I Lied

I lied. I am going to tell you what I ate today. Because when you are keeping track of your food you want company during such a boring chore.

Pre-ride breakfast: english muffin with almond butter.

Post ride: small bowl of grape nuts.

Snack: Chobani pineapple.

Lunch: cheese ravioli & pesto (from farmer's market) with asparagus and cauliflower.

Dinner: bread & cheese upon arrival home (famished) then kale, leek and mushroom frittata, Harpoon Summer Beer.

The key to today was being mindful. Paying attention (via tracking) to what I was eating, noticing what the computer thought I should eat v. what I knew I should eat due to the bike ride (a couple hundred extra cals), making sure I used veggies as the base of my meals and remembering that more protein at lunch makes me happier.

I boiled one of the two dozen eggs I picked up at the farm down the street. Those will be a good addition to my days.

I was awake at 4am this morning (birds, not insomnia) so I'm foreseeing an early bedtime, another early morning and a bike ride with my new sunglasses.

Yang and Yin

Last night my physical exertion finally caught up with me and a sleepy blanket of exhaustion came over me. I lazed on the couch with the Boy and watched a movie.

Yoga yesterday was awesome. The morning class was the perfect level of exertion and just what I needed to stretch me out from the bike ride. We practiced wheel with a strap around my upper arms to help me keep them in, and then once I was up the teacher pulled me up further and forward so I could feel where I'm going. I love those adjustments. And in paschimottanasana (seated forward bend) she gives me this amazing assist to where my face is almost on my shins and my hands were fully past my feet, clasping at the wrists. She even adjusted me in savasana, tucking my shoulder blades under, pulling my arms and legs gently out, and then pulling on my head slightly. It's pretty much like a massage during yoga.

After class I hurried to the farmer's market to stock up on hummus, pasta, kohlrabi, and cauliflower then ate lunch, changed and went back to the studio for the yin workshop.

Yin yoga is essentially holding floor poses for 5-7 minutes to promote deep release in the connective tissue. The quieting Yin, to counteract the active Yang. I can't say it was "enjoyable" since even pigeon pose starts to be uncomfortable after that long, but I think it was good for my body and my mind. And defintely a contrast to the Yang of my bike ride and morning yoga class.

Today I met my mom for a walk by the ocean. I almost rode my bike there but figured I'd give my poor sit-bones a rest for another day. We walked for about 45 minutes, slowly, and enjoyed the breeze. She pointed out to me the spots on her arms where she'd had pre-cancerous lesions removed recently as we both put on SPF 30 sunscreen. I need to be much more mindful of reapplying throughout the day if I'm biking. My shoulders are burned and that's not good.

Later I ate ice cream for lunch (homemade from a little store in town, Grape Nut. Yum.) along with some hummus and pita and an amazing cheese thing from the hummus stand with apricot preserves. Then I watched 87 episodes of Bones and did what felt like 13 loads of laundry, interspersed with opening and closing windows depending on whether it was violently raining or not.

Now I'm eating 2 bowls of steamed cauliflower with olive oil and shoyu, and sauteed kohlrabi and garlic scapes. I think that counts as my 5 veggie servings for the day.

I'm going to fold the clean sheets, revel in the fact that every item of clothing I own is clean and set out my yoga clothes for the week, along with a set of biking clothes just in case.

It was fun to figure out what my body could do this week, and to keep pushing it just slightly beyond where my mind thought was possible. I aim to keep that up. But tonight I aim to just lie here and watch more TV. Just a little more Yin before the Yang of the week kicks in.

A Very Busy Day

Today feels like it went by in about 5 minutes. I was leaving my house this morning to meet some new folks, and next thing I know I'm hobbling back home and kicking off my heels wondering where the day went. I got a ton of stuff done and found some great opportunities for work.

Now I'm having dinner which is: 2 eggs over easy and chopped steamed asapargus over rice with a little pesto dabbed throughout. Yum. And contains veggies. I may be eating this for every meal.

I did some outside yoga today after I got home. Some sun salutation with jump backs (the grass is more forgiving than a floor), parsvottanasana (side angle bend), then practiced a whole bunch of hand stands, kicking up from the easy side and the not easy side. And doing some cartwheels to get my body used to being upside down.

Then the mosquitos came to join in and I stopped.

I think I will be having nutella ravioli for dessert. Yoga is at 9am tomorrow. I hope my ankles stop hurting by then.

Beached Whale

I decided to skip yoga class tonight and come home. I've decided that while I like tonight's teacher, I'm not crazy about her (and sometimes feel like she's phonin' it in) and so I should just come home, put on my yoga clothes and eat gorgonzola on baguette and drink rose'. And then make a bunch of sauteed leeks, mushrooms and zucchini and mix it with shrimp and put it over rice.

Which I did. And now I'm totally stuffed and feel like a beached whale. My belly is too full. Stupid delicious cheese that makes me lose all sense of when to stop eating. (But am hoping the veggies digest fast and I don't feel like this all night.)

My plan: go clean up the kitchen, get the clothes off the line, go visit with the dog, do a yoga journal podcast around 8pm or so, or just beach myself on the sofa and read.

It Just Keeps Getting Better

Yoga was amazing this morning. I was kind of nervous to go to the Level 2/3 class with this teacher but I am so glad I did! I was the only person in class and we worked very hard. Well, I worked hard, she told me what to do and gently pushed and pulled me to get my hamstrings to lengthen. And lengthen they did (I iced them after class to prevent hobbling tomorrow.) She said I "rocked" the class, and coming from her I am very proud and glad to hear it. I have to say, the short hair was awesome. No more fiddling with my bandana during class, or adjusting some little pony tail. I just stuck on little clip on the side and proceeding to sweat my little heart out.

We experimented with bhujapidasana, shoulder pressing pose, which made me realize my wrists still need more strength. I was able to get up so that I was sort of sitting on my upper arms, and my feet were together, but they weren't quite ready to leave the ground. And really, more core work will help me in all of my poses. Like stupid tree pose that I topple over in.

I was famished by the end of class, and have found that whole goats milk is an amazing rejuvenator. The right amount of fat and protein and deliciousness to sustain me until the "Taste of ..." event which was basically a street fair of about 20 restaurants sampling their different wares -

• a mini clam bake (above)
• butternut squash and crab bisque (yum!)
• 3 different pulled pork sliders, the ones with cole slaw were the best
• some thai noodles
• a little slice of pizza
• a short bread cookie
• gazpacho (awesome)
• a bit of cheese & salami

All that was missing was a beer sample to settle my stomach after all that. I came home and had half a beer and took a nap. That's my yoga reward - food, beer and napping. And the clothes. I mean, inner peace is my reward. Om?

Never Surrender!

(Boston in the distance)

Back up at it this morning. I don't know who I've become. This person who bounds out of bed on a Sunday morning for a quick hike with friends, and then stops at the free yoga class at lululemon on the way home because the timing worked out just right. Crow again, yay!

Or maybe this is who I've always been and it was hidden inside. Maybe this is my true nature.

Lunch was goodies from the farmer's market: pita with hummus, baba ganoush and some tuna spread. Perfect refueling food.

At one point during these last couple of weeks, I though "am I doing too much yoga? Is this safe" and then I realized that all those months and years I was doing nothing I never asked "am I too lazy? Is this safe?" I realized that as long as I'm listening to my body, feeding it well and guarding against injury (with things like safely aligned yoga poses) I can pretty much do whatever I can do. And it feels good! The soreness is just soreness, just new muscle fibers growning, just changes happening.

And even though I still haven't lost any weight (yes, I stepped on the scale again. Just to see.), I can fit into some size 10 hiking shorts I bought for $19 at lululemon a few months ago and could barely pull up past my hips. And now they fit and are comfortable. Which just reinforces the fact that the number on my scale has little to nothing to offer me.

Lazy Tuesday

(There is not a cryptic message in the anchovies, just a curly fish.)

Ah, Lazy Tuesday. One of my favorite days. The Savasana of the week. After 5 days of yoga and hiking, today is when I eat cheese, make pizza and watch The Biggest Loser. And by "make pizza" I mean buy dough at Trader Joe's, buy sliced mushrooms at Trader Joes, and arugula, olive tapenade, mozzarella and anchovies. And then just assemble it and bake it. But Lazy Tuesday means I don't have to slice my own mushrooms or make my own dough.

Later I'll practice my dolphin and forearm plank and some sit ups, but for now I'm celebrating Lazy Tuesday and loving it.

Overflowing

I went to yoga this morning. It was scheduled as a Level 2/3 vinyasa class. I don't like vinyasa that much (I feel sloppy) but I love the teacher so I went. There was one other girl in the class. The teacher looked at us and said "Yay! Some butt kicking!" Eek.

But as we sat there breathing and centering and preparing for class, the joy in me bubbled over and a huge smile was on my face.

It was more like arm kicking. We were going to practice inversions, again!, so we did lots of plank pose as warm ups, then forearm plank, then other things that made the teacher say "sorry guys, you're going to hate me."

But I got up into a lovely headstand, my classmate got into a forearm balance which is my next big goal. It just looks so beautiful! But, I'm working on my forearm strength right now. Then we all did shoulderstand. It feels so good to go upside down.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk in the woods and lay on a bench by a lake and watched a Canada Goose fish and then clean itself. The walked helped my muscles loosen up, and the rest helped my brain relax.

Now I'm home and eating pate for dinner and wondering how liver can be so tasty.

(All pictures by me on my walk today.)

Faux Bim Bap

I wanted something like bi bim bap for breakfast this morning. But I settled for the egg, rice and chili paste part of it. Very tasty. I hardly ever eat sunny-side up eggs and these were a delight with the spicy garlic/chili paste and the jasmine rice. Rice has become a staple of my diet.

I can definitely tell that I did a lot of plank pose yesterday...

ETA: Second breakfast was a cold artichoke.

Overrated

I made spaghetti squash tonight, following this recipe. I kept seeing food bloggers rave about it, but I should have realized that since half of them have eating disorders what they really love about it is the fact that 2 cups of it have 84 calories, not that it actually tastes good. It looked good coming out of the oven. I had doused it in salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil, and added butter and parmesan cheese when it was done but it tasted like watery strands of nothingness. In the future, if I want spaghetti, I'll eat spaghetti. And if I want squash, I'll have butternut or delicata which actually taste good.

Fortunately I also had some hummus and pita for dinner and am about to start in on an artichoke. Yum.

I'm going to work on some inversion practice tonight. Headstands, handstands, etc. http://www.yogajournal.com/podcast/

Edited to Add: Headstand - yes; Handstand - no, although lots of practice kicking up; wheel - yes once and no once. Progress not perfection. And hurting myself to get into a pose isn't going to help. It's the journey, not the destination. And other things that mean I'm not quite there yet.

Making Lunch Last Longer

Yesterday's lunch made me realized that I needed to add something a little longer lasting to today's lunch. So, onto the lentil, rice and collard mixture I drizzled about a tablespoon of olive oil. I think that will hold me over through yoga class at 6pm. I hope. If not, there is emergency chocolate in my car.

I ate the egg salad that I had planned to have at 4pm, at 10am... but I figure better to fuel my body early in the day. I have an apple, banana and pear to eat in the afternoon.

And my co-worker made these awesome vegan oatmeal cookies from Kripalu so I had one of those. It was about the size of 1/2 a golf ball and really tasty! If left unattended with them I'd probably eat the entire batch, so I might only make them myself if I have somewhere to bring them.

Very much looking forward to my yoga class tonight. Wondering what fun things we'll do!

Check Check Check!

Gym?: check! 42 minutes on the treadmill at 3.5-3.9 speed, elevation between 4 and 7 (if it had gone much higher I think I might have hit my head. I was under a low beam.) And I joined so now I have to go.

Calories within range?: check! So 2 days ago I was famished. Today, I'm totally full and have eaten 800 calories less than I did the day I was famished and couldn't stop eating. I guess my body is doing its own calorie cycling, and the week will average out to normal. I had kashi & milk for B. My homemade chile with a last bit of pulled pork and cantaloupe for lunch. Then dinner was: 2 hot dogs, 1 in a bun, hummus and pita and a pickle.

Freakish gained pound gone?: check! Actually 2 pounds are gone for a net loss of one. It's not so much the 1 pound, it's more that I want things to generally move in a downward direction.

Now I'm sleepy and want to lie on the couch and watch 90210 and maybe lift some weights. But there are evening chores to be done. Hopefully by 8 I'll be back on the couch, or on the floor lifting heavy things over my head.

No Snow

I felt like I ate nonstop today. I could not get full for the life of me. I had first breakfast (the weird barley plus) then had Kashi and milk about 2 hours later for second breakfast.

First lunch was hummus with pita. Second lunch was a cut up hot dog and cantaloupe. Somewhere in there I had pickles.

First dinner was more hummus and pita. Second dinner was the best meal of all: seared cabbage and seared bok choy. So so good. The recipe says its addicting and I fear it is.

The good thing was everything I ate was healthy. Fruits and veggies and fiber. The other good thing was that I was at home so I had way more options of what to eat (and there are no cookies at home, only at the office.) I think I need to incorporate more meat into my diet since that keeps me full longer. And maybe have more for breakfast?

And now I'm done eating for the day. I have given my body the fuel it needs. Whatever else it thinks it needs can be met with something other than food, since it's not actual hunger.

I'm packing up some workout clothes for tomorrow so I can go to the gym on the way home.

I Can Hear Birds

The last 2 mornings there have been birds chirping outside. A very nice sound, heralding spring.

I woke up with aching quadriceps this morning from the elliptical. All 7 minutes of it. But that was the only muscle that hurt, strangely.

I had eggs for breakfast and some grapefruit and milk. (435)

Lunch is packed: chili, a little pulled pork, collards. Cantaloupe. (450)

Dinner: Lentils, collards and squash?

Off to work!

WTF Wednesday

Breakfast: eggs on english muffin.

Lunch: lentils and kale. Much tastier than it sounds. And grapefruit. And some of the cole slaw last night. Very crispy and spicy.

Dinner: Whole Foods Mediterranian Platter at the meeting I'm going to. Yum. Hummus. Baba ganoush, roasted veggies, pita.

Slightly annoyed with technology issues at work. Very pleased with my new bra. I'd call that a wash.

I didnt' do yoga last night. I watched the biggest loser while I cleaned my kitchen and made lunch for the next day and then did about 30 minutes of hand weights, sit ups and stretching.

Mid-Week BBQ

Tonight's dinner: pulled pork that I made over the weekend (200 cal for 3 oz.), on a Vermont Bread Potato Roll (180) with some coleslaw from Veganomicon (cabbage, carrots, pickled jalepeno, a little apple cidar vinegar and salt and pepper) (20 calories?) and some wine. I put the roll in the pan with the pork while it slowly heated and it was quite lovely.

It's a mid week BBQ. And fast. And healthy. It seems like if I had some baked beans that would go really well. I thought that once upon a time I owned a bean pot, but I think on one of my decluttering sprees I got rid of it, sure I would never make baked beans. Hrmph.

I got fitted for and bought 3 amazing new bras today. Yes, amazing, life changing bras. At Bloom, for my local peeps who want to know where to go.

I plan a walk tonight. Even though it is already 7pm. And 23 degrees. Or maybe not after seeing that temp... I commit to washing all the dinner dishes, prepping my lunch and coffee, and doing 30 minutes of yoga before bed. But first I'm going to watch House.

Tuesday Morning

I watched the Biggest Loser last night. I don't have a TV so I'm limited to what is on hulu and that was on. It seems like the most wrong show on the planet. How is it healthy for someone who has never exercised in their life to ride a bike 26 miles? How is it healthy to lose 30 pounds or 6% of your weight in a week? That would be like me losing 10 pounds in a week. Sweet, in 3 weeks I'll be done! I just need to bike until I puke, take some laxatives and diuretics and then tie a semi-truck tire around my waist and drag it across a foot ball field.

Anyway, it entertained/disturbed me while I cooked and cleaned my kitchen. I made French lentils (the tiny green ones) with a rose and spice seasoning, couscous and some more kale. And roasted another butternut squash. I love all those nutritionally dense winter veggies to get us through this dark time before the tiny greens of spring renew us.

And as a reminder to myself, here's the link to the Calorie Cycling calculator.

Monday 1636

Tuesday 1416

Wednesday 1964

Thursday 1636

Friday 1473

Saturday 1800

Sunday 1636

Funk-Be-Gone

So my little Sunday night pity party is done. Back in the groove. Sort of. Still haven't worked out in a few days. But zumba tomorrow night, so that should help.

Made a veggie tart last night which will be good for cold meals this week.

Today's food:

B: english muffin with almond butter.

L: veggie tart and a hard boiled egg.

S: 1 oz. cheddar cheese

D: I don't know. I'm hungry. I have shrimp. And veggies. And pasta. Or chicken and veggies and orzo.

I think dinner will be shrimp and veggies with pasta. Lunch will be chicken and veggies with pasta.

I just start chopping veggies and wait for whatever wants to join them to make itself known.

---

Dinner was shrimp, veggies and tagliatelle which is my new favorite pasta. It cooks in only 4 minutes, but is wide (not skinny like angel hair.)

Hopefully it will cool down a bit later and I can get in some yoga.

Rest of the Day

I really did take a day of rest, although I might do a little yoga before bed. I almost biked to the beach for a swim, but I decided against it. I need a wide brimmed hat to protect my face and ears, even with sunscreen, if I'm going to be out in the sun like that for 30 minutes. (The hat is for the swimming time, I wear a helmet during the biking time.)

So this was the "low" day of my calorie cycling adventure. I was supposed to eat 1425 calories, and I came in at 1497. I'm not hungry at all, since I tend to eat higher fat and protein foods which keep me full. My breakfast was 460 cals, lunch was 540, dinner was 497. Tomorrow is 2100 calories, and should really not include eggs since I had a lot of them today. They are so yummy, though. And versatile, and cold and salty. I should make a little plan for tomorrows food.

I found the "zig zag" schedule on this site: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm . At the bottom of the blue box you can see the "7 day calorie cycle" option. I figure it can't hurt and it might help. And it seems more interesting than eating the same amount every day.

I'm going to set out my biking clothes for the morning. If I'm eating that many calories, I might as well take advantage of all the extra energy. And if I'm lucky maybe it will start pouring rain on me!

A Day of Rest

No biking this morning. I was awake from 1:30 to 3:30 for some reason. Then up at 6:30 but decided to not bike today.

Breafast was scrambled eggs with goat cheese on an english muffin. Yum.

Lunch is a cold salmon salad with couscous, cucumber and avocado.

Dinner - not sure, something cold.