My weekend and why I love living in DC

   I've been in this city almost 8 years and I have yet to be bored. There is literally always something to do (and not just da club) and there's a good chance that it is going to be free. If you're not doing anything, it's because you don't want to.
   This Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd annual Art All Night festival. It's based on a similar one that takes place in Paris called Nuit Blanche. There were 5 sites around the city with different exhibits and it went from 7pm-3am.

There were paintings, body art, fire hula hoopers, a silent party, live bands every hour, and much more. While I didn't get to visit all 5 sites, the 2 that I did were so full of activity that I don't feel like I missed out. The crowd was really clectic and relaxed. I'm not the biggest art fan but this festival was comprised of so many different mediums that it really drew me in and was the type of atypical fun that I like. I went with my roommate who has actually attended the Nuit Blanche in Paris and he said that this one was more fun and light-hearted.

One of the exhibits in the Wonderbread Factory at the Shaw location.

   Sunday I had the pleasure of seeing this gentleman DJ at the Kennedy Center:

   If you have never been to the Kennedy Center put it on your calendar. They have free concerts at 6pm 365 DAYS A YEAR.  I went just expecting to see ?uestlove and Black Thought perform. It turned out that this particular event was a celebration for the winners of a youth poetry contest. I was pleasantly surprised to hear amazing poetry from high school and college students from around the country, a presentation by Glynn Washington from one of my favorite podcasts Snap Judgment, and a brief talk by Hill Harper. Chock full o' fantastic!
   To get into the concert a friend and I had to wait in line for an hour but it went by quickly. After we got our tickets we had a couple of hours to kill so we walked over to Founding Farmers restaurant and had our fill. Founding Farmers has a fantastic menu and the portion sizes based on the prices are fantastic. They also try their best to make sure that their food is locally sourced as much as possible. After eating we walked back to the Kennedy Center and were blown away by the performances. The friend I wa swith siad they would have gladly paid $50 to attend.
   How did I find out about these events? Twitter. I follow several accounts that post events around the city like @goingoutguide and @freeindcblog. There are several so just do a little research for your city and I'm sure you will find tons of fun gems in your area. Have fun!

Extended sugar detox Week 1 (with pictures!)

   Hopefully you read my last post was about my sugar detox results. If not go here. I liked what happened in 21 days so I decided to try it again for an extended period of time. So from 9/9/14 until Halloween (my favorite time of year), I'm going to do the sugar detox again and document it weekly with pictures for my and whatever soul might be reading to see. Why? Because I want to be Storm this year and she's a bad bitch. Or health. Or whatever. This is me on September 9, 2014:

 

195.4 lbs., 40" waist

   This week's menu is pretty simple. 3-4 meals consisting of 4 ounces of store bought rotisserie chicken (or a 4 ounce homemade burger patty if I'm feeling fancy), 1 cup of vegetables, and 1/5 of an avocado with 2 of those meals. I was feeling lazy and didn't want to do my usual meat prep, which is extensive (thank my Haitian momma). The vegetables for this week consist of roasted cauliflower, roasted brussel sprouts, and blanched broccoli. Daily snacks are 1 omelette muffin, 12 almonds, and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese flavored with fruit extract/vanilla and sweetened with Splenda (spare me the Splenda rants, it be good). Exercise for the week: bootcamp on Monday, bike to and from work Tuesday, running group on Wednesday, bike to and from work Friday.

   Some of my observations on Week 1

1) Blanched broccoli is a great colon cleanser. I was out on break and had to high tail it back to the office to use the facilities. Blanched broccoli is cooked just enough that I don't feel like I'm eating shrubbery, but raw enough that I get all of the fiber benefits.

2) Starting the detox wasn't as hard as it was the last time. I like the fact that it is so regimented. It gives me less room for fudging the numbers.

3) I love weighing myself in the morning! Went to sleep at 195.4 and woke up at 192.6. (9/10/14)

4) Woke up this morning at 190.4. I feel like the weight loss this week is due mostly to an increase in fiber and no cheese to gum up the works.

5) A good run at the end of the day is a great way to stimulate your intestines.

6) Less an observation, more a goal. I'm hoping to be at 185 by next Tuesday. My goal for the duration of this cleanse is to be down to 175 by Halloween.

7) I'm a cheap date now. 2 drinks and I'm done. I went to happy hour with some friends and had 2 vodka seltzers.

8) So I was bad this weekend. Not terrible but I wasn't adhering to the serving sizes of protein I was supposed to have. Friday and Saturday I went overboard on almonds and on Sunday I biked to Mr. P's BBQ truck, got a half slab of pork ribs and ate the whole damn thing. To my surprise I still woke up this morning at 189.8. I'm glad there was a drop but I still wonder what the scale would have said if I had made better choices. (Sidenote: Mr. P's has some of the best ribs I have ever tasted. They are located at 6th & Rhode Island NW.)

9) I finally got the pieces I need for my Storm costume. I don't look bad but I could stand to lose a couple of inches around the waist. More motivation to keep going with this cleanse.

10) I need to be really diligent about my water intake. It really helps with digestion and helps me to feel more satiated with my meals. My goal is going to be 4 thermos fulls a day.

   Week 1 Results

Woke up this morning at 190.6. That's 4.8 lbs from last Tuesday morning. I'm telling you the system works! I don't know why I thought I could lose 10 lbs in 1 week but being down almost 5 lbs is alright with me! I'm going to post pictures on the Week 2 update so stay tuned.

What I learned on my sugar detox

  I know I've been away for a while but...life. So I did a 21 day sugar cleanse. The idea of the cleanse is that there is an overabundance of the naturally occurring yeast in your gut. By cutting out sugar for 21 days, you stop feeding the yeast and bring it down to normal levels. My friend told me about this cleanse a couple of years ago (she had gotten it from her primary care physician) but I was not in a mental space to do it. She is super fit and her dietary willpower is just... Anyway, I saw her mom a few weeks ago and she had lost a dramatic amount of weight and she said that it was from the cleanse so my vanity motivated me to try it :-). It was an interesting 3 weeks and I would just like to say: sugar is a hating ass bitch. Here are some of the things I learned on this cleanse:


1. Nutrition really is the most important part of fitness.
    We keep hearing it's 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. IT IS TRUE and I want to yell it from the mountain top. I've been working out on and off since college and been doing so consistently for the last 2+ years. While I feel better and more in shape than when I don't work out, I always find that I hit a plateau in terms of my weight loss that I thought was going to be impossible to overcome. At the end of this cleanse, I lost a total of 9 pounds, 1.5 inches off of my waist, and went down a dress size in 3 weeks. I didn't increase exercise (I exercise 4-5 days a week). I was never hungry. I just had to be smart about what I chose both in content and portion size. Which brings me to #2.

2. Sugar is in EVERYTHING.
    I basically had to give up any alcoholic beverages in the last 3 weeks because they are loaded with sugar; that wasn't a big deal. What was challenging was giving up my oatmeal breakfast and 2 pieces of fruit daily. Not to mention my treat meals and the random goodies at work I tend to find in my vicinity and eat without thinking. This cleanse really forced me to sit down and read/research/think about what I am putting into my body and I realized what a big part of the general diet sugar is.

3. I'M an all or nothing person.
    Although in general I eat pretty well, I let my cheat meals get out of hand sometimes. A cheat meal becomes a cheat day becomes a cheat week and on and on (i.e., my birthday month binge). I always felt like there were some foods that I would just NEVER be able to totally cut out. This cleanse made me realize that if I'm committing to a healthier lifestyle I have to REALLY committ. This may not be true for everyone, I'm just speaking for myself because a) I gain weight really easily and 2) I've got willpower issues. I don't buy large containers of cashews because they are my favorite and I'll inhale it all in 1-2 days. I don't keep cheese in the house very much because I will put it on everything. I don't make my comfort foods in large batches because my portion control goes out the door. When it comes to sugar, I'm going to have to be creative in how I satisfy my craving for it and that brings me to #4.

4. There are lots of healthy alternatives to the foods I love.
    Sometimes I want a sandwich. Hello coconut flour! I learned to make bread using coconut flour and it pretty much changed the bread game for me. I'm going to be doing a lot of experimenting with it in my future. I love cheese. See #5. I also love fruit. See #7. The crux of what I'm trying to say is that there is always a better version of that favorite food of yours. You just have to look for it. (sidebar: found a delicious recipe for an almost sugar free alcoholic beverage and I'm working on paleo mac and cheese.)

5. Avocados FTW!
   I love cheese. No, I LOVE cheese. Specifically cheddar and bleu cheese. Unfortunately these were off the menu for the cleanse. Too much saturated fat. Then in walks avocado. I've always loved avocado but it is a really great way to substitute for cheese. It's creamy and has lots of healthy fats and is just all around delicious. But I'm not a fan of slimcados. They may be bigger but not as delicious as regular avocados.

6. Fat isn't bad for you!
   I keep track of most of my food intake on My Fitness Pal. I usually try to keep my fat intake to a minimum and consider it a victory if I'm a couple of grams under my daily sugar intake. During this 3 week cleanse, my fat intake was over what the program said I should be taking in while cutting out most* of the sugar and I lost a significant amount of weight in a pretty short amount of time. The key is to take in good fats from things like avocados and nuts and limiting your intake of saturated fats (i.e., take the skin off your chicken and go light on the bacon)

7. Fruit extracts: get into them
   I love citrus fruits. This cleanse cut out any fruit intake for 21 days. I learned to satisfy my desire for tasty tasty fruit by flavoring cottage cheese with orange and lemon extracts and a non-sugar sweetener. Delicious. I'll be looking more to berries for my fruit intake in the future. Citrus fruits will have to be a sometimes treat.

8. Stevia is gross.
   I don't know what that nasty aftertaste is but keep it away from me. I finished out my stevia stash and started using Splenda even though that isn't too great for you either. I'm going to be switching over to Xylitol and hopefully I have better luck with it. BTW if anyone wants a bag of Coconut Palm Sugar and one of brown sugar, they're yours.

9. Preparation is key.
    This goes for the mental as well as the physical. During this cleanse I attended the wedding of two of my dearest friends. The reception was OPEN BAR with a NIGERIAN/SOUTHERN FOOD BUFFET. Satan get thee behind me! Perfect opportunity for me to slip up. But I was committed to seeing this cleanse out and I just had some chicken (I took the skin off) and collards. Plus I had my own stash of food in the car. Last weekend I went on a beach trip with my running group and there were boardwalk fries, ice cream, and funnel cakes oh my! But I had my trusty bag full of burger patties, avocado, and spinach, plus some no sugar treats and I stuck to it. You have to be willing to put in some prep work if you're going to stick to an eating plan. You don't know what people are putting in your food (I worked in a restaurant where they put sugar in the corn). Also you need something to lean on when you are tempted. I might look a little odd when I pull out my prepped food, but I've got goals to attain.

10. Eating clean isn't as hard as some people make it out to be.
    Halfway through the cleanse I got really lazy with cooking. So I went to the grocery store and I bought rotisserie chickens and veggies that required minimal prep. The hardest part was dividing the meat into appropriate portions (invest in a food scale; it is WORTH IT). While I do plan on trying out some fancier recipes, it's comforting to know that sticking to this style of eating isn't something that is going to have me constantly slaving in the kitchen.

   To sum it up, the cleanse wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and I am more than pleased with the results. I think I might keep it going a little longer. I'm definitely more aware of what kind of food I put in my body and how sugar affects me. I know that because of the way MY body works, I have to pay special attention to my sugar intake. If you want the meal sheet, send me your email and I'll be happy to share it. Let me know your experience!

*I had negligible sugar intake from some veggies and avocado.

Free Fitness Friday: App based challenges

    Accountability can be a real motivating factor in maintaining a fitness schedule. I meet up with groups and friends several times a week for different types of exercise and the fact that I have an appointment (even if it's only in my head) makes me schedule my workout into my day. But accountability doesn't necessarily have to be face to face. A few weeks ago I did a 10 mile running challenge through the Nike+ app started by @deactivatedfatgirl (check her out on IG and her blog on tumblr) that showed my progress with 100+ runners across the country.



I didn't finish first...but I finished!

   Seeing everyone's mileage go up kept me on task so I could finish the challenge. Since then I've added a few friends on the app and the competitor in me has kept up with running because I want to be at the top of the mileage list, or as close as possible.
   There are many free apps that will let you recruit your friends to muster up some motivation. Check some of them out here and here . If you know of any more please send them my way!


Free Fitness Friday: Running groups

   Running has never been my favorite activity but I've come to appreciate it over the last few months. It's free, it works your entire body, and you can do it anywhere. Lately I've run farther, longer, amd more often than I ever thought I could or would. I've increased my speed, and I feel a real sense of accomplishment once I've finished. Sometimes, however, I'm not that motivated and need a little encouragement/competition/accountability to keep me going. I do this with a running group here in DC. If you're interested in finding a running group of your own, on meetup.com there are tons of running groups ranging from beginner to advanced. Besides the exercise, these groups are a great way to meet new people.

   The group that I run with that is helping DC stay healthier and build community through running is the District Running Collective. They meet every Wednesday at The Coupe on 11th st NW. The runs are anywhere from 2-4 miles and incorporate calisthenics. At the end there is usually a physical challenge and the winners are awarded prizes (gift certificates, gym memberships, etc.) Everyone is really encouraging and they have pacers to make sure that no one gets left behind. I love this group because it's people of all backgrounds and body sizes engaging in a healthy activity that encourages bonding. Check them out on facebook and IG (@districtrunningcollective). If you're in the DC area, come join us! You won't regret it.


Photos are often taken during our runs. This was me last Wednesday running up the steps at Cardozo High School.

If you like what they're doing but don't happen to be in the DC area, start your own! Happy running!

Free Fitness Friday

   I gave up my gym membership to Washington Sports Club a few months ago. While I loved it there, I've been trying to cut costs. I don't care what these market experts say; the recession is real, alive, and kicking and I'm trying to keep as many coins in my pocket as I can. Plus I need to chip in to bail out my boo Felon Bae.

   I've been working out long enough to know that I'm going to keep it up with a membership or not. Since breaking up with the gym I've discovered so many ways to maintain this fit life without breaking the bank. So once a week I'll share my findings with you and please send me your ideas too. I'll try to make my suggestions universal but there will also be a focus specific to the DC area.

   So on this first Free Fitness Friday, my advice to you to get your exercise on on a minimal budget is: check out your local recreation centers. There are 2 recreation centers in my neighborhood: one that is 2 blocks from my house and another that is only 2 bus stops away. Both of these facilities have workout rooms complete with weights and cardio machines (treadmills, ellipticals). One of them has free fitness classes multiple days a week. So even if I don't have the motivation to get through a workout on my own, I can drop into a class and burn those calories. For those in the DC area you can check out where all facilities are located here and the schedule of classes here. For those outside of the DC area, send me links to recreation centers in your city. I'll compile a list so we can have a one stop shop to point our friends to.

   If you like what you're reading, please feel free to share with friends. I'm new to this blogging thing so if you have suggestions, send those too. I'm not an expert at this; I'm just a woman with some time on her hands and some things to share. Hopefully some of it helps.