I'm trying to eat healthy...

With the amount of running I've been doing lately (took a day off yesterday, however) I've been trying to eat healthier!!

You try running on a belly full of pizza and sugar. It's certainly not ideal.... Anyways normally I'd grab something gross and sugary for breakfast, but over the past week I've been very conscious of what goes in my mouth. Even if it means I have to come in to work a little later than usual. Or wake up earlier, but let's be real, I can't manage that one.

Today's breakfast??

Maple oatmeal with frozen mixed berries and walnuts, to go with a homemade nonfat latte! Yum :) I'm quite full and ready to get back for another run tonight.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Lots to put in my mouth

I've been on the multiple small meals per day kick lately.

For breakfast I tried Dannon's new plain Greek yogurt and mixed it with Trader Joe's (loooove that place) Omega 3 Trek Mix which is loaded with cranberries and nuts. Also chopped up a banana at my desk and voilà, breakfast was ready! Oh yeah, I made my own nonfat latte earlier with my French press - frothed the milk in it as well.

But I'm definitely going to get some more of that Greek yogurt. I really like Trader Joe's own flavors, but its kind of high in sugar. However the fig one is taaaaasty.

Then came home for lunch and chowed down on a mini sandwich with sea salt pita chips while playing with my doggie a bit. At work, I packed an apple, 100% fruit juice fruit snacks and a stick of string cheese. You know, having food at my desk all afternoon is kind of a pain. Even though I was still full from lunch, I wanted to eat it ha. But I told myself I couldn't have any more food until 2:30 p.m. and it worked.

I had zero desire to grab crappy food for a snack when I got home too! So that's a big plus for me. After walking Woodstock to take out the trash and get the mail (our complex is weird, the mail center is located in the middle of the condo complex so it's not like I walked my dog five feet to get the mail and then came back in, for those of you who previously had been judging me haha).

Then I went for nearly a two-mile run in the sunshine! It was actually fairly warm outside at 6 p.m. When I came home, I was beat. But I pulled out some flank steak we'd been storing in the freezer and lathered it in lavender pepper and some garlic salt.

I grilled the steaks on the stove with some onions and peppers, made cilantro lime rice and had...... FAJITAS for dinner! We wrapped them in whole wheat tortillas and chopped up a quarter of a watermelon on the side. Nothing says summer is just around the corner like a fresh watermelon :)

It was delicious! As a reward for all my good work (or, maybe canceling out all my hard work?), I had some Breyer's double-churned ice cream with chocolate hard shell on top!

I'm really going to try to stick with this regimen too. Wish me luck :) But it feels good! And my goal is to get back to running a 5K in less than 30 minutes. So far, I'm averaging between a 9-10 minute mile. Which isn't terrible, but it's also not the 22:00 it took me to run three miles back in my cross country glory days ;)

Kinda sore...

Ever since I started working full time, I've been looking for ways to work out here! My one problem is that running is almost out of the question because I don't wake up early enough to go before work, summers are pass-out-hot here and I work until it's super dark during at night during the winter and I refuse to go alone.

So I've tried the 24 Hour Fitness near me, but it's kind of sketch. And ended up costing me a lot of money I wasn't willing to spend on something I could essentially do for free if I had the motivation. Which is why I got pretty excited about all my Wii workout games that I got for Christmas. But I ran into yet another problem - I go on the road often and I work so late sometimes that when I come home I just want to veg out or read or not get all sweaty and nasty so I'm taking two-to-three showers a day.

So yesterday, I found a solution to my almost year-long problem now: I work in an athletics department! Our athletes have a strength and conditioning coach and a weight room accessible virtually 24/7. And during the lunch hour, those athletes don't have scheduled training sessions!

During our "lunch break" yesterday, a couple of co-workers, some softball coaches and I all made our way down to the weight room for a lunch sesh with the conditioning coach, who is essentially serving as our personal trainer for the time being!

What we're going to aim to do two times a week is TRX Suspension Training. What that is, is basically a pulley device with handles and stirrups designed for various workouts that use your body's weight naturally in resistance against your workout positions. He has them attached to taller weight machines, so we have our own personal workout spaces. And MAN is that a workout! We were all dripping after just an hour with it yesterday.


But the best part - still haven't reached it yet! - is that Tony's making up circuits and reps specifically for us! Starting off slowly and introducing more and more elements as we progress. Yesterday we started with squats, lunges, push-ups, pull-ups and leg curls. All that happened after 15 minutes on stationary bicycles and plank exercises to warm up our cores.

Only one day and I'm already super sore - but in a good way! I'm actually pretty excited to keep this up because a.) I want to tone up! and b.) this doesn't take away ANY time in my day. I can come home and do whatever I want, guilt free without that nagging voice in the back of my head telling me I need to exercise today :)

Now back to the dog front... I'm not sure it's going to work out :( and I'm super super bummed about that. As soon as I emailed the lady about her dogs, she happily gave me her phone number and told me she'd love to meet with me. But when I brought up the prospect of heading up to see all the dogs this weekend, she hadn't responded to my email in two days. So I figured I'd give her a call when I got off work last night - after all, she did give me her phone number - and still no response. Who doesn't answer their cell phone these days?!

I just want a puppy, is that too much to ask?!?! Wish me luck......

Eventually I'll get there

Clearly, I've figured it out!

I just played around in PhotoShop and googled HTML help. I'm pretty impressed that I can do (computer) things on my own.

I also got into such a groove that I even updated my header. Wow, I should invest this time into working out or reading or something. So with that, I'm going to go read Devil in the White City! And then after, working out with my new EA Active for Wii.... ugh, so fun. I'm such a dork, guys.

Waiting for the water to come back!

As I sit here in my hotel, waiting the water to be turned back on I almost regret working out for the past hour.

But then again, I wouldn't have been able to experience this:

The Life Fitness 95T Inspire treadmill.

I totally want to own one of these badboys one day! It's a treadmill with an iPod attachment that syncs to your workout, or gives you the option of watching TV right on the treadmill's touch screen console.

But the best part was the interactive console. You can choose what kind of run you prefer based on scenery (i.e. a rigorous mountain run shows you ascending Mount Kilimanjaro, where as a low-incline scenic run is a 5K map of running in the foothills, much like my old cross country days). Or you always have the standard high school track option, which shows marks at every 100 meters to aid in interval training, etc.

There is also an option of a cartoon personal trainer, male or female, which I imagine is very similar to the "trainer" in WiiFit.

Anyways, it was awesome. Whatever gets me motivated to get back into running.... I'll take it!

P.S. I've recently discovered through online browsing, that it's nearly $6,500..... yikes. Maybe I'll settle for a car, or an international vacation along with a trip to Hawai'i instead...

Just Kidding

Just kidding about the whole blogging each day thing. I guess my life got in the way of that.

Well, partially. Work is getting busy, especially with basketball season starting up and me getting to travel every other weekend!

But because of that, in addition to crappy daylight savings time making it dark by the time I get to my car at night, I've decided to flip-flop my schedule. I've been trying to run for at least 30 minutes every day, but with it being so dark by 5 p.m., this morning I decided to do it in the morning.

So I woke up at 7:20 this morning, did a bit of yoga stretching before I left then made my way out to the Delta levy for a good 2.75-mile run. Some of it was street running, under the freeway, past schools, but half of it was on the Delta levy that comes in from the ocean!

So I got back at 8ish this morning and had breakfast at home for the first time in a very long while. Usually, I'll grab something quickly and bring it to work with me once I stumble in the door around 9:30 a.m. But this whole waking up early thing is wonderful! I feel so refreshed and busy this morning and the day seems to be flying.

Maybe it's because I bought this new peppermint syrup and have been making peppermint mochas or peppermint soy lattes each morning :)


I ♥ fall/winter!

(Oh and I already want to put up my tree this weekend!! Is that wrong? I mean, I'll be in New York/New Jersey next weekend and home for Thanksgiving the weekend after. Then the first week of December, I'll be in Portland, so really, the only time to decorate before December is this weekend. It's not worth it to put a tree up a couple of days before Christmas. So now or never!)

With no handlebars.

I rode my bike to work today! After rolling around sleeplessly every night and trying desperately to arrive by 9:30 a.m. for the past few weeks, I decided last night to ride my bike to work today.

My alarm fruitlessly kept sounding at 7:15, but I rolled over and tried to snooze off like I do every morning. But this time, I actually awakened 15 minutes later and by 8:10 was out the door!

Along the way I was able to enjoy the levy and the slow-moving Delta waters before the heat started to kick in. I wasn't alone either, at least 20 other people were up running, walking and biking the levy, just like myself!


So I'm glad I was finally able to pry myself out of bed early today. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy nature in the morning and get a healthy dose of exercise in.

Maybe this will continue? Should be interesting to see, especially since I'm taking a sports sociology class at 9:30 every morning for the next four weeks beginning on Monday....

I already Tweeted about this

As you will see on my Twitter feed to the right, I'm highly addicted to this website: http://www.livestrong.com/profile/mmoyal85/

(Well, that's my personal profile, but if I do a good job of talking it up, maybe you'll add me and be another encouraging buddy!)

But the Live Strong/Daily Plate site lets me add the kind of food I'm eating every day (it has a database of thousands of restaurant menu items and brand name foods with serving sizes too), the ounces of water I'm consuming and how many calories my exercise is burning. It even lets you track obscure "fitness" items like grocery shopping, dancing, doing laundry, etc.

So it's kind of keeping me motivated because I really want to work out a lot and get back into that routine, as well as stay healthy to keep my energy levels up enough to be active. But it's neat because there are different "dares" you can challenge yourself to and each one has a community of bloggers asking questions and saying things to keep each other motivated. I can't believe how awesome this site is!

For example, I've run about six miles in the past two days and have averaged about 80ish ounces of water a day. Yikes, that's a lot of water. As for my food options, I got really excited about summer produce. So for "dessert" tonight, I made a summer fruit salad with watermelon, white nectarine, blueberries, green grapes and cherries. I'm extremely full, but my mouth is still watering thinking about it!

Alright, hopefully I can keep it up! My muscles are slightly sore, but it feels so good.

Now go ahead and make a commitment to be healthy and happy with me!

I wanna get physical

...Please excuse the Olivia Newton John reference. It's one of those days.

So after working in athletics (with Division I coaches and athletes) for almost two months now, I've come to the realization that I really want to get in shape again.

Lo and behold, since 24 Hour Fitness is an Olympic sponsor, it's offering free trial periods to everyone throughout the duration of the Olympic Games. That's good for me! I'm seriously considering signing up when the Olympics are over and seeing how this fits into my budget. The thing I really enjoy about the facilities is how, as the name suggests, they are open 24 hours. I think my best times will be weekends and during the week from 8 p.m. and on. No one was there last night around 10ish. I didn't have to fight for machines like I usually do when I arrive around dinner time, after work hours.



Check this out though, last night I ran 40 minutes straight, covering a little over four miles. That's not a great pace, but a good start for me. Every day I've been building from 25 minutes of solid cardio on, and I'm not talking about jogging here, full on running to sprinting at times.

And I like it! Watch out, Cross-Country Monique is coming back.

I went to France and all I got was 10 lbs. heavier...

I think the headline pretty much sums it up.

Most of my clothes still fit me (but hello, who doesn't love an extra excuse to buy more things?). That's not necessarily my problem. It's more of a mental thing -- I want to be back to my pre-France weight. I don't care that I lost a whole bunch in August because I had to end a long relationship, I want to be 120ish again!

So I've been trying to stick with the South Beach Diet. Phase 1 is pretty intense, but last time I was able to do it, I lost around 15 lbs. Though I did that back in 2006 because my doctor recommended I totally cut out starches/sugars in order to lower both my triglycerides/blood sugar levels and cholesterol.

Needless to say, if I've gained weight, those numbers are probably out of whack again.

Anyways, I'm noticing a little change on the scale already. I feel better about cravings. Before I used to have multiple "sweet treats" every day, and now I'm limiting myself to one-to-none of a no sugar-added treat. It's a little hard to say no, but I remind myself about a.) my weight gain and b.) my messed up numbers.

Also, it's important to exercise. I used to walk 30+ minutes a day in France, so I'm trying to walk instead of drive everywhere. Not only that but I had regular daily gym attendance. Since I'm jobless for the moment, I will not join a gym, so I need to start using what I have. When the weather gets warmer -- which it should this weekend! -- I fully intend on taking my bike out for hours on the Iron Horse Trail behind our house that runs through at least six cities. Today I rode for about 40 minutes down to San Ramon and back, a good starting point. Also, I broke out the jump rope again. And it's very likely that I will be joining a co-ed softball team -- finally! Good times.

Goal: To be in really good shape (and also weigh less) by the end of the summer!

PLUS DE PLUIE!

Welcome to my lovely département, The Alpes-Maritimes, in the greater Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur region!

Well, as of today, I once again feel like I live right on the Mediterranean Sea! Why all the exclamation points, Monique? Oh that's because after months and months of yucky rain, ominous clouds, fog and evil Mistral winds, it finally is getting to be weather you'd typically expect from this little beach region. Never-you-mind that we're on about the same plane/latitude as the Eastern Canadian border, ok?

Regional météo forecasts indicate that over the course of the next few days, we'll be seeing weather anywhere from 15 to 17 degrees Celsius. Hello mid-60s and possibly even 70s on Thursday! That's what a girl from California likes to see.

I'm also pretty stoked on life right now because one of my afternoon classes was canceled today, so I basically had to work from 8:30 to 10:00. And after I eat lunch/give myself an hour, I'll be making my merry way back to the gym. Speaking of the gym, I've already lost about two kilos since I've been back from my "vacation" in the United Sates -- which, by the way, I flew home exactly one month ago today!! Since then, I've been making a point to do cardio exercises for about 35-50 minutes a day. I've stopped eating past 9 p.m. and for the most part, I've cut out lots of added sugars (and alcohol)!

And the best part is that IT'S EASY! I mean, I get a few cravings every now and then -- I'm allowed to cheat once or twice a week, I think that's the key to longevity -- but I'm quite impressed how easily I can say "no" to dessert or even the 28,482 pastry shops I pass each day. Ok that's a little exaggerated, but yeah point made right? (Oh yeah, and I've had a little help from this diet. Too bad they don't include the recipes online, but I ran across it in a fitness magazine when I was home in February and decided to give it a try! It really does work!)

***EDIT: I searched and searched online and I actually found the equivalent diet for men in the Men's Health Magazine. Their website has included a few of the recipes for the male version, some of which cross over for the ladies too. Hey, I'm all about it, new recipes and we all know how much I do love me some smoothies!

Hallelujah!

I figured the title goes well with this month and all...

Anywho, after exactly one week (and already eight times) of gym visits plus two days of toning down my diet, I think it's starting to work! My clothes are still kind of tight, but maybe in another week that won't be as obvious. I think this is seriously a plan I can stick to for months to come -- which is good for my heart issues!

This morning after eating breakfast, I weighed myself on my roommate's scale. I've already lost 2 kilos from my heaviest point here. That's like 4.4 lbs!!!

I'm not totally sticking to the SB Diet, because I'm allowing myself to have fruits, oatmeal and high fiber/bran cereals. I'm just pretty much cutting out all the other breads, fake sugars, high-fat cheeses and what not that I was eating before.

Christmas is a really hard time to say no, but I'm holding my ground against unnecessary sweets. Oh yeah, I haven't had any alcohol in about a week and when I do, it's only red/white wine. And a shot of Bailey's mint chocolate in my coffee here and there ;) That's my treat for when I'm really good. So far I've only used it twice in the month I've had the bottle.

But we'll see if I can still be strong this weekend. I'm going out with my dad -- restaurants galore -- and then eating probably another 5-course meal at Jean-Claude's on Sunday. Then my mom, sister and I are spending next weekend in Lyon, which means even MORE restaurants!

As long as I can make HEALTHY choices and eat sugars in moderation, as well as keep going to the gym frequently, I think I'll be moving in a good direction towards being even healthier than when I first came into this country! If nothing else, I feel like I can run/workout even more than I could before, which is always a good feeling.

25 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

- and -

18 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!

This is just to say...

That I am extremely, dead tired.

After one of the most intense days at work -- first test of the year, I even pulled two and am only giving the boys half credit for talking in the middle of the exam -- I felt like I owed it to myself to do SOMETHING other than go straight home and eat a lot, slash watch mindless French t.v. shows.

Lucky for me, my gym is halfway between my school and the bus stop. So planning ahead this morning, I dressed for the gym and attended all my classes in workout attire. That makes me no different than the P.E. teachers and all the male teachers here. Plus, I'm still on my "I've paid too much for a gym membership AND bus pass this month" kick. So I'm really trying to get my money's worth. Anyways I just got home after nearly 2 hours at the gym and I'm fairly exhausted.

So I'm thinking about hopping in the shower, because I told my roommate I'd wait for her to get home (after 8:30 PM!!) to have dinner. We're making MEXICAN tonight... oh how I miss Mexican food. Anyways, this is my usual dinner hour here, so I don't know what to do with myself.

That's why I'm blogging. If I can't eat, let me at least think about food for a minute or two...

29 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

- and -

22 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!!

You know what I did last night?

Kicked ass at bowling!

That's right, my roommate and her quasi-boyfriend took me out to the bowling alley in Antibes. Now, it's been awhile since I last went and so I was a bit out of the swing of things. And upon our arrival, I was quite impressed with how similar everything is to American bowling. Except all the sizes and measurements. Thus, it must have been funny for the people behind the counter when I kept asking to try a different size shoe. At least now I know that I'm somewhere between a 38 and 39.

Then the balls themselves were different too. So it took me a few frames to find one I liked. Oh yeah, and you know that oil smell that gets trapped in the back of your throat after a good night's bowling session? It's even more intense here, because they really grease their lanes up.

So it definitely took me the better part of the first game to get into the swing of things. I just had to determine how much the oil was making the ball curve and in what direction, then readjust my approach depending on those variables.

So Game 1 I bowled an embarrassing 111, while I rebounded on Game 2 with five strikes -- not bad I guess -- for a total of 148 that game. Hopefully I'll get a few more chances to practice some more! However, it was pretty expensive at 6,50 a game and 1,50 for shoe rentals. So perhaps I'll keep my bowling days to a minimum like I've been doing in the past. After all they did invite me, so I don't want to have to keep showing them up time and time again ;)

And Day 2 of my gym usage is really making me feel the burn! I got a good hour and a half in this morning because it's only open on Sundays from 9 a.m. to noon. If I'm going to be paying 43 Euros for a gym membership, I better be getting my money's worth out of it!

Oh YEAH, I have a chocolate advent calendar counting down the days until Christmas! So excited to open a door each day :)

30 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

- and -

23 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!

Salsa, Santa and Sweat, OH MY!

These last two days have certainly been pleins d'aventures. Starting last night, all the girls met up and shared a few bottles of wine and boxes of Chinese take-out at Kathy and Valentina's new apartment right in the middle of Old Antibes. And WOW is that one of the cutest apartments I've seen here! So not only do they have that going, but it's also right in the middle of everything happening downtown. Good work, girls.

After much stalling last night, we finally made our way out to this salsa dance club/bar in Juan-les-Pins, after Kathy and Natalie's French teacher friends invited them/us out. They went last weekend and told me how intense everyone was with the salsa dancing, and since I have NO IDEA how to do it, I -- again -- had no idea what I was in for.

Let me just say that the highlight of the night probably was taking part in this huge line of people doing some crazy choreographed dance. The thing that kept running through my mind was that one line from the prom scene in Not Another Teen Movie, "I didn't know everyone at this school was a professional dancer." Haha, and then right after that some 1950s songs came on and then everyone busts out SWING DANCING. Fantastic!

Natalie and I were asked by this gay man to salsa and he taught us briefly during one song. I was super nervous about it, but he was hysterical so that made things a little easier. But the point of this story is that this morning I was feeling the burn. Salsa is fantastic exercise, even if I only did dance to three or four songs.

Waking up in their apartment this morning -- did I mention how CUTE it was?! -- Valentina, Kathy and I all got together and made a quasi-American breakfast consisting of fried eggs, toast and jam, Italian coffee to represent Valentina's heritage, and oatmeal. Then we decided to go exploring in their quartier of Antibes. Our mid-morning journey took us to the CHRISTMAS MARCHE that kicked off today, the open-air market, and then Yves Rocher which is pretty much the French equivalent of Bath and Body Works, but much neater.

After that was all done, I said my goodbyes and made my way to the gare routière to purchase my next monthly pass for the city bus since it's finally December, the final month of 2007. Wow, already?! Then I'd been hearing rumors about us already receiving paychecks, so I went to my bank to see if that was true, AND IT TOTALLY IS! Meaning not only do I have 100 percent of my paycheck from November, but also the other 25 percent from October finally!! Needless to say, this month is probably the richest I'll be in France.

Then I came back home around noon only to remember that my roommate said her boyfriend's parents were coming over for lunch, so I see the biggest array of food ready and waiting to go in the kitchen! Oh my, I'm gastronomically in way over my head here. It was another good time. Tomorrow I think Karina and I are going to have another roommate cooking session and make MEXICAN FOOD together, since I purchased a really cheap kit from the international section at Carrefour.

So to end my day, I finally decided to sign up for a gym here in France. I rationalized that decision by a thought process that goes something like this:

"Well, I didn't end up going to Italy today. The train ticket alone would have been 25 Euros. Then I probably would have made a few purchases, including lunch if nothing else. Thus, my total for the day most likely would have been nearly 50 Euros. For one month of gym membership I can pay 43 Euros, plus that will fill up a lot of my down time that I spend eating. And if I'm going to continue eating all these delicious things here in France -- which I'm entitled to do, damnit -- and mentally refuse to give in to buying new, bigger sized clothes, then I better start working out a lot more. And I can't exactly stick to running anymore since I've exhausted all the routes, it gets dark super early, and it's freezing/raining more often than it was at the end of the summer. So it's 43 Euros well spent."

Oh yeah, and did I mention the gym's called Versace Gym and is modeled after Muscle Beach in Los Angeles, because the owner is super obsessed with 1980s beach culture?! Haha, that alone is worth my patronage.

...31 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

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24 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!

Diet continues...

This is that sweet website I was talking about last time, MapMyRun.com's "My Training" section. Since I've been back (I'm not even going to GUESS how much I walked/hiked on vacation) I've run 3.89 miles over the past two days. HOPEFULLY I'M GOING TO GET BACK IN SHAPE!

I'm also getting back on Phase I of the South Beach Diet, however with a little bit of a French flare, because if I'm gaining weight, I know my (already, normally high) blood sugar and cholesterol levels are screaming for help. And since I don't have medical insurance over here yet, I can't actually go to a doctor and verify whether or not that is the case.

I have been cheating a bit though, by eating bran flakes for breakfast either in non-fat milk or non-fat, no sugar added yogurt. I still have about six containers left and need to finish them before the expiration date. In theory, if you stick to the diet completely you should lose about 8-12 pounds in the first week alone. I just want 6-7!!

But I've been making lots of meat and salads, omelets, and tonight I'm excited about whipping up a tofu and lentil soup. Don't judge me, this is just for a few weeks until I get my health back on track to where it should be. Then I'll slowly re-introduce breads, sugars, and fruits into my diet. I'm making a promise though, NOT to go overboard ever again. I think the initial shock of being around so much good food ALL THE TIME really got to me. Kind of like, I need to eat it all before it disappears! Such will NEVER be the case. And all my daily runs/walks are helping a bit too.

In other news, my dad did in fact get the job in France near the Swiss border! That means he'll be six hours away from me until May AND his company will pay to fly my mom out here once a month. Yay visitors! I'll be able to take more trips -- hopefully on his company's dime -- AND be with my family. Those are both really exciting prospects. Now I need to quickly improve my speaking so I can impress him when he gets here.... haha.