Tag: challenge

Ariana’s travel tips

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training, travel

 

  1. plan, plan, plan- I know some people like to fly by the seat of their pants and that is great but in some cases you need to plan. If you are not on a budget then you might have a little more room to play with this but if you are on a budget, as I always am, planning is your best friend. Also if you only have a limited amount of time planning ahead can save you hours of wasted time standing in line.
  2. research- Groupon is international if you didn’t know. For most places if you do a little research you can find inexpensive skip the line passes, semi-guided tours, activities and so much more at reduced costs and it definitely saves you on those hours in line.
    1. planning and research also help you squeeze in as much as possible in a short time period. For example we are packing Venice into a day and a half then on our last day in Venice which would have been a 3/4 day anyways we are instead taking the train and spending a few hours each in Verona, Florence and Pisa before laying our heads down in our AirBnB accommodations in Rome.
  3. Think outside the box when it comes to lodging- you don’t have to stay in a nice hotel to feel luxurious when traveling. If you once again research you can find nice places for a lot less expensive. I have stayed in some seriously nice hostels and and used AirBnB several times when I have travelled. If you are traveling with friends AirBnB is a great choice. We have accommodations in the heart of Venice, Rome and Barcelona through AirBnB that are less than $150/night,  whole apartment in each place, split the cost between everyone and you are looking at $20-30/night for each person in a nice place. and having and entire apartment means you have a kitchen so you can hit the market and make a few meals to save some money. You are still eating locally!!!
  4. Do a few things that aren’t overrun by tourists- on my first morning in Venice after some coffee and a pastry I plan on walking the opposite direction of the crowds and will continue to do this. That is how I will explore Venice, going the opposite direction of the crowds (obviously do a little research on places you should avoid and use common sense, if you turn down a street and it feels sketchy, backtrack quickly).
  5. Safety!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- Be safe, research the places you are going, know the areas to avoid, know the laws and customs. Pay attention to the dress code. If something or someone doesn’t feel right get out of that situation and place ASAP. Think before you act. If you are alone, don’t get so drunk that you are impaired. That movie TAKEN with Liam Neeson is a fun thriller but it is also real, people are kidnapped and murdered every day, enjoy your vacation but be smart and be aware.
  6. common sense should see you through-if you wouldn’t do it at home don’t do it abroad. Again take 10 minutes and learn about the place that your are going, I would sunbath topless in Ibiza, I would cover all tattoos and most skin in the middle east, different place different experience.
  7. Check in. Give someone at least a vague itinerary of where you will be and when you will be there and when you will be home so someone will know if you don’t arrive. Try and check in at least ever 72 hours (I tend to check in at least once every 24 hours) you can find a free or very cheap internet café almost anywhere. And most cell phones have international coverage if you check. It will cost me $.55 every day to send 1 text message to my mom and get one back from her both acknowledging we know I am alive. $.55/day is not much to ensure piece of mind.
  8. Be a dork. Take selfies and make stupid faces and journal and take videos. Who cares what the people around you think, in 5, 10, 15 years you are going to be so glad you can look back on those memories.
  9. Be respectful. It may not be your culture, religion or favorite food but it is theirs. You wouldn’t want someone to bad mouth your way of life so don’t do that to anyone else. You don’t have to believe in it or even accept it but don’t be mean about it. Step to the side, quietly leave the church, discreetly bow out of the ceremony, say thank you and try the tiniest bite you can manage.
  10. lastly HAVE FUN!!!!! You may never be back, you may never experience something like this again so drink it all in. Take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way and truly live this experience.

Huckleberry half**Race Review

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, training

This last Saturday my boyfriend and I ran our first race together. We didn’t have high hopes going in since neither of us had trained enough and there were going to be some hills.

We are not fans of getting up early.

What can I say about this race except that it was small which was nice and off the main road so we didn’t worry too much about cars. Their fuel stations were just ok in my opinion but I am used to bigger races with bigger sponsors so in the future I would just need to plan better.

The race was on sort of back mountain roads so trail running shoes would have been better because the roads were all chewed up from snow. I got blisters on my blisters.

The course was beautiful and shaded which made all the difference.

Our pace was ok, not great but not horrible for a hilly run for me.

As you can see I started off strong and really faded toward the end hahaha

Oh the hills!!!!!!! The entire race was a series of ups and downs. There was no flat, this race just wiped me out.

Fun wood carved medals, though Brandon is disappointed we didn’t get t-shirts, he likes those more than the medals.

Overall it was fun and I am glad we did it but I wanted to cry the last 3 miles because I was so tired and my body hurt so bad.

We know to train better for the next one!

Oh and if you are a slow runner and don’t like being at the back of the pack don’t run this race, We crossed the finish line with only 4 people behind us….yes only 4. This was a small race of fast runners hahaha.

Day 13-15 of 28 day cleanse

by Ariana Peters, posted in Uncategorized

Day 13 was pretty normal and chill

Day 14 i woke up to the worst muscle cramp in my right leg. Cramps usually come from an imbalance of sodium, potassium and water so i added some stuff into my diet for the 14th and 15th

I got free leftover pizza from the pizza place next to work and i wasn’t turning down free food. 

I immediately regreted the pizza, i felt horrible. The maple bar on day 14 pretty much totally fine, the pizza, nope. So excited for a yummy, healthy smoothie in the AM. 

I’ve increased my sodium intake and my fluids and so far the cramps have gone away. 

Its been 2 weeks and i am down about 5lbs. I am feeling better overall I’m craving better food. I am loving smoothies/juice in the AM and a big salad as part of a late lunch then eating a real dinner. And as you’ve seen i can have off day or throw in extra good food if i am going to workout. 

I think this may go from a cleanse to a lifestyle change. 

Though now I’m reconsidering my cheap pizza after the half marathon…….hmmm what else would i want???? 

I’ll keep you updated!

Day 7 of 28 day cleanse

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle

Today is a prime example of what happens when you don’t prep. I was tired from hiking and didn’t prep anything Friday night and woke up late Saturday morning so I had no time to make anything, I also slept horribly and needed coffee. Insert Starbucks here.

Breakfast was the reduced fat turkey bacon sandwich. I did have leftover pasta and garlic bread for lunch thankfully.

This was snack:

How is it possible that something that should be pretty healthy for you is so many weight watchers points????? All the individual components are good for you.

When I got home this had arrived from Amazon! Can’t wait to start coloring and learning!

This happened, my roommates made butterfinger cream cheesecake kind of think. Holy crap was it rich, that is the actual size piece I took, minus one bite and that was more than enough. Sugar coma totally.

To combat the sugar coma I had a quesadilla I microwaved and a salad then read and went to bed.

And with that I am ready to get back to my 3 days of juicing!!!!!

Overall the last 4 days I feel pretty good about what I ate. The dessert wasn’t great and I had some cookies before the hike on Friday and Red Robin isn’t the healthiest choice but overall I think I did pretty good.

Ready to start week 2?!

Cleanse: Day 1 of 28

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training

Hola, como estas? Bien, Bein.

How is everyone?

So my cleanse is of course unique to me, I do what works for me as should everyone. My plan is/was to juice until dinner then have a simple soup for dinner 3 days a week, the other 4 days I would eat regular meals but would try and make them as clean as possible while still being delicious so I don’t break the cleanse.

We are already off to a rip-roaring start hahahaha. I got 3 out of 5 juices made yesterday before I was tired and gave up. It is definitely time for a new juicer. After 2 moves I don’t know where the plunger is to show the food down into the juicing part so I am using a wooden spoon that gets caught sometimes and I have to do a single piece at a time as well as stuff is flying back out at me and hit me in the eye yesterday but I am doing it! and will make do this weekend until I can get another juicer.

Since I only got 3 of the 5 juices made I packed a very small simple salad to bring with me to work as well in case I am knowing my arm off before I get home to dinner and I have some no salt almonds. I did get my sweet potato and lentil stew made last night and poured it over a little brown rice to make it more rib stickin good and filling. My goal is to check in every day and tell you how it goes.

Here is my tentative menu: things will change and adapt though, and I already noticed my date is wrong, that last Monday with the date should be the 7th not the 31st hahaha!

So here we go!!!

My starting weight, before I even started my little pre-cleanse was: gulp…..170.2 lbs. and I am in between a size 10 and 12 (US women’s sizes). I am bloated and tired and my stomach hurts pretty often pre-cleanse. I need more energy and drive. And right now when I run I feel so tired and sluggish and weighed down.

7am- carrot, apple and ginger juice. I sipped on it for about an hour. 

A little handful of almonds for a little crunch 

A small salad for lunch along with juice

After work i went for a little run

And for dinner Alicia Silverstone’s sweet potato and lentil stew over brown rice

It was a little blander then normal because it was half water,  i didnt have enough broth, but it still tasted freaking amazing!!!!!! 

So foam rolling

And that is day 1 in the books. It was difficult but not as bad as i thought it would be. Every food in the world sounded good today.  Hahahaha. 

Anybody else jumping on board for this 28 day change of eating?

If so what are you changing about your diet?    

My 30 days of no fast food

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training

As you know I did 30 days of no fast food and it went great!……until day 30 hahahaha. I did really good the whole time, I felt great, I was working out more, making healthier choices. Then I went down to Southern California for my friends graduation and visited people. I did good and stayed away from fast food until 1:15am on day 30. We had gone to the awards banquet for my friends program and drank too much lol. Then we decided to go to a bar after the banquet ended any by 12:30am we were in desperate need for food and the nearest open thing was In ‘N’ Out.

I also made healthy food choices on this trip, even when eating in restaurants, for the first half of the trip, then the drinking started and the food starting getting worse and worse. When I got back I was past my 30 days so I had the fast food I had been craving during my 30 day abstinent stint. So I feel like a cow again, add in that I have been sick and eating gallons of soup sodium filled canned soup, I am bloated to high heaven.

I am meeting a friend for happy hour tomorrow to catch up, no I am not drinking, just a diet coke and a happy hour half priced burger for me haha. After that I am hoping back on the bandwagon and I am taking it a step further. I am not going out to eat unless someone has invited me for a social situation, in which case I am only allowed to order a salad, and/or a broth based soup (no chowders or creams!) Otherwise only homemade items are on the menu for me until I leave for the cruise mid-September. And no more soda! *Unless I am sick and its ginger ale.  (but knock on wood I wont be sick with all the healthy eating I am going to do!)

Special occasions are the exception, for example I am running a half marathon August 5th then heading to work and you can bet I am picking up a pizza on the way to work after that race hahahaha. My 1 year anniversary with the BF, I plan on us going out to dinner. Big things like that are the exceptions. (Mostly I am trying to turn this into a long term habit because I jump to the conclusion of eating out way to often).

I am going to try and do pics of my food again/still, but I am blonde and sometimes forget, also sometimes I am super hungry and just dive into my food and after I have finished go “oh yea I was supposed to take a pic of that…….would an empty plate work?” So bare with me. And as always keep me honest! If you see something that looks like a non-homemade meal and I didn’t explain it……CALL ME OUT!

Anybody want to join me on this or do their own challenge?