A Little Intentional Breathing

Hey Girl,
So tomorrow is my first day back to work in 17 days.  Well, technically I have been working the whole time, sewing and making dresses.  But school starts back up again and I'm afraid I have forgotten how to teach!?!?  I always get a bit anxious after big breaks.  So today I decided to skip the hot yoga in the morning and get things done.  I started to feel the anxiety building up during dinner and knew I better get in touch with some proper breathing and stretching to let it all out.  I turned off all the lights in the house and lit some candles around my mat.  It was superb- I think this might be my new nightly ritual.  Lighting makes a huge difference! I can't find my favorite yoga dvd, which super bums me out.  But I did a yoga search on youtube and ended up really liking the video I chose.  Bonus, this teacher is right in Kingston, so just 25 mins from me!  It had a lot of deep hip work, which is where I hold all of my stress, so it was perfect.  I'm posting the video for you- check it out!

Now, how about you.  How are you feeling about the challenge?  How did you feel about your initial weigh in?  Was it better/worse than you were expecting or right on what you thought?   Do you feel motivated to eat right and workout?  Do you like your teammates?  How many other teams are there?  Is there any sort of competitions between the teams? What types of workouts are you going to be doing mainly?

After work tomorrow E and I are going to Crossfit in the evening.  I am super pumped.  We had been going so regularly and I was feeling so strong and cool and then 3 weeks ago when V got put down I was so sad and depressed that I didn't go at all.  This last week I feel like I am finally getting out of my sadness rut and I can't wait to push myself tomorrow night.

Alright, it's now 11pm- aak, how did that happen.  I better go to bed.  Can't wait to hear from you.

Until tomorrow,
xo
Jeni    

 

Queso

Jeni, Jeni, Jeni,

I've embarked on a few things today that I haven't done before:

1. Had someone else stand at a scale taking my weight while discussing my weight with me.
2. Had my body fat measured with calipers.
3. Took a "Before" picture.

How does this all tie into queso? Well for starters, I love queso. I love chips.  I love salsa and guacamole. Cheese is a beautiful. However, continued cheese, chips and other indulgences aren't good for the body. Couple it with a sedentary lifestyle and it can lead to problems. I've gained weight since my college years.

That's where I was about a year ago. Sedentary with little regard for how I was treating myself. Then I joined a gym. I bought a road bike.  I hunkered down and lost a solid 15-20 pounds. I felt great!

Then life happened. Work. Family. Stress. Travel.  Busy.  I went to yoga less. I went to the gym less. I got tired.  I needed queso. I gained some of my weight back. I knew what I was doing the whole time and the result it had. I was ok with it. Changes happened quickly.

I snapped out of it a bit about a month or so ago. I thought to myself, there are some places I am looking to be with my fitness level that I think I could use some help with. So I joined my gym's 90 day transformation challenge. I listed my goals as follows:

1. Learning to work past life stressors that can inhibit healthy resting and exercising. Use fitness to address that, not queso!
2. Tone my hip and thigh area. I have a hard time with this area.
3. Some weight loss, due to #2.
4. Improve fitness level so I can ride a 100 mile bike ride.

Today was my weigh in! Tomorrow the challenge officially starts. I'm really excited. However, I felt the need to have a "last supper" of sorts with some queso, guacamole, chips and a salad.

I surprised myself though, I felt a bit like a glutton when I eating all of this stuff. I didn't finish everything (ok I ate practically all the queso but had other leftovers). At the end I thought, I am not sure that I really needed this last supper. I can do this. I am excited to do this!

Change happens. It does. And I cannot wait to tell you how tomorrow goes!

Xoxo
Jenne