Fabletics Review: Sheer Crops and Poor Quality

This is my first fabletics order in months.

I've been obsessed with neon lately so I really wanted to order some neon. AND I got a 10% off birthday coupon, so I bought a few things from the March picks. (Ordered at the end of March. I did NOT like a single one of the new April pieces.)

Here are my thoughts.

Salar crop in Wildflower, $44.95

I loved these as soon as I took them out of the bag. I even wore them to my birthday party. So cute. I liked how compressive they were (LOVE THIS.). The print was cute. I love black crops. I love black and white. These had just enough of a print to be fun, but not make my thighs look HUGE (like prints do.) The crops are white on the inside, which means the black is printed on white fabric. I thought the online photo made it look like they had pops of yellow in the middle of the flowers. But it's just a two color crop.

And here's the kicker: Fabletics crops look like CRAP after you wash them. These crops faded a ton with one wash. And got all kinds of pet fur on them from other clothes in the wash. I didn't wear them enough at home for them to get any fur on them, but they came out of the wash super furry.

Here's my worn once crops (see how faded) against
• Worn 50+ times Lululemon crops (left)
• Worn several times Splits50 with a black and white print (right)

All laundered exactly the same: machine cold wash with gentle detergent and line dry.

They look practically grey. They were a slick black brand new.

WTF. I thought since these felt different than my other Fabletics crops they wouldn't have this issue. They were very sporty feeling going in. Coming out of the wash, they looked like I'd worn them for five years. I have 3-year-old crops from Groupon that look better.

After the SECOND time I washed them the black dye faded into the white and there was blue ink on the white flowers around the crotch. WTF. I haven't ever had a crop fade like this. LITERALLY THE WORST CROPS I HAVE EVER PURCHASED.

I called and got store credit. (I had to call and listen to minutes of this guy talking about "pretty" and how quality tested their clothes are. I think NOT for the quality testing. I think this is the first piece in 17 years that I've had bleed in the wash.)

Salar crop in neon yellow, $34.95
These crops are sheer. I was sure they'd be. But the tag popped off while I was trying them on so I guess I'm keeping them.

The color is great. I really like it. It's almost obnoxiously neon. But they're so sheer you can read the size tag through the crops. Even nude underwear show through. Wear a long shirt with this. These are by far the sheerest pants I own. But for $35 not that big of a loss.

Mosa tank in neon yellow, $24.95

I wore this running the other day. The color is great. It has a half layer of mesh in the back under the visible layer. It wasn't too heavy and it was soft. I wasn't sure what it did. Was it supposed to help with sweat and back breakouts?

And my tank wasn't too soaked through after at 3.5 mile trail run.

I ordered an XS, which fit well.  (I'm a 6 in a Lululemon Cool Racerback, small in Nike or Under Armour) but I do like my tanks more fitted. (I've got an athletic build, small chest and hips, and my waist does no cinch in like some girls.)

Malindi bra in neon yellow ($19.95)

This is a cute sports bra. Nothing to write home about. It matches the crops. It bra cups. I'd recommend this one of low impact activities. The description says medium impact, but I wouldn't run in it. (Ordered size small, fits like a small in other brands, small in Lululemon.)

Overall:
1) I usually return 90% of my order. I'm only returning the faded crops for this one. I might have tried to return the sheer yellow crops but apparently I need to keep them.

2) This is why I buy Lululemon. The crops wouldn't fade. And if they did, returns would be easy peasy. I had to have an awkward conversation with someone in India. I did not understand what they were saying.

Still not a fan of Fabletics. I just keep the membership in case there's something I want. (And I have points towards free crap in their rewards program. Still mad that it went from a free outfit as their reward to their clearance crap that no one wants.) And now I have store credit. I could have pushed for a return, but I didn't feel like being that horrible. (Though I should get a refund for craps that poor quality.)

UPDATE
I returned the crops that bled—three weeks later I get an email admitting there was an issue with those crops and sending me a $10 credit.

Blue Ridge Flying Trapeze: Spring Weather Edition

The weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend. And I'd REALLY wanted to go to flying trapeze around my birthday so I made the trek up to Blue Ridge this weekend.

I tried a different route. The route going up took 2:40 and didn't have the horrible winding mountain roads that the other route had. So a tiny bit longer and a lot prettier. (I saw lots of butterflies. I really didn't want them to hit my windshield.) This route went up through Gainesville north through Dawsonville.

Again, I did this trek by myself. Because I cannot get anyone to come with me.

I arrived and it was a party. Lots of trapezists from around the country were in town for the owner's birthday. Some were flying, some were off on the lake boating. It was fun chaos. (Also lots of people to work the board.)

I worked on my swing some. I'm still working on the hang straight. I kick back too much and arch too much. Colby told me to swing more with my arms (as opposed to just kicking). I'm working on that.

Set.

I did three swings and then started working on a new trick. It was supposed to be a straddle flip. Haha.

The first time, I let my hands go on the call. Oops.

The second time I didn't straddle. I had the lines between my legs so when I crashed, the lines bruised my thigh!

The third time I let go with my hands again.

At this point, I'm not straddling so decide just to try a layout.

I went again and piked like of a somersault. So not straight body like a layout. I did it once more like this too.

I saw the video and know what I have to work on for next time.

It was so pretty to fly though. Glad I went and glad I got to work on something new.

New Brand: Sweaty Betty

I've heard a lot of great things about Sweaty Betty, a London-based activewear brand. It's know for quality and is really popular across the pond. Betty. Bloggers rave about it. I read about women in head to toe Sweaty Betty in books set in England ("Girl on the Train" for example.) I described it to a friend as the UK's Lululemon.

It's a brand I wanted to try. And then three things happened:

Navasana Reversible 3/4 Yoga Leggings

1) Sweaty Betty kept sending me emails for a GORGEOUS printed crop. That was reversible. I love printed crops but usually wear them once and never again. Because I prefer to wear black. This is the perfect solution. I needed these crops. The print was amazing and bumped it to the top of my want list.
2) Sweaty Betty has a 20% off sale.
3) It was my birthday so I used it as an excuse to buy more things for me.

I ordered these crops March 26th. They shipped March 29th from England. There was no tracking number. I got them April 8. So there's a timeline if you wonder how long they'll take to ship. (I think their website said expect 5-10 business days after you get the shipping email.)

I got these crops in the mail Friday. I opened the package. They sent me a Sweaty Betty shopper, which was nice. The crops were also in a nice grey bag (kind of like a shoe bag.) It was a nice touch.

I've already used the shopper. Since EVERYONE at the gym has adopted the Lulu shopper as their carryall (seriously it's so much more common than it used to be), I used my Sweaty Betty shopper for barre that Saturday.

First thoughts
1) The fabric on the crops was ridiculously luxe and soft. I loved it.
2) The colors were really pretty.

I went ahead and tried the crops on. They looked smaller than what I was expecting. But they stretched and fit perfectly. (I'm a 6 in lulu and a small in SB.)

Small in Sweaty Betty to a size 6 in Lululeemon Wunder Under.
The waist was about an inch smaller.

Overall a 6 in Lulu is about the same as a small in Sweaty Betty

The crops hit me at a nice length.

The pattern didn't line up in the back. But I didn't really care.

I showed them to a coworker, who made a face. I think she thought they were loud and not something she'd wear. But then she said she liked them for me. By the end of the day, she'd changed her mind and said they were amazing.

I liked them so much I wanted to wear them immediately. Only the teal top I had for spinning didn't match. I wore them to barre instead the next day. (I needed to wear them ASAP.) I wore them with a black Lululemon Cool Racer Back. I'd really wanted to match the crops, but I couldn't find a purple that was the right color. And Sweaty Betty didn't have a matching tank on their website.

HARD TO MATCH PRINT? I'm going to try to see what other than black matches these crops. I tried the new Lululemon Cool Racerback in deep zinfandel. It's not an exact match but it matches okay.

Sweaty Betty has eight stores in the U.S. right now, in the NY/NJ area and L.A. So nowhere near me. Though I do want to go to NY this summer.

Might be my favorite new brand. The crops are more comfortable than Werkshop.

And Sweaty Betty prices are about the same as Lululemon. Maybe slightly more. These crops were, with discount, $100. Shipping was free. No sales tax. I did get charged a $3 foreign transaction fee on my credit card. Lulu Wunder Unders are $88, and might be more if they're reversible. So similar in price.

HOW THEY HELD UP
I wore these to HIIT Barre. Which is a barre class on caffeine and steroids. It's those hard barre moves with LOTS of jumping. I sweat so much in this class. My hair looks like I've been swimming. I just drip sweat. So I usually wear black crops to  this class. I thought since these were lined in black they'd fare okay. They were great. Soft throughout. They didn't show crotch sweat. They weren't terribly sweaty like some crops might be. I'd say they wick sweat well.

I've worn them twice. I love them. They're just so soft. The fabric is great. The colors are beautiful.
And I can't wait until my next Sweaty Betty purchase. LOVE.

Apple Watch Achievements

I'm slowly working on Apple Watch Achievements—the badges the Apple Watch gives you for fitness related goals.

This week I got badges for
• 100 days of meeting my move goal. (I've had my watch for four months, so this is meeting the move goal of burning a preset number of active calories. It was set at 520 when I first got the watch.)

• Perfect month all activities.
I met all of my goals every day for the month of March.

Walk goal
• Stand and walk around for a few minutes every hour for 12 hours. (By far the easiest goal to achieve, but possibly the most annoying. The watch gives you reminders to stand if you're napping or have had a really productive hour at work. So I get up and walk around for 2-3 minutes and it still doesn't give me the hour. However, randomly changing clothes is usually enough movement to get me the goal for the hour.)

• Exercise for 30 minutes.
It tracks your movement with the heart rate monitor. It usually counts walking to my car as exercise. It will count a brisk walk as exercise. If you're doing yoga or something sedentary, put the watch in exercise mode to get these minutes. I can usually make this goal. On my off days, I'll have to do like 15 minutes on the exercise bike to get this goal.

• Move goal
The move goal is where you burn a pre-set amount of active calories. Most days I burn about 538 active calories, but on my off days I can't burn this many calories. So, I started setting my move goal to 250 calories. So I can make my move goal every day. And my goal is really to double it every day. It took me a few months to figure this out.

The Apple Watch is really stingy with active calories. It tells me I burn 76 calories for running an 8 minute mile on trails. I get 300 active calories for most one-hour exercise classes (that advertise 500 plus) and way less for something like pilates.

The move goals is the hardest Apple Watch goal to meet. I've found that if you turn workout mode on a select a workout—it does burn more calories than not having it one (since it samples your heart rate more often) but it wears the battery down faster too.

The only way I got this goal was to lower my goal so that I still met it even on recovery days. I still burn around 2,000 calories every day.

Set a new record for calories burned. 
This one took me FOUR MONTHS TO GET. During that first 10 days I had the watch, I was super active. (And it was still figuring me out the watch, so it wasn't calibrated to me yet.) So I burned 778 calories during the first 10 days. It was a normal day. I went on a 4 mile run. Didn't do much else. I burned 361 calories for that run. I've been on that run many times since. I burn 238 calories for it now. So it's hard to set a record when it gives me 35 % fewer calories for the same workout. Do I need to workout for two hours? (It gives me about 280 calories for 90 minutes of intense gymnastics.) It tracks this based on heart rate and your weight. I'm a very muscly 133. I've been 133 and a whole pant size bigger and flabbier. There is a difference between those bodies. Do they both burn calories the same?

I finally got it Thursday. I did a noon yoga class, which burned 181 calories and then a 30-minute outside run (268) so that was 449 calories. And I must have walked around a lot, because I burned 808 for the day.

Goals
I still need to quadruple my daily move goal. (So burn 1,000 active calories). I really just want to set my move goal to 100 and then quadruple it that way. #cheating. I don't know how I'd burn 1,000 calories. Some days I can walk to all my meetings, go on a four mile run, walk the dog and still barely get in 500 active calories for the day.

Someone the other day asked me if I liked my Apple Watch.
Honestly, sometimes I hate it.
• The move notifications are really annoying.
• I hate getting notifications on my watch. I turned off calendar reminders. I have to remember to put my watch on airplane mode during a fitness class, because there's nothing worse than getting a text from your boss in the middle of an interval. Or a nothing text from a friend buzzing on my wrist when I'm napping.  I'm probably weird in this regard. I don't like most of the smart features. I have enough chaos in my life. I need less notifications.
• The watch is cool. I like the feature where you can ping your phone. I like always having a running watch on. I still think I might like a non-smart fitness watch with heart rate monitor.

Sara tries yoga part II

What I wore: Purple Rese crops,
Lulu FTB bra, Lulu Salute the Sun Singlet.
Loved this outfit. 

I tried yoga!

I have done exactly one yoga class in my life. And I didn't go back. Neither did any of my friends. It wasn't my speed. I'm too ADD and fidgety. I always need to be moving. I am so bad at sitting still.

Fast forward two years. I'm determined to try yoga again. Everyone loves it. I could use some calm in my life.

There's a free yoga class I can go to. I never made it last semester. I'm determined to make it this semester.

My mood that morning.

So after an EXTREMELY STRESSFUL morning at work, I decide I will go to yoga for lunch. I will turn my phone off. And any emergencies can wait an hour until I get back. (I'd wanted to go to yoga that day so I packed yoga clothes.)

I'm leaving for yoga (I have one coworker covering my work for an hour) and another coworker is going to the same class. Even better! We ride together.

The class is maybe a dozen people of varying ages and body shapes. The light is off. It's dim and tranquil. There's calm-ish pop music playing. So far so good. I set up a mat in the back. I'm behind a fabulous woman with a white bob and cool lulu crops that I regret not buying. I bet she knows what she's doing.

People are getting pillows. And I do not know what the pillows are for. (I do like nap time!)

I make sure to tell the teacher that I'm TRYING but might not know all the moves.

And the class starts. It's lots of downward dog and plank positions. (I know these moves! Hooray!) I don't know warrior pose. (I was possibly the worst at this of anything in the class.) I wasn't sure what the position was. Where were my feet? My arms?

And since I was in back, I couldn't see the teacher. So I'd try to watch a neighbor, but when we faced the side, I had no one to watch.

I liked all the downward dog stretches. And I knew a good bit of poses—maybe just not all the details, or sequences. But I definitely wasn't lost. I kept up pretty decently.

I learned chair pose. (With eagle or evil arms!? I couldn't tell what she was saying.)

We tried tree pose, which some days I have pretty good. But the mats on the floors in this room made balance extra hard. I tried tree pose with leg extended, which I had trouble with. I'm blaming the mats.

We even got to work on crow (which I know. I hope that I impressed the teacher. Second ever yoga class and I can hold crow for 7 seconds before falling loudly to the mat. I did fall the loudest in the class.) Then we moved on crow to (almost a candle stick roll.) I like this part of class!

Playing with crow the next day. #badlighting #needahaircut

The class ends with something like supported fish, which you lay back on the pillows (they're called bolsters). Which I couldn't do with my knees open. My stupid hip flexors. The teacher came and put some blocks under my knees (so that's what they are for!). And then we decided just to put my legs straight out front (relaxed). And we sat there forever. We did some eye exercises. I was fidgety and seeing what everyone else was doing without being too obvious.

My apple watch said I burned 181 active calories in 56 minutes. (Which is interesting since it said 82 calories in a pilates class.) I also went running later that night. I think I felt less achey than I normally do going into the run. (Which yoga + running two -a-days might be what I need. Or yoga on my rest day. Decisions.)

MY THOUGHTS
I actually really liked this yoga class. I do think that I need to stretch more. And taking this class, which is a lot of stretching could add some balance to my workout schedule (run, abs, trampoline, gymnastics, run, HIIT barre, run, bootcamp, handstands, cycling)

I didn't get too bored until the end of class, when I decided just to relax instead of doing the eye exercises she was telling me to do (and think about how tight my hip flexors always are.) She had me engaged for 45 of 55 minutes, which is saying something. Some of the poses I was too ADD to hold for too long so I was looking around, but it was so much better than the last time I tried yoga. Maybe I liked the teacher better.

Overall, it was a good experience with yoga. And I liked that it was restorative. I feel like a beat myself up so hard running hills and flipping my body though the air, jumping and just pushing myself to my limit. It's nice to do something that challenges me (all the down dog pushups etc) but doesn't nearly kill me.

I'd love to go again. But it's so hard to get out of the office at lunch. MAYBE I could fit yoga in once a week?

BONUS: I was a lot calmer after class. 

If I went again
1) I'd sit up front so I could see what she was doing. (So get there earlier)
2) Ask the teacher about the warrior pose, triangle pose sequence
3) Maybe do some stretching on my own--when I feel like I need to stretch something else or stretch further down. (I always want to do splits instead of pigeon.)

If you go:
1) I was really worried I'd be lost and wouldn't know the poses. I've learned so many of these poses from other exercise classes and stretching that I was not lost. So, don't think you'll be lost. You'll be fine!
2) Don't be afraid to sit up front. (Or bring a friend to watch).
3) Find a a teacher and speed of yoga that works for you.

And I was a dork and used the yoga blocks to do an L hold after class. I totally wanted to try over-splits on them.

A lady came up to me and had heard this was my first class (they'd all been coming all semester). I said it was. She smiled and said it was the toughest class they'd had all semester. I told her I was a beast. Bring on the hard classes!

Running blahs

I think I've officially reached the running blahs.

I am horrible for getting bored with workouts and switching to the next thing.

I've stuck with running for 15 months now, and I keep finding excuses to get out of running

• I'll take food to my sister and run tomorrow
• I'll take today as my rest day instead of Thursday

I just find myself putting off runs.

The weather is gorgeous. There's sunshine and green leaves. The trail runs are so beautiful I have to stop and take pictures of the golden light coming through the canopy. The temperature is perfect to run. So why don't I want to run?

1. I'm discouraged because I'm slower. Those two weeks I was sick killed my endurance and generally slowed me down. I'm having to get back down to times I had months ago. There's a lot of progress down the drain.

2. IT band issues. I had to take almost two months off running last year because of my knee. It's acting up again. And I've been battling tight achilles tendons, which has started to worry me lately. I can barely walk the day after a run and I don't think that's normal or good.

Last year it was because I upped my miles. This year, I'm running the same 8-10 miles a week I've been running for 6+ moths. Nothing is different this year, but the knee pain is there. It's especially bad at gymnastics. So I do want to take time off to get my knee healthy again. I should rehab my knee. But it's hard to make myself do my physical therapy.

3. Boredom. I want something different. Maybe I should run at the track? I went to the trampoline park last week. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE trampolines. But I can't do that every day? Sigh. I would love to do trampolines once a week.

4. Lonely runner. I have no one to run with. Maybe a friend would hold me more accountable. I sort of want to try local group runs, except that I DO NOT RUN ON PAVEMENT. It's too hard on my knees. And that's where the group runs are.

I've been thinking of cutting down my days running. The internet says you really should run three times a week, so I probably shouldn't cut down to two days a week, though that's what I'm thinking of doing. I should be looking forward to workouts (like I do for my other classes) but I'm not excited to run. It's just a cheap, fast way to burn calories.