Sitting vs. Standing

I’m back with my second blog post! :)  I went on a bit of a hiatus because I traveled back home to Virginia over the weekend as I had mentioned in my previous post; we are sending my little sister off to college.  It was an action packed weekend and the 5 hour drive each way can always be a little tiring but WELL worth every second of it!  Jared, his daughter Anyiah and myself hit the road on Friday afternoon only to be welcomed by a beautiful rainbow as we drove through Franklin, VA.   

Once we got to my parent’s house, Jared shot some basketball with my dad’s beast of a German Sheppard, Courage...

 ...and then we met my parents for dinner at one of our favorites (and only) local Italian restaurants, Anna’s.  For dinner, I tried to be good since as we all know, it’s so easy to pick up fast food when you are on the road.  I ordered a small grilled chicken salad with house dressing.  I was immediately regretting my decision once everyone else’s meal came out which were plates full of PASTA!!!  In order to compensate I treated myself with a couple of glasses of red wine so I was still a happy camper :) Once we were done with dinner, we were exhausted….there’s nothing like going home on a Friday night and putting in a movie and just enjoying each other’s company. <3 

  

Saturday was action packed with tons of friends and family over to wish my sister Lea the best of luck for a successful future as she starts this monumental phase in her life.  Straight from miss Lea Dee’s mouth…”she’s going to make us proud”.  GO HIGHLANDERS!!!

 So let’s get to the real meat and potatoes veggies of “No one ever drowned in sweat”!!!!  You will come to learn after reading my blog that I’m a very simple person, ESPECIALLY when it comes to food.  This is mainly due to the time factor that is involved in cooking extensive meals.  My day typically consists of waking up around 6AM, cooking a simple yet healthy breakfast because I truly consider this the most important meal I consume everyday; work from about 8-5 and go to the gym until about 7.  Once I get home and feed my animals…cooking dinner is the LAST thing on my mind. 

 

This morning I cooked a meal that you will see time after time on this blog….an egg and a half (soft boiled) with a drop of sriracha sauce (it can make ANYTHING taste good!!), one piece of turkey bacon and sausage and a piece of peanut butter toast on my favorite “health nut” Arnold bread.  I wash this down and drink throughout the morning one of the best tasting protein powders I’ve found; Gold Standard Whey Double Rich Chocolate:  one scoop with 8 ounces of skim milk (2 scoops if you need a little more protein)….I typically try to consume about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.  The EAS soy protein you saw mentioned in my first post is also a good protein but I use this more as a meal replacement because it has enough carbs to keep you full.  The Gold Standard is something I use as a meal supplement because it only has 4 carbs!  You can get the big tub for about $50 at any Vitamin Shop which will last you a couple of months depending on how many scoops you use.

 

Often times at lunch, we have representatives from different investment firms come in to take us out to lunch.  Today was one of those days so you know I couldn’t pass up sushi…especially at one of my favorite sushi spots in Myrtle!!!  

 

….tiger roll with a few pieces of tuna and smoke salmon sashimi and of course you can’t forget the edamame!!!  It was YUMMY!

 

After all of my traveling this weekend, I DEFINITELY had the 2 o’clock slump!  To get me through the rest of my afternoon as well as a tough anticipated leg work out planned, I mixed up a quick vitamin enriched energy drink:  one scoop of Advocare’s fruit punch spark mixed with 8 ounces of water. 

 And off to the workout....

Monday’s are typically my leg day which is the only day that I don’t do cardio…trust me, if you get through this workout, your legs typically feel like jello and it’s hard enough for me to climb the stairs to do abs more less stepping foot on a piece of cardio equipment:

Leg Presses: 3 sets of 25 (45 pounds on each side), 1 set of 20 (60 pounds on each side)

Leg Squats:  4 sets of 20 (25 pounds on each side)

Seated Leg Curl:  4 sets of 20 (60 pounds)

Calf Raise machine:  4 sets of 20 (95 pounds)

  

 

 

 

By the time I get home, I was EXHAUSTED for a Monday....my biggest challenge is trying to incorporate something healthy into dinner because this typically is the least thought out and fastest prepared meal of the day.  Tonight it was a quick hamburger helper type meal with turkey meat (99% fat free) substituted for ground beef, salad on the side and a glass of red wine!  

So you might be wondering the relevance to the title of this post “sitting vs. standing”….I thought I’d share with you a couple of the health conscious changes that have taken place in my office over the past few months.  More so recently, there has been an increased interest in encouraging people to switch to stand up desks.  In fact, in an article I read, of the 3,000 employees at Facebook, there are more than 350 standing desks available to the workers.  The company also receives 5-10 requests per week for this new trend!  Here's a good statistic for ya:  recent studies show that women who sat more than 6 hours a day were 37% more likely to die prematurely than women who just sat 3 hours a day.  A couple weeks ago, one of my coworkers decided to give it a try!  Out of the roughly 30 employees in my office, she has been the only one to convert but you can see the interest and curiosity increasing.  We have another co-worker who has tried the exercise ball/chair for her cubicle and likes this as well!  Here is a picture of a few health conscious desks throughout Merrill Lynch’s Myrtle Beach office. 

 

 

Random thought and question of the day:

 

For those of you who wear heart rate monitors, I would be extremely curious to see how many additional calories are burned from standing throughout the day compared to sitting….I think I may give it a try and let you guys know!  Of course, this study I posted is mainly for those who have office jobs and are sitting the majority of the day.  Have any of you incorporated stand-up desks in your office?  If not, do any of you try to make it a point to get up and walk around throughout the day?  What are some of the small things you try to do during the day to include exercise and healthy living into your office jobs?