How I Started Exercising

I'm a workout kinda girl. I love it. I didn't used to. And actually, I've only been working out since the beginning of July of last year. I don't even remember what inspired me to do it.

Okay... maybe I do... confession time.

I have a slightly addictive personality. I think most people do. I tried to quit drinking coffee once, and that lasted four days! I also used to do drugs (well, you call them drugs, I call them "mood enhancement products"). Nothing really hardcore, but I'm kind of a hippie living out in the midwest. There were quite a few things at my disposal (like the blue acid, man...). Anyway. I'm also in school. I'm a junior university student majoring in biology (with a botany concentration) and a minor in chemistry.

Yeah, yeah, what pothead doesn't want to major in botany. Lol. Anyway...

Is this too personal? Probably. But I'm going there anyway! It has a point, and it ends with recipes, I promise!

So, one time while tripping on mushrooms I had an epiphany in which God told me to cut it with my behavior and to go back to school. Needless to say, after having been out of school for a year and a half (and being a little frightened that God was chastising me), I listened. I've always loved science and been a geek at heart, so biology was my major. I love plants and everything about them, so botany was a natural choice. I've always had a strong interest in fungi so over the course of my courses, an interest in plant pathology (the study of the effect of viruses, bacteria, and fungi [and to an extent, chemicals] on plants) sprang up and has only gotten stronger over the months. This lead to my chemistry minor (I heart chemistry!).

Okay, so I'd been back in school for awhile and was still smoking the herb (I love marijuana and I will probably always will). I'm not gonna lie, I advocate the usage of marijuana for both medical reasons and recreation (within reason)... HOWEVER. I realized that as long as it's illegal, the consequences of its use was real and I didn't want to jeopardize my future career as a scientist on a quarter ounce of weed. I decided to start exercising to distract myself and give me something to do, and for about a month I would still smoke before I worked out. Then I had another one of those epiphanies where I realized that doing something that elevated my heart rate before I went out to elevate my heart rate some more probably wasn't a good idea. It wasn't until I quit smoking the weed that I realized how much I actually enjoyed working out. And from that point on I worked out instead of smoked. Strange, kinda. It really wasn't that hard for me to quit smoking.

I'm not gonna lie, I was able to quit smoking pot, but I still can't give up coffee. What's up with that?

And I still miss it sometimes, because cartoons are just so DAMN funny when you smoke, but I'll get over it. And maybe one day it'll be legalized, but until then, I'll just keep working out. I enjoy it more anyway.

So yeah, that's how I started exercising, but I always had the problem of being hungry after doing cardio. I talked to a friend of mine who's an avid weight trainer and he said that it's perfectly okay to eat after working out provided it's high in protein, good carbs, and low in fat (actually, it's encouraged), so, I started making protein shakes.

I've been making protein shakes after each workout (I told you there would be recipes). My goal has been to stay the same weight, but to get leaner. The shakes help keep me from being ravenous and as a bonus they help keep a steady supply of fresh fruits, protein, and calcium in my diet. I've been meaning to make a few with vegetables (like spinach) but I always wind up stir-frying them instead! All well.

My favorite band of shake is Nature's Plus "Energy, The Universal Protein, Create Your Own Power Shake.". I only use 3/4 a scoop of powder otherwise it's a little bitter. It says it's vegetarian and I scanned the ingredients up and down and there's no dairy or egg products whatsoever. I'm pretty sure it's vegan. It's also non-GMO, yeast-free, and unsweetened. I find that after blending it with fruit you don't even need a sweetener.

Alrighty, then. Recipes in my next post. And also, I'm not paid by this company to do any reviews on this product, it's based on my own personal opinions and tastes. If you go out and buy yourself a can and you don't like it, it's not my fault, blah, blah, blah.