WOOT Day 2: Fat-Burning Yoga + Relaxation Bonus!

So today I wanted something gentle. My back hurt, I've been tight for weeks, and on top of it I have lingering gas pains (TMI, I know). So, I thought - Yoga! Oh, so wrong. This workout kicked my butt. I was a big puddle of sweat in 20 minutes. BUT, I'm looser, more relaxed, but also more rejuvenated than I've been in a long while, my back pain is better, and the aforementioned gas is better too. :)

The workout is called the 20 Minute Weight Loss & Fatburning Yoga Workout.  It's by renowned yoga instructor Sadie Nardini.  If you want to learn more about her or see if she's teaching a workshop near you, go to her website.  I'm totally hooked.

Oh, and she lost 40 pounds doing yoga, too.

The embedded video below is a playlist.  First, the workout, and second, a relaxation video to chill to.  I laid in corpse pose for nearly the whole relaxation video, and got up feeling like a new woman.  This one's a winner.  Enjoy.

 

WOOT Day 1

What's a WOOT Day, you ask?  Why, a Work Out Of The Day, of course.

Today's workout:  Trim your Tummy, 10 minute tummy toning workout by Suzanne Bowen at Women's Day (May 2012)

Here's the workout at Women's Day (annoying slide show)

Or the all-in-one-page downloadable PDF at my MediaFire

No Sugar, No Salt - Just Crock-Pot Applesauce!

4-5 lbs. apples (about 12 cups sliced)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon or nutmeg

 2 cups water

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Peel, core and thinly slice apples and place in crock-pot.  Add cinnamon or nutmeg.  Pour in water and lemon juice. Cook the usual:  3-4 hours on HIGH or 6-8 hours on LOW.  Stir occasionally.

Applesauce may be a little chunky. Mash with a fork or hit it with the immersion blender if you like smoother applesauce.  Yum!

Recipe from The Humbled Homemaker; I've adapted it only slightly.

6/27/12

6/22/12: 3-4am 
6/23/12: 4-5am
6/24/12: 5-6am
6/21/12: 2-3pm
6/20/12: 3-4pm
6/25/12: 8-9pm
6/26/12: 9-10pm
6/27/12: 11-midnight


Today, my goal time is 11pm to midnight.  My goal for this is not only to follow the clean eating diet, but also to prompt myself to skip the nighttime eating and go to bed early.  Staying up late accomplishes nothing.  I rarely get anything done that validates the lack of sleep, and my sweet little boy rarely sleeps past 7 am.  So, it's one of those, "Duh, go to bed early," moments.  But staying up late is one of my favorite bad habits, and it's going to take some work to break.


I've done a bit of yoga today as well, and want to incorporate it into a morning ritual.  I'm also printing off the Elimination Diet sheet, a few copies to keep with me for reference and reminder.  Staying positive that I can incorporate these changes into my life, and that by the end of summer I will have a whole new set of (healthy) habits.  And by next year, a whole new body.

Plan Progress

6/22/12: 3-4am
6/23/12: 4-5am
6/24/12: 5-6am
6/21/12: 2-3pm
6/20/12: 3-4pm
6/25/12: 8-9pm
6/26/12: 9-10pm


Ah, hit-or-miss.

Miss.

No, hit.  Mostly.  I've done okay, but I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to be following the plan.  Ironically, I still do okay when I forget.  Today, I caught myself at 3:15 pm eating some mini Reeses Peanut Butter cups.  I stopped.  It's all a person can do, right?

What this week has illustrated for me is just how much I DON'T think about what I'm putting into my body.  It's kind of crazy.  I've always seen myself as a fairly healthy eater.  Just goes to show how wrong a person's perceptions can be, especially when it comes to ourselves.  But, I am down 3 pounds, so yay.  It's just 3 pounds, so I'm not jumping for joy just yet.  I will get there.

I will get there.

I will get there.

And so will you.

Your Excuse is Invalid

Here it is, my list of excuses. I know they will come, eventually, and probably more I haven't even thought of yet. I figured this time around, I'd bust my most common excuses before they happen.

 1. I'm too tired to get up and exercise. I'll do it later.  If I don't get up and exercise I won't do it. I know I'll wake up once I get going, and I'll feel better all day long.

  2. I have a headache/ PMS/ something hurts.  I'll just do my best. I won't push too hard, and I'll feel better overall when I'm done.

  3. I've got too much to do. I'll just take my rest day early. This day off will just lead to another day off. Exercise is my priority for three months. Whatever "needs" to be done can be fit in later, or it really isn't that important to begin with.

 4. I am not going to make it through the day without a cup of coffee. I did it every day that I was pregnant, and I survived just fine. If I really need a jolt later in the day, a cup of strong black tea will work just as well as a cup of coffee filled with sugar and cream, and without all the extra calories.


5.  All my sports bras are dirty. I'll wear a regular bra with a workout tank over top. I'll live with a little bounce.


6. My little boy was up late/ I couldn't sleep. I managed on an insanely small amount of sleep for weeks after he was born. I can do it for just this one day and be fine.


7. There's this recipe I really want to try. The recipe will be there when this round of P90X is over, if I still want to try it.


8. But it's Thanksgiving/ Christmas/ someone's birthday! There are lots of healthy food choices available. Me and my thin new body can have dressing and pie next year.


9. What a long day! I could really use a glass of wine. The wine may lift my spirits for a minute, but I'll be crabby and probably miss my workout tomorrow, and then I'll be disappointed in myself to boot. I'll take a hot bath and enjoy some relaxing tea instead.


10. I skipped a workout! I ate something awful! It's all over - I quit~ That is just my perfectionist diva talking. So, I messed up? Okay. Get up, get going, push play. At the end of 90 days, it won't be terrible if I fail a few times. It will be terrible if I am still in the same shape then that I am now.

Just Imagine...

John Lennon encouraged us to, "Imagine there's no heaven; it isn't hard to do."  Now, I'm gong to have to disagree.  It is hard to imagine a thing, if that thing is different from what you've been taught your whole life.  Flashback with me for a second to high school, when I thought myself completely obese, when in fact I had a rockin' body.  It's just that I was a muscled machine from summers on the farm, and the "in" chick then was Kate Moss.  So, yeah.

In my head, and in the mirror, I added 100 pounds to perceive myself as completely different from what I was.  The body I saw then, is the body I have now.  Ironic?  Or just imagery at work.  There's an author called Shakti Gawain, whose book Creative Visualization I bought ages ago.  It's a little book, and very inexpensive.  I absolutely recommend it to everyone, no matter what you seek in life.  I struggle still to put visualization practices into play on a regular basis.  It's a strange thing to do, sit still and imagine what you want, and stranger yet to write these things on paper, but there must be something to it, or legions of people throughout history wouldn't have touted the practice as a means of achieving everything you want in life.  Or everything you are afraid of.  It's all about what you put your mind to.

So, I will renew this practice in my life, starting with this: