Dear People of the Gym

• Dear incredibly skinny girl who I see every day doing the exact same workout on the elliptical: I assume you want to lose imaginary weight but there are other things you could try at the gym beside the same machine for the same amount of time at the same intensity. Also, go eat some fried chicken, you look like a slight breeze would knock you over.

• Dear "pretty girls" of the gym: someone has to explain to me how midriff-bearing shirts, booty shorts, a full face of makeup, and hair down is comfortable when trying to work out. Are you here to find a boyfriend or to get a good sweat on? P.S. Your mascara is running.

• Dear guy trying to intimidate me out of using my machine: bitch, I can lift too! And yes, I know what a set and a rep is.

• Dear people of the gym overall: guys, meet cardio. Ladies, meet weight training. Enough said.

• Dear muscleheads at the gym: LOLOLOL at your muscle shirts, grunting, and overall attempt to be badass. Problem is, when I see your skinny little legs and your giant upper body, you just look hilarious.

• Dear guys who try lifting that giant bar above your heads like at the Olympics (I clearly don't know the technical name): stop dropping it so loudly. It feels like the gym is collapsing and the apocalypse-like feeling it gives me is not motivation to run faster on my treadmill or lift heavier on my machine.

• Dear people of the gym: I can clearly see when you're lifting more than you can handle. I'll continue finishing my sets and slowly building up my ability to lift heavier, you continue to live on the edge and risk dropping those 100lbs on yourself and enjoy cracked ribs/broken back/various other problems.

• Dear chubby/seasonally plump all year round/curvacious/larger people: believe it or not, you keep me motivated. I see you working hard and you make me push myself a little harder. (What, I can say nice things too!)

Food-lovin' Fridays: The Great Carb Debate

80% of getting healthy and losing weight is related to nutrition. So let's talk about food. On Fridays.

Today I want to address the frenzy that surrounds carbs. But before I can do that, let's talk basics.

Nutrition is made up of macro and micro nutrients: macros are carbs, fat, and protein, while micros are vitamins and minerals. Theoretically, you don't need to keep track of your macros to lose weight, because weight loss is pure and simple math. That's right, you thought math was behind you forever, BUT IT'S NOT.
To lose one pound, one must have a deficit of 3,500 calories. So you could burn 500 calories every day doing some grueling exercise (because 7 days x 500 calories = 3500 calories) or you could eat 500 calories less. [For the record, I did a mix of both.] But here is the thing nobody really discusses: say you eat wayyyyy more protein than your body needs. What happens? It will get stored. And what do we mean by stored? We mean extra poundage. So no thanks, body storage.

Thankfully, it's pretty hard to majorly max out on protein. Most people don't eat enough protein. But carbs, and fats... they can be deadly. And some geniuses saw that and decided to invent diets like Atkins, which is low low low carbage.

I understand that different lifestyles require different macro distributions. Take Eddie and I for example: I have a stronger emphasis on carbs since I run a lot, and he eats more protein since he is building (a mountain of) muscle. However, I don't get the low-to-no carb thing. I just don't.

In February, an acquaintance from school was complaining at an event that all there was for lunch were sandwiches. When I asked her why that was an issue, she told me she didn't eat carbs. Well I have two problems with this: 1) she was eating an orange as she's telling me this, and hello oranges are pretty much nothing but carbs and 2) I know for a fact she is a cardio addict at the gym, and cardio demandddddssss carbs.

So what is this really about? Why do we think eating a sandwich is gonna make us fat but eating an orange with the same amount of carbs won't?

I'm not gonna give a huge bio lesson on why our body needs carbs, mostly because I'm not up for a "how the body works" refresher. Instead I will just say we need carbs. For lots of important stuff. And since I know that totally convinced you right there, I will add that lowering your carb intake alone isn't what will help you lose weight. Exercise and a balanced diet will. Emphasis on balanced. And if bread and pasta scare you, well there are other delicious sources of carbs: oranges, mangos, sweet potatoes, legumes (like black beans, kidney beans, etc.), raisins, apples, bananas, carrots, grapes, rice, etc. etc. etc.

And to shut everyone up on either side of this debate (because I don't want to argue with the fanatics), here are 4 recipes that have become regular recurrences in my meal plan - 2 are low-carb and 2 are not:

Sweet potato fries // Black bean burger // Portobello Pizzas // Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

Confessions of a former fattie

A year or two ago, I was glancing at old pictures of the young me in a family album. Besides the embarassment of my former incredible awkwardness, I was shocked to notice that I used to be quite thin. Lanky even (but that might be because I was so incredibly awkward). So I asked myself the age old question: WHAT. HAPPENED.

University happened. Those years, for a million different reasons, were my cow-in-a-pasture years. Getting all fattened up. Then I graduated in December and I won't lie, I was 40lbs heavier than my pre-university weight. Sure, I've had people tell me "you can't expect to weight what you did at 18" or "it's because you're so tall" or even "you don't look that big". Well in December, it all kinda felt like excuses. Let me throw in the disclaimer here that I don't think curvy women are ugly or gross or anything. My friend and I watched the following commercial about 50 times wishing we could look like that:

But that isn't me. With my extra 40lbs, I felt sluggish, uncomfortable in my clothes, and very self-conscious. Not curvacious and sexy like Ashley Graham in the commercial there. Also I'm sure Ashley Graham gets up three flights of stairs without dying. In December, I couldn't.

Then my very fabulous, fitspirational friend Tara posted this picture with the caption "a year in jeans":

That would be size 14 jeans and size 6 jeans, if you're blind. And she's a 4 now.

It just BLEW. MY. MIND. If she could do it while raising two young (adorable) children, being a wife, and working/studying, what was my excuse as a single, recently graduated girl?

And really, that was it. From one day to the next, I went from eating crap and doing nothing to tracking all my calories and macros (proteins, carbs, and fat), hitting the gym 6 days a week, and drinking the recommended amount of water per day.

I'm now 33lbs down, but muscled up! I'm able to make better nutritional choices, though really I prefer to track everything because as a person suffering from mild OCD, I actually kinda enjoy it. I took up running and am now prepping for a half-marathon in October (more on running later). I had a trainer draw me up a strength training plan too and I now have the best biceps I've ever had.

I got my confidence back (and my smaller clothes!) and I feel a lot healthier (bonus: my skin looks like I live in a spa). Now it's a patience thing. Because, like my bestie Eddie put it when I asked him how long this would all take (he's basically my personal trainer/nutritionist/life coach), "It's gonna take your whole life."

I love: coral

When I was young, I feel like I filled out a lot of questionnaires asking for my favorite color. And I always felt super cool and different when I wrote none (before my vocabulary included none, I wrote 0 or -).

I don't have a favorite color. I think it's a case by case thing, like if there is a shirt available in two colors, I'll pick the color I prefer of the two (I don't have a favorite color but I do have colors I dislike). If I'm picking bedding or towels, I base it on the look I'm trying to achieve.

Simple as that. I'll never buy something because it's a certain color. It's all about the article itself and the look/feel I'm going for.

Why am I rambling on about this? Because now you understand that expressing my love of coral is a big deal. A really big deal.

This fall, I bought a coral coat. Again, only because the options were coral, green, beige, grey, or black and a) I already have a black jacket and a grey jacket, b) the green was that same shade as hospital scrubs aka no thanks, and c) beige washes me out. So I bought a coral coat. Here it is, actually:

This baby is the new love of my life. P.S. Don't freak out, I didn't pay $400 for it... I have my ways.

Well anyways, this gorgeous jacket (which always gets me compliments) sent me down a giant coral spiral. Case and point: notice the coral tidbits on this blog. I just think coral is a great pop of color! And it just so happens that you can have coral lipstick, coral nail polish, coral clothes, coral accessories, coral shoes...

But then I got this via Snapchat:

Eddie's over it.

So I guess it's time to go to coral rehab (according to Wikipedia, teal is my rehab, as the opposite of coral).

Anyways, here's a few coral faves of the moment:

Coral bridesmaid dresses! GREAT idea!

This cardi is adorbs with the lighter trim

Aldo says this is peach but I saw it in person and it was definitely a bright coral (I'm totally the coral police now)

Pop of coral in a necklace! I'm telling you, the possibilities of coral are endless!

Coral bedding. Don't think I wouldn't. Plus it's an ikat pattern, which is another obsession of mine.

Or maybe I'll just sip tea out of a coral cup with coral-colored nails.

Not gonna lie, I hoped this post would cure my coral craze, but the more I see it, THE MORE I LOVE IT.

#30: Walk the stage at graduation

Well I have finally done it! A year and a half after starting my university bucket list, it's now complete! It only made sense to finish it off by completing the last step of my time in university: get the degree.

I had high hopes for my convocation day, having visualized it for years (to get me through the rougher days). And it totally lived up to them.

First of all, we had amazing weather after a really cold, rainy weekend. I think there's an unspoken understanding with Mother Nature that she gave me this day in exchange for my future wedding day. It's fine, I'll just get married in winter or something.

Then the ceremony was short and sweet but meaningful. Short speeches are key when you're starving and anxious to just walk the stage already.

And then the moment came. They called my name, I went on, and literally three seconds later it was over. I just traded in 5.5 years of hard work for 3 seconds of glory.

Totally worth it.

Here's the video my mom took while I walked (there are two people before me, she started taping a little early):

On this happy note, my bucket list is now fully complete! Basically I feel like everyone should make one. It made me explore Montreal, create memories (sounds cheesy but it's true), and really live out my last two years in Montreal. Thanks to everyone who tagged along for my adventures, because I would have looked pretty lame and a little creepy doing some of this stuff alone.

Annnnnnd this really closes the Montreal chapter of my life. Or for now at least, as my parents told me while we were driving away and I said, "Goodbye forever Montreal!" (I like to be a little melodramatic...) On to new adventures (and a new bucket list?) in Toronto!