, when we lived in California and had nothing else to do, we used to run for cardio. We got up to running 4 miles a night which was a huge feat for me and I didn't actually hate it which was an even huger feat. And I weighed ten pounds less than I do now so....

Once we moved to Maryland, we let running fall to the wayside because it was so g-damn cold, but I picked up weight training which was awesome and my shoulders and biceps look pretty good, thank you, but I also slowly put on a bunch of weight. Which sucks. And makes me feel bad for eating as much as I do because at least I was burning calories back then, right?

Since I first started working at my new job, one of my coworkers has been pushing me to go to Orange Theory with her which is her main form of working out and she absolutely loves it. It was hard to say no because I was feeling so shitty about my weight gain and she had lost like 25 pounds doing Orange and it is downstairs in my office building, so I didn't really have a good excuse not to go.

Now, you all know me...I hate working out. Hate it. Even when I "liked" running, I hated it and dreaded every run before I set off. I am hugely self conscious in the gym. I have had minor panic attacks in rooms that are too full of other people working out and have had to leave because I get anxiety so badly about looking stupid while working out. So I was really really nervous for my first day at Orange. I knew I was going to suck and everyone would notice.

And guess what?

It went great!

I swear to Pete, this is not an advertisement, it actually was pretty g-damn awesome. The best thing about Orange for me is that everyone is so focused on their own workout and there's no standing around time in between sets, that no one gives a crap and/or notices what you're doing. I'm the slowest one on the row machine this set? No one cares because they have all run back into the weight room and are trying not to barf doing burpees. Some chick apparently ate it doing box jumps the other day and I didn't even notice because I was panting in my own little corner.

You also have no time to look at and critique yourself in the mirror.

And the mirrors in front of the treadmills don't show your legs. Genius.

Anxiety gone.

And also, it's hard as crap and I still like it! No self-defeating mental commentary about how awful I'm doing. Can't do all out at 5% incline like the instructor told us to do? I'll do push pace at 5% and try my hardest and be happy about.

Seriously, who is this person?

I still get nervous before each class, because it's me, but once we start running, I get really focused and end up enjoying pushing myself and seeing how many calories I've burnt as the class goes on.

Also my boobs look really good in the mirror when I run. (Classy)

I've only gone three times so far (I do Mondays and Wednesdays each week) and I'm super hooked and can't wait to see how much fat I burn/weight I lose/body parts I tone as time goes on!

Here are my first three results which I'm sharing because I'm super proud and it's my blog so why not?

Go Orange!

Revolt Move of the Week

These posts are silly. But it's kind of motivating because when I'm a lazy shit and don't really work out during the week, I don't post a workout move and then people know and judge me. I'm not gonna put on my gear, walk to the gym, and do a move just to take pictures of it.

I mean, I MIGHT but that would be pretty bad.

Also, I get freakishly excited when I find new workout moves that work for me.

I get freakishly excited about a lot of things.

My sister likens me to a chihuahua.

So Revolt move?

This week's is a pike to plank. I'm pretty sure the way I do it is a plank to pike, but details details.

Cue the awkward, gym, self timer selfies!

Do a plank. Try to look awkward, dying, and have a super flat butt while doing it.

Then without moving your arms, go up into a pike. Continue to look like you're dying, but your butt will look better :)

The day after doing this move for the first time, my lower back KILLED me. But in a "holy crap I didn't know I had muscles back there" kind of way. Which is good because I have an incredibly weak lower back and it affects other exercises a lot.

Pike to plank...do it!!

And go check out Revolt, duh.

Revolt Move of the Week

On Monday, I started doing the Revolt workouts again.  You'll remember Revolt from back in March and April when Mike and I did a six week diet and I did her exercise program. I decided to stop doing it when Mike convinced me to add much more weight training to my workout.

Recently, we've gotten in kind of a workout rut. I've been horrible at cardio since we can't run outside in this weather. Well, if we were Kara we would run outside in this weather, but we ain't. I hate running on the treadmill so I've been a big slacker about it. Mike also had us stop going to our big gym and now we workout at the tiny apartment gym and since then I've just sort of lost steam. I've put on a little bit of fat and it's made me miserable so I really need to up my fat burning workouts.

So I re-started Revolt starting yesterday and holy hell I'm sore. Which is pretty awesome because being sore always makes me feel great and motivated. It means you got off your ass and did something!

I'm not doing the diet because I just cannot be a dieter. I will work out hard in the gym so I don't have to diet. I'm doing my smoothies for lunch and trying to cut back on fatty crap in general, but Mike and I find so much joy through food, we're just not willing to diet to be skinnier. I say "we" like Mike couldn't eat anything he wanted and still have a six pack. Bastard.

In honor of Revolt being so damn awesome and to motivate myself to keep it up, I'm going to post my favorite Revolt Move of the Week every week. Nichole always adds new and interesting moves to her workouts to keep you from getting bored and I wanted to share them with you guys!

This week's move of the week is a hamstring move that I've never done before. It looks easy peasy, but it killed my hamstrings, let me tell you.

And now let's see the world's most awkward workout photos...

Seriously though, where was I supposed to look? Ugh, awkward.

So you just roll the ball up to your butt so your butt goes in the air and then roll it back out until your knees are locked. You feel it like crazy in your hamstrings.

Enjoy!

And make sure to check out Revolt...duh.

My Revolt Diary - The Future

I haven't posted a blog about Revolt in a while.  My husband and I finished the 6 week uprising and since then, have decided to make some changes for the future of our eating and fitness routines.  I loved doing Revolt and I really believe in the program and especially Nichole.  Seriously, she's the best, I just want to squeeze her face.  We have decided to stop following Revolt to a tee, however.  (This blog post is coming off like a break up, yeesh)  I think the program is amazing for people that need to lose a significant amount of weight and/or people that are just starting their fitness journey (cheesiest phrase ever...fitness journey).  It wasn't perfect for me though because I felt like I needed a lot more weight training on top of just fat burning exercises.  I tried to add weight training on top of the Revolt workouts, but the schedule didn't really work out with my husband and doing two workouts a day wasn't awesome.  So, from now on, we're doing a new fitness routine that builds on some of Nichole's ideas and other fitness programs my husband has researched.  This is the program he has laid out for us starting this week:

My pea sized brain just realized that link isn't going to work once I saved it as a jpeg.  Duh.  It goes to here.

We'll see how it goes and if I feel like I'm not burning enough fat, I plan to add either some of Nichole's circuits back on or another form of cardio a couple days a week.

When it comes to food, we are sticking with the principles of Nichole's plan:  high on protein, very low on sugar, low on carbs and fat, lots of veggies and healthy fats.  Instead of following her menus every week, we are just adapting our favorite recipes to fit into the program, using some of Nichole's recipes, and finding new ones to add to our Chuck Norris trapper keeper (that's where we keep our recipes of course).  Here is our menu for the first week:

Breakfasts:  Nichole's egg white and oats pancakes (recipe found here) or egg white scrambled eggs with spinach and peppers.

Lunches:  Chicken Curry Soup (recipe found here) which is one of our fave recipes from before the diet that we are converting to be a little more healthy.  That basically just means removing the sugar and not sauteing the veggies in olive oil beforehand.  Our other lunch is another old favorite Falafal Pitas (new recipe found here).  An old favorite made healthier by buying whole wheat pitas, baking the falafels instead of frying them, and using skinny tzatziki (recipe found here).

Dinners:  Superfood Salad w/ Lemon Vinaigrette (recipe found here) is one of Mike's all time fave Spring/Summer dishes.  We made it healthier by removing the sugar from the dressing and only using half the amount of olive oil in the dressing.  Shrimp and Pea Rice Bowl (recipe found here) was one of our old recipes that didn't need tweaking at all, we were so excited!  Low-Fat Chicken Enchiladas (recipe found here) is a new one that we're trying out to see if we can actually have tasty Mexican food while eating healthy.

Snacks:  Fat-free Greek yogurt and strawberries, after-workout protein shakes, and Banana Oat Breakfast Muffins (recipe found here).  For the muffins, I use honey instead of white sugar, but you can use sugar substitutes as well.

Desserts:  Mike likes to have raisins, almonds, and a banana as his nightly dessert while I'm currently obsessed with sugar free jello pudding.  Fun fact:  a lot of the sugar free cookies are FULL of fat calories.  It's pretty bad.  Read your labels!

Overall, I'm really glad I signed up for Revolt.  It was a great kick-start to eating healthier/cleaner and to being more into being fit as opposed to wandering around the gym, lifting lighter weights, and watching Mike sweat his butt off.  I didn't take final measurements or anything  but I feel stronger and healthier and I honestly can't wait to continue this plan!  I definitely recommend Revolt, especially if you have a good amount to lose and are just now starting to work out seriously.  Check it out here!