We Did It!

Hey everyone! We did it! Congratulations on finishing spring 6FIT!

My major goal was to avoid any aspartame, especially gum, and guess what...I DID IT! Hooray. I honestly didn't know if I’d be able to do it at the beginning and now I believe in myself and can find other things to do instead. My biggest vice recently has been water with berries in it. I think it was a perfect trade!

The minute 6FIT ended, I went to work on finding a plan for myself so that I don’t undo all that I accomplished during the past six weeks. I enrolled in DanceFIT’s Summer FIT challenge to take 30 classes in 40 days and have begun to set my goals for the rest of the summer. I have taken morning classes on internship days when I begin at 9, but yesterday I tried my first morning class on a “real” work day and made it out of the door 20 minutes after BalletFIT ended! Now that I know I can do it, I will strive to take many morning classes as I can and at least one in-studio class in the afternoon. I will also continue to avoid aspartame and to eat as cleanly as possible. I’m trying to figure out a diet that will work best for me; one that will keep me full and not deprived, but with as many real foods as possible. I will also chart in myfitnesspal every day and try to be as accurate with serving size as possible. It’s awesome how many DanceFIT friends I’m adding on the site! So motivating! 
I feel that my social life is the biggest struggle when it comes to staying healthy and fit. I often think about how great the foods I’m eating are for me, but totally forgetting how that’s negated by alcoholic beverages. Being 23 – 24 next week!  - and living in a city means I go out with friends a lot, and end up drinking a lot of my calories. I decided to cut out full-calorie beer and substitute it with wine, light beer, or vodka sodas. I know a big discussion one week during a 6FIT seminar was how drinks often leads to poor food choices, so I will try to eat at home before I go out to avoid temptation.

I feel great. I feel healthy and strong and proud of myself for pushing through the program, and it’s so obvious how every other woman who completed 6FIT feels the same. Everyone looks amazing! I know that it will be harder to continue to eat as well I have been and to exercise as often as I did, but 6FIT taught me so much about being healthy and taking responsibility for my body.

6FIT was an amazing opportunity and I feel I got so much out of it thanks to the fabulous instructors at DanceFIT Studio, the 6FIT community, and especially the wonderful yellow team who kept me motivated every day.

The Real World

As we begin our “Real World” week, it is important to remember that just because we stop counting our points on Sunday, the healthy lifestyle we’ve dedicated ourselves to over the last six weeks doesnot have to end. During these six weeks, we experienced six different changes in our diets. We found that not every week will work for everyone. For me, I found that even though I rarely eat meat, keeping a strictly vegetarian diet forced me to eat a lot more fatty cheeses and definitely didn’t help me to lose weight. Continuing to eat like HGG week is a much better way for me to stay fit. 6Fit pushed us all to work out much harder, get to more classes, and cover more miles. If we all continue to sweat as much as we did during these six weeks and eat in the way that worked best for you, we will continue to see results and, more importantly, feel like our best selves.

I had a conversation with some girls who felt that they hadn’t lost any weight since 6Fit started. Our official weigh in is next week, and most likely these girls did lose both weight and especially inches, but six week is a short time, and real, more permanent results will be achieved only if we continue our healthy lifestyles.

This week we get to choose our own goals. There is no extra workout we get points for doing and there is no limit on what foods we can eat. The goal is to make your own goals; goals that will be attainable after 6Fit ends. This is the real world. Next week, we won’t gain or lose points for anything we do. That doesn’t mean, however, that we can’t continue to set workout and nutritional goals for ourselves. My goal this week is to eat at least 4 servings of veggies a day. Vegetables are packed with nutrients,and can be so filling. Making sure I get an adequate amount each day will help stop me from over eating less healthy foods. My fitness goal is to walk and/or run at least 5 miles every day. This doesn’t have to be a formal power-walk, just 5 miles throughout the course of the day. Outside of DanceFIT classes, most of my day is spent sitting at a computer, either at work or in school. Setting a goal to get 5 miles in will remind me of how important it is to take breaks and get my body moving.

I’m already looking forward to the next 6Fit and this one isn’t even over yet! It is amazing to see how much every participant motivates and supports each other, and I hope it continues, even after Sunday.

Favorite Apps for Staying Healthy

Don't worry, I was at a stop light!

Last weekend, this klutzy girl decided to face plant on the sidewalk in the middle of a nice walk home from Back Bay. Only 2 days before this happened, I got my new Fitbit in the mail. I was so excited to use it and see how active I am on a daily basis. And then…my concussion kept me out of commission for a week! This week I’m finally able be back at DanceFIT and I’m addicted to looking at my Fitbit and watching how my calories burned increases throughout each class. I love how it automatically updates to my phone and computer when I’m within range of them. Because of my obsession with my new toy, I decided to share some of my other favorite apps:

1.       Runkeeper

Runkeeper is awesome. I downloaded the app on my phone and simply press start when I begin running. You can alter the settings to update you as often as your prefer during the run about how fast your running, how far you’ve run, how long you’ve been running for, etc. I usually have it notify me every 10 minutes. I love this because I don’t have to plan a route ahead of time. Runkeeper is also great for setting customizable goals and training plans. It reminds you to work out and congratulates you on your accomplishments. On the Runkeeper website, you can see the progress you’ve made, your history, and create a “Street Team” of friends to help you stay motivated. Runkeeper recently came out with great new features to help you reach your goals at your own pace. You can read about these features in their blog.

2.       Myfitnesspal

“Workouts are easy, the real challenges are faced in the kitchen”. Well, maybe that’s not totally true, but even the best workouts can be ruined with an unhealthy diet. Myfitnesspal allows you to track your caloric intake at each meal by charting it, just like we do during 6FIT. Most foods are already in their database, making logging your food easy. By entering your weight, height, and desired weight loss goal, the app modifies the amount of calories you can consume each day. It even syncs with the Fitbit to log your fitness! I find this app useful because I can look up food before I eat it, especially when out to eat, to ensure I’m making a wise choice. Myfitnesspal also will track your fat, sodium, cholesterol, and most other dietary needs.

3.       Earndit 

Who doesn’t like getting free stuff for working out? Earndit integrates with almost all fitness apps and awards you points every time you work out. As you accumulate points, you earn credits that can be used to buy anything from healthy foods to fitness gear or even as a donation to charity. I have my Foursquare app, Runkeeper and Fitbit all synced with Earndit.

What other apps do you use?

Staying Motivated

I’m home from Aruba and had a great trip. I had a lot of fun getting in my fitness points while I was there.

In the past I’ve had a hard time listening to my body. I will either push myself over the limit, even when I know I need to rest or take it easy, or I will get mad at myself for taking a day off. I’m really proud of myself this week. I decided to use Friday as my required rest day, since I figured I’d want to take a long run/walk before getting on the plane on yesterday. Unfortunately, I ended up getting food poisoning from my dinner on Friday night, leaving me incapable of moving much, never mind working out, almost all day yesterday. Rather than getting mad at myself for taking two rest days this week, I’m proud that I listened to what my body needed, drank extra water, rested enough that I feel so much better today, and will be to get in a great workout and finish week 2 off strong!

Tomorrow is officially two weeks gum/aspartame free. So far, it has been very easy. I attribute most of my compulsive gum chewing to stress, so I’m a little nervous for this upcoming week: going back to work after being away for a full week and starting a new semester of classes. Again, I’ll try and drink more water whenever I feel the urge to grab that stick of gum.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and see y’all in week 3. 

Week Two!

So far this week, I have worked hard to stay motivated to maintain fitness and nutrition goals while on

vacation. The food of the week is quinoa, and I sadly have not been getting my extra points for eating the food of the week. I can’t find it anywhere! It has been very easy to avoid bread and pasta, as the fish is so fresh and hard to resist.

The room we stay in also makes it easier to eat well because it has a kitchen. We stopped at the grocery store on the first day and purchased lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as food for breakfast and lunch. I have had almost the same breakfast and lunch every day: an apple with peanut butter for breakfast and turkey wrapped around baby carrots dipped in Dijon mustard for lunch. I’m also able to have a small, nutritious snack before dinner to stop me from over eating at the restaurants.  

14 Minute Workout!

The fitness challenges have been both challenging and easy. I was given the option to use YouTube videos as my group fitness classes for the week, but it’s hard to stay motivated to work out inside when I’m longing to be outside! It has been much easier to spend my time outside, going for walks and runs on the beach, swimming, and playing tennis. I’m in Aruba with my parents and my boyfriend. What has been especially motivating is how all three of them are participating in the fitness challenges with me. All of us have been competing to see who can do the most squats, sit ups, and push ups, and today will work together to come up with the most create place to do a plank (I think it will be a good one…stay tuned!). 

Greetings From Aruba

Week #1 is almost over and I’m feeling great. I forgot how much better my body feels when I’m drinking 80oz of water a day. I feel hydrated, energized and healthy.

The food of the week is leafy greens. I made a delicious and high protein salad by combining kale, swiss chard, spinach, quinoa, carrots, beets, walnuts, sesame seeds, tomatoes, and sunflower seeds in a bowl. I topped it with a bit of balsamic vinegar. Delicious! Next week is quinoa week, so I can’t wait to make it again!

Today I left for a week long vacation to Aruba. Eating well while traveling is always a challenge,

especially at the airport. Though I had grapes and bananas at home, I had little else to pack with me for the flight.  Given that I left my house at 6am and didn’t get to the hotel until late afternoon, I had to find something to eat. The airport has limited options, but I was able to find a few good choices. The bookshop had a wall of trail mixes and nuts. I steered clear of the bags with chocolate, candy and dried fruits, and instead looked for options such as whole, unsalted nuts. The bookshop also had a variety of protein bars to choose from. I was sure to read the ingredients and nutrition facts of the bars to make sure they had only natural ingredients. Many seem healthy, when in reality there are not.  I opted for a bag of pistachios and a large bottle of water. The airport also had a variety of flavors of pop chips, a to-go restaurant serving customizable vegetable omelets, allowing you to eliminate the cheese (but they didn’t serve egg whites), and many salad options. With so many “bad” foods around, it is refreshing to see that you can eat well in an airport if you try!

I’m ready to finish week one off strong and begin week two. I hope Boston warms up for you this week..I’m off to the beach!