Seattle Yogini

The Diet Plan

Except for that short period during which I played mind-games with my body and willed it to suffer starvation, just to see if I could, I have never been particularly into dieting.  I love cooking and eating, I appreciate a varied diet that consists of real food (as opposed to processed foods) that is fresh and preferably organic.  I am an omnivore, getting my protein from as many sources as I can.  I am not a calorie-counter, sodium-watcher, point-totaller, glucose-converter.  A person could spend hours working out very effectively, however, and not see the change she wants if she hasn't addressed her diet.  So, I'm working on the diet.

I'm following the guildelines in The Female Body Breakthrough because they feel sound and practical to me, plus they're laid out so nicely and I do love organized plans.  The first phase, lasting four weeks or so, is to clean up the diet.  This means:

1. eating a protein shake after each workout and have a protein bar available in case I find myself without readily available real food and am running on empty
   1. never allow myself to get to empty
2. eat 5 small meals a day starting with breakfast within 15 minutes of waking and then one meal every 3 - 4 hours following
   1. eat a mixture of protein, one serving at every meal
   2. eat a fruit or veg at every meal
   3. eat healthy fats and oils freely ("unhealthy" being saturated & trans-fats)
   4. eat whole foods
3. eliminate processed carbs
4. drink half my weight in ounces of water daily
   1. also recommended is to eliminate caloric beverages but I already do that
   2. The challenge is that I also drink Fortune Delight, so I'm trying to balance it out and just make sure that every day I drink enough water and FD to total half my body weight in ouces
5. supplement with multi-vitamin and fish or flax oil daily
6. STICK TO THE RULES 90% OF THE TIME
   1. this allows for four "splurges" per week, but note that a splurg is not simply the eating of a cookie or drinking of a glass of wine, a splurg may also be failing to comply with the "fruit or veg at every meal" rule, or not drinking enough water

None of this is difficult for me, as I'm already doing most of those things.  What I have developed in just this first week, however, is a wider availability of proteins and fruits/veg in my home, so that I can easily make a small meal when I'm ready for it.  Two of my meals I consider snacks, because I keep the portions smaller than the other three (which I call breakfast, lunch, and dinner because I'm original like that).  We have pint glasses, so I can easily drink enough FD and water if I drink at least four pint glasses per day. 

The sticky spot, for me, was the protein shake & bar.  Granted, she advises always choosing real food over a bar, but a bar should be chosen over feeling starved because of what that state does to metabolism.  I agree with her on that one, and I am a natural grazer, so I often find myself suddenly very hungry when I am not at home where real food is readily available.  She insists on a whey protein "recovery shake" after each workout, and that one took me the longest to get behind.  I did some poking around, though, and read through the offerings at PCC, and finally decided that if she felt so strongly about it, and other coaches agree, I would follow the advise in an effort to truly stick to the full 16-week plan detailed in the book.  So I'm drinking a vanilla whey protein shake as soon as I get home from the gym.  Sometimes I add a little frozen mango.  I was making it with water, and it tasted about like you'd imagine.  Rob suggested making it with milk (which I don't drink plain because I don't like it) and WOW!  So much better!  Now it tastes almost like a vanilla milkshake with a hint of mango and some weird flavor (inherent to the whey protein, I guess).  It's really growing on me.

This coming week I will be "splurging" a lot while we're on vacation, but that's okay.  I'll just get back on track once I'm home.

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Here's the Friday Fitness Round-up for this week:

Saturday:  I recovered from an all-nighter at the birth center and generally took it easy.  In the evening, Rob and I walked to Greenlake for an ice cream and walked back home (a little over 2 miles, round trip).  It was relaxing, and fun, and just naughty enough (even though we worked off our kids scoop-sized serving during the walk).

Sunday:  Zumba

Monday:  Define Yourself Workout A  (2 sets of 8 reps each)

Tuesday:  Nomatitude = about 1.5 hours of bellydancing

Wednesday:  rest

Thursday:  rest (I was going to go to dance class, but had to finish packing)

Friday:  mega dog walk

This week ended up being less workout-focused than I had hoped.  My original plan was to lift on Wednesday and Friday morning (before leaving for the airport), but the days leading up to international travel never quite go as planned.  For me, at least.  Also, my period started, and while I wasn't in pain, I did feel the need to take it easy and rest a bit more.

This whole process is really about reconnecting with my body's needs and signals.  Rest is just as important as working out, if any improvements are to be achieved.  We know that from asana, as well...those who only do vigorous practices and eschew restoratives often end up injured and overstressed/overtired.  Balance is key!

The Fitness Plan

First, let me just tell you that I didn't end up having to go to the birth center until Friday evening, so it turned out that I was able to do my workout after all.  A workout AND a baby, what an awesome day!

I thought that I would elaborate on my fitness plan.  As I told you last week, I have come to realize that I'm ready to change gears, get lean, and really shape my physical form into the image that I see when I think of myself physically.  I have always liked lifting weights, though I took a hiatus for many years from what I would call "real" lifting.  What is real lifting?  It's lifting heavy (not those silly little pink dumbbells), for 2-3 sets (not one set of a bajillion reps), with consistency (once a week won't a changed body make, my friends).  What I did during my not-really-lifting years was the occasional check-in just to make sure that I hadn't turned into spaghetti arms.  My asana practice was keeping me very strong and toned, comparable to a calisthenics program.  Once I closed the studio and went back to school last summer, though, it became clear that in order to reach my goals I would need to add other activities back into my wellness routine.

Of course, everyone has different ideas about fitness, health, and what is physically appealing.  We all have ideas of how we would like to look.  Personally, I want to look strong and like I could pretty much engage in any physical activity I want without keeling over.  I want my body to show my inner strength and approach to life.  Taking into account my body composition (mesomorph), I am fortunate that all it really takes is some consistent, hard work for me to develop the body that I see for myself in my head:  toned, strong, recognizably fit but not ripped-to-shreds.  Because I have always been physically active, I've never tended toward skinny fat, which is the model that so many people seem to use to measure female beauty.  Skinny fat basically requires a woman to be little (as in "skinny") as possible, even if she's basically bone and fat with hardly any muscle tone.  Weak, but maintaining that all-important skinniness.  Sigh.

Now, I'll be the first to argue that BMI calculations based on height/weight ratios are bogus.  That said, I haven't scheduled myself a body-fat calculating appointment with a personal trainer (yet), so BMI is all I've got to go by right now.  Currently I'm at the high end of healthy (at 24%).  I'd like to get down to no higher than 20%, which is still a healthy amount for a female body to do its various jobs without not-enough-fat problems creeping in (dry skin, hair & nails, loss of menstruation, joint aches, poor recovery, low immunity, etc).  I reckon I've got about 7 - 10 pounds to lose.  I'm less concerned with what the scale tells me, though, than I am with how I feel, how my measurements are changing, and how my "thermometer pants" are fitting.  People easily obsess over the scale, and I'm no different.  This is why I refused to own one for many, many years.  I bought one at the new year, though, and it has been useful in helping me see how my weight naturally fluctuates, what affects it from day-to-day, etc.  It's become one component of how I measure my body's progress, not the end-all-be-all of whether I succeed or not.

When I decided to re-commit to the workout program laid out in The Female Body Breakthrough, I went ahead and skipped to the "Define Yourself" stage.  That's because I'd already started (and stopped, unfortunately) the "Base Phase" so many times that I figured my body needed a new challenge.  Also, I've been dancing two or three times a week as well as going to Zumba classes two or three times a week for months, so I really felt like my starting point (and knowledge base) was much higher than many readers'.

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To update last Friday's Fitness Round-up.  Note that I'm starting on a Saturday because that's when I got back on the wagon.  It works well, though, if we consider Friday the end of the week for the purposes of these round-ups.  Also please note that we take a daily walk of about 30 minutes, but (a) I don't count that as "cardio" because it's more like a relaxing stroll and (b) I don't feel like writing it everyday.  Just remember that I do it, whether I also do a dance class, Zumba, or strength training on that day.  Even rest days are active days!

Saturday, 6/25:  Strength Training - Define Yourself Workout A    This was my first time, so it was very experimental with regards to how much weight I needed in order to fail at 8 reps.  I did 2 sets of 8 reps for each superset listed.  I did the warm up, of course, but for my body I prefer to do 20 jumping jacks instead of each of the lateral or one-legged jumps listed (I've followed the warm-up precisely in the past, and ended up with shin splints and/or foot pain).  I stretch all major muscle groups after the workout and work out the kinks on a foam roller, and am out of the gym within about 50 minutes of arriving.

Sunday:  rest  For my purposes, "rest" means that I had my usual level of activities, including a daily walk of 30 minutes, either with or without the dog.

Monday:  Strength Training - Define Yourself Workout B    I continue with 2 sets of 8 reps, fine-tuning the weight as this was my first time doing this plan.  I like this one better.  I think that inverted rows and SHELCs are fun!  :-)

Tuesday:  Nomatitude night, which means that I danced for about 75 minutes.  We meet for 90, but I'm not dancing non-stop for those 90 minutes, so I'm trying to be reasonable here.  lol

Wednesday:  Strength Training - Define Yourself A    Will continue with 2 sets of 8 reps for this week and next.  Plan to start 3 sets during week three.

Thursday:  Dance Class night.  Add another 50 minutes of dancing into the mix!

Friday, 7/1:  Strength Training - Define Yourself B    2 sets of 8 reps

Results so far:  My upper chest, neck and throat look noticeably thinner to me, which is good because I felt like I was a little poochy under the chin these last few months.  My belly is also less padded, and my measurements are decreasing (I can't give specifics, because it was almost six months since previous measurement).  Even though I'm pre-menstrual and feeling bloated, the scale says I've lost almost three pounds (not just this week, but since I started tracking at the beginning of June).

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Still to be determined is how much of my other activities I will list here, and how much of my asana practice.  I haven't decided, as those are more like lifestyle components.  Then again, what I'm sharing here are my lifestyle changes as I regain the level of fitness I desire.  I'll think on it.

How much do you want to know?  Also, are you following along with the book, too?  Want to share your progress in the comments?  Or are you doing other things to meet your goals?  Please share!  I'd love to have some virtual workout buddies!

Upcoming posts include "The Diet Plan" and "The Stress Reduction Plan", both invaluable components to losing fat and building muscle.

 

Friday Fitness Round-up, July 1

I'm with a laboring client, so I have to postpone the round-up until later.  Here's a Cliff's Notes version:

Saturday, Monday, Wednesday:  lifted heavy ("Define Yourself" A on Sat & Wed, B on Mon)

Tuesday:  Bellydanced for well over an hour

Daily:  walk, either just Rob and me or with the dog, about 30 minutes/day

My plan was to dance again on Thursday and Zumba or lift on Friday, then take Saturday to rest.

Trimming Waaaay Back

During the many years of trying to conceive, I purposefully allowed my body to become "fluffy".  I feathered my nest, so to speak, wanting to not only have a healthy amount of body fat but also because I felt that, for me, a slightly softer, rounder figure was more welcoming to the energy of "mother".  I have a history of heavy-duty exercise and even a short period of my life during which I starved myself.  Coming to a decision that would allow my body to expand and soften was a very big deal.  Indeed, much of it had to do with letting go of the need to monitor and control my body so very much - particularly since the baby-making efforts (temping, charting, vitamins, surviving and healing from two lost pregnancies, etc.) were exhausting in much the same way that dieting and over-exercising are.

While our hopes for a baby have not completely waned, our participation in the baby brigade has.  No more temping, charting, and I only sometimes remember to take the folic acid (gasp!).  Life is good, and we're slowly but surely feeling better and better about our shift in focus and energy.  We both have time off this summer, and we're using it to rest, recuperate, and reinvent ourselves after five years of baby focus.

To that end, on the first day of summer I cut off all of my long, beautiful hair.  I grow a great head of hair - it's thick but not coarse, wavy and easy to curl.  It was a few inches past my bra-line, and it hadn't been dyed or over-styled.  It was beautiful, but truly felt that it was no longer serving me.  One of the reasons I'd grown it out was this feathering of my physical nest, which no longer felt applicable or appropriate.  Cutting it all off and starting fresh was an easy decision, as was donating it to Locks of Love.

The before pictures (click to embiggen):

  

The during pictures:

              

The after picture:

Each ponytail was about a quarter in diameter.  That's a lot of hair for a child's wig, and I'm so glad that it can be put to such a good use.

The final style is a pixie (not the bob you see above), but I don't yet have a good picture of it.  So you'll have to use your imagination and be patient.

This reinvention also involves a serious return to fitness activities (not merely the "making do" that I was doing during the school year).  To that end, I will post a weekly wrap-up of my dedicated work-out time at the end of each week.  I'm good at being accountable to myself, but I'm also proud enough that I don't want to have to share a lame list at the end of each week.  Making myself post it here should help me stay on track.  If you want to join with some reinvention of your own, I'm using the book, The Female Body Breakthrough, which - having weight-trained for many years - I highly recommend.

 

Teaching: Pelvic Floor Workshop

My annual Lifting the Pelvic Floor workshop is coming up in July.  Below is an article I wrote for the Yoga Centers e-newsletter, entitled "Why I Teach the Pelvic Floor Workshop".  If you'd like to join the workshop, click on the link or contact Yoga Centers (425-746-7476) to register.

If you have questions or comments, leave a comment so everyone can learn!

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People are sometimes surprised that I have such an interest in a part of the body that is so “private”; an area that may seem irrelevant to everyday life. We often speak around the pelvic floor but not directly about the pelvic floor. This may be in part due to a desire to be discreet. After all, in order to properly discuss the pelvic floor, one must be willing to utter words like “genitalia” and “anus”. As a prenatal yoga teacher and a doula, I use words like that in a professional setting surprisingly often!

I have found it very helpful to speak frankly about seemingly discreet topics. For me, it all boils down to one simple fact: we all have a pelvic floor. We all have those nearby body parts. We all benefit from building our awareness of the pelvic floor and learning to strengthen it. I have taught women and men about the importance of the pelvic floor and how to care for it for years. I continue to feel passionately about it...particularly when I see the wonderful results people have from using some basic knowledge and exercises, like those I teach in my workshop.

I first became interested in the pelvic floor after a visit to my midwife years ago. I went in for a well woman check up, and the midwife did the usual exam, during which she said “squeeze my fingers”. I did as instructed, and she responded with an enthusiastic “Whoa! I love yoga people's pelvic floors”. I didn't really know what she meant, because it hadn't occurred to me that my pelvic floor might be any different from anybody else's. So I started to look into it. I considered the daily activities in which I consciously use my pelvic floor (particularly during my yoga practice, but also in everyday situations such as coughing, sneezing, walking, or climbing the stairs). I started researching books on the topic. The more I learned, the more interested I became. Eventually I realized that I had an awareness and a knowledge base that might be helpful for other people – especially considering the many unfortunate consequences of a lazy pelvic floor. So I developed a workshop dedicated to the pelvic floor.

As far as I know, my pelvic floor workshop is the only workshop of its kind. It's a very liberating experience for participants, as we create a space in which everyone can ask questions, trouble-shoot, and discuss what's going on “down there” freely. There are often a lot of questions, and we all learn a lot as we work through the material and the exercises together. It doesn't matter what stage of life or which sex a student is, everyone can improve their health by learning how to properly use the pelvic floor.

Try this: go back to the top of this article and read the whole thing while lifting your pelvic floor. Relax for a couple of minutes and then do it again while reading the article out loud. Why out loud? Well, do it and feel the difference. Are you intrigued? If so, then I hope to see you in my workshop this July!

Post-workout Protein Shake - How to make a tastey one!

I have read The Female Body Breakthrough from cover to cover, and this week began the 16-week program.  As a long-time weight training aficionada, a health/wellness/fitness professional, and a woman, I can tell you that this book rocks.  More on that later, when I review the book for you.

Today, I'm going to share my version of the post-workout shake.  It's chock-a-block full of good things, and it even tastes good.  Heck, I like it so much that it functions as added motivation to get my workout in.  :-)  Because this is intended for after weight training, the goal is to get a lot of bio-available protein down the gullet as soon as possible after the workout.  It is a critical time for helping the muscles build (along with R-E-S-T).

I am generally not in favor of protein isolates, such as those found in "muscle mass" shakes.  I am not convinced that just because a protein isolate goes in, the body recognizes it as protein and digests it accordingly.  Therefore, I use protein-packed foods in my shake.  It may not total as many grams of protein as a "mass builder" protein shake, but it tastes better and is what I consider "real food".  I know that my body knows what to do with it.

Caveat:  I use a soup spoon to "measure", not an actual tablespoon.

This formula makes 32 ounces of shake.  Please, share it with a friend!

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1.  Put 16 ounces of milk-of-choice in a blender.  I use almond milk.

2.  Add the following:

• one VitaShake (I use chocolate)
• long-ish squirt of Sunectar
• one big spoonful of almond butter
• one large handful of frozen blueberries
• two spoonfuls of flaxseed oil
• two spoonfuls of ground flax meal (Hello, insoluble fiber!)
• one banana, torn into chunks
• one little spoonful of cocoa (This is just for fun.  It adds a wee bit of sugar, and can easily be omitted.  We use a lovely brand called Tuccelli.)
• one little spoonful of cacao nibs (Not to be confused with a chocolate bar, this is actual plant matter.)

3.  Blend.  I have a Kitchen-aid blender, and have to put it on "liquefy" to get all the banana chunks to blend.  Sometimes I also use the pulse setting to get it really smooth.

4.  Drink and enjoy!

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There are many things you could add to this:  avocado, spirulina, different fruits, a handful of greens, use a strawberry VitaShake instead of chocolate, etc.  Get creative and come up with a combination that you can easily recreate and - most importantly - that offers you high quality protein in a delicious drink.  This counts as a meal if you eat 5 - 6 meals a day, and like any good meal it offers protein, carbs, and fruit or veg.  Eating healthy tastes great!

The "F" is for "Fitness"

Welcome to my new category, "The 'F' is for 'Fitness'", in which I will share the ways in which I endeavor to keep my body fit for the life I want to live.  As a yoga instructor I am often asked what else I do "stay in shape".  The answer is variable, and requires a little history lesson about yours truly because my body today is the result of years and years of experiences, not simply this week's mat time.

I grew up dancing, doing gymnastics, biking, swimming, surfing and generally running around like the little sparklette of fire that I am.  Like many little girls, I had visions of pointe shoes and Olympic balance beams bopping around in my head...until I hit puberty.  At that point a number of things became clear that necessitated a change of focus.  Among them, I was not going to be a tall & slender woman (bye-bye ballet), and I was "maturing" in a way that would not work for gymanstics.  Dreams of dancing and uneven bars dashed, I turned my sites toward other physical activities and forms of dance.  Biking, running, swimming, surfing, Sevillanas, "clubbing" and weight lifting replaced regular dance and gymnastics classes.  I started weight training in my junior year of high school and continued through college and my years as an Air Force Officer.  In college I added in running (and even enjoyed it!); I ran for years.  Even my yoga practice, which I started at age 17, was one of heat and vigor for a great many years.  Pushing my body hard gave me a sense of release and control that I craved during that time.

My body today shows the result of those years, including with the stress of constantly wearing myself out through overtraining.  I have a natural flexibility and muscularity that - thanks to years of work - I am able to maintain now with relative ease.  Granted, I have a mesomorphic body type (fairly easy to build muscle, average height/weight), which helps.  I overdid it for a long time, though, until I finally skidded to a halt when I developed severe back pain that only got worse with workouts.  No more heavy weight days, no more impact activities.  Some big changes needed to be made, and it was at that time that I started to ease the deathgrip of control I held over my body and began to befriend it instead.

The last three years have been very different from all the years that lead to them.  I softened my asana practice.  I gave my body the space to process, heal, and fill out.  I got comfortable with cushy-ness.  This was an important stage of recuperation for me, and I am thankful that I had the courage to slow down and just "be" - in and with my body, mind and spirit.

Now my body is telling me "Okay, this softness is good, but let's not get crazy."  I am wearing last year's winter coat, if you catch my drift, and it no longer fits.  Another new phase is beginning - one in which I move more while keeping a handle on the control-hungry parts.  My body feels as if it is waking up from a looooong winter, and I'm easing my way out of this cave, blinking and yawning and even creaking a bit.

I have a physical and mental constitution that need vigorous activity in order to be healthy.  I have not engaged in "vigorous activity" for about three years.  My challenge now is to find stillness in my movement, so that my activities can be holistic - my body, mind and spirit engaged and working together for mutual support and benefit.  This is what it means, now, for me to be "fit" for my life.

Today's Fitness Fun:

morning:  Hip Opening Series

early pm:  The Mother Sequence (3 Surya Namaskars, 3 Tibetan Rites) plus spinal traction

mid pm:  30-min walk with the dog

What are you doing to ensure you are fit for your life?

Please note that I share this as both a means of inspiring and educating as well as a way for me to keep track of what I'm up to.  If you would like to join me, please speak to your doctor before beginning any new exercise program.