Hi there! I hope your Tuesday is off to a good start! So far so good over here! I started the day on my yoga mat this morning and had some unexpected four-legged company.

 One with a baseball ready to play fetch.

And the other stalled out, waiting to be pet. Oh how I love these guys.

For some reason, every time I roll out my mat they both seem to think its play time for them. They make every practice an even happier one, so I’m okay with their large paws intruding my downward dog space. Maybe I should check out Ruff Yoga after all.

Anyway, this weeks Tip of The Week Tuesday post involves activity and exercise. I want to encourage you to mix it up and do the things that you enjoy doing whether it be hitting the gym hard five days a week or walking in your neighborhood when you get home from work. Do any activity that makes you happy.

Dustin and I usually workout together five to six days a week. Four of those days are spent in the gym lifting weights and the other two are spent doing some sort of cardio or yoga. At the end of last week, however, both of us felt as if our bodies needed a break. Because of that we decided to listen to our bodies, take a week away from the gym and spend this week doing things that are still active and challenging but are far from any gym experience.

By mixing it up and taking a little bit of time away, you will not only allow your body a chance to recover and replenish, but you will also allow your brain and soul a chance to become reinspired, reinvigorated and avoid burnout. It’s easy to get into a fitness/exercise routine, repeating the same thing day in and day out, but we should always question whether or not what we are doing is making us happy? Are we enjoying the time we spend exercising? Or are we dreading it every single day, knowing that any day could be our last day that we actually show up, press play or take off. It’s not just about the long term goal of “getting healthier” or “losing weight,” it’s in the journey that we grow, learn and live.

Yesterday we took the pups to the park for what was supposed to be 30 minutes of sprint sets, but unfortunatley not even five minutes in, the hot Georgia heat caused our two rambunctious, non-stop Boxers to move at a snails pace. Luckily they were able to participate in a light jog, so I stayed behind with them while the hub took off. It’s a lot of fun to included the pups in our daily fitness time. Today we grabbed the bikes and hit the fields; they were so excited to join in on the excitement, not only that but to get a little dirty too!

 Sometimes it’s just fun to wonder – to have no plan and to feel like a kid again. Running, moving, dancing, biking – whatever it may be, just mixing it up and keeping it fun.

How about you – are you the type to hit the gym everyday with a set plan and no time for play like us normally, or are you like us this week, listening to your body – doing whatever it feels that day? It certainly feels good to go with the flow and simply enjoy the journey.

I hope you have a great afternoon!

Good health!

The post TOTW Tuesday: Mix It Up appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.

Good morning! Happy hump day! My week sure is flying. What about yours?

Like I mentioned in yesterdays post, I packed another suitcase and joined the hubby back on the road last night. I am an expert bag packer at this point, although I think the hub might disagree. He is highly annoyed with my multiple bag habit – and by multiple I mean about eleven or twelve bags. Instead of packing everything in one large suitcase, I like to keep things separate and pack in many small bags. You know, a bag of toiletries, a shoe bag, a snack bag, a camera bag, an educational bag (computer, books, magazines, pens, etc.), a clothes bag, a bathing suit bag and on and on. I’m sure that’s how you pack too – I don’t know why he doesn’t like my incredibly organized packing skills. And although I did a little better this trip, last night as we were unloading the car, I was accused of packing bricks in my bags. I just can’t win: pack it all in one = too heavy; pack it in multiples = I have too many bags. I know he loves me anyway

Breakfast this morning featured (of course) a few add ins from my “snack bag.”

Oatmeal and strawberries grabbed from the hotel breakfast along with a flax meal, half a scoop of protein powder and a spoonful of almond butter. See what a tragedy it would have been if I would have left this bag behind?

Okay, okay so maybe I need to work on my packing skills, especially if I want to continue my life as a gypsy.

Anyways, this morning started bright and early as the hub had to catch a the first of many games in a week long tournament. We headed down to the “fitness room” to squeeze in a back workout before he headed off for the day. However, we ran into a slight problem – there were only treadmills and dumbbells in the room. As you might have guessed, a back workout with only treadmills and dumbbells would be a little challenging. Rows anyone? Because of this and since we were running short on time, we quickly put our minds together (or Dustin decided) that we would do legs today and back tomorrow at the local gym. My favorite! (Enter sarcasm here.)

As always, it turned out to be a great workout, doing the “use what you have” method. I have decided to share this workout with you because it requires so little equipment and can easily be done at home. All you need is a set of dumbbells, an exercise/stability ball and a chair/bench. Each exercise listed includes a link of a certified trainer demonstrating proper form. I like this workout because it caters to both mine and Dustin’s goals – he uses heavy weights in order to put on size, while I use light or no weight for lean results. We also alternated in a few ab exercises to kill two birds with one stone and to keep the heart rate up throughout the workout. Take a few minutes to check out proper form for each of these exercises and try it out at a gym or at home tonight!

1. 5 sets: 10-12 Stability Ball Wall Squats with 5 Quick Tuck Jumps in between sets
2. 3 sets: 10-12 Almost Straight Leg Dead Lifts with Russian Twists in between Sets
3. 3 sets: 4 (front, side, back, each side) Lunge Combo (front lunge, side lunge, back lunge) (*Note: this video only shows front and back, I like adding in a side lunge in between to work the inner thigh as well) with Jackknife Sit Ups/V-Ups in between sets
4. RFEs (Rear Foot Elevated) Split Squats
5. 3 sets, 45 seconds each Wall Squat Holds
6. Squat Press Tabatas

This took as about 50 minutes total – and would probably go faster with only one person, but a workout buddy is fun too! Let me know if you try it out! Have a great Wednesday!

Good health!

The post Work It Out Wednesday: Leg Edition appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.

I hear it often, “I work out all the time and still can’t lose weight.” Does that sound familiar to you as well? If so, today’s post is for you.

Most likely, it’s time to reevaluate your diet. I know, I know, not the words you wanted to hear, but even small changes can get you back on track just in time for summer (ah, just typing that word excites me!). Today’s TOTW (Tip of the Week) hits on exercise and nutrition.

You may remember reading that I actually gained weight when training for a marathon. You read that right. Even running some days for multiple hours at at time, I still gained weight. Why? It’s simple – ample exercise will never make up for poor or excessive nutrition, in my case excessive nutrition. If you’re anything like me, after a hard workout my body wants nothing more than a good meal. On most days, especially if we are not careful, that post-excercise meal likely contains more calories than the amount we just burned. Research shows that people often over estimate the calories they burned during exercise and under estimate the calories in their food. Not good.

During my marathon training I can remember thinking, “I ran 6 (or 8 or 10 or 16 or 20) miles today, I can eat whatever I want!” And also this: “I don’t want to bonk on my run in the morning, I better eat something before I go to bed tonight.” Some of that might be true, I certainly didn’t want to run out of fuel 10 miles out, but it’s not like I was running those long, long distances everyday.

Let’s break it down.

Let’s say you ran 2 miles (at about a 9-10 minute mile pace) and did about 30 minutes of dumbbell weight training today. Everyone is different, but most likely, on average, during this workout you burned about 300-400 calories. That’s about a Clif Bar and a small apple. Not a lot of food you see. Certainly less than that chicken sandwich or burger and fries you grabbed on your way home from the gym.

It’s also easy to “cut yourself some slack” or “give yourself a break” because “I deserve it. I worked out today.” Extra beer or glass of wine? “Of courseeeee. I worked out today.”

Guilty as charged!

Healthy eating is an all day thing. It’s breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Healthy eating is important even on the days that we work hard in or out of the gym. Even better, those are the days that we can move closer to our goals. Occasional treats are absolutely fine and, to me, absolutely necessary but simply becoming aware of what were taking in versus what were expiring will help us get the most out of our exercise regimens.

This weeks TOTW is: Poor nutrition will often negate adequate exercise: choose your foods wisely, even on the days you workout! No matter how much you workout (unless you have ridiculously good genes), a poor diet will easily halt weight loss or maintenance goals. Not only that, good nutrition will also maximize your exercise efforts!

A trick that works for me is to really focus on my post-exercise nutrition. I refuel my body, replenishing my stores as quickly as possible after a workout even if I’m not hungry. That snack holds me over until the next meal so that I won’t overeat or make poor nutrition decisions at that time.  A small shake is often my go to, aiming for a ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 of carbohydrates to protein (it doesn’t have to be perfect, just get more carbs than protein). In my pantry (well, suitcase) right now:

 recovery formula (carbs) + protein (I change it up often.)

You by no means have to use supplements for your post-workout nutrition. Good ol’ fashion food does the same trick! I usually do a shake/snack only if it’s going to be hours until my next meal, if not I’ll just eat my meal. Other good post-workout snack options are as follows:

• Peanut butter + banana
• Peanut butter + jelly sandwich
• Pita + hummus
• Energy bar (carbs + protein)
• Fruit + yogurt/protein powder smoothie
• Greek yogurt + granola

Just something small: think snack, not meal. Something to replenish your body, tying you over until your next meal, especially if weight loss is your goal. (Note: Please keep in mind that this is recovery nutrition for everyday, normal exercisers. Not professional athletes, body builders, extreme sport athletes, marathoners, etc. That is an entirely different beast!)

So… Eat healthy foods + Find an exercise program that you enjoy and stick to it = Happy, healthy you!

Do you find that you are less strict with your diet on days that you exercise hard? Or are those days you are even more strict with your diet? I’d love to know!

Good health!

The post TOTW: Exercise & Nutrition appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.

It’s Friday! Whaoo! This week was awesome while at the Clinic, but as I mentioned earlier, not to good on the health front. No exercise + Messed up eating patterns = An unhappy Ashley.

I totally get it now. I used to get so frusturated when people told me that “they didn’t have time to exercise.” My answer was no, you don’t want to have time to exercise.  And while I still believe that 95% true, I now understand that while we may be able to make the time (if we honestly want to), exhaustion plays a larger role in failing to exercise… for me anyways.  Running on five hours or less of sleep sucks all motivation I may have had to workout into the wind. Next week my schedule is a little different, so I will definitely be taking full advantage of my morning workouts again.  On that note, I want to give you a guest post, written by my incredibly driven, over-achieving, never tired, full of energy, highly motivated husband to give you his take on exercise.  Maybe he can spark a little fire in you, like he has me for the past six years. His passion for exercise is similar to mine for nutrition, just to give you a heads up While I was drinking mimosas on our wedding day, he was doing this…

Here goes…

Fitness and exercise are two things people usually have a love/hate relationship with.  People want to be fit without having to exercise.  Some people love running or lifting weights, while others despise it.  Some people hate it but still do it anyway.  I want to tell you that you can enjoy your fitness regimen and reap the benefits of it as well.

Here’s the key:  you have to tailor your workouts/cardio with activities that you enjoy doing and also that work best for you.  For me, I love intense, heart pumping workouts.  Because of this, I try to keep my rest low when working out while the keeping the intensity high.  I enjoy lifting as much weight as possible and pushing my body its utmost limits, therefore, that’s what I do.  Some people may hate running or hate lifting heavy weights.  My advice to these people is DON’T DO IT!  You don’t have to in order to stay in shape.  It’s your workout: your in charge of it; if you don’t like doing extensive amounts of cardio, find something alternative, it’s as simple as that.  For example, tabata training (4 minute fat blasting cardio that has shown equivalents to jogging for up to 45 minutes) would be a better choice or…  If you enjoy running and hate lifting weights then run more and lift less.

The point I am trying to make is really  just to be active.  Find something that you enjoy doing and go do it. You will feel better each and every day; meeting your exercise/activity goals will give you a sense of accomplishment.

And now to those of you who often find yourselves saying, “I just don’t have time to workout or run.” Yes you do: your health should take priority in your life, if not, the time you saved by not exercising will be taken away come the end of your life.  Make it a goal/priority to do something active every single day: whether it be jogging/walking with your dogs, yoga, a fitness class, weight lifting or a vigorous workout, just find a way to be active.

Would you fill up your car with gas if it was low? Yes. Would you go to the grocery store if you didn’t have food? Yes. In that same respect, shouldn’t we work the muscles in our bodies (remember your heart is a muscle) in order to keep them properly running as well? Yes.

Find a way to be active even if its just something as simple as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking in the “cheap seats” at the grocery store and walking a little further.  Some days you are able to do more than others, but as long as you’re always doing something your body will thank you.  You owe it to yourself and your well being to be active and take care of yourself.  I’ll leave you with 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 to think about as well.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

Time for me to get busy, right!? Anyways, I hope that helps bring you the motivation you need to get back on track like it does me. Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!

Good health,

The post I like to move it, move it. appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.