get sweaty

{for this week's workout wednesday post, I've asked my very cool friend Nena to create a workout playlist! Nena is one of the fittest girls I know, and she's known throughout our social circles as the person with the coolest [and most extensive] taste in music! you can find her music blog on tumblr, and her hilarious thoughts on life on twitter. enjoy!}

Hello everybody! My name is Nena. I am a 20-year-old Sociology major/ German Language minor who has a thirst for good tunes and for being active. When the beautiful and lovely Robin asked me to be a guest writer on her rad blog, I was beyond stoked. To top it off, she asked me to write about my two favorite topics in the universe: music and working out (or well, more specifically, music to listen to while working out).

There is no doubt in my mind having the perfect playlist can immensely improve your workout . Listening to upbeat music has been proven to motivate you to put in more effort, it keeps you focused and a good beat can really help you keep a steady pace. I find that the playlist people listen to while they get their sweat-on can be a very personal thing. Everyone likes a variety of different genres and I've found that different songs work differently for the type of work out as well.

The playlist I have crafted for you today is categorized for the different stages of a good full body workout, including a warm-up, cardio, lifting and a cool down. I tried to mix up the genres and keep it fresh 2 death to tickle the fancy of all of you fit readers (Did I mention your ass looks great? Must be all those stairs you did listening to awesome jams eh?) Also I’m just going to do a shameless plug here and say all the tunes are soundcloud links. Soundcloud is seriously (in my opinion) the best listening/streaming site out there. If you make an account here you can make your own playlist or follow this 1-hour Get Sweaty Playlist that I made specifically for this post! Okay - now down to the nitty gritty (and sweaty?)!

warm up

Latch (Disclosure) - the lovely voice of Sam Smith and the endless talent of the 2 Disclosure brothers never fails to get me ready for a killer sweat.

cardio

Sunshower (Rusko) - annnnnd now its time to get in a groove. Falling into step with this fresh off the press Rusko track is like second nature.

Green Gardens (Djemba Djemba) - this remix of a great original makes for a great cardio pusher

Girls (The 1975) - changing the pace with some good British rock boys and a dance jam can get me motivated like no other

Inspector Norse (Todd Terje) - nu-Disco has this way of getting me into a cardio trance.

Go (Grimes) - Grimes and Blood Diamonds wrote this jam for Rhianna who turned it down and I cant imagine why ?!!?!?! The trap break down can get anyone goin 3hunnit.

All Good (Av Av Av) - keep on going with the smooth as butter track by Av Av Av will have you running longer than you ever thought you could

Feel of Love (i-D) - feel the love. The love of the feeling of pushing your body to the limits.

Cloudy (Feel so Real) - the endless groove you’ll be in after this jam will have you wanting to keep going FOREVER!

lifting

Push 'Em Up (Boyz Noize) - PUSH UP THOSE WEIGHTS. I KNOW YOU CAN DO ONE MORE.

Fancy Remix (Iggy Azalea) - hard twist on the song of the summer to get you lifting more than you ever thought you could

Affection (Crystal Castles) - trap remix of the year. Hits hard and so do you

Rock U Tonite (Wave Racer) - the synth drop for ultimate motivation

Shabba (A$AP Ferg) - the bass beats got you like “do you even lift bro?

Gibberi$h (Zooly) - ~LETS GO~ this track hits harder than any weight out there. FINISH OFF STRONG.

cool down

As We Strive (TWOS) - wow good work out! You were really striving for greatness *high five*

Amazing workout! Find the Get Sweaty Playlist on Soundcloud.

Huge thanks to Robin for featuring me today! Hopefully I'll be back with another playlist soon! 

workout must haves

I'm not going to look like a frump when I'm working out, and that's that. I'm much less likely to get moving if I feel less-than-pretty while doing it. Solution? Cute workout clothing.

cute waterbottle - comfy shorts - warm zip-up - cushioned shoes - pretty gym bag

Those are my must-haves. What are yours?

how to get up early to work out

I am SOO not a morning person. At all. Buuut... I much prefer being finished my workout early in the day so that I can have fun in the evening. Getting up before work to work out has proven to be incredibly challenging. So here is how to get up early to fit in a work out in 15 easy steps.

1. set around 500 alarms the night before.

2. tell your roommate to call you at 5:45 am so that you really can't avoid the workout

3. argue with your roommate about why she should get up at the crack of dawn just to make sure that you do.

4. learn to deal with the fact that you're an adult and have to be responsible for your own wake up times.

5. go to bed really, really early. so you can get up at the earliest time of day and feel energized and ready.

6. Lay in bed for 45 minutes wishing you could fall asleep.

7. Watch 3 episodes of Sex and the City since you can't sleep anyways. Start drifting off as you contemplate whether you love or hate Miranda.

8. Wake up to your first of 500 alarms. Turn off all of your alarms because you're sooo going to get out of...

9. Wake up an hour later and realize you totally haven't made it out of bed yet. If you get up now, you can still fit in a 45 minute Zumba video before work.

10. Bargain with yourself for fifteen minutes. If you just get up and go for a light jog for 30 minutes, you can totally have the full-fat latte at Starbucks.

11. Holy crap, now you've only got half an hour. If you really think about it, you can only work out for 20 minutes because you have to get ready for work after and you really don't want to be late.

12. Maybe you can fit in a quick power walk. You did wake up early, after all.

13. Nah. Decide that if you just eat healthy for the day and try to walk a lot while at work, you can skip the work out.

14. Sleep for 15 extra minutes.

15. Have the full-fat latte at Starbucks anyways. Decide you'll start tomorrow because "Thursdays are a better day to start a fitness/diet regimen anyways."

reward

Kind of embarrassingly, I respond to reward/punishment systems really well.

When I was a student (all of those many days ago), I constantly had to reward myself for successfully studying. If I studied hard for an hour, I could watch a 20-minute episode of Family Guy. If I wrote a page of a research paper, I could watch a few YouTube videos. You know. I'm basically Skinner's pet.

It's kind of the same thing for weight-loss for me - every five pounds, I reward myself with a non-food gift of at least $25. If I work out 6 days a week, I get a little me-time (aka - nail polish, at-home-facial, hair mask, etc). If I eat healthy for 6.5 days a week, I get a cheat-night where I don't have to count calories and it's all guilt free.

Right now I'm working towards this eyeliner from MAC.

How do you motivate yourself to keep it up?

remotivate

About a year ago, I hit an incredible milestone. I had lost 100 pounds. I didn't use any programs, any diet pills or any juice cleanses. It was just me + myfitnesspal + paying close attention to what I was eating... and, obviously, exercise.

This was a huge accomplishment, and I was incredibly proud. It took me about a year and two months.

When school got out that spring, and I no longer had random gaps in my schedule, it became harder to go to the gym. I was also working more, which meant that I could afford to eat out more often. In addition to that, my anxiety began to grow (for seemingly no reason) and food became a comfort source once again for me. The pounds began to creep back up on me, and by the end of the summer I had put on about 40 pounds. That's TEN pounds a month.

When school started again in September, I committed to taking better care of myself again, but it became harder and harder as much anxiety blew itself completely out of control. Over the 8 months of school that just passed, I gained about 30 pounds. Which means I've gained 70 of that 100 pounds back - and I hate it. I want to get back into it. I'm in a wedding in August and I want to be happy to be in wedding pictures, not ashamed and hiding behind others.

So I've re-started my journey yesterday - it's hard because I'm going through a breakup and I'm broke. But there will always be excuses and I can't let that get in my way! Soooo... I've decided to start another series on my blog! /Weightloss/Workout Wednesdays! And today's post is about my three favourite ways to motivate yourself to work out.

Find a buddy: working out with friends, for me, means that a) I'll actually go to the gym and b) that I get to have fun while working out! I think it's been shown that working out with friends can really improve one's fitness.

Get some great music: I cannot do cardio without music. Right now, my go-to workout music includes Stars Dance (Selena Gomez), Fancy (Iggy Azalea) and Grown Woman (Beyonce).

Use an app: I use myfitnesspal (find me! my username is robineyy). It's an awesome, user-friendly app and website. It also syncs up with a Fitbit or newly a Jawbone Up (and I'm thinking of getting one!). It's great to have an online weight loss community to keep you accountable and it's also great to have as a guide for food and fitness.

So those are my re-motivation tips! What are yours?

thoughts for today

Honestly, it's a tough gig to be a girl sometimes. The media puts us in the business of comparison and jealousy - a pressure that makes it challenging to love yourself.

Lately I've been really unhappy with my physical appearance. It's been really weighing me down. I was telling my best friend about how unhappy I am, and he asked me "when do you think you'll be happy with yourself?" 

When I'm perfect.

And let's face it: that day is never going to come. I'm never, ever going to be perfect. The standards I've set for myself are actually completely unattainable. But I can't let go of this feeling that I'll always need to be something better. At what point can I just be happy with who I am? I think it is important to aim for growth, to aim for a better version of yourself, to learn and to be changed by life. But I think it's also important to be happy with yourself at each stage.

How do I re-motivate myself to aim for a healthier life without putting myself through horrible circumstances again? As some of you may know, when I'd lost 70 pounds, I had done a lot of that (at least half) by starving myself. I struggled so much with anorexia and if I ever ate "too much," I would workout ridiculously hard to make up for it. This behaviour was reinforced by everyone telling me how great I looked. I was much more confident, but I was never satisfied.

So this time, I want to make sure I'm doing it the healthy way. It's really easy for me to become uninspired when I don't immediately see results. I don't know how to start over. I don't know how to love myself where I'm at. But these are my thoughts for today.

Turn up the Workout

I've been back from Hawaii for just about a month, and I'd been struggling a lot with getting back to the gym/nutrition routine. I decided to make a new workout playlist to get inspired! Happy running!

taken from Pinterest

June 2013 Workout Playlist

1. Wop - J. Dash ft. Flo Rida

2. Come & Get It - Selena Gomez

3. Ooh La La - Britney Spears

4. Live It Up - Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull

5. Tonight I'm Getting Over You - Carly Rae Jepsen

6. The Other Side - Jason Derulo

7. I Love It - Icona Pop

What songs inspire you to get your sweat on?

Flaws and All

It's officially summer - I can tell because I have no idea what day of the week it is without consulting my calendar first! Turns out it's Monday. My weekend was kind of awesome. Sunday especially was all kinds of perfection.

My ex-small-group and I were in a race in the very early morning - although I'd registered for the 10K, I ended up running the 5K. The proceeds went to the Zebra Child Protection Agency and we had a crazy fun time. I shaved 5 MINUTES off of my 5K time, and then we enjoyed Dilly bars and weird country music while cheering on the marathoners.

We then took an hour drive to a place we all love very dearly - the Charest ranch. The Charests are the nicest and most generous people I've ever met.

We spent a few hours out there; hanging out with the Charests, sunbathing and enjoying technology-free outdoorsyness (check out my sunburn on the right!) and then we played a question-answer game. One question was "if you were a present to yourself, what would you be and why?"

Immediately, my mind started racing. What do I want most? Glitter? Perfect nails? Black Toms? A Victoria's Secret gift card? As my mind filtered through the list of things on my "want" list, a clear answer popped into my head... The perfect gift for me would be self acceptance.

My self confidence has been at an all-time low recently - it's weird because my weight has also been at an all-time low, but no matter what I cannot feel satisfied with me. I'm constantly evaluating how ugly, stupid or imperfect I am and it is so draining. I need to find a way to love me - flaws and all.

So you tell me...

If you were a present to yourself, what would you be and why?

growing and shrinking pains!

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated ye ol' blog. I am finished my third year of university! amazing that God has gotten me this far and that I haven't given up or committed myself to a mental institution - but my brain feels far beyond capacity right now haha
The last few weeks have been painful but wonderful for me. I gave up a truly ungodly relationship, and though God has met me right there and my walk has picked up again, I'm a little lonely. I'm learning to rely on God for that need to be filled. But with friends getting engaged and in serious relationships I can't lie - I'm getting pretty jealous.
Another thing I need to work through... I've lost 35 pounds! I still have a ways to go but along this weight loss/health journey I'm certain I've started to develop an eating disorder. I cannot seem to stop comparing my body/hair/smile/eyes/clothes/height/strength to other girls and it's hard. Some days I struggle to eat at all, and on days that I eat "too much" (ie: over 1400 calories) I work myself out ridiculously hard. I'm trying to be healthy but I feel like in many ways this good thing has become a seriously troublesome thing. I can't eat in public without feeling like everybody is staring at me. Fat girls seen eating = frowned upon.
My exams only ended today so hopefully I'll be able to pray through loneliness/jealousy/eating problems now that my head isn't stuck in a textbook.
suggestions?

In 2012 I Resolve To

1. Be real in my faith by constant prayer + adoration, and by choosing to serve the Lord instead of my selfish desires.

2. Stop eating beef - beef production is one of the leading causes of global warming.

3. Stop drinking pop - that stuff's nasty. Still don't know if this includes iced tea.

4. Seek to be Galatians 5:22-23 + seek the spirit's leading in this!

5. Create a budget and stick to it.

6. End an unhealthy friendship that I should no longer be maintaining.

7. Put on a purity ring + mean it as a commitment to God.

8. Stop biting my nails.

Turning In

Today I was out for a run, and I suddenly noticed my heart was totally in a state of worship. It was really amazing, and I've never realized how beautiful the trail that I used to run every Thursday after chemistry was. God's creation is so amazing, and sometimes I wonder how I can ever stay in one place while there is still SO much of His creation left to see!

Dean is still ignoring me. It hurts so much, and I just don't know how to handle it. It is really comforting to know that God knows how I feel. I've been thinking about Hosea 2:13 where it says:

"'she went after her lovers, but me she forgot,' Declares the LORD".

I know that I live this way so often. I don't want to hurt God like that anymore. I want to live for Him in every minute of my life. Sometimes this means giving up little things, like a TV show that doesn't bring Him glory. Sometimes, it means giving up bigger things, like a friendship that drags you away from God's purpose. I'm thinking about denying myself. Wow, and here I thought I didn't have anything to blog about today! I feel like I have lots to think about too.

I'm so excited to spend my next 2 months at Welcome Harbour. I feel like my soul is going to be so very healthy after this summer. I just wanna live for Him, and grow closer to Him. I want my faith to be stronger after this summer.

I want to see God this summer.