Blog Archive

Showing posts with label fitness inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness inspiration. Show all posts

Monday, February 8, 2010

OOTD, A Yoga Stretch Workout & YouTube Fitness Gurus

I couldn't resist immediately wearing my new BCBG purchases so my OOTD involves my new BCBG skirt and top. PS- I am totally getting a new full-length mirror for our bedroom because I hate having the distractions of our living room in the background of all of my photos. Don't get me wrong, I love our living room, but NOT as a backdrop.

Here it is:

Cardigan- Express; Top- BCBG; Skirt- BCBG; Tights- Target; Shoes- Jessica Simpson.

I really love the skirt and top. I am so glad I got both items. I think they look better in person but they photograph OK.

This morning, I woke up and my entire body was so sore. I couldn't even take one step today without feeling pain. I decided to skip my usual Monday evening power pilates class and head downstairs to my home-gym and try out the "Elle Make Better-Workout Yoga" DVD.

The instructor in this video is Yoga guru Tara Stiles who got famous on YouTube for her Yoga workout videos. I believe she used to be a model (or still is) but she now owns her own Yoga studio in NYC.

I did the stretching workout because I needed to release all of my sore muscles. It was about 20 minutes long and it felt great. I also realized how not-flexible I am. I used to be a super flexible gymnast, able to contort my body in every which way. Sigh. It's one of my fitness goals to improve my flexibility. My personal trainer actually told me that it's so important to stretch and do Yoga because it really helps you build long, lean muscle and recover more quickly from workouts.

I thought the Yoga video was good...but it was hard because you can't really look at the TV when you're in downward dog. The video is filmed with a voice over of Tara talking you through the steps, so you have an idea of what you should be doing (just by listening), but it's difficult to do each move correctly if you don't know any Yoga moves. Fortunately, I have taken Yoga classes before so I had a somewhat better awareness of the moves, but it was still difficult. It did stretch me out and make me feel great though. 20 minutes well spent!

Speaking of YouTube and fitness, Elle (AllThatGlitters21 on YouTube) recently made a video about her health and fitness routine.

In this video, she mentioned some of her favorite health and fitness channels, and after reviewing them myself, I thought I'd post them here for anyone interested in learning some new moves, fitness routines and health and nutrition advice.

The channels are: DietHealth, SarahsFabChannel, ToneItUp and Shell'sFitness101. I really love what YouTube has become and I am so thankful that there's such a strong community of women who share their beauty, health and fitness advice with the world. I genuinely enjoy watching so many of the beauty and health guru videos. They are such a part of my daily routine.

I also REALLY love Zuzana from BodyRockTV. Her workouts are definitely geared towards more advance exercisers (she is RIPPED!) but I do love her professional looking videos (well, professional looking compared to other YouTubers.) She also posts her daily workouts on her website.

Do you have any favorite YouTube Health and Fitness channels or websites? Let me know in the comments below, because I'm always looking for more inspiration.

Thank you for reading lovelies!

xoxo,

Veronika.






Friday, February 5, 2010

E! News Host Giuliana Rancic's Health & Fitness Advice and my OOTD

I absolutely love E! News host Giuliana Rancic's reality show with her husband (Apprentice winner) Bill Rancic. As a couple, they remind me so much of my husband and I. We have very similar personalities! Their show makes me laugh out loud, and both of them are so endearing. I just really relate to them as a couple.

I recently stumbled upon Giuliana's website and was delighted to find a blog dishing on her health and fitness secrets. It was so much great info that I couldn't resist tell you all about it!

In lieu of copying and pasting the entire entry, I will take out snippets. If you want to read the entire entry, please go here.


She puts cayenne pepper and lemon juice in her water
"When I get to the office, first thing I do is take a water bottle and sprinkle some cayenne pepper (just a tiny pinch...if you go overboard, it will be impossible to drink) and I squeeze the juice from half a lemon (save the other half for later.) The cayenne and lemon combo totally revs up your metabolism and gets it going."

She sips "oolong" tea
She sips hot green or oolong tea (teagarden.com) from Dr. Tea's Garden. They sell various slimming teas like oolong and another he made for her called Ti Kwan Yin Oolong. She drinks two to three cups a day.

She says "Coffee can actually hold onto fat whereas green and oolong tea flushes fat out (love that)."

She drinks a tea called Yerba Mate
"I boil a pot of it at night and put it in a tall glass or pitcher and let it cool down in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I start drinking it right when I wake up so that I have energy by the time I get to the gym. Yerba Mate can be found online or at grocery stores and most brands are good. I love it because it is a NATURAL source of great energy perfect before a workout."


She eats organic grapefruit
"This is an amazing fruit that helps keep you regular and also helps flush out fat."

She loves a good breakfast
"I have either an egg white omelet with veggies and herbs (i like to add things like spinach (always) mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, onions, cilantro, herbs, and tomatoes, sometimes a little grilled chicken breast or turkey breast) I alternate veggies depending on what I'm in the mood for but I always do spinach.

So good for you. And I ALWAYS say NO BUTTER, NO OIL...instead tell them to cook it in a light mist of Pam cooking spray. Tell them your allergic to butter so that they don't slip it in there like a lot of places do. If they don't have Pam spray, then tell them to use just a DROP or two of Oil!!! If you don't like omelets, you can also do the same ingredients in a scramble or a frittata...once again, Pam spray or a drop of oil...NO BUTTER!!!

( I guess she really doesn't ever eat butter!)

She snacks
"Between breakfast and lunch, my favorite snack in the world is Kashi's TLC bars in Honey Almond Flax or Cherry Dark Chocolate."

Lunch time ideas
"I get a rotisserie chicken breast and I eat around the skin or just peel it off and toss it out before I take one bite. The skin is full of fat and nasty for you! I get a large side of steamed broccoli on the side."

"Lately, I've been bringing my own frozen veggies to work and making them in the microwave. I prefer broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, red and green peppers. Then I sprinkle some bottled herbs on them and I have a yummy lunch. I follow lunch with an apple or another grapefruit OR I will have another Kashi bar to get some whole grain carbs in there if I am craving carbs."

Healthy dinner options
"I love sushi so I try to eat at sushi restaurants that serve brown rice sushi (call around...more and more sushi joints are doing this)."

"When I go to restaurants, I try to order dishes like grilled chicken breast, grilled fish like halibut, all types of white fish, salmon, hay tuna. I always order steamed veggies, no butter and no oil. if they can't steam them then tell them you want a touch of oil...stress a touch...otherwise your veggies will be swimming in a pool of oil!!! You can't go wrong with ordering grilled fish and steamed veggies."

Sugary delights!
"I order berries after dinner or some sort of fruit. Your body and mind registers the (healthy) sugar and your craving goes away!!! I used to be obsessed with Frozen Yogurt but I found that it is better on your body and weight to have a scoop of real ice cream than a cup of frozen yogurt since the fro yo is all chemicals and your body doesn't digest it properly."

Sometimes, she cheats (don't we all)
"I will enjoy the "cheat" food by having a little bit of it and giving the rest away. For instance, if i just MUST have pasta, I will let my husband order it and have some bites of his. Or I will order a healthy dish and ask for a half order of the pasta (no cream, ever!) on the side. I will eat half of the side of pasta and pass the rest around the table so my friends can try it to. That way you are impressing the table with your generosity and cutting lots of calories:) "

A little advice on artificial sweeteners
"I stopped putting all artificial sweeteners into my body. My taste buds have totally changed and now I don't need sweeteners at all on my food. If something calls for sugar, I opt for a little natural honey...but even that is rare. Or sometimes I sprinkle Stevia (all natural sugar substitute) on my cereal or greek yogurt if I need that extra sweetness, but once again, that is rare since I overcame my sugar cravings!"

Her best advice?
"The secret to losing or maintaining weight and being healthy is to never go hungry. Anytime I'm hungry, I munch on a Kashi TLC bar (even half and put the other half away for a later snack) or I have an apple, grapefruit or some strawberries, or I have a veggie juice from a health store/bar."


Since I'm obsessed with tea, I loved all of her tea suggestions. I'm probably going to order some online. What do you think of Giuliana's tips?

Before I go, here is my OOTD on a casual Friday at work:



Top- Forever 21; Sweater- White House Black Market; Jeans- American Eagle Artist Jeans.

I really love my new jeans! I love how they fit and how they have stretch in them (makes them so comfy!)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! More posts to come!

xoxo,

Veronika.


Saturday, December 26, 2009

A New Year: Make Better, Not Make-Over

Elle Magazine's January issue featured an entire section about "making better" (instead of the dreaded "making-over".)

I thought this was a really positive message- because after all, most women want to be true to who they are when making improvements, not made-over into someone they hardly recognize.

I admittedly got sucked-in by the ads promoting
Elle Magazine's new "Make Better" Workout DVD Collection (available on amazon.com)

EDIT: Umm... I just went to Elle.com and noticed you can get ALL THREE DVD's for $44.95 and I paid $29.99 for just one on Amazon.com (I'm going to return the Amazon one because I ordered all 3 instead- way better deal and now I'll have 3 different workouts.) I hate when stuff like this happens, but I wanted to warn my readers so you too can get the better deal! (Oddly, Elle Magazine promotes getting the DVD's on Amazon in their ads...wtf?)


Brooklyn Decker is one of my favorite models, so when I saw the previews online, I just had to buy the video. I purchased the "Elle Beauty Sculpt" DVD, because I like to learn new moves I can use at the gym. I also like having the option of working out at home for the days where I don't feel like leaving the house, but don't want to feel like a lazy slob!

I got the "Beauty Sculpt" DVD, pictured above- it should arrive by the 31st!

I will let you ladies know how good the videos are when I start them. I previewed Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred" today too, and that looks like a good workout as well.

For some strange reason, my superhuman memory fails me when it comes to workout moves (yet I strangely remember plot lines from old Babystitters Club and Sweet Valley High books I read in 7th grade). That's why I like to have videos- they remind me and teach me the right moves that actually get results.

I remember Jessica Simpson was supposed to come out with a workout video when she was all toned for her role in "Dukes of Hazard" and I was disappointed that it was never released (she seems to be gaining lately so I guess she stopped her super intense workouts anyways.) Luckily, she is one of those women that looks good at any weight.

Do you ever use workout videos, or do you prefer going to the gym? Personally, I like to switch it up and keep things fresh, so a combination of group classes at my gym, gym workouts, home workouts and pilates classes at a seperate studio work for me.

And, because I just can't imagine leaving this post without some more pictures of the gorgeous Brooklyn Decker...here you go!



isn't she just stunning? *sigh*

and...her body is pretty darn good fitness inspiration, don't you think?

I could post 20 more pictures...but this has already gotten out of hand!

xoxo,

Veronika.

P.S. who is YOUR fitness inspiration? actor, model, friend, family member? Let me know in the comments below!
My Ping in TotalPing.com