One lovely blog Award

Hey everyone, I just wanted to firstly say that I appreciate everyone who comes to read my blog post and follow me, I appreciate your support and all of the feedback that I get in the comment sections. I love to blog about fitness and health and it has been a joyride to say the least to see how many people I have continued to inspire, teach and learn from. All of you are a good reason for me to keep blogging and for me to keep striving to be the best person I can be. I am honored and pleased that I have nominated for the “One lovely” blog award by Fadedrouge, I appreciate you making it clear that I have a lovely blog and I know from reading your blog posts that you as well have wonderful things to say on your blog page and everyone should feel free to give it a look. Thank you so much and I am pleased to accept this award. 

The Rules:

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to them
  • Share 7-15 facts about yourself
  • Nominate 9-15 bloggers you admire and contact them to let them know

Facts about me:

  • I reside in Ohio
  • I love dogs
  • I play video games 
  • Monopoly is one of my favorite board games
  • I graduated in exercise Science
  • I am 24 years old
  • I take horrible selfies. 
  • I have not yet played this Pokemon Go app game, but from what I hear, it is fun
  • I have two younger siblings
  • My favorite pop is sprite but I don’t drink pop. It is a very rare occasion
  • I love wine
  • I have resided in Texas and Colorado
  • I used to skateboard growing up
  • I play softball on Sundays with my team
  • I am the worst drawer in the world

The Nominees:

Thank you for the nomination, hopefully all of you enjoyed this post! 🙂

Shay-lon xoxox

How much muscle is too much muscle?

 

I thought today I would post something a bit different than my normal information, feedback, opinion kind of post and make this one an open discussion and by open discussion, I mean I literally want it to be an open discussion, hopefully someone cares about this topic as much as I do, if not then.. I will know I am not a priority in your life, kidding. I think this will be fun to talk about though, considering this whole “got muscle” vibe seems to be a huge hype and happy feeling for people. So I am going to do less talking and more of nothing in this post. Nah, I will share my opinion, I always do and I always will try to pick a side; some may be for and others may be against. Okay, let me first clear up this rumor that muscle is the new beautiful, do not allow people to make you feel like you need to lift 100+ pounds to be “cool” or “hot stuff”, do you, you do not need your whole body gleaming in muscle to be beautiful and you sure the fuck (excuse my adult language) do not need to be a pro athlete on our TV screens to prove any point. Life plays its course, we have genetics and not everyone is meant to have a CrossFit physique and or bodybuilder physique and not everyone needs to come out of the gym looking like Arnold to be appreciated.  Doesn’t mean people cannot strive for it, by all means strive for whatever makes you feel confident and beautiful, all I am saying is you don’t have to look like someone else to get the same reactions as them. That was my opinion right there, did you catch all of that, hopefully so. I will make mention that I do believe there is a such thing as too much muscle, why? Because I think there is a such thing as being obsessed with gaining so much muscle to make a point in your looks, strength and capitalizing on your abilities. I think when people go out of there way to have all this muscle, they do it sometimes for the wrong reasons and that is when I say it is too much, when their heads are up their ass and they treat others like shit because of it, or when they lose focus on what else is important in their life to maintain their muscle. I have seen and heard of people in the bodybuilding world losing their families because of their obsession, I have heard of strongman losing a part of who they are because they were so focused on being the world’s champ, being the limelight, making fans happy; that they forgot how to maintain other aspects of their lives. I am not saying, muscle is bad, obviously that would make me a hypocrite and I love muscle and I strive for more everyday I am at the gym just like the next person in line.  Hell I would even go as far to say I have my obsessions with my own body as well, it doesn’t help me; trust me. As a matter of fact it made me freak out in a store because of it, long story.. 

I think muscle is awesome and I commend athletes and people who have it; have it so much where they have no worries. I think it is a beautiful sight to see people do amazing things with it, and motivate others who want to get to where they are. I love everything fitness and health and I love the fitness industry, hints why that is my major and my hobby and motivation, ect. I just feel as though it can hinder you in more ways than one if you don’t know how to handle other aspects of life when you are not at the gym, if you cannot maintain a humble personality, if you cannot maintain a family, if you cannot maintain a normal day to day routine, if your mental state deteriorates because of it, if you cannot maintain happiness that has NOTHING to do with how big your muscles are, if you strive for perfection and each time you fall behind and it makes you cringe or unhappy, if you cannot maintain stable friendships, if you cannot maintain loving somebody other than yourself, if you changed because of the big muscles, if you had to take steroids because you were not gaining enough naturally (which means putting your body in bad situations/health)  and if you struggle with being okay with yourself when the muscles don’t compare to somebody else’s.  The list goes on and on, I could name another 20 at least.  Anyways, I want to hear from all of you, do you agree with me, or do you have your own opinions, do not be afraid to disagree with me.  I love hearing all sides to the story, engaging other people’s thoughts and opinions and developing an understanding.  I think if you understand my reasoning, you may respect my reasoning, but if you do not understand it, then maybe you might feel like I am putting people down who have HUGE muscles (I am not) I am strictly making a point in saying that being something that you weren’t before (creating a new identity) and reaching limits that make you stand out can be good and can be bad depending on the person. 

Thanks for reading, please share your opinions!!! love to hear from all of you.

“The beautiful thing about life is, beauty is what you make it” -Shay-lon

Your fitness blogger,

Shay-lon xoxo

Low calorie foods

Negative Calorie Foods 2

So many of you may or may not know about this whole “negative calorie” food ordeal, there are myths going around saying that certain foods take more energy to digest than give in calories which makes it a negative calorie food. With this being said there are some foods that do take more energy expenditure but not ALWAYS. In my opinion, this was a way for people to lose weight and became its own little diet plan, but the problem with this whole thing is there is very little to no evidence that this “negative calorie” is true.  If we look up the foods that supposedly have zero calories (which I will list), you will just see they have very low calories compared to other foods and the majority, if not all of them are a fruit and vegetable.  As discussed many times before, you should implement a fruit and vegetable in your meal plans and everyday eating, so realistically you should be eating these without having to think about the amount of calories.  So in this post I am going to vaguely discuss with all of you the low calorie foods, for some of you this may be new information and for others, you may already implement these into your eating regimen.  

  1. Watercress- 4 calories per cup (produce) (has tons of antioxidants)
  2. Arugula- 5 calories per cup (produce)(vitamin K) (antioxidants)
  3. Celery- 6 calories per stalk (produce) (vitamin K)
  4. “Bok Choy”- 9 calories per 5 leaves (Asian green) (produce) (Vitamin C and vitamin A)
  5. Radish- 17 calories per cup (produce) (Vitamin C)
  6. Zucchini- 31 calories per medium zucchini (produce) (Fiber, potassium, vitamin B6, magnesium, and vitamin K)
  7. Cucumber- 22 calories per 1/2 cucumber (produce) The skin holds the majority of fiber
  8. Plum- 30 calories per plum (produce) (antioxidants)
  9. Grapefruit- 37 calories per half grapefruit (produce) (Vitamin C) (helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol) 
  10. Strawberries- 49 calories per cup (produce) (high fiber) (Vitamin C)
  11. Honeydew melon- 61 calories per cup (produce) (potassium and vitamin C)
  12. Blackberries- 62 calories per cup (produce) (fiber) (antioxidants and vitamin K)
  13. Bulgar- 76 calories per 1/2 cooked (grains) (high fiber) (can help with blood sugar)
  14. Soba noodles- 113 calories per cup cooked (grains) 
  15. Teff- 128 calories per 1/2 cup cooked (grains) (fiber, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus) 
  16. Wheat bran- 31 calories per 1/4 cup (grains) (magnesium and vitamin B) (fiber)
  17. Popcorn,air popped- 31 calories per cup (grain) 
  18. Rice cakes, plain- 35 calories per cake (grain) (avoid flavored options; has added sugar) 
  19. Shirataki noodles- 0 calories per 3 oz. (grains) (fiber) (Asian noodles) 
  20. Sandwich thins- 100 calories per thin (grains) (whole wheat preferable)
  21. Turkey breast, deli meat- 72 calories per 3 oz (meat) (avoid honey roasted; has added sugars)
  22. Cod- 70 calories per 3 oz (meat) (Selenium) (Alaskan water; preferably)
  23. Mussels- 73 calories per 3 oz (meat) (high protein) (omega 3 fats) 
  24. Turkey legs- 91 calories per 3 oz (meat) (high protein) (avoid eating the skin for less fat) 
  25. Chicken breast- 92 calories per 3 oz (meat) (high protein) 
  26. Pork tenderloin- 92 calories per 3 oz (meat) (thiamine) (high protein) 
  27. Eye of round steak- 100 calories per 3 oz (meat) (protein)
  28. Silken tofu- 31 calories per 3 oz  (legumes) (plant based protein) 
  29. Refried beans- 91 calories per 1/2 cup (legumes) (magnesium, phosphorus, iron)
  30. Canned kidney beans- 108 calories per 1/2 cup (legumes) (protein and fiber)
  31. Lentils- 115 calories per 1/2 cup (legumes)  (high protein) (fiber, vitamins and minerals) 
  32. Liquid egg whites- 25 calories per 3 TBSP (dairy) (amino acids and protein) 
  33. Mozzarella, part skim- 71 calories per 1 oz (dairy) 
  34. Skim milk- 83 calories per cup (dairy) (calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus)
  35. Plain non fat yogurt- 137 calories per cup/depending on the brand (dairy) (protein and probiotics) 
  36. Almond milk, unsweetened- 30 calories per cup (seeds/nuts) 
  37. Powdered peanut butter- 45 calories per TBSP (seeds/nuts) (protein and fiber)
  38. Red wine vinegar- 3 calories per TBSP (seasonings) 
  39. Thyme- 3 calories per TBSP (seasonings) (antioxidants) 
  40. Cinnamon- 6 calories per 1 TSP (seasonings) 
There are many other foods that may be low calorie that I have not mentioned on the list. I think for the most part, many people eat each of these things and do not realize their significance; which is why I shared some small bits of information about some of them.  I hope this was of help to many of you, the serving size could be different depending on the brands, and how it can be purchased, it is best to read the labels! 
Your fitness blogger,
Shay-lon xoxoxo

Planks

 

Today we are going to jump right into another exercise we all like to call the plank.  For some of you this is a lovely exercise and for others of you, you use curse words to describe your hate for it.  I can understand why, because planks make you sore afterwards; you begin thinking everything is fine and “it isn’t so bad” then after 15 seconds, you might still feel okay, 30 seconds, you have decided to move a bit, 45 seconds, your obliques are burning like crazy and after a 1:00, you are ready to pray to whatever god. LOL. So trust me that is exactly how I feel when doing my planks too, some of you may be boss plankers and can plank for loads of time before feeling any kind of burn (I envy you), the longest plank I have held was about 2:30, which is decent for me, but normally I do 3 sets of 1 minute planks during a circuit or ab workout. Generally speaking, rumor has it the least amount of weight someone is, the easier it is. I wouldn’t know though, so it could be true or false. If you do planks, what is the longest you have held your plank? Why kind of planks do you like, if any? how often do you do plank exercises? are you a fan of doing planks? do you add weight on your back when you plank? I have yet to add any amount of weight on my back during a plank, I am not that “cool” yet. When do you start to feel the burn when planking? I would love to hear from all of you, your planking stories, so please feel free to share!

Plank types: add some variation to your plank

 

Those are a list with an example (click on the links next to them for an example). Hopefully this will give you an idea of different planks that you could try to spice up your workout.  

 
  1. Planks build your upper body, lower body and core strength and also inner core muscles 
  2. planks can increase flexibility (in posterior muscle groups)
  3. planks can improve your posture
  4. Planks can help build mental strength.  When one feels like giving up because the burn sets in but you still have time on the clock, it can help build the mental strength you need to continue. 

So whether you hold it for 20 seconds or 30 seconds, a plank will still hold the same benefits, for someone who is not conditioned, I would work on holding a plank for at least 15 seconds and work your way up overtime, if you an intermediate to advanced athlete you could aim for 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on what you can handle at the time. The goal is being able to hold a plank for as long as you can but you have to train your mind and body together so that when things get tough you know how to focus on the goal at hand and not the pain.  For some people, you may set your goal higher than a  minute if you know you can do it.  I would recommend this exercise to anyone, this isn’t about beating time, it is about concentrating on the task at hand, staying within correct form and building a stronger core and building a stronger mind as well.

 

Your fitness blogger,

Shay-lon xoxo

Society mind screws people on body image

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ezm2kC1bOM

This video explains how I believe people are so caught up with which body type is the better one, they don’t even realize neither is better than the other. We went from skinny is the hot and beautiful, to plus size is the new hot and beautiful to now Crossfit muscles are the new hot and beautiful. Your body does not determine your beauty people, stop allowing these trends and fads to make you think otherwise. Do not be the problem, be the solution.  Stop being that person stressing over which body type is more attractive; Monday I will be skinny, Tuesday I will be plus size and Wednesday I will be Crossfit Muscle and lean, stop debating why one is better than the other, stop following other people’s thinking and think for yourself. We have too many people walking around with this belief that one is better than the other, one is more attractive, one means your healthy and the other means you are not, one means you workout and the others do not, one symbolizes eating disorder and the others do not.. we have continued to allow these thoughts to be the reason why we have body image issues in the first place, the reason why some of us obsess over our bodies, the reason why people strive for perfection at the gym, the reason why people starve themselves, the reason why people will belittle others.  Think about this, if we all had to be one body type, which would people choose?  Many, because NOT one body type represents us all. “If you allow someone to determine your beauty, then you haven’t yet decided your worth”. 

Your fitness blogger,

Shay-lon xoxox

P.S feel free to share my videos and or leave comments. Thank you.