Pages

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

My Tips on Getting Your Butt Out the Door

Yesterday I definitely wasn't feelin' the workout mojo when it came time for my planned afternoon run. I finally got myself out of the house and while I was on my run I thought of quite a few tips on how to get going when you're not feeling like working out.

  • Lay out your workout clothes before you plan to work out. If you're working out in the morning, lay them out the night before (or even wear them to bed!). If you're working out after class/work, then place them right by the door where you walk into the house. Or you can skip going home altogether and pack a bag for the gym so you have no excuses not to go.
  • Download a new playlist onto your iPod. This one is definitely a huge help for me. Without a couple of new songs that I put on my iPod yesterday it definitely would have been a lot harder to get going. 
yesterday's playlist! 
  • Tell yourself you only have to do ten minutes. When my motivation is seriously lacking, I just tell myself that all I have to do is run one mile or do the elliptical for a little bit. Then, once I'm going, I usually end up continuing for twenty or thirty minutes. But, if I'm really not feeling it, just doing the ten minutes accomplished my goal, and a little bit of activity is always better than none! 
my little home gym! 
  • Read some entertainment while you're working out. I love to read blogs on my phone or bring magazines with me to the gym. It makes the time go by quickly, and it makes working out more fun! 

  •  Find a workout buddy. My good friend and neighbor is always up for a run and he's good at getting me to go an extra few miles once we're out there. It also makes the run fly by that much faster when you have someone to talk to! You can also make a little social outing of it and work out together and then grab a healthy meal with your buddy. 
  • Spend a few minutes on a motivational pinboard on Pinterest. This one is a fairly new technique of mine that's really good at getting me going. I mean, how can this not motivate you?
  • Mix it up. Try a new interval workout or group exercise class at the gym. Trying something new will get your mind off of the fact that you're exercising. I never would have realized how much I love classes like BodyCombat or Zumba if I hadn't made the choice to try them in the first place. 
  • Schedule your workouts into your calendar. If it's in your calendar and you've scheduled the time to workout, then what's your excuse? Lately I've taken to writing out my weekly schedule and taping it on my refrigerator. Then, my workouts are planned for the week around the shifts that I work at my job and I don't have a problem with running out of time to squeeze in a workout. 

how do you get motivated to work out? 

Sunday, January 29, 2012

My Thank You GIVEAWAY!

i still can't believe that a little under a year ago i started this blog. just for fun, for ME, for my love of nutrition and fitness. and i can't believe that i've discovered so many other wonderful bloggers, tried out a ton of new recipeschallenged myself physically WAY beyond what i expected, gotten involved in social media (twitter, my NEW Facebook page, Pinterest), and spent hours and hours making this little bloggie into what it's become.

so i decided to do a little thank YOU giveaway to all my readers and the amazing people that i've met in the blog world. all of your comments and tweets seriously make my day, every day.

and lemme tell ya, i'm super excited about this giveaway. why? i filled a box full of goodies that i love, right out of my own pocket.



here's what's included in this package of foodie heaven:

  • 3 Clif bars: chocolate chip, crunchy peanut butter, and chocolate chip peanut crunch
  • 1 Caramel Nut Brownie LUNA Bar
  • 1 Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar
  • 2 Nature's Path Chewy Pumpkin Spice Bars
  • 1 bag Barbara's Snackimals Chocolate Chip cookies
  • 2 packets Justin's Nut Butter: 1 Chocolate Almond Butter, 1 Chocolate Peanut Butter
  • 1 packet Barney Butter
  • 1 bag of my favorite trail mix: raw cashews, raw almonds, dried cranberries
  • 1 bar Lindt Sea Salt Dark Chocolate
  • 1 packet Trutein vanilla protein powder
  • 1 bag freeze-dried apple slices (love these!)
  • 1 bag Nature's Path Millet Puffs

there are 4 ways to enter this giveaway:
  • MANDATORY: leave a comment on this post telling me something you're thankful for today! 
Optional:
  • Like my NEW Facebook page and leave a comment telling me you did so
  • Tweet something like: "@JuliBananna is having a Thank You GIVEAWAY full of lots of goodies! http://goo.gl/fb/VzfSL" and leave a comment telling me that you tweeted
  • Add me to your blogroll and leave a comment telling me that you did so
The giveaway will close on Saturday, February 4th at 3pm PST.
Good Luck! 

xoxo,

Julianna

Friday, January 27, 2012

Killer "100" Circuit Workout

hey guys! i wanted to pop in a share an awesome, super sweaty workout that i did yesterday. i've been getting a little tired of group exercise classes so i wanted to come up with something on my own. 
i created a bootcamp-style circuit that keeps your heart rate up for the entire 20-minute (not included warmup and cooldown) workout. i was sweating like a beast by the end! 



click here to pin this!! 


I did the whole circuit in a small area of my gym's basketball court. i sprinted to three [white] lines on the court, with the third being halfway, for each sprint interval. 




i used a mat (pictured on the right) for some of the other moves. 
when i finished i was sweating like crazy!!


apparently this workout gets your sweat going and your hair frizzing ;-)
even my hair was soaked! 
I also thought I'd tack on the survey that the lovely Emma tagged me in! 



Here are the survey “rules”:
#1: You must post these rules.
#2: Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
#3: Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

1. What is your biggest goal/dream right now?
this one's a toughie! all i know is i want to go to a really good college (i start hearing from the schools i applied to in march!) and major in something that i love. but someday i would love to work in a health/fitness industry!!

2. Which place in the world would you like to visit the most, and why?

I would love to visit Europe and go on a tour of a few countries [italy, france, spain, to name a few]. the only time i've been out of the U.S. was one trip to Canada back when I was in middle school!  

3. What is your favourite book?

Harry Potter. always has been and always will be! ;)


4. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I always wanted to be a vet because i haven't lived a second of my life without owning a cat. 


me when i was four!
and when i was about 8-9!
5. What has been the best moment in your life so far?
hmm i don't know if i can answer this! there have been quite a few memorable moments (going to maui, new york city, and more!) but there hasn't been ONE moment where i've been like "this is the best thing i've ever experienced". 

6. Your favourite color?

green!! funny story: green used to be my most hated color. i hated it so much i would leave it out of the rainbow when i was drawing! but now my room is painted 3 walls green, 1 wall blue - both colors (along with red) are my favorite! 




7. If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be?
i think it would be awesome to meet all of my blog friends!

8. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

funny question - i consider myself a huge extrovert. i'm crazy, goofy, and quirky, but i'll bet if you asked this question to some of the people i go to school with they would say i am shy. i'm not loud around a bunch of random people that i don't know/like, but when i'm around friends and family i'm definitely a certifiable loud weirdo. 

9. If you could run any race, what would it be?

i know that i want to run a marathon and a half ironman in my (semi) near future. 

10. Do you have any fears or phobias?

the dark! the dark is the unknown and my brain can come up with some pretty outlandish scary scenarios when i hear odd noises around the house.. heh. i also fear losing loved ones. 

11. In a film of your life, which actress would play you?

that is a good question.. i have no idea! i haven't seen too many movies (aka don't know very many actors/actresses) but when i was way younger, my elementary school teacher always told me i looked like anne hathaway. 


since i'm too lazy to come up with 11 people to tag i'm just going to tag three! 


Shannon @ Healthiful Balance

Kat @ Kat's Health Corner

Brittany @ A Spoonful of Peanut Butter


and for coming up with 11 questions.. oh dear. you can use the 11 above or just tell us 11 things about you that your readers might not know!


question of the day: answer one of the ?s that i answered above! 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

WIAW #7: Tuesday Edition.

happy WIAW my friends! :) this week i'm super busy on wednesday but i didn't want to miss the party, so i decided to go with a tuesday edition.

i haven't been feeling all that hot the past few days - as soon as finals were over, i came down with something. guess it was my body telling me to stop stressing and get some relaxation time in.

let's just say me and my kleenex box have been best buds lately.


only bonus was that since i spent lotsa time on the couch (cheesy abc family movies anyone? i watched the entire another cinderella story marathon. #noshame) i had time to pretty up my nails. 


luckily this morning i was feeling a little better and got my booty outta bed at 5am to get my sweat on. sometimes i feel better if i work out while sick, and others i don't. yesterday's couch potato day was a fine example of the latter ;) but this morning i took a BodyPump class and felt much better afterwards. 

p.s. did you guys know that it's better if you don't strength train in your running shoes? that's why i lift in my nike frees! head over and check out tina's post on lifting shoes. 
i came home made a ginormous bowl of oats to fill the grumblin' tummy. these took quite awhile to cook since i accidentally got the old-fashioned oats at the store instead of the quick oats. oh well, more chiaaa for me!! 

i mixed up 1/3 cup oats, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, and a good sprinkling of ground flaxseed. microwaved for what seemed like five whole minutes and topped with a crapton of pb, just the way i like it. 


enjoyed while catching up on my favorite bloggies (autocorrect just tried to correct that to bloodies! wtf? haha)

today was definitely a cozy over cute day. can i marry my yoga pants? 

 yup, taking outfit photos on my toilet. what can i say? it's the closest mirror to me as i'm running out the front door. no way am i running up the stairs to get to the full length mirror ;)

i packed up lots of yummy eats for school today. i had the KIND bar (which was amazing by the way! highly recommend it) as a midmorning snack, and then at lunch i had the carrots, some CHO, and a peanut butter sammie. 


 after school i came home and immediately munched on some carrots and red pepper hummus (apparently i'm really liking carrots today?)


i also made an egg white pizza which was inspired by this pin on Pinterest. i cooked the egg to make the "crust", then topped it with sauce, a few mini turkey sausages, and a combo of feta, mozzarella, and cheddar cheeses. it was actually pretty tasty - definitely a good gluten-free, high-protein option! 


dinner was actually a quick yogurt/fruit/cereal combo as i ran out the door to go to work, so instead i wanted to show you guys monday's dinner. it looked like a mess and tasted heavenly. 


i bought some Classico Vodka pasta sauce (which evaded a photo because it took me literally 6 minutes to get the jar open) at the store a few days ago and originally intended to make a pasta bowl with veggies. i started by sautéing some shredded zucchini and mushrooms, but then realized that i didn't feel like waiting the 8 minutes for pasta to boil since i'd spent 6 minutes getting the jar of sauce open (i'm that impatient). so i popped some lazy-butt steam-in-the-bag brown rice in the microwave and tossed that in with the veggies. i added some shredded turkey breast for some protein and then added the sauce. 


the verdict? i wanted this ginormous bowl of veggie deliciousness to never end. definitely a winner! 

what's the last random meal you made that turned out better than you expected? 
do you work out when you're sick?

Friday, January 20, 2012

Out With the Old, In With the New.

hey guys! :)

i spent a lot of time today working on the ol' bloggie - do you like the new header? i am in love with it! it's 50x better than the old plain one.

the only bummer is that i was getting really frustrated with the commenting platform that i was using (disqus) because i wanted to stop using it, but in doing so, i wouldn't be able to save any of the comments that i'd received. i then tried to export the comments that i had, which finally worked, but i didn't realize that that would delete all the comments too. and since i'm using blogger i don't have any way to import them. RAR. sorry, just had to get that rant out there.

so now i don't have any comments on my 165 posts that i've written in the past year and it's making me quite upset. but at least now i'm not using disqus anymore, thank god.

anyway, onto a happier note! i finally got my own domain so now my website is http://www.juliannabananna.com instead of having the blogspot attached in there! yay. so much easier to type and remember.

i think that's all for now - hope you all are having wonderful weekends!

any tips on how to fix my commenting platform problem? 
if you have a blog, what's the worst tech-y thing that's happened to you while working on it?

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Strength Training Update. [BodyPump 2-month Results]

hey guys!! it's almost friday woop woop :) i only have one more final tomorrow (english) and then i'm done for this semester. needless to say i'm pumped! 

i've been meaning to get this post up for awhile but finally got around to it after seeing this post this morning on Brittany's blog - i'm submitting a real workout photo, so after my workout today i figured it would be a good time to take progress photos. 

my REAL schweaty workout photo!
the last time i took these, it was over the summer! from august to november, i was running cross country and barely had time to strength train. at the beginning of december i got back into it so it's been about two months now that i've been lifting regularly. 

XC state championships in November
although i planned to start NROLFW after christmas, i realized i had only about a month until track season started - which wasn't even enough time to finish the first stage. i decided to just stick with what i'd been doing - going to BodyPump three times a week - and give the NROLFW plan a decent shot after track season when i have all the time in the world. 

today's workout: BodyPump, 10 mins stairclimber, 15 mins elliptical
now, onto the progress photos! i wanted to compare the ones that i took after i had done 1 month of bodypump to these current ones, which are the results after two months of going to class 3x a week. 

LEFT SIDE:
previous photo (from july):
current photo: 


about every two weeks i increased my weight for different tracks, until i reached and surpassed the amount that i was lifting back in july. 

RIGHT SIDE:
from back in july:

current photo:


last time i didn't take any photos of my back - but this time i did! i have noticed that my shoulders and upper back have become WAY more defined, too. 


i honestly can say that how much i've improved in this past year in strength training is one of the accomplishments that i'm most proud of from 2011.
how often do you strength train?
what is the fitness accomplisment that you are most proud of?

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

WIAW #6: Finals Week.

heyy friends! i hope all of your weeks are going well!! this week is finals week for me so it's definitely been a long one - but after this week i will be a second semester senior! i'm so excited :)

anywayz i thought that since i actually remember to take pictures on my REAL camera, not my iPhone (#addicted) that it would be a good idea to join in on the partayy this week. thanks jenn!



this morning's breakfast was overnight oats - i finally got some more chia seeds after being out for awhile and couldn't resist making the cold oats even though it's freezing outside (it was 32 degrees this morning. i am such a california girl cause i can't imagine it being below zero!!).


i mixed these up in a bowl before i went to bed last night:
  • 1 container Peach 0% Chobani
  • 1/4 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 Tbsp chiaaa

and then this morning i added a bunch of fruit (strawbs, bluebs, and blackberries) and a sprinkle of wheat flakes.

i ate while doing some last minute studying and then headed off to school to take my AP Government and AP Calculus finals. talk about a headache! i've been studying all weekend and even crammed in a few hours in my busy day yesterday to study. my gov final was first and i think it went pretty well! 

midmorning snackage was a multigrain mini bagel spread with a laughing cow cheese wedge:


and then i went to take the hardest of all my finals. calc is definitely one of the hardest classes i've ever taken, period. but i studied my little booty off because my grade is currently only .7% above a B. talk about stressful! i think the test went really well, though - all those practice problems definitely helped a ton.

i came home and made lunch: a yummy Simple Berry Smoothie with some Popchips on the side. in hindsight i probably should've chosen a different side because the chips made me feel snacky and soon i was eating handfuls of peanuts and chocolate chips (either that or my brain was begging for some chocolate after the torture i just put it through..;)



after lunch i watched one of my favorite shows, Switched at Birth. man oh man is that show getting intense! but i love it especially since i've been watching since it first aired over the summer. 

then i went for run with my good friend Ryan- we ran a 10K and kept a decent pace at about 9:20min/mile. he also helped me figure out a lot of cool stuff about Nike+ and i ended up ordering this sportband so that i don't have to carry my phone all the time! :) thanks Ryan!


post-run snack was an unpictured apple and a small tortilla with peanut butter (plus an extra spoonful from the jar ;)

right now i'm studying for my anatomy final that's tomorrow and contemplating what to make for dinner! i think some veggies are a necessity since my day has been completely lacking in them. i'm thinking a salad beast is in order.

what is/was your least favorite subject to study? definitely any form of social studies for me!
current favorite TV show? gah i have so many! i barely had any shows i liked to watch just a  year ago but now my list has expanded to include: glee, modern family, switched at birth, jane by design, new girl, and cupcake wars. whew! that's a lot!! most of the time i never end up watching every single episode of them because i don't have time, though. 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Cheesy Mexican Breakfast Sandwich.

Apparently I'm on a Mexican recipe kick - first the vegan burrito bowl, and now this sandwich! 

This morning after taking two awesome classes at the gym (BodyPump 80 and spinning) I came home absolutely ravenous. I'd already had a pre-workout snack (usual tortilla + pb) but was extra starving and wanted a big, protein-packed meal. This sandwich hit the spot!


Cheesy Mexican Breakfast Sandwich
  • 3/4 c. egg beaters (egg whites)
  • 2 slices nutty whole-grain bread, toasted
  • 1 slice colby jack cheese
  • 1 wedge Laughing Cow Queso Fresco & Chipotle Cheese
  • 1 tablespoon salsa
  • 3-4 thin slices avocado
All you have to do is: cook your eggs, melt the colby jack on on slice of bread, layer laughing cow, salsa, and avocado on the other, and assemble your sandwich!






 This sandwich packed 35g protein and was super filling. Definitely satisfied the hunger beast that came out after I got home from the gym!

The rest of the day I studied my butt off. I mostly snacked my way through the day (unpictured plain greek yogurt with apple butter, pop chips, string cheese, and a LUNA bar) but managed to snap a photo of some cranberry tea I had. 


After a long day of studying, my mom surprised me and took me to get a foot massage! Dear Lord that was the most AMAZING thing ever. I still can't get over how relaxing it was! They actually massaged our arms, head, shoulders, and legs as well and I can't tell you how good it felt after such a hard workout this morning. It was a really good deal too - only $25 a person for an HOUR. 

Needless to say we came home in a super relaxed and happy state. 

Dinner was a good one: a big salad with romaine, cucumber, carrots, red onions, mushrooms, and my favorite Newman's Own Sesame Ginger dressing


And my dad's awesome southern-barbecued chicken with some roasted rosemary potatoes I made. The potatoes were simple and delicious! I just tossed them in some olive oil, rosemary, salt n peppa, and then roasted them for 25 minutes at 400. 


Dessert was also tasty - I had a honey graham cracker with regular pb and PB&Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams.


I'm off crash in bed - it's been a long day. 

Have you ever gotten a massage?
Best breakfast sandwich combo?