Portland

So...I moved. I moved out of New York. It was just the next step. It's hard to leave New York. It really is. Especially when you spent 9 years of your life there. I still can't believe that much time passed, but it did and for the last couple years of living in NYC, I was done with it. New York is a great city and a huge part of me will always be there, but I just couldn't live there anymore. I started to feel like there was no room to breathe, no room to live, no room to exist. Each time I yelled in a stranger's face for no apparent reason; stood so close to someone I didn't know on the subway, closer than I would stand to my best friend; got pushed or pushed someone else while walking down the street; trudged through the snow and ice to get to clients; or endured a moment where I felt so claustrophobic a panic attack was sure to ensue; I was one step closer to losing my mind. I knew it wasn't healthy there for me anymore. I felt in my heart that it was time to leave.

After getting hitched in June 2014, my husband Scott and I started to seriously think about other cities we would want to live in.  Our place in New York was small and cramped. It was cozy, but we wanted more. We knew that as normal humans and  non-millionaires, we couldn't get ahead the way we wanted in New York and moving further and further out of the city just to have to trudge back in every day to save money was exhausting to us. We decided to start taking trips to places we might want to live to see how we felt there. We visited North Carolina in August where Scott is from and spent a weekend there; we headed to LA one week in October when Scott was speaking at a conference and I got to tag along;  and in November, we headed to my hometown, Chicago. None of these places felt right. It just wasn't where we were supposed to be right now. So where? Where could we go? Then one day, Scott got a call from a recruiter looking for a position in Portland, OR, a place that was never on our radar. Why not check it out? we thought. So we did. And while we were there in January as he was interviewing I thought, this is it. This is what feels right. I just knew that we were meant to spend any sort of time in Portland, whether it was a year or 10. And luckily enough, we both agreed on that.

It took a long while before the job offer was settled, but when it came through for Scott, although I went back and forth in my head about it, my heart knew it was the right choice. So, he decided to take the job, we raised our champagne glasses to Portland, and packed up the East Village apartment that I spent 4 years out of the 9 in. It was the place where I turned 30, where Scott and I started our relationship and planned a wedding, but most importantly, it was my first and only lease in NYC that I didn't sublet or share with a roommate. It was a place where I felt like, yeah, New York, I got this. It meant a lot to me,  and I expected to feel some sort of loss about it. But I really didn't. It was time to pass the torch and start a new adventure. And away we went.

Two friends of ours, Dan and Leslie, were getting married in San Diego and it was right around the time we planned to move in March. We decided the best way to start our West Coast lives was to take an adventure and plan to rent a car to drive up the coast as our belongings were moved across the country on a truck. We'd have to wait for the moving company to get there anyway, so why not use this time to really explore where we would be laying down new roots?  We would start in San Diego and take our time over 5 days to explore California into Oregon, ending in Portland. We were also excited that the road trip would start on Scott's birthday and end on mine just 5 days later.  It really felt like we were starting our new lives literally at a time of (re) birth.  We rented our car, booked mainly airbnb homes in 5 different cities up the coast, and hopped on a plane to the other side of the country, never return to our apartment! I couldn't believe it was happening. No more subway rides, no more shitty cold NYC winters and hot and humid summers, no more feeling like I could never get ahead no matter how hard I tried...It was time to get some fresh air!

Me, doing a handstand in our empty apartment in New York.

The wedding was fabulous.  My New York Urban Family-- a group of friends who garnered the name because we all became each other's family when we had none in the city--rented a house together to share in an "Urban Family Vacation." Most of these friends have since moved out of New York, so it was a treat to be reunited. When we first started our vacation, I was still having anxiety issues, and I didn't know why. Was it PTSD from New York? Okay, so maybe a little dramatic, but I honestly got to that point. I knew that I really needed the space and time to heal from a lot of heartache I suffered in my relationship with NYC. And now was the time I got to heal with my "family."

Urban Family

At the wedding, I was honored to be invited to sing a duet with one of my best friends, Josh, accompanied by Dan's brother Tom.

We played bags. 

And we danced.

Then we said our good-byes and started our 5 day long road trip up the coast. Which was unreal.  Now I'm going to share our trip with you via photographs. 

Off we go!

Pismo Beach

Morro Bay

Limekiln State Park

Monterey Bay

Santa Cruz

San Francisco 

Running through a Redwood! 

Scott amongst the Redwoods. 

Elk--Just outside of Eureka, CA

Me on the Northern Coast

And then we got to Portland! 

I did not take this photo. It is borrowed from travelportland.com

We arrived late-ish on March 27th and my birthday was the next day. All of our belongings that were on the moving truck hadn't arrived yet so we had to kick it in a hotel for a couple days. On the 28th, we said good-bye to the rental car that we shared an amazing journey in and celebrated my birthday. We enjoyed a run along the water to explore more of the city and at the end of the day, a delicious dinner followed by a gift from the Hotel Lucia: Portland's famous Salt and Straw Ice Cream. 

So now I'm here. In Portland. It's been 6 weeks and I'm trying to figure out my new life. As you might know, I'm also an actress and I've been lucky enough to continue to pursue that passion here. I secured a talent agent and I've auditioned for some theaters. I've been working hard on a digital series I co-created called Kid Friendly*, back in New York. I've been taking yoga, exploring new workouts, running along the Willamette River, hiking with my husband every weekend in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, meeting new folks, reconnecting with an old friend from 10 years ago who lives here (and her wonderful husband) and generally trying to slow down a bit. I haven't been too successful at it, but I'm trying. Oh and I'm also training some clients back in New York via Skype (which has been great) and I'm trying to find some new clients here in Portland. If you need one, please contact me!

I was hoping to write about what I've learned so far as I've been out of New York for almost 2 months, but there's not too much to share yet. I guess I still need some more time. But I can share one vital gem that I've learned and it's this: when you feel like you need a change in your life and you're lucky enough to get the opportunity to do it, do it. Make the change. I think that we know in our hearts what we really need. Always. And if you're willing to listen to your heart, it will tell you things you've been trying to ignore because you've been too scared. Your heart never lies to you and it will push you in directions your head isn't willing to take you. I knew I needed fresh air and some space to grow. I needed new opportunities and a place for our little family of two to experience less stress. I'm so grateful each day that I get to be here in the Pacific Northwest to grow and experience new adventures. I hope I can share some new ones with you soon. XO and Be Well.

I Like to Eat

As a traveling, independent personal trainer, I get the opportunity to visit a lot of different gyms here in New York City. I train clients in their apartment building gyms, office gyms, and specialized training gyms. I tend to overhear conversations other trainers have with their clients not because I'm nosy (okay, maybe I'm kind of nosy), but because these gyms tend to be small enough where at times, I feel like I'm on top of someone else's session. A reoccurring statement I often hear is "I don't know, I just like to eat! So I'm never gonna be that thin." "I like to eat!" What???? You like to eat?!?!? Wow, me too! I like eating! I like not feeling hungry because being hungry means I get hangry, and tired, and low on energy, and weak, and snippy, and my stomach hurts, and my workouts suck. I like delicious meals that aren't always considered the most healthy calorie wise, but they are healthy for my soul because they taste so delicious and I can't be a robotic healthy eater all the time. I like to eat things like fresh fruits and veggies, but I also like to eat pizza and drink a great glass of wine with it.

Listen, guys, we are human. Humans are supposed to eat. Humans are supposed to LIKE to eat. This is because we need to nourish our bodies to stay fit, healthy, energetic, and happy. We (especially women) are supposed to have some fat on our bodies because it's healthy! Our bodies store some fat because our bodies want to make sure that in case you aren't eating due to some massive famine or nuclear holocaust, it can survive for longer. For women, the extra fat is there not only in case food isn't always available, but also to help support a baby should you get pregnant and there is a famine and it needs something to feed the human that is growing inside of you.

That's the realness right there! That is the the most basic reasoning for hunger--sustaining human life. The crazy thing about needing to eat is now that we have magazines, television shows, movies, and internet telling us what is appealing visually at the moment (I say at the moment because you know the trends change over time--i.e. Marilyn Monroe to Twiggy, "Twiggy" butt to "Anaconda" butt), and that's generally not very human attainable. We see flat, 6-pack abs on a magazine cover, then look at our own midsection and we might think that not eating is what we should be doing. We might think that eating is bad. That "I like to eat" is a statement that is farfetched or taboo. Guys, it. is. NOT.

When you see those muscles that pop out of someone's stomach on a magazine cover, a lot of times, it is because the model has dehydrated themselves to the point where their skin looks tighter on their muscles and more appealing for the cover. Or let's face it, it's just plain photoshopped! Body builders often take the dehydration approach as well, so that in competition, they look as defined as possible. Google "body builder dehydration" and the Google at the bottom of the page will extend several 'o's.' I.e. there are a lot of resources that will help you learn how to get super defined for a competition and not drinking water is one of ways to do that. What?!?! That's crazy talk. The human body is around 60% water. So how is dehydrating a good thing for you? Also, what happens when that model drinks water again??? Those 6-pack abs become an illusion. AN ILLUSSSIIOOONNN!!!!!

You can be lean and not dehydrate and not starve yourself. You should never do either of those things. You should be drinking lots of water to flush your system of toxins. You should be eating lean proteins, fruits, veggies, and whole grains to support your muscle mass. If you aren't eating enough, your body tends to hold on to fat and start to cannibalize muscle just in case that famine/nuclear holocaust happens and you need the fat as a last resort/last ditch effort for your body to to save itself. It's true! Isn't that horrible? So eat!!! Your body wants you to reassure it that the next meal is coming and it doesn't need to store fat, just in case...

Stay tuned for the Part II of this blog post for great ideas and options to stay lean and mean and EAT!!!! And you don't have to have 6-pack abs to be lean. Being healthy means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. Some people will hold on to more fat than others and that's okay. That's life. That's YOU.

BE WELL!!!!

P90x3

Welp. Here I am. 90 days since my last blog post after promising I would check in. Whoops. For those of you who care, I'm sorry about that. I've learned that planning a wedding is pretty time consuming after all. It's not necessarily the planning that can be the most time consuming. It's the events that surround it; the extra hours spent on the internet researching stuff like the most comfy heels to wear on your wedding day; the family drama that get's conjured up...Things that take energy that drained me unknowingly so that when the day was over, instead of blogging, I watched an extra episode of Mad Men or just hit they hay early. I will also say that this winter, as you all know, was the worst in the history of time. Some days it was just so draining to traverse New York City, there was energy for nothing else.

So here I am today after a long winter, a long 90 days, and 33 days before my wedding, ready to tell you about my P90x3 journey!

I started P90x3 because my former University of Arizona college roommate, Rosi Reeves, Beachbody Coach, fitness blogger, and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, was posting about forming a P90x3 challenge group on Facebook on the regular around the holidays. I was looking for something new, something to do in my apartment (no gym required--my favorite way to workout), and something that would require minimal time but maximal effort. Because of P90x's stellar reputation, I thought it would be a great challenge. I also wanted to do the research on P90x3 by doing it myself for my clients and anyone reading this blog to let you know what I thought of this program. I'm not usually into workout programs like this (I'll go into why later) and wanted to give you my thoughts as a fitness professional. So off I went. I bought the package and at the end of January, I began.

P90x has 3 different programs to follow: Classic, Lean, and Mass. I started with Lean because I want to be lean. Done, right? But after 3 weeks of doing it, I realized I missed using weights and really wanted to get stronger. Prior to starting P90x I was doing a program through Fitness Blender (if you don't know about Fitness Blender, click on this link immediately to get started with free workouts from married personal trainer team, Kelli and Daniel--such great workouts and again, FREE). In this program that sort of resembles P90x, I started using weights again after a hiatus of doing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts only, like Insanity. Although just using your body weight is a great way to train, I started to see a little more results using weights again so I wanted to explore that more with P90x. So after week 4, I switched to the classic program. Here's what I discovered:

1) 30 minutes really does get it done. Recent research shows that if you keep the intensity of your workouts high and/or very focused, you really don't need more than 30 minutes. This is because you usually work your hardest in the first 30 minutes of your workout, and if you know you only have to do 30 minutes and not an hour or more, you will push your hardest to get the most out of your time.

2) A varied workout plan really is the way to go. It's best to switch up your workouts between weight training, yoga, pilates, HIIT training, upper body days, lower body days, recovery days, and stretching. P90x likes to call it "muscle confusion" I like to call it smart training. You never want your body to get used to any exercise because our bodies are smart and they will always take the path of least resistance. Once your bod gets used to an exercise, it will exert the least amount of energy to keep energy in reserve for later. You need to do the work to tell your body to push harder to see and feel change.

3) Doing exercise plans like Insanity might be good in the short term to see results, but they will never be a long lasting routine in your life. This is because you will get burnt out doing the same kinds of workouts day after day. Also, doing HIIT training every day is not good for your body. Your body needs time to recover from such high intensity work so you should really only use HIIT 2-3 times per week.

4) You can still get a great yoga or pilates workout in 30 minutes. Recently I've been heading back to my 60/90 minute yoga classes with Yoga Works  and although the benefits of the meditation time, a class environment and a live instructor are invaluable, I noticed I got just as good of a yoga workout in my 30 minutes using P90x. This is because P90x just cuts right to the chase so there isn't a lot of time to ease into the workout or relax afterward--something I definitely missed early on in the program, but got used to as time went on. If I needed that time, I just gave it to myself before or afterward on my own.

5) Programs like this aren't best for everyone. I don't always think that workout programs that Beachbody provides are the way to go for a couple reasons:
A) If you aren't a personal trainer or you haven't been to a personal trainer to know how your body should be moving the correct way, you can really get injured by any in-home program. This is because Tony Horton (the creator and instructor of P90x) isn't there to see how you're moving in the moment to help you adjust your body to perform the exercise correctly. You might not know that you're doing something wrong and it can cause potential problems or injuries. Also, because P90x3 goes so quickly, there's not a lot of time for proper instruction and in trying to get through it, you might not know what you're really supposed to be doing and repeat improper form again and again.
B) You start to believe that you need to do this program and nothing else to see results. When you're done with the program, you might feel lost and either let exercise go completely or keep moving from program to program, never really knowing how to simply live your life and keep your fitness going on your own. Even as a trainer who creates several different workouts for my clients every day, since finishing the program, I feel a bit out of it. I find myself going back to the program and pulling workouts from the DVD sleeve instead of doing something different on my own. It's liberating to have the freedom to do what I want, but I also feel like a child who has lost her mommy. Not a feeling I want to have!

6) That being said, programs like this can be great motivators. I loved having my P90x group, led by Rosi, to check in with every day. Every single day for 90 days we all wrote about our workout for the day on the group Facebook page. On days that I just didn't want to do my workout, I did it anyway because I didn't want to write to the group that I failed to get my butt in gear. I also loved being able to cheer on my fellow P90x'ers when they were having a bad day. It felt like we were all in it together and really wanted everyone to succeed.

7) P90x3 is a great program that you won't get too burnt out with in the end. When I finished Insanity, I was burnt out. Done. Toast. And that was only 60 days. With P90x3, after 90 days I didn't feel too crazed. Yes, I was really ready to be done and excited to finish, but I probably could have kept going if the plan was longer. This is because the workouts are so different from day to day and week to week so boredom isn't really ever an issue. Sure, there are workouts you would prefer not to do and workouts you don't like, but there are also a lot of workouts you're excited to do and try. I really loved that.

As far as results go...I don't really know that P90x got me where I am now or if it was just a combo of cutting calories since August/September of last year and adding weight training back in. I do feel much stronger and fitter, that's for sure. Since starting P90x3 my fit test results say it all--I am more flexible, I'm now up to 45 pushups before failure from 33, I can do a couple chin-ups (with maybe a little bit of cheating) and I went from doing 27 bicep curls to 40 bicep curls with 10lb weights to failure. My upper body hasn't always been my strongest so I can say I'm proud of that.

I don't usually share pics of my bod, but I thought it was worth sharing me after doing Insanity 6 days a week for either 40 minutes to an hour and kind of eating what I wanted in June of last year, to me keeping a closer eye on my diet and doing more focused training for only 30 minutes a day.

 

Diet and exercise as a combo is key. And so is focused exercise. You don't need to spend hours at the gym to get fit. I'm not perfect but I think you can probably see that although the results aren't crazy, they are there.

Go ahead and give P90x3 a try! If you need help, you can always ask for it from me and I will be happy to answer your questions. Or you can contact Rosi, my beachbody coach and I promise she will help you through it!

BE WELL!