SUP Summer

With this beautiful weather continuing to grace our presence, I have been able to get outside and go for some runs and longer bike rides (which, by the way, rule). This past weekend officially marked 'Summer' at the Jersey shore, even if the calendar says otherwise. My Memorial Day consisted of laying on the beach and later on grabbing some food and drinks on the water with my closest friends....the absolute best way to spend a beautiful day, in my opinion.

With this nice weather, I always want to find different, fun activities that I can do outside. Luckily I live in an area where there are tons of things to do! Stand up paddle boarding or SUPing is rapidly becoming popular and I have started to see them everywhere in New Jersey. I have always grown up on the water here, but in 2012 I lived in San Diego, California for a year and a half, and that was the first place I saw SUP as often as you see a boogie board. Anyone and everyone was using them. Whether they owned the board or they were renting it, they were everywhere. I think shops around here are just catching on to renting out paddle boards, but trust me, in a few years shops that rent out bikes, chairs, etc. will soon be renting out boards. Ok, sorry for the ramble. Moral of the story to living in California was that I first tried SUP there in Mission bay and rented boards about 3 times. Every time just as fun as the previous! When I moved back home, my friend had purchased a SUP and we had gone out on the ocean [first time SUPing on the ocean--very, very different--and a lot harder--but still just as fun!]

Fast forward to now, my close family friend mentioned that a company in Belmar was starting to offer SUP yoga classes and on a whim, we signed up and attended a class last Tuesday! One of THE coolest fitness experiences to date. Anyone who likes yoga, fitness, SUP, or just likes to try new things, HAS to try this.

We did this class in a lake, but most take place in Shark River. Each board has an anchor attached on a rope so you stay in one place. The paddle floats, so you just wrap an elastic band around the handle on the same rope and drop it in the water. It's a 90 minute class, and you initially go over how to paddle board for those who have never been on one before. The instructor paddles around the whole class, talking to you about what moves to go into, just like a normal yoga class! For moves like crow and headstand, she shows you the different ways you can get into the position and if you don't have those moves perfected on land yet, no worries! It's a class for all levels, so don't be discouraged - and trust me, I have yet to do a headstand on dry land yet.

The company is called The Endless SUP Company and they are located in Belmar, New Jersey. They are currently setting up classes for a total body workout as well, which I will most definitely be trying out.  If you are in the area, or come here for vacation, I highly recommend checking them out for a class or even to rent a board!  

Oh, and GO RANGERS! [ had to throw that in there somewhere ;) ]

{Trying} New Things

On March 9th, I decided that I would remove sweets from my diet until my last day of T25, which was 3 weeks away. I love cookies. I love candy. I love cupcakes. I love coffee ice cream. The list could go on and on. While I'm not one to add sugar to things like my cup of coffee or my bowl of corn flakes, I do crave an Oreo or 2..or 3. I try to never over indulge, but for the most part, I have a sweet treat of some type at least once a day. Something struck in my brain and I made the rash decision to cut sweets out of my life until I finished T25. I want to see how I progress without delicious sweets in my life and would like to see how my results are with vs. without them in my life. So far, I caved and ate one Vienna Finger, but I found great motivation when I said no to all of the St. Patrick's Day goodies at my works pot luck yesterday...even denied trying any of the {professional looking} Guinness cup cakes I baked.

RIP sweets. You will be dearly missed.

People all over America, the Facebook world, and the Twitter universe, are giving things up for Lent-- even if they aren't Catholic, religious, human, etc, everyone and their dog is giving something up for Lent. So I started to think...if everyone and their dog's are suffering from giving some favorite food up, there should be some tips out there to help us! Thankfully I've made some up:

     1. Start Your Day Off Right - eating a healthy, filling breakfast could be one of the simplest ways to ensure you don't get a sweet tooth craving. Oatmeal and a fruit/veggie smoothie are my favorites to start off my workday.

     2. Pack Your Lunch - eating out can cause you to spontaneously choose unnecessary foods, such as a dessert or 0% nutrition filled snack. Be sure to include a variety of veggies, fruits, dairy, etc. that are sufficient enough for breakfast, snacks, and lunch. Even if you eat breakfast before you leave for work/school, I advise you pack some type of breakfast or early morning snack item so you aren’t starving by 11:30am.

     3. Increase Your Water Intake – when you crave things you are often times just dehydrated/thirsty, so remember to constantly drink water throughout the day. Get an insulated, reusable cup to drink out of everyday and even add a lemon for a bit of flavor. It will not only be yours and you can carry it everywhere, you are also helping the environment but not throwing away plastic bottles or cups!

     4. Still Have a Craving? Have no fear, green tea is here! Drink a hot cup of green or chamomile tea when you are getting seriously tired of water. You can even add a bit of organic honey and some lemon to it.

     5. Proper Sleep – I’m sure you hear this everywhere, but it’s true! Getting proper sleep sets you up for your entire day. Not getting proper amount of sleep is proven to cause you to over eat, and usually over eat on the sweets and fatty foods.

You can do it!