Healthy living at high altitude

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ABOUT Hi! I’m Lauren. This is the blog formerly known as Oatmeal after Spinning. lily04 If this is your first time here, welcome, and thank for checking out my site. You might want to visit this page to see some of my favorite posts. I’m still (kind of) a newlywed… July 17th, 2011 (Sunset Hills Vineyard) I am very blessed. :) I’m a 34-year old gal who recently followed my DREAMS and moved from Maryland to Colorado. Before moving away from the east coast, I quit my job of over seven years as a full-time high school art teacher to pursue a career that I am truly passionate about. I now work full-time as a social media manager for FlapJacked. I teach also group exercise classes at a national health club chain and am a certified Spinning and Bodypump instructor and Personal Trainer. I love my jobs! I am married to a wonderful man named Greg who is truly my best friend. We both prefer mountains to beaches, health food to junk and love being outdoors as much as possible. We have two Golden Retrievers named Lance and Jackson (they’re brothers!) that we love to death. You may see them pop up from time to time on this blog, because I’m kind of obsessed with them. :) Exercise and healthy eating are a huge part of my life and the older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve understood just how important it is to treat my body with care. I wasn’t always this way, though. Growing up, I was always overweight and after college I weighed somewhere around 200 lbs (I’m just over 5’6″). I decided to take control of my life and get healthy, fit and happy once and for all. I joined a gym and started eating better and lost 30 lbs. in a short amount of time. And then stayed right there… for a while. It wasn’t until I really started be aware of what I was putting into my body (which was a lot of artificial, pre-packaged, processed crap) and changed my workouts from just zoning out on the elliptical (and barely breaking a sweat) that I really noticed a change. I started taking Spinning and Bodypump classes and ate only whole, minimally processed (mostly) organic foods. 30 more lbs. came off and I felt better than ever. Hiking in Harper’s Ferry, WV Biking in Vail, CO (we got engaged about an hour after this!) I’ve battled with food and body image my whole life, and that will never go away. I’ve done a lot of damage to my metabolism through dieting and over-exercise, and have gained about half of the weight that I lost back (and would love to figure out how to get rid of it again for good!). I do continue to challenge myself in my workouts and love to seek out new adventures. I became a certified Spinning instructor in February 2009 and teach two weekly classes EARLY in the morning – and I absolutely LOVE IT! I became a Bodypump instructor in the fall of 2011- the training for it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done physically and mentally. I got my Personal Training certification a year later and while I like one on one training, I’ve found that group exercise is my real passion. I love being outside more than anything and hiking/trail running are my favorite ways to get out and exercise. I try to balance out my high intensity workouts with yoga, and it’s made me see life in a whole new way (and taught me the importance of slowing down and taking care of your body). Pikes Peek 10k – one of my favorite races to run each year! When I say that I’m “going shopping,” it’s more likely that I’ll be at REI or Whole Foods than the mall. Greg and I love to cook dinner together and enjoy a great glass of wine and/or craft beer. I have been slowly teaching him how to be passionate and expressive about food- it’s one of the greatest joys of life! At The Pines vineyard in The Dalles, OR One of my greatest passions in life is introducing people to things that I love. I’m a teacher by nature, whether it’s in my professional or personal life- I love sharing knowledge. Life’s too short to not enjoy the simple pleasures. Thanks for stopping by my blog- I hope you stay a while!