More Sleep = More Energy

Yesterday, with an extra two hours of sleep, my appetite was normal, no over eating at all (I even threw some food away!) and I had enough energy to get through a Tuesday night - which is saying something! That's three hours straight of dancing, not to mention teaching an hour of little kids to boot. Tap, ballet and pointe are all on a Tuesday night and usually I'm sitting during tap warm up, barre work and pointe warm ups in order to catch up with school and I still go home feeling drained. Last night, I was tired, but not drained, you know? Spring Break is not just wonderful, it's a relief and I wish there was more!

I've read that getting at least 8 hours of sleep not only gives you more energy, but also decreases your appetite. I now see that's true!


If I keep going to bed at 10 and waking up at 4 - this is what's going to happen to me and has already happened like...twice :p 

Well I'm catching up on as much sleep as I can and going to bed as early as I can from now on! I need to look good in my tutu for the recital this year! ;)

Height: 5'4"
Weight: 170 LBS

Yey Another Delicious Breakfast

This morning I was so caught up in school that mom made my breakfast for me - a bowl of the most delicious yogurt I ever had. It pretty much looked like a sundae, but this was of course much healthier than a sundae! I tasted it and it tasted so light and fluffy with the crispy crunch of walnuts and apples. She had whipped plain vegan yogurt and strawberry spreadable fruit together with a whisk until it was so fluffed and full of air that eating was....well, pretty much indescribable because I just can't find the words! It gave off a pretty pink hue and was mostly apple pieces with just a handful of walnuts for a little protein.

Height: 5'4"
Weight: 170Lbs

Breakfast

I am very proud of my breakfast this morning:

An apple
A Banana
1 cup of mini shredded wheat
1 cup of Silk
1 Tb Ovaltine

I have researched that when you're active, vegetables and fruit shouldn't be counted for calories since they are burned off so quickly....besides, they're awfully darn good for you too ;)

I chopped up the apples and sliced up the banana in the bowl and it filled more than half the bowl leaving just enough room for the cereal. Since it was mini shredded wheat, it took up a lot of room in the measuring cup and seemed to be only a sprinkling on top. Next, I added the milk and Ovaltine giving it a slight chocolate flavor and yet it was healthy too. The breakfast left me satisfied and feeling healthy....with a total calorie count in proteins and carbohydrates of 280, minus the fruits. It was a delicious breakfast making the fruit the center of the meal rather than the cereal and I highly recommend it!

Height: 5'4"
Weight: 170Lbs

5 Lbs!

Dear, dear blog readers!! After working very hard this week (and perhaps being done with female emotional syndrome that attacks every month) I weighed myself this morning and have a grand total of 170lbs! I have officially lost five pounds and I am very happy. This morning's breakfast is a light one of cereal and one banana and then off to dance class....

I would love to thank Rebekah Phillips for this weekend, though. I went over her house and normally we totally fill ourselves with food all day long, however she made me a fruit salad as a snack with a little spoonful of nutella on top and then for dinner we had whole wheat subs with nothing but lots of lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, olives and jalepeno  and banana peppers with Honey Mustard dressing.

I must say - pineapple with nutella.....I gasped from the deliciousness and was glad she only gave me that one spoonful!

Signing off!
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 170lbs

Ghrelin the Gremlin

So  I feel a little better today. Tonight will be round three for Hairspray auditions and seeing as how they hired me to be Assistant to the Choreographer I get to go to all of them and dance for a long time. It's so wonderful....

On a brighter note, this morning I found a great website: http://www.youbeauty.com
It's a wonderful place to learn about health and beauty, and I mean beauty as in healthy hair, healthy skin and exactly what hormones make us desire sweets! Apparently there is this hormone called ghrelin and I hope I'm spelling it right because my spell check told me to spell it like gremlin, which is not too far off. Ghrelin is a feisty chemical that is released into your stomach every 20 to 30 minutes telling your brain it's empty. However, sometimes it can be a bit too loud and messed up when we eat too much of the wrong foods.
Here is the gibber jabberish looking link where I found the article and it is a very interesting and informative one at that: http://www.youbeauty.com/nutrition/hunger-explained?gclid=CKjo5Omxxa4CFUJN4Aod9XI5TQ

       As for my gym adventures, yesterday I had the strong urge to go home and take a nice long nap after work because there was no dance due to all the snow. And, you know, it was just one of those days where it was wet and cold and the couch seemed more inviting than the weight machines. Yet, I figured that exercising and taking it easy was more productive than not going at all and I new that if I didn't go I would only be upset with myself later.
       In the end, it was better than I thought. While I did not burn as many calories on the bike nor did I do the weight machine which builds up my upper back and arms, I did the leg extensions and curls and sat on the bike. Now, the bike was the worst and by the time I was done on the weights I wanted to go home - seriously. I went on it anyway and just said to myself "Going slow and lazy is better than not going at all." So that's what I did. Soon, I had become accustom to the slowness and went a little faster gradually. By the time ten minutes rolled around, my blood was pumping, my adrenaline was running and I wound up going full throttle for twenty minutes. I did not stretch yesterday because I wanted to try something else....
      I am scared of doing front limbers in acrobatics class. I can certainly do them and if I am held for my first few I can go up and down the mats like crazy. Yet, sometimes I'm overly scared and I think my fright annoys me more than anything else. I think it is not the fact of going up and over, but the fact of being upside down. I'm scared of  landing on my head or my neck or just plain hurting myself. So, I spent the last fifteen minutes before I decided to cut my exercise short by a half hour to take a shower in the gym (I specifically packed for it and everything :D ) I decided to balance in a tripod and then in a head stand up against the wall. At first, even with the wall, I was frightened which only confirmed my assumption of being upside down. Then, I just balanced with my legs bent to my chest and my feet pointed towards the ceiling...and I came back down. Then I slowly brought my legs up - freaked out and came back down. Next step was "sitting" in the head stand for about five seconds. By the time I had to get in the shower, I was balancing on my head for a good five minutes, loving every minute of being upside down.
Now let's see if it will work for me again and I don't freak out!

Ha! Yeah right....but I can dream, can't I?

Height: 5'4"
Weight: 174lbs

Happy now, sad later....

No...more like so utterly remorseful and full of so much guilty pains that I've cried about it. I don't know why I did it...maybe dealing with stress, maybe I was upset about something, maybe Aunt Flow is coming to visit or maybe it was all of these combined.

But, on Wednesday, I bought a box of doughnuts at Spikes. Each doughnut was 190 calories. There were three kinds and four each, making 12 doughnuts with a total of the whole box coming to 2280 calories (yeah, I used a calculator just now because my brain is fried from school and if I tried thinking mental math with two and three digits, look out for a mental breakdown).

All the doughnuts were gone by Sunday...and I had them hidden in my room. Those four days I didn't think about it, but on Sunday when I weighed myself and saw I gained four pounds I kind of went over the top with emotions. I was upset and so far every night when I go to bed I do cry under the covers...and I'm crying now.

They saying writing about this kind of stuff is therapeutic and I think it might be because you can tell people your troubled without having to look at them face to face. Perhaps it's to get things out that even you didn't know about yourself.

I don't know...

I'd write more, but I have to get ready for work...maybe more later.
Signing off for now....

Height: 5'4"
Weight....174lbs :'(

To the Gym!

Meet my best friend.
Her name is Sasquabadalia.
If it were not for her I would despise the gym and call it an utterly boring place. 
However, with Sasqua clipped to my side, I can get into the music and forget about exercising...while I'm exercising. Especially when I'm on the bike, I stare out the window and fantasize while I listen music - whether it be a dance I'm choreographing or just a really intense song. With her I have exercised at the gym for an hour and a half and she made it feel like nothing at all.

It is amazing what the body can do when not paying attention.

So I went across the parking lot after work to the gym and for a half hour I went on two weight machines that when used in different ways it worked on my arms and upper/lower back. I did a weight that seemed effortless at first, but after 3 sets of 20 reps, they were aching. This helps with not only strength, but also endurance. I did the same thing for my legs on the leg extensions/leg curls machine. By 2:25 I was on the bike, pedaling away for twenty minutes, all the while Sasquabadalia was going through the music of Love Never Dies - the second Phantom musical only in London right now (which I pre-ordered the dvd that I won't get until May 28th, but that's besides the point). Before I knew it, I burned 164 calories on just the bike by 2:45. Then, I went into the aerobics room that has wall to wall mirrors like a dance room and started stretching for the next 45 minutes. By 3:30 my body was so warmed and stretched I was not only sitting in a kneeling back bend with my toes touching my head, but also in a split (only on my left side) with my back leg lifted and my toes touching my head (that would make such a great ring leap....).

 I like using the weights first because it warmed up all my muscles before I got on the bike. The bike made me even warmer and helped me to sweat. By the time I got to my favorite part - stretching - I was so warm that it seemed effortless and my flexibility exceeded.

On a dancing schedule I can only keep this three days a week, but this week I can go for four days straight....
Right now, Sasqua is charging. She needs to keep up her strength so I can too :)

Signing off....

Height: 5'4"
Weight: 171Lbs
Mood: A little hopeful