two weeks = healthy on the inside January 17, 2010
Two weeks into 2010, my life has settled down a bit and it’s feeling quite good. Work is back to normal, well as normal as things get working at MINDBODY. Which is kind of like the controlled skidding, er driving that happens immediately following a snow storm in Michigan, woohooooooo! I have to say, I feel freaking amazing after dedicating a little energy and focus to taking better care of myself. I have made a point of (1) not overindulging in my decadent food/beverage choices throughout the week, (2) exercising daily, be that riding my bike, a long vinyasa practice, hiking, or whatever, (3) and tracking how well I’m nourishing myself. I have come to the understanding that I may not lose weight on this challenge I am having with my man-friend (which is: who can lose the largest percentage of body weight, my goal 5 lbs). Weight is one way to measure overall health, but I’m not so sure it’s the best. I realized over the last two weeks that I am more fit than I have ever been, eat pretty well, and maybe my body just isn’t going to weigh what I think it should. I will continue to make an effort for the next few weeks and see how it plays out. If I feel as good as I feel now and don’t lose weight, then so be it. Overall health is so much more than weight. It is how I feel, my energy levels, my relationships, and my mental health, amongst other things. I think it’s good to remember that once in a while, when we’re overwhelmed by media images of women who look starved and men who look tan and shiney.
I would like to be able to say that I’m completely yogi about my health and weight, but it’s just not always the case. I would say 80% of the time I listen to my body and very roughly follow a vegetable, wholesome, Ayurvedic based diet. Yet, 20% of the time I enjoy a little freedom, enjoying some of the bountiful, yumminess available to me in SLO, CA. When I’m stressed and super busy, the scales tip further in the wrong direction and I like to reset once in a while, hence, my current focus on health.
On another note, last year I made a resolution to get to the ground in the splits (or hanumanasana) by the end of the year. I achieved the goal, but then unachieved it by not practicing it towards the end of the year! So, I have been teaching it this week and it’s feeling good again. I have been doing a lot of yin poses to open my groin lately too and it’s made a great difference in my hips, and in my right hip where I’ve been experiencing some type of tendonitis for a long time indeed. Love yoga, much love.
It started raining today and it’s supposed to continue all week so I won’t be able to get my daily breath of fresh air on my bike. So sad. It’s kind of nice to be forced into hibernation a bit though. I made some delicious minestrone today. Yesterday my friends and I rode our bikes from San Luis Obispo to Avila Beach to enjoy some fun outside before the week of rain. It was such a great day!
PS. I’m using www.livestrong.com, specifically the daily plate part of the website, to track my nutrition and exercise which also has a nifty iphone app. It’s a nice app for those anal, mathy types like myself who dig databases and software and tracking infinite amounts of data. It’s really helped me to check on how I’m nourishing myself.
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