Commitment Day/Preparing for Miss Virginia with Integrity

I follow FitFluential on Twitter, and they host regular health and fitness chats. Tonight's was about Commitment Day 2012, which is a nationwide movement to make January 1, 2013 a day to make a commitment to yourself. The final question of the chat was:

Fill in the blank: I commit to ________ in 2013.

I thought about it before I added my two cents to the conversation. And then it hit me -- I commit to prepare to compete in swimsuit for Miss Virginia in a way that I would want the girls I coach to emulate.

I'll make my first and only trip to Miss Virginia next June, where I will be at the top of the age group and at the bottom of the experience ladder. I want to give it the best I've got.

Like every girl competing, I really want to be Miss Virginia. I want to travel the state, impacting young women, being a role model.

But I only want to be Miss Virginia -- heck, I only deserve to be Miss Virginia -- if I can get there in a healthy way that I would want my 3rd through 5th graders to look up to. And that means no crazy dieting.

Today, as we are six months away from Miss Virginia, I want to commit to preparing myself for every area of competition with integrity -- I want to be true to myself, my platform, the girls I work with.

I'm also committing to blogging more - sharing the how of my preparation: workouts, recipes, motivation tips, so that you can get in swimsuit competition shape too. Okay, maybe not, but you'll probably be sporting a swimsuit in June too, even if it's not on a stage. And besides, exercise gives you endorphins, and endorphins make you happy... at least that's what Legally Blonde taught me :)

For Hope.

"Ours is an associate sisterhood based upon sincere desire for mutual improvement; its cementing element is love, its stimulating principle, truth; its watchword, duty..."

-Anna Boyd Ellington, first initiation address

When I read Anna Boyd's first initiation address, the quote above sticks out to me, because it's everything the Fraternity is about: choosing each other, supporting each other, succeeding together, remembering that we are accountable to one another.



I am reminded as we celebrate our founding - 139 years ago, during Christmastime, 1873 - of all of the wonderful things Delta Gamma has done for me throughout my six years of membership. My best friends, confidence, and the ability to understand people rank among the top of my list, but I am certain that I could go on for days.

This blog started as a way for me to document my journey as a Collegiate Development Consultant for Delta Gamma. It was, by far, the most challenging and fulfilling year of my life. I was moved to tears on a weekly basis, and I felt like my work was impactful.

As I traveled the country, I met thousands of college aged women, and as I learned from them, I learned about myself and about the organization I worked for.

I think what I am most thankful for the continuous improvement and learning that Delta Gamma has afforded me over the last six years. During a time in life when everything seems to change, DG has remained a constant source of friendship, hope, and inspiration, and I think that's pretty special.

Happy 139 years, Delta Gamma. Can't wait to see what the rest of my membership holds.

Are nutrition facts making us fatter?

Did you know that obesity rate among adults in the US has increased from 15% to 36% since 1990?

In twenty years, the percentage of obese adults has increased by over 20%. Do you know how ridiculous that is!?

I blame this guy:

 

My issue with the nutrition label is simple: by breaking a food into micronutrients, you are reducing something that is cultural, enjoyable, and part of life to a series of numbers. What’s more, you’re trying to summarize the pros and cons of a food in black and white. This isn’t normal.

It causes the human mind to equate a large banana to a a bowl of fruit loops. A piece of chicken to a York peppermint patty. Rice to French fries.

These things are not equal, and yet the nutrition label – particularly the calorie count – makes us think they are.

But there’s more: Since the nutrition label was mandated by the FDA in 1990, we have seen obesity increase exponentially. Which begs the question: is this correlation, causation, or chance?

Could it be that our growing obsession with “being healthy” has caused us to forget how to eat? That we have lost our instincts for choosing foods that are good for us because we rely so much on the package? Perhaps it means that we are choosing more processed foods instead of real foods solely because we are able to easily count the calories or points when it’s printed on a package.

I am not a nutritionist. I am a 23 year old who spent nearly seven years of my life trying different diets, depriving myself of the foods I love, and spending countless hours on the elliptical trying to get to be the size I wanted to be. I finally got on track to being healthy and loving my body this past year, when I lost nearly 35 pounds without counting calories, cutting carbs, or doing activities I hated all in the name of losing weight.

I am happier, healthier, and fitter than ever. And maybe I’m just one person, but I think it’s a discussion worth having: causation, correlation, or chance? What are your thoughts?

We're all in this together: Reflections on Newtown

How do you adequately reflect on what happened in Connecticut on Friday?  There's been a lot of conversation on social media, in the news, and among Americans. 

I think it comes down to this:

Our country needs more: more human connection, more love, more helping people who are hurting. More smiling at strangers, more random acts of kindness, more listening when you ask if someone is okay.

And we need less: less judging, less gossiping, less hating.

We need to listen to and learn from each other. To create communities, grow together, and reconnect based on shared values.  

Most of all, we must genuinely care about each other. Each of us struggles and succeeds, and the overall well-being of our country is dependent on the well-being of our people. 

So smile at a stranger, let someone merge in front of you on the highway, and just remember:  

we're all in this together.

Five tips for Bikram beginners

My Bikram studio recently did several Groupons. This is great, because Bikram yoga is wonderful for your mental, physical, and emotional health, and everyone should give it a try! That being said, I've realized there are a few things that I wish someone had told me as a beginner, and so I'm sharing them here.

If you're going to try your very first Bikram yoga class, here are five things you should know:

1. It's super important that everyone can see part of themselves in the mirror. If you're anywhere but the back row, be aware of other yogis in the class, and stagger your mat so that they can see themselves as well.
2. The yoga room is a silent place. The Bikram community is wonderful, and talking in the lobby is totally encouraged, but a lot of people come early to class to zone out, get their meditation on, or just enjoy some silence. Even if you're coming to yoga with your friends, try not to talk inside of the room.
3. It's totally okay to sit out a posture. Or seven. Yoga isn't a competition, and it's about the journey. If you need to sit down and take a breather, do it. Noone is judging you, I promise.
4. People don't wear a lot of clothes, and it's more than acceptable to join them. You know why? Because it's cool. Literally. You are sweating in a 104 degree room for 90 minutes, and you're going to feel a heck of a lot better in a sports bra and short shorts than leggings and a t-shirt. Like I said, noone is judging you.
5. Come back the next day. So maybe your first class was rough. Maybe you felt hot and sweaty and not flexible. Leave the room, sign up for the next day, and come back. Flexibility, inner peace, happiness... all of these things take time. You're never going to heal yourself physically, mentally, or emotionally unless you keep coming back.

Anyone else a Bikram yogi? What would you tell a newbie to the practice?

Happiness is a choice.

 

Here’s a shocking fact: bad things happen to everybody. Okay, so maybe it’s not that shocking. But for a few months earlier this year, it was shocking for me.

 

It’s not like I’ve never had anything bad happen to me; of course I have. But the way I felt was new – and for two months, I wallowed, I pity-partied, and I told everyone who would listen about my plight.

 

At some point, I got sick of being the only person at my pity party, and decided that I could create the life I wanted. I signed up for a marathon, I registered for my first pageant in three years, I started blogging more. And in the last several months, amazing things have happened: I landed a fantastic job, I ran a marathon, and I earned my way to the Miss Virginia stage – somewhere I never thought I would be competing. All of those things have happened not because I am special or lucky, but because I refuse, on a daily basis, to allow things I cannot change impact my attitude.

 

Bad things happen to everybody. And most of the time, they’re bad things that you have zero control over: getting rejected from your dream college, someone breaking your heart, someone saying something mean. But you know what I’ve learned in the last nine months? While you have zero control over what happens, you have 100% control over how you react to it.

 

Positivity is a choice. Being happy is a choice. Proactively going after everything you’ve ever wanted in life is a choice. Change what you can, accept what you can’t, move on from your past. Forgive people who have hurt you, and stop letting them take up your time, your thoughts, and your energy. All of those things are too valuable to be taken up by people and things that do not serve you.

 

Today, be kind to yourself. Go for a run, read a good book, eat your favorite ice cream. Call your best friend or your parents, make that recipe you’ve been dying to try from Pinterest, volunteer. Write down all of those things you’ve always wanted to do, and go do them.

 

Why not?

Bikram reflections: Days four and five of my 30 day challenge

Well,  so far I am five-for-five in my 30 day challenge, and as I'm writing this post, I'm preparing for class number six.

The last two classes have been pretty awesome. In a way I've never really experienced before, both classes felt like they went pretty quickly, and I actually kind of enjoyed every series of both of them. Bow (the pinnacle posture of the spine strengthening series) felt really strong both days, and I was kind of proud of how much better it looked and felt. Bow, just so you know what I'm talking about, eventually looks like this:

I am also finding that my practice is starting to feel like the "moving meditation" that it claims to be. I definitely am starting to fall into the rhythm of the practice, and I think that's probably what has been most helpful in making the 90 minutes enjoyable each day.

Scheduling myself time for my practice each day has been great. I love how Bikram makes me feel, how it makes me look, and that it gives me time daily to focus on myself. I'm sure I've blogged about this before, but I think that we sometimes forget how important it is to set aside time for ourselves each day. I don't just mean time to workout, I mean time to let all of our other responsibilities take a breather for a hot second (literally hot, in this case) and just let our mind have a break. We're all so busy all the time, and we sometimes forget that taking a breather is necessary too.

Here's to class number six.. after today, I'll be a fifth of the way there!!