Observations | Keeping up with Kate

Pep Talks

Posted on September 27, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

I found myself in the car driving to see my nutritionist this morning giving myself a pep talk. If you recall from my post on 8/10 – my goal for this appointment was .7 down.

The past 6 weeks have been a little challenging – limited work outs, an unusual amount of dessert eating (too many trips to a local cupcakery) and football season started. As I’ve mentioned before I weigh myself every day (in the AM) to help keep myself accountable and I can tell you the last 6 weeks I wasn’t seeing much movement. I started seeing some movement about a week or so ago (and in the right direction). Now I reported last weekend that I was down but there was a part of me that was worried either my scale was off (it has happened before) or for some bizarre reason I had regressed in a week.

So back to the Pep Talk I gave myself on the ride over – “no matter what happens, keep a positive attitude”. “You’ve come a long way. If you gained weight – don’t get discouraged – you have all the right tools to get back on track”. “If you lost weight – you are doing a great job – keep it up.” Of course, the latter conversation is a much easier one to have!

After my Pep Talk, I was ready – I went in with a great attitude (and checked out of the stress from the week to focus on me). It was a really great appointment not just because of the results – which don’t worry, I’ll tell you. But it was more about the discussion. As you’ve noticed, I’m a numbers person, but I was given a little different perspective today. While numbers are important – they aren’t the only thing – feeling better, looking better (hair, skin, etc), how you clothes fit, making sure you are living your life and not missing out are part of this journey. I probably need to remind myself that every once in awhile (although I’ll always be a numbers person) – it was still important to hear. And I don’t feel like I’m missing out on things – which is a good thing!

I’m please to announce I busted through that .7 lbs and dropped 2 lbs for a total of 25 lbs down since May 2012! And even better – I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen this number in 3 years (and I’ve gone down a jean size – double bonus)! I feel great and I’m so happy. My journey is far from over, but I’m confident I’m going to continue to see success and have a feeling my five minute drive every 6 weeks will have a pep talk involved (even if I falter – I know I will be OK).

Have a great night!

Stress – I posted it the first time without the Title – Ugh!

Posted on September 25, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

Things are super busy at work (but who isn’t these days) – my stress level is building (so much so I’ve had moments of being overwhelmed – for the most part I think that has passed). I’ve actually been able to really keep my stress level in check for awhile so I’m having a hard time dealing with it right now. And you can see it in my face – ugh – mini break-out – I’m too old for break-outs!

I knew going into this week it was going to be crazy so I did look at my schedule on Sunday and schedule out my workouts (plus I knew some timing of some of the deliverables were in my favor – getting my Monday night workout in helped). And today was the toughest day so far and I knew I needed my HardBody. I was so happy I was able to get my Hurricane and Finisher Workout in this evening. It was a great workout and my stress is down a little bit (and I was able to forget about things for 45 mins).

The Hurricane Workout was 3 exercises (1 cardio / 2 strength) – you do each exercise 3 times (based on the # of reps) and there are 3 stations. Once you are finished there is a Finisher workout which was 4 exercises that you do 10, 9, 8,…etc reps until 1. I’m so pleased that I actually completed my Finisher Workout – it hasn’t happened in a long time for me if ever – I really don’t recall.

Back to work. Have a great night!

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

Posted on September 22, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

I have a degree in Marketing, however, I’ve spent most of my career dealing with numbers. I have some Marketing functions on my team and I remind my team all the time – no matter how great your concept is in the end – the numbers rule.

My personal journey is no different – some people have noticed my weight loss, some haven’t, they’ve noticed a glow in my complexion or something is different they just can’t put their finger on it. It is a great feeling! (and THANK YOU!)

Yesterday morning I had my pre 6 week Fall Transformation measurements and Body Metrix (this uses a sonogram type tool to measure you body fat – a lot more accurate than the device you hold in your hands).

The last time I had my measurements and Body Metrix done was early June. To say I wasn’t happy with the results is an understatement – it was such a let down. I had finally started feeling better post Lyme disease and I was doing all the right things – Hard Body workout, getting enough sleep, drinking my water and eating right. Most of my numbers went up except my weight.

Unbeknownst to me, a blessing in disguise happened – right before the end of June my knee started really bothering me and my hip was twinging a bit. I stopped my Hard Body workouts before vacation and while on vacation I joined the gym where I went 3xs the first week and 4 xs the second week to yoga and pilates classes only. When I came back from vacation – I was keeping a similar routine. I found out my hip issue was my SI band and I only just started back my Hard Body workouts last week for 1 day and back this week for 2 days (with keeping the impact modified).

Since my last Body Metrix, I’ve dropped 9 lbs, reduced my body fat by .7%, BMI dropped 1.7, lost 4.3 inches and reduced my risks of heart disease, stroke and diabetes by 1.6 points (with the drop in diabetes being the biggest drop). 🙂

It was a great day yesterday! Looking forward to the next chapter of my journey as the 6 week Fall Transformation starts tomorrow.

I’m back…

Posted on August 29, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

As you’ve noticed, I get writer’s block quite a bit.

I think I mentioned previously that I’ve been dealing with a knee and IT band injury since the end of June. So not HardBody workouts since then. I’ve been concentrating on yoga and pilates. I was able to make many workouts while on my 2 week vacation; however, post vacation I’ve been making it about 2 times per week due to my schedule.

I have re-introduced walking thanks to the UP by Jawbone – gotta keep up with my teammates with the number of steps I’m doing!

The exercises I’ve been doing for my IT band have really helped – so much so I don’t need to go back to the doc unless I have a problem. He still wants me to focus more on my upper body and core during workouts.

Last night was my first time back to a Hard Body workout since June. I’ll be honest I was a little nervous. I wasn’t sure if I would have limitations and I really didn’t want to re-injure anything, because I really missed these workouts (lots of sweat – as the saying goes ‘fat crying’!). I have to say I felt great – it was like riding a bike. I modified some exercises and I got a good sweat in. I noticed I was able to do some exercises much better than before – I give all the props to yoga and pilates.

Fall is super busy for me personally and with work so now I have to figure out how to get all of the things I enjoy – HardBody, Walking (keeping those steps up is so important), Yoga and Pilates in my schedule weekly (and being consistent) since weekends are out for the next few weeks. I’m sure I’ll figure it out! 🙂

UP = Insightful

Posted on August 15, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

I’ve been wearing my UP band on my wrist now for about a week. I LOVE it!

I’m monitoring my sleep and my steps (and you can add workouts). I tried logging my food for a day and I just didn’t feel like monitoring more – maybe I’ll look into it at a later date. You can connect with friends who are using the UP band. There are settings so you can include only your steps (which is what I’m doing ). I don’t think my co-workers need to know my sleep patterns! 🙂

You monitor you activity by plugging the band in the earbud spot of your iPhone (or for you Android) – so it isn’t bluetooth enabled. You can see pretty quickly how you are doing. The charge on the band lasts about 10 days – a little less when you plug in more than twice a day (I know from experience)! You can see how your are doing against your daily goals. And you can add in your workouts too. One of the things I love is you can set an idle reminder when you haven’t moved for awhile – mine is set to vibrate every 30 minutes I don’t move from 8 am – 6 pm. I get quite a few reminders – even during yoga – not a lot of steps.

Sleep

You can set your personal goal of how much sleep you want (you are provided the ideal amount of time based on your age, height and weight). I believe mine was 7 1/2 hours – I set this as my goal.

I’m doing pretty well on my sleep – last night was one of my least amount of sleep and I’m feeling it this morning. I think what is great about this app is that is shows you your light sleep and deep sleep.

Here is a view of the best night of deep sleep (where you restore your mind and body)

Reach 94% of my sleep goal. Nice amount of deep sleep!

Walking

You can set your personal goal for steps. The recommended is 10,000 steps and the average person does about 5,000. I’ve hit 10,000 steps or more only twice – yesterday I just made it over 10,000 and on Sunday I hit 15,000 steps (6.93 miles). Sunday is definately an anomaly-it was our PSU Annual Freshman Sendoff – so it was a super busy day.

My work day consists of computer work and conference calls. Major wake-up call that even though I try to move around during conference calls – it just isn’t enough. I need to supplement my daily conference call walks with other activity. The last two days I’ve been able to get 45 – 60 minutes of walking in so that has helped. Going to also experiment with 10 minute walks during the day as well.

Typcial Workday steps – too much computer time not enough walking time.

Yesterday with a 50 minute or so walk

Annual Freshman Sendoff on Sunday – Wahoo – almost 7 miles.

Daily Insights

Today my daily insights included some of the following:

You’ve walked a total of 53,347 steps-covering 23.1 miles with an average of 7,621 steps per day.
A regular bedtime means regular sleep. When you hit the pillow at teh same time every night, you’re supporting your body’s natural rhythms and helping battle daytime fatigue.

Thank you KGK for encouraging me to try this out!

Just got my UP

Posted on August 8, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

Just got my UP by Jawbone in the mail today. I’m so excited!! I can get an employee discount and the black medium has been on backorder forever. I was able to order a grey medium (close enough to go with everything) on Saturday – Wahoo!

What is the UP? It is gadget you wear on your wrist and it tracks your steps and sleep. You put in your vitals – sex, age, height and weight – and it monitors your steps and sleep. You can also add food and water intake. Over time it provides insight about you day to day activities.

I’ve already set my goal of 10,000 steps per day (a big challenge for me), 7.5 hours of sleep (I can’t wait to compare this to my sleep cycle app) per night and the notice every 30 minutes I’m not moving to get up and move around.

I’ll keep you posted. I’m off to bed so I can get my 7.5 hours of sleep in the first night! 🙂

Yoga – More than body, mind & soul…

Posted on July 27, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

Last night, I went out with the girls to New Brunswick – the home of the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers (note their bars don’t even compare to State College 🙂 ).

My adult beverage of choice is Stoli Orange Vodka and Club Soda (because of the low sugar content and you can make one last forever!) – and I also drink lots of water when I’m out. We had dinner and made one more stop. It was actually pretty cool bar – and I felt like a beer (and water of course). I’ve been staying away from beer due to the sugar in it. And of course I picked a brew that was a sweet wheat beer. It was delicious – sort of like a dessert.

Low and behold this morning, I have a screaming headache. I really didn’t want to take anything for it – was hoping a cold compress would help – it didn’t. I then tried coffee – no help either. Saturday is a Yoga day for me and I had pretty much decided I wasn’t going to go. But finally some common sense hit me and I decided to go to YOGA. Best decision all day! It helped energize me and get rid of the annoying beer – sugar headache! No more sweet, wheat beers for me! 🙂

1000 Rep Challenge

Posted on June 16, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

Last Monday night our workout was a 1000 rep challenge. It is a timed workout (not quite sure how much time). You compete against yourself to complete. I completed 7 rounds or 700 exercises. Not too bad since I couldn’t do the jumping jacks (my knee is bothering me) – so I did butt kicks (instead of 10 I did 20 to make sure it was even). I know that cost me some time. 🙂

The workout is below – it is one you can do when traveling – just need weights from the hotel gym (and if you don’t have access to weights you can substitute other other exercises). Enjoy!

10 each Mountain Climbers
10 Plie with Calf Raise
10 Jumping Jacks
5 each Supermans
10 Deadlifts
5 each small band tricep (make sure tight to your arm or you could end up launching it like a rubber band – that is what I did). 🙂
10 rocking plank
10 chest flyes
10 glute bridges
10 bent over rows

Experimenting with Protein Powder

Posted on June 12, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

For the past few years, I’ve been using Prograde Protein Powder (Vanilla) for my pre workout snack. I rarely use it as a meal repleacement. Imagine my surprise and disappointment to find they are using soy lecithin – I try to steer clear of soy – so I now have two containers of this protein mix that are moved to th ‘back shelf’. Part of my disapointment in finding this out has to to do with the fact that it tastes pretty good and really doesn’t have any other ‘crap or fillers’ in their protein mix. I just sent them an email asking how much soy is truly in it, why and do they plan to remove (sent over the weekend and haven’t heard back yet). This protein mix is gluten and GMO free – two important things to me.

Since my go to Protein powder is taking a backseat – now off to find some others to try. I decided to try a plant-based protein mix to see if I could tolerate the taste and if it would help me with my workouts (in the past I’ve not been a fan of plant-based protein mixes). The one that was recommended to me as being very good – both for my body and great tasting was Sun Warrior – Warrior Blend – Raw Protein – I opted for the chocolate. This mix is gluten, soy and dairy free and non-GMO. My standard pre workout shake is really easy – 4 ozs Trader Joe’s Unsweetened Almond Milk, 4 ozs of water and a scoop of protein mix – put all in a shaker bottle and mix it up. Well to say I didn’t like it is an understatement – blah. However, I found a fix – adding a tablespoon of Trader Joe’s Organic Peanut Butter – throwing it all in my vitamx and I’m able to drink it. I’ve been given a sample of the vanilla to try and I will get around to it to see if that makes a difference (as I do believe sometimes the chocolate is what I’m having an issue with). I feel pretty good during my workouts too.

Since I wasn’t satisfied with the plant-based protein, I really wanted to find an organic whey protein powder to see if I could find something that works for me. You really have to do your research – the first one I found (and was planning to order) – the company was sued in a class action lawsuit becauce some of their labeling (aka marketing wasn’t true). Here are the two I ended up buying since they both received very favorable reviews – both are organic, soy and gluten free – one is raw (meaning the whey isn’t cooked at high temperatures.) Raw Orgnic Whey has 20 grams of protein and The Organic Whey only has 15 grams of protein. These protein mixes require other ingredients though which is a bit of a let-down.

I started with the Raw Organic Whey with 4 tbsps of protein, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 2 tbsp raw cacao powder (mayan superfood), 4 ozs almond milk and 4 ozs of water – put it all in the vitamix – blend it all up – tasted it – wasn’t sweet enough so I added 5 drops of sweet leaf stevia. It tasted pretty good and I had good energy with my workout (still a bit of blah – again I think it might be the cacao).

Nutritional Information (using 4 oz water and 4 oz unsweetened almond milk):

Prograde (vanilla) (I’ve only ever used 1 scoop – it calls for two) Protein Shake: Total Calories: 87.5 Protein: 12.5g Sugar: .5. If you use the 2 full scoops: Total Calories: 152.5 Protein: 24.5g Sugar: 1g. Note: Protein Powder Calories Only: 130 (2 scoops)

SunWarrior (Chocolate) Protein Shake: Total Calories: 201.5 Protein: 20.5 Sugar: 1.4 g Note: Protein Powder Calories Only: 84 (1 scoop)

Organic Whey (with ingredients mentioned above) Protein Shake: Total Calories: 275 Protein: 27.5g Sugar: 2.5 (this probably could be a meal replacement with a salad) – you can cut about 30 calories by only using 1 TBSP of the Cacao. This is high to me for a pre workout snack so I’m going to have to work at modifying – maybe use a vanilla stevia and remove the cacao and peanut butter. Note: Protein Powder Calories Only: 97.5 (5 TBSPs)

The Organic Whey (with same ingredients as Organic Whey) Protein Shake: Total Calories: 259.5; Protein: 20.5g; Sugar: 1.5 g (this probably could be a meal replacement with a salad) – you can cut about 30 calories by only using 1 TBSP of the Cacao. This is high to me for a pre workout snack so I’m going to have to work at modifying – maybe use a vanilla stevia and remove the cacao and peanut butter. NOTE: I haven’t tried this one yet. Protein Powder Calorie only: 82 (4 TBSPs)

I hadn’t really done the calorie count on this pre workout shakes until this post – imagine my surprise how high the calories were on the organic whey shakes (one I’ve made; one I’ve not). Like I mentioned – I need to look into stevia flavors to cut about 155 calories.

I think for my pre workout protein shake I will be sticking with the Sun Warrior protein since I’m not looking for a meal replacement (until I can perfect the organic whey to be lower in calories – I’m not giving up on it). I will definately be using the organic whey when I need to make a protein shake for breakfast – Cinnamon Roll Smoothier – YUM!

And I’m not giving up on Prograde either – It is great for travel as I don’t need to have any additives – plus it is GMO free – which means even if it has soy – it is GMO free (I will make my final decision once I hear back from them).

Looks like I’ll have another post about protein powder / shakes very soon as I continue my experiments.

PS: I do have to say I love the fact that with the Organic Whey protein powders – I know the name of all the ingredients – both ‘Organic Whey Protein – 80% concentrate’ And I’m in control of all the ingredients for those shakes so again that makes me happy!

FIG – Vodka, Sauce, Salad, App…

Posted on June 11, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

So what made you click on this post today? Was it the thought of Fig Vodka, a Sauce, Salad or an App?

I really enjoy figs – my Dad has some really great recipes – one is an appetizer with a balsamic reduction – note to self – get recipe. I have FIG(s) on the brain today.

A friend shared with me a new vodka – it is Figenza Vodka – I’m looking forward to trying the Fig Mojito – 3 ozs of Fig Vodka, 2 ozs of Club Soda, muddled mint and lime (this is their June cocktail). I could also try the Sunkiss – 3 ozs of Fig Vodka, 1 oz of Club Soda and muddled oranges (this is their July cocktail) – this is definately on the list for vacation. I’ll let you know what I think of it.

In December, I hosted Christmas and due to the size of my house (and the age of my oven), we normally celebrate ‘Easter’ at Christmas – which means Ham. I get an awesome Spiral Cut Ham from Kansas City Steaks. I decided this year to try a different sauce. At first I was going to make a fig sauce but found on Pinterest a sauce I could purchase that was just a good. It was Stonewall Kitchen’s Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce – it was a hit. I think it would great on a nice pork loin or chicken too – I have one bottle left and I see this as a grilling option real soon.

Since I don’t have my Dad’s recipe for the appetizers – thought I would try this recipe – Roasted Balsami Fig Salad – Blue Cheese. Looks easy and delicious.

So now for the true reason for this post – the FIG Wellness App – available on iOS and Android. I had a work/life balance lunch and learn for my team with my trainer, Lindsay Vastola. The feedback from my team was fabulous. And the interesting thing was a lot of the feedback was that they had the work/life balance, but didn’t have the life/life balance. I wanted to figure out a way to reinforce what we learned, but I also wanted to help my team have overall balance. I’m a true believer that a well balance employee – is a productive employee. I rolled out a little voluntary incentive for my team – 21 Day Challenge (pre-vacation for my team) – the objective of the incentive – set a goal, track results and share your findings. The incentive is all about participation – each week they participate the get a ‘ticket’ for a drawing and if they particpate all 3 weeks – they get another ‘ticket’. There will be two winners of some fabulous prizes. I wanted to find something to help us track results, keep each other accountable and I wanted us to be mobile.

It was easy to search for some wellness apps – I found FIG to have the best ratings. We started yesterday – I like it so far – you can create goals and activities. Some of the activity categories are related to eating, exercise, refresh (sleep, relaxation), connect (family, friendship, community), feel (awareness, gratitude) and go further (faith, longevity). I thought this was perfect because it wasn’t just focusing on eating and exercise – it focuses on the entire being. You can invite participants to be your ‘friends’ so you can see how everyone is doing – lend a ‘cheer’, ‘assist’ or ‘rally’ your friends with words of encouragement. You can track your items very quickly. My week 1 goals are drink 10 glasses of water per day and do my Hard Body workouts 3xs per week. I made my water goal yesterday and got a nice YELLOW Star!! The only thing I don’t like is that everyone has to invite each other vs. a one time invite from me. I think I can get over that. So far so good and I think I will use this post our 21 Day Challenge.

I’m off to drink a glass of water!