So What If I Work Out So I Can Eat More?

Last Wednesday I went to another spin class with John. I've gone to several classes, and have always thought they were challenging. This time was a little different. About 1/2 way through the class, John noticed that I was spinning a little too fast to Lauryn Hill’s "Killing Me Softly." He told me to "up my tension" so that I was spinning with the beat of the song - aka make it hard. I tweaked it a bit to the left, and he said, "No, more." Wha! Tweaked again. "A little bit more." Fine.

The first half of class I was pedaling like I was in the club or something, just doing whatever I pleased. This isn’t correct. There is a reason why the instructor picks songs with different beats - slow for biking uphill and fast for downhill. I totally get it now. The second half of class I went through my entire 24oz camelbak and sweated through my t-shirt. Thankfully I had a tank on underneath or else I would have made it rain on that gym floor. That is so gross, I know.

About 3/4 of the way through class, as I was slowly dying, John said, "After this, you can eat all of the Chicken Marsala you want." Immediately I was like "PEDAL, GOOD WOMAN, PEDAL!" It was at that exact moment that I realized just how much food is a motivator to me. I love food, and find that exercise is a great way to balance it all out.

Food = fuel to exercise. Exercise = energy to burn more food. Repeat. Yum.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I also went to Monday’s spin class with Dave. I am officially hooked.

On Tuesday, I was accompanied by my absolute favorite workout partner: Ashley. She and I met on a yacht last summer and immediately bonded over our love for nutrition, fitness, food, and all things male. Now when Ashley and I go to the gym, we are 75% serious, 25% babe hunting. You can typically find us side-by-side on treadmills pointing at hotties or immersing ourselves in the man zone when we are actually being serious. We are also not afraid to make complete idiots out of ourselves for the sake of my blog. Here are some snapshots that we took after our sesh.

Planks. I hold my planks for 60 seconds.Hanging from the bars. Yes, I realize I look like a child.Pull-up fail. Kung-fu fighting. Black Swan. (We saw that movie last night).In the middle of this ridiculousness, I got a call from John, who had returned from a mini-vaca in Hawaii. He was outside of the gym…WITH A CANDY DELIVERY! This may be the fugliest picture I have ever seen, but please understand that I had been working really hard!!!! Haha.And this my friends, is what we call a balance. Hershey’s kisses + hamstring curls = the best of both worlds. And now I’m blogging enjoying all of this:

Question: How do you reward yourself post work-out? Protein does not count as a reward