OneMileOneMeal

Quick Recovery Tips After Your Post 4th of July 3-Day Weekend Bender

So you had an awesome 4th of July 3-day weekend filled with debauchery and decadence and now you feel like crap and want to know how to make it better. I got ya!

Here's some quick tips:

• First, no judgement or beating up of the self. It's easy to start waving the finger of blame and shame at your self, but really what good is that? It's done, the past, can't be changed. What you can do is learn from the experience like next time, when you partake in a day full of booze, drink a glass of water in between each cocktail to help lessen the hangoverness the next day. Also pace yourself versus doing shot after shot.

• And speaking of water, drink lots of water today. The H20 will help flush out all those toxins and ickies...yes not a scientific word but you know what I'm talking about.

• Go for a walk or even better go for a run, or kickboxing, or anything that gets your body into sweat pouring mode. Feeling hungover or bloated, I know the last thing you feel like doing is a sweaty workout, but really all that sweating helps burn away the ickies and it gets your endorphins kicking which is a much better feeling. Trust me, getting up and at 'em will be hard but you will be sooooo happy later on that you did.

• Eat some greens and water packed foods like watermelon or cucumbers. Simple soups are good too like a chicken and rice or pea soup. Again, the water helps hydrate your body and it's gentler in your stomach after eating decadent foods like burgers, BBQ, and apple pie.

• Take a nap. I'm a fan of the nap as it helps give your body some needed rest and sleep.

What other tips have you found that work? Try some of these and feel better soon!

Photo on Flickr by Roland

 

Humorous But True: One Of The Benefits of Working Out In The Morning

I love this quote because it's true for me. If I go workout in the morning before my brain is fully awake and functioning, my inner resistance monster cannot talk me out of working out. Sometimes it's good when the brain is asleep.

Armtastic: Dumbbell Close Grip Push-Ups And Push-Up Rowing

It's summer time, and we all want to look armtastic in our tank tops, yes? It's never dawned on me that you could do push-ups using dumbbells.

I saw this woman doing these close grip push-ups with her body in full flank position, and wowza, how I admire the upper body strength. Me personally, I'm going to have to work my way up to doing these:

 

 

When you're done with the close grip push-ups, you can take the dumbbell push-up to the next exercise and do these rowing push-ups. Again, I am impressed with the strength here. Let's start tiny, and gimme 10!

 

Fitness: The Real Question Is...

At the training gym of AmenZone, a local Phoenix do-gooder and man who shows us how to get fit with tires, I saw this quote written on one of the walls, and it's a really good question.

It's a question his grandmother would ask him because she believed in developing strength from the inside out. Smart grandma!

For all the hours we spend in the gym, working on getting buns of steel, or thin thighs, how many hours do we spend strengthening our spirit, our soul, our mind?

Do you flex your brain muscles as much as your biceps? Is your outlook on life as flexible as your ability to be limber in yoga? Do you push yourself to open your heart to love as much as you push yourself to lift another 20lbs or run an extra mile?

It's a good question to ask yourself. Food for thought during your next run or bike ride. Doing a journal entry would be good too!

New Friend Zella Shows Me How To Jazz Up My Fitness Wardrobe And Perk The Girls.

I will be the first to raise my hand and say that when it comes to my fitness wear, I'm no fashionista. At most, I make sure top and bottom match or are complimentary colors. I love the look and styles of Lululemon and Lucy but many times, I get sticker shock. Mostly, you will find me shopping at places like Sports Authority or Macy's.

Nordstrom's held their first Zella fitness day on May 21st where stores across the U.S offered a free fitness class like Zumba. To help promote the event, Nordstom's invited me to come and try some of their Zella wear which is their own branded line of fitness fashion.

Open disclosure, Nordstrom did compensate me with a top and bottom. I picked out an outfit that I thought would be good for summer, so I got the "Go The Distance Shorts" and this most fantastic Baby Doll top.

I have to tell you that the second I put this baby doll on, I fell madly in love mostly because it made my boobs look fantastic! Not going to lie, my B cup girls have never looked so spectacular, and I was thrilled. Usually workout tops flatten my chest, this baby doll perked them up and rounded them. I would buy this baby doll in every color Nordstrom's offers.

Not everyone likes the baby doll look because it can make you look pregnant but me I LOVE it because it hides the muffin top. I'm wearing a medium. I have a thick waist and I tend to shy away from the form fitting workout tank tops because they make me feel like a sausage most times. This Zella Baby Doll has a nice A-line cut and at the bottom is a drawstring so you can pull it in tighter.

Even more awesome, this Baby Doll top is so stylish and the fabric is so soft and flowy, you can wear it with capri jeans and flip flops and go casual like I am here at the grocery store posing with the nectarines like I'm Vanna White. I was so excited about my new top, that I even wore this outfit to a potluck event later that Saturday night. I love the multi-use of the top.

My favorite thing about the Go The Distance Shorts is this awesome wide waistline band...again, muffin top friendly or I should say non-muffin top creating! These shorts are really comfy. In fact, the day I took this picture, I did an easy workout, and then went to do some errands and grabbed a coffee with a friend.

One of my ultra favorite features in a long sleeve workout top or jacket is thumbholes. I'm a HUGE fan of the thumbhole. Are you into the thumbholes too? If so, high-5! Several of the Zella pieces have the thumbhole like the Deluxe and Edge jackets.

I tried on a whole bunch of the leggings and bottoms, and I gotta say that I loved the Live-In Leggings, but all the booty type pants just didn't work on me. It's not a Zella thing it's more a body-shape thing because I'm built like a boy pretty much straight up and down, plus I got the flat tooshie thing going on, and so those Zumba-ish pants look better on a curvy shape. It's okay. I'm happy with my shorts!

On a design note, one of the designers at Lululemon left to help Nordstrom create the Zella line, so you will see similarities. The pricing though averages anywhere from $10-$20 less which may or may not be a big difference to many people, but it was to me...at least for now, until my book becomes a bestseller and price becomes a non-issue.

On a final note, another thing I appreciated about the Zella line in their marketing is how they used several models of women of color in their online store. Most people won't even notice or care about this, but this was a big deal to me! Why? Because mostly you see the same Anna Kournikova looking model everywhere. The Anna look is good but I find these models more relatable to me.

Next time you're at Nordstrom's, do check out the Zella wear and have fun trying out all the clothes. This summer you will probably see me wearing my baby doll almost everywhere. I love this top!

Humor: Riding a (Human) Bicycle In The Airport

Some people are just so incredibly creative when having to kill time at the airport. LMAO!

In Amsterdam, They Make Biking Look Like It's A Wonderful Life

Everyone, say hello to Amsterdamize aka @Amsterdamized on Twitter, one of the most beautiful blogs I've seen with amazing photography...and btw it's about biking in Amsterdam. I position Amsterdamize this way actually as a high compliment.

When photography is captivating and emotionally grabs you, it can be about anything...and you cannot rip yourself away. This is a testament to how the photographer sees the world, and tells a story. In fact, to me, the best photographers are also amazing story tellers...they just use pictures instead of words.

During the #30daysofbiking April challenge, @bikerly pointed me to Amsterdamize, and I was literally blown away by this particular post called, "A Sunday Photo Walk."

Marc spent a Sunday taking pictures of a typical day in Amsterdam where biking is obviously a huge part of life over there. His post is filled with incredible photos and you must check them out...along with the rest of his blog. You will seriously get lost in the magic of the photos!

Marc happily allowed me to share a few so I could point you all his direction so you can see how biking is embraced in Amsterdam. I'm thinking we Americans can learn much from them over there!

Scrolling through the pictures, I realized that I've only seen biking pictures in reference to exercise or competition like the Tour de France. I've never really seen everyday people in everyday clothes and shoes just biking around town going to work, church, the store, or to meet friends.

In the US, we are so car centric that we forget that biking is also an awesome means for transportation. In fact, in this article from The League of American Bicyclists:

According to the Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey, 25 percent of all trips are made within a mile of the home, 40 percent of all trips are within two miles of the home, and 50 percent of the working population commutes five miles or less to work.

So, if we are all not going that far, then why not do more biking? And especially now since gas is creeping up to almost $5 per gallon. We've gotten a glimpse of how sitting is wrecking us. Biking is such an easy way to get in some exercise.

Over in Amsterdam, they make biking look like a wonderful life. Yes, I am a romantic...and that makes life magical. Even more than ever, I want to get a bike. Saving up my dollars now! How about you?

More Reason To Get The Tooshie Off The Couch: Sitting Is Making Us Fat and Die Sooner

Here's just a snippet of a larger infographic over at Mashable on, "Just How Dangerous Is Sitting All Day?" Well apparently, the statistics were pretty eye opening to me. The one stat that struck me right away was that sitting increases risk of death up to 40%.

I'd like to know more on how they came up with that number because that seems pretty intense. It almost sounds like we could literally die sitting in our office chair.

The bottom line (little pun intended), spend less time sitting and more time moving. This is where tiny actions comes in. Remember, one mile is only about 2,500 steps. Instead of taking a coffee break, why not take a walking break, and do some laps around the office building.

Homage to Dance: Martha Graham Celebrated In Google Logo

To celebrate the 117th birthday of Martha Graham, Google featured some of her dance moves in one of their famous Google logo doodles.

I LOVE, LOVE that Google honored Martha. In 1998, Time Magazine listed her as one of the most important people of the 20th century. I dance like a white dude engineer, but I can appreciate dance when others can...and magnificently.

More like Martha Graham please!

According to Livestrong, This Is the Best Workout To Burn Fat Quickly

Photo on Flickr by pasukaru76

It's Lego weights! ...okay, kinda but not really. Just wanted to warm you up with a giggle.

How many of us are looking to torch that muffin top lickety spilt so we can slip on the skinny jeans once again? *hands raising*

According to Livestrong via Joe Dowdell, C.S.C.S, founder and CEO of Peak Performance, one of the Top 10 fitness facilities in America, the best workout to burn fat the fastest is total body metabolic resistance training.

In layman's terms, that means sequences of more resistance exercises like weights versus more cardio like on the treadmill. How many of you cardio junkies like myself are going *sigh* right now?

Mentally, I get it. Muscle burns fat faster, and so the more muscle mass you develop the faster the fat will say adios. Makes total sense...but sometimes, sense is not enough to get one of the couch. Not saying it's right, just saying reality. For example, my psyche has resistance to the idea of resistance (exercise). I would like to ask Joe how one can learn to embrace the resistance (exercise).

Or, if any of you have any great tips, please share!

In the meantime, Livestrong has a simple 3-day program to get you started with meabolic resistance training which includes doing these Swiss ball hip extension and leg curls. Feel the burn already!