Week Highlights

Let me recap what's going on in my life...

About a month ago I was playing soccer for a Co-ed league with my brothers and his friends. Now let me tell you, I played soccer when I was little and I thought I was pretty badass. However, I realized that night that it had probably been about 10-15 years since I had played competitively! I bought brand new indoor soccer shoes and soccer gear to prepare myself for the first game. Little did I know it wouldn't turn out so well. 

In the middle of the first half I found myself face to face with a guy (probably a half foot taller than me, mind you) fighting for the ball. Next thing I knew I had fallen to the floor and was hobbling off the field. My right big toe hurt sooo bad. I instantly thought he had stepped on it and told everyone it was going to be a "pretty bruise." Needless to say, I played the rest of the game in pain because I didn't want people to think a bruise was going to hold my game back. Well later that night (11:30pm actually, our game was at 10pm that night), I got home and realized that my toe has become really swollen. After taking off my shoe, the pain increased so much I couldn't walk or move it. I attempted to sleep that night, which didn't go well because it was so painful. The next morning--> off to the doctor I went. Luckily, my boyfriend (Chris) was able to drive me. X-Rays were taken....

  

Broken toe (and the first broken bone of my 25 years of life!)

Broken bones suck and you don't realize how much a stupid toe is used until you can't move it anymore. Anyways, the doctor told me it would take about 4 weeks to heal. So of course my first thought. 4 WEEKS OF NO EXERCISE? My patience and antsiness (is that a word?) was going to be tested. I gave it 1.5 weeks before I decided I couldn't take it anymore. My pants were already started to feel a little snug and I didn't like it one bit! So I did a little research and found just what I needed. 

 Hot yoga. I needed something that wasn't going to put a lot of impact on my toe, but something that was going to make me SWEAT. If you're looking for a different type of workout that is still challenging and makes you sweat ( I mean wringing out my tank and shorts at the end of the class kind of sweat), then you should definitely try it! It is the only certified Bikram yoga studio in the Columbus area. The room is 105 degrees and the class last 90 minutes. Check it out at Bikram Hot Yoga Columbus. They have an introductory deal for an unlimited month for only $45, not bad!

On to more fun things...

I've slowly outgrown the downtown Columbus scene AKA "Park Street". My body can't handle the excessive alcohol and I don't enjoy the feeling anymore (ESPECIALLY THE NEXT DAY). Therefore, I usually avoid it when I can, but every once in awhile I enjoy going back and doing a little bar hopping. This past Friday my boyfriend (Chris), my brother (Kyle) and I set out for downtown Columbus to do our own little bar crawl and people watch. It ended up being a really fun night! Here's a few pictures from the night. 

Kyle and Chris

(Chris is holding a lobster. Some of the bars actually have lobster machines where you can catch them in a claw like you do in one of those stuffed animal machines. Chris is OBSESSED. Usually you can cash in the lobster for a free lobster dinner but Chris never gets it. Winning the lobster is the only part that makes him happy. The man finds joy in simple things haha)

Me and my main squeeze

Sunday is when I do all my grocery shopping for the week and prepare my lunches for the week of work. I have a MADDD sweet tooth (Thanks mom) so I needed to find something healthy that I could eat every once in awhile. I've become more interested in different types of foods and their benefits so I wanted something different to make. I've cut out a lot of bread from my diet, both due to research on its effects and correlation with PCOS and how it makes me feel. After not wanting to completely give up muffins/breads/baked goods, etc., I discovered almond flour and have found a lot of recipes to use it with. This is the brand I use: 

Unfortunately, it's a lot more expensive than regular flour, but health to me is way more important in the long run. Food is one thing I don't mind spending extra money on (organic, fresh foods). 

I've also become more interested in coconut oil. While it used to be considered a bad oil due to its high fat content, studies are now showing that it's actually good for you. Anyways, I found a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that are a lot less guilt free than a normal cookie. You can check out the Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe here. Sorry the picture is a little blurry but you get the point.

Hope everyone has a great week! 

 

Know my past, understand my present

I'm back, blog world!! It's been a week since my last (and first) blog post. I promise I'm going to get better at this and post more often. I have a partial excuse/reason/explanation why it's taken me so long to post again. Now HANG TIGHT because this may be one of my longest posts, but as my title says, you have to know my past in order to understand my present.

So as I said in my first post, I've wanted to do a blog for awhile now. Mainly on healthy food, exercise, etc. But of course I'm going to post about my life in general, what's new, blah, blah, blah. I think one of the reasons it's taken me so long to create a blog (besides outrageous time spent studying/not enough time to bloggg) is because in a typical blog you learn about the person, connect with them, understand their life. Well, there's definitely been a part of my life that I haven't opened up to people about (except my loving boyfriend, parents, and a few close friends) due to embarrassment (?), shame(?), whatever you want to call it. However, it's so important for me to explain in order for you to understand me more. Again, HANG TIGHT, this isn't the most upbeat post and it could be a Debbie Downer (which I HATE being) but I've decided that in order to connect with people, help them understand MY life, I have to finally let go. DEEP BREATH. SIGH. Here it goes...

So my entire life I've been really involved in sports and being active. I began playing every sport I could at the youngest age I could start. I continued this into high school, where I played volleyball for my high school team. High school is when I really had a true desire to learn more about health and fitness. I knew going into college what I wanted to study, exercise science. Through college I was always the "healthy friend", the one that everyone asked about fitness advice, and the one that my friends could depend on to go to the gym with. I loved helping people with their "fitness" and it felt good to know that people trusted me in this category of advice. The one BAD thing about this was that I always felt the pressure to constantly be fit and eat the healthiest food, etc, etc. 

I was never the "thinnest" of my friends, which was fine because I knew I was built with a lot more muscle and was in just as good of shape as them. However, the pressure to look good and "be thin" in college was tough on me, because I quickly found that it was really hard for me to lose weight, despite my extreme efforts to workout and eat healthy. I would put on weight really easily, and could only maybe lose some of it if I worked out religiously (I mean, religiously) and skipped out on the late night parties and weeknight bar hopping. On top of the weight gain, I wouldn't get my periods every month. Not even every other month. Sometimes it would go 3-4 months between cycles (I had experienced this since I started my period, but always attributed it to me being an athlete). Sophomore year in college was when I hit rock bottom (mildly depressed) and asked my mom to take me to the doctor. I know something was wrong and I needed answers.

Over my winter break, my mom took me to a gynecologist (due to the lack of periods). The gynecologist did an ultrasound and found a bunch cysts on my ovaries. She diagnosed me with "Polycystic ovarian syndrome." If you don't know what that is, let me quickly explain. I've done A LOT of research on it. Basically it's a hormonal disorder due to cysts being on a woman's ovaries. 1 in 10 woman have this disorder, which I was surprised to hear because I had never heard of it before my visit. There are a lot of issues/side effects that woman with PCOS experience, including (most, but not all): 

• Infertility (PCOS is the most common cause of infertility)
• Infrequent, absent, or irregular periods
• Hirsutism (increased hair growth on the face, chest, body, etc.)
• Skin issue-acne, oily skin, dandruff/dry skin
• Weight gain, specifically around the waist
• Difficulty losing weight
• Male-pattern baldness
• Skin tags
• Pelvic pain

OK, there ya go. Shitty. Lucky for me, I don't experience all of these symptoms and/or don't have it nearly as bad as many woman. For me, however, the weight gain/difficulty losing weight part is the worse. Why me? Out of all things to diagnose me with, why that? A hormonal disorder that causes WEIGHT GAIN and DIFFICULTY LOSING WEIGHT??? The ONE THING I KNOW MORE ABOUT THAN ANY OTHER THING IN MY LIFE?!?! Needless to say, I left the doctors office that day completely devastated.

After college, I spent a couple of years as a personal trainer (which had its ups and downs). Again, the PCOS affected me daily. Here I am, trying to preach to other people that simply eating healthy and exercising will lead them to weight loss and toned muscles, yet I can't do the same for myself. "Calories in, calories out." "Switch to whole grains, not refined.""Bump up your exercise." (Pointing fingers at me) This doesn't necessarily work for this girl. 

So, this leads me to my point in writing this post (Thanks for HANGING TIGHT, I'm almost done). This may not sound all that devastating for a lot of people, and trust me, I know I am very blessed and could have it MUCH WORSE. I'm very thankful for the things and people in my life. I do, however, have a daily struggle with this hormonal disorder because it messes up everything in my life that I'm so passionate about. 

Given this, I do have positive things that come out of this post: 

• I want people to become more aware of PCOS. There are so many women out there struggling with it, whether it be weight issues or infertility. The more we are educated on it, the better it will be understand those that have to face it everyday.
• I swear I could be a certified nutritionist from all the additional knowledge I've accumulated from the past 6 years of personal research. Therefore, you will get plenty of creative new ways to cook for a healthier you!
• This post has been sort of a self-reflection and release of what I've been bottling up inside me for the past 6 years. It feels sooo good to finally expose my vulnerability.

 OK. That's all. Now you know my past so you can understand my present! (hehe like how I wrapped it all up?) Now for the FUN BLOG POSTS! READY. SET. GO!

Tighe meets blog world

Hello blog world!!

Boy am I wayyy overdue for this. I have been really interested in blogs for probably the past year or so. However, nursing school kept me too busy to do any kind of writing outside of those horrible research papers. Anyways, I'm finished with school (FINALLY) and can do some more enjoyable things. My sister-in-law, Mo over at MoseyProse convinced me to set one up myself. Thankfully, she is the technology wiz so she helped me set this whole thing up. Still a work in progress. I'm really excited to finally be starting my own blog though.

A little bit about me...

My name is Tighe aka Tiggy, Tigs, T-bow, Bow-tie, Tigger, Taiwan, Tyrese, Tyyyyyy. The list goes on and on.... But it's pronounced "Tie." Call me what you want :)

I love all things health. Exercise, organic food, trying new workouts, and reading about how different foods affect your body. You name it. I love it. I have been an active bee my whole life and I continue to be one as an adult. I don't get it when people say they don't like working out. I LOVE working out. Don't get me wrong, there are days that I want to sit on my ass, eat junk food, drink wine (preferably both at the same time), and do nothing. But in general, I enjoy a good and sweaty workout (And if I'm not sweaty at the end, it wasn't a workout). This leads me to the reasoning for part of my blog title: yoga pants. Mo (and probably the rest of the world that knows me) caught on very easily and quickly that I will wear yoga pants wherever and whenever I possibly can. I can't help it. I think they quite possibly could be the best invention in retail clothing. My current obsession: 

GapFit: Gflex pants

They do the butt good.

Another clothing item that I am mildly obsessed with are summer dresses. Short. Sleeveless. Maxi. Strapless. I love them all. Unfortunately, my pathetic college income held me back from going too crazy on dress purchases. However, I do have a full-time job now, so look forward to plenty of pictures with my new fancy summer dresses! It's a miracle that I haven't purchased any this season yet. Does anyone have any good store suggestions that sell cute dresses??? Sidenote: I HATE online clothes shopping....you never how it's going to fit or look and I'm way too picky.....so don't suggest any online only dress shopping websites. I won't visit them. How cute is this dress? 

Or this one...

                                      

 Ok so that's a little bit about me. Until next time...