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Whocares, Yogic, Paleo lifestyle

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WhoCares

Guest
I'm a shiftworker, so naturally my lifestyle sucks dogs balls. The recent fear of developing 'tuckshop lady arms' and middle age spread is driving me to clean up my act. That, and the fact there's fuck all else to do here. Anyways.......decided its daily yoga practice for me as a permanent lifestyle change and kicking the grain to the curb because I'm intolerant of grain anyway and the last time I gave up eating it my body rocked....:bunnyd:

Embraced my new lifestyle all of three days ago. So far downloaded Yoga Studio off the app store.
I'm familiar with the poses anyway and making a regular class is nigh impossible with my job. Awesome app btw, like having a yoga studio in your pocket. Lots of video class types focusing on different things, at different intensities and different lengths. Went out and committed to this lifestyle with some workout gear....yeah any excuse to shop. :D So far have done at least one yoga session per day. Yesterday I did 2 1hr sessions just because I'm enjoying it so much. So far, so good. Vinyasa yoga.

Each day I eat steamed vegetables and some protein and a yummy grain free sauce like hollandaise for breakfast. Lunch is the killer because I have nowhere to cook meals while I am at work, and I've been too lazy to make salads up the night before. Will have to address that. I have to keep the fruit intake low because I'm a sugar junkie and fruit just makes me go nuts on as much sugar as I can get my hands on. Sadly, because overall I really like it.

Big challenge is drinking the required 3-4ltrs of water a day. But I've cut my coffee back to a piccolo a day, which will help reduce the milk bloatfest I've been experiencing. But plain old water is hard because I prefer it warm, and work always refrigerate our water....the bastards!
 
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WhoCares

Guest
24/5

Breakfast - lime buttered green beans and stir fried chicken
Lunch - forgot to eat
Dinner - as above, I'm really efficient (uncreative) that way
Snacks - handful of dates
Water intake - 2ltrs first thing in the morning before breakfast while reading the netz.

Exercise - 60min beginner Vinyasa yoga session combining strength, flexibility and relaxation, first thing this morning. Performed the yoga session as a mindful moving meditation.

Thought for the day - after 3 days of yoga and really concentrating on the breath, letting everything else go, I realised I was actually beginning to like living here. In fact I found a reason to feel happy today. Of course playing around with my brand new frontloading washing machine did help....:D And I bought some egyptian cotton fluffy bath sheets to match my new bathroom. Self care is starting to make a reappearance. :wubbie:
 
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WhoCares

Guest
25/5

Exercise - 60min combination yoga session

Breakfast - steamed green beans with poached egg whites and hollandaise sauce
Lunch - beetroot & baby spinach salad with stir fried chicken thighs in vinigarette
Dinner - steamed vegetables with a dollop of sour cream
Snacks - date coconut roll.

Temptations resisted - cardamom & ginger shortbread cookie, mushroom agnolotti, pie crust.

Thought for the day - hadn't realised how weak my core had become, luckily its also the first thing to respond to exercise. I woke up this morning to my little waist making a reappearance and my arms looking and feeling firmer. Nice surprise. I also have a yoga pal, my boy cat assumes relaxed cat pose during the relaxation portion of my yoga and supervises to ensure I'm doing my stuff right. Sweet boy....:wubbie:
 
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Guest
26/5

Exercise - 60min yoga session. Felt unusally tight in this session today. I think its my muscles rebelling at the sudden expectations put on them. Although I do feel each pose in different places now indicating that some chronic tension has been released enabling me to move more fully into each pose. In the very first session it was just pain and shakiness everywhere as my body displayed its jelly-like lack of strength and characteristic lack of suppleness.

Got gung ho and did a further 30min session before bed tonight. Hamlet (my cat) did corpse pose and supervised.

Breakfast - green bean, beetroot and baby spinach salad with lime viniagarette and chicken thighs
Snack - popped corn with butter - this is so debatable it's almost a blowout. Is corn a cereal? Or is it a vegetable? I'll let my body be the judge. Hugh levels of bloating? Yep. Okay so it might not be the worst thing to eat but my body doesn't like it either. Poo....
Lunch - baby spinach, boiled egg and chicken salad with lime juice.
Dinner - not hungry, skipped it.

Helped myself to a 2nd coffee this morning in a small blowout. I didnt really enjoy that coffee and almost felt like tipping it down the drain half drunk. Just too much milk and the familiar yicky feeling that accompanies it. Paleo is supposed to eskew all kinds of dairy, but hey! My objective is mainly grain free and dairy cut down. I love cheese far too much to ever be truly dairy free. But if my tastes change in that direction then I'll roll with it.

Thought for the day - potatoes are not my friend, especially when deep fried and salted.
 
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Guest
27/5

Exercise - 60min yoga session before breakfast. I really like this form as exercise as it's challenging without making you suffer, you just keep breathing through each pose and feel the release when in downward dog, forward bend or some other relaxing post. I find it incredibly easy to do 60mins and will need to either ramp up the intensity next week or add some more strength poses into the current mix. But overall very happy and I get out of bed looking forward to my morning yoga session. My hips are improving in their flexibility at lightening speed but as always I have trouble with hamstrings, they just refuse to co-operate and always seem to make no progress at all. It's just my challenge I suppose.

Breakfast - steamed broccoli, grilled proscuitto, poached eggs and a small amount of ricotta cheese.
Lunch - herb chicken breast, baby spinach & broccoli with a splash of balsamic vinegar

Thought For The Day - although I've lost no weight to date (it's only been a week) my legs have really toned up from yoga. In the beginning they had that characteristic saggy, podgy look all unfit bodies get, especially the pear shape on the hips. But now, the size is the same but the overall shape is lifted and better toned. It's a subtle difference but one that I notice a lot. I also have a much more relaxed walk since a lot of tension has gone out of my hips. I feel that incredibly in the morning straight out of bed, no stiffness. I like that feeling of ease again and I especially like that warm soft ache muscles get with slight fatigue. It tells me this is all doing something. ;)
 
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WhoCares

Guest
Exercise - 60min yoga session

Breakout Day

Its payday today and my self nominated breakout day. I still exercise but relax the food ideals a little to like....live and stuff. Anyway theres some conditions attached to prevent bingeing. I can eat anything I like BUT...i have to go out and eat it at a cafe\restaurant, take my time and enjoy it completely. No scoffing bags of lollies while on the net at home kind of thing. Breakout days have not worked for me in the past due to my tendency to go absolutely nuts and feel horribe the next day. Its a relaxation of the food ideals, not an all you can eat, free for all.

So my choice for this fortnight? Yum cha! I'm thinking....

Fried tofu in black bean sauce
Various dumplings
Steamed snake beans in garlic oil
Egg tarts
Coconut jelly
Choice, choices...

What I love about yum cha is that it takes me twice as long to decide to eat something as it does to actually eat it. And I like sitting around sculling loads of jasmin tea. Yep, this qualifies for my slow enjoyment day.

Thought for the day - really must get on and finish that stupid quilt that has been clogging up my cupboards for years. See, Yoga makes you want to run things to completion. Yesterday I fixed my sewing machine which has been out of action for the past year. It was nothing more than adjusting a screw but I'd sat on it and consequently sewn an entire shirt by hand out of pure laziness. Its a pretty quilt and I will have something new to post on the handicrafts thread.
 
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WhoCares

Guest
Yoga Progress

Although I've only got 4 days here, its actually a week since I started my daily yoga regime. The difference is really huge. Although I've done yoga previously I only ever pulled myself along to a weekly class. While it did get all the kinks out of my body, I never seemed to progress much, each class was just as torturous as the last. Daily practice though is a whole other thing. So far here's the things which have changed for me.

I can place my feet flat on the ground when performing downward dog. For someone who had trouble reaching the floor bending over a week ago, this is huge.

Yoga is no longer an hour of Are we there yet. Its an hour of enjoyable, amazing reflection. I hardly notice the sensation of tension in my muscles anymore. Where once I felt pain, now I feel gentle release. Wow. 60mins no longer seems enough. I'm going to edit my class and do 90 mins instead.

My core is getting ripped. Granted I never had much fat on their before, it was looking a bit podgy from all the bloating I had going on. Now when I get up its tight, toned with muscle definition. My legs have gone from being fat and jellified in the top to nicely shaped. The muscles underneath have all pulled up and redistributed the fat into a better location, overall it just looks better even if it is no smaller (yet). Cellulite on my lower hips has all but disappeared and is getting replaced by toned muscle.

I feel a hell of a lot stronger in my shoulder, arms, legs and core. The poses which really challenged me a week ago are a cake walk now. But my balance is still sadly deficient. Lets hope that improves also in time. Overall, I am absolutely blown away what a difference daily practice makes as opposed to weekly. I am so glad I embraced this.

PS - I did get that stupid quilt out and worked on it today as well. Feeling accomplished now.

By chance my local jeanery had a 40% off everything sale today. I went in choosing the size I honesty thought would fit. Sales lady took one look at me and said 'they're too big you need to go smaller'. I bought two pairs in the second smallest size they had. :D And the jeans did look awesome. I initally chose fat arse cut (or more politely curve embracing cut) but was persuaded that the slim cut was a better fit for me. I thought this moment was months away. :happy2:
 
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WhoCares

Guest
29/5

Exercise - 75min yoga session incorporating more strength poses. But harder than expected but a good workout nonetheless.

Breakfast - broccoli, chicken wings and a dash of balsamic vinegar
Lunch - zucchini, chicken wings seasoned with natural sea salt
Temptations not resisted today - 2 fruit brioche, 1 ginger, cardamon shortbread cookie
Dinner - 3 dates

I'm rethinking the whole breakout day as I find it harder to stay off the sugar and gluten if I deviate from my normal food. I dont seem to have a good capacity to shut off the taste for these things once I've consumed them that week. My foods yesterrday had a bit if wheat and today I didnt even think twice about reaching for and eating bakery items. In fact I had eaten them before I even realised, there was no thought, no deliberation about it. Just the action. I'm coming to realise I'm probably an all or nothing person. If I stay away from these things its easy to just keep going down that path. Deviate and I seem to trigger old habits like no tomorrow and undo all my good work. Will have to find another way to reward and reinforce the behaviour I want rather than regress.

*sigh*
 
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W

WhoCares

Guest
30/31/1

Exercise - usual 60 mins of Yoga. Now that the crippling muscle tension in my hamstrings has eased (I wear heels all day) I am finding the poses have a sense of flow. But I'm also fiding I'm working muscles I wasnt really working before. My biceps and triceps were burning last night and I never felt that before. And herein lies the yoga paradox, just as things get easier, they also get harder. Since I'm now working the proper muscles and getting into the poses properly the same routine is suddenly very challenging again. My balance still sucks those are the hardest set for me.

Food - I made a shitload of bolognese sauce the other day and have been eating it on steamed vege for every meal since. It doesnt bother me at all to eat repetitively, especially if it means I dont have to dream up a new meal and do more cooking each day. I'm surprised to learn I dont love to cook.
Snacks - dried figs and dates.

PS - finished the quilt yesterday. Drive to completion still in full force. :D
 
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WhoCares

Guest
2/6

Exercise - 60min yoga session. Its not unusual to have emotional moments when doing yoga intensively. I had one such moment today. Apparently the act of physically releasing tensions in the body while maintaining breathe and intense focus can unlock repressed memories and pent up emotions. Well...yeah. :doh: apart from that my body really is opening up nicely. No more lower back pain, shoulder tension or tight hips. And.....drum roll please.....I must be doing the poses properly now because cardio gets a workout during my sessions now. My body temp got so high today I had to turn the aircon on during winter. :shock: I'm very pleased, nope I'm downright smug! My work offers free physio because we get injured so often, I'm making sure I never have to use it. ;)

Food - the last of the bolognese on steamed broccoli this morning.
- half a BBQ chicken with a whole avocado and cucumber for lunch
- snacks, coconut water, packet of plain salted crisps (yeah naughty), small tub of unsweetened whole milk yoghurt.

Thought for the day - I must be stressed because I've got a freaking cold sore! I only ever get them when I'm stressed. Yoga has moved the pads of fat on my inner thighs and lower hips so high I now get terrible pantyline. Need to go buy some spanx tomorrow as a temporary measure, or get some different undies. Fuck! These fat deposits are always the last to go. My waist has lost 2cm in the past 10 days, my bra bands are bordering on being too loose as my core gets firm. But my buttocks have gotten high and tight and no smaller which is not having a pleasing effect in the stupid a-line skirts we have to wear. Especially as mine are a size too small and I relied on my hips sagging to put the bulk of my sins in the larger part of the skirt. I cannot hide what croissant eating, and cookie munching habits have created over the past year...:blush:
 
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WhoCares

Guest
3/6

Exercise - missed my yoga session through poor planning. Decided to do it at night because I would be back at the hotel in time, but completey forgot about the timezone difference and the fact my body would be packing up to go to sleep by then. Fuck! Woke up this morning in a foul mood.

Food - fresh carrot juice
- plate of melon, pineapple and orange
- omelette with ham, capsicum and bacon

Thought for the day - for some reason PMS eludes me, it still take me by suprise month after month. Apparently regularity does not ingrain in my brain that in the second week of every month I will be tetchy. :mad: Good on me for failing to grasp this most basic aspect of my body.

4/6

Exercise - yay back on the yoga 60mins before breakfast. I suffered in this session mostly because my muscles went back to being sprung steel from missing just this one session. Never again will Iput my yoga on the backburner, it so vital to my sanity and reducing any tendency I might feel to slit my wrists because the world is sucking again. I'm raw and tender from the dreaded PMS so I decided it's Wednesday, fuck the food restrictions, just find some method of sanity inducing gluttony.

Food - two poached eggs on smoked salmon, guacamole and a single sice of sourdough bread. That was good, so good. What wasn't so good was the extremely camp waiter who thought he was incredibly witty at 10am this morning. I'm freaking PMSing dude....can you like....piss off so I can drink my cappuccino in peace. Take your hipster haircut and jeans elsewhere and stop wasting your flirting skills on something with breasts. :mad:

Lunch today is a pizza with pepperoni, bocconcini, baby spinach, artichoke hearts. I'm sharing with my coworkers today in an attempt to assuage food related guilt.

Thought for the day - don't get between me and a fridge at this time of the month. It may be stereotypical but I'm nasty as all getout when the hormones are raging. Being reminded I'm female makes me shitty and angry, food is my fluffy blanket at this time, dont mess with that, psychoanalyse that or otherwise get in my way. Would you rather I ate a burger or raged? Seriously I am that pissed.
 
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WhoCares

Guest
5/6

Exercise - a blissful hour of yoga as usual. I cant go a day without it now.

Food - mixed omelette, glass of tomatoe juice with tabasco and worcestershire sauce
Plate of fresh melon and orange
Capuccino

Thought for the day - while I enjoyed my pizza yesterday one look at my thighs tells me something. Wheat and cheese are the evil sisters of cellulite. I wont say never again because that is an out and out lie, its too yummy to forsake for life. I will however say infrequently and on occassion knowing that I will resemble a stocking filled with jelly the following day. :blush:
 
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WhoCares

Guest
6/6

Exercise - same S usual, food As well.

Its tedious doing daily updates or in fact ny updates. Not really sure why I bothered in the.
Beginning. But in any case I know I do my yoga and eat well. Enough said.
 
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