Once Upon a Time...

I considered myself a fit girl. It wasn't that much long ago, or in a galaxy far, far away. Even if at the moment it *does* feel like a long time ago. I had managed to successfully lose 50+ lbs (22.5 kilos -- gotta convert now that I'm on metric, but more on that later), and kept it off for a year and a half. During that period of time, I had gone through a terrible relationship, lost my job, and couldn't find a new job for 6 months. Yes, I was sad and depressed, but it actually kept me more motivated to go to the gym. Being unemployed allowed me to spend MORE time at the gym, hurray. Well, now you all know what I did with my unemployement checks :P ha! After applying for everything (literally! I filled out an application to work at a damn Burger King), I started to work at a nice luxury hotel. My new job was amazing. Not what I had in mind, since I didn't go to school to be in the hotel industry, but I was pleased with my job.

There was a downfall about working at the hotel: time management. I started to make new friends, and started going out after my working hours, that I began to neglect my gym activities, and my diet -- including jiu jitsu. The little time I did go to the gym, I wasn't as active as I was when I was unemployed. I slacked off more, I didn't "dig deeper", as Shaun T. would say. I wasn't training as hard as I used to. I started to get more motivated about going out with the hotel people rather than keeping true to my gym regime. Little by little, I started to gain some weight.

A year into my hotel job, I switched departments, and got a new position at the hotel during the graveyard shift. At the time, I had a freelance job during the daytime (sporadical, not daily), and later my graveyard shift. I even had less time for myself, or for my hotel hangouts. I didn't even have time for the gym any more. I had joined Planet Fitness in the hopes that I could workout anytime, since it was a 24 hour gym, but it unmotivated me even more (no hate, PF).

Fast forward to today...I'm currently living in Spain. I'm studying abroad, but not with a study abroad program, get it? :P Now, I do have free time to exercise. If I can manage my time correctly, which sometimes I still can't properly do that, I can wake up early every morning, for an Insanity workout, go running around Parc Güell, etc. I still feel like I'm doing something wrong. As if I'm missing out on something. I'm not getting the results I was expecting, or losing the weight as fast as I did a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away). I don't want to use my age and metabolism as an excuse. I'm turning 30 next month, and all I hear is people just making me feel fucking old. "Sweety, you're turning 30, your metabolism isn't as fast as it was when you were 25....or 15" Listen, I know my metabolism bla bla bla, all that b.s. But that's no way to motivate me. Obviously, I might have to work harder, and diet more proper (what -- that last part didn't make any sense. It's not even proper English!!), but it can be done. I'm not going to use my "oh I'm so very old" age, or my metabolism as a stupid excuse.

I feel like I'm back at square one. Looking for all the endless solutions to my weight problems. I already KNOW what to do, I've done it before, what's keeping me from doing so? Sometimes I use my "oh, I don't have money to go to the gym" excuse. I KNOW I don't need a gym. First and foremost, what I need to do is control what goes into my damn mouth! I can't eat all the pa amb tomàquet in Barcelona...with a nice cold caña, not to mention those delicious bravas....ahh! At least I walk everywhere, or use a bicycle.

Well, here's to my journey (again).

Exhaustion...

I recently re-learned the importance of sleeping!! See..a backstory to my work life. For almost a year now, I've been working the graveyard shift, 8pm - 4:30am. Because of that, I joined Planet Fitness, a 24 hour gym. Great idea, right?! I worked out a couple of times before going to work, o after. Unfortunately, as the months went by, I started to skip on my workouts, and slack off, until I literally just went to the gym like once a month. Wait, I got a little bit off track. Point is, I used to work the graveyard shift, yeah. Recently, I got bumped to a "normal people" shift, starting at 6am. On my night off, between my overnight shift and my new 6am shift, I decided to workout it with my BJJ and Coastie friends. We did cardio and core, and later we went to out BJJ practice. Btw, if my Polar watch is correct, we burned almost 500 calories in an hour's worth of exercise. That was the pre-BJJ workout. I don't wear my watch for BJJ.

I felt fine afterwords. Everything was burning (no pain, no gain, right?), and I even figured that I was tired early enough to go to bed and start my 6am shift well rested.

WRONG!

Since my sleeping pattern is still in graveyard shift mode, I couldn't go to sleep until 3am, only to wake up at 4:30am. And go to work.

That first day working at 6am wasn't too bad. I just felt tired. I got a little dizzy at the beginning of my shift. That was about it. So I still worked out that night. The next day was hell. I was gonna go train again with my friends, but I just couldn't bare to even stand on my own. I was weak, dizzy, walking all "drunken" like. I even cried after work cause I was just so damn tired. I was even falling asleep on the road. As soon as I got home, I decided I needed to go to bed.......at 7pm. Slept like a friggin' baby, until 4:30am!

Long story short, don't overkill yourself with your workouts. I'm so desperate to get back into the shape I was a couple of years ago, that I was skipping on my sleep. My own body kinda just shut down. It's also been on a lethargic stint, that it couldn't handle two back to back workouts like it used to. I'll be able to get back to that point. I'm starting right, again...

Oh, btw, here are some nice pics from the USCG here in Old San Juan. I loved training there!

Very Berry Overnight Oats

Ho-lee SHIT! Man, I've made overnight oats before, but they were always just kinda bland...until my most recent overnight oats experiment. I present to you my Very Berry Overnight Oats:

1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup greek yogurt
1/3 cup almond milk
1 tsp. chia seeds
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
raspberries and blueberries*

*Berries of choice. I really didn't measure the berries. And notice how I didn't add any stevia, or agave nectar to my mix. Why? Because fruits already have sugar as it is.

Mix the oats, greek yogurt, almond milk, chia seeds, and cinnamon. If you want a more "liquidy", go ahead and pour some more almond milk into the mixture. Pour the mixture in an air tight container (glass or plastic). I layered my mixture as if it were a parfait. Refrigerated overnight. I left it for 12 hours. And, ta-da!! Devour it like there's no tomorrow!

Enjoy!!

Fat rage, instead of 'roid rage...

Man, I haven't updated this in ages. Why? Cause I got fat...I feel like one of those athletes who were caught cheating, or using steroids (no hate towards A-Rod), or even like a President after a scandal. I feel like I let, not only myself, a lot of people down. When I started my weight loss journey, I had inspired a few of my friends even. My friend Jen (http://theroadto100-jennifer.blogspot.com) had even started her own weight loss journey. I felt powerful, and not in the evil-power kinda way. I felt like I was an example, and proved that anyone could do it. I know there are NO EXCUSES, but I guess I'll throw my excuses for now: - work (different shifts. working overnight, switching to a normal shift, etc) - relationships (a few toxic guys in my life here and there) - money (no money to buy quality food to make quality meals) - sucky gym (lamest of the excuses, but I had switched from LA Boxing to Planet Fitness due to my overnight work schedule) - injuries (guess who messed up her shoulder again? and now I need surgery!) - etc.. Anyway, I need to rebuild myself. I need to be my own inspiration. If I did it once, I can do it again. And I need to do it again. It just sucks that I let myself, and everybody else down.

On Today's Plate: Food

For breakfast I had delicious oat bran pancakes (which I can't share the recipe online. If you'd like the recipe, then get this e-book) with a Stevia banana compote.

And as a snack, I just had some fresh beans with balsamic vinegar, onions, minced garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes over avocado slices. Ok, I need to work on my avocado slicing skills :P

On Today's Plate: Double Whammy!!

Day 1: Mission Accomplished

Part 1: The Workout Bit:

Today was my BJJ day. Usually on Saturdays I wake up early, and, if I'm not scheduled to work that day, I attend my jiu jitsu practice. So, from approximately 9:00am til 1:00pm, I'm warming up, doing some cardio, some techniques, some grappling, etc. By the end of practice we're all scattered around the mats looking like sweaty squashed bugs. lol. Normally after BJJ, I just go home, and nap for a while. Today was a little different.

Last night one of my friends had the brilliant idea to go to the gym today. I was a little hesitant to say yes, since BJJ is exhausting. I agreed to it anyway, a little more cardio never hurt anybody, right? A little side note before I continue with my story. I was talking to my friend, and he tells me that he can lose weight faster than me. heh...I can get a little bit, what's the word, competitive at times. As soon a he said that I took it as a challenge. Now I have to prove to him how wrong he is/was/and will be. But yeah, a little more cardio never hurt anybody, right? Last night all I could think of was how tired I was gonna be after bjj and how I was just gonna slack off at the gym later. Since I remembered how I wanted to beat him at this competition (that only exists in my head, and he has no idea that's going on, lol), I made a little routine for today.

I started of by running internals for 20 minutes. Started out with 2 minutes of a brisk walk, then ran at 5mph for 3 minutes, and then ran at 6.5 mph for a minute. And you get the gist of it. And then...oh just look at the pic :P

I was tired, drenched in sweat, but I felt revitalized and glad to be back in the gym.

Part 2: Food Bit:

Breakfast: oatmeal
Snack: organic peanut butter on organic whole wheat crackers, and sliced bananas
Lunch: chicken and corn on the cob (no butter) -- kind of a late lunch too
Snack: plum
Dinner: _____

It's too late for me to make myself dinner (it's 11:15pm). The gym kind of interrupted my 6 meals a day thing. boo :P

---------------

I think that's all for today. Tomorrow...CARDIO!

Challenge Accepted!

wtf is this sorcery...I'm gonna have to get used to the new blogger look, lol.

I haven't updated this blog in almost a year. I also probably haven't been as loyal to the gym in the past year as I was in the years before. I'm still proud of the fact that I lost 50 lbs!! What I'm not proud of is that in the past year and a half I've managed to put back ALMOST half of what I've lost. I'm not too proud of that, especially after the progress I had made. Instead of sitting back and, you know, being all depressed about how unfortunate my last year and a half has been (gym wise, I mean), I'm going to challenge myself into getting back in track.

Starting tomorrow, SEPTEMBER 01, 2012, I am challenging myself to the "Santa's Snow Bunny Challenge"...ok, so I just made up that title on the spot. I really just wanted something catchy. ESPECIALLY since it doesn't snow here in Puerto Rico... From September 01 through December 31, I will be at the gym, and making the proper dietary options, to become a better person. I want to lose weight, feel good about myself (with and without clothes on-- damn right I want to look good naked), and I want to make a lifestyle change. I want to be able to eat well, without thinking "gross I hate diet food". Like I said before, a long time ago I made a promise to myself, where I was going to change my lifestyle (food and exercise wise). The time was then, and the time is now again. I don't ever want to see my scale tip at 200 lbs again. And I no longer want to hear people tell me that it's ok to weight what I weight only because I'm tall. People, I'm 5'9" (179cm)!! I'm not a 6'5" man (???cm)!

-- is this starting to sound like a campaign speech?? --

Anyway, when you vote for me, even though I don't have that many followers, I am making a promise to myself to post my daily workouts and my daily food intake (unless I'm violating some sort of copyright code: example, any day I do a Fighter Diet workout). Every two weeks, I'll also be posting updated pics and updated stats....and I really hope to inspire at least one person.

Vote for me!!