Skinny Fat No More

For the past year and a half, I have been attending Fitbody Boot Camp.  What drove me there was when I started to plateau in my workouts and results.  To clarify, I never thought of myself as fat because on the outside, I was skinny, but did you know that there is such a thing as skinny fat?  Here is the body fat % breakdown:

Classification	Women (% Fat)	Men (% Fat)
Essential Fat	10-12%	2-4%
Athletes	14-20%	6-13%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-25%
Obese	32%+	25%+

It is entirely possible for a "skinny girl" to come in at over 31% body fat and be considered overweight because she has such little lean mass.  When I started Fitcamp, I was weighed 98 lbs and at approximately 21-24% body fat per calipers testing.  I was already in the Fitness zone probably because I was active with Pilates and ran regularly, but I needed more.

Fitcamp is basically high intensity interval training.  There are 5 stations, 2 exercises each stations, rotating between each exercise at 30 second increments, and 3 minutes each station.  The only weights we use are light weights, the heaviest being 20lbs. 

Today, I took the hydrostatic test, which is supposed to be one of the most accurate tests out there.  Here are my results:

9.6% puts me in the 99% percentile!!!  I was shocked and had one of those rub your eyes for clarity moments because I was hoping for 18%, but expected 20%.  Circuit training seriously works!  In the past year and a half, I have consistently worked out 3-5 times a week and had zero cheat days.  I don't think I even had a cheat meal, but would sneak in a few chips or a birthday cake here and there.  I love fries and ice cream, but probably only had those a handful of times throughout.  It means a lot when your hard work and sacrifice finally pay off.  The best part is that I don't even feel deprived because eating healthy and exercising has become a part of my lifestyle - almost second nature!

Now, if you Google women who are at about 10% body fat like me, you will notice that they are shredded to the point where it is kind of gross.  Am I?  You would think so, but no way!  This was the best illustration I could find online that made sense of this disconnect:

Both individuals are at 10% body fat but one weighs 175 lbs (left) and the other 150 lbs (right).  In other words, the guy on the left has 158 lbs of lean mass and the one on the right 135 lbs.  What a difference and additional 23 lbs of muscle makes!

I think I have done a great job at getting rid of my excess fat, but now I need to focus on gaining muscle in order to gain more definition.  The light weights at Fitcamp ain't cutting it anymore.  This will mean more protein and heavier weight training at the gym.  Do I want to look like a huge body builder?  Heck no - I don't even have the frame for that!  But do I want definition and abs like Emily Skye's?  Heck ya!! 

Here's to my next goal!

Balayage

I have been thinking about coloring my hair for a couple years, but didn't have the courage to execute on that thought because I was happy with my virgin hair that hadn't been colored in 10+ years.  Plus, I didn't want to get trapped in the maintenance of having to return to the salon once every few months to touch up my roots since I have only been visiting the salon once a year for my routine cut.  But, with first the hombre trend, then the balayage trend following, my desire to change things up increased a little bit more since both these hair styles would not require a lot of maintenance.  I finally took the plunge today at Bebe Salon in Garden Grove, CA.  With a 4.5 star rating and over 500 reviews, it seemed promising.

This is what I had asked for.  A reddish/brownish undertone with a hint of blonde highlights.

Here is my before.  Good-bye virgin hair!

Here is my after

And this is how I feel about my new hair color - MEH!

While I don't think that she did a bad job, I have to admit that I had to stop myself from crying because it turned out nothing like the photo I showed her.  Where is the red undertone?  Why is it so blonde?  Kelly informed me that because my hair had never been colored before, she had to bleach, then dye, etc... but what upsets me is that I would have appreciated her telling me that the color I wanted would not be achievable the first time around.  But then again, scrolling through the photos on Yelp, it looks like her specialty is this copper/blonde color, so maybe I should have researched a little more before taking the plunge.

Hopefully this color will grow on me and may even be more appropriate during the summertime since it is lighter in shade.  Wish me luck!

Homemade Protein Bars

Now that we are trying to eat healthier and build leaner bodies, we have increased our protein intake and found ourselves going through protein bars in a jiffy which quickly adds up in cost since quality bars don't come cheap.  I tried out a new recipe this weekend in an attempt to make our own protein bars.  The bars themselves were really easy to make and didn't call for many ingredients.  Warm and stir all ingredients over the stove, flatten in a baking pan, then let cool.  The nutritional facts per piece (I was able to divide into 12 small pieces) of my final product are below.  Taste wise, they taste like any healthy protein bar would taste, so definitely not holy cow delicious, but not patooey disgusting either and were chewy in texture.  Next time I make these, I will increase the protein powder and reduce the peanut butter to up the protein and lower the fat. 

Ingredients
Peanut butter
Whey protein powder
Old fashioned oats
Honey
Soy milk

Baby Sprinkle

This past weekend, I threw a surprise baby sprinkle for one of my girlfriends who is having a baby girl!  The reason why it was a surprise is because this girl would never want to trouble anyone into doing anything for her, so if she knew, she would definitely have discouraged me from it.  She is always thinking of others and putting others before herself that it was great to make her feel as loved as she makes all of us feel.  It was a priceless moment as she walked in and was immediately overwhelmed by all the love surrounding her that it made all of us tear up alongside her!

 Crafts table with "Well wishes for baby" cards and a headband making station

 The theme I was trying to aim for was a girly Anthropologie pink/gold tea party

 I rented vintage tea cups, saucers, plates, kettles and books from an amazing rental place called Etablir. For favors, I bought 2x3 muslin bags and filled them with tea bags with a cute label that read "A Baby Is Brewing..."

 We had a lot of yummy treats from Trader Joe's and homemade chocolate covered strawberries that were delicious!  J helped tremendously with making the sandwiches (PB&J, cucumber, and egg salad).

 Here she is on her way in!

Blue Apron

My friend introduced Blue Apron to me, a company that ships meals to you every week with detailed instructions on how to prepare each dish.  The cost is only $9.99/person per meal and they ship 3 meals per week.  You can also hold the deliveries at any time.  I signed up for a free trial week and have to say, I LOVED the experience!!  The meals were sent with ice packs keeping it fresh and included all ingredients down to the proportion sizes needed to make each dish.  Everything was neatly divided and packaged and came with short descriptions of the origin of each dish.  It was awesome to try new meals that were super easy to prepare and took under an hour each!  I definitely recommend this!

Straightforward instructions!

Creamy Sweet Potato & Kale Casserole

 Seared Hake

Yuzu Kosho - Glazed Chicken Drumsticks