wobbly jogger

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Yoga time!

Yoga is always been one of those things I would love to be good at. I mean just saying 'I do yoga' sounds good! However I have only ever been to one class and the rest of my practise happens occasionally at home.

I get frustrated when I can't do things straight away, well, I obviously didn't expect to be able to this after a few sessions of yoga:

I mean.....how?! That must take some AMAZING core strength!

But then I got thinking, taking inspiration from Amie over at Running on Healthy, I didn't start running full marathons a week after I started to run! It took me over three years to get to that point. During the past three years I haven't exactly been focusing on doing a marathon, I never thought I would do that, I just enjoyed the process and the feeling of my legs and lungs getting stronger after every run!

So, I need to apply this to my yoga practise, Hell, I mean I couldn't even do a Downward Facing Dog when i started this DVD:

...But now I can! I am even getting better at Chaturanga Dandasana. That stuff is harder then it looks and I am usually shaking all over the place! After I am finished I feel soo much better about myself. I feel stronger and more...whole? If that makes sense?

The DVD above is great I have had it for ages but only use it occasionally (needs to change!). It is great it has a selection of different workouts from general yoga flow to back bends and yoga for arms. The only other yoga equipment I use is a cheap Yoga mat I bought off eBay some time ago. Its okay but sometimes it can get a little slippy. Something I don't have but would love are some yoga blocks. Currently I am using a dictionary. Not the best of tools that's for sure!

So, here is to increasing my yoga practise, strength and flexibility.

Wednesday 12 March 2014

4. Challenge the food police

After the past week and a bit of making peace with food, I am slowing feeling more at peace with my eating habits. Previous 'bad' foods are treats not cheats. I know they will not offer my body any benefit, especially with heavy training. When I have had lots of treats my body feels sluggish and heavy but if I have food full of goodness and colour I feel stronger and feel I can run faster and work harder!

So now to challenge the food police!
This point is based on saying 'NO!' to the voices in your head that tell you you a 'bad' for eating cake and 'good' for restricting calories. I have seen too many of my friends and family, including myself struggle with low calorie limits and feeling awful when their brain screams for quick fixes and they gorge on cake, biscuits and sweets. This may have been part of the problem that lead me to think I was developing Binge Eating Disorder. I visited the doctor and they said although I have some of the characteristics, I don't have the eating disorder. So I have been working on not banning foods and trying to get lots of nutrients from healthy foods and having the odd treat.

Even when I try and remove that voice in my head telling me I'm 'bad' for eating cake/chips/pizza it is always reinforced by society and others close to me; 'should you eat that', 'are you supposed to be on diet?!' 'are you SURE you want to eat that?'. It.Drives.Me.Crazy. Out of all the intuitive eating principles, this one I am going to find the hardest. This voice is buried right down in the sub conscious and society is never going to change, we are all too skinny, too fat, curves are good curves are bad.

The most important thing is how you feel about yourself. Others don't matter, the strength to overcome how others see you will come in time. Changing how you feel about yourself and your own attitude to food will be the hardest, and there will be set backs but with time and lots of positive thinking we can change that small voice in our head by recognising it is there and thinking 'NO! I am not bad, I am treating myself after working hard all week'.

Friday 7 March 2014

Fruitbroo Review and discounts!

Things just got exciting!!

Well in my last post I mentioned the Peach, Pear and Honey flavour and since I liked it so much I got in contact with Fruitbroo and they kindly agreed to send me some more flavours to try and review!

So a few days later these arrived:

Yum!! So I have Rhubarb, Apple and Cinnamon, Elderflower and Lime and Apple Ginger and Spice.

I couldn't have asked for a better set of flavours! I am currently enjoying a cup of rhubarb, apple and cinnamon and, seriously, it is like drinking rhubarb and apple crumble, and since it is only 15kcal per cup I can sleep easy when I have multiple in a day!

They state on the bottle that they are suitable for vegetarians but are also free from caffeine, gluten and dairy. They are also suitable during pregnancy.

The best bit? 100% natural! They are made from fructose, the sugars found in fruit and concentrated juice with a little natural flavour!

Inside the bottle is a sort of gel, you add 1 teaspoon per cup (or more if you like it stronger) and add boiling water then ta-da instant treat! Each bottle contains 15 servings!

Other flavours are just as good as the rhubarb one, the apple and ginger is comforting, almost like Christmas! Where as the elderflower one is refreshing. They do other flavours too like lemon and ginger which I am sure would be amazing to sooth coughs and colds!

My new favourite tea! Without the hassle of a teabag!

So here is the exciting news!

Use the code welcome40 for a huge 40% off your first order on the official Fruitbroo website !

NB: These views are my own, I asked Fruitbroo to send me these products to review.

Sunday 23 February 2014

3. Make peace with food

The world we live in has gone diet crazy! Even though reports say that obesity is on the rise, more and more diets come to light. From zero carbs to fasting there really is a huge selection of 'Fad' diets to try.

Now I am not one for fad diets, though I can't say I haven't thought about them. My sister tried the 5:2 diet where you eat very little calories (500 for women, 600 for men), however she had a fairly active job and is also very active in general and found that it didn't work for her. My Mam has tried some, low/no carbs to not eating much (until she was given lectures by my sister and I!). The only foods I have an issue with are high fat and high sugar, so cake, doughnuts, chocolate, cheesecake (mmm...cheesecake). At one point I told myself that I simply did not eat these foods, even when they are in the house since my other half can eat what he likes (no hard feelings against him....hmmm) and I got on quite well, however, I slipped back into eating them when I got to my goal weight and inevitably the weight came back on.

I have figured that what I need to do is make peace with these foods, having them once in a while is not going to harm me but realising that eating them all the time will effect my performance in running and in general well-being is important.

It is four and a half weeks until my holiday to Spain with my best friend! Now back when we booked it I had planed to at least be in the low 60's in kg but that hasn't happened. I'm okay with that though, doing Insanity has made me fitter, my Fit Tests are improving each time and I can run 13.1 miles still with not a lot of training (not advocating this, I doubt it is good for your body!). We have both made a fitness plan for these last few weeks including Spinning, weight training, running, Insanity and other gym classes. I am so excited to get started! We both bought new notebooks and plan to use these to record our workouts, foods and feelings. :) Lets get this done!

Saturday 22 February 2014

Honour your hunger and exciting new finds!

That's the whole point!

I am currently waiting to start my new nursing job in April, so that has left me a lot of time to think about one thing...food. On bad days I can watch the clock until it will hit 12 so I know it is time for lunch, and 3 so I can have my afternoon snack, whether I am hungry or not it is this awful cycle I have got myself in and I now rarely experience hunger. When I do, I actually enjoy the feeling! Hunger is something that if needed, can be ignored, which I do sometimes just to experience hunger and help my body realise it is not the end of the world to feel this way. Cravings due to triggers like boredom can be extremely hard to ignore and it seems like the feeling wont go away until you give in to what your brain is craving, when really it is just craving activity.

So this coming week I am going to focus on trying to recognise my hunger and start writing down when I feel I want to eat but am not hungry. Then try and think of other things I can do to fill my time.

Fitness news!
I completed the Brighton Half in 2:20:10. Not my best time, but considering I did little training for this due to Insanity workouts/Pole fitness/gym etc. Excuses...I know..

Now in less than a week I am completing The Nutty Challenge. 14k obstacle race. FunFun! To be honest if anything I can't wait to get it done and out of the way! I am VERY nervous about this and have no idea why I signed up!

Pole fitness is coming along, learning new moves, inverts and spins :)

Eating
Good and bad. Diet plans and calorie counting drive me crazy! This week I am going to try and make healthy choices with whole foods and less of the bad stuff. Watch this space!

In my recent weekly shop I came across these beauties:

Oh.My.Wow. Only 15kcal per cup and it tastes AMAZING! No joke. It is made with fructose, the natural sugar found in fruit and other fruit juices. This flavours is right up my street but I am interested in getting a hold of some more flavours.

Next is this, Peanut Hottie. I am so excited to try this! Peanut butter in a hot drink, I mean whaaaat?!

Friday 31 January 2014

The Ten Principles of Intuitive Eating

I have seen this posted on a few blogs including Running on Healthy and Run Eat Repeat, and since I am slowly going crazy with all this calorie counting and avoiding higher calorie foods I thought this would be right up my street. So over the next few posts I will cover the Ten Principles of Intuitive Eating. Which is about recognising your hunger and eating what you want while thinking about how it will affect your feelings. The Ten Principles start with:

Reject the Diet Mentality

I started my journey at 13stone. A BMI of 30 and unhappy. I started running and counting calories to 1800kcal. Then moving onto Slimming World as I found not having to count calories amazing! However even though I lost over 1.5stones here the novelty went, and I went back to calorie counting, telling myself that I don't eat biscuits/crisps/chocolate and counted calories to 1600-1800kcal. Continuing to run to keep my exercise levels up and even added in a few exercise DVDs to increase the variety of my workouts. I eventually got down to 9stone 7lb but wanted to lose a little more. I also wanted to see if I could maintain this weight without counting the calories and to see if I could eat what I fancied without worrying. Well...no. I couldn't. The weight creeped back on until I reached 11st 5lb. Even as the weight increased I was constantly fixated on losing weight but it just kept going up, I tried many things to be healthy like going vegan and clean eating but they didn't work for me and I found myself craving like crazy. So back in with the calorie counting! This time to 1400kcal and eating back any exercise calories, monitored on MyFitnessPal. I can't say calorie counting doesn't work, it does. But it don't half get boring! Low calorie eating and once again avoiding certain calorie dense foods is slowly driving me crazy! Also with being surround by people on low calorie diets and cutting out food groups it had made me think that I really need to become at ease with food. My main problem is over eating in the afternoon, if I fancy something outside my allotted calories I will think about it until I burst and eat it in abundance, a long with many other foods since my brain has gone into over eating overdrive!

So! It is time to reject this 'diet mentality' and eat what feels good and let my body find its natural weight. My goal is 53kg (8st 5lb...i think), we will see what the future holds!

Next: 2. Honor Your Hunger

1. Reject the Diet Mentality
2. Honor Your Hunger
3. Make Peace with Food
4. Challenge the Food Police
5. Respect your Fullness
6. Discover your Satisfaction Factor
7. Honor your Feelings Without Food
8. Respect Your Body
9. Exercise
10. Honor Your Health

Read more at http://runeatrepeat.com/weight-loss/intuitive-eating/#5L5AZ2aJQHFp5r5g.99

Tuesday 21 January 2014

30 day Yoga challenge

I have been doing insanity for almost a month. A MONTH! Not often I keep things up as long as this, must be Shaun T's super motivational ways... ahem. My second fittest was great! There was already a huge improvement and I am already seeing changes in my calves, defiantly some definition going on there!

On top of my Insanity workouts I have started Spin again 1-2 times a week, that's a love/hate thing. I have also started Pole Fitness again! Before Christmas I managed to go upside down (no hands!)

<--proof p="">

So I started again last week and have many fading bruises to show for it! Worth it!

Besides having another half marathon in less than a month, running has taken a back seat. I know my fitness will still be there I just need to check on the old endurance levels, so a run sometime soon is on the cards!

One thing I thought I was missing was Yoga. I have always wanted to incorporate this into my life, getting increased flexibility and 'calmness'. Originally today I was looking at what Yoga moves I could do 10mins before bed but then I can across this: The 30 Day Yoga Challenge

So I thought 'Hey! Why Not!' So I signed up and I will start this tonight or tomorrow :)

There is a video for each day either focusing on one move or a set of moves for an area of the body, each day lasting for around 20mins. I am excited to try this and see where I end up!

I'll end on this...

I Finally Get To Graduate This Friday!!! Yipeee!