I Wanted Ice Cream, But I Got This Instead

Just wanted to share a healthy alternative to ice cream - DelMonte FruitChillers.

There made for kids, but they're a good option if you have a sweet tooth. They're low in fat and calories and made with real fruit.

They even have a tool you can use to compare to your favorite vices.

These were originally bought for my two-year-old nephew. He wasn't impressed, but I was.

Rougher Week Than Expected, eh?

Damn. I didn't make my two-three pound goal. I dropped one pound, which is still to be commended after such a crappy week.

So yay for me and my one pound loss!

Tough Week? Tough Luck.

The week was really rough for everyone at work, so I really wanted some carbohydrates, some comfort food. While I enjoyed my manicotti, mixed drinks, cookies, fried cheese cubes, cheesy enchiladas and half a chocolate bar - wow that looks really bad now - I think I might still my goal of losing three pounds or at least two pounds.

I made sure to work out everyday this week and even once outside. See Erin? I can play outside too! So yay me!

I hope to weigh in at 173 Monday. That's two pounds down. Cross your fingers!

Stress Eating

All the bad news in the newspaper industry is doing nothing to help my eating habits.

This week I've eaten a bunch of comfort food, fried food and drank alcohol. Definitely not helpful for the whole lose weight plan. And today, I didn't even eat dinner. NOT a good idea to run on an empty stomach. I was exhausted twenty minutes into the run.

On a positive note, I've lost 6 pounds in the last two week as of Monday. I'm scared to weigh in this upcoming Monday, but I have been working out - yoga Monday, skating Tuesday and running today - so maybe it won't be as bad as I think.

Soon my workouts will change. I won't have my $48 month-to-month gym membership, so no yoga every Monday. I'll have to come up with a home yoga sequence and I'll be running outside instead of on the track in the gym or on the machines at the gym, but that's no big deal.

I'll miss the fitness classes, but maybe I can learn to love running in downtown Flint.

Hurrah for cross-training!

I have discovered the joys of cross -training!

Good old yoga journal got me hooked to a yoga/running cross-training program. And Runners World even has an article of their own about yoga for runners.

To gear up for running I've been using an elliptical machine for half an hour, run/walk for ten to twenty minutes and finish up with yoga poses to stretch out my muscles. I'm trying to transition from using the elliptical machine to running on my own. The machine is really helpful because it absorbs a lot of the impact, so I'm not used to running without the support. I think I'm doing a pretty good job transitioning from machine support to self support. And yoga is really helpful because it teaches me how to control my breathe, stretches muscles I work when I run and strengthens them too.

So fire up for cross-training!

Weight Loss Challenge

I haven't updated in what seems like forever.

Well, here's a quick update. I joined a Weight Loss Challenge at work, pay in $10 at the beginning and a dollar every time you gain weight, the winner gets cash. I think there's going to be a top three.

Anyway. The first week I gained a pound, this week I lost three. So I'm pretty excited about that.

In other news? My yoga teacher might add some classes to her schedule and she's already signed up to teach in the spring and summer. So that makes me happy and I'm going to try out a yoga class where she goes for yoga. It's sort of out of the way for me, but I want to try it out anyway.

And today after work, I'm working out at the gym. Woo.

Tomorrow it's Salad Wednesday at work and the out-of-the-way yoga class. Fire up for a good week!

That's all for my well overdue update.

Yoga Love Affair

I love yoga, but sometimes I skip class. That was my plan tonight, but it didn't work out that way and I'm glad.

I have two friends that attend yoga with me and one of them planned to skip yoga today because she was stressed out about some personal life stuff, said she needed time to go home and deal with some things. My initial reaction was "Oh, Ok. That's too bad. What's going on?" because honestly, I had been planning to skip class, too. I was relieved I wouldn't disappoint her by not showing.

But then I thought about it and I decided skipping class was a bad idea because she was stressed. People need energy to deal with things that are stressful. "Wait, wait, wait," I said. "You're stressed out, right? Ok, forget this skipping class business. You need yoga." We both see yoga as a stress reliever - a spiritually cleansing and energizing activity. I wasn't being presumptuous. My friend agreed yoga was a good idea, but only if I went. That's how I ended up in class instead of being lazy at home.

It turned out to be a really good class and was packed full of people, including another friend of mine who goes to the class. I arrived late due to a visit in the membership office that I forgot I was going to have to do, so when I got to class it was already going. The energy was already high, it was warm in the room and the air smelled like... well the air smelled of sweat. At first, I felt bad being late, but the energy in the room helped me get into the motions very quickly and I enjoyed the class very much.

For myself and my friends, yoga is a tool to calm a hectic life. It's an outlet for negative energy. I'm hardly amazing at the poses. I lose my balance, I fall, I can't reach my hands or stretch far enough, but I laugh and smile and try anyway. Yoga settles me, it grounds me and it's exercise I enjoy, regardless of how "good" I am at the positions because it's not about the positions or whether you can do the things the person next to you can manage.

It's about the journey you take while in the class, it's about the effort you make while trying to reach those positions, it's about dragging your friend to class when they're in a bad mood because you know it's good for them. It's about falling, laughing, standing and trying again. It's about the energy in the room, the moment you're in and it's about leaving all the negativity of the world, of your world and your life at the door.

I heart yoga.