A Day In the Life Of...

I've gotten some requests to do a "day in the life of" post, and I thought it would be a fun idea!  So I have documented a few days in the past couple weeks.  Most of you have asked about my food and workouts, so this is focused mostly on that aspect.  Although to be honest, I really don't do much else since I do have to work everyday... lol!  But I did include a weekend as well.  :)

Friday 10/25

6:05 am:  Alarm goes off.  I snooze at least twice.

6:30 am:  I'm running late again!  Get my butt up and out of bed finally.  Start getting ready for the day.

7:00 am:  Rush out the door to go to work (I'm really supposed to be there at 7 am).

7:20 am:  Arrive at work, immediate take my probiotic pill since it is recommended to be taken on an empty stomach.  Proceed to drink about 20 oz of water.  This is the Jarrow Formulas brand:

8:00 am:  Breakfast. There is a kitchen at my work and I am on the half meal plan which gets me 10 breakfasts and 10 lunches a month.  This was one of the days I got food from work.  As usual, I get 4 hardboiled eggs, but throw away 3 of the yolks so I end up with 1 whole egg:

They have oatmeal daily at work but I like to know exactly how much I'm eating, so I keep Quaker's old fashioned oats at my desk and make it myself.  I use 1/2 cup (dried) with hot water.  Then mix it with the 3 egg whites, sprinkle some salt on it:

I also keep a supply of berries at all times in the work fridge.  Right now I have raspberries, so I take 1/2 cup of that.  I also keep a bag of raw almonds in my drawer, and I eat about 0.3 oz of them with my breakfast (that's about 7-8 almonds).

8:30 am:  About time I finish my breakfast.  I take 1 vitamin C pill.  I'm currently using the Twinlab brand 500mg:

I drink another 20 oz of water during the next couple hours.

9:30 am:  Walk to Starbucks with coworkers and get a tall Pike.  Add a little bit of whole milk and grounded stevia leaf.  I don't really need coffee, but I like going for the walk.  The two guys I usually go with are pretty funny.

10:30 am:  Snack time.  I eat 5 oz of non-fat Greek yogurt (prefer Fage for the creamier taste and higher protein count, but settle for Chobani sometimes) with 1/4 cup of berries.

10:45 am:  Right after I finish eating my morning snack, I mix a teaspoon of magnesium powder with about 8 oz of luke warm water and drink it.  I love the Natural Calm lemon raspberry flavored magnesium citrate:

I fill up my water bottle again at this point, and drink another 20 oz of water in the next couple hours.

1 pm:  Lunch.  I went to get food at work again. Fridays are always fish days.  I get a side salad with no dressing (I'm kinda weird like that), some string beans, about 4 oz of fish and 100 calories worth of carb - in this case potatoes.  I don't like that I don't know what they cooked the fish with.  So I actually get a bowl of hot water and rinse the fish in it before each bite.  Yes, eating clean requires weird sacrifices sometimes.

1:30 pm:  Right after my lunch, I take my multi-vitamin pill.  I take the Jarrow Formula Women's Active Multi with Lutein.

Again, drink another 20 oz of water for the next couple hours.  I'm pretty much sipping water all day long.

3:30 pm:  Afternoon snack.  I make a green smoothie every night and take it to work with me in the morning.  I make it with about 1 cup of spinach, 1 cup of kale, 2 oz of banana (about half of a regular sized banana), 1 tbsp of almond butter, and a pinch of ginger, oregano, turmeric, cinnamon, and whatever spices I have at the moment that I can throw in.  You can't taste any of them but they are supposed to be good for you so whatev!

I keep protein powder and my shaker cup at work.  I mix my pre-made green smoothie with 1 scoop of protein powder.  I don't add protein powder the night before because the instruction says to mix and drink within 30 minutes.  I sure as hell would not bring my blender to work and make smoothies in the kitchen, so this is the best solution I got.  

My current preferred protein powder is the Dymatize Elite Cappuccino Rush flavor.  It's so yummy!

I do have vegan rice protein powder as well which I like because of the natural ingredients, but it just doesn't taste as good.  

I take another Vitamin C pill, and then drink another 20 oz of water for the next few hours.

4:30 pm:  Get off work and head to the gym.  It's leg day.  I warm up first by doing leg swings and spider crawls (I do it on the treadmill so I don't look like an idiot).  Then I do 6 different leg exercises, ranging from squats, leg presses, lunges, deadlifts, high step ups, etc.  I use weights as heavy as I can go for 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps each.  It takes about an hour to complete this workout and feels like death.  So I end with 30 minutes of cardio intervals on 15% incline treadmill.  I go a minute of fast pace, usually around 4.7 mph, followed by 45 seconds of slower pace at about 3.2 mph.  Repeat for 30 minutes, then cool down.  This includes 17 intervals. I watch the Food Network at the same time while on the treadmill.  It's usually some show like Chopped, or Restaurant Impossible.

During my workout, I drink at least 20-30 oz of water.

6:30 pm:  Leave the gym and head home.

7:00 pm:  Get home, and immediately start cooking dinner.  I like to eat within an hour of finishing workout.  Today I am having ground turkey and garbanzo beans.  I get those 99% fat free packages from the grocery store which contains 20 oz of turkey and I use exactly half of the package.  One can of garbanzo beans - I pick any brand that has less sodium.  Then I cook it altogether with chopped onion, tomato, and whatever other vegetables I have.  The most important ingredient in this dish is lots of ground cumin, and some ground red pepper for taste.  It's one of my favorite meals and is SO easy and quick to make.

7:30 pm:  Start eating dinner.  Note, I eat 1/3 of the portion I made as shown above, not the whole thing lol.  Drink a little bit of water and/or tea during dinner.  Immediately after dinner, take 3000mg worth of fish oil, 50mg of zinc, and 1 more Vitamin C pill.  I use GNC Triple Strength fish oil, and Zinc.

  

8:00 pm:  Shower.

8:15 pm:  Done with shower.  Watch re-run of House.  Mess around on my laptop - check facebook, check blog email.  I rarely go out on Friday nights because I'm just so tired!

11 pm:  Take the last of my supplements of the day!  1 more probiotic pill, and 1 tsp of Natural Calm magnesium citrate mixed with 8 oz of water. 

11:30 pm:  Bed time!  I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.  :)

Saturday 10/26

9:00 am:  Get up.  Brush my teeth, wash my face, and take my probiotics!

10:00 am:  Make my green smoothie.  Since it's Saturday, I make it with protein powder and drink it right away.  Same ingredients.  I take my Vitamin C pill with it.

10:30 am:  Head to the gym.  Today is upper body supersets.  This workout consists of  4 supersets, with exercises such as military press, lateral raise, lat pulldown, preacher curl, tricep dips, etc. etc.  I do total of 9 exercises with 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps, 1 minute rests between supersets.  So this is a quick workout.  Takes about 45 minutes.  I do my same 30 minute cardio interval afterwards.

I drink about 30 oz of water throughout the workout.

11:45 am:  Done with workout.  Shower at gym and get dressed.  My gym validates parking for 2.5 hours and then it gets very expensive, so I get out of there ASAP.  Fill out my water bottle again prior to leaving so I can hydrate on my way home.

12:15 pm:  Leave the gym and head home.  Drink about 20 oz of water.

12:45 pm:  Home, start making breakfast because I am starving at this point.  I always make pancakes on weekends, but I make the batter with 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 cup of 100% liquid egg whites, and 1 whole egg.  I throw in 1/4 cup of blueberries, add some dashes of salt and blend everything together.  Then I start making pancakes with olive oil spray.  After I pour the batter into the pan, I add some fresh pineapple chunks and chopped walnuts.  It makes about 5 thin pancakes and I end up eating exactly 2 oz of pineapples and 1 tbsp of walnuts.  This is soooooo delicious, and very healthy!

1:15 pm:  Take 1 tsp of magnesium citrate, then start preparing for dinner.  Eating healthy requires a little preparation!  I use my slow cooker very very frequently.  It's just so easy!  Today I have 2 pork tenderloin pieces, so I throw them into the slow cooker, top with a mixture of about 1/4 cup of organic apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp of worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp of ground red peppers.  Then just cook on low for the next 7-8 hours.  Total preparation time:  about 2 minutes.

1:30 pm:  Make some tea and chill for a bit.  Drink equivalent to about 20 oz of water.

3:30 pm:  Lunch time!  I had some left overs from earlier in the week.  So I just heat it up.  It is 3 oz of slow cooked chicken breast (in balsamic vinegar and whatever spices I had on my spice rack), with about 4 oz of sweet potatoes (cooked along with the chicken in slow cooker).  Add about 1 oz of avocado.  Throw on some dashes of salt.  Delish.  I take my multi-vitamin pill with this meal.

4:00 pm:  Head out to get coffee at the Farmer's Market at the Grove (bring my 24 oz water bottle with me and drink along the way).  Coffee Corner makes a great latte.  Look around at the farmer's market without buying anything.  Then go to the stores right next door to browse some more.  Try stuff on at Nordstrom.  Play with gadgets at the Apple store.  Look at pretty shoes at the Nike store.  Browse at the Splendid store and wish I could afford it all lol.  Go into Athleta for 2 minutes with good intentions and leave immediately (happens every time, I just can't get into this brand).  Walk past Banana Republic and Zara, really want to go inside but I was with company that didn't!  Ugh.  

6:00 pm:  Snack time!  I have 2 more meals to fit into the day - the Greek yogurt snack and dinner.  Since I was out, it was hard to get Greek yogurt.  But no worries, I brought along my Questbar - raspberry white chocolate flavor.  I don't eat protein bars very often at all, but it is handy to have them in my purse, at home, and at work, in case I need it.  Again, it's all about planning ahead!  I like Questbars because they use natural ingredients.  They are high in protein (20g for this flavor!) and high in fiber (17g).  Fat at 8g is a little high for my macro.  But this is the best bar I've found.

7:00 pm:  Go to Trader Joe's next door and get groceries for the following week.  I usually buy chicken breasts, turkey, pork tenderloin, beef top sirloin, veggies, eggs, yogurt, and whatever replenishment I need for bread, rice, potatoes, almond butter, etc.  For a healthier snack, I always grab the dried seaweed sheets, and sometimes chili dried mangos.

8:00 pm:  Back at home!  The pork tenderloin I threw in the slow cooker earlier in the day is now ready!  I smell it as soon as I walk in the door.  Yum!  So I turn it to "keep warm" setting, and shred the pork with 2 forks.  Done in 1 minute!

Drink some water - about 8 oz.  I'm thirsty since I finished my bottle while I was out.

8:15 pm:  I toast my 100 calorie whole wheat sandwich bun, and measure 6 oz of pork.  Mix it with Trader Joe's BBQ sauce, top with 1 oz of avocado, and eat it like a pulled pork sandwich.

I have my Vitamin C pill, fish oil pills and zinc pill with this meal.

I have a cheat meal once a week, usually on either Saturday or Sunday night.  This time I was planning on having it on Sunday night, so I stayed in on Saturday.  It saves a lot of money actually lol.

9:00 pm:  Go watch Gravity in 3D.  Mehhhh... not sure what the buzz is all about.  I get a bottle of water at the theater so I don't die of thirst during the movie.  I go get a drink afterwards.  Not really supposed to do that, but I've worked hard!  One small drink to indulge!  I get a cucumber martini because I can't stay away from any drinks made with cucumber for some reason.  It was great.  I drank about 3/4 of it only and gave the rest to my companion.  :)

12:30 am:  Back home.  Take my probiotics, have my magnesium drink, and go to bed!

Monday 10/28

6:00 am:  Alarm goes off... dammit it's Monday again.  Snooze my phone angrily.

6:30 am:  Crawl out of bed, very grudgingly I might add.  Late, as usual.  My intern asked me once why I can't get up 10 minutes earlier.  I have no idea!!!  

7:00 am:  Head to work.  Hoping my boss is not there before me.

7:20 am:  Walk in.  He's there.  Great.  Time for my probiotics.  Drink 20 oz of water.

8:00 am:  Breakfast!  I made pancakes the night before and brought it to work with me!  I blended in 2 oz of banana instead of 1/4 cup of blueberries this time.  I love banana flavor in pancake batter.  No pineapple either since banana is higher cal.  So I just heat it up in the microwave for a minute and eat.

Take my Vitamin C pill with this meal.  Drink 20 oz of water for the next couple hours.

9:30 am:  Starbucks!  My Starbucks app on my phone likes to start reminding me at 9 am.  I get my usual tall Pike with a little bit of whole milk and stevia.

10:30 am:  I have my 5 oz of Fage Greek yogurt with 1/4 cup worth of blueberries and raspberries.

Then I take my magnesium drink, and fill my water bottle with water and drink 20 oz worth before lunch.  It's really easier to drink water if you portion it out.

1:00 pm:  The menu at work is Moroccan style chicken today.  Like!  So I go get it.  As usual, I get a side salad, top it with their mixture of sliced cucumbers, artichoke, and sun dried tomatoes.  Get the chicken, which is topped with green olives and dried apricot.  Couscous on the side with mint and pine nuts in it - great, there's my carb and fat source for this meal.  About half a cup eyeballed.  And a grilled vegetable skewer.  I actually measured the chicken to 3 oz exactly - of course I keep a food scale at work!  I don't rinse off the chicken this time because it's grilled and rubbed with salt and turmeric.

It must be noted that I only get the food at my work when they are offering healthier options.  Fish and chicken are always great.  But sometimes they make cheeseburgers or burritos and I pass.  I can always ask them to make me a turkey sandwich or salad, so there are always lots of options.  But I nearly always stay away from the dessert table.

Continue drinking 20 oz of water for the next couple hours!

2:00 pm:  Get back to work from lunch, take my multi-vitamin pill.  Drink 20 oz more of water in the next few hours.

3:30 pm:  Get my green smoothie from the fridge that I brought in in the morning.  Mix it with my protein powder in shaker cup again.  Drink it and then take Vitamin C pill.  Continue drinking more water.

4:30 pm:  Leave work and head to the gym.  It's lower body huge circuit day.  I do 6 lower body exercises back to back without rest.  Then rest for 2 minutes.  Then repeat 3 more times.  Then 30 minutes of cardio intervals.

6:30 pm:  Done with this shiat.

7:00 pm:  Walk in the door.  Heat up my cast iron grill while making brown rice in rice cooker.  I have some bell peppers which I slice up, add some frozen edamame, and cook them for a while in the pan.  Cast iron grill is now heated enough.  I throw on about 4 oz of top sirloin (salt and pepper on it is all that is needed) and cook a few minutes per side.  I like it medium rare.

7:45 pm:  Rice and meat are done at around the same time.  I eat them along with the veggies I cooked and 1 oz of avocado.  It's so freaking good.

I take my Vitamin C, fish oil pills, and zinc pill.

8:30 pm:  Shower time.

9:00 pm:  Watch Person of Interest while drinking tea.  I have so much tea.

10:00 pm:  Prepare for tomorrow's dinner!  I put 3 pieces of chicken breasts into the slow cooker.  Top it with red wine vinegar mixed with random spices from spice rack (oregano, basil, parsley, mint, bay leaves, salt & pepper).  Dice up some potatoes, and throw them in too.  Cook on low overnight.  It will be ready the next morning before I leave for work, during which time I switch the setting from "low" to "keep warm" where it will stay all day until I get home from work and eat it.

This meal is actually great because I can have it for dinner or lunch, or both.  I make a lot so it lasts a few days.

11:00 pm:  Take my probiotic, my magnesium citrate drink, and get ready for bed.  I always have good intentions of going to bed earlier but it rarely happens.

So... my life is pretty boring, isn't it??  HAHA!  Perhaps next time I should post about my cheat meal!  But anyway, this is pretty much my routine 90% of the time.  As I said above, eating healthy requires planning ahead.  But it's really not that hard.  It doesn't have to take a lot of time to make meals, and it doesn't have to include weird ingredients or under-whelming flavors.  You CAN have a full time job, workout at least 5 days a week, and still make your own healthy and yummy food.  Make better food choices every time you are at the grocery store or out at a restaurant.  It's totally do-able!  I hope I helped answer some of your questions!

Sunday Funday!

Last week felt so weird, since I went to work on Monday, then took off Tuesday to go to the super fun Fitness Magazine Meet and Tweet event, then went back to work for 3 more days.  Sometimes short work weeks feel much longer than full work weeks.  It's so weird.  Although I think this was the first week I had in a while that I didn't lift weights 5 days in a row!  The last couple weeks, with traveling and whatnot, I've had to do that to fit all my workouts in and it was a bit too much.  I was so happy to go back to my 3 days on -- 1 day off -- 2 days on -- 1 day off schedule.  I am seeing slow changes from all this heavy lifting in my legs.  They are getting slightly leaner and a little more muscular, but for some reason my arms are not really changing.  I work them hard too!  They need to seriously catch up.  Some people naturally have better definitions in their arms and some in their legs, and I get that it's hard to have both.  But I'm beginning to feel like my arms will just never ever get any real definition.  So annoyed!  Grrrrrr....

Monday 10/21
What I did:  Lower body weight circuit and then cardio.  I say this every time, but I hate this workout lol.  I'm tired of these hip thrusts that I have to do.  I have to do these "rest-pause" sets, where I basically do 10 reps, rest 10 seconds, then 12 reps, rest 10 seconds, then 12 reps again.  That counts as ONE set!  I do 4 sets of these in both the Monday leg workout and the Friday leg workout.  I use 100 lbs barbell which feels easy at first but after a while it just kills my legs, then I walk away shaky... I used to do just straight sets of 12 or 15, with 145 lbs but it never felt that hard.  These rest-pauses... ugh.  I also hate this workout because people look at me funny lol.

What I wore:  Lululemon No Limit tank in flash with Empower crop in coal/passion and Adidas adizero adios 2 shoes.  I hadn't worn these shoes in a while!

Tuesday 10/22

What I did:  My shoulder/tri weights workout.  I was going to do cardio afterwards but I got up too late so I ran out of time.  I had to get my butt to Santa Monica for the Meet and Tweet!

What I wore:  Lululemon Power Y tank in three print, with Lululemon Mod Moves crop in afterglo and Brooks Pure Drift shoes.

Here's a better angle for the crops!

As to and from, since nobody wants to buy my Define jacket in pow pink, I decided to wear it lol.  Maybe I should just keep it anyway, it's cute.

Wednesday 10/23

What I did:  Back and bi weights.  I actually like this one a lot because I get to do my unassisted chin-ups and weighted negative pull-ups.  I just feel like those are really good for me and I feel strong doing them!  I did cardio after.

What I wore:  Lululemon Flow and Go tank in faded zap with Lululemon Ebb & Flow crops in black, and my new Nike Free Bionics in purple.  I decided I should keep both these shoes and the Adidas shoes!  Lol!  Buuuutttt... I just got an email from Fitness Magazine regarding my annual shoe test which I plan to do again.  That means I'll be getting 3 pairs of free shoes!  Soooo I should probably return both of the ones I just bought... I don't even have enough room to store all my shoes as it is!  Nike lets you return shoes even if you've worn them, but Adidas doesn't.  So luckily I have only worn the Nikes.  We'll see.  They do go perfectly with faded zap!  But not many other things I own...

Thursday 10/24 - Rest day... woohoo!  So it has finally cooled down here in LA, and I could wear sweater over dress shirts again without sweating my butt off.  Not that special, but one of my favorites since it's so comfy.  I wore my Express V Neck sweater in olive green over an old Express button down shirt, and Express wide waistband Editor pants in charcoal.  I wore my Donald J Pliner Pausha shoes to work everyday last week!  I love the color and how versatile they are.  They are also super comfy.

Friday 10/25

What I did:  Second leg workout of the week.  Then cardio!

What I wore:  Tried on my new tank that I got from the Meet and Tweet!  The Heidi Klum New Balance vision tank, with Lorna Jane Duo bra under it, and Yogasmoga Run Jump n' Play crops.  Adidas shoes to match the tank.  This tank was super comfy and the light and flowy material kept me cool during cardio.  I love it!  I also think it looks great with the LJ bra.

For a quick dinner bite on Friday night, I wore my other freebie from the Meet and Tweet - the Roxy Daybreak LS tee!  I think I am in love with this top.  It's soooo cute!  Totally shows off the back of your cute tanks too.  So of course I wore my floral back tank from Nordstrom that I got years ago.  It's getting colder here, but not THAT cold... like from 90 to 70 degrees!  Hehe... so I wore my Abercrombie Kirstie shorts with Naughty Monkey Jump Start boots.

Saturday 10/26

What I did:  My last weight workout of the week!  Upper body super sets.  Then last cardio session as well.

What I wore:  Lululemon swiftly racerback in spry blue with Lululemon Centered Energy bra in flash under, and Splits59 Nova carpi tights and black Nike Free Bionics.

I like the stripes down the side of the tights... looks sporty.

I finally took the tag off of my Lululemon Nice Asana jacket in plum.  I just love the style and color of this jacket, so even though it was kind of pricey, I'll keep it anyways.  I haven't bought anything from Lululemon lately anyways and there's nothing I want in the near future... I think... :)

That's all for this week!  Can't wait to start over again tomorrow lol.  Have a good night everyone!

Karma Rosa Dress - Super Cute!

I got this Karma Rosa dress, new with tag, on ebay for like 10 bucks including shipping lol.  I've seen this brand in some of my yoga/pilates studios, as well as Nordstrom here.  But I have never tried anything from them.  I did get a Karma tank and scarf which I am selling, from my big lot purchase from ebay a while ago.  But I haven't actually worn them.  The tank feels super comfy on though, it's like this seamless material and fits great.  But the print is not my kinda thing.  This Rosa dress I got is super cute though.  It is a size XS.  It is definitely figure hugging, but thankfully not too tight.  It's made in Canada too.

I am not really a fan of asymmetrical hem on dresses, but I actually like it on this one.  I also like that the shoulders are different on each side as well.  I especially love the little cutout on the back.  It's made of soft cotton.  I think the overall cut of this dress is very flattering.  So, I pretty much love everything about this dress.  10 bucks!!!  Can't beat that price.  

Too bad it's finally getting cooler here!  I might have to wait a while before I can wear this dress!  Unless I might be able to get away with wearing it to work with a cardigan or jacket over, since the length is long enough and the front covers up quite a bit.  I have to stare at my clothes for a while and see what will work with it!  So exciting.  :)

Fitness Magazine Meet and Tweet LA Event Recap!

What a day it was yesterday at the Fitness Magazine sponsored Meet and Tweet event here in LA!  It was held at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica.  The weather was absolutely perfect!  I thought it might have been a bit overcast, but it was mid 70s, clear and sunny skies!

The event took place upstairs of the beach house, and the above photo is taken from the balcony area down to the pool area where all the vendors were set up on both sides of the pool.  Lunch was also served there.

I ended up wearing my blue Splits59 ginger crops with white burnout Under Armour Achieve tank and Lululemon Free To Be bra in laceoflage under it, also my bright orange Nikes!

I also wore my Hardtail open-back hoodie in the beginning but it wasn't necessary at all:

The event started at 11 am and ended at 4, with lunch time between 12:30 - 2 during which time you could go visit all the vendor booths by the pool.  I have no idea how many bloggers they invited, but I'd guess around 70 - 80.  They had 2 guest speakers for the morning session - Tony Horton (creator of P90X) and Alyse Levine (Nutritionist).  They each talked for about 45 minutes.  I got stuck in worse-than-predicted LA traffic on the way there so I missed the beginning of Tony Horton's talk.  When I got there, he was talking about the benefit of interval training and resistance training.  I couldn't believe it when he said he was 55 years old!  He looks at least 10 years younger, if not more.  He talked about eating whole foods, scheduling minimum 22 workouts a month (I've been averaging 26 workouts a month since May!), and not to be afraid of carbs.  He was a good speaker, and gave good info.  But none of it was new to me.

Alyse Levine gave 2 good tips.  She talked about not counting calories, and changing our perception of food groups.  i.e. "good" and "bad" foods.  She was all about "listening to your body".  No set standards, just eat more one day if you feel hungry, and eat less when you don't.  Do not deprive yourself so there won't be cravings and you won't experience the yo-yo diet effect.  Of course, I think that is easier said than done.  Somebody actually asked how she can tell if she is really hungry or if the feeling of hunger is triggered by something else, such as boredom, depression, etc.  She said the best test is the fruit test.  If you are feeling hungry and a piece of fruit sounds good to you, it's probably an indicator that your body is really hungry.  If you only want candy or chips, then you probably aren't.  That's interesting to me.  I think I should test this theory out!  She also gave a tip about portion control - divide your plate into 4 somewhat equal portions.  Eat each portion at a time, then take a little break and reassess.  Am I still hungry?  Or am I eating because there is food in front of me and I am on autopilot?  I think this is a good way to control your intake, and I will put that to practice as well!

After lunch, they had Harley Pasternak (celebrity trainer) and 4 popular bloggers:  Cassey Ho (Blogilates), Sarah Moore (Skinny Runner), Monica Olivas (Run Eat Repeat) and Whitney Lauritsen (Eco Vegan Gal).  Harley Pasternak talked about the benefit of having smoothies vs. juicing which strips the nutrients.  He also talked about not being a fan of crossfit/bootcamp type of classes because of the level of injuries that can occur from people performing exercises in bad form.  He said that he would never let any of his clients do push-ups, which I thought was interesting.  His reasoning was that we are all stronger in the front than back because we're constantly hunched over.  So he'd have all his clients focus on making the back side stronger.  Then I got to thinking... hey that's interesting, my trainer never has me perform any chest exercises either.  But I'm working my back like a maniac!  I actually liked Harley Pasternak a lot.  

The bloggers were very nice, and they were talking about all kinds of things you could do to make money from blogging and do it full-time.  Such as getting sponsorships from companies, different ads to use, and building a social media presence.  You know, I started my blog purely for fun and I didn't even put any ads up for years.  But the idea of being able to blog and get paid enough from it to live off of is pretty cool.  I could be wearing yoga clothes all day and sit outside in the sun!  Go to the gym during non-peak hours, and have much more time to prepare food... hehe.  But, blogging is actually a lot of work.  A post you can read in a couple minutes takes much longer to compose.  For now, I have to balance the time I spend on it vs other things, since I only have 2-3 hours of free time in the evening after I'm done with work and gym.  I try to post every other day, but it is definitely not enough if I want to do it for a living!  So it's kind of a catch 22. 

Anyways!  So aside from the speakers, the other details of the event were nicely done as well.  I am a huge huge fan of infused waters - I have 2 water bottles that allow you go put fruit pieces in... lol!  So I was thrilled to see this:

The orange and strawberry one was soooo good!

They kept filling up the waters all day so we could stay hydrated.  Much appreciated!!!  I do not go anywhere without my water bottle, and I was considering bringing 2 with me since I drink 4 liters of water a day.  Then I figured they would probably provide water bottles.  Well, this was way better than expected!

They also had these pretty bouquets with fruit skewers in them, made of strawberries, black berries, blue berries and raspberries!  Also yummy granola bars.

Lunch was soooo good as well!  It starts with a shrimp salad - can't go wrong from there.  They had roasted tomates and beans as side.  Chicken and salmon as entree, and this amazing garlicky hummus and toasted crispy bread as well.  Dessert was fruits and cookies.  Everything was so yummy!

My plate, which I loaded with all 3 protein choices lol:

On top of it all, the vendors had tons of swag to hand out to us at lunch time when we visited their booths, in addition to the big gift bag we got at the end!  It was amazing!  I left with a bunch of stuff!  It was also a great time to mingle and meet other bloggers.  Everybody was so nice, I met some awesome ladies!  Oh yeah, the women to men ratio there was like 99-1.  Hahaha!

Here's everything but the clothes... I like the big tote bag they came in as well.

As you can see, I got Saucony Guide 7 shoes, Oakley aviator sunglasses, Birkenstocks, beach towel, this bed of nails roller, lots of Dermalogica products, other beauty products, snacks, bars, headbands, and an awesome Camelbak waterbottle.

These are cute and on the sporty side, came with a nice case too!

This Bed of Nails roller looks intense...

Roxy was one of the vendors there.  I didn't even know they made workout clothes!  But they were so generous to give out 1 top and 1 bottom piece.  They had crops and full length tights for bottoms.  They had bras, tanks, long sleeve shirts and jackets for tops.  They were like puffy jackets too!  Looked super warm.  I have no need for something like that.  I actually really like the crops!  They are called Get Faster Crop, in a charcoal gray color called castlerock.  I got size S and I think they fit well.  The price tag says $72 retail.  They are very comfy, but not super compressive.  The zipper pocket is on the front of the waistband vs the back like everybody else does.  There are reflective lines on both sides, and I think they are a flattering cut. They have something that looks very similar to Lululemon's circle mesh on the back of the legs for ventilation.  

I also got their awesome long sleeve top from Roxy!  It's called Daybreak LS Tee and I loooooove the back!  It's also super soft on the inside.  Feels like Lululemon's brushed luxtreme, but thicker.  Love the color too, it's called grape juice.  Also got size small.  Price tag says $48.  Not bad at all!

Lastly, I got this Heidi Klum for New Balance tank called Vision Tank.  I didn't know Heidi Klum had a New Balance line either!  They had this tank in black and red.  I picked red, but black was also very pretty.  It's a super lightweight and flowy material, with cords that you can tie on the hem.  No built in bra, so you can wear your own.  I like the design of this tank.  This is a size small.

Athleta was one of the vendors as well.  But they didn't give us any of their gear.  They had a rack of clothing you can try on and take a picture with to post on one of your social media sites with a certain hash tag.  Then you are eligible to enter to win a gift card.  So I did it.  I picked their brightest top!  Hehe.  It actually felt pretty nice on.  It's one of those seamless styles which is also a comfortable knit material.  Here I am in it!

Hmmm I think that's about it for the event recap!  They ended the day with a 3 mile run on the beach.  But I skipped it... LOL!  I did go workout in the morning before I went there though!  So I didn't want to stay till rush hour and sit in my car forever to get home.  

It was such a great event!  I had tons of fun, and I can't wait to try out all the cool stuff I got!  That definitely beat going to work on a Tuesday.  :)

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