Last week of school

Um is anyone else in as much shock/disbelief as I am that it's the last week of classes?! And I know the next month is going to fly by since it's already jam-packed with finals, graduation and fun end of the year activities...Fortunately, I've been able to stay on track these past couple of weeks, in spite of the chaos (for the most part anyway).  I feel really good about my workouts, though a little lower back pain came back.  I'm not sure if that's from working out or from running around and dancing all over SF in heels and then sleeping with 3 ppl in a bed...

Does anyone like almond milk? I (re)discovered it this week. Delicious. Good dairy alternative, I  think. Anyway I'm going to miss reading everyone's blogs...even if I didn't comment I enjoyed them all. <3

So hopefully I got rid of whatever cold I was getting...still have a little cough or something but overall feeling much better. I got in a couple good workouts and then after a weekend at the beach I have new motivation for more intense workouts haha. The heat is exhausting but the good thing is I've been drinking tons of water.  Also, Keisha and I were finishing up our presentation this week and all that talk about Mississippi food (which you'll hear about tomorrow) kind of makes me never want to eat again...or maybe that's from the heat too...

Oh, I didn't have time to make one for you guys but I found a couple recipes for a healthier, or at least, less-bad version of peach cobbler that you might like. These are a couple hundred calories per serving compared to a regular version that was over 500...:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/publicsite/recipes/viewrecipe.aspx?recipeid=1883

http://100lbs.typepad.com/the_next_hundred_pounds/2008/08/recipe-of-the-w.html

Hmmm

Interesting the Sukhvir wrote about sleep this week because I was also going to mention the bit of insomnia i've been experiencing recently...I've been making an effort to get to sleep earlier plus i've been super tired some days after leaving the office around 9pm...and then i just can't sleep.  i toss and turn, my bed is super comfy and nothing.  What's better is that now i think i'm fighting off a cold, not cool. i'm not even stressed (which is usually when i get sick) so i don't know where this came from. i've been hitting the gym pretty hard thinking i could 'sweat it out' but that doesn't seem to be working so i think today i'll rest. Grrr.

Eating has been good, i've been having veggies with every dinner and i try to have some as a snack or earlier in the day w/lunch too.  Maybe still not 5 servings but better than none. :) 

Is it really April already?

Well I feel like I'm getting back on track...I made most of my meals the last week instead of going out like when I had visitors here.  I'm still not at 100% to run/elliptical/etc b/c I still get sharp pains from my previous injury if I run for too long...

After my post last week, I was wondering about how many calories are burned during dancing, standing in lines for Disneyland, etc so I found this calories burned estimator: 

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

Also, I know Erika posted this link earlier in the semester but I thought I'd put it out there again.  It's been my motivation not to eat too much since looking at some of these pictures induce a rather strong gag reflex that kills just about any craving.  :)

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Hosting Visitors

I love hosting out-of-town visitors, especially non-Cali ppl. I love planning activities and dinners and all the fun things ppl expect when they come to LA (and when hanging out w/me haha).  But I've realized that while it's hard to stick to routines and squeeze in workouts while traveling, it's almost more difficult when having visitors.  I know they realize I have things to do but I'd feel bad leaving them for alone to hit the gym, plus I generally want to maximize time w/them.  One of my oldest friends who now lives in Colorado was in town last week so there was lots of food, lots of alcohol and lots of fun...bad news in terms of my fitness/diet goals.  I did manage to get lots of dancing time in though (Thur, Fri, AND Sun)...that counts as activity right? And Sat I used my 'free' ticket to California Adventures requiring lots of walking. Sucks that you can't hit up both parks on 1 day w/o paying extra for the 'park-hopper' ticket b/c there aren't too many rides but they are pretty sweet. Anyway, hopefully this week will be healthier!

Update

Well I originally didn't think that Spring Break would be very productive in terms of...well anything and in most ways it wasn't. :) But I did have a lot of time to bum around so I spent quite a bit of it stretching in front of the tv. Eating was pretty good considering all the ice cream and pastries my sisters keep in the house.  Been drinking more water, eating more veggies, the hardest thing is to decrease the sugar.  And I did have some extra treats last weekend because I was in Disneyland! Churros and chocolate-covered frozen bananas don't taste like that anywhere else.

p.s. The Nemo submarine ride is sweeeeeet!! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

Update

I've found the most difficult thing for me right now is getting over this injury because I'm not a very patient person...getting cardio in has been a little difficult because i usually run or jump on the elliptical or something at the gym but that leads to sharp shooting pains lately so i've been kinda avoiding that.  Instead i've been doing light weights w/lots of reps, yoga and stretching while i read or watch shows online.  

The other thing i've realized is that going on trips/going out w/friends makes it hard to worry about what i'm eating.  I have made a change in my morning routine, however, by getting a vanilla tea latte w/no sugar added powder (instead of regular) and soy milk which has 10g of sugar instead of 43g...there's a slight difference in taste, but still delish. Yay CoffeeBean!

Good luck studying everyone!