Deadline on...

Why is it I always need a deadline? Going to St Lucia in April, so I'm hitting the gym hard. I need to wear those cute sundresses and shorts in the hot Caribbean sun. Not very yoga like.

Maybe we need deadlines to keep ourselves accountable. I know I need motivation. Maybe I just need to start fresh each day and forgive myself when I go off track. Live in the now.  But hey, two weeks, lost 5 pounds!

Can't wait to be sitting at The Reef again sipping my cocktail and getting some rays.

This past year has been full of transitions and my exercise routine went out the window. It's always the first thing I put aside and it's the only thing I should consistently keep going.  I feel so much better when I'm exercising on a regular basis. Moving forward, forgiving myself and feeling better in the moment. Bathing suit (yikes!) here I come...

Busy, busy, busy...

So much for posting daily. Like yoga, this too is a practice. I need to work it in to my day. I really enjoy writing but I put it on the back-burner this summer. It's been a busy one. A quick summary:

My son and his family moved in while they transition from military life back to civilian life. With a baby in the house, our lives have changed once again. We are no longer empty-nesters with extra bedrooms available for art rooms and such. It's ok my grandbaby makes up for all that! But it has changed our daily routine.

My birthday in June/Thousand Oaks/Castle Green-lots of family fun!

Our friends, Dave and Myrnie moved to Hong Kong :(

I tried a diet of Herbalife. While I was going to blog about my experience with this and my ultimate success, I ran into some snags. I may still do a post about it. I have some in my drafts that are actually quite humorous. Needless to say, I am not doing Herbalife anymore and I am back on my Weight Watchers diet. I have that final 10 pounds to lose and really thought that Herbalife would be my miracle diet. There is no such thing for WOMEN! My husband on the other hand lost almost 50 pounds in two months on the diet. I lost 3 pounds. What's up with that? Men. Geesh.

Fletcher ball workshop in July-great class. More on this later.

Went to my dad's 70th birthday. It was a great reunion of family and friends we hadn't seen in many years. I was able to sneak in a couple of yoga practices while I was there. I love that I can do yoga anywhere.

I have continued with my yoga practice, Pilate's classes and walking throughout the summer and have maintained my weight and sculpted my body into pretty good shape. My new size 8 clothing are getting too big!!!! Exercise has become a habit for me. Finally after 40 something years. Took me long enough.

Kayaking-Taking Things On

My husband looked out into the ocean with trepidation and turned to me and said, "You really want to do this?" He knows that I'm not a fan of being in the water and especially getting into the ocean and he is not a fan of exercise. Paddling really didn't seem that appealing to him. But my mind was set. I really wanted to get in a kayak and see things you can't see from the shore. I want to kayak to beaches you can't get to normally or float alongside the whales. Or take photos from a completely different perspective.

Finally past the repressed memories of my sister falling overboard from a raft when we were little. She almost drowned and my dad saved her. Throughout my childhood I thought it was me that it happened to. A traumatic event witnessed and repressed into my head. When I met my husband several decades ago, I told him I was afraid of the water because I fell out of a raft and almost drown. My family heard the story and said it wasn't you, it was your sister. I really had taken it on that it was me, although my mind knew it was my sister all along. It's taken me a couple of decades to get over that and through it. I actually swam in the Caribbean a couple of years ago and now I'm kayaking. What's next? Maybe I'll actually swim underwater again. :)

It was very empowering for me to know I had the strength and stamina to get in that kayak and paddle through waves and out into the bay exploring sea caves. I've never felt such adventure and excitement. It's about time!

Practicing yoga and Pilates on a regular basis and focusing on my health has opened new paths for me. To have my body strong and healthy has opened my mind to new possibilities. The spiritual side of yoga has helped me with visualizing those things I want to do and then taking that inspired action and doing them.

Start fresh each day

Too much wine, too many cream puffs, Gorilla BBQ and a killer martini on Sunday. Great weekend, but used all my points up for the week. Now I have to eat lettuce the rest of the week. LOL

Although today didn't start off very well either. I woke up late because we forgot to change the clock in the bedroom for Daylight Saving Time (probably to do with the martini the night before)so I had to get breakfast at Starbucks on the way in; non-fat chai and their turkey bacon sandwich. I could have gone to McDonalds. I really wanted to go to McDonalds and have a greasy sausage and egg sandwich, but I digress...Starbucks was the better choice. It was low-fat and I got my milk in for the day.

Hey I'm not going to beat myself up over indulging this weekend. A girl's gotta have fun! I figure I'll be good the rest of the week and I workout enough it all evens out. I'll just make sure to drink all my water and flush my system out and write down everything I eat. Maybe do some detox yoga, twisting it all out. My husband and I took a long walk on the beach Sunday, so that burned some calories too.

My philosophy is if I over-indulge, I let it go and start fresh the next day. Every Monday I figure out what my workout regimen is going to be and mark it on the calendar. I make sure that exercise is just part of my life, like drinking wine and eating killer bbq ribs once in awhile. It's a balancing act you have to work out with your body.

P.S. Gorilla BBQ was featured on Diner's, Drive-in's and Dives. If you are up our way, you need to go there. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

What it's all about....

This last year of my life I have dedicated to becoming healthier by taking a much different approach than I've done in the past. I took it on as a lifestyle change not a diet or an exercise regime. I just hadn't been paying attention over the last few years and the weight just kind of crept up on me. All of a sudden nothing fit and I had to go buy bigger jeans. Talk about a melt-down in the dressing room when I put on that size 14 jeans. Geez, trauma! I've always been back and forth between sizes 10 and 12 and happy with it. I believe a woman needs some curves. If you have no fat on you what are you going to shake on the dance floor? :) There's a reason women are built the way they are. But I knew I was too heavy because I felt tired, my knees ached and I was in a bad mood all the time. Something needed to change.

January always brings on the resolutions. I'm going to lose weight, exercise, etc, etc so 2009 started out that way. I joined the local gym and worked out for five months. I lost a few pounds but kept going up and down. Then in May a friend persuaded me to go to a Pilate's studio in town, Studio 4 Pilates. I've always hated exercise classes, but I'd always heard good things about Pilates. They also had yoga classes. Through my whole life I kept saying to myself I wanted to learn yoga, but never did it. I always felt like I needed a beginners class so I could figure out all those poses.

I took a few classes, both Pilates and yoga and loved it. Some of it was hard for me, I had no muscle tone, but I could do it. I didn't need to be coordinated. I didn't feel out of place. I started seeing immediate results in my body. I was standing taller, I could feel my muscles. I bought a card for five classes a couple of times and then bit the bullet and joined as a member. Pilates and yoga are not cheap. But the teachers are well trained and there is a lot of personal attention. This studio is worth every penny I pay for it. I took a workshop in Pilates 101 and they have a foundation of yoga class every week. It's truly been an education. I think every bit of what I am investing in these classes will pay off as I age.

For me, making a big monetary committment helped me to stay on track. I felt I really had to go to the classes to make the best use of my money. I'm there 4-6 times a week taking classes. I also still belong to a gym and use their treadmill and eliptical machine a few times a week to get my cardio workouts in. In eight months I've seen my body change from a size 14 down to a size 8! I went from 178 pounds down to 158 pounds in a year.

But exercise is not all I did. I also recommitted to Weight Watchers online. Writing everything that goes in my mouth is key for me. Having a convienant place to put it online makes it easy. I think the magic secret to losing weight is drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day and just tracking what you eat. Just start there for a week or two and then add in your parameters for losing weight, like exercise and counting calories or points or whatever it is you choose. Eating all whole grain, high fiber, low fat foods is vital for me. There are so many good choices out there for food now. High fiber bread doesn't taste like your eating a box anymore. It's actually good. It's basically about eating nutritiously and in moderation. Oh yeah, you have to cut the daily alcohol consumption down too. If I have a drink during the week I try to keep it to wine with dinner, if I have the extra points to use. But if you do overindulge, you can get right back on track the next day. Don't beat yourself up. Just start fresh everyday. Besides I get extra points for exercising, so if I want a margarita or two I'll make sure I get in my exercise for the day. My vices are not sweets. Give me cheese, torilla chips, guacamole and a good bottle of red wine and I'm a happy camper.

The component that tied everything together for me and really made it all work was the yoga. Yoga has truly inspired me and spoken to my spiritual side. I go to two to three yoga classes a week and I do my own practice at home. I've been meditating and studying all genres of yoga. It really fits for me and makes me feel whole.

To put it in a nutshell, this blog is about my new healthy lifestyle. It's a place for me to collect all the things that are working or not working for me and keep me on track. I'm hoping that others will follow along and share the things that work for them too. As always, it's a work in progress. I'm sure it will moph into something I wasn't expecting but that's the fun part!

Remember to check with your medical doctor before starting on any kind of diet or exercise program. Make sure your body can handle it so you don't derail yourself. Know what your intentions are and take inspired action.