Mangoes are as pretty as they are delicious! Credit By: joyosity

I’d just like to take a minute or two of your time to share with you my love of a fruit. Fruits get a bad rap in some circles. The high amount of sugar…blah, blah, blah. I say we skip the sugar-scare for a moment and consider the awesome, nutritional benefits of a food group that is oh-so-good for our bods.

I’ve always loved mangoes, so when I moved to Cali, I went a little ape shat over the darn fruit. Then, after reading this awesome article, I fell in love with the bulbous fruits even more! I love the darn fruits so much I’m willing to pay $1.69 a piece for ‘em. (That’s HUGE, considering I’m a cheapskate and then some.)

And according to one of my favorite apps, Locovore, I can enjoy cheaper mangoes for another month because they’re in season. In celebration of everything mango, here’s a little video where you can watch a little mango love in action…hehe.

Mangoes for Tishy! Mangoes for all! Do you love mangoes as much as I do? Let’s share our mango love in the comments! —Tish

These fit bottoms are fake. There is a surprising lack of butt art out there. Credit: bradleygee

I can’t believe it’s been four years of Fit Bottomed Girls. In some ways it seems like just yesterday that Jenn and I were on the phone, excitedly hashing out ideas for the site and what we wanted to cover. But then I realize that in the four years since, I’ve moved cross country, bought a house, had two kids. I also lost my full-time job and gained a full time-plus job with the kids, plus still working on FBG and dedicating most of my time to Fit Bottomed Mamas.

It hasn’t been easy. First, balancing a full-time job with this labor of love at night and over weekends. Then balancing the demands of family (slave drivers, the under-two set!) and still having the energy at nights or on the weekends to crank out a post or two—and a BOOK. And although it’s a challenge to “do it all,” I’m in too deep now to walk away. I love this job.

There is no doubt that I’m a healthier and more well-rounded person because of this site. Fit Bottomed Girls has brought super-fun fitness experiences my way, from visiting Nike HQ to pushing me to try new and different classes to taste-testing (and loving) various new healthy foods. I love the positivity of our readers; you gals are really inspiring to us as well. Thanks for helping to make FBG what it is today, and thanks for making it such a great place to come to work.

Cheers to many, many more FBG birthdays! —Erin

Me, Ali Vincent and Dawn with University of Missouri Health Care after the event!

The following is a post sponsored by University of Missouri Health Care. For our sponsored post policy, click here.

Remember how I said I’d be introducing Ali Vincent for a special event in Columbia, Mo.? Well, it happened, and let me tell you, it was AWESOME.

First, I’m a Mizzou alum, so coming “home” to speak was truly an honor. Second, although I was super nervous for it, once I stepped on the stage to give my 15-minute talk on willpower and habits (which I’ll be doing a more in-depth version of tomorrow night online for free!) all the butterflies were gone. The audience—full of Ali Vincent fans—was amazing. I expected to have to pump them up a bit, but they were already amped and ready. I told them to stand; they stood. I made them do something goofy; they goofed it up. They even high-fived each other without me having to tell them twice. My kind of people.

Third, Ali is such a joy to be around! She’s just like you’d expect her to be—upbeat, funny, encouraging, down to earth and a hugger. She loves her fans and loves to help others, and if you ever have the chance to see her speak, DO IT. Her presentation about her time at The Biggest Loser ranch and her weight-loss journey is as inspiring as it is funny. (Also be sure to check out her TV show!) Fourth, the University of Missouri Health Care people I’ve been working with on this project have been amazing. They know how to put on a show, have a fantastic new blog, and I am super-duper excited to run their Go Girl Run 5K soon.

Which brings me to the topic of training…while I’ve been running twice a week for about two to three miles, I haven’t done nearly as much speed-work and hill-work as I’d planned. And Columbia is a hilly, hilly town. Seeing that I’m less than two weeks out from my race? Well, let’s just say that training isn’t the kind of thing you can cram for. In fact, you sort of do the opposite of cramming by doing the hard work early and then making sure your body is well rested so that you can push it to its max come race day.

With that said though, the last time I did a race my legs weren’t nearly as strong as they are now, as I hadn’t been working out three days a week at this place doing lunges, squats and deadlifts galore. So, I’m sticking with my goal to do this 5K in less than 30 minutes. And Dawn (who’s pictured above) is going to do it with me. Get ready hilly Columbia…we’re coming!

Any advice or pointers for us as we break the 30-minute 5K barrier? I’m all ears! Running Go Girl Run, too? Let’s meet up! Love Ali Vincent? Tell me all about it! —Jenn

Yet I still squat!

For this edition of Question of the Week, each FBG is recounting her most embarrassing moment when it comes to working out. Buckle up…these should be fun!

Clumsy is my middle name. I trip on nothing at LEAST twice a week. In fact, I just tripped yesterday and went flying through the air like Superman on moonshine, so it’s pretty hard for me to get embarrassed now. I’m the queen of laughing at myself, but lucky for you all, I had a new oops that I’ve never done before that counts as probably the one thing that’s made me blush and want to rush to the locker room and never ever come out again.

It all started on a brave, sunny day in Los Angeles…

I had just lifted the heaviest I had ever done (squatted 145 pounds), so my trainer/boyfriend decided I should go up 10 more. He strapped five pounds to each side of my bar and off I went. I squatted 10 times. He told me to try for 15 reps. I was feeling gangster at that point and decided to squat even lower just to prove how very awesome I was—and that’s what it happened. I went lower and lower. Mr. Trainer started congratulating me for going lower…lower…and then I just kept going and BAM! The bar hit the safety and down on the floor I went.

It was THE most awkward and embarrassing move I’ve ever done. Didn’t help that all these dudes around me were watching the scrawny chick trying to lift the itty-bitty weights. I just about died. I can still remember how I went down—and how my head went, forehead first, ever-so-gracefully into the mirror in front of me.

The trainer tried his hardest to mask his snickers by asking if I was okay, but it was too late. My ego was bruised and broken. I have tooted in yoga AND while doing sit-ups…while someone was holding my feet. That stuff had nothing on the squat fiasco!

Some people have no shame in their clumsy game, but if you share a public gym moment I’d love to hear about it! —Tish

This is my bike. And I love her. Credit: Kristen Seymour

This week FBG is celebrating its four-year birthday! Dang, we’re old. To help with the festivities, this week each FBG is focusing on the number “four” by answering the question: What four things could you not live (and be healthy) without?

When I think about the factors in my life that help me stay healthy, well, there are a lot more than four. If I really broke them down, there are easily more than 40, really. And I don’t think that’s terribly abnormal.

But, when it comes to the things that are truly life-altering, the list certainly gets smaller. At least, small enough to try to get the major players on this list!

4 Things I Couldn’t Be Healthy Without

1. A good pair of shoes. Running long(-ish) distances makes high-quality kicks an absolute must, but even for shorter jogs, comfortable, supportive shoes make a major difference. I always knew this to be the case, but after developing plantar fasciitis a few years ago, I couldn’t deny that the right shoes were probably the biggest factor in preventing injury. I don’t even walk the dogs without putting on some decent kicks these days.

2. My support crew. Okay, maybe this is cheating just a bit, but it’s true, and it’s all-encompassing. My support crew is varied—it includes my parents who encouraged me to be an athlete, my husband who puts up with my endless FBG chatter, my dogs who are always ready to run, my training buddies and group runners and swim classes who hold me accountable, and, last but not least, Twitter, where I turn more often than I care to admit to get someone to light a fire under my butt. And, of course, that would also include this community. I find I push a little harder when I know I’m going to have to tell you all about it!

3. My watch(-es). Not every workout requires close clock-watching, but I work a lot harder when I’m working toward a goal. I have my Timex Ironman for counting laps and intervals, and an old-school, hand-me-down Garmin Forerunner that I use to track distance and speed. I’m a fan of the idea that I can do anything for ___ minutes/meters/etc. My watches help me do just that, and, once again, they hold me accountable. I can’t fool it into thinking my time is up when it’s not.

4. My bike. I’m far from being a bicycle commuter—I’m still not super comfortable riding too far on the road. But my darling bike is great for quick commutes to areas nearby, and it’s a form of exercise I’ll eagerly take part in for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning, even if it’s hot out. Plus, it allows me to participate in triathlons, which might be number five on this list, if I were allowed to do that, Jenn. Oh well, maybe next year.

You might notice that there are no foods on there, and believe me, it’s not because there weren’t any I wanted to include. I just couldn’t possibly pick just one, or even one group. How about you? Do your four things lean more toward diet or fitness? —Kristen

Social interaction makes working out way more fun! Credit By: CrossFit Fever

This week FBG is celebrating its four-year birthday! Dang, we’re old. To help with the festivities, this week each FBG is focusing on the number “four,” too, by answering the question is: What four things could you not live (and be healthy) without?

And I’m back to the island again. I have no problems listing the top four things that keep me healthy as a horse. What I do find problematic is the amount of folks who assume I’m just a natural health freak without any kryptonite to speak of. They think it always comes easy; that I’m always perky and “on” but, truth be told, I can be a lazy-ass bumpkin if you give me the right television show and caramel snack. (Makes me hella thankful for the things below!)

4 Things I Couldn’t Be Healthy Without

1. My boyfriend/trainer. So I’m way too sensitive about relationship dynamics to say this dude completes me or any of that hoo-haw, but I can say without hesitation that he’s the best darn health pusher I’ve got. The dude just can’t sit still! If we go to the beach, there’s no laying out and relaxing…oh no! We have to be moving and active; we have to play football and be wild. On the weekends, he wants to hike/run like a banshee up crazy-hard hills like Runyon Canyon. A girl like me can’t miss gym days. I wouldn’t survive his energy without them!

2. FBG: I’m all about practicing what I preach. The minute I put that darn FBG sticker on my car and started telling folks I wrote for a health and fitness blog, I had to step up. I swear, wearing FBG clothes does the same thing to me, too! I put on a shirt that says I’m “keeping a lid on the junk in my trunk” and BOOM! I’m ready to play. It’s a great way to remain accountable, that’s for sure. Even on the laziest of days, I still have to woman-up because there’s always some crazy-cool class coming down the pipeline that I have to be physically ready for.

3. Insoles for my running shoes. Back in my marathon training days, I caught a nasty case of tendinitis. In order for me to keep training, I had to meet with a foot doc and get some lovely orthotics that now keep the shooting pains on the top of my foot at bay. Gotta love that someone has my feet’s back…metaphorically speaking, that is.

4. My work’s free gym. This is one that surprised me when it popped into my head. Looking back, I sucked at working out before there was a gym readily available to me. I could come up with excuse after excuse when I had little bitty weights in my room or a gym in my apartment complex. It was never enough. I needed people around to motivate me. When my work’s gym first opened, I signed up for classes. (I was still intimidated by gym equipment at that point.) Then I started talking with the folks who worked in the gym and listened to their advice and recommendations…Now I go in and lift weights with the dudes and take classes whenever they pop up. I love working out around people. It gives me energy, compels me to push harder if I’m feeling competitive and keeps me sane. I need to talk lots…or I go batty! Hard to do when you’re trying to do bicep curls in your lonesome living room.

If I had a cookbook full of healthy recipes that would be on my list for sure, too! Crossing my fingers I get my hands on a good one before FBG turns five! What about you? What four people, places or things have put the heal in your healthy?  —Tish

Give me a walkable neighborhood, and I'm happy! Credit: Cubosh

This week FBG is celebrating its four-year birthday! Dang, we’re old. To help with the festivities, this week each FBG is focusing on the number “four” by answering the question: What four things could you not live (and be healthy) without?

Like Jenn said, you can just assume that my favorite healthy foods go without saying. I’m not givin’ those suckers up! In addition to those? Well, here you go!

4 Things I Couldn’t Be Healthy Without

1. Workout DVDs. I’ve already professed my love for the workout DVD. They’re just so convenient, versatile and you can get any type of workout you want. It helps that we get so many DVDs to review, but I had a growing collection even before this site came into existence!

2. Zumba. I love my Zumba. I love most group exercises classes, really, but Zumba has proven to be the most fun for me.

3. My family. What’s more motivating than trying to be healthy for your kids? And what’s more fun than going to the park together or running around the backyard? Or having your toddler request more broccoli? Seriously.

4. My walkable neighborhood. Sure, I could be healthy without my neighborhood, but it sure helps! I love being able to walk to run almost all of my errands and pack the kiddos up for strolls around the neighborhood. Pretty houses, a cute downtown, parks within walking distance. Ahhh…

What healthy items could you not give up? —Erin

So my daily walk isn't this exotic, but it's equally beautiful to me. Credit: Magnus Bråth

This week FBG is celebrating its four-year birthday! Dang, we’re old. To help with the festivities, this week each FBG is focusing on the number “four” by answering the question: What four things could you not live (and be healthy) without?

So you already know my three favorite healthy foods, so just assume that I can’t live without those, okay? Because seriously. I can’t. I would shrivel up and become a sad shell of a person without them. Or a very nutritionally sad person, at the least. But as far as four other things that I couldn’t live/be healthy without? Well, they look a little something like this…

4 Things I Couldn’t Be Healthy Without

1. My hands-free dog leash. I guess this could read “any leash” but I’m particularly a fan of this hands-free leash from SPIbelt. I wear it every time I walk or run with my dog, which is almost every day. Not that holding onto a leash is a big deal, but it’s nice to walk or run naturally without it. And certainly my daily quiet time outside with the pup is key to me being active and burning off stress. Every day, my four-legged buddy demands one. And I happily oblige. Walking through older neighborhoods with massive towering trees with leaves blowing in the wind and birds chirping is one of my favorite parts of the day.

2. My husband. Yes, it took us 11 years to find a workout to do together, but Ryan is essential to my healthy lifestyle. Sure, I’d be healthy if he wasn’t around, but with him around, it’s just so much more fun. He likes to cook, pushes me to be my best and calls me out on my B.S., thereby making me a better person. Oh, yeah, and he’s funny. And laughter is definitely key to a healthy life.

3. My Fit Pit Membership. So, I’m kind of cheating with this one because it incorporates weight lifting, cardio exercise and SO MUCH MORE, but I really couldn’t imagine my life without The Fit Pit. I work out less than I did a year ago and yet I’m fitter and stronger. That, my friends, is a beautiful thing.

4. My Big-Ass Salads. Again, I cheat. Because in these Big-Ass Salads are a ridiculous amount of veggies, lean protein and healthy fats. Like I’ve said before, it’s the perfect meal with the perfect dressing. And it makes me feel AWESOME.

A close fifth? This site. My number one pursuit is to be healthy for myself to be happier and more confident, but this place certainly keeps me motivated, passionate—and entertained. What four items would make the cut for you? —Jenn

Where the sidewalk ends, my embarrassment begins. Credit: scott*eric

For this edition of Question of the Week, each FBG is recounting her most embarrassing moment when it comes to working out. Buckle up…these should be fun!

I like to tell myself that my most embarrassing fitness moment isn’t exactly unique. That every runner trips—HARD—at one time or another during training. After all, when you’re preparing for a marathon, you run oh-so many miles. You’re likely to misstep eventually, right?

I probably trip almost every single time I run outside. Whether it’s on a trail or around my neighborhood, I sometimes get so into the groove of running and jamming to my favorite workout tunes that I apparently lose control of my muscles or, more likely, my surroundings become less clear to me. And trip I do. Boom. Usually, I do that really awkward falling thing where your arms jut out and your face goes all wonky and you make that weird scream/embarrassed-laugh sound. And then, just before face-planting, I catch my balance, take a quick look around to see if anyone saw my spaz-out and get on with my run, face red from the embarrassment (even if no one is around, my own clumsiness is embarrassing to me most days).

But, I don’t always catch myself. Like was the case with My Most Embarrassing Fitness Moment Ever. About half a mile into an 18-mile marathon-training run, I was already SO into the running groove and feeling great. The weather was beautiful, and I was super happy to be out running in it. And then, suddenly, my toe clipped an uneven sidewalk and without me even having time to do my usual spaz-out, I was down.

WOMAN DOWN.

And I hit hard, folks. Although I somehow avoided total face-plant, my knees took the brunt of the fall and were all scraped up and bleeding. It apparently looked bad enough—and here’s where this fall becomes My Most Embarrassing Fitness Moment Ever—that a guy driving by in a giant red truck (the fact that he’s in a truck really has nothing to do with the story, but it’s one of those little details that I remember super well for some reason) screeched to a halt in the middle of the street and jumped out to make sure I was okay. Like, I didn’t-need-to-go-to-the-hospital okay. Of course, in the commotion, other cars stopped to gawk, too.

Now that’s embarrassing.

I told him that I was just a little scraped up, and was fine. I was just going to, you know, go ahead and run the rest of my 17.5 miles. And that I did, swollen knee, stinging sensation, little bit of blood and all. Because I’m apparently too proud to run home for a Band-Aid. Or let a big dude in a red truck know that “Ouch, mo-fo that HURT.”

While I doubt many of you have stopped traffic because of a misstep, please tell me I’m not the only one who has trouble running outdoors… —Jenn

Oh, I sweat WAY more than that. Credit: Boegh, Flickr

I grew up loving summer. I also grew up in Michigan, and I’m pretty sure everyone there grows up loving summer. I mean, nobody says, “Gee, I’m so excited for February and all that gray slush on the sidewalk!” Come on, Michiganders. You know what I mean.

Anyway, 12 years ago (almost to the day!), I packed up my car and moved to Florida. Well, May in the Sunshine State is hot. And humid. Oh, man, is it humid. Later in the summer, the daily afternoon thunderstorms start rolling in, which sometimes cool things down for a few hours, but right now, in May, it’s just sweaty.

I still love the summer attitude—people are so much more likely to round up a group for sand volleyball or to go swimming when it’s hot out, even though it probably would’ve been far more pleasant a month or two ago when temperatures were closer to 70 or 80. But I have a hard time getting out for a long run when it’s 90 degrees. Hell, three miles becomes a real challenge when by the end of the first mile in I’ve soaked through my shirt and a steady stream of sweat is dripping from my ponytail.

You know how up north, people move their exercise indoors in the winter to avoid running on icy pavement? Down here, it’s the summer months that drive me inside. Be on the lookout for some more DVD reviews between now and September, is what I’m saying.

But! It won’t be all indoor workouts and occasional races. This summer, I refuse to let all those long runs over the winter go to waste. And I’m going in with a plan.

First, I will start getting up earlier. For one thing, it’s cooler early in the morning, which will make it easier to get in the workout that I want to do. Plus, as much as I hate doing it, I know that making early workouts a habit make me far more likely to just do the work. Probably it doesn’t hurt that training first thing in the morning doesn’t give me hours of sitting around complaining about how hot it is, either.

Second, I’m going to lower my expectations. Not a ton, but enough to keep myself from getting frustrated. Part of what I hate about running in the summer is that I’m slower. So much slower. And since I’m already one of the slowest runners I know, that’s a big bummer. But you know what? It’s fine. Everyone slows down when the temperatures rise, and I need to be okay with an 11-minute mile pace that takes everything I have to maintain. If I can improve it, that’s awesome, but if that’s what I can do, that shouldn’t leave me feeling so frustrated.

Now, don’t let all of this whining mislead you. I wouldn’t move back up north for anything—I’d rather be a little extra sweaty for a season than have to scrape ice off my windshield every morning for months at a time. But I’m curious to hear from you guys. Does the summer heat impact your workouts in any way? —Kristen