Hello! I'm Amanda.
A little over two years ago I had 50 extra pounds on my 5-foot-1 body. I loved "junk" food and I loved being lazy. I was so content living my life that way but I did not love the way it left me feeling. At one point, something clicked and I found an amazing surge of motivation to do something about my unhappiness. I decided to change my life around and commit myself to a healthy lifestyle of regular exercise and proper nutrition. Two years later, with voracious determination and a lot of soul searching, I am in the best shape of my life and extremely happy with the growth I have done physically and mentally.
This blog is my outlet to assess my new lifestyle, see my progress, grapple with the struggles I still incur and continue my journey to find peace within myself. As a product of a positive lifestyle overhaul, I hope my story and struggles could inspire and motivate others to feel as content and happy as I am trying to be.
It’s training time.
I’m finally running another half marathon at the end of July. The San Francisco Marathon - 1st Half. Pretty elated! My last time for my first half was 2:30 (that’s pretty slow-pokey, but it was my first run and I was just soaking up the experience) so obviously my goal for this one is to see how much better I can do!
Pretty lucky story on how I got my entrance into the SF Marathon. It’s a pricey race and I wasn’t even thinking about running it until one lucky day when an old classmate of mine from my German class in college came into my Starbucks store and told me her dad was the President of the San Francisco Marathon. She then proceeded to tell me she could comp me my entrance. Heeeeeeeellll Yeah :) Thought that was cool but a couple of weeks passed and I soon forgot about it, then out of the blue she hits me with a coupon number. Thanks Nicole!!
So now I train. Let’s see how it goes!
Foggy and cold run down geary at 6 AM #counts
Ohhhh my god. It feels so good to be back in the gym again! I’ve been neglecting my fitness for far too long but it seems like I can get back to my old habits. I finally cut the cord on one of my jobs and it free’d my schedule up enough to sweat again.
Ahhhh, sweat. I love/hate it.
I started my morning with a session at the gym doing plyos and weights and a 15 min HIIT run. Good enough for not working out hard in awhile. I felt so great the rest of my day. Just ELATED.
Yeaaaah I’m back baby.
I have no idea why I’ve never made kale chips before. They seriously curb that salty chips craving. Made it tonight and jazzed it up with even more good-for-you stuff: pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds; wild white chia seeds; nutritional yeast; chlorella, spirulina, and kelp!
Veggie Soba.
When I wake up 3 hours earlier than I need to just to fit in my workout, I hate the world with a passion. Then, I get going, go to the gym and do my training and I come out a different person. I…. kinda come out… i’m just gonna say it… like a boss.
And what 8 hour work day? Didn’t have to be at work until 10 AM, but got up at 6 AM. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.
Basically, what I’m saying is, get your ass out there. You’ll feel amazing.
For awhile, I didn’t register this. I thought I was doing myself a favor and keeping myself on track by weighing in every day. But every time I would step on a scale and see that number go up due to normal day things like eating, water weight, digestion, etc., I would get a sinking feeling. If ever it was lower than usual, I felt elated. I caught myself finally, on the verge of what felt like an eating disorder, and decided to stop on the daily weigh-ins. I try to instead gauge my health on my efforts and overall feeling.
The scale can aid in your weight management and loss efforts, but don’t get caught up in it!
(via avtexadelphia)
The past week has been insane to say the least. I’ve barely had any me time and I’m always running around, but I kinda love it and most definitely embrace it. I’ve been wanting some sort of change and it has come hard and strong. I have a new job being the admin for I Luv My Body Fitness and Be Fit Boot Camps - two great fitness and nutrition companies in SF. I wanted to use the skills I had to work for places that I believe in and can learn a lot from. As an aspiring nutritionist, I can learn a thing or two from the girls that run these camps. I’m working really hard helping these girls run efficiently and so far, it’s been a lot of new work, but I’m really enjoying it. I get to use my writing, web building and tech skills so it’s been a lot of fun.
At the same time I started work (which was literally just last week), I got suuuuper sick. I don’t know what I had, but it was pretty painful and so mean to me. UGH. This new job, coupled with my other job at Starbucks and my sickness WRECKED me. My boyfriend and I planned to run a 5k fun run on Sunday with Kaiser Permanente, but I had to MISS it because I was so damn sick. It was my only day off so I needed to sleep in. I beat myself up for it initially but began to realize it was for the better.
After a week of inactivity, I ran my own 5k today. It was tougher than usual, mostly still feeling the effects of my week of sickness, plus something funky was going on with my tummy, but so glad I got out.
Ahhh I look mean and like I’m gonna eff you up. I won’t though. I’m like a panda bear.
I’m loving this new, busy lifestyle but it’s getting a lot harder to schedule in workouts. I didn’t do anything for a week, but that’s because I was sick. Now that I’m better, it’ll be interesting trying to fit in a run or session with 13+ hour work days. Sigh… but I’ll tackle it.
Came across Jamie Eason’s Live Fit 12-week Trainer and am itching to do it. Once I get a better flow of my life, I’m definitely going to start it. What do you think?
Homemade chicken soup is so perfect for my sick self.
