One of the few things I like to do, when I really have free time, is to listen to new artists and bands. I've been coming across a lot of great stuff lately, more or less "new" to me. I'm a big lyrics person, so I just let a song (or two!) speak for me at times.

Lately, however, I've been in search for really good morning walk music. On my usual playlist are:

» The Kills - Future Starts Slow

» Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks

» Foster the People - Houdini

» Foster the People - Helena Beat

» Adele - Rolling In The Deep
» Adele - Rumour Has It

» SOJA - Let You Go

» Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera - Moves Like Jagger

» Beyoncé - Love On Top

» Graffiti6 - Annie You Save Me

» Madcon - Beggin'

» Martin Solveig - C'est la vie

» Martin Solveig ft. Dragonette - Hello

» Third Eye Blind - Can't Get Away

» Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over

» Britney Spears - Gimme More (Remix)

» Britney Spears - Womanizer

» Blink 182 - He's Only Looking To Score

» The Kills - Last Day of Magic

» Taking Back Sunday - Make Damn Sure

» Britney Spears - Piece of Me

» The Knife - Pass This On

» Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone

» Far East Movement - So What?

» Taking Back Sunday - The Ballad of Sal Villanueva

» Tokimonsta - The World Is Ours

» Sponge Cola - Tuliro

» The Kooks - Young Folks (Cover)

For some reason, lyrics, sound, or the other, these songs get me pumped up for serious sweating. As I said, I'm still in search for more music, and I think I'll be adding more gangsta music later on. (Think: Eminem, Nas, Kanye West, etc.) Then again, I also want some Madonna added onto my playlist. Hehe.

02 May 2012 Morning / A great morning of sweatin' it out! :)

Last Saturday, I decided to do a bit of grocery shopping. (It was really quiet and sad, by the way. The silence was rather defeaning as I drove around the village and walked around the mall without a brother. Le sigh.) Anyway, I really just needed to purchase a giant bottle of Heinz ketchup (banana ketchup is NOT ketchup, seriously, ewww), but I ended up buying tofu, lettuce, cucumber, dark chocolate (hehe, a treat), Yakult (new love!), green tea, fruits, and a bunch of toiletries, and okay, some junk food, too. Haha. The next day, the parents decided to do the grocery after church and I ended up buying a bottle of olive oil and red wine vinegar. I'm saying goodbye to salad dressings that contain mayonnaise altogether and sticking with vinegrette. (Can I just say? Being healthy is hella expensive! A small bottle of red wine vinegar is like Php130.00+! Olive oil, undoubtedly, is expensive, too, of course. Haha, wow.) But! This is what we all need. I'm sick of being fat and unhealthy.

I've gone back to exercising as well, apparently. Five weeks of sitting in an office chair for fourteen hours (possibly more) has been terrible for my body. Also, since there was not much time in the morning to prepare packed meals, I have been resorting to fast food during the first three weeks of that period. The result? A devastated me, five (or more) pounds heavier, with an overgrown muffin top. Really, really, really gross. In addition to that, I was defintiely not getting enough sleep. (Come home at around 2330, leave the house at 0800.) My lifestyle, during those five weeks, had been the unhealthiest in a long time!

Hence my rekindled relationship with morning walks and a few ab exercises. It's been great thus far. I love love love sweating! I feel better and stronger; I've definitely been releasing some good energy since I started my morning routine again. Feels great! When I can't go in the morning, I watch an episode or two of a TV  series on the laptop, set on my bed, and do aerobics while doing so. I think the key is to keep your body as active as possible to burn off excess calories. This time, though, I haven't totally cut carbs out of my diet. I still eat the pandesal Pops bakes every now and then. That or spaghetti or strawberry jam on wheat bread. Hehe. I just need to limit my carbs intake. Besides, one needs to treat oneself well every now and then! (I totally did that yesterday with Bea and Belle; we had mango crepes! Hehe!)

I've been reading A LOT about proper nutrition and target-specific workouts and exercises, and I've compiled (and continue to do so) a bunch of my favorites on a Tumblr. Haha! Yes, I created another Tumblr page. It is like a personal notebook of videos and tips and things that I find helpful. I was really surprised how, upon thirty minutes of creation, nine people have started following the blog. Hehe. Healthy is in, I suppose. :)

Healthy is fantastic, in fact. And I'm loving every bit of it!

Work hard, then collapse. Every morning.