Focused on my goal

I have decided Monday morning is not a good time to do anything but roll out of bed and make a large tea. I therefore did not get my measurements done. Instead I have decided to do measurements on Friday morning. That way I can see what I have accomplished and walk into the weekend with excitement and determination to stay on track.

Yesterday I went to yoga, not realizing it was once again a hot yoga class. I had a little ah ha moment when I realized in downward dog that it was easier. I wasn't strugging with my breath, I had a lot more strength, and in some other poses my flexibility has increased and I was not utlilizing the bricks as much as I had less than one week ago. It was amazing.

Today I have a lot of promo work to get done for Hands to Heel, I have yoga at 12 pm and if it warms up some postcards to distribute throughout the neighbourhood (door to door walking) and my muscle conditioning class tonight. I am happy to report than now that I have resumed my workouts I am tired and going to bed earlier, and sleeping more solidly. Yeah me.

DOMS

I am very pleased to report I am experiencing DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) from yoga. My abs, gluts (butt) and adductors (inner thigh) are tender to very tender.

Hot yoga

Yesterday was my first hot yoga class. I was nervous because I sweat a lot in normal temperature rooms. The room was 33C it was hot. I dripped like crazy however I came home around 10 pm and went straight to bed, it was great.

After feeling so mellow and sleepy it made me nervous for the 6:30 class this morning. I have to admit 6 am came early. The class was good. I came home very hungry and sweaty. I am starting to re-energize now that I am getting some calories into me (oatmeal, chia, ginger, cranberry and green tea). I feel proud that I dragged my butt out of bed into the cold and by 7:30 am I had completed a workout.

Today I have a shallow aqua class at 10 am, followed by parent/teacher conference. The girls have a PA day, however Juliet babysits from 12 -3 pm. Then I have an interview for another doula booking at 7 pm.

Saturday I have another interview at 9 am which means I can't make Zumba, then I have reflexology at 1 pm and 2:30 pm. Sunday there is a yoga class I would like to go to at 12 pm. Marc may be out so I will have to check with the girls but that is the plan.

Chat again on Monday when I plan to do some measurements, yikes.

An effective day

So today is extremely busy, I will get lots accomplished.

From 9:15 - 10:15 am I taught an Aqua Baby Boot Camp and got in the pool with them to do it. From 10 - 10:45 am I taught Shallow Aqua from pool deck. Came home to clean and eat, I was tired and hungry. Had a promotions web meeting at 12 pm, did some prep work for articles I am writing to promote Hands to Heel. I have a reflexology appointment at 1 - 2:30 pm. Leave the house at 3:30 pm to get Elizabeth of the bus. Come home prepare and make dinner. The off to an interview by Square One for an April birth, and back to Burlington for a hot Vinyasa yoga class from 8:30 - 9:30 pm, then a lovely shower or bath and off to bed because tomorrow morning I plan to attend a 6:30 am hot Hatha yoga class. Yikes, and fun all rolled into one.

Ahhhhh

I love how the universe works. It seems it has been bringing me to certain people and places for my best interest.

Yesterday I connected with my naturopath. She did my follow up testing with great results. Since cutting down on gluten my systems were a lot less stressed than before, my pancreas, liver, etc were much better. The only thing stressed was my food allergies and even at that there are now more foods I can tolerate since I am not overloading with gluten. I have posted her contact information on my Hands to Heel website. When she was checking out her link she noticed other people she knew and asked me about the Cranio-sacral therapist I have listed. It made me think I really need t connect with her.

My naturopath is in the same building as a new yoga studio I wanted to try out. Right now they have a 30 days for $30 promo. I have been wanted to do yoga for a while now so before leaving I stopped off to get more details. Today I went to my first class and who was teaching the class but the cranio-sacral practitioner. It was a fantastic class. We were focusing on the heart chakra and some of the poses were so amazing. I am looking forward to the next 29 days. I have sat down with the schedule and planned my classes for the rest of November. It felt so invigorating and exciting. I feel like I am in my body today rather than going through the motions. Ahhhh to experience life.

I will not go shopping

I need to go buy pants but not in a good way. Bigger pants. Size 15, I am not impressed. Even my bras are not fitting properly and are digging in where they didn't use to. So Marc and I have decided it is time to lose weight again. Lose it and never find it again.

I look forward to resuming my regular accountability posts. Chat soon.

Day two

After yesterday's workouts, I am not sure if it was my personal one, my class or a combination of both, I was feeling it this morning. I wondered if I could actually do today's. But that is the great thing about exercise, getting the blood and lymph moving helps break up some of the lactic acid. it's a great hair of dog for first thing in the morning.

Another perk was last night, I was soooo exhausted I went to bed, to sleep, at 10:08 pm and I think I had already fallen asleep on the couch. It took me a few tries to get to bed because my eyes and body were sore.

Now I am feeling great and prepared to face anything the day has in store for me. I love endorphins in the morning, why did I stop?

I'm back

Wow, that was too long of a break. I want to thank my mom, who is on a great adventure herself, and many others who have reminded me that I need to be responsible for my health not just for myself and that life is fun.

I have started bike (bicycle) riding again. For those of you who do not know I have had more than my share of bike accidents and it lead me to believe I could not ride bikes. But it was easy to pick back up again. Elizabeth and I are both on two wheelers, on and off roading, down and up big hills, riding in potholes and over speed bumps. I have even been riding one headed, not ready to let go with both but it will come.

This summer will be full of more active adventures, wanting to get heavier into rock climbing, swimming and hiking.

I am down to four fitness classes for the summer and I have put together a new workout rountine from Sonny's workouts. Monday is my express workout at 6:15 am, Cardio Challenge at 9:15 and Aquafit from pool deck at 11:05 am, Tuesday rebounding and core at 6:15 am and my Muscle conditioning class at 7:30 pm which I am planning to bike to, Wednesday pm and Thursday am will alternate upper and lower body, Wednesday morning I have Aquafit which depending on the class size may have to be from pool deck, Friday will be rebounding and core.

I will be weighing in on Friday. Today is day four of my cycle plus I got dressed and workout out prior to thinking of it. I also plan on putting my bedtime routine into effect, my sleep has been suffering lately and it has been effecting every aspect of my life.

I look forward to keeping you all updated. Have an awesome Monday.

Feb 17th

Yesterday was my personal workout free day. I did still teach Aquafit at 9 and 11 am and they were fun classes, boy did I ever sweat. It was a good day. I was in bed by 11 pm and tired. So that was good.

Today I got up at 6 am and did my upper body workout. The calves are still a bit tender from Monday, so I thought I would rest the legs one more day. I am feeling good today, feeling smaller and stronger.

I had a great chat with my friend Shanta yesterday and she helped me further dispel some negative beliefs I had. It feels great to be riding myself of those. It frees up some much time and energy. I think today I will write down a list of my personal truths and use them as affirmations before going to bed.

For the rest of today I have my Aquafit class at Centennial at 10 am, grocery shopping, get a new essential oil from Shanta, a back up appointment in Milton at 1 pm and a first appointment with my client at 2 pm, home make dinner, and go watch Elizabeth at gymnastics (it will be the first time this session and I am so excited).

Now it is time to fuel my belly for the full but fun day I have ahead of me. Happy Thursday everyone.

Feb 15th

Not the best way to start the morning, well maybe it is I just need to change the perspective on it. I did my measurements for the first time since Dec 8th and I am pissed off (but working on changing the focus). I have had a six month set back.

Weight is up to 174 lbs, that 7 lbs in 2 months and an additional 7"
Neck is the same 13.5 "
Shoulders are up 1 1/2" to 43.5 (last time was May 22)
Biceps are still holding at 12.25"
Chest is up 1" at 39.5" (last time was May 22 - July 21)
Waist is up 2" to 39" (last time was Aug 3)
Hips are up 1 1/2" to 45" (last time was May 12)
Thighs are up 1" to 23.5" (last time was Aug 11)
Calves are still 15"

This morning Elizabeth looked at me and said "You are getting skinnier, which leads me to believe I have already dropped some. Crap, so I was worse off. I can't believe how far set back I am. It does inspire me to move forward and stay committed, but I am still so ticked.

February 14th

I'm back. This February starts a renewal project. I did totally lose my focus and for a few weeks there ate whatever I wanted, mindlessly, indulging daily, sometime twice daily on desserts and gave up on my personal workouts. I knew last week would be bad and planned for this weeek to renew my committment to me.

Last night I did not sleep well. I had napped in the car on the drive home from the cottage which impacted my night time sleep.

Despite that I got up with my alarm at 6 am and did my super fast, total body workout. I did skip some reps because I knew I would complete them in class today. Also some of them I felt a strong need to vomit and spinal flexion and lying on my stomach (supine) did not help.

After my workout I fed the cats, scooped their litter and made a cup of green tea (after polishing off 750 ml of water).

I am off to teach Cardio Challenge at 9:15 am, then off to see my reflexology trainer to complete my course registration and pick up my manual and reading assignments. Plus the huge mountain of laundry that awaits and a overdue birth story. I have come up with a technique to keep my focus while at the computer so I am confident that will help me stay on task and efficient in my time management. I will drink lots of green tea this morning and should see my energy staying strong through the afternoon, will final get to see Elizabeth at swimming tonight (I think she only has two weeks left) and sleep like a baby after a full days work on minimal sleep. What a great day it is going to be.

January 28th

So I have not done any personal workouts outs since I slipped. I am much better, doc said just some bruising and a strained calf muscle. My butt is still slightly tender today. I noticed I have to modify and not do a few of my Aquafit moves.

Some good news, I went for an interview with the City of Oakville to see about teaching classes for them and they want to take me on. The City of Burlington has offered me two extra classes so I only had one time slot I could take for Oakville and it got filled the morning of my interview. However they would like me to come on as a sub. I also got hired for a birth in May yesterday. Overall a great day. I observed a Gentle Aquafit class and will start teaching it next week. This might be really hard for me as I am a very "let's go" kind of instructor. I have done more mellow classes before when I taught in Hamilton I will just need to chanel my serene doula self. So now I need to put together some ideas in between the mountain of laundry and two Aquafit classes I will be teaching today.

Have a great weekend.

January 26th

I have had a bit of a set back. Yesterday morning I fell on the stairs, banged my tailbone a few times and pulled the muscle in my right calf. I still taught Aquafit but that was pushing it. I spent the rest of the day on the couch, medicating, resting and icing. I am off to the doctor today to make sure I didn't do any serious damage. I hope all is well and another day of TLC brings me back to a functional state.

January 24th

So it seems I am great about starting to blog on Monday and then things fade, probably because my workouts slip.

I had a lot of great insight last week. I met with a life coach and chatted things out with a few other people and have come to some exciting conclusions. One which I knew but needed to be reminded of was when I skip my workouts my energy suffers and so does my sleep. So back on the band wagon. Two I am most definitely a server. I love working for people to improve their lives and bringing them joy. It energizes me and helps to bring me purpose. So the next step is to explore a new path that will bring me the benefits I enjoy, not cut into much more of my family time and draw in some income. Two options I am exploring is becoming a reflexologist or a doula trainer. Hee hee.Working with a life coach will be great because she will help me uncover options I hadn't considered and push me to set new, achievable 90 day goals (for I am fantastic at procrastinating). What a journey this year has been and I look forward to the new direction it will be taking as I get my health and well being into a wonderful balance. Thanks for sharing it with me.

January 11th

Yesterday was a fantastic day. Being back at the YMCA is great. I missed the people and we had a fabulous workout, they were so grateful. The spa was lovely. I got a body scrub, wrapped in mud and facial, showered and moisturized. A big thank you to my client for that gift certificate. Went after and got a not so great haircut. Had an awesome dinner with the family, watched Elizabeth do a very impressive job at swimming and had the inlaws pop in after.

This morning I got up and did a dance DVD. It was good. I didn't think I was working that hard until the stretch when I realized as I lifted my arms that I forgot to put on deodorant. Oops. This morning I am out to teach Diaperfit on a crazy hot pool deck (who needs a sauna), picking up groceries and writing and putting together a way over due birth story. Tonight I am off to teach my muscle conditioning and if I haven't been able to finish it I will complete the birth story. Oh for the holidays screwing up my schedule. At least I have a short break in my doula work that I can catch up.

Hope everyone has a great day. Chat with you tomorrow.

January 10th

Happy birthday to me,
I am 33,
I finished my workout
and drank some green tea.

Now for a healthy breakfast and I am on my way to a super fun, relaxing, indulgent (but healthy) day. 33 is going to be great.

January 7th

Wow, January 7th already, that is disappointing. It has been a rough month for my goal. February is rapidly approaching and I have been in a self-defeating mode for the past month. I knew I needed to start becoming more accountable so I got on the scale this morning. On the first day of my cycle but the over-indulgence this month has brought I am back up to 170 lbs.

But let's not focus on the negative. Here is the good news. Today I turn a new page. Healthy, happy, clean living as I gear up for my 33rd birthday. On Saturday I will go to Zumba in the morning. Monday begins my return to the YMCA. I will be teaching Monday's Cardio Challenge class (followed this week as a special birthday treat to a Detox treatment - massage and mud wrap at an spa in Oakville), Tuesday morning is Diaperfit ending the evening with Muscle conditioning, Wednesday I will return to Nia from 9 - 10 am and teach Aquafit at 11 am, Thursday and Friday are Aquafit again at 10 am. Along with my own strength training. I hope as well to fit some rock climbing every two weeks or if I can convince Marc every week. We need the exercise and together time, don't you agree honey ; )

So my outlook is positive. By the summer I will look my best, dressed in Juliet's swimsuits, as I clean my pool.