Tag Archives: Fitness

Thinspiration Thursday: Kate Upton for GQ

Fitness June 28, 2012 Comments: 2

For me, trying to find motivation to work out everyday is an uphill battle. When we get to the end of the week, with the anticipation of the weekend building, my inspiration goes from zero to negative ten. This week I’ve made a commitment to myself to actively take fitness seriously. You know, instead of getting dressed to run and watching my backed up DVR in workout gear, actually leaving the house and doing some sort of physical activity.

I’m not one to pay for working out. Of all the things to spend money on, a gym membership or fitness class fad just doesn’t excite me. Plus, why would I give other people money when I can run outside in my apartment gym for free? Sure it’s no Lifetime Fitness, but it has a working treadmill and air conditioning, which is perfect to me.

Since my problem doesn’t lie with lack to opportunity to workout, rather than lack of self motivation to do so, I’ve been searching for daily inspiration to keep me going. Scouring the internets, I find myself vigorously pinning different charts, routines and words of encouragement. (H if you are reading this, your encouragement is awesome and I appreciate it, but…) I need to visually see what the fruit of my labor can be. When I stumbled upon this video of Kate Upton for GQ it’s like I hit the holy grail of motivation. Why yes, I absolutely will run for an hour without complaint after seeing Miss Upton strut her – ahem – stuff. I believe, my friends, this is what we call “thinspiration.”

It’s the Weekend, Make it Count

Sports, Style April 27, 2012 Leave a comment

This weekend we were supposed to go to Indy to Mutt Strut. This weekend mother nature has vastly different weather plans than what we were hoping for:

So instead, a staycation it shall be. I’ve stocked up on healthy snacks, iTunes movie rentals and counting on H to bring the wine. Maybe Mother Nature knows exactly what she’s doing. A staycation before the busy month of May is probably just what I needed.

Speaking of the Month of May, it’s upon us in mere days and there’s no bigger focus on my mind than running. Hey, a girl’s got some party dresses to squeeze into. At any rate, this fitness focus has me obsessed with getting my hands on a Nike+ FuelBand. Or should I say getting a Nike+ FuelBand on my hand.

Not only does this little contraption track all daily activity (steps, calories burned, etc) it keeps track of your daily fitness goals, all the while it doubles as a bracelet and a watch. It’s like my ol’ Nike+ on crack, turned into an accessory.

That and there’s this inspiring video, too. Have a great weekend, make it count.

Mixtape Monday (guest post!): Indie Rock Workout

Uncategorized July 18, 2011 Leave a comment

There are a few rare, hidden gems in Pittsburgh and Talia Watkins is one of them. Talia has impeccable taste in both style and music so I asked her if she’d share her new workout mix for some mid-summer inspiration and thankfully she did.

If you’re like me, working out takes some serious motivation and dedication. Just like with every activity in my life I need a little music to accompany me and give me that extra little push to kick some ass at the gym. I’ve never really been a radio girl and I find absolutely no inspiration from the top 40 songs that are currently on rotation. So here I have put together a little playlist for the Oblivialand readers. These songs are currently playing on my iPod and getting me through my spinning classes. They are by no means new and you most likely won’t hear them on the radio. They will however get you revved up to burn some serious calories…

Mixtape: Indie Rock Workout

Wolfmother – Vagabond
Vampire Weekend – Campus 
Calvin Harris – Colours
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Hong Kong Garden
Passion Pit – Moth’s Wings
Passion Pit – The Reeling
My Morning Jacket – One Big Holiday
Chromeo – Bonafied Lovin
Tv on the Radio – Dancing Choose

Cool Down:
Fitz and the Tantrums – Moneygrabber

To download the mixtape on iTunes click here.
(Download track 3 for free here!)
Marilyn Monroe image via

A Pillow’s Worth a Thousand Words

Uncategorized May 12, 2011 1 Comment

As controversial as it may be, I think Kate Moss was onto something when she declared “Nothing tastes as good a skinny feels” in WWD a couple of years ago. Shamefully, I came to feel like this revelation was true when I had to explain to Mini-me Mackenzie why I had eight Papa Johns pizza boxes stacked up in my kitchen. No, I hadn’t had a party. I had an addiction.

Over the course of three weeks I had consumed more pizza than one should. The relationship I was establishing with my delivery man was the closest thing I’ve had to a date since I could remember. Something had to stop this madness. According to my calculations I spent roughly one hundred and twenty-six dollars on pizza. In three weeks. I could die trying to calculate how many calories that adds up to, literally.

I decided right away I needed some inspiration to stare me in the eyes every time I went to place my pizza order. Something to inspire me to make better dinner choices after a long days work when I had no energy to cook anything. I need this Kate Moss inspired Jonathan Adler pillow:

Herein lies the problem, eight pizzas in three weeks only left one thing feeling skinny, my wallet. The pillow costs one hundred and sixteen dollars. I’ll be the first to admit that is a little pricy for a decorative pillow, but then again I was the girl who spent ten dollars more than that on pizza in less than a month.

The weight loss industry is a fifty-five billion dollars a year business according to CNBC. Fifty five billion with a B dollars. Maybe if we all just invested a measly one hundred and twenty-six dollars in the Kate pillow we would think about what we are putting in our mouths and how it affects our body. If we want to take weight loss one step further we could get this Alexandra Ferguson pillow for only eighty-nine dollars and call it a day:

Sounds pretty genius, right? Investing money on pillows that keep us from eating junk food and encourage us to work out. You can bet your last dollar that with these pillows on my couch the last thing I will do is sit on my couch, eat pizza and watch TV.

Jonathan Adler pillow available here. Alexandra Ferguson pillow available here. 

Fessing up and North Facing the Truth

Uncategorized April 27, 2011 1 Comment

Over the years I’ve been a huge anti North Face activist. There is just something about a mass following of mediocre products that I can’t wrap my arms around. When my mom would visit me in Chicago we would play the “Count the North Face” game the whole weekend. I tend to pride myself on finding new designers and brands before the masses, not following a parade of uniformed unstyled people.

One unexpectedly cold night the only jacket a friend had to lend me was her spare North Face. The only thing I can think of worse than actually owning a North Face is owning a spare. At any rate beggars can’t be choosers so I shamefully wore the jacket to the bar and took it off immediately upon entry. And left it there. The way I see it I was doing her a favor.

How can a zillion people love simple black jackets? I mean, it’s not like we’re talking about a fabulous little black dress here. Unable to find the appeal in such a bland piece of outerwear, I figured the best thing I could do is ignore the brand all together. That and implement a strict “don’t date guys who wear North Face” rule.

And then one morning I woke up and decided it would be fun to run outside. The flaw in this glorious fitness plan is that I live in the second rainiest climate outside the Pacific Northwest. My collection of oversized sports t-shirts only go so far before they wilt in rain runs.

After completely ruling  out trying to run in my rain coat, I looked to some of my style icons for inspiration. Enter Kate Hudson running through Central Park in the movie Bride Wars. I fell in love with her rain running gear and knew this was the workout look I needed to channel.

This came as a bit of a shock for two reasons: 1. I’m not particularly fond of weddings, but Bride Wars became an instant favorite and 2. the outfit I loved was topped of with a North Face Jacket.

[Kate Hudson wearing the Venture jacket in Bride Wars]
Nordstrom, $99

Wait a second, one of my style icons was actually wearing North Face?! I felt sadden and betrayed and empty and immediately wanted to run out and get my very own North Face Venture jacket. If this is good enough for Kate Hudson it should be good enough for me, right?! Wrong.

The past two years, despite wanting the jacket, I’ve refused to purchase it on North Face hatred principle alone. I also refused to run in the rain. In fact, every time I felt a rain drop hit my shoulder I knew that was my karma for dissing North Face for so long and my inability to swallow my pride and purchase one. Faced with the risk of being held captive in my house due to a rather rainy spring, I’ve decided it’s time to bite the bullet and give in.

My name is Oblivia and I’m going to purchase a North Face Venture jacket.

There. I feel better already.

Get in the Game

Uncategorized January 29, 2011 Comments: 4

For the month of February I’m going to get in the game. No, I’m not talking about the Super Bowl, silly. I’m talking about Health Month, a monthly game where you create your own rules based on ways you want to improve your health. I’m an avid rule follower, so naturally I love the idea of creating my own rules I think will benefit my physical, mental and emotional health. Not only do you get to pick your own rules and how many rules to follow for the month, you customize them based on how tough you think the rules will be able to follow. Here is what I chose for February:

 

 

After you set your rules, simply log on each day to track your progress. You can follow others progress, create teams, and earn points. The goal of the game is to have one or more life points at the end of the month. Be careful, if you don’t follow your rules you can lose life points very easily. A fun bonus is, if you are on foursquare and survive the entire month you can earn badges.

Best of all, they are letting me be an official Health Month blogger for February! If you are looking for a fun way to change habits or your lifestyle I highly encourage you to check out the game. In the meantime I can answer any questions you may have, just drop me a line. What are you waiting for, sign-up and get in the game!

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