Day 3: Epiphanies, Intentions, and the "Don't Give a Shit" Hormone

Day 3 = 1 pound and 8.3 ounces of veggies
Less than day 1 and 2, but if I would have done the egg scramble with all my veggies instead of a smoothie, I would have been at  2 pounds, 1.9 ounces..... is that right?! Ouch. Even though that stings a bit, the smoothy was all whole foods and really boosted my energy and gave me something different, so no regrets there. 

Today's epiphany felt like a win to me! I noticed that in the last 3 days my plate looks different. Instead of protein, veggie, and starch or carb (like garlic bread or rice), it is protein, veggie, veggie. That's not to say, I will never consume bread or grains, but I have found a goal with-in a goal. That is to have 2 servings of veggies on my plate most meals. 

I am having the nerdiest kind of fun with all of this. In such a short time, I'm learning a lot about myself, and where I want to be. It's not about dieting, losing weight, or becoming a title (like vegetarian, vegan, or Paleo) but rather getting back to a place of gratitude for everything my body allows me to do and honoring that by giving it what it needs to fuel a high quality life. Yes, I am totally geeking out and loving it!  

I do, above all else, believe in balance. I want to be sure anyone reading this understands this is not about setting a goal and half dying to achieve it. It's not about scarfing veggies before bed to make my two pound quota. As you can see, I haven't hit that mark yet, and still consider every day to be a huge win! This is about learning and refocusing my relationship with food, fitness, and myself.

 In keeping it real, I  somehow shifted to a very careless relationship with myself over the last year. Excess crap food, drinking, and loafing around has been my main existence, with bursts of "Oops! Better reel it in!" moments of 'being good'.  I think a lot of it has been changing hormones and that has made it harder to give a shit. I actually did a   "dont give a shit vlog" 
about 3 years ago (click on the "don't give a shit vlog" link above to view).... and this last year, my "don't give a shit" got the best of me.  I share this because I know many of you reading this may experience this and not know why. Hormones are definitely something to look at, but that's a different blog. 

Here is day three's food and fitness log: 

Breakfast : (2 oz. veggies) 
I know, far cry from yesterday, but I think variety is important. So this morning's smoothie, inspired by Dr. Mark Hyman really good! Here are all the nutrient goodies in today's smoothy, 
1/2 banana, 2 c kale , 1/2 c frozen, organic, blueberries, 1/2 T fresh ground almond butter, 1/2 T coconut oil, 1/2 T hemp seed, 1/2 T chia seed, 4 walnut halves,  1 T pumpkin seeds, 1 c unsweetened almond milk. 6-7 ice cubes. SO GOOD! Oh, must not for get, 2 c coffee with organic half and half and coconut sugar.
Calories: 471

Lunch: (9.5 oz veggies) - Must eat the left-overs before they spoil!
4 oz. wild salmon, 1 c fresh, sauteed green beans, 1 c brussels sprouts, diced sweet potatoes, and purple onion .
Calories: 392


 


Snack: (5.7 oz veggies) 
veggie plate with hummus 
Calories: 105 





Dinner: (7.1 oz veggies)


3 oz bison meatloaf, stir fry summer veggies (squash from Laura's garden *Yum! Thanks Laura!* purple carrots, orange peppers, white onion, jalapeno), and a salad (mixed greens, white onion, peppers, cucumber, cherry tomato, green onion, live sprouts, and blueberries) with Tessemae's balsamic.

Oh! And my fitness for today was 1 hour yoga in my studio and a couple of short walks with my dog. 

Total calories for today were 1523.  


 

What does it mean to be a student?

The most fulfilling thing is to walk into a fitness class (in my case yoga) , as a fitness instructor, and allow myself to be a humble student.  When we can let go of our ego and trust that there is always more to learn, we can grow beyond belief. 

I learn something every time I walk into another person's class. Sometimes I learn technique, alignment, form, or just another way to get to a posture. I always learn something new about myself. Acceptance. Being in the moment. Observing my mind; am I impatient, frustrated, distracted, or at peace with the moment. 

What ever the lesson, I take it with me. I own it. I accept my imperfections as I strive to learn more. 

Next time you take a class, be it fitness, or other wise, allow yourself to be present, humble, and vulnerable. 
There is so much to discover.

Vlog #2 Balancing my workouts

My August Chalenge to you. Prioritize for health and happiness

"I want to be in shape, but I just don't have the time to workout." Eating healthy is too time consuming; who has time to cook?" "It's too expensive to have a gym membership." Fresh, whole foods cost too much. Plus, they go bad!"  I would love to eat healthy, but my family won't eat that kind of food."

I hear it all, and have said a few myself!

We set our lives up to be what they are. We make decisions every day that dictate our priorities and cause us to say these things when talking about our own health, happiness, and well being. 

We have made the decisions that having that nice car (payment) is more important than a gym membership, or buying those (cigarettes, beer, cookies, soda) is more important than using that money for whole foods, or over scheduling  little Billy with 4 different sports  in one season is more important than Mom's sanity and maybe a yoga class, or (in my case) taking on 5 classes a week in addition to my full time job, is more important than family time and time for myself. We all fall victim to our own choices and then hide behind them using excuses as our cover. 

But, how often do we step back and re-evaluate our priorities? 

How often do we lose our site of our priorities as we get sucked into the vortex of being too busy to remember what they were?  

Every so often, We need a mental day. A day to step back from our life and look at the big picture. Am I spending enough time with my family? Am I happy with where my health is? How is my stress level these days? What am I neglecting?  What can I give up or delegate to free up time or money for what is more important? 

My August challenge for you is to pick a day this month to take for yourself.   Use this day with no kids, no spouse, no work (you have the whole month to set this up, so plan for sitters, a day off from work, or what ever conflicts may come your way.) Take this day to re-evaluate your priorities. What do you want from life that you are not getting? What is standing in your way? What can you do without, get rid of, or delegate to free up the time or money needed for this?  

I do this on the regular! At least 2-3 times a year, I find I've lost sight of my priorities and I take a day to strategize. I usually find it's time to reduce my teaching schedule, or stop going out to dinner so many times in a week to free up money for a vacation with my hubbs, or spend less time on Facebook to free up more time to be in the kitchen prepping healthy foods. 

Sure! Giving up some responsibilities or making changes may disappoint others, but really? Is it all worth it if you're not healthy? If you're not happy? If you're not feeling fulfilled? What's the point? And honestly, the healthier and happier you are, the happier the people around you are. You know what they say... "If Mama ain't happy............."  

Make the time to get your life the way you want it to be. Life is too short to feel unhealthy, unhappy, or over stressed. Take the time to reconnect with what's really important to you.

"Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow"

Tuesday nights are usually very intense. A heavy lifting day and an intense heavy bag/interval class (taught by a respected colleague).
Yoga has become my weekend gig. Friday I hit the weight floor and then a yoga class. Saturday is just yoga.

Last night (trying to be more in tune with my body's needs) I stepped outside of my Tuesday night "box" to honor my knee. It was an upper body day, so I hit the weights and then the yoga studio with Sherry.

What a beautiful practice. She began the practice quoting Steve Jobs, "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!" Perfectly aligned with finishing the book, "The Power of Now", this week, her cues and inspirations re-enforced everything I was reading. My newly found muscular build, less then flexible body, and clumsy balance poses felt completely at ease with being humbled in the moment. The moment was.