FITAPPY – Fitness & Balanced Parenting

What is the best exercise equipment for women? In short: resistance bands. They can easily replace many exercise machines at the gym. If you play around and get creative for 15-20 min a day will do magic to your body!

You can have an amazing body if you really want it, and it you are willing to work for it!! Really. If you can imagine your ideal look, then you can have it!

I have 2 kids and I am very happy with my body. But it did not come easy.  After I had my first child, almost immediately I had my pre-baby body. However after the second pregnancy the situation was totally different. I lost weight relatively quickly, but my body did not look good. I had no muscles, and my hips seemed to get wider. I have no family or nobody to help us out – it was just me and my husband. Also, I went back to school, so naturally I did not have time to exercise as much as I wanted to.

A few months ago, I developed a new plan for myself, and I forced myself to STICK to it. I kinda did. So this is the result. I’m finally happy with myself. If I could do it, so can YOU!!! Even if your body changed, you skin stretched, or you got stretch marks, who cares!!

You can have an amazing body if you want !! – Fitappy after pregnancy

Abs are made in the kitchen! Exercises alone will not do the trick. You must also eat clean. Do 10-20 reps of each exercise. Repeat 3-4 times.

Law school makes you fat! Period. Or any graduate school that requires a lot of sitting, reading, writing, and studying in general. I cannot speak for other schools, however, so I can pass on a mild warning that studying law can make you very unhappy about the way you look.

As I started my legal studies a couple of years ago I did not know how competitive law school can be. The most challenging thing about the law school is the curved grading system. Your final grade is based on your class performance on the final exam. Therefore, in a nut shell, you compete with everybody in your class. You can get 98% on your final exam and still fail the class. Why? Because if you get 98%  and everybody else gets 99%, you did worse then your classmates, and thus you failed! If your GPA falls below certain minimum, you can be kicked out of school.  Having that harsh grading standard in mind, you will take your studies seriously, and all you will be doing is studying and studying. Still, as you confidently enter your final exams because undoubtedly, you never worked harder in you life,  you strongly believe you know absolutely everything covered in lectures, and you know that you worked your ass off the entire semester and prepared well for the finals, etc. Therefore, you think that you will Ace the class — You do not. You do not get that A+. Sad surprise, but unfortunately, most of the people study just as hard as you did, or even harder.

If you know that, you forget your social life, you forget about gym, you eat crap in the library while you study, and your whole life evolves around law!  My first semester I managed to exercise about 2 times a week. I thought that I could sneak in a couple of workouts since I studied very hard and I was on top of everything.  I was. My final grades were good, but not as great as I wanted them to be. Thus, I knew I have to study harder next semester. So I did, and my grades were so much better.  I did not, however, get the same amount of physical activity, and my body felt it. Worse, I could see it!!

Since I did very well my first year, I transferred to another school. I knew that next semester will be more demanding but somehow it did not bother me. I believed I could do well. Also, my first semester of the second year I was pregnant with my second baby so I had a great excuse to “avoid” the gym. Somehow the thought of gaining the pregnancy weight eliminated my need to exercise, and I chose to study longer instead. Big mistake because after having my second baby it took me forever to lose pregnancy weight. Now, as I prepare for another semester of law school, I still do not have my body back, and a few extra pounds do not allow me to wear most of my pre-pregnancy clothing.

Bottom line: Even if you are drowning from work or studies, please do yourself a favor and manage a few short workouts a week. If you cannot workout, just go for a walk, play ball, or do something with your friends. You will look and feel better! It is all in your hands and only you can make a decision.  I decided to devote more time for myself next semester. I promised to take care of myself, and that includes working out!! When I feel good about myself I feel better. When I feel better, I perform better, and I am happier. When I am happy I can be a positive person, a good student, and most importantly – a good mother!

Is it possible to burn 700 calories in just a half hour? Sure it is!!

Unfortunately, however, I do not believe this machine was telling the truth. According to the stair master’s display, I have burned over 700 calories. Although I did some serious sweating, and I felt like I did the maximum physical output in those 30 minutes, I do not believe I have burned that much. I have done cardio on  the stairs before many, many times, and I have burned over 700 calories, however it has never happened with in 30 min. time frame. So, either I have really pushed myself beyond my know “capacity” or the machine did wrong calculations.

Bottom line: I personally do not rely on any fitness machines. I do my best  when I workout and I trust that it was a great workout. Instead of counting calories, I monitor my own progress and see how I feel, how much I sweat, and how my body handles the challenge on this particular day! That is my best and most reliable indicator!

Amazing Heavy Rope Workout HIIT! I have seen it in magazines, gym, and I have heard about it. Personally, however, I never tried it until I was strongly determined to lose weight after my second pregnancy.  Usually I prepare my workouts ahead of time, before coming to the gym that is, and stick to my plan that includes plenty of exercises. As I mentioned, I have seen heavy ropes but I always somehow did not include it into my workout routine.

A couple weeks ago, I went to a gym, that recently opened, and the heavy ropes were just in front of the machine I was using. I decided to give it a try as a final exercise. Oh man, why have I not tried it before?! It is really challenging! Or maybe it feels challenging because it was my first time or/and my body is not used to it. I did only a couple of rounds since  I had to rush to pick up my child from a kids’ club. Fortunately, I came back next week and did the full HIIT workout: 8 rounds. I was toasted. I felt like I was going to have a massive heart attack. My heart was ready to jump out of my chest, and my body felt like a furnace!

I highly recommend this workout routine. If you are a beginner, however, or if it is your first time: take it easy, take longer breaks, and do not do as many rounds; 2-3 rounds should be enough for starters. Later, once your conditioning improves you can increase the total number of rounds, increase the lengths or those rounds, and/or decrease the resting periods.

I try to stay fit for myself. And now since I am pregnant again, want my baby to be fit as well ! Swimming is great for pregnant women. When I was pregnant with my daughter (my first pregnancy), I swam at least once a week. I guess I have to be pregnant just to force myself to go to the swimming pool. Don’t get me wrong, I love the water sports; it’s just that it takes a lot of time to drive to the gym with the pool, and sometimes I have to wait for available lap lanes. Thus, pool is not my most preferred place to exercise. But, gush, this was an incredible day in the outdoor heated pool! I almost wanted to say that this is why I moved to California.

Quick & Easy Recipe for Perfect, Healthy & Yummy Breakfast!  I think the recipe is very easy and straightforward. Enjoy!