Letting Go

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I’m starting to sneeze more often. You know what that means…

Spring!!! Or a cold, but I’m hoping it’s just spring allergies.

Besides a freak blizzard on Saturday here in Boston, the sun has been shining and the temperatures have been creeping up ever so slightly in the past week. It was nice enough for me to want to run, so that’s saying something. I even did homework al fresco last Wednesday, holla!

The shadows on my face are freaky

I’m not even going to tell you that much about school, because it’s just busy. I must admit that there were some waterworks over an essay draft this weekend because the frustration of not being able to sort my thoughts was gettin’ real. The mantra that has been running through my head the whole weekend is this:

Wise words of Elsa, am I right? I needed to tell myself over and over to let go of my pride, perfectionism, and stress. It’s okay to ask for help, take a break, say no to people, and to cry and sing songs with yourself while folding laundry. You let it go and move forward.

End rant.

God is always good, and He still put a smile on my face through some small yet beautiful things this weekend. One of those things was an a cappella concert featuring my amazing friend, Adrienne (girl on the left).

Even though I gave up listening to music for Lent, I decided that the concert didn’t count because I was supporting a friend 😀 Although, I nearly cried/jumped out of my seat to dance because all the groups sounded incredible.

P.S. I miss dancing so much.

This breakfast has been making me smile as well. I’ve been adding frozen blueberries to my oatmeal from the pancake toppings bar in the dining hall, and I am diggin’ it. Adds some tartness, antioxidants, and color!

I also tried Larabars for the first time last week! There were some Larabar representatives on campus last week, and they were giving out free samples. It was my lucky day, because guess what flavors they were giving out. Peanut butter chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie. I KNOW, it’s like they knew I would be there to take them!

I took four of their mini samples (they said take as many as you want, but I decided to be a good girl and not take the whole jar), and I have one left now. *sniff*

A Sunday morning workout helped me to escape some of my homework blues. I snapped this (#nofilter) on my way back from the gym:

What a fabulous start to Holy Week, eh?

Lastly, blogging makes me happy! Typing these words right now is like therapy. YOU make me happy and don’t forget it.

I said no to a lot of activities this weekend, and I definitely could have said no to more, but that would have driven me up the wall even more. Sometimes I just have to let go of the fact that I can’t figure out my chemistry question. Let go of the fact that I can’t bang out an essay in two hours. Let go of the fact that I’m not “on schedule” (a schedule that I made for myself on Saturday). I need to walk away, do something that makes me smile, and come back. Sometimes I still don’t know what to do, but more often than not, I have a fresh mind that can tackle the work.

Happy Monday 🙂

So tell me:

One thing that made you smile this weekend!

What do you need to “let go” of in your life?

What is your favorite Larabar flavor? I want to try some more if I ever find them (or attempt to make them myself at home)!

Weekly Moves and Grooves XXIV {First Run of the Spring}

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Friends!

It is truly therapeutic to be blogging right now. Thank you for being here to listen to me. I hope to be back with a post tomorrow, but just for now, here are the usual…

…!!

Sunday

jog to gym + dynamic warmup + 8 minute ab tabata + leg workout

The tabata was 10 seconds of rest/20 seconds of work:

weighted Russian twists
reverse leg lift crunches
mountain climbers
spider man planks

Leg workout:

angled leg press: 1×20 (90#), 2×7 (180#), 2×7 (200#), 2×5 (210#) // 5 plank jack burpees between each set
reverse lunges: 3×12 each leg (50#) // 12 split jack lunges between each set
pistol squats: 1×5 each leg bodyweight, 4×5 each leg (10#) // 5 burpee box jumps between each set

Ended with lots o’ stretching!

Monday

Active rest // walking and jumping around outside to keep warm during intramural softball

Tuesday

gymnastics warmup + 1000 Rep Workout from Peanut Butter Runner

Jen’s 1000 rep home workout might just be my favorite bodyweight workout ever. It’s fast-paced, has some of my favorite exercises (*ahem* burpees), and it leaves you feeling accomplished! I finished in around 35 minutes.

Wednesday

jog to the gym + dynamic warmup + upper body + stretching

For the upper body portion, I started with a 10 minute EMOM (every minute on the minute) workout:

Minutes 0-3: 5 assisted pull-ups + 10 squat jumps
Minutes 4-10: 3 assisted pull-ups + 20 jump lunges

For the pull-ups, I alternated between regular pull-up grip (palms facing away from you) and neutral grip (palms facing towards each other). I used 70# assistance to help me get up there. I don’t work on pull-ups as much as I did when I was at home, but slowly and surely I will get an unassisted pull-up again!

(My lats were so sore the next day!)

Then I did:

3×12 alternating side and front shoulder raises // 15 tricep dips between each set

After trying a few more random exercises to see what else my body was feelin’, I decided that I just needed to stretch, so that’s what I did for the rest of my time at the gym. Flexibility has been on the back burner recently, but I need to change that! Not only do I want to maintain a little bit of the dancer flexibility in me, but I also want to make sure I can prevent injury through mobility and flexibility.

Thursday

4.31 mile run

WHAT. I ran again!? First run of the spring, folks! It was a “hot” 43F here in Boston in the morning, so I took advantage of the beautiful temperature to go for a run by the Charles River.

I must admit, I loved the run. I turned on the RunKeeper app, but didn’t check it at all during my run, and I think that’s why I loved it so much—I didn’t feel any pressure to keep a certain pace. I just ran for about 40 minutes and enjoyed the peaceful morning and fresh air. I ended up running 4.31 miles with an average 9:10 pace. I’ll take it!

Friday

Active rest

I did 4 sets of 20 air squats, 20 pushups, 20 sit-ups, and 10 burpees throughout the day.

Saturday

12 minute burpee workout + random exercises throughout the day

Yesterday was a long day of homework for me (and it was also blizzarding outside— yay spring), so I did a quick and intense workout in the morning and then took study breaks to do some more plyometrics, pushups, and burpees.

___________________________________________

Cheers to another week ahead! And happy Palm Sunday/Holy Week to those celebrating!

Trying to count the blessings rather than the paragraphs of my essay I still need to write. BANE OF EXISTENCE x100000.

So tell me:

Do you ever run without a Garmin or app telling you your pace?

Did you have active rest days this week?

Why Did I Eat It?

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

HEY I’m blogging in the middle of a school week! That doesn’t happen very often these days, huh?

I’m even joining in on the What I Ate Wednesday fun for the first time in a few weeks!

Today I’m showing you what I ate on Monday, a regular ol’ day in college. But I also wanted to share the reasons why I ate what I ate.

{My roommate just read that to herself and mocked me: “And this is why I added a pinch of salt. And this is why I had three scoops of oatmeal instead of two! And this is why I had 27 scoops of peanut butter instead of 24.” So this is how I am perceived in the world.}

I said it in my NEDA week post, but I’ll say it again: it can be difficult to not analyze food to some extent, even after recovering from an eating disorder. However, my mindset towards food has shifted from focusing on restriction and calories to focusing on nutrients, fuel, and happiness.

Sometimes I choose to eat certain foods to make sure I am getting enough macros, nutrients, etc. Other times, I choose to eat foods because I’m in a rush. Still other times, I choose to eat foods because they just taste good.

So here are Monday’s eats and the answers to the question: Why did I eat it?

Breakfast

-Two egg scramble with all the veggies in the land // For protein, fiber, and nutrients + staying power for three straight hours of classes.

-Whole wheat apple pancake with peanut butter and banana on top // For whole grains, fruit, delicious taste, healthy fats and just…peanut butter.

-Glass o’ milk // To wash down the pancake with peanut butter and for calcium.

Lunch

–Grilled chicken // For protein, and it was spiced well.

-Salad with spinach, tomatoes, carrots, sautéed veggies, whole wheat pasta salad, and honey dijon dressing // For yet more veggie power, carbs, something to eat with the chicken, and taste (man this was delicious!).

-Apple // To keep the doctor away 😉 And because I like to end on a sweet note.

Snacks

-Wheat Thins // Because they’re a convenient snack that I have in my dorm and I love them.

-Bare apple chips + a couple spoonfuls of almond butter // For energy to study, fiber, healthy fats, and protein. This is also one of my favorite snacks at the moment, but now I’m out of apple chips. 😦

-Another spoonful of almond butter // I was still hungry and I knew I would not be eating dinner in another three hours.

[I played intramural softball with some people from the Catholic Center, which was freezing, fun, and humorous all at the same time. I strongly despise softball/baseball, so this was truly one for the team. But it was low-key, so I’d do it again!]

My thoughts: “But I can barely catch with my good hand.”

Dinner

-Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and gravy // Because I will eat any sort of meatloaf (okay, maybe not). Also for protein, carbs, veggies, and comfort (a good meal for thawing out from the cold outdoors).

Dessert(s)

-Apple and raisin compote + peach cobbler ice cream // I wanted dessert.

There’s a little more explanation for this one. I grabbed the apple raisin compote in hopes to have it a la mode with vanilla ice cream, but there was no vanilla ice cream when I went to go get some. Thus, I tried this peach cobbler ice cream, but it was kinda gross to me, so I didn’t really eat it. I finished most of the apple raisin thing though.

-Strawberry shortcake with vanilla ice cream // Because our faculty in residence baked it from scratch, so how could I say no? I also justified that I didn’t have much of my dessert at the dining hall, so…

It was worth the Monday night sugar overload.

Looking back at my day of eats, it looks like I ate quite a lot. But as I was going about my day on Monday, this was the amount my body needed (and wanted when it came to the desserts). Even though I seek to get enough vegetables, whole grains, nutrients, etc., I am fortunate to say that I also truly enjoy the healthy foods I eat. Then I might have some (or a lot of) sugar because it’s also tasty and nourishing to my soul.

Mindful eating used to be my whole life, but with time, mindful eating has become a useful tool— an optional tool at times.

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

So tell me:

Do you consider yourself a “mindful eater”?

What is a sweet treat that you’ve eaten recently?

Do you like softball or baseball?

Confessions of a College Homebody

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

We have just a little over a week left in March! 2016 is basically around the corner.

I kid, but WOW, time is moving and grooving, am I right? To prove that, I can tell you that last week was a blur, which explains why I didn’t blog. That makes me sad.

But here we are on this fine Monday, ready to tackle a new week! I can’t promise I’ll be posting more than last week, but I can promise that I have some blog posts in the noggin that will make it to you very soon. For today though, I want to talk to you about how I’m a homebody.

I like to think that I am an adventurous and fun person, but there are many times when I just want to be in my room by myself, catching up on blogs, listening to music (when it’s not Lent), and just decompressing (both figuratively and literally; lying down after standing all day is heavenly for the spine).

[source]

I love going out and trying new things, but I’ve come to terms that I tend to want to stay at home. Another term for a college student like me could be “loser”…and that could be accurate. But in my world, there are times for young and wild adventure (like the Great NYC Food Tour and that time I encountered an alligator in the wild) and there are times for retirement-status rest and relaxation. My weekends often call for the latter, and I’m okay with that.

There’s an underlying reason as to why I was a grandma for Halloween, I guess.

So what did I even do this weekend?

Friday

Worked out, showered, went to class, ate a fantastic Fish Friday lunch…

tuna salad, veggie, honey mustard sandwich + maple orange tempeh and brussels sprouts

…took a nap, went to work…

proud of this lemon pepper honey dill salmon that I made at work

…came home, ate oatmeal a la dorm for dinner (because the dining hall had already closed)…

…and then watched CrossFit videos for the rest of the night.

Saturday

Ate oatmeal a la dorm for breakfast, help set up a Students for Life conference, stayed for a couple of the talks…

…left the conference to change into BU gear and prepare for my campus tour, ate lunch…

huge salad + “Asian salisbury steak” with “soba noodles” (yes, those all needed quotation marks, but it was delicious nonetheless!)

…gave my first campus tour ever (!!!)…

…went back to the room to eat a snack, went back to the conference for a few hours, ate dinner, studied, did summer job searching, blogged…

…and I resisted Rachel with all my might, who was trying so desperately to get me to go out. But I told her that I wasted my time doing nothing on Friday night, so I needed to do work. She is right to suspect that I don’t remember the last time I went out on a weekend night during school, but I’m not complaining!