Friday, November 29, 2013

Barre Battles

So I have this obsession with buying Groupon/Living Social/whatever deals or intro specials for all these different boutique gym studios.... I just love trying and comparing them all! And... I mean.... how can you resist a deal on a great workout? :P

When I first started trying out different barre classes, I tried looking up reviews for different studios and all of them say the same thing... "It's a great workout... blah blah blah..." But it was a little hard to specifics on what made that particular barre workout different than all the other ones. In my experience, all the different companies have a different emphasis and a different style. Even though they are all based on similar techniques, they can be very different workouts!

So here we are with the Barre Battles - my reviews on different barre workouts.

I'll break down each review in to different categories and then rate each category.

Categories to review will be: strength (10 points), cardio (10 points), instruction (10 points), facility amenities (5 points), facility cleanliness (5 points), value (5 points), and other extra notes (5 points).

A few of the studios I have tried and plan on reviewing are:





I will give myself a refresher of all of these over the next few months by taking a few more classes (if I don't currently go to them regularly), so I can write a more thorough review.

In the end, I'll let you know my favs! :)

Hi! I'm Margo

Hi everyone!! Before I get started on this blog again, I feel like I need a give a little intro to myself... My food, fitness journey, and a few other little random things about myself.

Cheers! Beer tasters at Deschutes Brewery in Portland, OR
My name is Margo and to sum it up, I'm a food-loving, super short, proud San Diegan in my 20s.

I've grown up in coastal San Diego pretty much my entire life and I absolutely love it here.

I'm half-Filipino and half-white and I think my love and complete obsession with food comes from my Filipino side... If you are Filipino or have close Filipino friends, you know what I mean - food is a HUGE part of the culture. Also, my grandma was a cook, so that probably has a pretty big influence on me too - I got to grow up eating extra delicious Filipino food :P

I went to school at UC Irvine and picked up my B.S. in Public Health Sciences with a minor in education.

After college, I moved back to San Diego, sat around at a desk all day in my office, and enjoyed a LOT of going out, drinking way too much, then eating badly - typical for someone just out of college, right? Anyways, this resulted in a lot of weight gain. I was at 125 lbs at my worst. I know some people probably want to shoot me right now... Only 125 pounds and I'm complaining?? But I'm 4 FOOT 10 INCHES. 125 pounds put me in the overweight category on the BMI scale. This was a huge slap in the face for me to get in shape.
Yuck!
Like anyone wanting to lose weight, I started eating healthy and exercising a lot. This was two years ago. But over time, my weight loss journey, my obsession with food, and my education in Public Health kind of blended together and sparked this whole new interest in.... drum roll.... Nutrition!

Nutrition. I love it. I love learning about it. I love testing things out. I love reading about it. I love talking about it. I'm strongly considering going back to school to get my Masters in Public Health with an emphasis in Nutrition. It's awesome.

I also absolutely LOOOVE cooking.

And that was the start of this blog. Cooking healthy foods :)

To give this blog a little more personality and make it a little more "me," I will be also posting about different types of workouts and events/restaurants/bars/fun things in San Diego. Or you know... Just random things I feel like blogging about ;)

Other randoms:

Hiking Rincon de la Vieja in Costa Rica (2103)
My boyfriend, Rommel: This guy is hilarious, super caring, and super patient with me on days I turn in to a huge bitch :P He also got really in to food and cooking because of me, and we love cooking together, exercising together, and discovering new restaurants/bars together.

At Del Mar Dog Beach
My dog, Zoey: LOVE THIS GIRL SOOOO MUCH!! We picked her up from a shelter when she was just a few months old - she was found as a stray. We are pretty sure she is either full Australian Cattle Dog or maybe an Australian Cattle Dog mix. She is RIDICULOUSLY smart (which can be both annoying and funny at the same time) and she is the most caring dog I've ever met.

JJ's HSU graduation 2013
My family: My brother, JJ, is a linebacker for the Humboldt State Jacks and has recently picked up an interest in home-brewing, my dad shares my obsession with fitness and food, and my mom shares my love for cooking.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Blog revamp!

I've abandoned this blog for a while... And I'm kind of sad about it!

I'm starting it up again because I feel like it helps encourage myself to cook more often and eat healthy. Overall, I've still been keeping up good healthy eating and exercising, but I definitely started to go out a lot again - I'm just not as intense with it as I was before. But I'm OK with that! I think it's important to have a good balance of a healthy diet and exercise but still have fun an enjoy yourself.

I also want to restart because my boyfriend bought an awesome new DSLR a few months ago and I want to make some good use of it :P

Photo stolen from http://www.sandiego.com/

So I've decided to expand my blog to have a section on fun things in San Diego! I've grown up here almost my entire life and I seriously LOVE this city. This section will mostly just be about restaurants, bars, and events in San Diego - pretty much just fun things I keep myself busy with but with some basic information on what exactly it is, my own review, and of course lots of pics :)

I'll continue to have lots of homemade healthy food posts with recipes and ideas! And also a fitness section where I'll review boutique gyms and classes. I've developed an obsession with trying lots of different boutique gyms. I like trying lots of new styles of workouts and comparing them, but I know not everyone does so I thought this could be a good place for people to get information on a gym or class they would like to try.

So! I WILL be back soon! :)

Friday, February 1, 2013

Instagram: @margomangooo



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"Salad, brown rice w furikake, and one of my fav ways to cook salmon: brushed w a little bit of soy sauce and sesame oil, spread w a thin layer of miso paste spread on it, and topped w a furikake panko crust MMMMMMM"

Instagram: @margomangooo



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"My strange attempt at getting a bunch of random healthy things in to my diet to up my nutrients and finally get better: acai, banana, strawberry, kale, coconut water smoothie for breakfast; busted out the juicer last night and made a juice of spinach, kale, carrot, cucumber, celery, apple, and lemon (in the blue bottle to drink later today); aloe juice and soup for lunch; and probably will have soup, salad, and some sleepytime extra tea for dinner. AAAAHHH I NEED TO GET BETTER!! TOMORROW WILL BE 6 WEEKS ALREADY!!! 😩😭😷"

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Instagram: @margomangooo



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"Enjoying my lunch outside in the sun!! My variation on a BLT: open-faced on whole wheat French baguette with tempeh "bacon", avocado, sundried tomatoes, spinach, roasted garlic, pesto, and parmigiano reggiano mmmmmm"

Instagram: @margomangooo



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"First time making my own tempeh bacon!! I think I need to make some adjustments to the recipe for next time though.. Any suggestions from anyone who's made it before??"

Instagram: @margomangooo



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"Pre-workout yummy breakfast: low carb pancakes (made of just banana, egg, flax, and vanilla) with a local and super smoky honey from a beehive in a friend's house and some blackberries! And a cup of one of my new fav teas - Yogi Raspberry Passion Perfect Energy. READY FOR SOME XTEND BARRE WOOHOO!!"

Monday, January 14, 2013

Instagram: @margomangooo



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"I don't know if this tea really does anything to help your skin but I'm gonna keep drinking it bc it tastes and smells amazing!"

Instagram: @margomangooo



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"Tonight's white elephant challenges (have to challenge each other and win in order to steal): jumping jacks, planks, yoga dancer pose, imitation of our Uncle Bong, and barre booty tucks (not pictured) lol"

Instagram: @margomangooo



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"My white elephant gift w the fam on my mom's side: Hello Kitty chia pet!! LOL. Honestly this gift is so me though bc I can make healthy, super-food chia sprouts AND it's Hello Kitty haha!"

Instagram: @margomangooo



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"She was like "wtf is this" and rolling her eyes during class @ks_malan22 "
(taken at Dailey Method - Benicia)

Instagram: margomangooo



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"Starting to feel sick and crappy again... Time to take a nap w this sleepy girl!!"