WWS

Going to totally up the ante on my workouts this year! Lots and lots of cardio + plenty of pilates = #shedthefat!!! Of course, this is combined with a relatively healthy diet with lots of veggies. I'm super bloated right now, and thus will try to cut out white carbs for a couple days until it subsides. Seriously, my waist is gross looking right now and I'm probably holding onto at least 2-3 pounds of water. Ugh. 

Let's go hard this year! (Sorry the WWS is kinda tiny; will make it bigger next time :p)

Holiday Calorie Burn

Cardio Insanity

Cardio Kickboxing

Pilates

WWS

Sorry guys, I know I haven't posted in a week and I am absolutely traumatized by the guilt! *melodramatic sobs. To make up for it, here's a great schweaty arm-targeted HIIT workout! Enjoy!

But seriously, I know I really should post more often. In my defense, my laptop pretty much decided it disliked me heartily and would automatically shut down every time I tried to go on the web. Huh.

Anyways, I skipped my workout today because I felt like a piece of dog crap from morning to afternoon; my entire body felt like a living bruise. Probably just a quick cold, because I feel much better now. I've been pushing pretty hard with my workouts, which combined with the stress of studying extra hard (think well into the next morning hard) due to looming semester finals, is bound to take a toll on my body. I think I might try to take it easier this week, just stick to some Pilates and a few minutes of tabata. Let's just see how it goes.

Au natural (+ WWS)

5 weeks of intense dieting are finally over! And I have also found that I am happier with being more balanced. Even though I've lost about 3 pounds, I don't think it's worth it to obsess over "not eating" so much. Yes, IF has made weight loss easier because I'm basically allowed to eat whatever I want, by I dislike dieting in general, and from this point forward shall never apply it to myself again without an absolutely urgent reason.
Of course, I'll still have a few fasting days on road trips and plane rides etc, but overall I'm going back to eating tons of veggies whenever I want! I'm lucky enough to be young and have a fast metabolism, so why waste it obsessing? Of course, being healthy is still paramount, and not gonna lie, I'm pretty stoked to go back to my old hedonistic eating habits again. As I would say, hedonism is the best diet. Bt dubs, to make up for not posting in a while, here are 2 metabolic strength/HIIT workouts I made up over the weekend. They're pretty advanced, so feel free to scale it down to your level. Enjoy!

 

 

Find unfamiliar moves, and tons of fun new ones, here.



 

Thanksgiving Break!!!

Our school district gets an entire WEEK off for Thanksgiving!!! So obviously like any sane person, I woke up early this morning to work out for an hour. Then, for further proof of my mental well-being, I wrote a WWS to take advantage of the extra time off and double up on my workouts to prep for T-Day. And to top it all off, I'm actually looking forward to practicing at least over two hours of piano every day.

If you were wondering, all of the above are hallmarks of the average teenager.

Uber-intensive training schedule this week = I can eat 1800-2000 cals per day and STILL be at a light deficit and have 3000-4000 (loosely) cals for the Thanksgiving feast. Am lovin' it!!!

WWS

I feel such a terrible case of Senioritis coming on...

Gagh, whatevs. Must... Press... On...

WIHT (When-I-Have-Time) recipes + WWS

I'm totally looking forward to Thanksgiving Break (which is the week after the next for me) so I can chillax and have time to whip up these delicious-lookin' desserts and let my inner baking addict loose. If any of y'all try these recipes before me, it would be great of you to leave a comment and give me a heads-up!

Chinese Flaky Pastries (Which I'm planning to fill with either peanut butter or bean paste)
Brownies
Crepes

Thanksgiving Break is the end of my first  4-week calorie deficit mark, so I get to eat at "maintenance" for a week. That means 1500-1800 cals per day for a light deficit, and 1-2 all-out cheat days! Suuhhhweeet. So far, IF is going really great- broccoli for dinner, oatmeal for breakfast, and a fantabulicious dessert of Halloween candy. Yum!

(Yes, I realize that Sunday is not bolded... and yes, it is currently driving my anal/slightly OCD yet incredibly procrastinative personality bonkers. As you can see, I'd rather take the time to rant about it than fix it, like some politicians I shall choose not to name.)

WWS + Intermittent Fasting

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a certified health care professional and if you have questions or are planning to try this diet, please do it at your own risk and ASK YOUR DOCTOR FIRST about any health concerns. I am not responsible for any issues caused by trying dietary suggestions or restrictions mentioned on this blog that work for me, but may not work for you.

Okay, so this post is probably long overdue, but here I go.

I know that I've ranted about accepting your body. But the truth is this: Like most of the human species, I am a huge hypocrite. I know that I'm not "fat," but I also know that I would feel much better if I lost 10 pounds. I realize how eating disordered that last statement may have sounded, but please don't judge; I'm not doing this because I feel pressure to be thin, or because I don't like myself. I want to lose weight because I love my body and want it to be the best it can be, so that I can wear clothes and don't have to worry about bumps, and, yes, that I can feel more comfortable when I'm in China with all the uber tiny girls. You may think that I'm already "tiny" or "skinny," and I will agree that I am normal weight, but not skinny. In NE Asia, I would be a bit on the chubbier side of things; yes, I fit into a size S in China, but salesgirls still hand me sizes M and L.

I am not asking anybody to agree with my perceptions, and please do not judge my decision. I am aiming to lose weight for my own reasons while keeping a healthy mind and body.

I first heard about Intermittent Fasting, or IF, here. I'm not going to go into specifics, so just click on the link if you don't know what this is.

I've always done better on low calorie diets than nutrient-specific diets i.e Atkins or the "slow carb diet". This is due to the fact that if I can eat anything I want, I won't get any cravings. Of course, my diet still consists of mostly natural and unprocessed foods, but I generally follow an 80-20 approach; pretty much all my regular meals are white wheat/sugar free, but I get to eat dessert.
I have absolutely no problem purely living on broccoli, oatmeal, eggs, fruit, and various other veggies, but I NEED chocolate. Going long-term without being able to eat as much chocolate as I want is just not plausible for me! And why the hell would I want to, if I could eat chocolate and still lose weight?

Pretty much everything is explained in the article, so if you start thinking "metabolism slowing," "stavation mode," or even (god forbid) "anorexic," please actually DO SOME RESEARCH before saying anything.

I find it much easier (just a personal thing, might not work for you) to fast throughout the day, as long as I know there's a nice meal waiting for me at the end of the day, than to have several small meals that actually fuel my appetite instead of dampening it. So my regular day consists of:

• 300 calorie breakfast, usually 3/4 cup of thick-cut oatmeal + 1 tbsp of honey + some cinnamon and vanilla
• fast until 4:30, sometimes I'll have a 200 calorie snack around 2:30 after I get home, but I try to wait until 4:30
• 1000 calorie dinner! Usually 500 cal clean and protein-rich dinner, then 500 cal dessert of a 200 cal cup of "frozen yogurt" (1 cup plain yogurt + 1 tbsp honey + 1 tsp cocoa powder, frozen overnight) and maybe some chocolate.

This makes for a 1300 calorie day- which is a 700 calorie deficit per day for me. I like to do this about 6 days per week, then have a 2000 calorie "cheat day" to boost my leptin levels. I'm exercising 5-6 days per week of either pilates or HIIT. The first week's gone great; no cravings, two reeses cups per day ;p, and lots of green veggies. I hardly feel hungry throughout the day, since my stomach's shrunk in the absence of eating, and I feel full much faster. Some nights I'll just have a 300-400 calorie dinner with a 400 calorie mostly healthy "dessert".

It's a revelation that is pretty amazing- I can literally eat large quantities of sweets and still lose weight while being healthy. Of course, this isn't for everyone, because some people are just hardwired to eat frequently throughout the day. But for me, IF is simple, much easier to stick to than regular diet plans, and allows me to consume my favorite foods without restriction. I am hoping to drop around 10 pounds within 6 months; I'm on a caloric deficit of about 1 lb per week, but due to the fact that I have so much muscle, it's very difficult for me to drop any weight at all. Plus some allowances for the holiday season, 10 pounds in 6 months should be achievable. Remember- I'm only 4'11, so this is about 10% of my entire body mass. Shorter people have a generally harder time losing weight once they're in a healthy BMI because they have more condensed bones and musclature.

This is just my take on the matter; if you have any thoughts or experience with IF, comment and let me know!

BTW I'll have the cardio kickboxing workout posted next week, plus maybe a "day of eats" post.

WWS

Sorry guys- really didn't mean to abandon y'all for such a long time. About 75% of the fault lies in the standards that I must achieve to get accepted into an ivy league school. Which makes my personal laziness to blame for the remaining 25%. Not sure how I feel about that conflicting statement right there.
I'm currently experimenting with IF (Intermittent Fasting) right now, and I've found it remarkably easy and effective. I'm trying to drop 10 pounds, if not more. Now before people start railing at me about how I'm "not fat," or how I'm "growing," I have a long explanation that I don't feel like typing right now. It'll be up sometime in the near future, I promise. Possibly on Friday or Saturday...??

Without much further ado, here's my WWS:

WWS + 2 metabolic conditioning workouts

Okay, okay. I will officially get out of my slump and post at least three times a week from now on. Anything specific y'all want to hear about?

This week's workouts (and probably next week's, too) is based off of a Shapeshifter workout program I did a while back. Workouts posted below. Enjoy, and go hard!

WWS

I am totally exhausted right now... and I've got another shitload of A.P Bio to get started on. Sorry guys, I am trying my best to keep the school-related bitching to an absolute minimum here. But just... ugh... It's going to be a late night. I'm all prepped; plenty of coffee (in my dunder mifflin mug to show my seriousness) at hand.

Here are the Blogilates vids.

Happy Monday, and feel blessed that you are over the period of life I am currently in.

WWS

Beyond tired and busy...
As you can probably tell from my lack of posting.

Dumbell Metabolic Workout: one pair of 10 lb dumbells

8 rotating lunges holding dumbells
12 squats with side arm raises with dumbells
20 kettlebell swings with dumbell
x3

10 chest presses in v-sit
10 deadlift to upright row
x3

10 baby burpees (burpee minus the pushup)
20 squat jumps
30 half cobras
40 lying burpees
50 mountain climbers

WWS

Sorry to keep you guys hanging for so long... school started on Wednesday and I've been super loaded with homework.
I've actually seemed to have (almost) killed my procrastination habit this year- at least when it comes to schoolwork. I can actually focus and get all my work done. Hope that's a developement that's here to stay. Weirdly enough, my appetite always seems to disappear whenever I'm busy- also not a bad thing, as it gives me more time to do other things rather than eat. Generally I'm a perpetual snacker, but these days I just don't feel like eating. I feel fine otherwise, and have plenty of energy; my appetite just always goes away when I'm busy.

Since I'm so busy with school and extracurriculars, there isn't much time to work out. So I try to go for five short but intense strength training workouts a week, including my tennis lesson. Each workout is around 20 minutes, and thus I can crank one out, shower, and be back to doing AP bio within 40 minutes (counting changing time).

TT Crazy 8 circuit: (pretty damn tough!)
60 jumping jacks
10 spiderman pushups
20 walking lunges
45 second wall squat
30 second plank
5 burpees with pushup
50 high knees
x3

Day of eats #1 (+ WWS)

This post has been long in coming! #queenofprocrastinating lolz. (Yes I just added a legit hashtag... sue this teenager.) Lots and lots of avocados!!! Mom got some yesterday and I am back on the South American pear bandwagon.

Started my day off with a cup of oatmeal with 1 (ish) tablespoon of honey and a bit of vanilla extract. This was also my pre-workout meal.

 

 

Lunch was a banana + peanut butter (yes I know there's a ton of sugar in Skippy's but my mom only bought the sugary kind, though preservative-free. I'm too lazy to make it and the almond butter is all hardened, so give me a break people.),

half an avocado,

and a peach. With a bite taken out of it already...

Spooned a whole avocado in the afternoon. I know, naughty me. Hey, it's as much action as I've gotten this summer.

I was feeling snacky come dinner time, so I had a baggie... of frozen grapes ;p

and half an avocado.

I also had a cup of chocolate soymilk and some watermelon, but my camera was being wonky.

Onto my WWS!!!

(POP vids from here.)

Happy Monday, y'all!

WWS

I'm dangerous around avocados. Extremely. Salt + pepper + avocado = must get a spoon now. Guess what we have in abundance at our house right now? My current fave snack. ;P

Just me, the spoon, and the avocado. Perfection.

Here's my WWS...kinda just a take-it-easy mixed dance/cardio week

WWS

The monotony of being a summer bum goes on... Though of course peppered with weekday prep for a couple AP courses and impinged on by drivers ed classes that practically sanctify human hypocrisy. At least this means I've got no excuses to skip workouts ;p

(Correction- Will be doing ZWOW #19 + 20 minute jumprope intervals instead on Wed.)
Links: POP workouts, ZWOW #15

WWS (Blogilates)

After intensive round with the Iron Body Club, I feel like doing something girlier. Plus, I've got school dance line auditions coming up and I've got to prep for that. I'll be doing kickline routines on my cardio days about three times per week in addition to Blogilates vids. To anybody who isn't familiar with Blogilates, it's a website and blog by Pilates trainer Cassey Ho who makes absolutely fantastic POP Pilates and HIIT videos. I love them because it's so much easier to work out and be inspired when you've got a super hot trainer with your dream bod guiding you through it.
As for the kickline routines, I'll just be working on form and technique with a couple of super simple routines. Also, tons of stretching; gotta be able to hold the splits all three ways for a minute each! It's a great workout nonetheless and my legs really feel it afterwards.

China Part 1: Xinjiang (Plus WWS)

Oh, my laptop, how I have missed you.
Now I can actually attempt to organize the oodles of pictures I took on the trip. Guess what the first thing I did after I got home two hours ago was? Workout. All that black coffee made me uber hyper and sitting still has never been my strong point, so you can imagine my agitation sitting on the plane for another three hours... AFTER the 10 hour flight we just got off from Beijing to Seattle. I feel sorry for the people sitting next to me.
So although the main subject of this post is my trip to China, I will add in my workout schedule for the remainder of the week. For the next four weeks, I'll be doing the Iron Body 700 Workout Plan from the Iron Body Club here. Free extreme bodyweight workout videos- honestly, it's a goldmine!!! Perfect for my level; just a bit too difficult so I have room for improvement, but I'm still able to get through the workout.

Now we can move on to my trip.
Let's start from the beginning: The first stop after we landed in Beijing and rested for a few hours in a nearby hotel before boarding our next plane to Urumqi. I need not explain the horrors of airplane food, though I must say that it wasn't half as terrible as I expected it to be.
At the Beijing airport:

Chinese fast food at the airport! Veggie noodles in a very suspicious-looking broth. My motto for eating while traveling: Eat first, ask later.

I don't feel like explaining the interesting middle-eastern influence and cultural blending in North-Western China right now, so if you're interested then go here. In Xinjiang, I visited both of my parent's hometowns, which are next to each other.

Scenes in Urumqi:

And of course.. Ethnic eats

Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to look below and gaze apon the closest to perfection that humankind shall ever get.

Layers of doughy perfection with meat in between... perfect blend of spices and crispiness. Heaven. Pants. Which one to choose???

The International Bazaar (not the one at the state fair) where Uyghurs hawk their wares.

More eats in Kalamayi:

The Monster mountains. Kind of like the Black mountains in one of the Dakotas. Can't remember which.

Old people rockin' it out: (if you go to any park in China, you'll find droves of senior citizens dancing, singing, and practicing their kung-fu. No joke. I walked past old ladies waving wicked-looking blades every morning in Shandong.)

This is my Xinjiang.