Having all the fun and still being healthy!

So, I've noticed my last couple of posts, though they are AWESOME (how can they not be), they are all a little bit on the.... not so fun side. I do my best to get some fun into the posst but those were some harder topics. So how about something completely different!

Their are those who call me.... Tim?

This week my post is all about fun! Working out can be a lot of not-fun (it is called WORKING out after all). So what can we do to make working out fun? Here are a list of my personal favorite suggestions on how to burn calories and still have a great time doing it! So, to start off with...

Tennis

I am no tennis expert, but I don't think the spikes can be used on a regulation racket. Just saying.

This is one of my personal favorite sports to play. The great thing about it is that you can build up a great sweat, work out really hard, but those times come in short 30-60 second bursts. You get to have decent breaks but still work your tail off! On average, playing a singles match of tennis burns between 900 and 1300 calories per hour depending on how hard you play and your personal body. Bonus Tip: If you want to get the hardest work out, play someone who is better than you. You WILL lose the game, but you will get a MUCH better workout than you will if you can easily win.

Swimming

There is a reason I said swimming and NOT diving #FaceBoard

I am a fish. I love the water so much so this one is a no brainer for me. If you are lucky enough to live in a place where you have access to a pool easily, then it's not only a great workout (between 500-1100 KCal/hour at a medium pace) but it is also a full body work out that strengthen EVERYTHING. You build core strength, you have resistance training for arms and legs, you build up your stamina, and it is low impact so those of you with joint issues can work out without (or at least less) pain. It is also a great way to keep cool even during LONG workout sessions. How can you go wrong? The only way that you can make this even better would be a day at the:

Water Park

Please do not bring dogs to the waterpark. As adorable as they are, they pee everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE.

My favorite part of the water park is that it is a deceptively good workout. If you spend 8 hours at a waterpark, you will inevitably spend 3-4 hours standing in lines. However, you also then have to imagine that the remaining 4-5 hours you are swimming (see above) walking, climbing stairs, diving, screaming (which is still getting your heart rate up!) and having fun. A full day at a water park (depending on your personal day) can burn from 500 to over 2000 KCal! All of that time you are not even aware you are working out. Bonus Tip: Don't waste all the time you are standing in line! If you are the type of person who doesn't mind looking like a weirdo (that's totally me) then do some jumping jacks, knee lifts, up-downs, or whatever other activities you like. That can EASILY double your burned calories if you use the whole line time. If you prefer to be a bit more subtle then do calf lifts, balance on one foot, if you have kids pick them up and set them down (oh yeah... use your kids for curling, you will work out and look like an AWESOME parent!).

WARNING: The Waterpark is a GREAT work out, as long as you don't ruin it on deep fried everything, and ice cream (ESPECIALLY don't do the deep fried ice cream!) If you make 2 bad meal choices (or one BIG bad meal choice) you can undo ALL the hard work you did and more. Do your best to find better options!

Video Games

I do not promise you will be as happy as these people.... then again they ARE paid to look happy.

As a gamer and a huge nerd the idea of ANYTHING being able to use video games makes me very excited. Exercising is no exception to this rule. Their are many physical video games that can help you burn a few calories. The Nintendo Wii is one of the better systems for this because of all of the exercise games that come native (Wii Fit, Wii Sports and more). Many of the Wii games will burn anywhere from 250 to over 400 calories an hour! That's not bad at all! However, if you are in the mood to REALLY play a game that will kick you right in the calories, then pick up Dance Dance Revolution (or go to your local arcade). Playing DDR on difficult will burn up to 900 calories an hour! That is the same as most intense exercise clases like Zumba or vigorous running/biking! Plus, you get the added benefit of learning some sweet dance moves, and who doesn't want sweet dance moves, am I right?

Se.... umm... "Between the Sheets Tango"

This censor brought to you by the letters T, A, and D.

So it is no surprise that THIS made it on to the list. However, it is something that most people tend to forget is an actual workout. It improves cardio, it is a full body activity, helps relieve stress, and is all around good for mental health. It also improves your body's immune system and can even increase your life depending on which articles you read. That being said, the straight numbers say that a normal round of "good times" including foreplay and intercourse can burn anywhere from 150 to 250 calories an hour. A little bit of bad news for the ladies though, you will burn about 15-10% less calories as men do during sex. Sorry. Bonus Tip: Depending on how adventurous and open you and your partner are, trying different positions (especially standing/one person being carried) can drastically increase that number. You can also include exercises into the act itself. Think of the possibilities involved with using push-ups, squats, and planking just to name a few!

So there you go! Five ways that you can trick yourself into getting exercise without thinking it's really a work out. What are some of your favorite ways to hide your hard work in fun? Leave your tips, comments, and questions below. Also, if you have any suggestions on future posts leave them in the comments as well.

Only kinda working out,

~ Guppy

As always, thanks to HK and ED for doing the REAL heavy lifting on this blog!

Dealing with the crap

So, sometimes life can feel like this:

These people will have a very special place in hell.

At times like that, all you want to do is this:

I've been there....a few times

Or this:

LEAVE ME ALONE!!!! (Ala leave Britney alone)

This is incredibly dangerous, especially on the way to mental and physical health.  So what can you do? How can you turn around a day that feels like an ice cream and drinking alone kind of day into at least salad and water day? It is not easy. It can be incredibly difficult, and at times near impossible.  So this is my gift to you. I am going to offer to you a couple of tips I use to help myself on those days.

!!!WORDS OF WARNING!!!

These are just some of my tips. If they do not work for you, do not fear! Find what works for you! Also, there is a fine line between having a few bad days and depression. As someone who has (and still does) battle depression, please be sure to take a critical eye on your situation and decide when is the right time (if ever for you) to seek the help of a professional who can improve your life more than my little blog will EVER do! As always, take care of yourself first.

Now onto my tips!

Know your patterns

Connect the dots! Know yourself... and other profound stuff.

The best way to prevent you from falling into bad habits is to identify them. I personally have thought about the following series of question to identify my emotions and then help respond to them appropriately:

When I am feeling [insert emotion here], I want to do [insert activity here] to feel better.

After I have that statement I can look at whatever that activity is and decide if it is a healthy or unhealthy choice. Now, one key thing to understand is that there is a difference between unhealthy and bad. When I’m angry, I like to play video games to help release my anger. That may not be a “healthy” choice, but in moderation there is nothing bad about it. On the other side, “healthy” choices are not always good. If you get stressed and decided to run, that can be “healthy” as long as you don’t decide to run at top speed until you literally collapse. All things in moderation!

However, if my choice is both unhealthy and bad (I want a big bowl of ice cream when I’m sad. That is both unhealthy and bad) then I start thinking about what I can to instead that will still help me feel better, but be a better choice for me. In the above example, maybe I decide to have a dark chocolate dipped strawberry or banana. It is not the perfect choice but it is MUCH better than the ice cream.

Rejuvenate yourself

If drinking milk rejuvenates you then have at it! Also.... HEY LISTEN!

When you are feeling down, this can be the hardest and yet the best way to get out of it quickly. People generally fall somewhere on a spectrum between introversion and extroversion. For those of you that don’t know what that means, it just defines how you “recharge your batteries”. Introverts recharge their batteries in solitude. If you are the type of person who goes to a party, has a great time, but then needs to spend a day or two alone (or with just one other person) then you are an introvert. You still can enjoy public experiences, but you need alone time to refill your tank. If you are still happy after 5 or 6 days straight without being around a lot of people, you are an introvert. If you are the type of person who goes to a large party, then by the time the party is over, you are pumped up and excited and have more energy than at the start of the night, you are an extrovert. Your alone time is important but after a few days you will generally start to need that connection.

Whatever your “vert” is, make sure you use that to get out of your slum. If you are an introvert, spend a little time alone. Read a book, play some music, go to/watch a movie. Recharge your battery with alone time. Extroverts need to recharge their batteries too! Go to a concert, have friends over for a game night, go to a movie with a group. You can only make the uphill climb out of a pit if you have the energy to do so. Personally, I am very close to the middle between the two, but lean slightly more to the Extrovert side. When I need a recharge, I may have a game night with 4 or people, or do an online VOIP (Skype) game of Cards against humanity. If you want to play, leave a comment!

Let it happen

Unlock all the Chakras!

In my personal opinion, this is the one piece of advice that needs to be given out more is that feeling like crap is FINE! If I ever met ANYONE who was NEVER sad, upset, angry, or bad then I would not trust that person. They are ether not paying attention or are lying. Have your feelings. If you do not take the time to have your negative emotions, they will begin to bottle up inside and eventually overflow in an uncontrollable cascade. A life that is nothing but positive emotions is only half a life. Feel the darkness, allow it to come over you and understand it. Once you understand it, let it fade away.

I try to keep all of these in mind myself but remember it is okay to fall down. It is okay to try to make healthy choices but break down and eat that whole box of chocolates sometimes. If I had to make the choice (and usually you can have both) between mental and physical health, I would choose the mind 95% of the time.

What do you all do when you are in a bad place? Any tips for making it out? What about healthy alternatives to some of the bad choices? Let me know in the comments below!

Okay with not feeling great,

~Guppy

As always thanks to HK and ED for keeping my writing in a positive mood!

P.S. What do you want to hear about next week? Is there a topic or idea you want me to write about? Let me know below!

USE ALL THE THINGS!

Because being specific is no fun at all!

When I first started getting healthy, one of the things that I wanted to know was what do people do/use/buy to help get past a couple of common problems. I wish I would have had just a list of all available options of foods, apps, gyms, ect so I could see everything and make the best choice. Unfortunately I did not. That caused me to have to do some searching, testing, and buying myself. So here I'm going to make a quick list of all the things I use to do... all the things related to health.

I promise that I will get a LOT less vague very soon... like.... now.

Problem: Drinking Soda

I used to drink a lot of it, so the thing I use to help me stop drinking soda is various sparkling waters. My preferred brand is Klarburnn Vita Ice.

It's like a rainbow family of bubbly deliciousness.

Pros:

The taste is fantastic. It is bubbly, fresh, flavorful, and colorful.  (Yeah. that makes a difference to me!) Also, it is 0 cals, 0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 carbs. You can use this to drink instead of water and track it like water. (Yep! Sparkling water is just as hydrated and healthy as normal water as long as you don't add lots of sugar!). Also, it is about the same price as other carbonated drinks in vending machines

Cons:

They do have an ingredients list that would make most chemists giddy with excitement. I personally am not hugely opposed to chemicals I don't understand (give me some slack, I just started caring about what I eat at ALL!), so that doesn't bother me much. However, outside of a vending machine, these things are (by ounce) a bit more expensive then other soda. A small price if you ask me!

Problem: I need to keep track of all the crap I do and eat

There are a couple of different ways and apps that I have found to track intake and exercise. I personally went with SparkPeople, but I may be trying out MyFitnessPal. If I do convert over, I will give an update on the reasons and differences.

Your Calorie intake is like an experience bar. The nerd in me got VERY excited.

Pros:

The app is really simple. The layout is very intuitive and it makes finding, adding, tracking, and planning out things like calorie intake, exercise, water, and history are very easy. Also, as a nerd/gamer I LOVE that you "Level Up". You start with 0 points and as you do healthy things like track your food, read health articles, drink water, and exercise you gain points. At certain point totals you gain a level and get a new badge. You get absolutely NOTHING but bragging rights for your level but it is a clever way to make me go, "Oh, I should have one more glass of water to get the extra points for the day". It also has a function where you can scan a barcode to add that food to a meal.

Con:

This app is not good at all for creating custom meals. If I decide to cook something like a spicy chicken taco with dry sauteed vegetables, I can't just list out the ingredients and weights and have them calculate the totals for me per serving. I have to take every ingredient I use, add it manually then track what the amount I plan to eat when it is all done individually. You can also save individual foods as favorites but if you make the same PB and J sandwhich each day at lunch, you can't save the sandwich without manually adding all the totals together and creating a new food called "My PB and J" and then you have to add ALL parts of the nutritional info together manually to add to the custom food.

Problem: I hate to run... it is boring

Music is always a great way to get past the boredom of running, and the app I use includes music as well, but it does more than that. Zombie 5K is a running companion app that makes your running workout into a story/game.

I always have a zombie plan prepared, so what better way to ensure I survive then by using walkers to help me run!

Pros:

The app has a great story where you are a in a zombie apocalypse and your chopper crashes. A local survival base helps you get to them safely and then they take the time to train you to be a runner to gather medicine and supplies. The voice acting is surprisingly good. The story so far (only a couple of missions for me) is interesting. They don't talk for the entire workout time but hey will pop in every once and a while to give some words of encouragement or add parts of the story. It can also use GPS or the accelerometer to track your speed/distance. If you want, the app can also use music/audio (if you like audio books instead) from your phone to fill the times where the team isn't talking to you.

Cons:

The hands down biggest con is that you can only use local music with the app. That is, you can't use pandora or spotify with the app. Well, you can, but when the app begins to talk, the volume stays at full for your music so you have very loud battling noises in your ears. Also, if you use the app on a treadmill, there is no way to input how fast you ran/walked or the total distance. I don't think that affects anything for real, but it's a little annoying.

Problem: I need a place to do all the healthy things like... moving

If you have your own home gym this is a no brainer for you, but for me in an apartment without any exercise equipment I needed a place to go. I decided to go with Planet Fitness. They are a chain of gyms across the US.

This is an absolutely perfect analogy of Planet Fitness... minus the dodging of wrenches.

Pros:

There is very little bad I can actually say about this place. The single biggest pro is the price. If you only ever plan yo use exercise equipment at only one location, the membership is only $10 a month for me. If you want the "premium" membership (known as a Black Card. Ohhhhh!) it's $20. The extra $10 allows you to go to ANY location nationwide, you can always bring a guest to work out with you, you get free access to their tanning beds, hydro and compression message chairs, discounts on drinks, and shoes. Also, the whole mentality of the gym is wonderful. Their whole motto is no judgment. They push that this gym is not for the models or the bodybuilders (though they are welcome). This if a gym for people who want to stay or get healthy. The atmosphere is supportive and judgement free. Both locations that I go to are filled with people of all ages, shapes, and sizes, and everyone is happy and accepted.

Cons:

The only real cons I can say is that they lack some of the amenities of bigger, more expensive gyms like personal trainers and pools. For the price, I never expected them, but living in an apartment that does have a swimming pool, I would love to start/end my workout with a swim. Also, if you are a black card member, your guest can use the exercise equipment but not any of the massage equipment with you. Kind of weird I think.

Problem: When I run/walk my feet/legs/butt/calves are full of all the hurting!

This is one of the many places that I need to get something better eventually. If you are like me however, you do not want to put the  $80-150 investment in amazing running shoes before you... you know... run at all. I completely agree with you. So I started with a SUPER cheap pair of athletic shoes from Target. Specifically, I got the C9 shoes by Champion.

Yep, those are mine exactly! Even the cool neon green slashes by as I go running!

Pros:

Price, clearly the main draw of these shows is price. I got mine for $30 and they are currently on sale for about $25 on Target.com. I do also like the look of the shoes-- the black with the stark contrast of neon green is really interesting to look at. If you look at the toe you will see it is actually a mesh toe. This is REALLY comfortable on the top of the foot as well as giving wonderful airflow.

Cons:

I suspect the durability of these shoes will be somewhat lacking. I've used them for about a month now and everything seems to be working and holding up well but I don't think that will last. Specifically, I feel like the sole will wear out and the mesh on the top will tear. On top of that, the mesh makes it VERY uncomfortable to run in anything but dry, non-sandy conditions. A great starter shoe, but NOT for experienced runners or for those who want long term performance.

So that's some of the stuff I use! What about you? How do you solve these problems? Any recommendations? What is something that you want me to try out for you? Leave them in the comments bellow! Don't forget to like the facebook page and follow the blog!

Doing all the things,

~Guppy

Thanks to the non-computerized HK and ED for giving my blog the once over!

Why nerds are the best thing for a healthy body image.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to an event that I have never been to before:

I'll give you a hint... the conventions name starts with a "C" and ends with "2E2"

The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) is the first convention that I have ever been to. I know, coming from the giant nerd that is me, this is surprising. I had an experience that was overwhelming, accepting, fun, exciting, expensive and AMAZING in every way.

When I first got to C2E2 and saw the cosplay (costume play... that is dressing up in a costume... like Halloween but without candy. Usually.) I immediately thought of my readers. The 5's and you who read this came to mind as I went around snapping pictures. My original intent was to simply show that cosplay and passion are fun and sexy at any size, gender, or level of expertise. What I ended up experiencing was a level of acceptance, openness, and passion that was truly moving.

Before I talk about what I saw, I want to talk about why these things are important. As we all struggle through the process of changing our lives, one of the biggest factors in victory or defeat is self image and support.  This is one of the main reasons I do this blog. If I was only in my own head then I would surely fail. Even if I don't hear your voices (but really I should... start commenting... and telling your friends... and sending me free things) when I see that the amount of people who read my blog goes up it makes me feel better about myself and makes me want to get out there and work more on the weight loss.

On the other hand, when you feel bad about yourself, are put down, or don't feel like you are making progress, you are considerably less likely to work through tough times. The weight that one feels when they are in a bad mood or bad place is so much more than anything they lift at the gym.

With that in mind, I would love to praise nerds and nerd conventions. Even in the nerd culture, the trend of seening white, thin lead characters is prevelent. There is more diversity here than in many other forms of media but there is still a clear majority. It is with that in mind that I would like to show some of the amazing cosplay that I've seen over the weekend. As you look at these, know that they are not only people who love their craft but they are taken at an event where no matter what a person's size, race, gender, appearance, or passions were, I did not hear a SINGLE (I literally did not hear a single one!) negative comment about any of the people. The breadth of people and their passions were astounding. We saw every body style from the "classically" beautiful:

The Siren from Borderlands. Absolutely PERFECT duplication! Her clothes even look like they are animated!

Or the plus-sized beautiful:

Tattooed and beautiful curvy Miss Piggy!

Gender-bending beautiful

Gender-bent mushroom kingdom!

Group beautiful:

Various cosplay by the beautiful Sugar Gamers (Find them on Facebook!)

Race-bending beautiful:

Race-bent Chung Lee!

Historically beautiful:

The always funny and always beautiful Jane the Phoole (follow her on Facebook too!)

Species-bending beautiful:

The STUNNING Sweets4aSweet cosplay as Fiona! (Follow her on Facebook!)

As I said before, these are all people who love what they do, did it well, enjoyed it and (from what I saw) were never put down for it. Every single person I met was beautiful in their own way. They are passionate, loving, open, and so much fun! As you can see in the above picture, my cosplay was NOT great. It was hastily thrown together and not that creative. That being said people were happy to see me, they called me Ash, they took pictures with me, they loved me for trying, not for being the right body type. There is no better love that the unconditional love of the nerd community. If you have never experienced it, get out to a con!

Have you ever been to a con? Did you dress up? Which convention? What character? Where do you go for your every day support? Leave them in the comments below. Don't forget to follow the blog!

Always full of the Nerd!

~Guppy

P.S. As always, thanks to HK and ED for their help making me pretend I write like an adult!

P.P.S. Below I will post many of my pictures from the convention! If you don't want to see them, you may click away!

Batman and Batgirl

Cyclops and Gambit

Big Sister (Probably my 2nd place for best costume at the con!)

Walking dead cosplay.

Mario Bros having a little fun!

Weeping Angel (Don't blink!!)

Beautiful Zatanna!

The 10th Doctor! (Sadly, I saw 0 people who were the 9th... sad day)

Avatar Kora. I tried to have her do some bending... she didn't want to)

Flapper Ivy and Riddler. Nothing good will come of this.

Jay and Silent Bob. I laughed so hard when I saw them leaning against the wall.

An AMAZING Sora, even the shoes are the right shape.

Pyramid head. Also... that is a woman in there. She was a smaller woman too... which makes her walking around in that REALLY impressive.

Plus sized, race-bent Phoenix... so much love for this picture!

The single funniest costume I saw all weekend. Gender bent slave Leia... but the costume isn't changed.

Old school Lara Croft

Gender-bent Batman villians. Bane, Joker, Cat (man?), and Two-face

It's the Great Saya Man!

Gender bent X-Men (plus random passers by) Love the female Wolverine.

Female Scarecrow and Jokers.

Harley Quinn (one of many... many.... MANY Harleys)

Game of Thrones Clan! I see so many Ghosts!

The family that cosplays together, stays together... or at least has fun!

AMAZING Moxi cosplay

Dead Maus, Lollipop Chansaw, and Assassin's Creed

Female Kick-Ass. Looks AMAZING!

Classic Joker and Batman. POW!

Rebel Pilots (Oh Porkins!)

Two of the most adorable Ewoks I've EVER seen!

My nerd-fu is failing me.... I have no idea who this is. Help?

Battle Ready Peach!

More GoT. Is it bad that I want to hit him for even dressing up as the boy king?

I would DIE if I was walking around in that all day.

Best male Quinn I saw all weekend.

The Fairy God parents, always have Da Rules!

Link with the Master Sword

Zatanna and Power Girl with a very happy fan... I wonder why.

Joker and Chucky. One of the best examples of using your body type to match your cosplay!

Splicer, Booker, and two Elizabeths (and totally in canon! If you don't know what I mean... finish the game)

Warhammer 40K. Must be SO uncomfortable but looks so cool!

Gorgeous Blackcat!

Wolverine and Gambit. What you can't see is Gambit's card is in a clear case that glows purple

Weapon X Wolverine

Amazing protal cosplay. The gun 

Dai Le Agent. His cloves looked like rock.

Katana. I didn't dare ask if the fans were sharp

Big Boy. Yum!

Poison Ivy. she looks like she wants a hug... probably not in your best interest.

Comic book Bane. I laughed because the sign made the costume PERFECT for his body type!

Red Ranger and Ash Ketchum (Hey! That's me! I totally lost my Pikachu stuffed animal that day... I'm a terrible trainer)

Joker and Harley. Very common and very GOOD cosplay 

Full body shot of me. Notice the luxury ball... yeah I'm fancy.

More cos-play I feel bad for not knowing. Anyone help with this one?

Doctor Horrible and Captain Hammer. I don't know what the Hammer would be for her though...

Another Kora, I asked her to bend.... I should have specified that I didn't want her to blood bend me...

One of the best Rogues I've seen. I gave her a hug.... woke up 3 hours later. Totally worth it.

New School Laura Croft. Obviously before MOST of the bad stuff has happened

Android 17. You can't see it, but his shoes are PERFECT!

Vulpix! Is it too cheesy to call her a foxy lady?

The Guild. I want all of this!

Great expression on the TF2 Cosplay.

Body type bent booker and I LOVE it!

Hands down the absolute best cosplay I saw all weekend. He had a voice modulated so he sounded like the Bumblebee.

I will admit, I was slightly scared that his fingers would slip and I'd take a blunt arrow to the eye (or  knee...)

Astonishingly well done spider man cosplays.

Sith cosplay. too bad you can't see the awesome red contacts he had.

Iron Man. His visor was automatic... Seriously cool.

Body bent Raven. So awesome that she wore this so proudly and was shown support all weekend!

Yet another Joker. This one sans Harley

I think that is supposed to be the guy from Far Cry 3. Someone please correct me!

Gender Bent Deadpools and Tim. Deadpool was VERY common.

More Deadpool, old west style, with a storm trooper

All of the Harleys... All of them!

Starwars family cosplay.

Steampunk is perfect no matter where you go!

Beautiful Catwoman! Showing off the claws.

The line to enter the convention... an hour before it opened... on Friday. These are the dedicated ones!