What Am I Going To Eat Today?

"What am I going to eat?" How many times have you asked yourself that question? If you're like me, then you ask yourself that question before every meal. But why do you ask yourself that question?

If you're like me, then it's because you have so many good choices of fresh foods at home waiting for you in your fridge or freezer, that it hard to choose. Or, like me, you're so fast and efficient at preparing fresh, nutritious foods that you know within, sometimes as little as, 10 minutes for a salad (dressing and all), or 20-30 minutes in a pressure cooker you can have everything your body needs to stay and feel healthy....vegetables, protein, grains, etc. It's because you already know you have the skill and knowledge to cook and prepare anything you could want, and need, with the best quality ingredients you can afford....and that comes from practice.

Or....

Is it that you truly don't know because you have nothing at home waiting for you, either prepared, or within a short time, easy to prepare? Is it because, like most of the people in this country you haven't decided which fast food resturant it's going to be for lunch today? Is it because you don't know if you have the right ingredients to try a new recipe? Is it because making sure you have good, nutritious, fresh, foods isn't anywhere near the top of your priority list, if not, why not?

What am I going to eat today? I know what I'm going to eat, do you?

Breaking Through

Sometimes breakthroughs come from breakdowns.

The definition of insanity.....doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Everything works, but nothing works forever.

Increased carbs

Smaller portions

More exact calorie count

More frequent meals

High volume, lighter bell KB's

Yoga everyday, sometimes twice a day

Relatability

I'm coming up on my 4 year anniversary of the day I started my weight loss of over 100lbs, that means for 3 years now I've been able to maintain that loss...have I been perfect? No, but I don't need to be perfect, I just need to be the new person I am.

I was asked the other day (as I am often asked), "Are you afraid of gaining the weight back?", this question drives me freakin' crazy! It drives me crazy because it's so typical that people expect former fat people to get fat again! When a fat person loses a large amount of weight, the common response is always, "I wonder how long it will be before they put the weight back on?", not, "I wonder IF they'll put some weight back on"...I'm guilty of this sort of thinking myself!

I know the odds are not in favor of keeping weight off, especially extreme amounts of weight. So why am I not afraid of gaining the weight back?

I am not afraid of being fat again. I will never be 250lb+ again, never. Why not? Because I am not that person anymore, I'm just not. But that doesn't mean I don't remember that 250lb+ person....I will never forget where I came from. Just because I don't "live" there anymore doesn't mean I forgot what it was like. I understand it, I don't judge it. And I don't care what kind of trainer, dietician, nutritionist you are, if you've never had to lose a large amount of weight, then you can't possibly relate to someone who does, in a way that understands that it's about more than food....it's about eating, and the it's about the disconnection with our bodies.

Sure, a motivated person can find the kind of willpower and discipline it takes to reduce calories and exercise to lose weight, but motivation only lasts so long....and then what? You have to change who you are, you have to change how you think about food and eating, and you have to change how you live, permanently. Someone who's never had to do this can only offer the "calories in, calories out" theory.

Many people that have never had to lose weight aren't even healthy themselves, they're just thin, or of a "normal" weight. They can eat any kinds of foods they want, many times processed foods, they don't feel as if they need to pay attention to the quality of the foods they consume, or they just don't think about it. I've had to become conscious of the foods I choose, and the way I eat....lucky me!

Awareness and consciousness is always a good thing. Once you know the difference, you can never "un-know". I will never un-know what it was like to be extremely overweight, and for that I am grateful!

The old Tracy meets the new Tracy

Part of my new way of eating.....my new way of thinking....



For a long time I've known that my portions were going to have to change. Feeling "full", really full, even stuffed full, is part of the mental crap that got me into trouble in the first place. I felt I was lucky to figure out a way of eating loads and loads of food without many calories, and still lose weight....and it worked for many years. But it didn't change my habit of overeating.

Now having to readjust, and reconfigure the types of calories in my food choices, to give me the fuel, and energy I need to stay strong in my training, and not starve myself, while still losing this extra 5-10 lbs I say I want to lose. I've been holding steady at 132lbs all week, down from an average of 137-138lbs. this past 6-7 months. More details on food and Thought.

The Event...double yoga

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been taking Bikram yoga for almost 3 years. Mark and I calculated that to around 500 classes! This past June Mark went to his first class with me, truly a miracle. A miracle that he has rehabilited his body enough from years of too heavy training and tramatic joint injuries to even consider going the distance of a 90 minute Bikram yoga class in 104 degrees of heat. Trying it because he recognized that he had enough strength, and now needed flexibility and range of motion. Little did I know he would match my obsessiveness for this style of training.

Because of his work and training schedule he can not attend morning classes with me, that combined with the class schedule of our studio, it leaves late afternoon and weekends. I really dislike late afternoon classes, but in order to practice together, which is so awesome BTW, we've worked out Tues & Thurs @ 4:30pm, and Sunday mornings @8:00am.

Seeing how much he gets out of this yoga training I was wishing he could go more often than 3 classes a week, so I suggested attending 2 back to back classes on Sunday, that would make 4 classes a week for him. That's 3 hours of yoga, 3 hours of hot yoga in one morning! Are we hardcore or what? Let me tell you, 4:30pm classes are hard enough when you get up by 4:00am every morning, but back to back classes, that's serious stuff....for most people, lol.

Last week was the first week we did it, and it was amazing. I went throught the first class with the mindset of it marking the end of the halfway point, no anxiety of "When is this going to end.....". it just was. A little bit of coffee during the 1/2 hour break, change of clothes and we started the second. The second class was stronger, for both of us. It was all over it at 11:30am, we had started at 7:30 that morning, 4 hours of training!

I won't bore you with the details of how I felt, body or mind, the point of this post is how lucky I feel that Mark and I have come together, once again, first with kettlebells, now with Bikram yoga, sharing a passion for training at a level most people never experience by themselves, much less with their partner.

Sunday double yoga has become an event. An event that ends one week, and begins another with our commitment to a life of health, wellness, and strength of body and mind. A commitment to a life of togetherness.

Life is good.


These pictures were taken in order of our Sunday double yoga event. The top photo was right before the first class...see how fresh we looked, lol! The 2nd photo right after the first class, the 3rd photo after a change of clothes and going into the second class, the last photo, drenched again after 180 minutes of hot yoga!

My Bikram Yoga Practice

I rarely if ever write about any details of my Bikram yoga practice, that's going to change! I've been practicing Bikram yoga for almost 3 years now, I started in Nov., of 2005. I wanted to add another type of training to balance out my KB's and walking, the choices for me were Tae Kwon Do, or yoga.

I had practiced Tae Kwon Do for 2 years in my early 30's ( I weghed 160-140lbs during that time), and loved it. I was able to achieve my brown belt and knew I wanted to train for black belt, like everything I do, I was training 6 days a week and volunteering to help assist the kids classes on the weekends, but somehow I lost motivation, started gaining weight, and never went back. (1995-'97). I loved practicing forms, but the thought of sparring at my age was not attractive, lol!

So, almost 10 years later, when I had lost most of my weight and realized that my fitness was at a level, (and my body was at a size) to try a new physical challenge I remembered hearing somewhere about this "hot yoga". Hmmnn....I love the heat, and I love to sweat, if I was going to do yoga, I was going to do hot yoga! So that's how it started.

I went to my first class in long pants and t-shirt, stood in the back of class and just went for it! I had to put all care about what anyone might think of me aside, afterall I was just coming off of a 100lb weight loss, standing in a room with all of these skinny yoga chicks in their spandex and little bra tops...yikes!

One of the good things about being married to an expert trainer, and owning a gym for 8 years is I knew enough about exercise and the body to not let anyone or anything intimidate me. I know that everyone has to start somewhere, and everyone is a beginner at one time, so if you make a mistake, (it's expected), just pay attention, keep trying until you get it right. How can you expect to get good at anything unless you do it! All you have to do is to keep showing up, you will get better.....you get what you give. I have the most respect for all of the beginners I see in class, because afterall, they're there, doing it, that's what counts.

Bikram Yoga, San Jose, had a beginning program that let you pay $10, for 10 consecutive days (it's changed slighty since then), so I went on a Thursday for my first class, and not wanting to "kill myself", or potentially overdo and screw up my KB training, I went everyother day for my first 10 days. I was hooked. I knew after my first class I wanted to, and could, get really good at this new practice, so I bought a monthly unlimited membership for 1 year.

In following month I practiced at least 3-4 days a week, even on Xmas day, (when we owned World Gym, Campbell, if Marks training day fell on Xmas, we were open, and it always fell on Xmas!). Then in January the studio promoted a 60 day challenge, 60 yoga classes in 60 days! No problem! I love a challenge and I was highly motivated to improve my practice ASAP. I completed the challenge somtimes taking back to back classes to make up for a day I couldn't get to the studio, making sure I got my 60 classes in the 60 day period.

Over the first year I probably averaged 4 classes a week, before switching studios (I wrote about the decision to switch on my blog), but the new studio just didn't have near the number of classes available, or the same class times and my practice fell to, sometimes, only 2 days a week. I came to my senses, put my personal feelings aside and returned to my original studio after I got the OK from my doctor after my surgery. After the required 6 week recovery, my KB training came back quickly, but my yoga practice was much harder to restart.

Once again, I'm hitting it hard, now trying to get to a class everyday and practicing with Mark Tuesdays, Thursdays and doing a "double" together on Sundays! My practice is reaching a new level after realizing I had been "cruising" through for months. I have new focus, new energy and my classes are crazy good! Much more to come.......

Pictures above are "standing bow pulling pose". Top picture was taken last week, and I can see that my right hip still need to come down, my right toe is not pointing straight up toward the ceilng, instead pointing left....I've already sarted to correct that, and that will bring my right hip down. Bottom piture was taken Nov. 06, same pose.

KB Swing Progressions and Roundabout Combination

Here we go.....1600 reps

12kg

40 2 hand swing, 1 min,
5 roundabouts (40 reps), 1 min,
40 transfers, 1 min,
5 roundabouts (40 reps), 1 min.
40 reps, 1 swing/trans., 1 min,
5 roundabouts (40 reps), 1 min,
40 reps, 5/5 1 hand swings x 4, 1 min,
5 roundabouts (40 reps), 1 min,

8 min work, 2 min rest x 5 sets = 50 min



Demo set

10 2 hand swings
1 roundabout (8reps)
10 trans.
1 roundabout
10 reps, 1 swing/transfer (5)
1 roundabout
5/5 1 hnad swings
1 roundabout)

This took less than 2 min., but if you wanted to use this demo set as a work set, start with 1 roundabout, do everything else the same...it will equal 2 min. FYI!