Good morning! How goes it? Happy Memorial Day to my fellow Americans! I don’t have today “off†(in fact, my to-do list is insane), but that’s OK – the Husband and I leave tomorrow for Charlotte to find a house (to rent). Can’t wait to share all of our choices with you!
Breakfast:
I decided to pump up my oatmeal with a tablespoon of this smoothie mix from Vega:
I was really surprised when I looked at the ingredient list: green pea protein, hemp protein, and organic green blend (spinach, kale, broccoli leaf). Plus tons of other healthy- and green-sounding stuff.
My oatmeal contained:
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 1 scoop Vega Vanilla Almondilla Shake & Go Smoothie
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup rice milk
- 1 banana
- Toppings: pecans
Loved. It was fabulous.
Cutting Back
Lately, I’ve had a few questions regarding how I feel about ‘cutting back’ on exercise, so I thought I’d address those issues here.
In January, I ran the Disney Marathon; in March, I did an Olympic triathlon; and I just completed a 100-mile bike race. This means I’ve been in a constant state of high-cardio training since September 2009 with virtually no real breaks.
There’s no real reason to sustain this high level of activity year-around. I certainly don’t need to be biking 15 hours a week to be healthy. In fact, I feel more balanced when I’m exercising to energize myself, not to exhaust myself to a new level of cardio fitness.
Secondly, it’s just not realistically feasible for most people to maintain a high level of exercise year-around for two reasons: you get bored and need a mental break, and life gets in the way. I’m looking forward to a break from hours-long exercises and can’t wait to focus on new things (like yoga!). And of course, we’re moving to a new state and launching a new business. Intensely long training sessions just isn’t feasible.
I know many of you are wondering about weight gain, and although I don’t stress it, I’m happy to address it. My maintenance weight does NOT require me to work out for hours on end. If it did, it wouldn’t be maintenance. To me, a maintenance weight is something you can maintain with a healthy diet and exercise, but nothing extreme. It’s something you can live in and be happy with. Furthermore, I actually find it harder to maintain a maintenance weight when I’m exercising a lot – as it’s fairly well known, most people gain weight (fat, not muscle) while training for long events, like a marathon. I’m about 5 pounds over my maintenance weight right now, but I know from experience it will melt off when I return to a more ‘normal’ exercise routine.
In conclusion… I don’t feel ‘bad’ about cutting back on exercise. If anything, I’m looking forward to the mental and physical break. And I still plan to exercise most days just to be healthy (plus, I love it!). To read more about my no-guilt approach to exercise, check out: “Guilt is a drug.â€
I am glad you adressed this. For me its a mental thing and I get so tired mentally training for one thing after another. that’s why I think its good to pick a few events here and there that doesnt require you to be at that peaklevel all year!